Tag Archives: mobile in development

Upcoming Mobile Ministry Forums Webinars

Mobile Ministry Forum (logo)

Just got off the phone with one of the members of the Mobile Ministry Forum steering committee and he reminded me that there are some upcoming webinars that should interest many of you who are looking to get into more about mobile ministry.

  • June 27: Steps to Get Started in Mobile Ministry – Strategy, Social Media, and Apps
  • July 18: Toward a Theology of New Media

I’m not sure who will be leading these webinars, but am sure that more information such that will be revealed in the coming weeks.

For more information about the Mobile Ministry Forum, check out their website or follow @mobmin on Twitter.

Ministry in the Digital Age, IE Day Contest

Ministry in the Digital Age

Was good to see this note of Dave Bourgeois’s book Ministry in the Digital Age now being available.

…What are the best evidence-based practices to implement? How do you best truly integrate digital, rather than just bolting on a few social networking options to an unchanged structure?

For these things are no longer optional luxuries. Any ministry or non-profit without an effective digital and social media policy, owned and understood by the whole team, is doomed to near invisibility and likely failure.

Dr Bourgeois takes you through both the strategic planning and the practical steps for implementation. On his book page, he explains the background to the book, with an online preview of the introduction and appendices…

That news was found via our friends at Internet Evangelism Day, who also highlighted that post with a contest to win a copy of Ministry in the Digital Age. Here are the details:

Do any of these things before the end of May, then email me to say where I can find it along with your postal address, and the winner, chosen at random, will receive get the book:

  • Tweet about this page using this ready-made link, or include the #ieway hashtag
  • Share this review on a Facebook group or personal page
  • Link to or republish this review (an edited summary is fine) in a blog
  • Syndicate our blog posts to your Facebook personal or group page using Networked Blogs
  • Embed our daily Paper.li news roundup into the margin of any webpage or blog – just copy the code from the ‘Share > embed this newspaper’ link at top-right of Digital Evangelism Resources.

Makes for a solid investment, and once my summer swing gets done, I’m sure we’ll have a copy of this in hand to get reading on as well.

For more information about Dave Bourgeois and his work in digital ministry, check out his website and see the fruits of that work with the Biola Digital Ministry Conference.

Aiming Towards FirefoxOS

Firefox Marketplace on the Geeksphone

It seems to be some kind of tradition here at MMM to poke a look at mobile devices, services, or experiences that are a bit more on the fringes of what’s possible, what’s happened, or what’s coming. In that light, I think a small look at FirefoxOS, and its aims for those markets/regions where there isn’t that much in terms of smartphones makes for an interesting perspective.

What is FirefoxOS?

For those familiar with the web browser Firefox, there’s a good bit of similarity happening with FirefxOS. The former (browser) was a chance to unseat the incumbent and dominant web browser (then Internet Explorer) by offering a standards compliant, fast(er), and more expandable (through the use of extensions) web browser. In part, the goal was to disrupt Internet Explorer by making it be what it wasn’t trying to be – the center of one’s web browsing environment. FirefoxOS is going a similar route but from the perspective of being a mobile phone platform. And what it aims to disrupt are (a) the route of development, and (b) the use/marketing of the top smartphone platforms, Apple’s iOS and Google’s Android.

Disrupt the Route of Development

One of the fabled innovations of the last half-decade of mobile has been the rise of the “app economy” and the ability for those with the time, patience, and funding to get into a platform and design some kind of unique experience within it. This is nothing new to the MMM audience – from as far back as the original Bible Reader on PalmOS Classic devices, the idea of a few people learning a platform then making content or services available made a lot of sense. Over time, this evolved into offerings a places such Handango/PalmGear, Nokia’s Download! service (the first manufactuer-pushed app store), iTunes App Store, and now every other app store imaginable (seriously, look at just the list of places you can download a bible). The problem is that it left the ability to build into a select group of folks who would have a particular motivation to continue. All the while, a place to produce with a lower barrier to entry, i.e., make a webpage, continues to sprawl at an amazing pace.

FirefoxOS aims to disrupt in this wise first: if someone can make a webpage, why can’t they make an app?

Disrupt the Top Smartphone Platforms

What’s also quite true about mobile now is that for the greater majority of those who use a mobile device in developed nations (please note all of the qualifiers that I just used), when asking the question “what is a smartphone,” or, “what is your preferred smartphone device or platform,” there are only two answers: Apple (iOS) and [Google] Android.

In the midst of such an answer are the incumbents whom are older: Microsoft ( with Windows Mobile then, Windows Phone now), Nokia (with Symbian, S40, and Maemo/MeeGo then, Windows Phone now), and Blackberry. And then there are those whom are looking to jump into the scene: Samsung’s Tizen, Jolla’s SailfishOS, Cannoical’s Ubuntu Mobile, and Mozilla with FirefoxOS. The former are more or less looking not to become unrelevant. While the latter platforms are looking to grab a slice of the mobile pie inside of a world context that has shifted the priority and profitability of mobile from a Western European/USA audience to an Asian and South American one.

FirefoxOS wants to be embedded into these newer regions and environments but to do so, it has to also disrupt the attention that the leaders and incumbents have towards their platforms. Disrupt doesn’t just mean attention though, it also means shifting the conversation from what has been possible to what is doable.

Phones for Apps for FirefoxOS

Part of the strategy for Mozilla to change the conversation (disrupt the incumbents if you will), is to offer a chance for developers of any skill level to get into the stream of creating apps and services for their upcoming platform that showcase the flexibility of it, but also endear the platform to the context of the markets it will be developed into. The Phones for Apps for Firefox program that’s going on this month intends to do just that.

If your proposal is accepted (and there are still devices left), then you will have the opportunity to create within the stream of some of that disruption that FirefoxOS seems to be aiming for. And even if you don’t get into the program, there’s documentation and software available to help you get started in making this platform something worth keeping into the conversation of what’s available for you or your content.

What that means for us here at MMM is that we could jump into the fray and either develop an app (we’ve got one worth doing) or learning the platform such that we can assist others who might begin considering it. That’s not a small endeavor (we did mention all of the other platforms that are fighting for attention these days earlier). Still, it makes sense that at the intersection of faith and mobile tech that we look at what’s prime to disrupt the status quo, and then ask the question “what makes the most sense for those folks coming online, specifically through their mobile devices, as devices become more malleable and personal?” We think FirefoxOS is one of several ways to go about answering that. We’ll see what the future of mobile looks like when we design it.

May Videocast

In this month’s video, Mobile Ministry Magazine’s Antoine RJ Wright tackles a user submitted question on mobile phone research, talks about some upcoming events, and expresses a bit of sadness at a broken tablet.

Creating a Mobile & Online Classroom

I’m in the midst of creating an online class, and specifically doing some edits for the content that’s already been created. The instructional designer for the school I’m working with has gotten back to me with several notes, and much of it are items that probably wouldn’t have been as hard to manage if I weren’t in the position of juggling several computing platforms at once in order to produce this. Now, let me note, this isn’t a knock to that school, or online classes in general, but it is an observation of some of the hurdles that tend to happen when governance doesn’t keep pace with the instructor, or the lesson.

The context of the class is that of creating a mobile ministry. In five sessions, I go through a summary of much of the work that’s been done here at MMM for the past 8 years (yes, its really been since April 2005 that the online aspect of this magazine has been in existence). For this class, I’ve got to handle working through a learning management system (a content management applications specifically made for online education) called Moodle. I’ve also got to create content inside of the enterprise-favorite, Microsoft PowerPoint. Inside of these containers I’ve got the requirements to create engaging and interactive content – and pretty much assume that all of it will be consumed session-by-session and while folks have little to nothing else on their plate. I’m not a fan of that methodology if you couldn’t tell.

At this point, I’ve got to redo a lot of content, and all of it is happening through the use of several mobile/connected tools:

  • my Nokia N8: serves as the audio and video recorder (excellent in both of these capacities)
  • my Kindle Fire HD and 1st gen Apple iPad tablets point towards Evernote and Microsoft Office Online to create the text-based components of this class – the latter doesn’t do so well on tablets
  • Dropbox for sharing files between my devices and with the school I’m working with
  • a personal wiki (using TiddlyWiki) on my Nokia N9 (different device) where much of the content generation, resource collection, and management of all these parts has happened
  • And if that’s not fun enough, a borrowed PC to do the parts with Office Online that are just flat out unusable on these mobile devices

One could read all of that and get the impression that creating a mobile and online course is a lot of work and takes a ton. But, I don’t think so. In fact, I’ve done my best not to push back against the school that I’m working with in order to get a better idea of how to take my mobile-mainly approach and fit it within these constraints. That said, this could be done in a much easier way. For example:

  • There would be one and only one document, Fargo.io an online outlining web app that connects to Dropbox accounts -created by the inventor of RSS (and oldest blogger) Dave Winer
  • Audio and video components would be linked using the Dropbox “share link” feature but these would be created on a single mobile device
  • Group discussions occur via Twitter (only) with access to the tweet stream restricted to the in-class participants only (also helps that Twitter is accessible via SMS, web, and email digests)

That doesn’t sound like much, but once you have your outline (as a professor), then there really isn’t much more to a class other than sparking the discussion(s) that lead to knowledge development/transfer.

I’m not done the edits that I have in place here, but I’m thinking that I might be up for doing something like this for the next presentation or course that I’m asked to lead. Seems like too much of a hassle to be using this tech the way that I do, but then have to take several large steps backward in order to teach people the lessons I’ve learned – content shouldn’t be locked, should be accessible to the greatest number of people, and should be tailored to their unique experiences with its application. I don’t know that content management systems, or governance really enable that right now. But I think that we can get there if we have these kinds of examples that simplify what can be done, then get out there and do it.

Still Debating


Is your organization still debating whether its worth having a mobile app or a website? And probably for the following reasons:

  • Our organization has finally gotten on board with the idea of being present on mobile
  • We’ve finally gotten the funds to build a mobile app, just trying to figure out how now
  • We’ve got a mobile website but no one visits it
  • Our regular website keeps getting fewer and fewer visits and we need something new

Ok, I get it. That’s a worthy debate. So let’s make it easy to answer:

I get it. Some folks are still debating the mobile question. Hopefully, the items in this post will help you take some posiitve forward steps towards answering the needs of your org, audience, budget, and mission.

How Do You Use Study Resources

screenshot of Olive Tree Bible Study App when using concordance resources
The other day while going through email, I noticed a newsletter from the good folks over at Olive Tree Bible Software. As I read, I saw a neat piece in there about how to use a concordance with their software. Here’s a snippet:

…As you can see, the Olive Tree Concordances are much more than a list of cross references for each word in the Bible. With dictionary information tied to the original language, these resources are valuable tools for Bible study. Each concordance comes with a copy of the Bible in the selected translation…

Read the rest of Using A Concordance in the Bible Study App at the Olive Tree Blog

That piece got me thinking back to how I used to use print resources, then print and web, and then later web and mobile resources in order to do my studies. A good deal of the work that went into feature suggestions and the design of Palm Bible+ app which accelerated my travels in this space. It was very important then to not just have access to the resource, but have it in such a way that it didn’t interrupt the reading flow, but was there when needed. Now then, we did things with the PalmOS Graffiti system, and even the keyboard on Treo devices to make that happen. These days with touch and more consistent connectivity, designing these resources into an app is a bigger challenge.

Even with that challenge, its still a suitable flow of use. So, let’s open question that titles this post (how do you use study resources) with a few qualifiers:

  • For those of you who might use commentaries, concordances, etc. in your private reading, how do you do it? What could be done better?
  • For those of you who use those resources while teaching, what kinds of challenges do you run into either from the side of teaching or the side of sharing the sources of that info with students?
  • For those wh might use these resources to teach, but don’t share them with your students/audiences, why?

There you have a few ways to frame an answer. Let’s hear what you have to say towards using study resources, especially with your mobile-enabled audiences.

How Would Jesus Use (Compter/Connected) Technology

Was browsing over at Symbiota and came across a really interesting question worth discussion on several levels: How would Jesus use technology?

…I think Jesus would have used the technology in a couple of ways. One, I think because we see Jesus working primarily with his group of 12. He talk crowds, he healed and he walked through cities and really impacted a lot of people. But he concentrated, he put a lot of his leadership training in his 12. So I think Jesus would have really used technology to train his core leaders to give them the tools. I think of the story when Jesus send 70, 2 by 2. I can imagine, you know, hypothetically if I can use my imagination them being in the field and asking Jesus the question and having Jesus on Skype or on Google Hangout and he’s saying, OK this is how I would do the situation if I were you.

So I think he would primarily use it in training his core leaders but also because he was impacting so many people, he would make sure that the gospel was broadcasted as far and as wide as possible…

Read the rest of the Interview with Pierre Quinn over at Symbiota

Personally, I don’t know that Jesus would have used tech in that manner. At least not when it came time for ministry. If we look at the text, we see very little of the carpenter in the text, but we do see the effects of his work in terms of social movements, behaviors, and responses.

Its an interesting one, and makes us really think about how we navigate and move in this space. Perhaps its less about the tech, and more about the process after the tech we should pay attention to?

Disclaimer: Symbiota is one of several partner groups to MMM. Interested in partnering with MMM?

Mobile and Disruptive Events

As the USA has witnesses in light of the Boston Marathon bombing, there are some signifiant failings towards mobile that tend to rear their heads. And certainly there are things that can (and won’t) be done to address that. Fast Company went through a litnay of possible ways that carriers have addressed the issue of call/data/messaging volume during emergencies in a recent article:

…Mobile networks have bandwidth that is more than sufficient 99% of the time. However, when disaster strikes, the decentralized nature of the network means that whole geographic regions can be knocked out by increased call volume. Whenever the generous-but-finite bandwidth at carrier site buildings are strained, users are prevented from making voice calls. Because SMS text messages take up far less bandwidth, mobile carriers instead encourage users to text message each other. As Pica put it to Fast Company, “text requires less dedicated real-time capacity than voice. Data networks including LTE and EVDO were not impacted due to the nature of the way data systems are used.”…

Read the rest of Why Your Phone Doesn’t Work During Disasters and How to Fix It at Fast Company

As much as I liked the idea of the article, and have thought about similar here in light of the recent bombings in Boston and Bagdad, I don’t necessarily think of the nature of the network in the same way. In emergency situations, I think of communications channelling going from utility-controlled to P2P-types of methods. We talked about the quick-setup and versatile voice/data network put up at the Burning Man festival each year. And have also talked about the mesh-networking-based product Serval – which acts a lot like the way Skype used to work (several nodes connecting to each other rather than all pointing to a single node).

In many of the conversations about mobile ministry in the missions and security spaces, this idea of P2P communications gets a slightly larger share of attention (from IT folks) than it does in the general conversation. Manily because our normal behaviors have been shaped to expect utilities to be managed from a regional or govermental central point. And indeed, the governance and poolicies set on those levels creates a quality of service level that just isn’t matched by other methods. However, when there aree emergencies, this central-focus becomes a failure point to which its literally a tech and behavior shift to do something different.

In some respects, I’m proposing that we start doing things like sharing communications over Bluetooth (passing notes, contact cards, events, etc.) in normal situations so that when emergencies do come up such as Boston/Bagdad that we are more or less equipped to keep going, rather than feel like the tech limits us to wait until a gatekeeper says its ok to connect in a specific way.