From June 28 – July 1, 2007, the web-savvy minds of Adventists from all over the globe convened on the campus of Newbold College to discuss how church work could be more dynamic, attractive, and…radical. Workshops ranged from asset management concepts to learning how to optimize a multi-lingual website.
From the beginning keynote through to the breakout group sessions, the theme of approaching potential souls with innovative communication became more and more clear. Raafat Kamal, Field Secretary, Global Mission & Stewardship Director, Trans-European Division, likened the emergence of Internet evangelism to that of religion on the radio. Just as radio was not well received in the church, Kamal suggests that the Internet was criticized for costs of development and equipment. Traditional approaches may not be effective in certain world regions. Yes, even the newbie GIEN attendee would not dispute that point, but the question remained: What would be the approach that would captivate the short attention span of today’s web 2.0 geek? Where is the net taking us as a society? What YouTubeish phenomenon will make the world even more sociable than it already is?
The answer came from the comments of a highly seated church official (gasp). A story that started out about meeting with the world’s top media executives ended in a simple phrase, “The next hottest medium of media is the mobile phone”. He continued by placing priority in the power of web mashups and their role in captivating an audience just long enough to encourage a click conversion.
The global growth of mobile technology has finally settled in as a standard market targeted by marketing sleuths on every continent. Let’s consider it, there are (stats for mobile users) phones walking around the globe today. In some countries, there are more mobile phones than computers. Mobile use has been considered to even surpass the plateau of instant messaging on a PC according to recent reports.
Bottom Line
The crowd’s motivation to minister online didn’t come as a result of learning new concepts or a new communication medium. The desire to make current sites better was driven by the success of social media’s influence on human interaction. The Internet is nothing more than a tool used to come “face to face” with a real live person and share the story of Christ to someone searching for Him. Are we as Adventists willing to format a 60 minute show into a 30 second mashup just to stay aligned with market demand? It seems a bit radical doesn’t it?
Monday 9 July 2007
Where is the next GIEN?
Word on the street is that GIEN 2008 will be in Cape Town, S. Africa. Start saving up from now!
Sunday 1 July 2007
Open End(ing)s
Well it's all officially over. And what did we learn from the Global Internet Evangelism Network 2007 forum?
* Did we gain a better realization of the internet's potential as an evangelistic tool?
* Did we find out how the internet works, its principles and its philosophies?
* Did we develop new ways evangelize, to collaborate, and to dream?
Well, yes. And no, actually. Perhaps it can't really be sorted out without actually attending. Perhaps this is something new and novel, ushering in hope. Perhaps all of these questions and concerns have been previously addressed. Or, perhaps, everything was what it was and will only ever be what we will it to be.
Heavy philosophy there. But really, what more is the internet than a tangled mess of ideas? Perhaps we're on the right track after all.
* Did we gain a better realization of the internet's potential as an evangelistic tool?
* Did we find out how the internet works, its principles and its philosophies?
* Did we develop new ways evangelize, to collaborate, and to dream?
Well, yes. And no, actually. Perhaps it can't really be sorted out without actually attending. Perhaps this is something new and novel, ushering in hope. Perhaps all of these questions and concerns have been previously addressed. Or, perhaps, everything was what it was and will only ever be what we will it to be.
Heavy philosophy there. But really, what more is the internet than a tangled mess of ideas? Perhaps we're on the right track after all.
Collaboration
Wow...today's breakouts were fantastic. After being inspired by a lecture from Bruce Moyer on reaching out to migrants and refugees, attendees went to work by breaking out into four groups. Each group discussed one the following four topics within the GIEN environment:
1. Ethics
2. Design & Usability
3. Technology
4. Postmodernism
1. Ethics
2. Design & Usability
3. Technology
4. Postmodernism
iPhone Buzz Follow-Up...
Yeah, there was no buzz. I suppose the caution alert in London was enough to focus on more relevant issues of security.
Friday 29 June 2007
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