Monthly Archive for May, 2009

Queen Bees and Wannabes — Where Is Tina Fey When I Need Her?

Published
by
Sarah
on May 16, 2009
in Faith
. 2 Comments



Warren sent me a link to an article in Alban Institute that discusses the church’s utilization of 2.0. I thought one comment in particular bears further reflection for our purposes:

It’s one thing to add Web 2.0 interactivity to an organization’s Web-presence.It’s another to “know how to … encourage the social interaction that is integral to the concept” of Web 2.0, by both attracting users and encouraging them to contribute content, and thus “to build intellectual capital.”

This hits on my greatest concern — that no one will “follow.” I can be absolutely right on target about the power of these 2.0 elements to build the church, but it is irrelevent if no one will use them.


Just what does make certain things “trendy?” Why would anybody ever want a pet rock? I’m hoping that Ginger will be able to guide is in that department. I’ve never been a trendsetter myself. In fact, much to my surprise, I learned in college that I’ve always been just a tad behind the times. But in my childhood, I was one of the Queen Bees. I knew when playing jacks or 4-square was what the “in” kids did and I played them well. I knew when you had to wear jeans hi-waisted without butt pockets. I knew what year it was okay to wear painter pants and when you would rather die than be caught wearing overalls.

Once I had kids, I lost my cool. According to them — I was lower than a wannabe. According to them, I was too clueless to even know what I should wanna be. And although I was now old and uncool, I remembered my jr. high lessons that the only thing that mattered in determining your cool factor was what others perceived. (SNL skit Mom Celebrity Translator) The older I get, the more I am inclined to twist up the names of the pop culture stars and wearing jeans too short and too high. When I suggest to my old high school friends to get a facebook account so we can more readily and easily stay connected, they balk — some even get hostile. I have tried to beg, steal and borrow my own family members to get a Twitter account so I can try to figure out the point. Nothing. Nobody. No responses.


If it is a social networking “hub” that we are trying to create, then it needs to be the place to be, it needs to be where the movers and shakers hang out, it needs to be charismatic. Then, the hub can be strong enough to bring the marginalized in and eliminate these labels. Or that’s what I hope.

It seems like a good idea to me

Published
by
Sarah
on May 14, 2009
in Faith
. 0 Comments

I talked to my old, good friend  Jason this morning. We met at  seminary 10 years ago. I liked him immediately even though he spent a lot of time tsk tsk-ing me like a fussy church marm because I was behaving irreverently in chapel. But acting irreverently was the only way I could survive seminary by the time I was a senior. So many people took themselves so, so seriously. So many great songs were forever ruined and a few of my favorite biblical stories. Later, we ended up working at the same church.

Spent an hour today just browing the ping social network group for anglicans interested in the Emergent Church movement. Chuck was absolutely right. That’s a picture of him. He’s a lot smarter than he looks. He told me to check out what’s being said about this movement. It is articulating exactly what I am searching for and what i am wanting to make tangible with this project. There are also many elements in the site that I like, particularly the  way videos and blogs are readily accesible and easy to browse. At the very least, the diocesan website ought to have individual profile pages and parish groups and diocesan groups where conversations, etc .. can be posted.

Secondly, I loooked at the website ChurchMarketingSucks.com where I found a great article, Church Copycats,  that describes the ridiculous practice of taking a pop culture phenomenon such as Twitter, MySpace, Facebook, YouTube and creating a replica site for Christians, i.e. GodTwitter.com, GodTube, GraceSpace, GraceFace. This is exactly what I don’t want to come across as trying to do. I don’t want to create something that “Christians” go to avoid the real world. I want to create a space that real world people go and bump in to “christian” stuff. Does that make sense?  Also, I want to be a cool geek, you know?

Chuck said that The Next Wave.org has some of what I am describing and he is right on that point, too. (I’m starting to think that Chuck “gets” me :) . Anyway, this is an online magazine (e-zine) that focuses on the culture’s role in society. It has regularly occuring columnists. It has a book selection, although I didn’t see if there were actual reviews or not. This site is also strongly associating with the emerging church movement. I was interested to note on the Gathering the Next Generation  website that it is shutting down. One of the issues was that no one had the time or energy to devote to carrying out these “emerging” ideas and do their day job at the same time. This begs the question, doesn’t it. At what point does the church simply put their money with their mouth is. Just do it … and what are the resources required to make this project actually successful in practical terms and not just another conversation that clergy have pontificating about the new way to do church while continuing to do church the old way.  Karen Ward uses the fabulous phrase “a preferential option for the future’ that I think refers to the polity people making exceptions to the rules, creating space for risks, providing capital for ventures so that we can actually have praxis beside our lofty kitchen table talk.

To change the subject — a few days ago, Gregg was describing the way Intel uses a company that produces a 3-d, virtual reality like “world” that simulates a conference hall. You can visit separate rooms to sign up for different workshops, watch different videos, leave notes, etc… (Gregg, is that right?) I was just imagining a virtual cathedral looking site where you could go to various rooms depending on your interest. Maybe he can show us an example because I doubt that Intel would use something with graphics like second life. But I can imagine an animated, 3-d graphic that you can move around within it. Perhaps you’d find …

  • Music room for music, videos, scores, etc … you could go be a DJ on Blip.fm and impress your friends with your great taste in music. You could watch a video of your child’s choir solo. You could look information on the hymn you heard last sunday or listen to a recording of  Gregg  Bennett’s mighty guitar licks.
  • Kitchen (recipes for crowds)
  • Sacristy (wikis, manuals)
  • Study (you name it …)
  • Classroom (more and more)

I just got off the phone with Clinton Bonner from The Social Collective. This was a very exciting conversation. He talked about how on the Epicenter website, we could add a tab that said “My Epicenter” that had all of an individual’s “stuff” on it. It would have their personal profile page and the groups they are involved with. He said it would work seamlessly with the existing website and not have to be built. We wouldl have messaging capabilities, branding that would replicate all the diocesan logos, colors, etc … that would then be extended to Twitter, Facebook, etc … We could crowdsource, utilizing feedback to determine what content people want. We could have contests where people vote for favorites. For example, we could have a contest for a soloist at diocesan council opening service. People could turn in their video or mp3 recording and the community would vote for who they wanted. This company would be the site administrator and host. I liked him a lot. I am going to write him a summary of what I would like to see available. He is going to put together a webinar that could be used to present to the bishop.  I’m so excited now that I have to stop and make an iced coffee.

Oh yeah baby. I’m feeling much better. My iced coffee taste delicious because I put four spoonfuls of raw sugar to melt in the hot espresso. I also turned on some tunes in Pandora. I’m listening to a “Brown Eyed Girl” radio station. If you don’t know about Pandora, you should this out: about Pandora genome project..

So, good, full day. I think my idea could work without a doubt. The question is money and access. I don’t know how much this might cost. Clinton said his company’s cost would be based on how many users we expected. We pay for the amount of “space” on the cloud. Also, Gregg is suppose to be talking to Jim Malsh, an old friend of ours who owns a company that does similar computer services.

Well, it’s late now and I’m going to start some laundry, think about dinner plans and take my bra off relax.

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