Socail Media: Bring on the Pain!

Okay…I have been messing around with this social media stuff long enough!  I fought against it (kicking and screaming I might add) thanks to the teeny-bopperish-ness of the pioneers such as Myspace and You Tube (still don’t like either one).  Then several minister friends had po

sted through their blogs that they now had a Facebook page and we should follow them on there as we would have quicker access to things that were going on and could be more collaborative.  I finally acquiesced.  Now nearly a year later I find that I am in a heightened state of learning about this frontier in communication.

Much like everything related to computers and information technologies this arena is rapidly growing and expanding.  And by no means do I even come close to being an expert (intermediate maybe, but no expert).  However, I

do like to try new things and explore how they work and how they can be applied.  You’ve already heard me mention Myspace and You Tube (and yes I have accounts with both that I never use).  Myspace bugs me because it simply is just too dang slow.  I want places that I visit on the web to load quickly (hey I’m running a 4GHZ sy

stem, and on cable modem at home and work).  Sorry Myspace but you

didn’t cut the mustard…and what’s with all this “pimp your space” crap about?  Sheesh!  I am not much of a video person or picture taking person so I am already a little biased against these kind of sites.

But I can tell you this… if there is a video to be had you bet you can find and everything else in the universe related to it on You Tube!  More than likely if you’ve never heard of You Tube you probably just crawled out from under rock and said, “What is this inter

net thingy and can I find a video on it?”  Great service, lousy search function.  Sometime later the conservative folks, tired of seeing people make complete fools of themselves by shaking their booties or getting hit in their privates, formed God Tube (now known as Tangle).  Much better run in my opinion and the se

arches are not quite as broad in their results.  And there are many, many more video applications.  If you would like to know more about them

, I suggest dropping a line to @TonySteward.
Now for picture management on the web.  Oh where to begin?  How about the favorites like Flikr, Picasso, and Twitpic are all great services.  Like I said I don’t do much video or pictures.  Word of wisdom?  Sure.. try one out till you find one you like!
Now that all the background has been set, let’s talk about t

he major three networks:  Facebook, Twitter, and Friendfeed.  In a nutshell here is a look

Image via CrunchBase

at all three:
Facebook – Much like Myspace but traditionally has been for folks that are a bit less interested in pimping their backgrounds and adding music players to their “space”.  Facebook is a service that is supported by

commercials and advertising.  Fortunately for us that use Facebook, the ads are in unobtrusive places and generally do not cause a hindrance to the sites functionality.  Positives include the ability to search and find people of interest or relation in vast number of ways including game applications.  Ability to promote organizations, causes, events, and so on, quickly and easily (and free).  And the folks at Facebook are quick to

offer ways to promote what ever it is that you need to promote for a small fee (really is reasonable).  Negatives include an onslaught of these little apps that have no quick way to preview until you’ve already agreed to take a look.  You may also find yourself quickly addicted to at least one of a great number of game applications that seem to draw people into endless hours of waste.  To each his own.  Conversations with groups of people is not in real time and generally your status updates (or posts) are directed to the masses.  Facebook does have a chat feature, but seems to have a proble

m with reliability and only allows a conversation with one person at a time (try having three different conversations sometime like that…AHHHHHH!).
Twitter – Everyone is talking about it.  Everyone seems to be

joining a twit-this or tweet-that.  Yes Twitter literally exploded onto the social networking scene a couple of years ago and ca

Image via CrunchBase

ught on like wildfire!  Quite simply, Twitter is a simple communication app that allows you post at status (“What are you doing now?”)  Why?  I asked myself that very same question and have discovered that there are many folks out there genuinely interested in what you might have to say.  I regularly have conversations with people all over the world in short 140 character bursts.  It’s not as easy as it sounds, but now that I am nearing my 3000th tweet I am confident that I can post most anything in under a 140 characters!  But I digress…  One of the great advantages of Twitter is that it was built around the same engines that make texting possible.  Hence, if you have a smart phone Twitter is suited for instant application between desktop, laptop and mobile use.  There have also been a whole slew of Twitter-based applications that deserve looking into.  More on that later…  Downside to Twitter?  You bet there are!  First of all is the most obvious:  140 stinking characters!  For those of you that are language purists, just walk away.  Then there is the difficulty in actually having a two or three way conversation while everyone gets to see what is going on.  Once again you can have a private conversation, but only with one person at a time and not in real-time.
Friendfeed – despite it’s rather cannibalistic name, this is a great little application that seems to draw in the best of both Facebook and

Image via CrunchBase

Twitter worlds.  Status updates appear as threads.  And each thread gives the opportunity for you like the comment (simple and painless when no comment is needed), comment, or hide (should you find the thread offensive or not exactly work-friendly).  Like Facebook and Twitter, you still get to choose who you subscribe too, but you also get to choose what discussions groups you want to belong to (a great way to meet folks with similar interests).  Now the really cool parts:  All of the comments are real-time and auto-update!  Conversations can be individual private threads or collaborative public threads.  You have a ton of flexibility to meet your needs.  Your threads can even be set to post to Twitter and Facebook.  Another great feature is the posting of pictures directly to the threads.  In Twitter you are able to only post a link to a video or picture service (such as twitpic).  In Friendfeed the pictures and videos are directly posted in real time.  Too cool!!!  I just recently began using Friendfeed and will update you with some of the neat changes coming in the future.
Bonus – Tokbox – For those of you into live streaming video/audio, I strongly recommend Tokbox.  This is a free service that allows you to create a real-time video conference.  I have joined in several of these little get-togethers and have seen as many as nine people involved in active exchange.  A great service to consider using and it will only continue to improve.

Now that you have all this under your belt, go and try some on your own.  If you want more information on any of these apps, try tweeting some of these folks, the true gurus of emerging technology:  @human3rror @TonySteward @djchuang @CynthiaWare

Driving Lessons – A Dad’s Perspective

Okay…so I’m finally there.  My baby girl isn’t a baby girl anymore.  In fact she turned 15 last month and is blossoming into a fine young woman and I am very proud of her.  And as with every child since the 1950’s, it’s time for her to train for her next rite of passage…her driver’s license!
Now ordinarily that would not bother me.  When I was 15 I enrolled in Driver’s Ed that was taught by the State of Texas DPS on high school time (my birthday is in July so I didn’t take it in the summer like everyone else did).  I had a little help from Mom and Dad before then but not much.  I was okay with that because I did (and still do) have a motorcycle license.  So many of the basics I already had pretty much conquered.  Now fast forward 35 years.
Many things have changed about the way Driver’s Ed is taught and I don’t believe it is for the better.  So I am taking a firm hand in her education.  “Put the radio in one place and leave it or shut it off.”  Rule number 1 has been espoused (wish my Dad had dropped that one on me – might have saved a ticket or two).  Rule number 2, “IGNORE YOUR CELLPHONE!!!!”  This one will be especially difficult for her.  She is the product of this time and is glued to her cellie.  Rule number 3 (one of my fav’s), “Don’t just look twice when crossing and intersection; look three or more times.”  And then came rule number 4.  This one brought up a bit of controversy at the ol casa.  This rule deals with right of way.  Now everyone nows that certain vehicles have the right of way in certain situations.  But I think my version cuts to the chase and throws all of the exceptions out the window:  “Rule number 4…The bigger the vehicle the more right of way it has!”  Think about it.  It applies in almost all situations.  You might even go so far as to add the Autobahn postulate, which clearly states, “the faster the speed the more right of way you have.”  (Any of my German readers please feel free to correct me on this).  Onwards…
Rule number 5, “Train your eyes to see things that might happen.”  This was an easy skill to develop in my motorcycle days.  Particularly growing up in South Texas where a full third or more of the residents were from up North in the winter time.  They seemed to not be able to deal with motorcycles very well and often times tried to run me and my compadres off the road.  A little unnerving at first but we got used to it.  This has been a fun rule to learn as we drive down the road and I ask, “What do you see?”  Followed by answered like potholes, kid’s bikes, speed limit signs, etc.  She is aware of much more than I anticipated.
These are the rules I have covered so far.  We still have the Three Second Rule and a host of others yet engage, but this journey with her has been…Fun!
She is not afraid to ask questions and seeks my approval before wanting to go to the next level.  Pretty good kid I gotta say!

We may have to revisit this as time progresses…Technorati Tags: Driver’s Education, Nostalgia, Driving lessons, cars, rules of the road

Annoucing Tech Boot Camp 2009!

There are so many events going on in the major metropolitan areas (can you say Echo, Catalyst, and Church Tech Camp). Fantastic events for large churches with amenable budgets. But I attend a small church, and we are blessed to have a few more resources than others. Why not share on our level?

Hence Tech Boot Camp 2009! Three days during July, focusing on training in Audio, Video, and Internet Technologies. I will post more about it as the plan comes together and facilitators are lined up. I have already had a couple of requests for live simulcast on Tokbox! Appropriate I think. The Audio and Video workshops are going to cover the nuts and bolts of audio and video presentation tech and using them in fixed (house) and portable settings. The second half of the Video tech workshop will cover broadcast video as well as video production. And finally the third installment will be an un-workshop on Internet tech and social networking/media and how the small church can manage it.

If you would like to know more about Tech Boot Camp 2009, check out our hashtag on twitter #techbc09 and the event page on Face Book! Site will be coming soon. For more info email me at blunsford@fbcmexiatx.org or if you are on twitter, DM me @mexiabill

Make plans to join us in July for Tech Boot Camp 2009!

Star Trek – Worth the Buck?

Image by Coneee via Flickr

I have been a Star Trek fan for years.  More so a Sci Fi fan.  I have found that the imagination of those that write Science Fiction ispire the inventions of tomorrow.  Take for instance the simple automatic sliding door at your local grocery store.  The inspiration of that very simple device was the Star Trek television series of the late 1960’s (surpise to those of you under 30).  I remember the very first “skoosh” I heard as James T. Kirk walked out of the “elevator” and onto the bridge.  But I digress…

No spoilers here.  If you want to know specifics about the movie go read a Hollywood review!  No rather I would like to speak to how well the new movie Star Trek fits into the franchise.  The new writers (again go read a review) did an excellent job holding onto Gene Rodenberry’s vision of the future.  The original series left many questions that Trek fans (I really resent the debate between “Trekkies” and “Trekkors”) have made assumptions about over the decades.  This film clears all that up and lays to rest many of the more whacky suppositions.
As we would have expected of Roddenberry when he was alive, the majority of the Star Trek franchise is focussed on the future.  He very rarely took a look back at the past unless there was a lesson to be learned that future simply refused to acknowledge (for example the “City on the Edge of Forever” episode and the movie “Star Trek IV”).  Now we see a look back to how this crew became “the crew”.  Hats off to casting.  Usually I leave a movie thinking, “You know this was a good film, but it would have been better with so-and-so as you-know-who.”  Not so in this film.  The cast is outstanding taking on the vesitges of the stars we all know and love while adding a little youthful attitude of their own.  The special effects and for the most part the cinematography are outstanding.
So much for the upside… on the downside there are only two issues I had with this film.  First, I don’t know where this herky-jerky, jumping-around action camera angle  came from but STOP IT!!!  It is simply annoying.  It is the main reason I can’t stand to watch the new Battlestar Galactica series.  Admittedly I have never been to space, but I would imagine our brains would adjust to the changes that zero-gravity might have on the way we view things.  So…JUST STOP IT!!!!  Secondly this is a long movie and it was a long time to hold 32 oz of soda down!  An intermission would have been nice.  Make sure you get the potty break out of the way during the previews.

Well those are the highlights.  I will give you one spoiler.  I wonder how long the young James Tiberius Kirk had to work to copy that familiar William Shatner stance at the end.  The cast seemed to gel really well…maybe a new Star Trek series is in the works?  I guess we’ll just have to sit back and see.  All in all, GO SEE THIS FILM!

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Hauling Water for the Toilet!

I know…kind of a strange title for this blog post.  Today I have a guest writer.  The Fleming’s and their three kids are missionaries in Kenya, Africa and have been good friends of mine since we moved to Mexia back in the early 90’s.  They are great people with a true heart for God and the Boranean people.  This week they sent out their monthly newsletter, and I thought it would be intersting to see just how folks live in Kenya.  And to think we gripe when the satelite or the cable goes out….

We continue to push on with our work at Huruma.  We are holding weekly meetings with the Sunday School Teachers to continue our training in the use of the new curriculum.  Some of the challenges we face in Kenya are due to substandard water supply. We are currently living in a part of Kenya where there is a public water supply.  However, that water supply is frequently off so most houses have water storage tanks in their attics so that during  the times the water is off, the family still has access to water from the tank as they wait for the water service to be restored.

When we first moved into our house the water that we were getting was extremely brown.  You can see the brown water in the top of the water filter in the first picture below.  After we had been here for about 2 weeks and the water had still not cleared up.  We decided that we needed to investigate the problem.  The upstairs tank was a very old galvanized water tank and it was rusted and in very bad shape.  The property manager decided that the tank should be replaced. So the storage tank has been unusable since that time. That was 2 weeks ago.

     

The “city” water comes into the house only in the kitchen sink and in the inlet for the washing machine.  So we have been hauling water from the kitchen to the bathroom to flush toilets for 2 weeks.  At the many times when the city water was off we were hauling water from an outside faucet that belongs to a neighbor and was fed off his storage tank.  Here is a photo of Alan and Connor installing the new tank.  It holds about 150 gallons of water.  The second photo is of Alan boring a hole in the tank, the third is one of Connor, who is actually inside the tank.  He is holding the other side of a fixture that connects to a float valve.

 

Prayer Requests:

1)  Please continue to pray for us as we try to stay “ahead” of the Sunday School in writing the curriculum that they are using each week.

2)  Please continue to pray for the teachers that they learn to use the curriculum and that all of their students will come to know Jesus as their Savior through these stories.  So far it is going very well.

3)  Pray for a trip to Western Province that Alan will be making in June.  He is going with a Kenyan pastor friend for the purpose of evangelism and church planting.

4)  Please continue to pray for our financial support base to grow.  We are very thankful to those of you who have begun to give to our ministry on a monthly basis and for those of you who have chosen to give a one time gift.  It is a tremendous help to us.

 

We are still struggling with meeting our monthly expenses.  This also causes us not to be able to engage in as many ministry opportunities as we would like to because we frequently don’t have the funds to take the public transport to the church in Huruma.  Please pray about donating to our ministry so that we can do the things that God has called us here to do.  See a list of our needs/expenses and information on how to donate at www.byhisgrace.cc/flemingfamily/expenses.html 

 

Thank you for your prayers, encouragement and financial support.  They are a vital part of our ministry.

 

---

THANK YOU for your continued PRAYERS and SUPPORT
Alan, Leah, Abbey, Connor and Ross Fleming
 
NEW BLOG FOR OUR PRAYER REQUESTS
http://www.byhisgrace.cc/flemingfamily/prayer.html

 

To DONATE  to our ministry with the Borana People go here
http://www.byhisgrace.cc/flemingfamily/donations.html

 

To FIND OUT more about us and our Ministry to the Borana People go here
http://www.byhisgrace.cc/flemingfamily/

Thanks to Alan and Leah for their permission to reprint this.  If you can help in any way, please contact them at one of the links above.

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A New Toy For FireFox Blogging!

Image via CrunchBase

While taking my weekly trip through the FireFox add-on’s, I discovered a new jewel to add to my blogging crown, Zemanta.  Zemanta acts like a mashable side-bar offering ideas to support your blog post as you are writing it.  Should be interesting.  I follow up with additional posts to let you know how it works.
 

Posted by jure, under releases, zemanta on February 9th, 2009

One of the important lessons of working with bloggers was that people take their editors and blogging software very seriously. That’s why we’re happy to announce integration of Zemanta into ScribeFire Blogging Editor. For those who don’t know it, it’s #1 blog editor for FireFox with over 2.5 million downloads.

I just used Zemanta to add this to my post!  I think I be likin’ this little add-on!

More to come soon!

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Technorati Tags: blogging, Zemanta, FoxFire, add-on

On-line Community: An Oxymoron?

There has been much buzz about the Internet trying to define “community”.

Wikipedia defines community as, “In biological terms, a community is a group of interacting organisms sharing an environment.” In its most raw form community takes place when more than one person in involved in daily occurrences.  There is no doubt that there is a ton of communication going on; one-way, two-way, and multiple participants. So there is definitely interaction.  I guess the big issue here is really the definition of environment.

Why is “environment” so hard to define? I suppose by the very nature of the beast, environment is a dynamic device. Our physical environment are constantly in flux. But why do we limit our environment to the physical? Most of us that carry on relationships (of any nature) find that our virtual relationships are just as important as our physical relationships. In fact most of those that have become cyber-adept (to coin a term) have groups that they communicate with in several settings (MySpace, FaceBook, Twitter and so on). Do these different settings constitute dynamic environments? What about the on-line gaming groups…are they not referred to as communities? And if environment is truly the issue, how does Second Life fit into all of this discussion?

Truly, I feel that community is a place (whether on-line or physical) where ideas, philosophies, likes and dislikes can all be shared. A place where new thoughts can develop due to the collective input of more than one voice. Indeed community is a place of emergence.

An environment of synergy!

I’m too disappointed with UStream

While plugging along in the twitterverse, an update Bart Millard @bartmillard) popped up promoting an online concert featuring his band (Mercy Me in case you didn’t know) and Jeremy Camp amongst others.  The event was the last of the series Rock and Roll Worship Concerts this one taking place live in Springfield, Ill., and broadcast live on UStream.  Jeremy Camp was awesome!  I highly recommend him if he’s coming to your town.  I caught the first two songs of Mercy Me’s set before UStream  blew out (second time in the hour or so I was watching).

Typically one could blame things like broadband availability, traffic to the site, etc., etc.  But I don’t think that was the case…the live blog was still flowing strong with updates from the folks there.  Bart and the boys always put on a good show and their live testimonies are incredible…if you have not seen them do so soon!

UStream:  Fix your stuff!  This is the second event I have tried to watch/participate in only to be disappointed by your inability to maintain a signal.

A Cool New Tool For Bloggers!

Hopefully you are not still wasting time with Internet Explorer (too clunky and has a lost much of it’s functionality for way to many reasons to list here).  I have joined the minions who have switched to FireFox!  And one of the coolest things about FF is the ability to add little apps that customize the functionality of FF to what you do the most.

One of the things I have resolved to do this year is to write and read more.  Both are difficult for me due to time constraints.  So I am always looking for something that allows me to accomplish my goals in the shortest time possible.  I just stumbled upon an extension called ScribeFire and I strongly recommend it!

Rather than having to log into my blog spot, I can use ScribeFire right from my main browser window and start writing away!  It seems to come with a full line of options and tools that make it perfect for my ADD personality!

If you blog and use FireFox, then ScribeFire is a must for you.  To learn more about it and download it go here.

More Amazing Twitter Feats!

I still have many of my not-so-tech-savvy friends ask me about twitter and what it does. On a regular basis, day to day, it largely depends on the user (much like everything else). But here is an example of what happens when a tool is used the right way!

Back in February, there was a series of little “get-togethers” across the land with a single purpose…to raise money to combat the lack of water in developing and third world countries. They (the twitterverse) called it Twestival. Working in conjunction with Charity: Water, $250,000 was raised {read more about Twestival and Charity:Water here}.

This is the second of like events that I have been involved in that have used technology to achieve incredible tasks! I confess most of what I do on twitter is research and conversational. But to think that a simple social networking application can be used (on a huge scale) to defeat common problems worldwide is fascinating. I saw a comment recently that made the point “If you don’t want it read world wide, don’t write it here.”

Think about that…It is very true. Many of the young people today post some insane things on their blogs, myspace, flicker, facebook and twitter accounts. What are you thinking gang? Do you realize the language you use and the thoughts that you express literally impact people all over the world? Employers from large firms simply do a google search and there you are…what do they see?

Let’s make some good choices here. Use these applications in ways that serve humanity in a greater way.

A huge Thank You goes out to John Saddington at ChurchCrunch.com for the inspiration.  You da’ man!