By Peter Biggs

Read part 1 | part 2

The spread of the gospel in the first century was greatly enhanced by the stable, safe and well designed infrastructure that the Roman dominated world enjoyed, referred to as the Pax Romana of its time. The internet despite having a dark, indeed sinful side is a new infrastructure that can carry information, indeed two way communication, in ways unimaginable only a few decades ago.

According to Internet World Stats, with a current world population of around 6.676 billion, nearly 1.5 billion people, (or 21.9 percent) are using the internet. In North America this rises to 73.6 percent of the the population or around 248 million. According to a 2007 report a remarkable 94 percent of Canadian teens have internet in their home. While exact numbers are unavailable it is clear that the vast majority of church members are linked to the internet.

The "digital culture" (as opposed to print and broadcast) has a number of new elements including random (or non-sequential) access to information and replicat-ability (or the ability to copy/transfer media) These factors have changed users expectations. Indeed younger users (those who have never not known digital delivery of media) no longer live their lives around "the six o'clock news." The trend is clear that users expectation is that media should be available:

• what ever we want (multi media - mp3s, videos, web, text messaging, email...),
• when ever we want (RSS allows us access anytime to time specific content, like radio or TV shows),
• where ever we want, (Smartphones, iPods, Sony's PSP).

For many media outlets, (this should include churches and ministries in our thinking) the challenge this 'new media' experience brings is revolutionary. Record companies failed to understand this, allowing Apple to completely overtake them with iTunes downloadable .mp3 music. How can, or even will the church effectively use these new channels of communication? It will take resources of energy, money and time. William Badke author of "Research Strategies - Finding your way through the information fog" and "The hitchhikers guide to the meaning of everything" bluntly admits, "I think the biggest problem with churches and websites is that the average church lacks techies who are interested in exploring the potential. There may be techies in the congregation, but getting them to do much more than put a website up seems to be a real problem."

Web 2.0 - two way tools

For many church leaders there is need to educate themselves on the basics of WEB 2.0 - the documented way the internet is being increasingly used. (See accompanying Web 2.0 Wikipedia window and click on links of new Web 2.0 terms)

In basic terms people are connecting in new ways:

Email is by far the most popular use of the internet. New media (digital content) can still be used as old media, using email merely as a faster letter delivery system. Never the less there are efficiencies, with pictures, small movies and audio being able to be attached to messages. Recipients and messages can be grouped, and messages matching defined criteria can be automatically redirected, copied, deleted or filed by the email program. As a means of communication it can however be very poor. To communicate irritations, offense of any kind or issues that are very important and nuanced can result in misunderstandings and more - miscommunication. Although emails can fly back and forth - it is a world away from the interaction of a conversation (phone or in person) with the instant feedback to thoughts. In short, know when NOT TO EMAIL! and pick up the phone!!

Interpersonal Connection & Networks In addition the digital culture has allowed for an entirely new level of interpersonal connection, through instant text messaging, most commonly using the cell phone. With this instant, yet not face to face communication, there is also the ability to manage previously unimaginable social issues and come to consensus about 'where to go tonight' very quickly.

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Online IM's enable us to say and be anything we want with impunity, being only known only by a "handle." Here we touch the underbelly of the internet with sexuality a very present 'sub-text' even danger. That real immorality is only two clicks away and totally private should be understood by all. Computers for kids in their bedrooms?!

Forums Wikipedia, the online encyclopedia defines a forum as, "the ability for people to start threads and reply to other people's threads. (Someone posts a message which is visible to everyone, you read it and then have the option to post a reply which will also be visible to everyone, thus a discussion can build up without all users having to be online at the same time.) However, most forum software provides considerably more than this." The free flowing ability for any user to start new discussion threads and respond to them can result in a confusing array of comments posted, plus abuse needs to be monitored. Packages are freely available to add to web-sites such as phpbb.com and vbulletin.com. Internet service providers can help with the set up, for a modest fee many will even set them up for their client.

Blogs Blogger, one of the online services that facilitate blogs (or web logs) defines the term; "A blog is a personal diary. A daily pulpit. A collaborative space. A political soapbox. A breaking-news outlet. A collection of links. Your own private thoughts. Memos to the world. Your blog is whatever you want it to be. There are millions of them, in all shapes and sizes, and there are no real rules. In simple terms, a blog is a web site where you write stuff on an ongoing basis. New stuff shows up at the top, so your visitors can read what's new. Then they comment on it or link to it or email you or not. Blogging has also been used by established politicians and political candidates, to express opinions on issues.

Push not just pull

A growing and significant change in the web is that of using 'push.' We are all used to web surfing using a browser program such as Internet Explorer, Safari, or Firefox. We are in effect 'pulling' content such as web pages from a server, across the net down onto our screen. We can save the location of that web page as a bookmark in the browser, and we pull it in again. Push however describes content that we select once (subscribe to) and is then readied for us by the source.

RSS (Really Simple Syndication) is a new term that descibes this more streamlined way to to have for example local news stories 'pushed' to you automatically. Major news providers such as CBC, Reuters, CNN, and the BBC offer many different groups of content (National, Local, Health...). This results in a constantly updated list of content available as simple headings. The content needs to be read by an RSS reader (some Web browsers can read RSS feeds). Content can be also pushed onto any website where it is continuously and automatically updated.

Podcasting This term that originated from the ubiquitous Apple iPod described .mp3 audio files of content (not simply music) for an audience "that wants to listen or watch when they want, where they want, and how they want." wikipedia A common application is radio programs. It allows that anyone with minimum equipment can produce a program. Upon selecting the .mp3 file it automatically starts downloading, but immediately playing too. Podcasting is commonly combined with RSS to alert subscribers of new content. Christians are slowly adopting podcasting, Apple's iTunes store lists hundreds of free podcasts when searching for "church." Old media outlets are increasingly adding online streaming audio/video on demand of a wide range of shows, news, documentaries...

Other trends are emerging... (I have not touched on social networking - eg. Facebook) These series of articles merely seek to introduce and inform the church as to opportunities, largely untapped at present... for connection, communication, community and synergy partially transcending geography and time.

Peter Biggs, a local church pastor for 20 years, recently completed his senior management certificate in Web Development and New Media at British Columbia Institute of Technology; he is instrumental in the design of this website.

December 18/2008