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Web 7

Blogger Basics 101 – Part 1 – The Internet

Posted By on July 1, 2009

bloggerbasics_internet

This is Part 1 of the 5 Part Tech Series on “Blogger Basics.” Find the rest of the series here.

The Internet.

It’s pretty big. It’s pretty wide. It can be pretty complex (but doesn’t have to be).

And although you don’t need to know everything, especially as a blogger, about how the web works, it’s good to know at least some of the basics, like how data travels across the world on frail lines that shouldn’t actually work.

In fact, if you really understood how the “internet” was set up you’d probably be pretty flabbergasted that the darn thing actually does what it does and that we aren’t constantly plagued by outtages and downtime.

Why is knowing some of this important to you, the blogger? Because it can actually help you, especially if you’re setting up hosting or managing your own domain. And even if you’re on free hosting or a hosted environment it can help you understand outtages, speeding your blog up, and why your visitors  are apparently experiencing your blog “differently” depending on where they are located.

So, where can you get started? Check out this great article here that will give you a good primer. Read only as much as you’d like, and if you manage to get through the first page you’ll be more intelligent about the “internet” than about 99% of it’s users.

Internet Church, Video, Web 13

Marriage is Like Video Sex via Skype as Online Church is To…

Posted By on July 1, 2009

videosex

Remember those SAT questions? That’s what I was thinking about (hence the title to this post) when I read John Piper’s thoughts about Online Church:

God made us with bodies. He made us to give holy kisses to one another—embraces, handshakes, eyeball-to-eyeball conversation.

He made husband and wife not to have imaginary video sex through Skype. He made them to go to bed together in the same bed. He made them to raise children in the same house, with hands-on hugs and spanks on the bottom and love.

And he made churches to get together to hear each other sing, and to look at each other and talk to teach other, and minister to each other and help each other die well.

John references the heresy of Docetism to form some context around his statement above, which I agree with.  There is definitely a model which God and Christ gave us coming into the world manifest in the flesh which we can never completely disregard.

In any case, this is a conversation that is going to take more and more of a center stage as much of what we do in terms of communication, connection, and community are moving toward the web.

If anything, I think John’s final point is one of the best:

There are mysteries here in human relationships that we can’t quantify. And I don’t think that they can be replaced by electronic symbols.

So, what are you thinking? Thanks Ipiphanist for starting the conversation.

[Image from Elvis]

Mobile, Video, Web 20

In the Wild: Live Video Stream of Service on the iPhone – World’s First

Posted By on July 1, 2009

iphonemac

This past weekend I had the pleasure of seeing a live video stream service on the iPhone. It looked absolutely brilliant, and worked extremely well.

The Honolulu-based New Hope Christian Fellowship (http://www.enewhope.org) announced it recently that they will begin streaming its weekend worship services live to iPhone and iPod touch users:

Live streaming to the iPhone was one of the most requested features from church attendees, and is now possible with the inclusion of HTTP live streaming in Apple’s iPhone 3.0 software. New Hope’s addition of live streaming to the iPhone is significant in that it is the first non-profit organization to offer this type of service.

Leveraging standards-based HTTP streaming technology, New Hope will deliver high quality video over either a Wi-Fi connection or other carrier network, providing for a truly portable experience.

Exciting times, indeed!

Thanks Peter for giving me the sneak peek! Love what you guys are doing and we’ll be watching!

Picture 4

[Image from Jimmy]

Web 17

The Challenge of Occupational and Recreational Boundaries

Posted By on July 1, 2009

boundaries

Although this could probably take this post into a pretty light-hearted spin, it’s actually a very serious issue I’ve been dealing with lately, and especially when it comes up in a “serious” conversation with my bride.

The challenge that I’ve had consistently in life is the balance or delineation rather of where my occupation bleeds into my recreation. In fact, they are so interwoven that it’s near-impossible to spot the difference.

A lot of my hobbies, interests, and personal passions swirl around the internet and online-related media. My occupation has always been there as well.

I’ll be browsing the web doing research (which is also very pleasurable) for work but which I also do for a hobby. I’ll be developing applications for business but also be spinning in regression testing on personal dev machines in parallel that might be, in fact, the same application base. I’ll be waiting to upload something to a server for work and while that’s spinning I’ll draft something quickly for a blog post.

It’s almost scary how natural this is for me.

My wife has noticed this as well, as I’ll switch from “business” to “personal” almost seamlessly and then back again without difficulty, without hesitation.

I think a challenge all of us face, especially those who’s lives are constantly becoming more “in tune” with the internet is to explicitly lay those boundaries out and, if needed, get help and “accountability” (whatever that means for you).

You guys feel me?

[Define Pieces]

Blogging, Social Media, Web 8

Flickering Pixels – Group Blogging Project – Chapter 11

Posted By on July 1, 2009

virtual

Chapter 11 is covered by Adam Shields as part of our Group Blogging Project discussing the book Flickering Pixels by Shane Hipps. If you need a quick overview to what Flickering Pixels is about, please go here.

In my previous post for chapter 2 , I said that I had a bad taste in my mouth because of previous videos that I had seen with Shane Hipps; turns out that the previous videos were all based on this chapter.  Luckily, this chapter has more detail than the videos.  I decided that I couldn’t really respond to this chapter adequately in one post so I am dividing my response into two posts.  This post is about the danger of virtual communities to Christians.  A second one about outreach to non-Christians is on my personal blog.

The summary of the chapter is that Hipps believes that “virtual communities” are far more virtual than communities.  They present a real danger both to the individual and the community because they inoculate people against the very concept of biblical community.  He discusses it using the illustration of cotton candy, all fluff with virtually no real content, and what content there is, is basically just sugar.  In some ways I really agree with this.  Virtual community is of necessity a shadow of biblical community.  This has to be true, because virtual community includes only some of the senses, it often does not have the deep context of biblical community and it allow people to hide in ways that biblical community does not.

My response is that most community that happens in real life is also not biblical community.  It is completely possible for people to hide their real selves in real life community as well as virtual community.  (We all know of pastors that were having affairs, while putting on a good show to the community.)  So while we as Christians should strive toward biblical community, we should be doing that in both Real Life and Virtual communities.

In the world we live in, many people have lost access to real life community for both good and bad reasons.  I am a stay at home nanny.  I also work out of my house part-time as a consultant for non-profit organizations.  Almost all of my contact with adults during the day occurs either through phone or internet.  I have made a choice that my ability to stay home with my two nieces is more important than being present in person at a job.  Technology has allowed that to happen.  I know that there are times when a real life conversation would be better than a phone or internet one, but because of distance, time, or other reasons I have to chose the lesser of the options (because I have made a prior choice that I find more important.)

There are also bad reasons that people prefer virtual community, they want to hide, they are painfully shy and don’t want to put forth the effort to push their boundaries.  The reality is that most choices are a combination of both good and bad reasons.  So what should we do?  My vote is that we should continue in virtual communities, but make every effort to turn those virtual friends into real life friends whenever possible.  My wife keeps my accountable on this point because she refers to my twitter and blog friends as “fake friends” until I have met them at least once in person.  One meeting is not enough to build real community, but it is a start.

This past January my father-in-law passed away.  My wife found much solace in her virtual community.  Many of her real life friends were able to reach out virtually in ways they could not in real life.  For some of them, there was physical distance. For others their own loss of a parent made it difficult to actually talk to my wife in person, but they were able offer up prayers, short notes and comfort virtually in ways that they literally could not in person.  There was also a third set of people, ones that were primarily virtual friends that made the effort to be present in person.  We had a friend drive four hours from Nashville just to be with us.  Other friends that hadn’t been seen in years and were for all practical purposes were only virtual friends even if they were physically close, made the effort to come and see her in person.

The reality of life is that it is complicated.  Technology is not going away.  We will continue to have ever present cell phones, twitter, facebook and real life communities.  What we need to be striving for is a biblical community, whether it be in real life or virtual (or for most relationships a combination)

[Image from Therefore]

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