AAR...the pirate conference?

Actually it is the American Academy of Religion conference...though given the range of topics covered I'm sure there is room for something on buccaneer theology or privateer prayers. Groan...I just googled "pirate's prayer" and wouldn't you know it someone "piratized" the 23rd Psalm...will I never learn?

But I digress...the AAR conference is next week and I hope to attend (with a laptop to blog the sessions). There is so many concurrent sessions that I am having a hard time choosing. One session I am interested in is about sacred spaces especially spaces that become politically contentious. The folks at Oxford Press are offering a "how to publish your book" session. Now I just need to write one. Of course I'll be taking in a few sessions on Law and Religion (there is one of blasphemy that is very intriguing) and even Music and Religion. I'm fascinated to see how many sessions revolve around Religion and Obama; both the role of the religious right in the past presidential election, but also I expect the near messianic role Obama was cast in during the campaign. There is a session with William P. Young, the author of The Shack. A number of you know that I am of mixed feelings about this book: on one hand it explores important themes of deep pain and disillusionment that the Church often is afraid to address; but is a fictional work with sometimes problematic theology. I'm still thinking about that session. There are lots more sessions, some way over my head (buddy, if your title itself is five lines long...) and some just seem strange (is "transhuman" like the borg?) If you're interested take a look yourself and let me know if you see any you think I should attend. My schedule is still being drafted. :-)

Read More

Does Facebook hurt your faith? What do you think?

A new study by two Gordon College faculty is making its way around the blogsphere . To sum up: young college students are using social software so much they don't have time for christian disciplines like prayer, Bible study and service. They apparently found:

• Thirty-three percent of students surveyed (between the ages of 18 and 27) from four evangelical Christian colleges use Facebook or other social media for as much as two hours every day.
  
• Twelve percent reported using it between 2 and 4 hours.
  
• Another 2.8 percent said they used Facebook between 4 and 7 hours every day.

I do wonder about the cause and effective though; is Facebook keeping young Christians from Biblical priorities or they simply aren't that concerned about Biblical priorities to begin with and this is how they fill the time. In another context would it have been fishing down at the pond, or hanging out at the mall, or a part-time job that keeps young people otherwise occupied? The assumption being made is that teens at Christian colleges should be committed Christians. My experiences as a residence advisor in a christian college many years ago suggest that may not be a valid assumption. :-)

What do you think? Is there another side of the story? How might social software like Facebook actually encourage faith, community and christian development?

Read More

"Well, probably because I enjoy..."

"talking with them." I've been reading the book Information and Emotion this week about the importance of affective aspects in information seeking users studies (i.e. how our emotions influence our seeking of information.) It is an emerging field, although we've known all along that how I feel can radically change how I search for information. Am I frustrated, satisfied, inspired, confused, bored; oh sorry, I'm online: (>_<) :-) :-0 :-\ (-.-) ? I noted in an earlier post that people frequently prefer talking with other people when seeking information. The words in the title were from a study I assisted with some years ago that considered how people selected information sources. Most of the time people talk to people because they need human judgment and opinion around the facts already obtained. Sometimes people are convenient sources. Sometimes they are the least expensive source. But sometimes I'll ask you because I enjoy talking to you. Yes, you may not know a lot about the subject, and yes, you may meander all over with your answer. Yes, maybe there is a website that covers the question is detail. But I don't enjoy AskJeeves's company and the expert dude on the Futureshop search page kinda freaks me out (is he still waiting on the other tab....)

Sometimes I'll stop by to ask you a question because I like your company and if I get info at the same time so much the better. Maybe at the end of the day feeling good about information seeking is just as important to me as good information seeking. Gosh, did a librarian just say that! ;-)

Read More

Church as InfoOrg...

As part of my research, I will be gathering and analyzing church produced information. I would imagine that most people would not consider churches as information organizations. The activities of worship and social outreach would predominate in people's minds. Yet two of the key activities of churches are preaching and teaching; both information intense activities. As a former pastor I know that a significant time investment goes into sermon preparation and presentation. What about preservation? Is that sermon a "one shot deal" or is that information preserved, stored and indexed in a way that it can be accessed by the congregation for future reference. I have benefited from reading some collected sermons from preachers of by gone years (here is one of my favourites). What about our teaching; if we use purchased curriculum, do we have a library where past materials used are archived? Are original class materials preserved? Or do those classes simply disappear as if they were never taught? What about communication, another information intense activity? I travel from time to time and it is my practice to always attend church on Sunday morning. The phone book tells me who is in my neighbourhood and the web tells me who they are. I am amazed sometimes that many church websites are so uninformative (here are one or two I like from smaller churches.) When I do arrive, I spend time looking at bulletin boards and information tables. Sometimes these are a lot like their websites. :-(

Churches produce a lot of information. I wonder how much time congregations spend thinking about how they manage all that information. This is not a new idea. Preserving important information has had a long history in the church: "since I have investigated all the reports in close detail, starting from the story's beginning, I decided to write it all out for you, most honorable Theophilus, so you can know beyond the shadow of a doubt the reliability of what you were taught." The Gospel of Luke chapter 1.

I guess someone thought that information was important. ;-)

Read More