Eulogy for a bookstore and a short rant

On December 31, 2011 the Baptist Bookroom will close after fifty years serving the needs of the Convention of Atlantic Baptist Churches. It was likely inevitable; the brick storefront model is passing away. I have ordered a few items online from them, but as it is a province away I never visited in person. I took a few minutes to write and ask the folks at the Convention office "So what's next?" Yes, this business model has failed, but the need for good Christian educational materials remain. Yes, there are good online sources like CBD or directly from trusted publishers. But do our parishioners know who are the trusted publishers? Are they current with what resources are available to meet their particular need?

That I think is the greatest loss when the local bookstores close; we lose the local expertise. I think most churches hope their clergy can provide those insights but the reality is that these aren't skills they teach you in seminary. Reader's advisory services are also offered in libraries, and if your religious group has a local seminary/college you might be able to get some assistance there. Most parishioners are on their own; my own research suggests that if they have been given enough rooting in their own groups beliefs they will muddle through. Regrettably many have only a passing acquaintance with the beliefs of their religious group.

Though not surprising, another bookstore closing is sad. But what is sadder still is that there seems to be no plan for what's next. The information age is upon; time to have a strategy.

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Here comes the bride...and the ipad?

I've argued that technology is subtly changing how people practice their faith. Even familiar rituals get transformed. Sometime ago I shared an example of a wedding procession that became a viral video hit. OK, that was good but this is better: the Huffington Post posted a story about Renee the bridesmaid who couldn't travel to the wedding so...she joined by ipad via Apple's video app facetime.



Webcams are ok to watch, laptops are bulky, but the ipad was just right. I recently attended a work meeting by ipad. I sat at one side of the table and could see and hear and participate. But is it ok to be part of a wedding virtually? What is it like to be groomsman? Can you actually sign the register as an official witness if you weren't really there? If it is ok for the bridal party, what about the bride and groom? What happens if your battery dies?

Oh well, congratulations Jamie and Jonathon! May you have many happy years together!

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When its personal...

Sometimes research can get personal. It happens when you find yourself joining your subjects under the microscope. At the recent CAIS conference I presented a paper entitled "Beyond Belief: Prayer as Communication in Information Seeking." I'll write about that later this week. It was a positive experience and I received lots of excellent feedback.

When you study peoples' lives, it is difficult to remain detached. The researcher balances the objective ("etic") viewpoint, and the "insider's" ("emic") perspective. When I study another culture, it is easier to keep my distance; when I study my own, I bring deeper insight but also my personal beliefs. In this paper I examined prayer as an information scientist. But I am a scientist who prays, and believes in prayer. I am prepared to accept critique of my research; my methods and my conclusions. But when someone questions my research subjects' belief in the reality of prayer it unsettles me. I share many of their beliefs. My faith is part of my identity.

I thought more about the challenges that some researchers face; those who regularly engage topics related to identity such as ethnicity, gender and belief. Engaging with your research; engaging with yourself. In public, and under the microscope. CAIS is a safe venue; I've been to conferences that weren't as civil. Yet some researchers regularly place themselves out there.

There is a balance to find here. I cannot become self-indulgent, lest my research really become only about me. I know researchers who have fallen into that trap. But we cannot be afraid to be personally engaged in our research either. There are of course safer topics to study.

In honour of the end of the Harry Potter franchise, here is a good professor scrap.

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SciFi and Human Nature

Outcasts is a new miniseries on the Space Channel, a post-apocalyptic storyline developed by the BBC. The premise is that we have devastated the planet earth and in 2040 we must leave to start over on another planet. Our new home is called Carpathia, named after the ship that rescued survivors of the Titanic disaster. Most evacuees don't survive the trip but a colony is established, and the story begins ten years after the initial landing. Can we really start over?

We discover quickly that the colonists have personal baggage, some from earth, but also guilty decisions made since planetfall. The spacecast blog notes: "The characters are presented with the failings of the human race - will knowing what went wrong on Earth really force us to change our ways, or will "human nature" turn out to be the deciding factor?" At one point in the pilot episode the leader of the expeditionary teams concludes, "You start all over again, you mess things up again. That's just how it has to be."

Religion and media researchers have argued that channels "narrowcasting" to specific audiences have the opportunity to explore issues that the major broadcasters wouldn't consider. As yet, religious themes in Outcasts have not been raised, but the question of human nature looms large. From a religious perspective, I understand this as a fundamental question. Any social movement, secular philosophy or religious dogma that doesn't seriously address human nature misses the rescue boat.

The Judeo-Christian tradition does, though with varying interpretations. In the archtypical start-over story from the Bible, Noah and the flood, we read:

" ⁵ The LORD saw how great the wickedness of the human race had become on the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only evil all the time. ⁶ The LORD regretted that he had made human beings on the earth, and his heart was deeply troubled."

Ouch. One significant counter theme in this tradition is there remains hope that God provides start-overs, heaven sent Carpathias.

I'm intrigued to see where this series is heading, and to answer the question: "who are the outcasts?"

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