Tech Geek

I read and watch a lot of things about technology. Sometimes something catches my attention and I know that I couldn't have said it better myself. So, since I'm not the only one thinking about how to use technology in ministry and the network is all about sharing our resources, I decided to pass along these posts. Fellow ELCA Youth Ministry Network member Erik Ullestad has been doing some pondering himself about how technology interfaces with youth ministry. So, after using some technology (Twitter) to exchange direct messages and get his permission, here are two recent posts from his blog, koinonia. -Pastor Andy, the official, but not the only, ELCA Youth Ministry Network Tech Geek

It's How You Use It

I had a good chat with Ellen today. She's a part-time youth minister, full-time student, part-time salon diva, and full-time rockstar. Ellen is a fellow PK (pastor's kid), so we speak the same goofy language.

We got to talking about the ways that technology has impacted youth ministry in the past few years. We surmised that the primary form of communication with teens is text messaging, followed by Facebook. (This is not an earth-shattering observation, I realize.) We boasted about how lucky our churches are that we have unlimited texting plans that we pay for and about how awesome we are at using Facebook to connect with kids. Good for us...

But then we paused. Are we really using these tools in the best possible way?

I hearkened back to Andy Root's excellent book Revisiting Relational Youth Ministry:

Ministry, then, is not about "using" relationships to get individuals to accept a "third thing," whether that be conservative politics, moral behaviors, or even the gospel message. Rather, ministry is about connection, one to another, about sharing in suffering and joy, about persons meeting persons with no pretense or secret motives. It is about shared life, confessing Christ not outside the relationship but within it. This, I learned, was living the gospel.

I wonder if maybe the same principal applies to our use of technology in relational ministry. Maybe instead of using texting and Facebook to get kids to come to youth group, we should use those tools to bring the presence of Christ to those young people through the communication. Let's look at the other members of the Unholy Half Dozen. Anne carries on conversations that span several days through text messaging. Jake uses Tatango to send a daily text message devotion to his high schoolers. Angie and Megan are constantly posting comments and messages on kids' Facebook wall.

In the scenario of technological incarnational youth ministry, the question is no longer "how many kids came to youth group", but instead "how many kids did you text this week"?

It's a slippery slope. My friend Eric always says there's no such thing as a solitary Christian. In essence, faith is both a private belief and a corporate confession. We are always driven to a communal expression of our faith through worship and acts of lovingkindness. It's easy to allow the digital communication we have with young people to become their primary connection to the church. This is not good; not only because of the Pied Piper Syndrome, but because it robs young people of the richness of Christian community and sharing the sacraments.

I might play around with this a little in the coming week. I'll continue to use texting and Facebook to remind kids of upcoming events (youth group, Easter Breakfast, Youth Gatheirng meetings, etc.) -- but I also might try to devote some time each day to intentionally make more frequent connections with kids through the use of these technological media.

I just hope these kids have unlimited text messaging plans, too!

and the second post reflecting on this issue

So Now What?

Yesterday I wrote a lengthy post about how I'm trying to use technology more effectively in youth ministry.

Blah blah blah.

Irony gave me a chilly awakening this morning when I started the car and heard Radio Tradio on the local AM radio station. For those that are unaware, R.T. is like a garage sale that takes place on the radio. People from all over the state of Iowa (and beyond?) call in, wait on hold for a while, and then offer descriptive summaries of the stuff / junk they're trying to sell. The host (supposedly) writes these descriptions down, and encourages the listeners at home to do the same. I could go on, but I'm afraid I'd be snarky, judgmental, and pejorative in my discourse.


Here's the thing. My encounter with R.T. provides me with the perfect entry point to the sequel to yesterday's article.

How enormous is the functional communication / technology gap right now?

I'll pick on myself to illustrate the conundrum...

I'm sitting in a Starbucks, sipping a $2 cup of coffee while syncing my Blackberry Curve to my MacBook and writing on a blog. Twhirl, Gmail chat, and Facebook are all open just in case anyone wants to connect. Skype and iChat are also at the ready for video chat. (And creating hyperlinks like nobody's business!)

Suffice it to say, I feel like I've done a decent job of keeping up with the frenetic pace of change in suburban culture.

And yet I live in a world where people hock their old crap on a 50,000 watt radio station that covers a radius of 250+ miles. I just wanted to scream "have you not heard of Ebay...or Craig's List...or, for that matter, the flippin' INTERNET!?!?!" The R.T. peeps probably have never even heard of any of the linked items in the previous paragraph...and they don't even care. Their life is probably not made better if they hopped on the technological revolution that's happening around the corner in their local high school.

And yet, even as I admonish these people for their obsolescence, most of whom are significantly older than me, I realize that it's just as likely that the kids I work with might think the same awful things about me.

Let's face it. I'm almost 30, with three kids, a mortgage, and a minivan. I don't know how to make Bluetooth work, or even what it is. The van is 10 years old, and thus has no cool hybrid / GPS sorts of gadgets. I don't use Digg, Technorati, or Delicious. I just upgraded from a clunky flip-phone and 200 text messages a few months ago. (Several kids from church plow through 4,000+ texts a month). I can't figure out how to send email messages from said phone, no matter how hard I try. We don't even have cable / dish television at home.

So what's the point of this disjointed rant?

Perhaps there is none...other than to say that we're in a tricky spot right now as a culture. How do we live, share, learn, grow, challenge, and love in a world that is navigated in so many different ways? What can the Radio Tradio crowd contribute to the iPhone demographic...and vice verse? And (perhaps a more important question) - how do we bring those people together and facilitate that kind of communication when they don't even speak the same language?

hrumph....

I need another cup of coffee...

Erik Ullestad is the Family Life & Youth Director at Windsor Heights Lutheran Church, West Des Moines, IA. He also contributes to Faith Lens, Reel World, Here We Stand Confirmation, Akaloo, and Spark resources. He blogs at www.erikullestad.blogspot.com. Erik attempts to live out his baptism as a husband to Allison and father to Anna, Isaac, and Evan. They enjoy playing baseball, basketball, volleyball, and watching movies together. He has a Bible Study on Baptism in the Winter 2009 edition of the Connect Journal.

There might be several reasons you want to create a Podcast such as distributing sermons or make-up Confirmation lessons, training your volunteers, or letting others listen in as you and friends “talk shop” about youth and family ministry. One idea is to record a weekly ten minute training podcast for your adult leaders. You can then podcasts the training (and burn CD’s to hand to your volunteers for those not podcasting). 

As we talked about in an earlier session; a podcast is simply a sound or video file with a special piece of code that lets your computer automatically download new “episodes.” Today we’ll talk about some tools you’ll need to create an audio podcast locally and then we’ll talk about some tools for distributing your podcast on the internet. Many of the same principles can be used for creating a video podcast, but for the sake of simplicity we’re going to stick with the audio realm today. 

Tools for Creating a Podcast 
You can create a recording very easily using a typical computer. I’m going to share with you some of my tools, which are very inexpensive. You can always upgrade equipment or software, but I’ll assume you’re just getting started and want to start cheap and then upgrade. 

Microphone: The first thing you’ll need is a microphone. I recommend one of the several USB headset microphones (look in the gaming section at the store). A USB microphone will bypass the microphone input in your computer. The headset will allow you to hear the audio output clearly and the USB signal is, in my experience, cleaner than with microphones that go into the microphone plug on your computer. 

Recording Software: You can use any program that records audio. Audacity (http://audacity.sourceforge.net) is a great, free program that allows you to record audio and edit it later. On a Mac I understand Garage Band is a great program for recording and editing sound files. MP3 is the preferred format for podcasts, be sure to choose an editing program that will save or export your finished product as a MP3. 

Many podcasts are recorded with the participants, or hosts, being in different locations. Often this is done using Skype, a free internet telephone program. If you plan on using Skype you will want to download a Skype plug-in such as Pamela Call Recorder (http://www.pamcorder.com). You can then import your recorded call into an audio editing program such as Audacity. 

Another Recording Option: Many churches have a sound board in the worship space that includes microphones and CD recording hardware. This is a good option for a high quality recording, especially if you want to have a recording with multiple microphone inputs. The recording from the CD can then be converted, edited, and uploaded using your computer. 

Adding music to your podcast: Many podcasts begin with introduction music or a theme song. You can find music for your podcast on the Podsafe Music Network (http://music.podshow.com) or at IStockPhoto (paid, http://www.istockphoto.com). Be very careful about the music you include in your podcast because you are now “distributing” your recording and this can create a copyright infringement.

Once you have recorded and edited your podcast, now we have to find a way to distribute it. There are a couple of “services” that make this very easy. Podomatic (http://www.podomatic.com) let’s you create a profile and podcasts simply by signing up on their website and uploading your files (also check out http://www.mevio.com, http://www.ourmedia.org, and http://www.audioblog.com). 

You can also create your own RSS feed to distribute your podcast, though this is a little more complicated. If you are using a web publishing tool such as Wordpress or Joomla there are extensions that you can install that will create the RSS feed for you. One can create the web code for the RSS feed themselves, but I’ll assume if you know how to code XML you don’t need my tutorial. 

Once you have created an RSS feed, post the links to the feed on your website. I would also recommend posting a link to the individual audio files so that those who don’t want to subscribe can still download and listen to the files. 

The final step to distribution is to submit your RSS feed to the ITunes store. You don’t have to do this, but this will be a great tool for those that want to describe as most of them will probably be using ITunes. Inside of ITunes, go to the ITunes Store, click on Podcasts. On the ITunes podcast store, go to the bottom left of the page in the Learn More box click on Submit a Podcast. In this window there is simple wizard that will walk you through setting up your Podcast. 

As you can see, with some simple and free tools you can create a podcast. There are a number of other services not mentioned here that will help you with the distribution of your podcast. Here’s a link to a video (http://revision3.com/systm/podcasting) that will give you a good introduction to the hardware side of podcasting and show you a very high level setup.

I’m sure you’ve at least heard of the term “podcast.” Many churches, television and radio networks, and non-profits are developing podcasts as a means of spreading their message and building their community. This is the first of a two part article on podcasting. Today we’re going to talk about what a podcast is, how subscribing to podcasts might be a helpful tool for your ministry, and some nuts and bolts about subscribing using various tools.

Next week we’ll talk about how you can put together your own podcast, including hardware, software, and web tools.

What is a podcast?

A podcast is basically an audio or video file that is posted to a website with special code. This special code (called RSS) will talk to your computer and automatically download new “episodes” when they are placed on the website. This allows you to subscribe to a podcast (in ITunes or other software, we’ll cover that later) and get any new episodes that are posted automatically rather than going back to that website on your own to look for new “episodes”.

Podcasting gets its name by combining the words broadcasting and IPod. The first podcasting code was written for IPods, but now nearly all MP3 Players and computer media players can do podcasting. So do not think you need an Apple computer, IPod, or even ITunes to listen to podcasts. For a more in depth treatment of what is podcasting check out this article in Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Podcasting .

Why might this be useful in Ministry

Podcasting reflects one of the great truths about the internet, there is great space for niche communities. You can find podcasts about youth ministry, preaching, youth culture, hobbies, current events, etc. You are no longer at the mercy of a television network or publisher to get your news, but you can customize your stream of information. I enjoy listening to sermons from other churches, technology podcasts, and “A Prairie Home Companion” (yeah, Garrison Keillor!). If you like talk radio, you will probably like podcasts. There are, by the way, music podcasts for those not into the talkie thing.

Okay, How do I get Started

I’m going to walk you through podcasting ITunes. In ITunes, the easiest way to subscribe to a podcast is in the ITunes store. In the ITunes store you can search for a topic or browse through the podcasts. Each podcast has a simple subscribe button that automatically subscribes you to the podcast using ITunes. Most podcasts are free, even in the “store,” but some do charge for subscriptions (typically those with exclusive content).

Sometimes you will want to subscribe to a podcast that is not listed in the ITunes store. A podcast does not need to be listed in the ITunes store for you to subscribe using the ITunes software. This is how you can subscribe: Your podcast is probably associated with a website. On the podcast website look for the “subscribe to this podcast” button (or something like that). Click on that button; this is the “podcast feed.” The podcast feed looks like a website address and probably ends in “rss”. Copy that address to your clipboard. Now, in ITunes click “Advanced” (top toolbar) and then click “Subscribe to Podcast.” A window will come up that allows you to paste the feed you had copied to the clipboard earlier. You will now be subscribed.

When I synchronize my IPod with ITunes, I can set my podcasts to synchronize, meaning I will always have something fresh to listen to. I can also set my IPod to synchronize only new episodes (un-listened to) and remove old episodes (listened to) from my IPod. You don’t have to use your IPod to listen; you can just watch or listen to an episode using your computer. You can also use other portable MP3 players by synchronizing using other media players.

Auto Delete

I would recommend setting your podcasts to auto delete. This setting will delete your episodes after you have listened to them. This will keep you from filling up your hard drive with shows you’ve already listened to. There may be some shows you want to keep, but generally auto delete will avoid some frustrations down the road.

Other Programs

There are a number of other programs that one can use to podcast. I have chosen to show you how using ITunes because it’s the most popular. One alternative is Juice http://juicereceiver.sourceforge.net/. Juice is an open source program that focuses solely on podcasting as opposed to ITunes, which does many other things. Subscribing to and finding podcasts on Juice is very similar to ITunes.

Viewing Online

Many podcasts will also let you view or listen to the episode online, directly on their website. I will often listen to/watch an episode before I subscribe to future episodes. Understand that when you subscribe you are going to automatically download an audio or video file to your hard drive.

Some Podcasts you may want to check out

(these are web page addresses not feeds)

Youth Ministry

The Source for Youth Ministry

http://www.thesource4ym.com/podcasts/

Simply Youth Ministry

http://www.simplyyouthministry.com/community-podcast.html

Youth Specialties

http://www.youthspecialties.com/freeresources/podcasts

Preaching

Sermon Brainwave Working Preacher.org (Luther Seminary)

http://www.workingpreacher.org/default.aspx

Have fun trying out this new way to find information and participate in a community. Next week we’ll talk about how to create a podcast and how this might be useful to you in ministry.

Thanks to Andy Sahl for helping all of us learn about podcasts.

Andy Sahl is the Director of Youth Ministries at Bethlehem Lutheran in Saint Charles IL. He also blogs occasionally at Unpackthis.com and can be found on Twitter at twitter.com/andysahl.

February 17, 2009 has come and gone and the sky did not fall. That is the date that the government had proposed all analog TV stations switch to digital broadcasts. Recently, they called a time-out and postponed that date to June 12, 2009. In either case, however, the day is soon coming when the old rabbit ears won't pull in a TV signal to an old TV. While this has caused some confusion, it is well covered in lots of places around the net. One possible set of mis-adventures is here.

Actually, an antenna will still pull down programming and you might be surprised at how good it looks. At my house, northeast ofKalispell , MT, I can get some of our local stations on my TV. They are fuzzy at best. Last summer, after I got a brand new HDTV, I was surprised to find that our cable company didn't carry the NBC affiliate inHD. There advertising manager was a member of our church and had told me they were broadcasting in HD . So I bought a $20 antenna that said it was for HDTV. I ran the channel scan on my TV and there it was. Channel 9, analog, is fuzzy and just about unwatchable. Channel 9-1, digital, is crystal clear and made the Olympics a joy to watch.

The reason I'm writing about this change isn't really to talk about TV at all. Last week I was catching up on GeekBrief.tv episodes and Cali Lewis brought something to light that I wasn't aware of. With the transition, the government is going to be reallocating some of the radio spectrum to new uses. This could impact wireless equipment, like microphones or wireless guitar pickups, that you use in your congregations.

Cali writes, at http://www.geekbrief.tv/wirelessmic

A lot of of wireless equipment operates between the frequencies of 698 to 806MHz. After the digital transition, in some cases it will be illegal to use those devices like you’ve been using them for years. They’ll continue to work, and over time, they’ll be subject to interference from new devices using the old frequencies. If you’re going to continue to use one or more wireless mics operating in the 698 to 806MHz range, you may have to register that use with an FCC database.

Both Shure and Sennheiser are offering trade-in plans to help you transition to equipment that is safe and legal. It doesn’t seem to be quite as scary for those of us using Lectrosonics Mics.

It’s complicated and here are some links that might help you navigate the change:

White Spaces Explained
Audio-Technica White Spaces Fact Sheet (PDF)
Shure - “The Truth About Wireless Microphone Technology” (PDF)
Lectrosonics - “The Sky is Not Falling”

I'd definitely recommend reading through the first guide, White Spaces Explained, as it helps make this whole issue more understandable and also has information about which of the major manufacturers have equipment that is likely to be impacted. If you're interested in learning more or if you have equipment from Audio-Technica, Shure, or Lectrsosonics, read those articles as well. Check out what is in your sanctuary or gym and see if you have equipment in that 696 to 806 MHz range. If you do, it looks like contactingSennheiser or Shure might be a good idea. Shure has some additional information about White Space.

Don't you just love when things change and break all by themselves! I don't know what this may mean, but I wanted to pass along a "head's up" to some of the folks that are going to get the questions about why things stopped working.

Pastor Andy
techgeek (at) elcaymnet (dot) org