Tuesday, July 8, 2008

EE - Part 1: What is Web 2.0?

Electronic Evangelization - Part 1: What is Web 2.0?

As promised,
I am going to tackle this whole idea
of using the internet for Electronic Evangelization.
And I begin this series of blog entries
with Part 1: What is Web 2.0?

Now, in a previous blog entry some time ago,
I stated that I am not black hat,
meaning bad guy computer hacker.
I stated that I am not white hat,
meaning good guy computer hacker.
Actually, I am closer to red had,
old lady having fun on the computer.

So if my explanation of web 2.0
seems less than technical,
that is why.

But if I,
a non-technical middle-aged woman
having fun on a computer
can reap the benefits of web 2.0,
then I am most certain
that churches across our fair land
can use this bit of information
as they traverse the road less traveled,
the way of Electronic Evangelization.

Web 2.0 is, basically,
a way of sharing and mashing together information.
It’s like a sharing of resources.
This idea shouldn’t seem too far-fetched
as in the off-line world of church,
parishes are merging and clustering;
i.e., sharing their resources.
Web 2.0 is the same idea,
the sharing of resources,
but in the online world.

For example,
if I created something,
a video, for example,
I give you permission to use it
and post it to your site.
Ask any teenager
who has done exactly this
to their MySpace profile page.
That, my friends,
is Web 2.0 101.

Now, in another previous blog entry
I wrote about the Latino U.S. vote.
I borrowed a video from Youtube
that I thought was appropo.
The video plays on my blog
thanks to the beauty that is web 2.0.
YouTuber NuevaVista70 left the embed code public,
allowing me to "share" this video.
(I’ll explain how to use embed code in other Rubi Writing.)

Web 2.0 is about sharing and collaborating.
Web 2.0 is about building your content
and then allowing the community
to build upon it and, sometimes, enhance it.

And the even greater beauty of web 2.0
Is that as the community builds it
more people come. . . .
. . . hmmm, sounds like a definition of Liturgy to me,
if ever I learned it:
Liturgy, from the Greek, "Laos Ergon."
Meaning, The Work of the People.

OK. . .
. . .maybe I’m stretching it a bit here,
even Rambling as Rubi is known to do. . .

But the point is,
you don’t have to create it all on your own.
The World Wide Web and her people
(all of us)
are working together.
And that,
my friends,
is the beauty of web 2.0.
We are connecting to people,
connecting with people
that we may otherwise
never be able to connect with.

Web- based communities, wikis, blogs,
social-networking sites:
These are all web 2.0.
(OK. . wikis can pose problematic at times,
as these can prove to be people re-writing history,
but more on that later. . . )

Blogger, MySpace, YouTube, Yuwie,
Rotatrix, Flikr. . . .
All of them are web 2.0,
and all of them are FREE!

So,
what does this have to do with spreading The Word?
Let me give you a fairly easy example.
Post your Pastor’s Passionate Preaching on Youtube.
Then, post it to your parish blog and website.
(Hopefully, you have a parish blog and website.
I’ll explain why you should have both
in another Rubi Writing.)


Then, have members of the congregation
post it to their Youtube, MySpace, Yuwie, Rotatrix.
It’s your Pastor become virtual and viral.
I mean,
how many times have we all spread
an inspirational story,
some photos,
a joke, etc.
You send it to me.
I send it to my circle of emails.
Some of those folks will send it on.
And so on and so on and so on.
What if. . .
. . .we actually send the pastor’s preaching?
That Word your pastor just preached last Sunday
has now gone all over the world wide web.

But more,
because you left that embed code public
in the YouTube account,
any other pastor,
or anyone for that matter,
can use it for his website or blog.

And because there is room for commentary,
your pastor’s preaching may actually gain value
and viral momentum
as other’s learned in The Word
add bits and pieces of insight
into the comments section.

At Youtube,
you can post a link to your church website or blog
right on your profile page.
You can even post a link
to your church’s site(s)
in the description of the video.

Why,
you can even add text via annotations
to your video.
While you can only link back
to your profile page,
you can still have the text to the link visible:
StJohnDoeParish.org
(Again, I’ll explain how to do all of this
in another Rubi Writing.)


So. . . with the links from YouTube,
you are not only spreading
The Good Word,
with your Pastor’s Passionate Preaching.
You are encouraging folks
to visit your parish website,
where,
hopefully,
there’s a lot more good stuff
for them to learn about. . .
. . .and maybe even a phone number
or email address
where they can ask about
joining your parish!

Now,
what if you posted that same video
not only on YouTube,
but on GodTube and GoogleVideo,
and other sites?
Traffic to your parish website
will explode!

Now,
what if a Presbyterian Pastor also Preached Passionately
and posted to YouTube
and left the embed code public.
Why,
you can "share" in his talented preaching
and do all of the above
all over again.
It might not be your pastor
or your religious denomination,
but it may be eloquent and marvelous
and something your parish wishes to share with others.
Bingo!
You’re evangelizing electronically,
web 2.0 style!
What's more,
the internet has allowed you to share resources
and even helped to create
an ecumenical atmosphere!

Once again, I need to state
that I am in no way suggesting
that the computer replace face to face
person to person evangelization.

But you know,
I remember in the olden days,
a pastor could be found everywhere in the community,
trying to bring the faith
to wherever the people were.

I remember when I was growing up
the pastor in all his collared glory,
was at the 4th of July festival
greeting and meeting folks.

I remember him going
to the local arcade
to be present to the young folks.

The fact of the matter is,
the venue with the largest number of people
who need evangelizing
is the internet.
By and large,
this is where we’ll find our youth.

If we are going to bring young people to church,
we first need to hang out
at the places they hang out,
i.e.; MySpace, YouTube, etc.

The internet is growing
by leaps and bounds.
A new blog goes up every ½ seconds.
There is a lot of trash out there.
Somebody really has to take up the task
of spreading a little Jesus
to all of this electronic parchment.

There's a lot more to web 2.0 than this.
That little organ button at the top left
of this blog is an RSS button.
That's another fine example,
and something which your parish blog
should use,
But. . .again. . .I'll walk you through that
in another blog entry.

. . .and oh, those bookmarking sites are web 2.0, too!

So,
share your resources.
As you share your content across the World Wide Web
you'll find it's not that hard to share your faith
and do a little Electronic Evangelization in the process!

YouTuber, mwesch,
created this video about web 2.0
a short while back.
This says it all.
Enjoy!

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Another progressive thought mixed with action. Thank you and Amen...

I see only one roadblock. You mentioned in your OP, "It’s like a sharing of resources."

I think that may be the problem. Many -but not all -are not interested in sharing resources - at all.

Very few desire to share with one another the goings on inside their own 4 walls with anyone outside their 4 walls, therefore greatly limiting the potential of whatever they may have going on and the subsequent FINANCIAL PROFIT that would piggyback a successful event, when effectively advertised (outside the aformentioned 4 walls).

You and I both know that some feel "information is power" and do not even share that valuable info with those in their very OWN parish. And we wonder why it doesn't get OUTSIDE of the parish?

I am becoming a little more understanding of why things are the way they are today and how things went before 1962 - pre-Vatican II. Some have told me that you didn't even say hello to anyone that wasn't sitting next to you in church. Worship was a private thing. The sign of peace was exchanged with whomever was next to you and that's it. There was no "celebration" - for whatever reason Scripture was ignored - and therefore, not much contact with one another while in the House of David.

No sharing with one another.

I am hopeful that the Internet will help our leaders see that it is -not can be- IS a very effective resource in bringing those Home to the One True Faith of Jesus Christ.

It's obvious it doesn't matter what the guy in the third pew or what the organist thinks or what whomever thinks.

It's up to leadership.


A wonderful idea, Rubi, and may God bless freshness today and open eyes and ears and souls to new ways that can ONLY benefit our Faith. It cannot hurt it. Promoting our Faith effectively and truthfully cannot hurt it. That's why I scratch my head at the hesitation to leap into present day...

If-HERE'S A BIG IF- we can't promote BASIC evangelization, ELECTRONIC evangelization will only lead people to the location. But once they get there, they can't count on the Internet to feed them anymore.

I wonder how many friends I'm gonna make with this one....Remember what they did to the guy a few thousand years ago with a New Way...I better stay inside today...

2 Timothy 3:7-12

God bless us all today, no matter how unworthy we may be...

B D

Taco salad, indeed, Sister....Good call...

Rubi said...

You are right. . there must be something of substance behind the electronic page. . .a church that is alive and vibrant and energetic and ready to serve. . .

. . now here is the kicker that I have found in my life. . .a church/ parish really must also be READY TO BE SERVED. . . .Yeah, we still don't get that foot washing thing. . .even laught at it on Holy Thursday. . Many still just don't want to be served. . .

. . Know what that means? This is where being kicked to the curb begins. ..

. . .but I can only offer what I can offer.. that is to say, I've learned a bit about this machine I'm typing this all into and I just want to, as I say my blog entry, "share resources."

I can't speak to litury pre-Vat II as I wasn't alive then. . . but I've been thinking that I should invite my blog readers on a field trip so some different churches just to see. . . . .

. . OK. . I'm Rubi's Rambling again. . .I just have so much going in my head that I can hardly wait to write it all down!. . . .Maybe I'm closer to holiness than I realize because I hear all of these voices in my head. . .

. . .gotta run, St. Peter's Wife is on the phone. . ..

Rubi said...

ps.

. . information is power. . sadly, some don't understand that word. . .power, not in the sense of earthly power or military might or wall street. . or anything like that. . but power as when there is a major movement of the holy spirit.

. . .ok i see another blog entry with the above thought. . power and the holy spirt . . .

. . but I gotta run. . The Rock Princess is on the phone. . .

Anonymous said...

Amen, again...

About those noises and phone calls...Sure it isn't the Mariachi's comin' a calling?

You know, ever since you mentioned that way back about Mariachis awaiting your arrival, I have become even more excited it....About mine, that is, not yours...LOL...Just wanted to clarify that I wasn't desiring your departure from us!

READY TO BE SERVED....

I believe there is a connection between that and hardly anyone wanting to be involved - it's the same people all the time. Apathy in the ranks.

Do I know that this problem exists in other places? Yes, but I can't save the world. I can pray, but can't save it myself. Nor do I need to or want to. He will.

That's like my kid exhorting to me after I told him he can't -fill in the blank - that his buddy gets to do -fill in the blank- at his house. I don't care what his buddy gets to do at his house. He gets to jump off cliffs, too...

I am primarily concerned with what happens in organizations that I invest my time in - and where a large portion of which direction my eternal salvation plays out in.

Getting more people involved would only strengthen any body. If you partake in a physical training regimen that only includes your upper body, your lower body is not going to benefit.

A two minute spiel once a month isn't gonna do it, either. Not after they've been conditioned to do it the way they currently do it FOR YEARS.

Organizations operate the same way. By excluding (others may usurp my power base), not including (by not EFFECTIVELY reaching out), discouraging others (don't bother, nothing will change) from getting involved or shooting down their ideas because it's new and not the way we've always done it - whatever - we are limiting the potential for optimal health for us or our unit/organization/family. Morale suffers, etc...

UNPOPULAR MESSAGE OF THE DAY -The pre-Vatican II Church did not exactly encourage people to "celebrate" at Mass and although some changes are underway today - to the discouragement of some - many still tow the line of not getting involved. Ask somebody why they don't. They'll tell you.

Unfortunately, too many do not want to hear the common thread answer, so they forego the question entirely.

But, I strongly believe that BEFORE WE GO FORWARD, we first must understand WHERE WE CAME FROM.

If we want to somehow incorporate a flavor of new thinking into any organization(made up of individuals), we first must assess and understand WHAT the current mindset is and HOW it got that way. Only then , can we ascertain how to accentuate it...

My Dad, the old WWII guy, said the mentality on the front lines of France while fighting off the Axis was, "In order to defeat the enemy, you have to know the enemy."

Working amongst friends/colleagues is not much different. A leader must "rule" by garnering cooperation of those serving under him - especially in the volunteer ranks where they can leave without it affecting what goes on their dinner table - and a way to do that is to understand how they think and what their TRUE motivations are.

Of course, to do so, you may alienate a few, but the Pure at Heart will remain to perform the task at hand while morale flows and a healthy environment swirls around all, which ENCOURAGES OTHERS TO GET INVOLVED AND STAY INVOLVED.....

Until then, it's the same people sitting around the same table at the same time every week, wondering the same thought of why nobody else wants to get involved....But when somebody else finally comes to sit at the table, how are they received?

It's one thing to GET help. It's a completely different mission to understand how to KEEP them.

Peace, Sister....Thanks again for your words, which are far from rambling. The nickname is pretty catchy, though...Ramblin' Rubi....I like it...


Thank you, Jesus, for another day of being blessed and highly favored, and may you also show favor on Rubi's openmindedness and goodwill to help bring others into today's technological world. Grant them teachble spirits to learn new things so that all under them may benefit from all that flows from the faucet of knowledge...In his MIGHTY name, we pray...Amen...

B D

Rubi said...

. . the thing is, while i was on the phone with the rock princess, mary magdalene beeped in. . .

.. .i couldn't speak to either gal for very long as i've been spending a great deal of time at the wyandotte art fair.. .

. . .but i promised the ladies i'd keep in touch, write them some letters. . .

.. . .no mariachi bands. .. just taco salad. . .