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!

Electronic Evangelization

I received a call from my pastor last week..
. . .well, o.k. . .
one of my pastors.
The truth is,
I've been practicing tri-parrobics.. . .
. . . sometimes, during the school year, even quadra-parrobics. .
but that's another blog entry.

Anyway,
my pastor called me because the new parish website was finally up.
It took a really long time to move that project
and I could just hear the pride in his voice.
I didn't want to pop his bubble,
but it really was only a homepage.
The project took a long time,
for a variety of reasons.
And I could tell he was just so happy.

He called because he was asking me how to use Youtube.
How do you upload?
How do get the code?
Do you need an account?

I remember discussing using youtube
for Electronic Evangelization with this particular website committee
quite some time ago.
The response from one of the members
was that we should use Godtube instead.
I remember saying we should use them all:
Youtube, Godtube. Google video. . .
The thing is,
I don't think everyone understood why I said that.
As usual,
I was thinking way outside the box.
Way, way outside the box.

So, I've decided that I will use this blog
to give a step by step for using Youtube.
And I'm going to that for a variety of reasons.
First, because my pastor asked me how to do this.

But mostly,
I'm going to do this
because I think most parishes still don't quite get
the idea of using the internet
for viral marketing.
Let alone, for Electronic Evangelization.

I think many
don't have a clue as to just why places
like MySpace are reaping success.
But more,
many don't know how to use web 2.0
for Electronic Evangelization.
I dare to say
that many pastors and parish lay leaders
don't even know what web 2.0 is!

And another thing,
Blogs are VERY important in this online age we live in.
Parishes need to blog everything.
Blog religious ed news.
Blog the pastors column.
Blog social ministry updates.
A blog will give you more "space"
than a traditional printed bulletin.
I mean,
the content is already created every week.
Just click it into a blog.

Blogs will get traffic faster than a traditional website.
Mostly because they are updated often.
Google likes to see frequent updates.
The more updates, the better.

And blogs are interactive.
People can comment and react
to all things written.

But blogs also offer other benefits,
which I will also detail in future blog entries.
Again,
it's about Electonic Evangelization.
And using tools that are so readily available to us.

You're probably wondering what the heck I'm
rambling on about here.
So,
I've decided that I'm going to do a series of blog entries,
a Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, if you will.
Not just to give a step-by-step of using Youtube.
But why we should be using these online places
for Electronic Evangelization.

These places:
Youtube, Myspace, Blogger. .
They're all FREE!
Why not use them?
Plus,
it's a great way to get young people involved
in a parish ministry.
Most teens already have a Youtube and/or Myspace.
Most teens know some basic html.
I know my 14, soon to be 15,-year-old
knows way more html than I do!

So, use their teenage knowledge.
Invite them into an electronic ministry. . . .
. . .The creativity could be phenomenal. . .

. . .oops! . . .
I jumped out of the box again. . .

Oh. . .and somewhere along the way
I'll write about using the internet
for fundraisers.
I think many parishes may be missing
an opportunity in this arena as well.
But first,
we really need to learn other things.

Now, don't get me wrong.
I am in no way suggesting that we replace
good old fashioned parish life and ministry with the internet.
Far from it!

What I am suggesting
is that we use the internet
to our benefit.

Oh, still another thing,
If your parish has a very special group or ministry,
they really should have both their own blog and website.
For example,
one of the parishes I frequent has a dance troupe.
They, my friends, are quite deserving
of their own online home.
And this for a variety of reasons.
But, again, I'll detail why in the weeks to come.

O.K.
Enough of Rubi's Ramblings for one morning.
I have mass at two parishes today.
So. . today I'm only practicing the art
of being bi-parroquial!

Be sure to check back for this
Electronic Evangelization series!

The Church of Google

A friend recently sent me an email about boycotting Google. Although he cleaned it up a bit, I believe it was one of those forwards that got forwarded. To tell the truth, I followed the link in the email and it made me laugh out loud. But I decided to investigate this.

First of all, let me say that I like Google. In all honestly, I would be hard pressed to follow through with such a boycott. You’re reading this blog because Google owns blogger. I YouTube a little. Youtube is owned by Google. I use Google Analytics and Google’s webmasters tools. I search primarily on Google and I also have several Google alerts.

And Google set up shop not too long ago in Michigan. In this day and age when Michigan is suffering so much economically, Google stepped into our fair state and brought some jobs. I thank God for this, and I thank the Google Guys as well. In fact, Google Ann Arbor is hiring. . . I just checked!

So, Boycott Google? Why, at this point in life, it would not only be a life-altering experience, it would mess a little bit with my sense of justice.

The reason for the boycott is a website that claims Google is God and has established a Church of Google. As I said, I followed the link and really thought the whole thing was a joke. Now, I’m the first one to say that we need to be careful about such things. I mean, if the church is sacred, then She is sacred and we ought to treat Her as such. But really, we do need to poke fun and laugh at things every now and again. Poking fun and enjoying a good laugh is not necessarily the same as sacrilege. So. . . what of this site?

I decided to do some research of my own.

TheChurchOfGoogle.org is, in fact, NOT owned by Google at all. If those suggesting we boycott Google read the fine print at the bottom of the page, they would have realized this. I debated about whether or not I should put that link in. I don't suggest anyone join the church of google or anything like that. . . But I mean, even the "Googlism" at the top of the page isn't quite the Google Logo. And even I, a non-graphic artist, can see that.

Alas, sometimes we are so quick to forward things, not realizing the harm this may cause. And to tell the truth, this is beginning to anger me. But I digress.

That website states that the Church of Google was founded by someone named MacPherson of Ontario. The domain, however, is registered to someone named Leudy. Now, I won’t list details on this blog because that would just be wrong. But a little e-investigation and one can find out all sorts of information about website owners.

For example, the domain name was purchased at GoDaddy.com. Now, all things considered, would Google buy a domain at GoDaddy?? Come on, folks. Let’s get real here.

But there are a few lessons to be learned here.

You know, we tell our kids to be careful on MySpace. We tell them to avoid chat rooms. At my house, no one clears the URLs but me, The Mom. I decide when PC cleaners are run. . . .I know where you’ve been online. I know what your doing. I’m The Mom. That’s my job.

But you know, sometimes it’s the adults who just don’t get it. We must remember that what we write in our emails can be announced to the world. Cut and Paste. Fowards. It’s just too easy. Before we really forward information about a boycott we’d better be sure we have all of our facts straight. Anything less is, in fact, less than Christian behavior.

The other thing that is a little frightening is that the person who purchased this domain name didn’t bother with a privacy certificate. Domains by Proxy is an excellent service. But she didn’t bother. Sadly, she’s probably going to get inundated with all sorts of hate mail. . .both snail mail and electronic mail. I was able to find an email address, a street address, phone number. . . .it’s just too scarey. And all I did was search. I mean, I’m not black hat or white hat (probably closer to red hat!). My point is, it’s just too easy to find private info if one isn’t careful. You don’t need to be technically gifted at all.

See what I mean?
We try to teach our kids about online safety, when we aren’t practicing it ourselves. If you’re going to buy a domain for personal use, register for privacy. If it’s for a business and you want your business info out there, make sure you register with business address and information.

And for goodness sakes, if you’re going to forward information about a boycott make sure you’re boycotting what you’re boycotting for the right reasons. Do the research. Anything less is gossip. Period.

Google isn’t god, but is an internet giant. I’m certain that Google and the Google Guys don’t need me defending them. I’m certain Google has top-notch lawyers for that.

But I will defend my faith. And my beliefs are as such that I won’t forward a forward of a forward regarding any boycott until I investigate it for myself. It’s a justice thing. It’s the moral thing. It’s the right thing. It’s the Christian thing.