Posts tagged: church

Google Sync Services for Ministry

February 23, 2011, by No comments yet

GMailIf you read this blog, you are likely someone I know personally (and I thank you for reading it) or are interested in technology and its application to ministry. If you are like me, you have several email addresses and groups of people you interact with on a given day or week. Work, home, family, friends, church, each of those groups come with their own questions and requests for help as it relates to computers and technology. In my case, I have my wife, family, co-workers (it’s actually my job), personal clients, church and diocese to consider. It’s often hard to keep track of all the people and what they are asking you to do.

Because of this, I have found invaluable the syncing ability of MobileMe over the last few years. Keeping track of people and their contact information is one of the hardest things to do if you have a smart phone, work computer, personal laptop and an iPad. You make a change on one device and then you have to keep all the others updated. Enter MobileMe. I have been a subscriber to this service since it was called iTools (technically, they are not the same, but it is the predecessor).

The best thing about MobileMe, in my estimation, is its ability to keep all your contact information synced across a myriad of devices. It works best on OS X and iOS devices, but you can use it on a PC as well. I have two computers at work (Mac and PC) and have used MobileMe on both. With few problems, it just works. I make a change on my iPhone and it propagates to my MacBook Pro, iMac, and iPad with no problem. If I login and make a change via the MobileMe website, it will filter down to all my devices as well. While MobileMe did have some rather large hiccups when Apple first rolled it out, I have found it to be a stable offering since.

So, it’s a big thing that I have decided to move away from MobileMe to Google’s Sync Services. Now, I have thought about this for quite a while. MobileMe is largely built around this particular feature while Google offers it only as an add-on to their myriad services. I am also well aware that Google will not entirely replace MobileMe’s offering or linked resources. For example, MobileMe will also sync your email accounts and rules. This is helpful when setting up a new computer and keeping your rules copied from one machine to another. Third party vendors also use MobileMe to sync their product across machines, for example Transmit and iBank. As I mentioned, I have not made this decision without considering what I am losing. But, the cost of MobileMe, $99/year, is untenable when you consider it really only does one thing well that you can get somewhere else for free. Sure, MobileMe also offers email, calendaring, back to your Mac, find my iPhone/iPad and free disk space as part of the package. But, I can use GMail, Google Calendaring, LogMeIn, find my iPhone/iPad and Dropbox for free. Why pay $99 when all I really gain is syncing capabilities?

My next few posts will explain how I have gone from MobileMe to Google Sync Services and what experience it offers.

Twilight Dimension, A.K.A. The Parable of the Master and the Servant

February 6, 2011, by No comments yet

The Parable of the Master and Servant is a parable told by Jesus in the New Testament, found in Luke 17:7-10. The parable teaches that when somebody “has done what God expects, he or she is only doing his or her duty.”

Church Marketing and Why Nobody Likes Doing It

January 19, 2011, by No comments yet

Last night at our monthly Bishop’s Committee meeting, the topic of updating our sign came up. We have a run of the mill church sign that lights up on both sides with black plastic letters. Once a week, someone has to go out and knock off the old message and put up the new one. I have done it many times and it takes about an hour start to finish. The reason it came up last night is that because it takes a bit of time to organize all the letters, take the old ones down and then put up the new ones, no one wants to do it. It is currently falling to our vicar and that’s not really fair to him. He has plenty to do and sign duty should not be added.

My friend who brought it up, wanted to get a newer sign that has scrolling text. These signs can be updated from within the church office and do not require someone to go outside. Not only that, but it is much faster to update. The only problem is the cost. Somewhere between 10-15K.

Not surprisingly, there was some discussion and disagreement. Now, we are fortunate to be in a family neighborhood, literally right next to an elementary school with a high school a block away. We get a lot of foot and car traffic in front of the church. No doubt the sign will attract attention. The real question is whether or not this is a good choice for advertising. Personally, I have mixed feelings. I can see where it would benefit us. The only thing worse than having no sign, is having one that does not get changed often. As I mentioned, we suffer from the latter.

So, what are the alternatives in today’s marketplace? Well, you can still purchase print advertising. Even with the decline in readership, our church demographic would still be targeted by newspaper or neighborhood newsletter advertising. But, that only gets the older members of our community that do not use the Internet or prefer traditional methods of news gathering. In order to reach younger, web-connected persons, you will invariably end up advertising on Google or Facebook. Their reach into almost any online news source or social networking site can not be ignored. After using Google to successfully market events on our campus, I know their reach is powerful. My suggestion is to use a mix of traditional and online advertising to reach a broad and diverse audience.

Great video about true Christianity – all are welcome, especially us sinners

December 10, 2010, by No comments yet

[Updated] Plagiarism by any other name is still stealing

November 5, 2010, by No comments yet

One of the Internet controversies today is the copying and reuse without permission (i.e. stealing) of an article written by Monica Gaudio on her website Godecookery.com related to the change of apple pie recipes over time. Unfortunately, the editor of another website Cook’s Source, took the original article, edited it and posted without attribution or permission.

We should stop here to discuss something very important.

Content on a website may be available for the public to read (assuming there is no login necessary to read), but it is not available for the public to take and copy, especially verbatim. While we have all seen content on another website that looks interesting, copied portions, edited it and then posted, it is largely for inspiration and not wholesale copying. If it were copying or use of another website’s photographs/images/art, that is theft.  We all know that copying a news story from the local newspaper is illegal, whether it’s in print or the web. The same is true for private writer’s and their content. Like this post.

Back to our story.

When she was made aware of the content being posted somewhere else,  Monica attempted to contact the site owner.  Both by email and telephone call, she made numerous attempts. Eventually, the magazine editor returned her message and promptly informed her of the following:

Yes Monica, I have been doing this for 3 decades, having been an editor at The Voice, Housitonic Home and Connecticut Woman Magazine. I do know about copyright laws. It was “my bad” indeed, and, as the magazine is put together in long sessions, tired eyes and minds somethings forget to do these things.

But honestly Monica, the web is considered “public domain” and you should be happy we just didn’t “lift” your whole article and put someone else’s name on it! It happens a lot, clearly more than you are aware of, especially on college campuses, and the workplace. If you took offence and are unhappy, I am sorry, but you as a professional should know that the article we used written by you was in very bad need of editing, and is much better now than was originally. Now it will work well for your portfolio. For that reason, I have a bit of a difficult time with your requests for monetary gain, albeit for such a fine (and very wealthy!) institution. We put some time into rewrites, you should compensate me! I never charge young writers for advice or rewriting poorly written pieces, and have many who write for me… ALWAYS for free!

I am sure to most experienced web users, this sounds preposterous. If this were true, why would news organizations freely post news on their web pages? Why would anyone put up personal photos? Why would any musician allow downloads of their music? If it’s on the web and free, anyone can take anything. Unfortunately, for the Cook’s Source editor, her position is demonstrably false. Monica posted on her blog a resource available from the University of Maryland University College discussing this very topic.

While this might seem off topic for this blog, in reality, it is relevant to those in ministry. When you are starting out, it is very tempting to copy content from another source, either text or images. In short, don’t do it. It is not only stealing (Ten Commandments anyone?), but it’s also wrong to start off with the mindset that your ministry can be done by taking things without asking. It doesn’t hurt to ask, and, if they say no, look for additional resources. You might not start out with a drop dead gorgeous website the first time out, but you can get there very quickly. Hosting can cost <$10/month and templates for Joomla/Drupal/WordPress can be purchased for <$100. Invest in your ministry and reap the rewards.

Don’t hobble your website for short term gain and have to apologize later.

A few other things related to this story:

  • The original article was not copied in it’s entirety, just portions of it.
  • The original article was also written in old English, thus the editor’s belief “the article we used written by you was in very bad need of editing”.
  • The response to this plagiarism on the Internet is huge.
    1. Several heavily trafficked websites have taken up the cause
    2. Someone created fake Facebok page for Cook’s Source
    3. Someone else created fake Twitter account for Cook’s Source and is responding to commentors as if they are from the magazine

Update: According to NPR, Cook’s Source did credit her with a byline.