Glocal Christianity

Gaming without Killing

Great article here on nonviolent videogaming: Videogamers Embark on Nonkilling Spree: 'Pacifist Run' Wins Bragging Rights; Spells, Not Sword. I've been teaching my kids nonviolent gaming myself on Minecraft. We have a world where real world ethics apply, whatever mode its set for. I even find it more challenging and fun that way. Great to see others are in on the action.

Unsocial Networking

I find myself lamenting the dearth of deep conversation on the web. In an ironic sort of way, social networking seems to have made the web a lot less social. We've become more superficial, less reflective. Yet, sometimes slow is good. Jesus took time away from the crowds to focus on the disciples. Sometimes we have to focus to be more genuinely social, even in cyberspace.

Never disconnected

I've been playing around with my Blackberry this week and exploring its ever increasing potential for making life simpler. Simpler? Well, at least in terms of offloading physical assets (which frees up my space) and automating routine tasks (which frees up my time).

Social Mapping

In particular I've discovered, somewhat belatedly, that the Google Maps app I downloaded some weeks ago can be integrated with my personal Google account giving me mobile access to my customised maps as well as geographically relevant Google Buzz. There's also potential for linking with others in my tribe so we can follow each other around Syndey, should I get over the creepiness factor.

Globally Positioned Lifestyles

I also downloaded one of those QR Code scanners, so I can interact with them when I come across them in real life, and downloaded a GPS based car finder to compensate for my notorious lack of direction, particularly in shopping mall car parks.

From my mobile feeds I've also been reading of new apps for mobile-based, home-orientated access control systems (so you can ditch your keys) and alternatives to PayPal that allow easier mobile payments in real life (so you can ditch your wallets). Soon it would seem we can run around naked, with nothing but a mobile, and access everything. And once they become small enough to wear around your neck, or skip that and go for subdermal implant, we'll be able to access everything without carrying anything.

So I find myself reflecting more and more on the New Scientist prediction that augmented cities will be upon us within a decade. Mobile computing, as it becomes more and more integrated into everyday activity, promises us a future when we'll be never offline unless we're on an electronic fast.

Fast Culture meets Slow Culture

In the same timeframe, however, I've also been coming across people whom, much to my shock, get confused by lifts in multistorey buildings and find automatic doors a novelty. While space is decreasing in relevance culturally, time is increasing in relevance culturally. I think its increasingly relevant to speak of fast culture and slow culture in the same way we talk about local culture and foreign culture. For if my experience is any guide, slow adopters and fast adopters increasingly exerience culture shock when they cross paths. We live in different worlds, even though they're side by side. Parallel universes running at different speeds.

Seven Disruptive Technologies Missional Christians Need To Know About

New Scientist had the crystal ball out this week, reporting on "seven disruptive technologies that will change the coming decade". In brief, they say we should keep an eye on:

• Robot Travel (commuting via telepresence, like in "Surrogates")
• Augmented Cities (the looking glass invades shopping malls)
• Evolved invention (the automation of scientific discovery)
• 3D Printing (beyond models, we'll be printing buildings)
• Brain-Machine Mergers (both invasive and non invasive)
• Text Mining (data mining of social networks for prediction)
• Digital Wallets (the back pocket bulge is no more)

Now, I've spoken on most of these technologies before, because every one of them already exists in embryonic form. But what I think warrants further consideration is this: if these technologies mainstream as they mature, and if they reshape culture as profoundly as the pundits are promising, how do we respond in terms of the cultural contextualization of Christian discipleship?

Here's some questions that pop into my head, in no particular order.

• Will digital wallets fuel consumption? Some say yes.
• Could 3D printing be utilized for disaster relief?
• How might text mining enhance culture watching?
• Are there ethical land mines in brain-machine interfaces?
• Beyond helping the disabled, may it also fuel transhumanism?
• Could an artifical eye be hacked?
• Could telepresence lead to micro-term mission trips?
• What will creationist pastors make of evolutionary algorithms?
• Automation of theological inquiry and innovation?
• Is the singularity upon us even without artifical consciousness?

What do you think other opportunities and threats might be?

Can you any strengths and weaknesses in these technologies?

Whatever you think, as I said, whether we like it or not these technologies already exist in embryonic form. So there is an over-riding question that stands above all this: do we seek to be culture shapers or, decades later, the culturally shapped upon?

Optimize your blog for mobile with this iPhone simulator

If you're a blogger I recommend you try out this new site I found this evening: www.testiphone.com. It's a web browser based simulator for quickly testing how your blog looks on an iPhone. 

I know I'll be using it. I discovered today that Google Analytics tracks how many visitors have been accessing my blog from mobile operating systems like iPhone, iPad, Android and Blackberry and, unsurprisingly, there is a long term upward trend. Even though my blog is anything but optimized for mobile as this sceenshot from the iPhone simulator shows.

I'm thinking it may be worth introducing an iPhone optimized mirror page. If mobile computing is the future (and I believe it is) then bloggers, Christians and otherwise, need to gear up. If you see anyone optimizing well be sure to share it around. 

Searching in private

The cyberwar over Wikileaks has got me thinking deeply about privacy, transparency and the conflicting expectations we're seeing in the emerging digital culture. 

In the process I stumbled across ixquick - a search engine that does not record your IP address. It's privacy policy is well worth a read.

But it leaves me with mixed feelings. On the one hand, I think it would be nice to explore the web without corporate marketing gurus looking over your shoulder. On the other hand, I'm finding some uncomfortable links between hackers, privacy advocates and online porn sharing communities. 

Young Men And Women Use Facebook Differently

A new study has reported some interesting distinctions among young Facebook users, suggesting women and men often use Facebook in different ways.

"Women, when compared to men, are much more likely to use Facebook to communicate about or share content related to friends and family. Men, by contrast, are much more likely to communicate about or share content related to pop culture, the news, or current events."

I found this interesting also:

"Of the personal information that one is able to share on their Facebook profile, our respondents are most likely to share their “relationship status,” with the majority reporting that they share this information. A large number also share information on their “favorite media,” including information about their favorite books, TV shows, movies, etc. Less than half of our respondents report that they list their “religious views” and “political views” on their Facebook profiles."

For more read: Got Facebook? Investigating What’s Social About Social Media

New Media and New Meanings

Stumbled across an interesting article abstract on How the iPhone Became Divine - New Media, Religion and the Intertextual Circulation of Meaning.

It talked of "how different groups may appropriate the language and imagery of another to communicate very different meanings and intentions" and "how religious metaphors and myth can be appropriated into popular discourse and shape the reception of a technology."

It's worth considering how new communications technologies sometimes undermine communication precisely by this process of language reappropriation.

Want an Apple?

"Serpent in Eden with iPad" from www.cartoonstock.com.

Google Image Swirl

I am afraid Google Image Swirl from Google Labs gets the thumbs down from me. At least as a resource for finding Christian art. Admittedly, the category tree at the top of the search pages has some uses, for finding popular image categories at least. But the results of the search are grouped way too randomly.