The Week After Christmas

I hope you are enjoying a nice holiday season. It has been good for us. We've visited with family, taken some time off work, and enjoyed the slower pace. I also received a couple of very fun, though not necessarily age appropriate, gifts. My family gave me a Nintendo DS with Brain Age and Hotel Dusk. The also gave me a very cool robot. You can see a demo of it here.

A couple of years ago I was asked to preach at our local church on the Sunday after Christmas. I wrote this poem to use in the sermon. Hope you enjoy it.

The Week after Christmas

You Version - The Web 2.0 Bible

YouVersion.com is a great new site that blends the networking and interactive features of Web 2.0 with Bible study. You can read the Bible online, using the King James, New King James, American Standard Version, and several more. You can tag verses with key words and then use the key words to find the verses later. You can even link verses to outside content. Imagine you find a YouTube video that relates to a particular scripture. You can link it in the My Version area so you can find it later. There is also a handy Journal area where you can take notes.
The home page has a very informative video to help you get started.

Acceptable (Responsible) Use Policies

At the CyberSafety conference we identified the need for churches to have Acceptable, or Responsible, Use Policies for the Internet and other electronic resources.

Most AUPs address the following: appropriate Email use, cyber-bullying prohibition, illegal use provision, no expectation of privacy, signature sheet, prohibition against unauthorized software, password policies, and copyrighted material concerns.

Some sample policies can be found at the locations below.

Wesley United Methodist Church

Safe Families

Fair Haven UMC

Diocese of Austin

What do you think? What components are important for an AUP?

Two generations experience the new Nissan GT-R

This week I had an experience that illustrates the impact technology, and particularly video games, are having on how we experience the world. I received the new Motor Trend magazine this week. It includes an article on the new Nissan GT-R which is scheduled to be released in the US next year. This car is obviously out of my price range but it is fun to read about.

My son Timothy was walking through the living room as I was reading the article and I shared it with him. I thought he would be excited to hear about it since we had discussed it previously. Instead he said, "Yeah, I know. I'm driving it upstairs." Turns out the Play Station 3 game Gran Turismo 5 includes the car as one of the choices. It was included when the came was released but it was not unlocked for play until the day the car was actually unveiled. So while I was reading a magazine and looking at pictures he was having a very different experience. He was using a steering wheel, pedals, and a big screen TV to experience the car from the driver's seat. Wow.

21st Century Sheep expect experiences that are interactive and engaging. How do we address this need in our churches?

Cyber Tipline

I recently found Cyber Tipline. The site offers a service you hope you never have to use. You can report instances of child sexual exploitation from this site.

Sexual Exploitation includes child pornography, online enticement of children for sex acts, molestation of children outside the family, sex tourism of children, child victims of prostitution, and unsolicited obscene material sent to a child. Reports may be made 24-hours per day, 7 days per week online at www.cybertipline.com or by calling 1-800-843-5678.

The Child Victim Identification Program, CVIP, is represented on this website. This is an agency that seeks to establish the identity of the exploited children in child pornography. The agency analyzes the content to determine location, then works with local law enforcement to rescue the children.

Internet Safety and Facebook

A news report today says Facebook has agreed to implement new user protections. This is good news for those of us interested in Internet Safety.

Press release

The CyberSafety conference had a very nice write-up by Jeanette Pinkston. I hope all the attendees are being successful bringing attention to these issues back at their workplaces.

I came across another good resource for Internet Safety, www.SafeKids.com. I especially like their Kids Pledge and Parent's Pledge for Internet Safety.

Using the public wiki

Yippe! We have our first post to the public wiki. JP points to an Oct. 4 article in USA Today about the reaction some teens have when their parents are on Facebook. It also contained this article about child porn arrests in NJ. Kudos to all the law enforcement personnel involved!

Here are links to some resources I was asked about at the conference.

Microsoft Password Tester

Virtual Magnifier

Copying video from YouTube.

CyberSafety in Ministry - Day 3

This post is a little late, because, just as I suspected, there was three days worth of work piled up on my desk when I got back in the office Thursday. I'm sure those of you who attended the conference experienced the same thing.

Day three was a great day with Joy Thornburg Melton, author of Safe Sanctuaries, Karen Douse, Teen Angel sponsor, and Stephen Streett, Youth Minister at Dunwoody UMC.

Joy talked with us about making cybersafety issues a part of our Safe Sanctuaries program. She brought a wealth of experience and knowledge to the discussion.

Karen expanded on the Teen Angel program we learned about on day one. She said she was very proud of the girls that did our presentation.

Stephen encouraged us to get involved in youth culture so we can more effectively communicate with and relate to teens regarding cybersafety issues.

All in all I think it was a great conference. I learned a lot and am very grateful to all the members of the design team for putting it together.

CyberSafety in Ministry - Day 2

Tom Evans with the Knoxville Police Department brought an informative and disturbing message. He is a member of the Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) taskforce. He mentioned the FBI also has an program against child pornography called the Innocent Images Initiative.
Tom said catching internet predators is tougher than it is depicted on NBC's To Catch a Predator.
He explained some of the procedures his task force uses to track down people who possess and distribute child pornography.
His message was tough to hear but it is good to know there are law enforcement officers like Tom working to keep children safe.

Day 1 - CyberSafety in Ministry

Day one is over but we are just getting started. The Design Team did a great job organizing the event. I was particularly impressed with everyone's participation and comments during the networking session. It was clear to me that the participants are very serious about making a difference when the conference is over.

Three members of the Teen Angels came and talked with us in the afternoon. Teen Angels are sponsored by Wired Safety. They talked about social networking, electronic communication methods and You Tube.

All three touted the positive aspects of the Internet. All had profiles on Facebook and a couple used MySpace. They seemed very confident that they knew and were observing proper safety precautions online. The main precaution they talked about was the importance of allowing only friends to view their profiles.

A few of their comments caught my attention:
"The Internet is tailored to our interest and convenience."
"You Tube is our cinema."
"Contrary to popular opinion, social networking is not the root of all evil."
"Facebook is good for personal relationships, not professional ones."
"MySpace is where we find new music."
"Sure there is stuff on You Tube I don't want to see, but there is stuff on regular TV I don't want to see either."
"Facebook helps you maintain long distance relationships."

When asked what churches need to do to reach youth the response was to provide a space (webpage) where they can find out information about the church and provide a way for the youth to ask questions and get answers online.

Preparing for Nashville

As I put the final touches on my presentations for the Cyber-Safety in Ministry conference I'm stuck by the amount and quality of resources available online. I've tagged most of the resources I plan to use with del.icio.us social bookmarking. To find resources related to cyberministry go to http://del.icio.us/pgobriant/cyberministry.

Copies of the handout and PowerPoint presentations are available at http://cyberministry.pbwiki.com.

I'm looking forward to seeing everyone at the conference!