As I write this, I’m in the mist of an IM session with a friend who found her personal information on a website that she never published it to. As a fellow business owner, I could understand her angst towards such info being out there – especially in light of information theft and personal security concerns.
But, one of the sticky points centered around the implications of the sharing culture that we are firmly in the mist of. Specifically, she remarked about how people seem to take no thought to the implications of sharing content, or even their obligations to friends and family when sharing content that contains them. In light of this’s site’s focus around mobile devices, and what they do enable, its also appropriate to look at mobile in these contexts.
Implications of Sharing Content
Many people visit websites and freely share content without clearly understanding what could be done with the information (or the metadata around that information). In some cases, this is because we took the easy way out and “just clicked OK” instead of reading the terms of service. Other times, it because we simply just don’t understand the technology enough to know that there is a positive and negative implication to sharing content.
What are some of these implications? Here are a few based on that conversation that sparked this topic:
- Greater visibility into personal life
- Visibility into personal relationships
- Disclosure of private opinion
- Disclosure of private (to a company or organization) information
Yes, usually speaking, we know about these implications, but we share anyways because its one part the culture, and another part a value assessment (the positive implications outweigh the negative).
But, what happens when those implications turn negative (for example, Facebook and LinkedIn changes their terms of service for their benefit but exposes or curtails your previously held positive value)? Do the implications matter anew, or do we roll with the punches, not taking personal responsibility for the information exchange we have equal stake in?
Obligations to Friends and Family
There’s another side of this managing and sharing of information online that we need to consider before even logging or sharing it – that is, the opinions of friends and family. The same friend referenced above spoke about a family member who posted pictures of her on Facebook, but she wasn’t on Facebook nor gave permission for those pictures to be posted. By law, she would be able to request that the pictures be removed; however, by the nature of the Facebook service, the only way she’d know that pictures of her were published is if someone inside of the service network told her.
In effect, the family member didn’t observe solid manners when posting those pictures by asking for permission first. Yes, its usually implied permission that we take (note: not “give”) when posting pictures of someone online. But, if we are not able to execute their right to change what is shared about them, then we effectively have denied them their rightful voice.
Enter Mobile, and Several More Questions Than Answers
This is where it gets extremely hard to manage mobile. On one end, we can do the right thing by taking pictures or noting content of others, making public only those items which they allow. But, on a mobile device, this is essentially letting someone into your “personal space” and then making the call to go forward or not.
Technically speaking, mobile devices, platforms, and networks don’t allow us the luxury of knowing when someone has taken a picture or written something about us. That would require a level of monitoring and filtering that current networks can’t take, current devices can’t stayed powered for, and current governments just won’t broach (usually).
Within the mobile industry, it is well understood that there’s a ton of money and influence to be made off of understanding and managing the content and the metadata around the content of what is produced on a mobile device. As a part of those topics we talked about in terms of where the Body needs to beef up within the next 10 years, information analytics and intelligence is pretty major. We need to not just understand this as an industry or organization though; there’s got to be a personal understanding towards what exactly we have in our hands towards all the information being generated and tracked. And that means not only to read the terms of service, but to know the law in regards to what to do if your privacy has been compromised.
Scriptural Response
Spiritually, the call is to take the luxury of sharing and connecting as a part of our obligation to “live peaceably with all” (Romans 12:18) by putting their perspectives in front of our own (Phillipians 2:3-5). We view our freedom to share in light of the fact that others have something to gain and lose if we aren’t careful of the rules (laws) and opportunities that others can take advantage of. And when presented with a situation that doesn’t work to our advantage, we respectfully, and rightly, take it up with those with the power to change or influence change so that at the end of the day, whatever we shared has given someone the ability to grow in Christ. And if someone becomes offended in the mist of this, we handle this not with the mindset to slander or take revenge, but to extend the same grace to them as we’ve been extended – understanding that the implications of sowing love, joy, grace, peace, and mercy, is a bumper crop of unity (John 17:20-26).
Things You Can Do
If you’ve been the victim of personal information being posted online, or identity theft, your service provider(s), local and national governments, and in some cases even internet service providers/domain hosting companies have policies in place to help rectify the issue. Unfortunately, its much harder to undo the damage than it is to inflict it; but in your communications, be sure to alert those in public office your concerns as it is most likely on their agenda as well (many influential voice can help give rise to a change in this behavior).
Don’t put information online that you don’t want to come back and haunt you later. Do your best to own the information that you do put online (for example: own the servers and/or the software that creates the content, have the ability to leave the service and take your data with you (see The Data Portability Project,), and just use good sense.
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The Homework of Visionaries and Ministers (Part 2)
Friday, October 29th, 2010Continued from Part 1
These views (The Internet Services Disruption and Dawn of a New Day) of technology then take us back to this understanding – or growing body of knowledge – to what mobile ministry is and how it fits in this conversation of visionaries and ministers. Mobile ministry is a genre of a genre. And in many respects its a term that means something to those who still see computing as a noun rather than a verb. For its brief history, mobile ministry has been characterized by the communication media (7th mass media) and the application/layer of the Gospel message on top of that media in order to further evangelize and disciple others into an understanding of the Christian faith.
It can and should be seen differently. Mobile as a technology presumes personal connections, micro-interactions, macro-infrastructure concerns, and an interconnectivity that will soon pull another mass media to the forefront. Mobile as a ministry should therefore pursue those personal connections, chance interactions, and mass elemental/environmental effects which cause us to meet at the result of the Gospel’s implication – John 17:20-26.
And so I go back to that MMM Mobile Experiment and those lessons learned, those lessons that weren’t technological, but spiritual. Where was the application of the Gospel? There was innovation, but where was that innovation centered on the relevant approaches to community advancement which spoke towards characteristics we are familiar with in the history of the faith? It wasn’t there, and for that viewpoint, mobile ministry took a backseat to a vision that while great, just wasn’t framed right.
The homework of a visionary is then quite clear – where is the framing for the vision? Is it based in the reality of what is needed right now? Certainly, this is the case for many of us whom are involved in approaches to ministry and media where there are practical needs such as shoe-string budgets for multimedia-needs/wants. There are those who are in missional fields where the needs are to serve or record certain types of content, but there is no understanding of the cultural dos and don’ts towards what should and should not be transmitted, even if we are talking about the experience of the Gospel.
And then there’s that homework that’s based on what will be needed? What are the impending implications of the various economic and environmental issues which will mean that we have to be better educated/equipped to handle multiple streams of thought (resources, languages, core utilities, etc.). How does the visionary teach “go forward” when the resource says “make best with the bread you have today.” In other words, you have to be both disruptive and directive at the same time – and do so while crafting an understanding around what is understood and what is accepted about those things digital and those things traditionally assumed as spiritual (analog).
To the minister/ministry who is taking a look at the digital landscape and wondering what’s next, your assignment is nearly as simple as Paul’s statement in Romans 12:2 – with the context of going digital (active, participant) from digital/analog (passive, responsive, reactant) in our response to the needs of the culture ability to hear the Gospel that we present. It is more than just having the understanding of the silo of mobile or web, it is taking our approach from nouns to verbs. When computing becomes a verb, we start looking at how it connects and adds relevant value to our lives. In the same view, mobile ministry as a verb looks and acts a lot different than just adding a mobile phone or snippet content to an effort. Yes, this is part of it, and certainly such formatting of hardware, software, and services breaks down the ability to change the applied tense of the word we are using. Yet it is a step beyond – and that step takes a change to how we behave towards the history of ministry.
The Christian living in today’s context sees no difference between online and offline – computing is a verb. It is either engaging their abilities to touch the world with the Spirit of God, or hindering their ability to see clearly the Body in motion they heard about which provoked their faith at the start. And while the context of how someone gets digital might be different, mobile shows us that the disruption that is come to technology and culture is meant to bring the kind of light to all people – at least to all people that can be served digitally, we need to walk to the rest – the kind of light which is going to be a fundamental change to them because as the object of the Spirit, the tech will point.
Also published via Google Docs for comments/discussion
Tags: discipliship, MMM Mobile Web Experiment, mobility, social networking, social web, spirituality, The Homework of Visionaries and Ministers, trends, web
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