BookPastor >> "Networked Theology" (Heidi Campbell and Stephen Garner)

This review was first published at Panorama of a Book Saint on Dec 7th, 2016.

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TITLE: Networked Theology: Negotiating Faith in Digital Culture (Engaging Culture)
AUTHOR: Heidi Campbell and Stephen Garner
PUBLISHER: Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2016, (192 pages).

Digital devices have become ubiquitous throughout the world. It has redefined how we communicate, how we interact, and how we live. For many people, technology has become so integral that one cannot live without it. An outage could easily shift people to panic mode. Its attractiveness can become an addiction in itself. In faith matters, digital media and technology has not only redefined how we practise our faith, it is taking us on a whole new direction. This means we need to learn how to engage this new environment wisely and appropriately. This new digital era has invaded and affected the way we learn, do outreach, teach Christian Education, do Church, and share faith concerns. This is why we need to take the technology seriously and to think of constructive ways to engage with it, about it, and through it.

BookPastor >> "The Wired Soul" (Tricia McCary Rhodes)

This review was first published on July 20th, 2016 at Panorama of a Book Saint.

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TITLE: The Wired Soul: Finding Spiritual Balance in a Hyperconnected Age
AUTHOR: Tricia McCary Rhodes, PhD
PUBLISHER: Colorado Spings, CO: NavPress, 2016, (216 pages).

Technology is now everywhere around us, with us, and following us. For many people, it is quickly rewiring our brains and changing the way we talk, think, travel, and traipse. While positively, we get more and better information in ways quicker and more efficient than ever before, there are negative consequences as well. People tend to remember less, choosing to let their phones and digital devices record or save all their personal details. They are more forgetful and less willing to learn the old school way. Many choose to simply Google their information, as if the first try is the answer to their questions. While finding content is easy, discerning is not so easy. Where are our reference points? On what basis do we decide which is right, which is wrong, and which is appropriate? We live in a technologically connected world. According to author and professor Tricia Rhodes, we are living in a "hyperconnected age." Contrasting her own carefree escapades in the past, she compares what it was to live then and now. Her children are digital natives but she is not. She calls herself a 'digital immigrant' and is poised to see how the digital world is changing not only the way we live but the people we are. Her key thesis is that our digital habits have direct link to our formation into Christlikeness. On lifestyle, we are asked what the first thing we do when we get up. On habits, we are asked about our reaction when we hear our phone beeps. On reading, how has our attentiveness be sustained in a world of WiFi and Internet connectivity? On prayer, how is our level of patience and waiting been changed? On presence, how have our ability to connect with people been affected? On information overload, we wonder why we are so tired in the first place. These and many more are the negative consequences of technology manhandling us and we allowing it free reign on our lives. This has let to our brains been re-wired by technology. A key discovery in brain plasticity research is that "cells that fire together, wire together." Such brain cells are fired up together when one uses technology. If that is the case, technology is directly influencing the way our brains function. Thankfully, we do not need to be sucked in by the technological whirlpool. Rhodes propose a way not only to counter the negative effects of technology but to intentionally work toward Christlikeness. She updates the spiritual discipline of lectio divina and applies them in this book for a technological age. Briefly, the four disciplines are:

Before the Computer...

Before the computer

An application was for employment

A program was a TV show
A cursor used profanity
A keyboard was a piano!

Memory was something that you lost with age
A CD was a bank account!
And if you had a broken disk,
It would hurt when you found out!

Compress was something you did to garbage
Not something you did to a file
And if you unzipped anything in public
You'd be in jail for awhile!

Log on was adding wood to a fire
Hard drive was a long trip on the road
A mouse pad was where a mouse lived
And a backup happened to your commode!

Cut--you did with a pocket knife
Paste you did with glue
A web was a spider's home
And a virus was the flu!

I guess I'll stick to my pad and paper
And the memory in my head
I hear nobody's been killed in a computer crash
But when it happens they wish they were dead!

Source: Unknown

PacMan on Google Maps! (April Fools Day)

It’s April 1st. Supposed to be a fun day of seeing people coming up with brilliant and creative ways to bring some light-hearted humour in a typically frantic and busy lifestyle. Here’s one.

Google has embedded the classic Pacman game on their popular Google Maps. Here’s what you can do.

1. Use Google Chrome. 
2. Point your URL to maps.google.com 
3. Choose a neighbourhood with many streets. 
4. Click the Pacman icon on your bottom left of the screen. 
5. Voila! You’re playing Pacman at your own neighbourhood! 

Remember, do this only during break time. The boss may be lurking somewhere near you. 

conrade

BookPastor >> "#lightwebdarkweb"

TITLE: Lightweb Darkweb: Three Reasons To Reform Social Media Before It Re-Forms Us
AUTHOR: Raffi Cavoukian
PUBLISHER: Homeland Press, 2013, (192 pages).

As social media becomes mainstream media of communications and interactions, many are hyping up the merits and power of the new web media. From Facebook to Twitter, Google+ to apps on our smartphones, people communicate quickly and frequently, putting their whole lives on digital media at the expense of privacy and self revelation. In the recent case of the suicide of BC girl, Amanda Todd, bullying has taken on a cyber dimension. It takes a perceptive individual to start asking questions:

• How do these new phenomena affect people, especially children?
• Is it safe to share anything on social media, even with privacy filters?
• What are the pros and cons of a digital lifestyle?
• What can be done to guide children and young people on the Internet offerings and the seductions that come with them?
• Is "free" really free?
• What does it take to use digital media to help create a peaceful society, a sustainable earth, and a caring people?

These questions and many more are covered in this book cleverly titled, "Lightweb Darkweb."  Several months ago, Amanda Todd made headlines in Canada as a victim of cyberbullying. The author begins the book with a simple dedication to Amanda Todd. He then wastes no time to question the rising obsession with all things social media, and why people are so free to share everything about what they do, how they live, and what they are feeling at any time. As one who has lived through a "banana phone" and now embracing a smartphone, Cavoukian, a song writer, a ecology advocate, an entrepreneur, as well as a recipient of the prestigious Order of Canada asserts three reasons for reforming the current social media climate before it is too late.

First off is Safety. The unpublished letter to Facebook from the author and others, touches on the problem of the high cost of the free use of Facebook.

"Known security gaps in a proliferating host of mobile applications have converted mainstream social media sites into highly effective devices for predators and abusive bullies. And in what can only be described as the cruelest irony, Youtube now sells advertising on Amanda's desperate video cry for help, while in a well-documented trend, her Facebook memorial page was desecrated. Facebook has become a brand feared by parents, when it should be one they can trust. We appeal to you . . . . to lead industry-wide adoption of systemic security to block predators and abusers from accessing kids on major social media platforms, starting with Facebook itself." (15)

Amid the conveniences and efficiencies of social media, the problems are many. What about unintended audiences accessing our private information? What about unsupervised use by minors? What about the peer pressure that arises out of using or not using Facebook? For these, Ann Cavoukian sets forth seven foundational principles which deserve our reflection.

1. Proactive not reactive; Preventative nor remedial;
2. Privacy as the default;
3. Privacy embedded in the design;
4. Full functionality: Positive-Sum, not Zero sum;
5. End to End Lifecycle Protection;
6. Visibility and Transparency
7. Respect for User Privacy.

Safety concerns also applies to cell phone usage, physical health as well as long term behavioural effects.

The second reason to start doing something about social media is Intelligence. When it comes to learning, we need to understand the difference between "healthy individuation" vs "unhealthy enculturation." Cavoukian borrows from many researchers critical of the way social media is changing the new generation. Sherry Turkle warns against the inability to experience solitude in an always ONLINE lifestyle. Nicholas Carr criticizes the deteriorating ability of people in "deep reading and comprehension" as they delegate learning to machines. Dr Dimitri Christakis highlights the negative aspects of prolonged stimulation of brains. Neil Postman gently reminds us that there is a cost in everything. The Internet gives us something, it also takes away something. Do we know what we gain and what we lose when we use the Internet? Other observations include:

• widespread lack of critical thinking and motivation to learn among University students;
• statistics showing more and more people wishing Facebook had not existed;
• compulsive sharing of private information online;
• recording and sharing everything;
• loose language on social media that cannot be easily censored;
• social media selling private information for profit;

The third reason is sustainability. It has to do with the conservation and wise use of earth's resources and social responsibility. For every iPhone or smartphone gadget, we need to remember the high cost of cheap goods. What about cheap labour by people living in the harshest and inhumane conditions to produce our modern technological toys? Are manufacturing facilities hurting the environment? Are there ways to stay green even as we advance our technologies? What about recycling programs and the reuse of electronic goods?

Thankfully, after expounding on the dark side of the Internet and technologies, Cavoukian gives some helpful tips on the light side. Here is a short list that I find helpful.

1. Safety
1. Data protection of information of minors
2. Default setting of privacy information to be closed rather than opened
3. Limiting; Unplugging on a regular basis; 
2. Intelligence
1. Using online media to promote offline activities
2. Coordinated learning with school groups or community teams
3. Learn the pros and cons of new media on a regular basis.
3. Sustainability
1. Ask questions about the devices we use
2. Support your local organization that fights for free and fair labour and sustainability projects
3. Vote with our bucks

I concur with Cavoukian that we need to reform social media before it reforms us.

conrade