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.

Midweek Reflection: "Knowing When to Connect/Disconnect"

We live in a new era. While wireless waves free us from cables and hardwired connections, they enslave us to the digital device. What's troubling is not how the technology pulls us away from our human interactions but how much we gravitate toward the technology even without the device asking for us! No longer must we contend with the external prompts and ringing interruptions we get from time to time. There is a more formidable contestant. This contestant is inside, not outside; not externally-driven, but internally propelled; not unwillingly but willingly. That is none other than ourselves.

Check out the following from the book by Catherine Steiner-Adair, Disconnect.

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TITLE: The Big Disconnect: Protecting Childhood and Family Relationships in the Digital Age
AUTHOR: Catherine Steiner-Adair
PUBLISHER: New York, NY: HarperCollins, 2013, (378 pages).

"In my interviews and focus groups with children as young as four years old, kids have told me how disheartening it is to have to vie for their parents' attention and often come in second. They describe feelings of isolation, loneliness, anger, and sadness around the waiting game. Or a parent's routine multitasking through bedtimes, mealtimes, and playtimes that were promised as 'mommy and me' or 'daddy and me.' Now tech makes three, and most of the children couldn't remember a time when it wasn't that way at home.

Alex, the father of a three-year-old and two older children, quit his executive-level job for less pay and less pressure when he realized that the continuous multitasking demands of his job made uninterrupted time with his children impossible."

I could look them in the eye and have a conversation, but I realized that I was not having that conversation with my whole head. It was like 2 percent of it because I was thinking about the next email coming in or the other things I needed to do, and was so addicted . . . I was 0 percent present, really. I could see it in their eyes. They knew I wasn't realy there with them. It was awful, but I got so used to it. I'd say, 'I'm sorry' and I'd take a call or get up midgame to check my email.

(Catherine Steiner-Adair, The Big Disconnect, HarperCollins, 2013, p114-5)

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

BookPastor >> "Character Formation in Online Education" (Joanne Jung)

This review was first published at Panorama of a Book Saint on October 31st, 2015.

conrade

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TITLE: Character Formation in Online Education: A Guide for Instructors, Administrators, and Accrediting Agencies
AUTHOR: Joanne J. Jung
PUBLISHER: Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Academic, 2015, (144 pages).

Is it really possible to have Christian Formation happening in online education? If it is, how do we go about doing that? With firm conviction, author Joanne Jung believes it is entirely possible and doable. Jung teaches at Biola University as an Associate Professor in the Biblical and Theological Studies department. With a PhD from Fuller Theological Seminary, she is particularly interested into spiritual formation and Puritan piety. Through this book, she extends this interest into the online arena. Other than the usual "face to face is better" argument, Jung puts forth other compelling arguments for an online involvement.

• It allows students who needed time to process to come back to the teacher with questions. Students need not be restricted during the limited class time.
• It increases participation level above the typical 15%
• It gives teachers an additional resource for teaching, to use online resources to teach and to maximize face to face opportunities for teacher-student interactions
• It enables students to get to know their teachers beyond the classroom setting.

BookPastor >> "From the Garden to the City" (John Dyer)

TITLE: From the Garden to the City: The Redeeming and Corrupting Power of Technology
AUTHOR: John Dyer
PUBLISHER: Grand Rapids, MI: Kregel Publications, 2011, (192 pages).

Technology is here to stay. How do we live with it? Do we embrace it? Can we shun it? Is it good or bad? Is technology neutral? These questions help frame the increasingly complex world of technology and culture. Right from the beginning, John Dyer, Director of Web Development at Dallas Theological Seminary shares how he was motivated to write this book based on his professor's remarkable comment: "One of the most dangerous things you can believe in this world is that technology is neutral." That sets him on a path to find out more about theology and technology. Seeing how little information out there about redemption of technology, he read widely. He researched and recorded his reflections on his blog called, "Don't Eat the Fruit." Subsequently, this little initiative moved from brain to blog, and from blog to book.

Using a model that parallels the four-fold biblical story of Creation, Fall, Redemption, and Restoration, he puts forth his own technological parallel of Reflection - Rebellion - Redemption - Restoration. Dyer reminds us that technology is a large encompassing word that includes washing machines, light bulbs, televisions, ball-point pens, lighting, cars, and many more. It is so present everywhere that our generation has a lot more in common than our predecessors many years back. Technology historians will claim that the recent 500 years have been phenomenally influenced by the printing press. Since the 15th Century, the printed text has been the main change driver. It is only recently where the text has moved from print to digital. Dyer writes,

BookPastor >> "Understanding Media" (Marshall McLuhan)

TITLE: Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man
AUTHOR: Marshall McLuhan
PUBLISHER: Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1994, (368 pages).

This is a classic by the late Marshall McLuhan, whose most famously coined the influence of media on society as: "The Medium is the Message." First published in 1964, this book has been republished several times due to the relevance and powerful insights McLuhan has on understanding the nature of media and its effects on people. Born in Edmonton, Alberta Canada, he was a former Director of the Center of Culture and Technology at St Michael's College, the University of Toronto. Influenced by the writings of GK Chesterton, he converted to Catholicism in 1937. His work on media and its effects on culture has become a standard reference in universities offering courses on media ethics and technology influences upon culture. The key conviction lies in studying the culture by studying the influences of media.

"Examination of the origin and development of the individual extensions of man should be preceded by a look at some general aspects of the media, or extensions of man, beginning with the never-explained numbness that each extension brings about in the individual and society." (6)

Comprising of two parts, McLuhan in Part One lays the theoretical foundations of his thesis. Beginning with the now famous chapter, "The Medium is the Message," he contrasts the electric bulb as "pure information" and "medium without a message" versus other mediums that essentially "shapes and controls the scale and form of human association and action. Mediums like movies that shape public opinions; paintings that enchant people; and technologies that compel people to behave in "uniform and continuous patterns." He argues:

BookPastor >> "The Shallows" (Nicholas Carr)

TITLE: The Shallows: What the Internet Is Doing to Our Brains
AUTHOR: Nicholas Carr
PUBLISHER: New York, NY: WW Norton, 2011, (286 pages).

Is the Internet a boon or a bane? Are the hidden consequences of using (or overusing) technology? What if we fail to distinguish the limits of technology? What if we lose our ability to discern what can or cannot be handed down to technology to do? Author Nicholas Carr's concern can be summed up as a key point in the dark prophecy of Stanley Kubrick's 2001, a Space Odyssey:

"As we come to rely on computers to mediate our understanding of the world, it is our own intelligence that flattens into artificial intelligence." (224)

His concern has been shared by many authors. Marshall McLuhan's famous work, Understanding Media argues that technology effects can alter "patterns of perception steadily and without resistance." Hal the supercomputer takes away control from words into humans. The pathologist, Bruce Friedman confesses that reading long articles on the web or in print has become more difficult because he has grown accustomed to skimming articles. People click more than read. Their brains are being changed from the inside out as they become used to new powers of technology. Scientifically, it is proven that the human brain has plasticity that diminishes the older one gets. Carr begins to introduce the benefits of literacy, affirming like Walter Ong, that "writing heightens consciousness."I find chapter 4 particularly fascinating as Carr describes the "deepening page" of how people's literacy is aided by writing platforms. The Sumerians etched words into tablets of clay. In 2500BC, the Egyptians manufactured papyrus by pressing down wood fibers so that writers can scratch or put words on paper. Wax tablets enable the writing and erasing, thus enabling the reuse of tablets for multiple usage. With the invention of the printing press, force is exerted to transfer ink to paper. People in those days also read slowly and laboriously, just like Ambrose who read silently. Deep reading facilitates deep thinking. Carr comments on reading as follows:

BookPastor >> "Unfriend Yourself" (Kyle Tennant)

This review was first published at Panorama of a Book Saint on Feb 1st, 2012.

conrade

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TITLE: Unfriend Yourself: Three Days to Detox, Discern, and Decide About Social Media
AUTHOR: Kyle Tennant
PUBLISHER: Chicago, IL: Moody Publishers, 2011, (89 pages).

It started with a school paper that the author proposed as "How should the Church be using social media?" Curiously, the author's professor urged the author to remove the first word. Just one word launched the author into a whole new area of research as far as social media is concerned.

Should the Church be using social media? As a "technology pessimist," Tennant begins with a critical view primarily to make people stop and reflect on why they are using social media in the first place. Slowly but surely, he urges the reader to think carefully about whether they really need to be on the social media in the first place.

This little book takes a critical look at the ubiquitous social media icon: Facebook. In a world where many people simply hop onto the social media bandwagon without asking why, or simply because everyone else is doing it, Tennant helps us to understand why it is important to look before you leap. He constantly reminds us that he is not bashing Facebook per se. Instead, he is calling upon readers to think critically, and to recognize the limitations of social media.

He offers a three-fold challenge for readers over a three day Facebook fast weekend. Firstly, unplug and start the process of detoxification. Recognize what Facebook can do and not do. Facebook friends are very different from face-to-face friends. He then goes through some false promises that people have of Facebook.

1. "Media are amoral."
2. "It's ok to make it all about you."
3. "Community can be found anywhere."
4. "Nowhere is somewhere, and it can be anywhere."

These promises are not viable on the Facebook medium. The chief concerns surrounding uncritical use of Facebook is summarised as follows:

• Facebook provides a tempting platform for one to present themselves as more important than others.
• Facebook is the modern fig leaves that cover up our sinful selves
• Facebook is a powerful tool for self-promotion.

Secondly, he urges readers to discern what is best for them, and to discern and discover the pros and cons of social media. He points out that bad old sin lurks in the social medium. Digital communications is a convenient and easy cloak to hide our real selves from others. In other words, how can we build real community if we only showcase the nice parts of ourselves?

Thirdly, Tennant challenges readers to decide what is best for themselves. This final section is worth the price of the book. Instead of simply blasting away the use of social media, Tennant provides some suggestions to redeem the way we use it. 

Closing Thoughts

Tennant openly admits that he is a 'technology pessimist.' He prefers to err on the side of caution. Personally, I feel that this book is an important contribution to check the tsunami of interest and uncritical use of social media. Many have argued against the use of Facebook using statistical data and expert advice.  What Albert Borgmann and Neil Postman have done at a scholarly level to argue warnings about technology using us, Tennant has done for the layperson. The observations in the book is a reminder to us again that technology, social media such as Facebook needs to be on a leash. Uncritical usage of social media is like a pit-bull terror let loose, devouring others, and finally us. 

One need not agree with all the pointers, but I urge readers to keep the warnings fresh as they use Facebook. If all self-control fail, when all self-discipline is gone, then do the best thing for ourselves: Unfriend ourselves from Facebook.

Ratings: 4.5 stars of 5.

conrade

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This book is provided to me free by Moody Publishers and NetGalley without any obligation for a positive review. All comments offered are freely mine.

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 >> "The End of Education" (Neil Postman)

TITLE: The End of Education: Redefining the Value of School
AUTHOR: Neil Postman
PUBLISHER: New York, NY: Vintage Books, 1996, (210 pages).

This book has a very clever title. The word "end" has a dual meaning. It could mean finality of education. It could also mean the purpose of education. As far as one of America's most famous cultural critic is concerned, it is both. Carefully, he explains both in terms of "motivation" and "metaphysical." The former is a means toward some end. The latter represents the purpose and meaning of it all. For if there is no purpose, then truly the final nail on the education coffin would have been struck. In Part One of the book, Postman deals with the necessity of gods, saying that it is not the religious type of divinity but that of a reason for learning. It is the kind that motivates us to press on. It is necessary in the sense that it helps propel us forward. Such a motivation is good unless that it is based upon wrong gods. Postman insightfully observes four major gods that have choked the true purpose of education. The first is that of "Economic Utility" that promises a good job and money as long as one studies hard, gets good results, and succeeds in the educational system. The problem is, do the jobs out there require all the knowledge and skills that the schools provided the students? Is there a guarantee of jobs? Is the Economic Utility model more of a mockery on humans? The second false god is that of "Consumership," where the accumulation of knowledge seems to be the order of the day. The one with the "most toys wins," so say this god. With this god, "you are what you accumulate." It boosts materialism, hoarding of knowledge, and all kinds of advertising, which in itself has its fair share of complexities and ethical challenges. The third false god is "Technology" and here Postman shines in observing that those who worship such a god will increasingly find schools unnecessary. After all, if one can learn all the content and information via technology, why bother with teachers?  With increasing amount of information, people keep wanting more and more without a proportional sense of understanding why and why. He debunks the notion of technology breaking down the rich-poor divide. The fourth god is that of "Multiculturalism" that essentially subverts best educational methods and techniques in favour of multicultural criteria. He spends time explaining himself, assuring readers that he is not against multiculturalism, but only against the impoverishment of education that results from an inappropriate use of the multiculturalism card.

BookPastor >> "Alone Together" (Sherry Turkle)

TITLE: Alone Together: Why We Expect More from Technology and Less from Each Other
AUTHOR: Sherry Turkle
PUBLISHER: New York, NY: Basic Books, 2011, (360 pages).

This book underlines Sherry Turkle's concern about how the tools we use are shaping us. In trying to understand the way young people think, the author over several weeks organized pizza parties in the Boston area so that she could tell stories of how people were living in the virtual world. She witnesses a changing understanding of identity. She explores the consequences of a totally networked life and the evolution of robotics. So over 15 years, Turkle notices first hand how technology has shaped, shaken, and seduced the nature of relationships among friends, family, parents, children, lovers, and so on. We can be free to work anywhere but we can also be lonely everywhere. She asserts that machines are no longer about their capabilities but about our vulnerabilities. Texting is preferred to talking. Multitasking has become the norm. People are connected but loneliness continues unabated. Machines can do many things for us, but for Turkle, the straw came when a Scientific American reporter was so convicted that the day would come where a machine will become a man's best friend. As she describes the reasons why people expect more from technology and less from each other, she maintains a quest not only to ask why but also to propose a path forward.

Written in two parts, Part One talks about the growing "Robotic Movement" which is increasing more solitude and also creating new intimacies with machines. From young, children were given toys that seem to project a cuddly and personal object, like Furby that seems to have feelings. The Tamagotchi appears like a real thing that we need to clothe, feed, and take care of. Virtual pets take a lot of time to maintain. There are also discomforting toys like female dolls that seem to verbalize reactions like a real woman, especially when it deals with sexual matters. Some people use electronic toys to live with their self-centeredness. Parents let their children return each day to an empty house where the babysitter is often the television, computer games, or the Internet. Responding to people who insist that friendship is possible with robots, Turkle argues that such a tactic demeans the true meaning of friendship. No matter how much programming we can do, there is no replacing conscience, ethics, and the fundamental communion among people.

Part Two deals with the networked environment which solves the problem of bringing people closer but also creates a new situation. People are constantly connected and always busy. In an always-on world, what do we do when we have free time? We will probably be checking our emails, texting, or doing something on the Internet. We can be connected but we can be absent at the same time. Put the phone on the ear and we have already isolated ourselves from the people around us physically. The way programs like "Second Life" enables people to live in a fantasy world totally separated from the world. Turkle notes the following "New State of the Self," how technology has changed us:

• People's attention seems somewhere when they are connected in front of us
• People can be connected to many others on the Internet, that they are infusing face to face meetings with interruptions from cyberspace
• People are increasingly using multitasking as the way of life to do many things; that relationships can easily turn into an item on a To-Do list

People are growing up tethered as their lives are more and more public knowledge. The search for identity gets confused as people are "forced" to post personal details just because it is the norm. What is true on social media? Is the avatar used an appropriate representation of self? Apologies on Facebook do not count for much because real confessions need to be in person. There is the anxiety over strangers making comments on our walls and the threat of breaches of privacy.

Sherry Turkle is the Abby Rockefeller Mauze Professor of the Social Studies of Science and Technology at MIT. She has been warning us of the negative consequences of technology but does so in a manner that does not discredit the advantages of technology. In fact, she uses it extensively too. What is important is to recognize that Internet relationships are not necessary the "ties that bind." Rather, they tend to be "ties that preoccupy." We need to ask what Kevin Kelly has been asking: "What Technology Wants?" Chances are, technology is going to get what it wants. Technology is still developing, and Turkle thinks it is still the early days. The mood to adopt is "cautiously optimistic." She reminds us once again that at our best, our thoughts about technology should not be about what technology can or cannot do, but about thinking of things that TRULY MATTER. Relationships. How technology is changing that, we must constantly ask and adapt.

The Problem with Reading Screens Before Bedtime

Here is a warning. If you are regularly checking your emails and reading on digital screens before bedtime, remember that it is important for sleep. I enclose three links for your reading pleasure, hopefully not within 1 hour before bedtime.

Link 1 - "Reading On A Screen Before Bed Might Be Killing You" (Huffington Post)

Link 2 - "We’re All Doomed: Using Your Smartphone Before Bed Can Cause Cellphone ‘Hangover’" (Time)

Link 3 - "This is what happens to your brain and body when you check your phone before bed" (Business Insider)

The Problem with Facebook

This makes sense.

Part 1 - The Problem with Facebook



Part 2 - The Problem with Facebook - Part 2



conrade

BookPastor >> "Flickering Pixels" (Shane Hipps)

TITLE: Flickering Pixels: How Technology Shapes Your Faith
AUTHOR: Shane Hipps
PUBLISHER: Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2009, (210 pages).

Christianity is fundamentally a communication event, so says Shane Hipps, lead pastor of Trinity Mennonite Church. In writing this book, the author shares about how Marshall McLuhan's work on media affecting our brains ended up influencing him on the way technology works. More crucially, with this renewed insight, he is now a champion in helping people to be users of technology, and not to be used by technology.  He reminds readers that they need to keep both eyes open rather than letting one of our eyes be replaced by technology. This is especially when wisdom and discernment are concerned. He believes that BOTH the message and the method of transmission are important. Tools are not necessarily neutral because the medium changes according to the message and vice versa. Even screens themselves are part of the message. For technology can take on a life of its own and the rest of us users with it, just like the Matrix movie where the mirror that becomes a window to another world becomes another world by itself. The many different communications devices and mediums have created what Hipps call a "Global Village." He uses the mirror very effectively to show us that mirrors or tools are mere extensions of ourselves. We cannot like Narcissus who becomes infatuated with self-love. Unlike most interpreters who see the story as excessive self-love, McLuhan points out that the issue was the lack of recognizing the self.

A Heartwarming Project

Here is a really heartwarming project that links two generations learning to speak and teach English with technology as an aid. The teenagers are in Brazil while the English speakers they wanted to learn with are from Chicago.

conrade

BookPastor >> "iGods" (Craig Detweiler)

This review was first published at Panorama of a Book Saint on February 12th, 2014.

conrade

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TITLE: iGods: How Technology Shapes Our Spiritual and Social Lives
AUTHOR: Craig Detweiler
PUBLISHER: Grand Rapids, MI: Brazos Press, 2013, (256 pages).

"Technology is most effective when we fail to notice it, but our faith in technology is so pervasive it is often blind." This dramatic phrase kicks off a very perceptive study about how technology is shaping our spiritual and social lives. Dr Craig Detweiler is a well-known researcher and writer on media and the technological scene. Recognizing how pervasive and how so many people are consuming the technological offerings uncritically, he presents a warning for us to pause, to take a step back, and to ask how technology has been shaping us. Perhaps, we will recognize how much we have already been shaped. Detweiler says it well that we must be careful not to let our use of technology move from delight to devotion. Left on its own, we can very well be participants making "iGods" into our own image. Worse, without understanding the real threats of the misuse and abuse of technology, we can let something good turn into something very bad.

Vibernate App for Androids

Vibernate: A Very Practical App

One of the best things about being a parent is to see children growing up and exercising their potential more and more. As a technology geek myself, I do know of a good and practical idea when I see one. This small project is done by a team of University students at the University of British Columbia. They have come up with a really brilliant idea to a common problem. My daughter is one of the members in the team.

Why do you need this app? Well, remember how cell phones can be both a boon as well as a bane? You hate it when it interrupts you or embarrasses you during an important meeting. You also hate it when you fail to pick up an important call because it is on silence mode. VIBERNATE addresses these 2 problems directly.

Problem #1 - Forgetting to Silence One's Phone Before Meeting

The first problem is forgetting to turn off one's cell phone before any important meeting. We all know the irritation that comes when someone else's phone starts screaming out in the middle of a class, interrupting not just our own train of thought but the presenter's program as well. It can be rude and discourteous to all. I remember attending conferences where the organizers will remind attendees to turn off their cell phones. In schools, teachers remind students constantly to silent their phones. The same applies to Church group gatherings, Sunday services, meeting places, and so on. Turning the phone off or switching it to silent mode helps, but only when the meeting is ongoing. What about after the meeting?

Problem #2 - Forgetting to Turn One's Phone Back to Normal Mode After Meeting

This presents us the next problem: When we forget to turn our cell phones ring tones back ON, it leads to missed calls and frustration when people tried to call us in vain. If only we have an app to address both problems. Turning our cells to silent or vibrate mode at the start of the meeting, and automatically turning it back on after the meeting. Enters VIBERNATE, an app that allows us to program the start and end times of each important meeting. Use the app:

• For school days;
• When attending lectures
• On Sundays when you are at Church
• Important meetings
• Conferences and Public Events
• ....

The app works for Android platforms now. It is currently hosted on the project leader's website. If you want to see the rest of the team members, download the app and check out the ABOUT tab. Great job Amelia and team!

If there is popular demand, perhaps the developers can come up with a version for use with IOS, iPhones, and maybe Windows 8 too.

conrade

Accordance Bible 20th Anniversary (1 Day Special)

I have been an Accordance Bible software user since 2004. Nearly ten years ago, I bought my first Apple Macintosh PowerPC notebook computer. The main reason: Run Accordance Bible software. Since then, no other Bible software have come close to the usability, the depth, and the smooth interfacing of English, Hebrew, and Greek texts. The modules are easy to understand and installation is a breeze. Of course, one needs to get used to the Apple platform. Accordance for me is exquisite, elegant, and technically excellent. Yet, the competition has not stood still. The two chief competitors, Logos Bible Software and Bibleworks begin offering not just the Windows but also the Mac versions too. They bundled lots of other resources (especially English ones) together with the main packages.

Personally, I was tempted to switch, especially with Logos offering multi-platform licensing in which one license allows users to install both the Windows and the Mac versions. This is the right move, as both the Mac and the Windows platforms are becoming more ubiquitous by the day. It is increasingly common for people to have one platform at home and another at work. I am no different. I am versatile with both platforms. Thus, just when I was about to jump ship to Logos, I realized that Accordance has matched Logos with their multiplatform licensing in which licensed users can install their software on up to 5 personal devices (Mac, Windows, IOS). I stayed and glad I was. Let me list several reasons why.

1. Great Software: The software is very stable and usable. After a short while of getting to use the menus, the systems, and the way modules are opened and linked, the rest is very intuitive.
2. Universal Licensing: With my one license, I can use it on both my Windows and Mac systems. IOS versions too! This means I am able to use my Mac at home and Windows in my office.
3. Purchased Modules (Easy Install): No longer do I have to worry about key codes or software modules purchased long ago. With one login account, users can install from anywhere, anytime.
4. Chat Support: The staff are friendly and responsive. They have been extremely helpful to iron out some of my queries patiently.
5. Precise Purchase: One thing I like is the pricing in which I pay for what I use. One of my friends once told me, "Free stuff people will hardly use." It is indeed a waste to pay for stuff which are hardly used, yet occupy precious disk space. So far, all my purchases have been actively used. 
6. Clergy Discount: I really appreciate every little help offered for full time workers.
7. Good Software: I am happy that Accordance is now 20 years old. It is important to support good work done by good people.

Today is another reason to rejoice. The 20-for-$20 is a chance of a lifetime to upgrade one's modules. It is only valid today (March 20th, 2014, ET). Here is the link to the one day special. I'm a happy user.

Thanks Accordance! And Happy 20th Anniversary!

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.

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