Spare Brainpower

Posted in communication, learning, technology on 07/07/2010 by Kelly Dolan

At the risk of sounding like a Clay Shirky fanboy (see here and here), there’s some great stuff in this TED talk about what we all do with our collective 1 trillion hours of spare time. Most interesting to me was the differentiation between collaboration that is communal vs. that which is civic.

I so desire our churches to become more collaborative in their approaches to teaching, learning and worship. Watching this video, that desire grew, but it also made me realize the importance of distinguishing between these two kinds of collaborative efforts. In what types of settings should we seek to collaborate in a way that builds community, and which settings should we be concerned more about the civic effect? And … how does the Church do both well?

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MERGE and Story

Posted in about imago, events, story on 07/06/2010 by Kelly Dolan

Well, MERGE 2010 is over. We had an absolutely incredible group of students and leaders with us, and things really went even better than we could have hoped for.

Perhaps one of the greatest aspects of the week was watching the students get wrapped up in God’s story, and see them responding to it so thoughtfully and insightfully. There’s few things more fun than watching students start the week a bit cautious (even skeptical) about the storying process, then find themselves completely engrossed in the story by week’s end.

We’ll be posting more videos and pictures to the MERGE Facebook page over the next week, and we’ll keep everybody up to date about next year’s event over the next few months. Thanks to everyone who made MERGE 2010 and the MERGE 2-Day Collaborative fantastic!

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MERGE 2011 Dates

Posted in about imago, events on 06/28/2010 by Kelly Dolan

We’re really excited that just as this year’s MERGE event is happening, we’re able to let you know about MERGE 2011.

Next year’s event will be July 11-16, 2011 and will once again be hosted by Cornerstone University in Grand Rapids, MI.

Many more details to come over the next few weeks and months, but we wanted to make sure you knew the dates as soon as possible. We really hope you and your youth ministry will consider making MERGE 2011 a part of your plans next summer!

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MERGE is Under Way!

Posted in about imago, events on 06/27/2010 by Kelly Dolan

We started MERGE today, and we’re so happy about the group of students and leaders who are here with us. For many of them, tonight was their first storying experience, and I can’t say enough about how they jumped right in and engaged with all that was happening.

It continues to amaze me how every time we do this with students, they make observations about the story and share insights about God that I’ve never heard before, even after almost 30 years in the Church! So incredible, and so life-giving .

We’ll be blogging more about the event this week, as well posting on Twitter and Facebook, and even a video or two on YouTube. More to come…

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The end of the mouse and keyboard?

Posted in communication, technology on 06/22/2010 by mark novelli

CNN recently posted a really interesting article about “natural user interfaces”. What 5 years ago might have seemed ridiculous, now is not so hard to imagine…

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Making Sense of Information

Posted in communication, learning, technology on 06/21/2010 by Kelly Dolan

I continue to be fascinated by the topic of information overload, and what filters we’re applying to organize information.

The 15-min documentary above is a bit geeky, but I love that it delves not only into how information on the web might be organized in the future, but also how we make sense of information in general.

What tools have you found (online or otherwise) that help you organize or make sense of the information you encounter?

(via Collide)

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The Use of Images in Worship

Posted in communication, gatherings on 06/17/2010 by Kelly Dolan

Jodi Adams wrote a really thought-provoking piece over at Creative Worship Tour.com on Tuesday. She talks about how our use of images in worship gatherings can frame or re-frame the actual meaning of songs in the worship gathering environment. Talking about how our own agendas influence our choices, she says:

When art becomes that purposeful, that monochromatic (so to speak), that agenda driven it becomes propaganda, no matter how excellent the execution of design.

This puts words to what I sometimes feel about the imagery in worship gatherings. Certain kinds of images have become so commonplace, so typically used to elicit (manipulate?) response out of those gathered, that something just feels icky about it.

I think we can do better. I think we can be more thoughtful about the imagery we use. I think we can be more imaginative. And more than anything, I think we can be more courageous.

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Sir Ken Robinson – Bring on the learning revolution

Posted in culture, learning on 06/16/2010 by mark novelli

Sir Ken Robinson brings it again:

Every education system in the world is being reformed—and it’s not enough. What we need is not evolution, but revolution.

The way we learn, the way we gather and the way we worship is needing not to just evolve, but to be transformed into something else. Not just tweaked or not stylized. I think his words about shifting from an industrial model to an agricultural model applies directly to the church as well. I am excited to live in a time where I get to be among those challenging assumptions and dreaming of new ideas.

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A Crazy Number of People and One Small Device

Posted in Uncategorized on 06/15/2010 by Kelly Dolan

Today’s the day you can start pre-ordering the new iPhone. If you haven’t seen it, it’s not too shabby.

All of the iPhone’s recent buzz got me thinking about how much has changed in technology over the past 18-24 months, and how much it affects us on a daily basis. While there’s been some amazing advancements in technology during my lifetime, I wonder if we’ll look back on the past 2 years as something truly extraordinary.

Extraordinary and so life-changing because with social media now everywhere, and smart phones like the iPhone allowing us to do so much to connect with each other, our lives now revolve around a crazy number of people and one small device. Could we have even imagined a few short years ago that we would grow so dependent on knowing where our friends are, or what they are doing, reading and thinking at any given moment? And could we have imagined that we’d expect all that power to fit in our pocket?

What has this shift in expectations done to what we come to expect from one another?

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Augmented Reality

Posted in communication, technology on 06/14/2010 by mark novelli

This building in Tokyo is covered in code so that when you look at it through your phone’s camera you can see where people are in the building and what they are twittering. We are going to increasingly see this additional “layer” of reality in our society— this undoubtedly has huge possibilities and implications, changing social media, advertising, and search engines. I can’t help but wonder how this will effect us interpersonally and socially as well.

(ht: viralblog.com)

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