LifeChurch.tv pioneers web technology that makes the Bible interactive, and that's just the beginning.  

The alpha version of YouVersion has gone beta (the public launch is next week) and here's a bit more about what you can do with it…. 

Read it. Share it.

A revolutionary online Bible that enables community and collaboration like never before. Now you can easily share your journey anyone you’d like!

Tag & Star.

Tag - Mark references with tags that make sense to you, and find what you want, when you want. It’s like your own personal concordance.

Star - You can star anything you'd like to remember.

Reflect.

You can journal about what you’re reading, as you’re reading it. And even better, what you write is linked directly to what you are reading so you can easily reference back to those special passages.

Focus.

“Customize” your Bible to focus your walk. Filter for specific things you’re reading about, or share with others what you’re actively learning.

Share.

Exercise who you are as a member of the Body of Christ. Contribute to the discussion about the Scriptures. Share what God’s Spirit is showing you, and read how He is moving in the lives of others.

Connect.

Connect with other people and to collaborate with them in new and exciting ways. Engage with others as you share your thoughts, feelings and reactions to the Bible.

Be Heard.

Create original audio content and attach it to the source of your creativity. Share it, or simply use it in your personal relationship with God.

Illustrate.

Create original images, or collect meaningful graphics that illuminate your understanding of the Bible. Keep it personal or share it.

Video Magic.

Online videos can inspire, explain, or entertain you. Create new video content, or locate existing content, and link it directly to the verses it applies to.

Nothing like a good worship set for refreshment.  Might just leave this one up for a while.  

Dedicated to David S. and Cathy C.

Yes, my Wikiklesia chapter ended up as #38 (oh, if it were only my age) and got blogged today by Anglican Vicar Paul Walker (who obviously understands being a "Wa…." last name) over at his Out of the Cocoon site.  Here's the permalink.

Paul's been doing a consistently, innovative and insightful job of blogging the entire book ever since the online release.   This, for me, has proven to be a great service to the work.  Since the beginning of The Wikiklesia Project when I was asked to write a chapter, I'd always wondered if there could be any cohesion in publishing such a diverse set of articles by authors who have (potentially) so little in common theologically, and this, of course, underscores the experimentation of working with wikis.  It's collaborative but only in a limited sense.

Several of my friends were included in the final project and I've enjoyed meeting many others. Joe Suh (#37) and Steven Shields (#36) blog with me over at The Leadership Network's tech site:  digital.leadnet.org

As the global slave trade becomes a relevant issue within the Church, I think we're all happy that the proceeds from the publication will continue to go to the Not For Sale Campaign (their website looks great now, btw).

Online versions of the book as well as hard copy publications are available here.

If the Vatican can issue 10 Commandments for drivers, I have no problem canonizing the Ten Commandments for Blogging Believers: 

(In NKJV, of course):

1. Thou shalt have no other blogging platform than WordPress (or in rare exceptions, Typepad, but that's where we draw the line).
2. Thou shalt not make for thyself an idol out of thy blog, thy blog's Technorati ranking, thy blog's Feedburner stats, thy blog's Analytics, Metrics, etc, etc.
3. Thou shalt not fail to map thy domain name from the beginning (and make it simple).
4. Remember to configure your blog to ping Google, Technorati, etc. or you must do it manually to keep it holy.
5. Honor thy aggregators, and the bloggers who began before you, last month.
6. Thou shalt not kill thy blog when disillusioned due to traffic drops or bounce rate stats, but let it live on through it's long tail.
7. Thou shalt not commit comment time elsewhere, when posting at home is what counts.
8. Thou shalt not steal without acknowledging the correct Creative Commons attribution (or at the very least a HT).
9. Thou shalt not bear false witness when joining all the Web 2.0 social networking sites. 
10. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's themes, presentations, archives, subscribers' lists, etc.

Sometimes you've just got to take your blogging seriously.  But not today.

Disclaimer: This is a joke; filed under humor; not to be taken as gospel truth; does the image even remotely look like the real Ten Commandments?

New software from Blurb allows bloggers to become self-publishers and convert their blogs into actual books.  User-generated content hits a new stride with this software designed to transform what's personal (i.e. - poetry, recipes, stories, journals, photos, etc.) into hard-copy memories.  Whether you want to archive your wedding, write your family history, document your baby's progress, record your prayers and journal or just keep a record of your blogging, Blurb couldn't be easier. 

You can register as a Blurbarian, and download Blurb BookSmart™ for free, then start creating bookstore-quality books to share or sell through Blurb’s Bookstore.

Churches can use Blurb to publish message series and the user-generated responses to them.  It's also possible to publish baptism books for those who are baptized, including photos of the event and feedback from the observers.  Church groups can publish cookbooks to use as fundraisers, record the history of a church remodel, archive a year's worth of church memories, etc.

(Formerly, it seems Blurb had a problem with UPS shipping but it seems they've fixed the problem.) 

Blogosphere Stats

Blogging occupies only one small portion of the new media empire.  It's like one of the first waves to hit the shore in what will eventually be an oceanful of technologies we will see coming from internet evolution.  Blogging's popularity continues to grow.  It seems humans just love to create content.

  
                 15 Blogging Statistics as compiled by the Blog World & New Media Expo

• Over 12 million American adults currently maintain a blog.
• More than 147 million Americans use the Internet.
• Over 57 million Americans read blogs.
• 1.7 million American adults list making money as one of the reasons they blog.
• 89% of companies surveyed say they think blogs will be more important in the next five years.
• 9% of internet users say they have created blogs.
• 6% of the entire US adult population has created a blog.
• Technorati is currently tracking over 70 million blogs.
• Over 120 thousand blogs are created every day.
• There are over 1.4 million new blog posts every day.
• 22 of the 100 most popular websites in the world are blogs.
• 120,000 new blogs are created every day.
• 37% of blog readers began reading blogs in 2005 or 2006.
• 51% of blog readers shop online.
• Blog readers average 23 hours online each week.

                                 

NOVEMBER 8 & 9: GodblogCon 2007, Helping Christians Engage New Media