Let the discussion begin

At a recent meeting of the MINK region we discussed our inability to take advantage of technology in our ministry. On arriving home I read an interesting observation on JP Rangaswami Blog, “Confused of Calcutta” that made our discussion all the more depressing. Rangaswami works for an investment bank in London and he said:

“My son Isaac takes two minutes to critique a mobile phone. My daughter Orla holds a dozen IM sessions in parallel while doing her nails, her homework and listening to music. And the youngest, Hope, gets frustrated as only a seven-year-old can, when she can’t install the game she’s bought because of poorly designed parental control filters that should affect web browsing and not CD-ROM installing. They are the future.”

I’m convinced we must become more aggressive in our use of technology and digital media. It is not enough to have a web site while those around us have TV and radio networks, podcasts, IM channels, blogs and wikis. Adding an RSS feed to the NCCL web site, making it easier for members to keep up-to-date on changes made to the site, would be a small step forward. With technology we are far behind and the longer we wait the harder it will be to get back in the game.

We also heard from at least one publisher that publishing companies are looking for some guidance from organizations like NCCL and the Directors’ Forum on Safe Environment resources. The question is what would we like to see included in textbooks for Safe Environment Education? Since we are expected to provide Safe Environment training for participants in catechetical programs it seem logical for some of that material to be included in textbooks. So, what advice would we give to the publishers?

Don Kurre