Dialog: Breaking the Bubble

2006-07-27T08:41:00.000-06:00

Another Blogger Dooced

Blogger petite anglaise has been fired for blogging about work and blogging while at work. She joins the ranks of the infamous Heather Armstrong of dooce.com, who was also fired for blogging, and for whom the term "dooced" was coined from.

Link via Nikkiana at everytomorrow.org.

2006-05-17T13:26:00.000-06:00

The 1% Rule

About 1% of Wikipedia's 25 million visitors each month contribute content to the site. Same rule may apply elsewhere as well. Any community, it's theorized, depending upon involvement and contribution by it's members can count on about 1% of it's members to actually pitch in and help out. Only 1% of us are contributors to a community. The rest are consumers.

-Shlog

2006-03-22T09:50:00.000-06:00

Diary-X

In An Open Letter, Diary-X's Stephen Deken says this:

Diary-X has suffered from an unrecoverable drive failure. Due to a combination of issues, the last backup (from December 2004) contained only configuration files and other non-essential files. We do not have any other backups for the site. All journals, user information, forum posts, templates, images, and everything else are all irrecoverably lost... I believe it makes the most sense to close Diary-X permanently. Tentatively, the site will go dark on March 31st, 2006.

But going to diary-x.com says they are going to rework the site and Diary-X will be "reborn." Wikipedia says this:

As of March 2006, a community project is underway to construct a site which combines the features popularized by Diary-X with more modern features popular on other services. This community project, called Codexed, is headed up by a group of eight people. The administrator of the original site plans to contribute to the new project, but will not be involved in the administration.

According to answers.com, in 2005, Diary-X hosted approximately 120,000 journals, of which approximately 8,000 were being actively updated.

Old Diary-X users can register their new site here.

2006-03-21T15:53:00.000-06:00

Changes

I am currently working on re-vamping Dialog: Breaking the Bubble. Stay tuned for updates in the next few days!

2006-01-05T10:54:00.000-06:00

The Great Canadian Blog Survey

Offering a look at "a snapshot of the Canadian blogosphere in 2005", the results of The Great Canadian Blog Survey, as compiled by Aaron Braaten and CanadianEconomist.com, can be found online here. The survey was conducted over a period of three weeks in September, 2005. It asked bloggers and blog readers various questions that enable in-depth analysis along 25 different variables. Overall, 1146 responses were collected.

General Interest:

50.3% of Canadian bloggers and blog readers are between the age of 18 and 35.
• Bloggers and blog readers as a whole had an increased probability of being married when compared to the Canadian population in general.
• 71.5% of Canadian bloggers and blog readers are male whereas 28.5% are female.
• 47.7% of respondents earned $45,000 per year or less. Alternately stated, 52.3% of respondents earned an annual salary above $45,000 per year.
• Canadian bloggers and blog readers tend to be more highly educated than the Canadian population in general. The largest clustering of education levels was around the Bachelor’s level, with 56% of respondents reporting a level of education at or beyond the Bachelor’s level (Master’s and Doctoral).
• Bloggers and blog readers are more likely to be unemployed than the average Canadian.
• Bloggers tend to be younger than blog readers.
• Bloggers had a greater tendency to be single, whereas blog readers had a greater tendency to be married.
• Blog readers had a higher tendency to be male than bloggers.
• Blog readers reported higher incomes than bloggers did. This supports the theory that blogging entails an opportunity cost of time – the higher the income, the less likely one is to blog.
• Bloggers were more likely than blog readers to have attained a level of education equal to Bachelor’s and Masters level. Blog readers were more likely to have a Doctoral degree than bloggers.
• Blog readers tend to spend slightly less time reading blogs than bloggers, but this difference is minimal.
• Blog readers generally read fewer blogs per day than bloggers do.

2005-12-14T10:38:00.000-06:00

The Superblessed Christian Blog Awards 2005

What a nice surprise! I was scanning the nominees for The Superblessed Christian Blog Awards 2005, only to find this very blog nominated for Most Educational Blog. I am humbled to be among the following:

1. Ambergrs.
2. Avoiding Evil.
3. Bloggedy Blog
4. Dialog: Breaking the Bubble
5. He Lives
6. Mark Byron
7. Notes in the Key of Life.
8. Real Live Preacher.

You can find the winners listed here.

Thank you Ganns!

2005-12-09T12:45:00.000-06:00

The Weblog Awards: 2005

The Weblog Awards 2005 are currently up for voting until December 15/05. You can vote once for each category every 24 hours.

New this year is a category for Best Religious Blog.

2005-11-29T16:00:00.000-06:00

Finding Teenagers Online

From the latest email from Walt Mueller at the Center for Parent/Youth Understanding:

There has been a lot of national attention on our area in recent weeks as the result of a murder case involving two home schooled kids from Christian families. Much of the media attention has focused on the kids’ websites at Xanga and MySpace. As a result we’ve been called on by the media to talk a bit about those sites and how kids use them. We have appeared on local television and in local newspapers, in addition to a segment on CNN. If you are somewhat new to the world of online journaling and social networking, check out Finding Them Online, our primer to accessing the online world of teens.

In his latest blog, Splitsville, Walt offers more commentary on that local murder case and how it relates to youth culture today.

The primer includes a great list of popular online journal/diary sites.

The teens that Walt mentioned had blogs, just like many of their peers. Both David Ludwig's and Kara Borden's have been shut down (although screen shots are available at various places around the internet). (See more at Wikipedia here and here)

You may remember last year's headline news telling the story of 16 year old Rachelle Waterman, who kept an online blog as well, and was arrested for the murder plot of her mother. (See more at Wikipedia).

The world of blogging, of online diaries, of teens online, it has done nothing but continue to grow since it first began. In the autumn of 2002, when I first began blogging, I was working on an independent study for college, a course called "Adolescent Subculture Profile." While others in the course chose to study skinheads and skaters and cowboys, I ventured into life online and studied teens online. My paper led me into a new world and gave me a glimpse into the lives of teenagers I had never met.

This study strengthened my belief in the reality of online connections and relationships, and led me to eventually study blogging in much more depth. This Adolescent Subculture Profile helped me to see the need for Christians online in the world of teen blogging.

In my exit interview from seminary, after discussing the research I did later on in my studies (that which resulted in the creation of this website), my youth ministry professor asked me if I really believed that Christian adults could positively influence teens through blogging being themselves. Being a 50 year old man.

Yes.

I still believe this.

However, I caution, that motive is key.

With that, I present the following:

1. Blogging is relational.

Blogging relations are built through commenting and the reciprocal visiting of each other's blogs. However, as "Nexopia's Advice for users of Online Communities" states, "Anyone can be anything on the Internet; someone claiming to be a 15 year old girl may in fact be a 45 year old man." Truth is key. I don't believe that disguising oneself as someone of another age (or gender for that matter)for the sake of ministry is moral or logical in any setting.

I believe the extension of relationship is one of the greatest keys to ministry, and a ministry through blogging illustrates this.

2. Blogging is tribal.

Bloggers tend to link and build relationships with others who are like them. Others who are teens. Others who are interested in Sailor Moon or Harry Potter or Dashboard Confessional. What do you as a blogger have in common with an individual teen blogger? Can you logically be a part of their tribe? Do you have an interest that is the same or similar? Do you have an experience that is the same or similar? Blogging ministry is similar to other forms of ministry, touchpoints of ministry are important online too.

Can the relational factor override the tribal factor? I think so. Do you have to be a member of one's tribe to have effective ministry online? I think not necessarily. I believe that you can still build effective ministries with others even when you do not share the same interests, you do however share some of the same experiences and that is key.

3. Blogging encourages involvement.

I firmly believe that online relationships have the potential to be just as powerful, if not sometimes more powerful, than face-to-face or "real world" relationships. The connections built online through various means, including blogging, for many, are reality. Teens and adults alike consider the bonds they have made with others online to be real. They consider their online friends to be real friends. Teens and others online, especially in the blogging community, will share information with people they have met online that otherwise they would not normally share with someone they were speaking with in the flesh. Is this healthy? I can't say yes or no, it depends on the situation.

And real world relationships can be strengthened through blogging. Blogging allows a venue for sharing that isn't otherwise facilitated through other means. Blogging, through it's nature of being a diary or journal or collection of links, is a sharing device. And through commenting systems and the commenters' blogs, it's a reciprocal sharing device. Blogging encourages involvement.

4. Blogging is out there.

By "out there"... I mean it's accessible to everyone who has access to a computer and an internet connection. Anyone can blog, that is part of the allure and part of the danger. It's a part of the beauty.

I believe that blogging is and should be a ministry tool. I believe that Christians online shouldn't be confining themselves to Christian bubble tribes.

Although David Ludwig and Kara Borden are/were professing Christians, Rachelle Waterman was not. How are these teens linked? They are all teen bloggers linked to murders and murder plots.

A quick look at their blogs reveals typical teen blogs. Typical hopes, dreams, despairs. Taking a look at any of the blogging/journal/diary sites listed at the aforementioned primer on teen blogging at CPYU will quickly show you the hundreds of thousands, if not millions and millions, of teen bloggers out there.

I don't think we have heard the last of teen bloggers involved in crimes, in fact, I think it could quite possibly increase. As the internet and blogging community increases, the vastness of it increases. There's no governing body in the blogosphere. There do not appear to be any effective watchdogs.

Is there anyone out there searching for hurting teens to positively influence?

5. I believe blogging can be a form of incarnational ministry.

Jesus ministered by example. He lived his life out in front of others honestly. I believe we can do the same. Incarnational blogging... what is it and how does it manifest itself? I ask this question of you.

2005-11-03T13:01:00.000-06:00

Blog Family Tree

The Politburo Diktat is collecting information to trace "the Blog Family Tree." Information is being collected via email, and includes the the following:

- "blogfather" or "blogmother" the one blog that, more than any other, that inspired the participant to blog.
- blog birth month
- any "blogchildren" the participant is sure they have inspired.

(link via Lone Prairie).

2005-10-05T08:00:00.000-06:00

blogs4God Back in Business

Bad grammar and all, the "Semi-definitive list of Christians who Blogs" has resurfaced "with an entirely new format to serve those who live their online life by the question : 'what would Jesus blog?'".

Link via Andrew Careaga.

2005-09-12T12:21:00.000-06:00

Canadian Blog Survey

Aaron Braaten, an M.A. candidate in the Department of Economics at the University of Alberta is conducting a websurvey on the online browsing habits of Canadians in regards to blogging.

This is a self-funded study that is not financially affiliated with any particular group. The information you provide will be used for two purposes. The first is to obtain data on the online browsing habits of Canadians. A summary of this data will be analyzed and made available to the public, free of charge. The second purpose of this study is to utilize the data for a more technically rigorous Master’s thesis which will be made available upon your request before the end of this year.

For this study, the researchers will be surveying over the population of Anglophone readers of internet content to obtain their opinions about blogs and blogging.

The Great Canadian Blog Survey is located here.

Link via Benediction Blogs On.

2005-07-04T13:36:00.000-06:00

God's Blogs : Life From God's Perspective

August 1, 2005 Multnomah Publishers is releasing God's Blogs : Life From God's Perspective, a 256 page book by Lanny Donoho (president and founder of BigStuf Productions and BigStuf Camps). Donoho "consults with leaders of a number of organizations around the country to help them think outside the box and to assist with programming and technology... Lanny's mission for his life is 'to creatively communicate the refreshing spirit of Christ, the truth of His word, and the difference living for Him can make in our lives.'"

Amazon says:

www.Read God's Journal Dot Com The date is April 12, 2007. God has just posted His latest blog for all humankind to read. Since you actually can't log on to the Internet to view such a thing, here's your next best opportunity. God's Blogs is a humorous yet moving, fictional yet insightful book containing a series of online journal entries from God. Lanny Donoho's unique style and perspective allows readers to see things from God's vantage point as He watches the world and delivers His day to day reactions and thoughts. It's God's journal...as envisioned and penned by a human writer, of course. Some are lighthearted, others profound, but each entry illuminates a biblical truth in a whole new way that will meet you right here, right now!

(Source)

What do you think?

2005-06-24T11:08:00.000-06:00

MIT Weblog Survey

MIT is currently conducting an interesting weblog survey. Click here to participate.

They are asking questions in regards to personal blogging, blogging links, instant messenger use, and friend/family/acquantainces relationships via these technologies.

Link via prwdot.org.

2005-04-28T13:11:00.000-06:00

How Many Blogs Are There?

Blogcount.com asks the questions "How big is the blogosphere?" and "What is its shape, color, true nature?". Blogcount uses a variety of sources and "catalogs efforts to answer these questions."

Recent posts on Blogcount point out the following study results:

Blogging Maintstream in the US

- In the USA, 30% of those surveyed read blogs.
- Of those surveyed, s minority, with 39%, said that they found blogs less credible than newspaper articles. An additional 32% said they either did not know or had no opinion.

MSN Spaces Creates Huge Growth in Blog Numbers

- Microsoft announced more than 4.5 million spaces (their term for weblogs) have been created. That's 3 million added in approximately 90 days, since 11 January 2005.
- Users are updating about 170,000 blogs on MSN Spaces every day and uploading about 1.9 million photos a day.

France's Blogging Community Grows

- 2.6 percent of France's population are the 1.6 million who house blogs on Skyblog... a blogging service run by rock music station SkyRock.

Technorati Trackings Shows Huge Growth in Blogging

- The number of blogs Technorati tracks doubled every 5 months for the 20 months preceeding March 2005.
- Technorati discovers 30-40 thousand blogs daily.

Blog Readers Survey Shows Blogreading Demographics Changing

A survey of readers of blogs which carry BlogAd advertising found the following:
- 75% of blog readers are over 30 years old (up 16%)
- One reader in five is a blogger
- 75% are men (down 4%)
- Half found blogs their most useful source of news and opinion
- 28% use RSS to read blogs

Please go to Blogcount to read more on these posts and others.

2005-03-15T12:57:00.000-06:00

The 2005 Bloggies

The Fifth Annual Weblog Awards: The 2005 Bloggies were announced yesterday.

Categories include best blogs by countries and regions, most humourous, best writing, etc., but there is no category encompassing faith blogs, Christian blogs, god blogs, or anything along that line.

2005-03-08T14:04:00.000-06:00

Blog Readers

A new CNN/Gallup poll suggests that the large majority of people do not read blogs. The poll found that only 7% of the population read blogs two or three times per week. 48% said they never read them. The good news was that only 26% were "very familiar" or "somewhat familiar" with blogs -- so not many people have been exposed to them yet. CNN said the poll was based on telephone interviews of 1,008 American adults carried out February 25-27 and that it has a margin of error of plus-or-minus 3 percentage points.

Source: Bloggers Blog.

I am not surprised at these findings. Although blogging is becoming increasingly more popular, I think that there is still a long way to go before blogging is completely "mainstream." What do you think?

2005-03-04T13:16:00.000-06:00

Who is He?

There seems to be a lot of buzz about Hugh Hewitt these days.

Hugh Hewitt is the host of a nationally syndicated radio show heard in more than 70 cities nationwide, and a Professor of Law at Chapman University Law School, where he teaches Constitutional Law... the New York Times best selling author of If It's Not Close, They Can't Cheat. He has written (5) other books. Hewitt has received 3 Emmys during his decade of work as co-host of the PBS Los Angeles affiliate KCET's nightly news and public affairs show Life & Times. He is a weekly columnist for The Daily Standard, the online edition of The Weekly Standard. (Source)

He has his own blog at hughhewitt.com, and also wrote Blog : Understanding the Information Reformation That's Changing Your World.

In his book, In, But Not Of: A Guide to Christian Ambition, Hewitt suggested the following:

#32 Start and maintain your own Web log (blog).

Hugh Hewitt Inspired Blogs "is dedicated to documenting the blogs that were inspired by Hewitt's advice and to encouraging the community of bloggers that develops."

2005-03-04T12:44:00.000-06:00

The Religious and Spiritual Lives of Teenagers

The National Study of Youth & Religion has just published its first major findings after three years of study, Soul Searching: The Religious and Spiritual Lives of American Teenagers, by Christian Smith with Melinda Lundquist Denton, published by Oxford University Press.

The National Study of Youth and Religion, is funded by Lilly Endowment Inc. and is under the direction of Dr. Christian Smith, Professor of Sociology, based at the Odum Institute for Research in Social Science at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. They list their purpose as this:

"to research the shape and influence of religion and spirituality in the lives of American adolescents; to identify effective practices in the religious, moral, and social formation of the lives of youth; to describe the extent and perceived effectiveness of the programs and opportunities that religious communities are offering to their youth; and to foster an informed national discussion about the influence of religion in youth's lives, in order to encourage sustained reflection about and rethinking of our cultural and institutional practices with regard to youth and religion." (Source)

2005-02-24T15:10:00.000-06:00

Reasons to Blog

Melinda Penner of Stand to Reason Weblog has an interesting post up based on Hugh Hewitt's book Blog. She says:

The real power, as I see it, in what Hugh has to say to Christians is that every individual Christian can blog and have influence. It’s a great way of sharing one’s gifts, knowledge, and experience with people they’d never otherwise meet. It’s a way for someone who’s shy or embarrassed to express themselves with a bit of cover. An individual Christian’s influence may be a half dozen people, but that is probably a half dozen people you didn’t have influence with before. If it’s difficult to share your thoughts and views at work or at school, write them in a blog and send your coworkers and friends there. Christians have all kinds of gifts and expertise that don’t get used well in the local church; take your ministry in your own hands and blog it – always remembering to be a winsome and attractive ambassador.

Jeremy Thiessen, the so-called Normal Rockstar, points to Melinda's post in his introduction to blogging for his fans entitled To Blog or Not to Blog. He says:

Don't let blogging & your desire for influence replace your relationship with the Lord and those closest to you. Blogging is just like ice cream: it's a good thing in reasonable doses, but too much of it can be a very bad thing. Make sure you set guidelines for how much time you're going to spend on it and what exactly you want to say. And have someone hold you to those guidelines - remember that there are real, breathing people near you who need your attention more than those in cyberspace... keep the main things the main things!

2005-02-24T14:41:00.000-06:00

Weblights

Benediction Blogs On continues to post many interesting observations on blogging, the blogosphere, God blogging, and internet information. Some interesting info includes:

The State of Blogging in the States cites a Pew Research study on blogging which notes:

6 million Americans (5% of online Americans) get their news via RSS aggregators
8 million Americans (7%) have blogs of their own
14 million American (12%) have commented on other people’s blogs
32 million Americans (27%) read blogs regularly
74 million of Americans (62%) don’t know what a blog is

Bene asks about women bloggers... where are they in the god blogging realm and how can we interest them?

God -blog Demographics 2005 Part 1 takes a look at some god-blog Aggregators and Lists. Just looking at it briefly reflects the lack of a larger or more unified Christian or God blogging portal. It's been interesting to read about developments in this field these past few months around the blogosphere.

But do we need a larger more unifed Christian blogging or God blog portal?

Teens and webpages points readers to Church Marketing Sucks' post on Designing Web Sites For Teens.

2005-02-10T14:14:00.000-06:00

Here and There

Various news items and links of interest from around the Blogosphere:

Dr. Andrew Jackson of SmartChristian Blog posted yesterday about possibly starting a "Christian Blogosphere Portal," and says the following:

...it is becoming harder and harder to introduce the CB (Christian Blogosphere) to new wannabe bloggers, or navigate its many streets and alleys, hills and valleys. Christian Blogosphere Central would attempt to be a comprehensive and informative portal into the world of Christian blogging and blogs.

What do you think of Andrew's idea? You can see the original post and give feedback here. Andrew is also planning GodBlogCon.

The Pew Internet & American Life Project has released 2 recent reports on the blogosphere and the state of blogging.

By the end of 2004 blogs had established themselves as a key part of online culture. Two surveys by the Pew Internet & American Life Project in November established new contours for the blogosphere: 8 million American adults say they have created blogs; blog readership jumped 58% in 2004 and now stands at 27% of internet users; 5% of internet users say they use RSS aggregators or XML readers to get the news and other information delivered from blogs and content-rich Web sites as it is posted online; and 12% of internet users have posted comments or other material on blogs. Still, 62% of internet users do not know what a blog is.

The reports can be accessed here.

Bene Diction of Benediction Blogs On is doing another "God Blogging" study similar to one they completed last year. Read about their new God Blog Demographics 2005 study here.

Blogging awards are growing and becoming a bigger idea. The 2005 Catholic Blog Awards, the 1st Annual Evangelical Blog Awards are just some of the increasing many blog awards.

2005-01-21T10:02:00.000-06:00

Tsumani

"My name is Anthony Pratley, I am a Youth and Family Director at Trinity Lutheran Church in Frankfort, MI. My high school youth group has started a project to raise money for the tsunami relief efforts. We decided to sell "virtual bricks" on our website at http://www.rebuildinghope.org. Each brick costs $1. Our goal is to sell 1 brick for every victim of the horrible disaster.

Luckily, all of our efforts will be matched dollar for dollar by Thrivent Financial for Lutherans.

Could you please help spread the word? Send emails, post on blogs, forward to your contacts, or buy bricks for friends and challenge them to do the same. Thank you!"

2005-01-07T14:15:00.000-06:00

Thoughts of Many

"Thing is, deleting a blog and it's archives may make one feel safer. But it is the world wide web, and out there in some search engine somewhere, or linked on another blog, are old words that can come back to haunt us."
- Benediction Blogs On

2005-01-04T10:30:00.000-06:00

Fifth Annual Weblog Awards - The 2005 Bloggies

"The Bloggies are a set of 30 publicly-chosen awards given to weblog writers and those related to weblogs. This is the fifth ceremony... Everyone's invited to take part in the awarding process...

From now until 10:00 PM Eastern Standard Time (GMT-5) on Monday, January 10, 2005, anyone can nominate their favorite weblogs.

That Wednesday, January 12, three panels of 50 voters will receive an e-mail. It will list the weblogs that have receieved the most nominations in ten categories. They will have until 10:00 PM EST on Monday, January 17 to privately submit their five favorites (six for Weblog of the Year) for each category. The five (or six for Weblog of the Year) receiving the most votes will become finalists.

On Thursday, January 20, the finalists will be announced and voting will be open again to choose the winners.

Voting will close at 10:00 PM EST on Sunday, January 31. The winners will be posted sometime between Sunday, March 13 and Tuesday, March 15."

Go here to nominate your favourites now.

2004-12-20T13:58:00.000-06:00

Blogging in Time

In 2004, Merriam-Webster.com's most searched-for definition was "blog". Time Magazine has an article up entitled "10 Things We Learned About Blogs" that gives a list of a few things "we discovered about the new medium this year."

I think that for some of the list's points, Time is a little behind the times.

Link via Bene Diction Blogs On.

2004-12-08T15:27:00.000-06:00

Web-Publishing

"It has been interesting, these past 2 years, blogging thoughts and observations and funny things and quotes and hopes and dreams and daily occurances and the like. What is blogging? What is a blog? What is it's purpose? What is okay to blog? What is not okay to blog?

My thoughts on these subjects have changed since I first started web-publishing, and they continue to change. My style has change. People I know and don't know have read what I've written. I've somehow gained an audience.

Some come to read daily, some come weekly, some stop by every once in awhile, some come once and never return.

Some surf in off comments I've left elsewhere, from links from other blogs, from articles on other websites, and many from search engines far and wide.

Sometimes I wonder if I should get rid of my archives. They're past thoughts after all, they were from the time. But sometimes that is exactly what I love about blogging, it's a glimpse into someone's life at a certain time. It's a memory, but unlike memories, isn't quite so fleeting.

A blog is like a journal. With that, it's a personal look into the persona of a specific person, and often, even the inner self. People change, their writing changes. Their writing, however, reflects who they were at that specific time in their life. As does their memory.

Today I got a request from someone from my past to remove their name from my blog. They were upset and stated that I did not have their permission to use their name in any form let alone on the internet.

Sometimes I wonder if I should start from scratch again. I always thought it was odd when people did that on their blogs. But if something hurts, it shouldn't be on the internet, especially on my site, because that is not what I want to do.

I'm sorry."
- from Mikao's World.

Have you ever been asked to remove something from your blog?

Have you ever asked anyone to remove something from their blog?

How careful are you when mentioning names?

What is not okay to blog about?

Do you have guidelines?

Any other thoughts on this topic?

2004-10-24T11:20:00.000-06:00

Christian Blogging Awards

Christian blogger Ganns Deen from the Philippines has announced his annual Superblessed Christian Blog Awards Nominees. The winners will be announced on Tuesday, October 26, 2004.

The categories in Ganns' awards are Best Designed Blog, Most Humourous Blog, Most Educational Blog, Most Introspective Blog, Most Useful Christian Resource, Best Blog With Online Discussion, Most Inspirational/Encouraging Blog, Most Enjoyable Male Filipino-Christian Blog, Most Enjoyable Female Filipino-Christian Blog, Most Enjoyable Male Christian Blog (International, Non-Filipino), Most Enjoyable Female Christian Blog (International, Non-Filipino), and Favorite Christian Blog of 2004

It's interesting to see a lot of blogs I recognize on the list, as well as quite a few I have never heard off. Having been somewhat out of the Christian blogging circle for the majority of the summer, it is interesting to see how this Christian blogosphere is changing and growing.

2004-10-16T11:32:00.000-06:00

Web Archiving

The UK Web Archiving Consortium, comprised of six leading UK institutions, has officially announced plans to start backing up parts of the internet:

"...despite our apparent dependence on this medium very little attention has been paid to the long-term preservation of websites. Indeed, with the life of an average website estimated to be around 44 days (about the same lifespan as a housefly) there is a danger that invaluable scholarly, cultural and scientific resources will be lost to future generations." (UKWAC)

The British Library, Joint Information Systems Committee of the Higher and Further Education Councils , The National Archives, The National Library of Wales, the National Library of Scotland and the Wellcome Trust will run the project for an initial period of two years, during which approximately 6,000 websites will be collected and archived. This could include selected blogs.(DMeurope.com)

- Info via Blogcount.

I remember reading about the Internet Archive Wayback Machine at least a year ago, and at the time, checked out a few archived webpages from bands that I once frequented the websites of. It was neat to see what I remembered having seen when I first started using the internet in 1997. It was neat to get a glimpse once again of the way things had been.

Today when I checked the Wayback Machine it showed me eight pages of my own blog as they had been archived. True, I do have my own archives, but as is inevitable, some day those archives will disappear as well.

I used to back up all my personal weblogging on my own computer. I've never printed copies though. If some day Blogger were to crash, my two years of weblogging would be gone.

Do you back up your weblogging on your personal computer? Do you keep paper files of it somewhere? Is your weblog server the only place where there is a copy of your blog that you know of?

2004-09-25T09:52:00.000-06:00

Internet Evangelism

Josue Sanchez at Sonrie posts about finding Jesus in a pixelized reality -- internet evangelism.

Link via Darren.

2004-07-25T09:31:00.000-06:00

Hiatus

Due to my current summer job at a children's camp, and lack of internet access, this blog is unfortunately on a hiatus until at least September.

Thank you for continuing to visit! I am able to check my email occassionally and welcome your thoughts at dialog(at)briercrest(dot)com.

2004-05-27T23:08:00.000-06:00

Teen Gender Blogging Differences?

David Huffaker of Georgetown University's Communication, Culture and Technology Program did his thesis on Gender Similarities and Differences in Online Identity and Language Use among Teenage Bloggers.

I have not yet had time to read his whole paper, but the abstract states the following:

"This study examines issues of online identity and language use among teenagers (ages 13 – 17) who create and maintain weblogs or blogs, which are personal journals created by individuals and made publicly accessible on the Internet. Online identity is investigated in terms of the disclosure of personal information, online name choice, avatar selection and emotive features. Language use is explored in terms of word counts and semantic themes. This study also examines common blog topics, blog characteristics, blog abandonment rates and frequency of use. Overall, the results indicate that teenagers reveal a considerable amount of personal information in their blogs, including name, age, and location, as well as contact information in the form of an email address, an instant messenger name or a link to personal homepage. The content of blogs typically reflects what is expected to impact a teenager’s life, such as school, intimate relationships, sexual identity and even music. While almost half of teenage blogs are abandoned, active blogs demonstrate high levels of loyalty in terms of frequency of posts (daily or weekly) and length of posts (which average 2000 words per page).

Contrary to prediction, the results indicate that there are more gender similarities than differences in blog use. However, some gender differences were noted, regarding emotive features, sexual identity, language use, and some components of personal information. Males average more emoticons in their posts than females. Males also reveal their homosexuality more often than females, expressing their sexual identity or coming out. Males reveal their location more often than females, while females present a link to a personal web site more often than males. Finally, males use a more active and resolute language than females." (Emphasises mine).

The full text of Huffaker's thesis may be accessed through this link.

2004-05-24T23:57:00.000-06:00

Loving Thy Neighbor

Dr. Mark Vincent, a social psychology professor at Augustana College, is looking for Christians to participate in his websurvey.

"Seems a bit ironic, but I'm truly having a difficult time getting Christians to lend me a hand with a survey about Loving Thy Neighbor. :) I believe passionately in this work, but simply cannot do it without Christians who are willing to help out.

With this study I am attempting to determine how people view their Christian faith, and the ways in which that faith relates to daily behaviors."

The link for the survey is here.

Info via Benediction Blogs On, and there are some good comments over there as well.

2004-05-21T18:06:00.000-06:00

Blogads Survey

Darren of Living Room posted about the Blogads blogging survey that came out today.

The results are very interesting, but I think also very selective. As Darren noted, the blogs that promoted the survey were a select group for the most part. As I commented at Living Room, I think that the limitation of any websurvey is who it's promoted to... when promoted on political blogs read mostly by adults, you'll get responses from politically minded adults. I think that the questions asked by this survey were targeted.

Teens, for the most part, would have been bored by the questions asked. They don't yet, for the most part, have a political affiliation, industry, or interest in many of the magazines inquired about in the Blogads survey. Only 2013 respondents (11.7 %) were ages 24 and below. Only 28.5% of respondents were aged 30 and under (4885 of 17146 people participating in the survey).

However, another interesting statistic from this survey is the fact that only 20.9% of people participating had a blog of their own. Perhaps what this tells us is that readers of the blogs promoting the survey are less likely to have a blog of their own. Perhaps persons interested in the topics this survey was surveying on (which I would categorize as news and politics, also what the linking blogs were concerned with) are less likely to have their own blogs.

Political and news related blogs are less likely to encourage or facilitate relationships between readers and writers, or amongst readers. I would conclude that the readers of political and news blogs are more interested in reading blogs for "news they can't find elsewhere", like the 79.7% of respondents (12713 persons) stated in the Blogads survey results. And, I would also conclude that people interested in these types of non-relational blogs are older, and male, like the Blogads survey results seem to show.

2004-05-21T00:38:00.000-06:00

The Greater Blogging Community

Christine Carl of Georgetown University's Communication, Culture and Technology Program did her thesis on Bloggers and Their Blogs: A Depiction of the Users and Usage of Weblogs on the World Wide Web.

The abstract of her thesis states the following:

"As the Internet and World Wide Web are permanently adopted into the world's cultural and commercial fabric, users discover new and different ways the Web can be employed to create social and community spaces that were not possible before the Internet’s introduction. The weblog provides one of these new forums for communication. Loosely defined, a weblog or a blog is a non-commercial webpage regularly updated through the use of a blogging software which allows the user to "publish" journal entries, news, links, creative writings, and other amalgamations of text and graphics to the page in a sequential, dated list of entries referred to as posts. Through the World Wide Web, blogs allow users who otherwise lack sufficient knowledge in web design and development to manage and supply original content to the web.

The implementation of reactive communication on many blogs leads one to assume that the vast majority of "bloggers" want the content they provide to be read by others. With thousands of weblogs being created within the last two years, bloggers are finding ways to attract and retain visitors to their sites. This thesis argues that to facilitate the exchange of blogged content, a new type of online community has developed. Some bloggers do not wish to fully participate in the activities of the community, and some bloggers do not want their websites to be accessible to the public through promotion. This thesis proposes that the bloggers who actively engage in reactive forms of communication via their weblogs are members of a greater blogging community or "blogosphere," imbued with a collective sense of social responsibility, common purpose, and integrity as functions of community.

Blogging software and online services have the potential to dramatically increase the percentage of non-technically oriented web users administering unique, individual webpages on the Internet. This paper will present and discuss demographical information about bloggers. These data will be pulled from a self-selective online survey of bloggers. The demographics will be compared with the Internet-usage portion of the 2001 United States Supplemental Census to see how the American blogging population compares with the overall distribution of American Internet users.

The data collected will also be used to consider the blogging population. Who is blogging, and how are bloggers using these virtual spaces? Is one demographic more likely to participate in blogging than another? Does membership in any major demographic such as age, level of education, or race, predict the possible types of content found on blogs and the ways their owners chose to share them with others, if at all? Weblogs, as will be discussed, are rapidly becoming one of the most recognizable applications on the World Wide Web. Understanding how blogs are being used is important in the consideration of their impact on the Internet and the world at large." (Emphasises mine).

The full text of Christine Carl's thesis is accessable through this link.

2004-05-13T15:37:00.000-06:00

The Purpose of Christian Blogging?

"...what ought to be the prime purpose of Christian blogging? I'm going to suggest that the main purpose of Christian blogging, because it is an extension of the church (and by this I mean, in particular, the universal church), ought to be the same as the main purpose of the church. What then, is the purpose of the church?

I believe the main purpose of the church as a whole is the building up of the church as a whole, and this building up is accomplished in two ways: by bringing more people into the church, and by strengthening those who are already there. We might expect the Christian blogworld as a whole, if it is working as it ought to be, to be accomplishing both these things.

I'm not sure, though, that we can expect every blog to be accomplishing both these things. Just as we see the diversity of the purposes of gifts of the Spirit as distributed among believers, shouldn't we see a diversity of purposes in the world of Christian blogging? Shouldn't there be those who are blogging primarily to engage the culture around them, and also those who are blogging primarily as encouragment for growth within those who are already of the faith.

This last category is mostly where I see my blog fitting into the picture. As I grow in faith through my own study, I hope to share something with my fellow-travelers in this growth journey. My prayer for the readers of my blog is similar to Paul's prayer for the church at Philippi:

And I pray this, that your love may abound even more and more in knowledge and every kind of insight so that you can decide what is best, and thus be sincere and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ to the glory and praise of God. (Philippians 1:9-11 NET)

With this as my purpose, I'm not particularly concerned, nor surprised, that I have only a few nonbelieving (and even in this I am presuming) readers. Why would I expect anything else?

I have one more thought as well. Blogging, it would seem to me, is much more suited to the second way of building the church--through the stengthening of believers--than the first--bringing more people into the church. Most of you who read here don't know me from the man in the moon, really. If you are already a believer, you can check what I write against what the scripture says and judge for yourself whether what I say has any value. If you are not already a believer, how are you going to judge what I write? For all you know, I could be the biggest fraud on the face of the earth. The proof is in the pudding, and you have no access to the pudding, for you can't really know my life and see how I live it. Why would you trust my message?"
-
From Rebecca Writes.

My thoughts:

I think that blogging is equally well suited for strengthening believers and bringing people into the church... I think there is a tremendous potential for relational and incarnational ministry through blogging.

By incarnational I mean living out your faith in front of others authentically. A blog includes, depending on the way you write, your thoughts and your activities. As Christians, I think it would be futile to hide our faith... Most who participated in my surveys said that an outpouring of their faith is often not intentional but rather is natural in their writing.

I think that an honest blog is attractive to both Christians and non-Christians. In my blog, I talk about things that matter to me as one who is striving after Christ. I pray that my faith is evident. I pray that others who are searching will be drawn to seek out Christ themselves, and if somehow that happens through through my blog, then to God be the glory.

Any other thoughts?

2004-05-07T18:43:00.000-06:00

Re-Design Welcome

I'm just finishing up this new re-design of this site in an attempt to make it more visually appealing and readable. Let me know what you think, is it better?

And welcome to those surfing in off of ifc.gospelcom.net's article on this site.

Read around. Leave comments. Let me know what you think. dialog[at]briercrest[dot]com .

2004-05-06T12:03:00.000-06:00

Another Survey

Daniel Jorg from Switzerland is doing a blogging survey on "weblog readers and writers, behavior and motivation." Go here to take it.

Link via

2004-05-04T16:58:00.000-06:00

Intentional Ministry to Whom?

I asked those who intentionally try to minister through their blog (57% of those surveyed) if they felt they were reaching out to Christians or non-Christians.

* 17% of all respondents stated they feel they minister specifically to Christians through their blog.
* Only (5/115) of respondents stated they try to specifically reach or minister to non-Christians through their blog
* 20% (23/115) of respondents stated they feel they are reaching out or ministering to both Christians and non-Christians through their blogs.

Some comments on this question included the following:

-"I try to be encouraging through my blogging which could help other Christian bloggers simply by sharing triumphs and tragedies. Non-Christians I hope would see my faith and possibly be encouraged to learn more."
-"I try to be a part of the non-Christian world (without, of course, compromising my own beliefs) so they may notice God through me."
-"Christians may find the things I write to be more of a help to them than non-Christians, but I don't set out to write a post with the intention of 'Hey, this is really going to bless someone.' I don't sit down to post with the intention of ministering to someone. I pray that God will use me through my blog to draw people to himself, but I don't see the blog as a ministry per se. I guess in a way my pastors do see it as an evangelism tool -- but they see evangelistic gifts in me that I just think of as my way of talking about my faith."
-"(I reach out to) non-Christians. I hope to get across the point that intelligent, thinking people can also be Christians and that there are some Christian, like myself, who don't claim to know all the answers."
-"(I reach out to both) Christians--reminding them of their vocation to love and to serve. Non-Christians--reminding them that they are beloved of God and desired by Him from before time began."
-"(I reach out to) both. I've had some very heartfelt conversations with both Christians and non-Christians because of my Blog."
-"I would like to reach out to non-Christians by showing them a different view of a believer than many of them seem to have. By that, I mean a more tolerant, warm, and less hypocritical individual."
-"(I reach out to) Christians. Since they are my brothers and sisters they are the main people I am to be in fellowship with, and they are the people, outside of my immediate family, that I should be encouraging."
-"People have seemed to connect to what I write and I've been contacted by many people, Christian and non-Christian alike, who have said that I've encouraged them or they've enjoyed some particular piece of writing. I don't intentionally try to witness to or admonish people through my blog, but it sometimes just happens."
-"I guess that I do try to write things that are helpful for other Christians both in their thinking and in their living. I do not write with non-Christians in mind because I do not think that they read my blog."
-"I feel I am reaching out more to Catholic Christians. The way I see it, a non-believer won't be very moved by reading my blog. But if I can encourage a fellow Catholic to truly live out their faith then they will touch many more people in their personal lives- whether a family member or the guy bagging their groceries."

The large majority of survey participants seemed to be positive about incarnational ministry, they gave the impression that they truly desired to reflect Christ in their lives and write from that viewpoint. Although many were wary of and not in agreement with intentional preaching from a blog, most stated they believe themselves to be reflecting Christ in their blogging.

2004-05-03T11:45:00.000-06:00

Welcome

Welcome to those surfing in off of Blogs4God's Notable and Quotable New Guys today!

This blog originally began out of research I conducted in the blogosphere to determine how "Christian bloggers" interact with themselves and others.

Here are some links you may be interested in:

What this blog is about

Population Statistics of those participating in the surveys

My Ministry Related Research Project, the paper I wrote for my Master of Arts degree based on the findings of my research. It's a bit long, so you may want to just start off reading the statistics here in the blog.

The rest of this blog is filled with statistics gleaned from my surveys, links to discussions and articles elsewhere on similar topics, and thoughts on Christians and blogging.

I welcome your thoughts! Please feel free to leave comments or email me at dialog[at]briercrest[dot]com .

2004-04-30T20:42:00.000-06:00

Blogging as a Means of Ministry

When I asked "What is your opinion of the concept of blogging as a means of ministry, as a way to reach out/minister to other Christians and/or non-Christians?", the opinions on this topic were greatly varied. A few were vehemently opposed to the idea of blogging being used as a form of ministry. Some were concerned that the medium is too impersonal. Some were concerned that it would be done without any tact. One respondent was opposed to the idea of any sort of computer-based ministry because it is not "God ordained." Some stated that blogging should not be used as a form of ministry because it does not create real-life flesh-and-blood relationships.

But, the majority of respondents thought that blogging as a form of ministry is a great idea, "if you can make it work." Many stated that blogging is a great way to come into contact with others whom you would never have any other way of being in contact with.

Many stated they believed the community aspect of weblogging is great for Christians to interact with and minister to other Christians.

Two blogs specifically mentioned by others included Real Live Preacher (named as "a good ministry model online"), and Catholic and Enjoying It. Several respondents identified blogging as a valuable medium for discussing apologetics and theology with other believers. A few respondents also stated that "the emerging church" has been using blogging as a valuable communication and discussion tool.

Many also stated they were unsure how well a ministry tool blogging would work when trying to reach non-Christians.

There were many comments on blogging being a good lifestyle ministry, but not a good evangelistic tool. Respondents commented on the fact that it would be hard to have a successful "preaching" weblog to non-Christians, however a well-written weblog about life as a Christian would be more apt to be well-received by non-Christian readers.

Some of the comments on blogging as a means of ministry include:

-"I think that it is a great way to reach a sector of the population who might not be affected by Christianity any other way. As for Christians it offers the chance for a broad community of believers and thinkers to exchange thoughts."
-"In the fact that bloggers tends to be a little more open and honest, I think it's a good way to set up lifestyle ministry. As a purely evangelistic tool, I think it's pretty lacking in scope. You have to be interesting enough to get people (Christian or non) to want to read your site, and you're not going to get much non-Christian readership by preaching."
-"I think there is potential. I know I often read something which speaks to me at the moment. While I do believe that there is a sense of community among many Christian bloggers, it is the personal face to face contact which would be missing. Nevertheless, I know God has used me many times to speak to other bloggers in need, although this is usually by email from a blog rather than an entry. I have also emailed other bloggers on the spur of the moment and found that my words were used as ministry. Again, these were people with whom I had a relationship, even if only email."
-"I think blogging can be and is a ministry. It encourages relationships and allows Christians to reach out to non-Christians in a medium which is friendly and accessible. One of my non-Christian friends reads my blog sometimes and I hope that through what I have written, she will see what God means to me and what He has done. It's a non-confrontation arena and it's an opportunity to invite people into your life this way."
-"I think for some it will go well but I believe that face to face contact is extremely important. I don't think it should be a stand alone ministry if possible."
-"It can help build bridges when you can't physically meet."
-"Real ministry happens in the context of relationships."
-"My concept is to just put myself, my thoughts and feelings, out there, unedited and authentic, and transparency begets transparency, so that people may see Christ in me, as well as other parts of me too."
-"If you include a commenting system… then you have a forum for discussion, which I guess could be used for ministry .... I think that if you tell people about your faith in an active attempt to spread the gospel, they should be allowed to react to that, ask questions and think it through - otherwise you are hitting them over their heads with the gospel…"
-"It could be a great way t o find hurting people."
-"Blogging as a ministry can be done, but I think in order to be successful you have to build a rapport with your readers. Just telling people what to do isn't usually enough, you have to gain their trust and guide them to discover the truth (make that The Truth) for themselves. You can't argue people into accepting Christ."
-"If you are able to do it great. Christ said to go our into the whole world and preach the Gospel. Blogging can be a means to this end."
-"The concept of blogging is much like journaling in public. We often keep our spiritual beliefs hidden and private, and a blog gives an opportunity to say openly those things we don't often say. It is also somewhat bi-directional and interactive, so a blog can create something like a discussion in a living room among a group of acquaintances. So I think it has a lot of potential. It's fairly anonymous, so people can feel safe about responding to what you have written. That said, the internet is so vast that it is difficult for people who might be inclined to join in such a discussion to find out about you, so I'm not sure just how effective blogs are in the long run. Time will tell."
-"Blogging, at its finest, is a form of communication. It's slower and both more and less precise than other forms, but if you are diligent, you can use your blog as both a tool of debate and an agent of change. That lets you do two things, speak and connect with people, and if you're lucky, provide help or solace. I try to approach blogging as a conduit of love, and of putting my care for humans into a more-or-less concrete form."
-"I see blogging as an extension of who I am and how I live. I 'reach' out to those around me (both Christians and non Christians) in real life when the opportunity arises - I take this same approach with blogging. Its not something I intentionally make a ministry but opportunities have arisen at times to play a part in what God is doing in others lives."
-"It is VERY MUCH useful to encourage those who feel isolated (like stay-at-home moms and particularly those who homeschool) because there just aren't too many of us out there and the likelihood that we live in each others' neighborhoods is remote. The internet makes the world so much smaller and makes it easier to find likeminded individuals so as to feel less isolated and alone, like you're the only one in the world doing what you're doing."
-"It is a great way to minister. I am able to share the things that God is doing in my life to encourage and build up others in their faith. It also helps introduce people who aren't believers to the reality of what Christianity is about. Community blogging allows us to keep in touch with the other people in our church and lets us encourage them when they are going through a tough time. Also a great way for teachers to be able to pass on the things that God is saying so that they can teach others. I could go on for ever on this topic, but it's tough to write in this little box. :)"
-"I think it's great, a new approach so to say. As more and more people engage in blogging, I think it's a whole new place for e-vangelism."
-"Blogging is God-sent. For some of us, elderly or disabled or living in very rural places, it is one of the only ways available to reach out, to serve. In urban areas among the able-bodied it may not be so much so, but for me, it still lets me teach even now."
-Any form of communication can be an avenue of ministry. But blogging for me is a particularly personal kind, more like 1-to-1 conversation.

2004-04-28T23:53:00.000-06:00

Virtual Faith Project

I stumbled upon a post yesterday at Living Room about a guy named Nathan who is starting up something he calls My Virtual Faith Project. It was inspired by Living Room's Holy Huddle Blogging II post from a couple of weeks back.

Nathan says this:
"Through my journey of coming to know Christ and the Christian faith I used the Internet as my main source of research. This was mainly as I felt to intimidated to walk into a Church without knowing what I was 'getting into' or whether all this stuff was really 'believable'. I had to feel a bit more secure about these ideas before I could take that confronting 'step of faith'. I felt there was a real need on the Internet for a site or group of sites directed at seeking un-believers that both packaged the Gospel in a modern and relevant way for presentation on the Internet while making logical, encouraging and modern points about why Christianity is relevant & real and not all about 'religion' but about 'relationship' with God."

Nathan states he registered his domain "as I felt the Lord really wanted me to use my knowledge of and passion for the Internet & web site development to create a site to help bring more people who were searching the Internet for answers into the Kingdom of God." He ran a blog type site there and posted articles about different topics relating to Christianity... but did not feel satisfied. Reading Darren's article helped him to see that he had been focusing the site on Christians and not much on seeking un-believers.

As part of a class project, Nathan is working on myvirtualfaith.com and turning it into an educational site. "Just as a match ignites with a single spark, I believe the heart of an unbeliever can burn deeply for God with a single spark as well. The task is simply discovering this spark! The 'spark' that did it for me isn't going to be the same for everyone so to make this site as relevant & powerful as possible I wanted to seek input from people who are believers and see what they had to say and what their thoughts were on Christianity. That is the My Virtual Faith Project."

Nathan's looking for input, so head on over to The My Virtual Faith Project to find out more.

Part of the research I stumbled upon for my paper on blogging suggested that more than two-thirds of Americans indicated that they were likely to engage in specific types of religious experience via the internet as the current decade progresses (see Barna Research Group, More Americans are Seeking Net-Based Faith Experiences). In a 2003 study by the same group, 5% of Americans "said they would definitely use the Internet for personal faith experience and expression, and another 18% indicated they would probably do so" (see Americans Embrace Technologies that Bring Control to Their Lives).

Andrew Careaga, in "The Internet's Impact on Kids' Faith," in the September-October 2000 issue of Group Magazine, page 94 said that many teens are choosing to supplement their faith with online interactions that strengthen their offline faith.

Like Nathan stated in different words, the internet gives people a safe place to discuss matters of faith. In Careaga's research, he found that 62% of teens feel freer to discuss their faith over the Internet than in face-to-face conversations.

I am excited to see where the My Virtual Faith Project ends up going. I think that it could end up being a valuable piece of the puzzle for searching people.

But I'm also concerned. So much of the exploration on these topics is being done as part of school studies. My project was undertaken as an educational endeavour, but it was also something I am very passionate about. I still think blogging can be a valuable tool of incarnational and relational ministry. Maybe my concern shouldn't be though. I think God is using these school projects for good. In our busy world would the work get done any other way? May He use it to His glory.

2004-04-27T00:10:00.000-06:00

Intentionality, Being Too Christian, and Natural Faith Expression

I asked participants in my Christian bloggers surveys about their inclusion of Christian topics in their writing. I was interested in whether or not bloggers intentionally include topics pertaining to Christianity (whether for evangelism purposes or otherwise), or if it was just something natural, an outpouring of their faith.

Some respondents stated that their inclusion of Christian topics was very intentional, such as this participant who stated: "Yes. I want to defend Christianity from objections. I want people to see Christian reflections on things Christians don't often enough reflect on. I want Christians themselves to be challenged in their thinking. Much of the reason is simply that I think about Christian topics because I'm a Christian, and I write about what I think about, since that's what I'm most likely to have something to say about."

A few respondents stated their caution on being "too Christian." One respondent answered as follows: "Yes, (my inclusion of Christian topics in my blogging) reflects my life. However, I don't want non-believers to feel very uncomfortable when reading my blog," and another stated simply "I mention my faith once in a while, but I don't make it a regular thing on the blog. It isn't something I talk about much."

Most respondents were very positive, saying their discussion of Christian issues and writing from a Christian perspective is a natural outpouring of their faith. "I do (write about Christian topics) because that is a part of my life, Christianity influences how I think and perceive the world, there would be no way for me not comment about those topics."

Another participant in the surveys gave this interesting perspective: "Christianity stands on its own merits; unless I'm debating a point of authority, or making a religious statement, I try to build my writing around an invisible structure. Something that has Christ in its bones, not on its shirt, if you know what I mean."

2004-04-22T22:00:00.000-06:00

Links to Discussions Elsewhere

I am encouraged that this blog and my study have encouraged dialog around the blogosphere:

Living Room, Holy Huddle

jonnybakerblog, holy huddle blogging

Bloggedy Blog, Blogging about God, etc.

Benediction Blogs On, The religious blogging bubble

Rebecca Writes, Thinking Out Loud...Or What is a Proper Purpose for a Christian Blog?

Messy Christian, Expanding our horizons

Unquenchable Songs and Endless Praise, Christian Blogging

Another Think, Breaking the Bubble, and Breaking the Bubble II

The Fire Ant Gazette, Christian Blogging Survey Results Online

Mixolydian Mode, Interactive Bubbles

Christian Computing, Bloggers Survey

There are some interesting discussions going on, thank you to everyone who is thinking about such things.

2004-04-20T13:03:00.000-06:00

Study Online

The full text of my Ministry Related Research Project is now accessible online here. Much of the research in this paper is taken from the Christian blogger surveys that I conducted in March 2004.

I do welcome your thoughts and comments, please feel free to email me at dialog[at]briercrest[dot]com, or leave them here.

*Update: Thanks to those who emailed with link corrections, I appreciate it! I have fixed the error.

2004-04-20T13:00:00.000-06:00

Permalinks

The permalinks on this site have been fixed. I did have to change to a new layout though in order to fix them, please let me know if you have any trouble reading with these colours.

2004-04-18T19:39:00.000-06:00

Personal Details

I asked those surveyed whether or not they have any fears about giving personal details on their weblog.

- 30% of respondents (34/115) said that no, they did not have any fears.
- 15/115 repondents stated they have emotional boundaries when writing in their blogs.
- 9 respondents stated they have "personal boundaries."
- 22% (25/115) said they are wary of giving their location or address.
- 6 respondent stated they were cautious of giving personal details due to internet stalking that had happened to them previously.
- 20 respondents did not use names of family members and family details.
- 2 respondents had been warned by their employers not to blog about work details.
- 7 respondents stated they keep work details private.
- 4 respondents stated that they were wary about blogging about church details.
- 1 respondent said they had been asked by family members not to post "private details" and "family squabbles."
- 1 respondent said information on their blog had led to a family disagreement.

Some interesting comments on the issue of personal details include:

-" I have tended to keep my blog as a place away from people I know personally to explore my thoughts and feelings without fear of judgment or of hurting anyone."
-"Once in a while when I get weird comments I worry that I have given too much information."
-"I don't give away real deep feelings in my life like how lonely I get being single. I try to keep it lighthearted because i don't want anyone seeing all that kind of stuff .it's too personal if my family is reading it."
-"There are two guys that read my blog that have repeatedly tried to stir up trouble for me. One even has a background of doing that sort of thing to other youth pastors."
-" When I began roughly four years ago, I was naive. That has changed via experience. I have through mistake, misapprehension, and misapplication nearly lost my job, damaged irreparably a relationship with a potential spouse's parents, and been brought before the elders of a church where I was teaching a college-age study. In only the first case was there any merit to the problem, but blogs are necessarily free from context and so readers often apply their own imagined context to the text - resulting in conclusions far from those intended."
-"As for personal life stuff, yes, I do often times battle with whether I should share it or not. But, it's not because of strangers, but rather, because of my close friends and family. I just sometimes feel like I don't want to reveal to them some of the deeper day-to-day struggles that I have. But, I'm slowly coming out of that fear and I do share more now than I used to. I think the thing that turned that around for me was the first time I decided to share that I was having a hard time with something and I got a response I was not expecting. That response was that my friends also have those feelings. Who knew?!"

2004-04-17T14:34:00.000-06:00

Blogging is Booming

This link was emailed to me by Neely, saying "This is an article that highlights the characteristics of bloggers. There is a nifty little chart at the bottom that compares them to web surfers."

While it's mostly about advertising on blogs and the numbers of bloggers, Blogging is Booming also tells us this:

"The Quris research shows that blog readers skew somewhat younger than average Web surfers, are power-users of the Net and media junkies in general, spend more money online, and consume a disproportionate amount of literature, pop culture and electronics. No big surprises there for anyone who reads blogs, but the bottom line is that this segment sounds like an attractive demographic for advertisers."

This data is on blog readers, but we already saw earlier that the Perseus Websurvey stated most blog writers were also young. That survey found that only .7% of blogs were maintained by persons ages 51-69. The survey also found that 92.4% of blogs were created by persons aged 29 and younger.

In my surveys, 7% of respondents were aged 51-60. 53% were aged 30 and under. 37% were ages 31-50. Weblogging seems to be especially popular amongst Christians between the ages of 21-40, with 70% of all respondents falling in this category. Over half (52%) of all respondents in my surveys were between 21-30 years of age. (see "Age of Respondents" on my March 25th post here for the age statistics of those who participated).

There is interesting discussion going on over at The Revealer (see the comments on that post) about senior citizens and others being left out of the conversation of God blogs.

What does this mean for the conversation? Are we as Christian bloggers missing the input of the older generations in our conversations online? Is this important?

2004-04-16T15:02:00.000-06:00

Welcome

Welcome to Dialog: Breaking the Bubble. This site's purpose is to release the survey statistics gleaned from 115 self identified "Christian bloggers" who took a general survey in March 2004, and 20 blogging Christian youth workers who took another survey; as well as promote dialog and discussion on the topic of Christians and blogging.

These surveys were part of the research conducted for my Ministry Related Research Project (similar to a thesis) at Briercrest Biblical Seminary for a Master of Arts in Christian Ministry with an emphasis in Youth and Family.

Please note that the release of my Christian Webloggers Survey information and statistics is ongoing as I have time. I continue to welcome your comments and thoughts. Thank you for all those who have continued the dialog elsewhere on their sites and the sites of others.

I hope to have the full text of my paper up within the next week. Thank you for you patience.

And I'm still working on the permalinks in this sitem if anyone has any help to offer I'd love to figure out what I am doing wrong...

2004-04-16T14:56:00.001-06:00

Internet Stalking

8 % of respondents (9/115) said that they had had internet stalkers.

Some of the comments left on internet stalkers included:

-" I have had a few different people 'stalk' me after reading my blog. One time a guy told me that he knew I was the one he was going to marry just because he had been reading my blog and liked what I had written. He even went as far as to say he was going to move to where I lived."

-"A man emailed me all the time. I don't think he was dangerous, he was just really bossy."

-"A man got my telephone number because it was published and called a lot. It was… odd. And it made me feel weird about having so many of my intimate thoughts online."

2004-04-16T14:56:00.000-06:00

Identity

- 59% (68/115) of respondents surveyed gave their first and last names.

- 22% (25/115) of respondents gave only their first name.

- 19% (22/115) blog under a pseudonym.

2004-04-16T14:55:00.000-06:00

Inappropriate Comments

25% of respondents said that they had had inappropriate comments left on their blog, including foul language, personal attacks, sexually explicit commentary, and other random comments.

2004-04-15T14:31:00.000-06:00

God Blogging, Spiritual Blogging, Religious Blogging

There is an interesting discussion over at The Revealer called Do You Believe in Blog? about "God blogging" and religious blogging, and they also linked to this site. The Revealer "is a publication of the New York University Department of Journalism and New York University's Center for Religion and Media, one of ten 'Centers of Excellence' financed by The Pew Charitable Trusts as part of an effort to stimulate innovative research and teaching in the interdisciplinary study of religion."

My research has been primarily to do with "Christian" bloggers and how they interact with each other and with those who would be considered "non-Christian." I am not sure I understand the intricacies of what exactly "God blogging," "god blogging," "religious blogging," "spiritual blogging" all are.

I dialoged with Tim Bednar of e-church (who has been doing research on blogging as well as seen here) via email a couple of times about my study, and this is what he had to say:

My research showed that so-called Christian blogs did not want to be labeled as such. I called them spiritual blogs for that reason. I found that spiritual bloggers to be highly engaged with the secular world.

I found that most spiritual bloggers reach out by blogging, not by preaching a certain message or even presenting the gospel. They sort of say here I am, I'm a Christian, here is my blog--see for yourself if Christianity is worth believing in. Few good spiritual bloggers have a pointed evangelistic mission.

I know that I personally would not call myself a "spiritual blogger" or say that I have a "spiritual blog." I think that would be another interesting research subject though... finding out what those I surveyed would call themselves. By participating in my surveys, they each identified themselves as a "Christian blogger," but if given the choice, what term would they chose?

I concur with Tim's second paragraph, what I found in my research backs up what he stated. The bloggers who participated in my surveys, for the most part, didn't set out to preach or present the gospel. Rather, instead, they were more incarnational in their approach, writing about their lives, how Christ makes a difference, and speaking about things that are important to them (often matters incorporating their faith).

Some more survey results:

Do you intentionally include Christian topics in your blogging?

* 15 % (17/115) of respondents said no.
* 85% (98/115) of respondents said they do intentionally include Christian topics in their blogging, however, the large majority of them stated that it just comes through naturally, it is not something they think about. They intentionally include Christian topics because Christ is whom their life is centered around.
* Three respondents said sharing Christ intentionally is the purpose of their blog.
* Only one respondent said no, they do not include any Christian topics in their blogging as that is not the intent (a linguistics/teaching blog).

Do you try to intentionally "reach out" (minister) through your blog?

* 43% of respondents stated they did not.
* 28.5% stated that they do not try to intentionally minister through their blog, it just happens that what they write ministers to others.
* 28.5% said they intentionally reach out through their blog.

It seemed from the comments given to this question that most respondents did not have trouble with being naturally expressive about their faith. Some comments that would reflect this are "I include Christian topics in my blogging because my life is centered around Christ, so that just comes through," and "Absolutely (I include Christian topics)...it's who I am and is a natural flow of my thinking," and "Yes (I include Christian topics) because it is part of my life - it IS my life."

2004-04-14T15:08:00.000-06:00

Terms

Lately Bene at Benediction Blogs On and Darren at Living Room have linked to this site and have facilitated a little dialog and discussions on this study themselves, which is awesome. Thank you for your thoughts.

They mentioned the use of terms in my study like "Christian" and "non-Christian" being somewhat harsh, and also evangelical or religious in nature.

One of the limitations of my study was the following:

The term "Christian" as used in the survey titles is open to interpretation by the survey takers, and thus it was expected that participants would be from a wide variety of backgrounds, including but not limited to Evangelicals and Protestants.

You can see this evidenced in my March 25th post in the section titled "Denominational Affiliation or Church Currently Attending." Not everyone participating in the surveys were evangelical, not everyone were protestant.

There are more thoughts from some other bloggers here and here.

Sidenote: I think I have managed to fix the archives... but I'm still working on the permalinks. Can anyone out there figure out what I'm doing wrong? I tried to have the archives directly on this page rather than on an archive page, but I couldn't get them to work that way so have resorted to using the archive page. Any help is appreciated.

2004-04-14T13:08:00.000-06:00

Perceptions of Quality

Only one respondent out of the 115 participating in this survey knew or had met everyone on their blogroll. And, another interesting find was that 22% (25/115) of respondents stated that they knew people on their blogroll "in real life" but had never actually met these people in person.

The two statistics speak highly of people's perceptions of the quality of internet relationships, with almost 100% of respondents linking to weblogs of people they have never actually met in person, and 22% of respondents considering the quality of their internet-based relationships high enough that they state they know people in real life whom they have never actually met in the flesh.

Is it possible that relational ministry could happen through blogging? What are your thoughts?

2004-04-13T11:52:00.000-06:00

Non-Christian Readership

I asked survey respondents whether or not they were aware if they had any regular non-Christian readers of their weblog, and if so, what percent of their readership was. 17% (20/115) said no, they do not have any non-Christian readers. 28% (32/115) said they did not know or have no idea as to whether or not any of their regular readers are Christian. Three out of the 115 respondents said the majority of their regular readers are non-Christians. Six out of the 115 respondents said half of their regular readers are non-Christians.

Of the 55% of respondents who stated they have regular non-Christian readers, approximately 35% had only 1 or 2 non-Christian readers, and approximately 35% had less than one-quarter non-Christian readers.

One respondent commented, "I do have one friend that is not a Christian that is reading my blog regularly that I hadn't seen for years and through my blog we have reconnected and building a new friendship. He's not blogging, but reading. I have no idea how many others, I know that through the Blogger Idol that Darren Rowse has started I've had comments from people I've never met, some I don't think are Christian. So that's cool."

2004-04-12T21:28:00.000-06:00

Readership Size

When asked how many hits or visitors per day their personal weblog received, here is how respondents answered:

Number of Hits or Visitors........Respondents*
20 or less.................................27%
21-40.......................................22%
41-60.......................................14%
61-80.......................................12%
81-100.....................................8%
101-200...................................11%
201+........................................6%

* It should be noted for this question that 5% of survey participants did not answer this question, and 17% of participants stated they did not know the number of visitors visiting their site, so percentages on this chart have been calculated using only 78% of total participants in the survey.

What the statistics tell us:

Most of the webloggers participating in the survey, like most bloggers, have small audiences. 49% of those who knew the answer to this question received 40 or less site visitors per day.

While my site received about 65 unique hits, or visitors, per day before the surveying began (it has since gone up), I can only say I have at most 15 dedicated readers who visit my site regularly (either every day or every few days), the large majority of my visitors are one timers. We can probably assume the same of most of the weblogs that were surveyed, one of the major conclusions of the Perseus Weblog Survey was that blogs have nanoaudiences, the large majority of them are only interesting to a handful of individuals.

2004-04-08T11:55:00.000-06:00

Virtual Church Response

In response to my I-Church post below, Doug sent me the following:

I'm not so sure this is a crazy idea.

I work with professors in teaching their courses online. I'm an instructional designer - my focus is on teaching, not the technical aspects of putting courses on the web. I show professors how to create highly interactive courses.

The Internet has allowed us to redefine community, which until now has been defined by geography. We live in the So and So community. With the Internet, we can define community on the basis of common interest, not locale. In other words, we can express the idea of "my church" as a place where I find commonality with others in my beliefs, rather than "my church" as in a neighborhood or town.

Non-Internet users think the web is a soulless place that robs users of social skills. Jeffrey Cole wrote an interesting article in The Chronicle of Higher Education. As a researcher at UCLA, he found the opposite was true - regular Internet users may actually lead healthier face-to-face social lives than non-users.

At the present time, going to church now involves being at a certain place at a certain time. A virtual church allows worship at anytime and anyplace - a strong consideration when people's jobs may mean they cannot come to worship at 11 AM Sunday morning.

Its about choice. Worshipers may still come to a physical church and yet gain spiritual growth online. Many people do that already through the use of list servs, blogs, discussion boards, and other online platforms.

I recommend "Give Me That Online Religion" by Dr. Brenda Brasher as a good academic book on the topic.

What do you think of what Doug has to say? What are your experiences with "the church" or "church" online? Do you see the internet as a spiritual growth tool?

2004-04-08T11:54:00.000-06:00

Update

I've been working on getting my paper ready for being housed online... it should be up sometime next week as I'll be in Montana for the weekend.

2004-04-06T21:02:00.000-06:00

Reading Up

When asked "Do you regularly read the blogs of any non-Christians? If yes, approximately how many? Do you link to them?" this is how survey respondents answered:

* 17% (20/115) of participants exclusively read only weblogs written by other Christians.
* 29% (33/115) of participants regularly read the blogs of non-Christians but do not link to them.

A large majority of those who "regularly read the blogs of non-Christians" read only 1 or 2 of such blogs.

Most identified the "non-Christian blogs" that they read as ones pertaining to a specific interest of theirs, such as sports, computing, teaching, or cultural affairs.

What these statistics mean:

It would seem from the statistics from these answers that many Christian webloggers are wary to link to others who are not of the same faith. One respondent stated "There are two blogs I read on a regular basis who I am not sure of their religious convictions. I only link to one of them." Overall, Christian webloggers seem to not want to "promote" through their linking or recommend non-Christian blogs to anyone to read even when they have some kind of a relationship established with the blogger.

2004-04-06T15:05:00.000-06:00

Personal Relationships

When asked, "Would you say you have a personal relationship with any non-Christian bloggers?" 29% (33/115) of those surveyed said yes, they do. About half of those (14% of all surveyed) stated that these were internet-based relationships, and 15% stated that these were bloggers whom they know outside of blogging.

One respondent, who was of the 71% who did not have a personal relationship with any non-Christian bloggers stated it bluntly that no, they did not have any such relationships because "I haven't been able to build a relationship with a non-Christian blogger but that's because I don't leave comments on non-Christian blogs nor do they on mine." Two respondents specifically stated they would love to build relationships with non-Christian bloggers.

Not many responded with the enthusiasm of this blogger: "Definitely. There are lots of non-Christian bloggers I talk to on a regular basis with and are friendly with."

2004-04-05T16:33:00.000-06:00

Christian Blogging Circle?

Although there was some confusion about the question "Would you consider yourself to be a part of a Christian circle of blogging?" the results of the question were as follows:

* 23% (27/115) of respondents said no, they did not consider themselves to be part of a circle of Christian blogging.
* Many stated that yes, they did feel as though they were a part of a Christian circle of blogging for one or more of the following reasons:

- They only read the weblogs of other Christians
- Their readership is mostly, if not all, Christian
- They are linked to by only other Christian bloggers
- They are part of an explicit blogging community like “St Blogs” or “The Blogdom of God,” and a few mentioned being linked on blogs4God.com.
- They post primarily on Christian topics
- They include mostly Christian content on their site
- They are a Christian, so yes therefore are part of the Christian blogging community.

2004-04-03T20:28:00.000-06:00

Christian Bloglisting

Less than half of respondents (48%, or 55 of the 115 participants) stated they were listed one or more Christian bloglisting services (like blogs4God.com).

Several stated they were unaware of such services, and a few stated that they were not interested in being associated by faith in a bloglisting service or weblog ring.

2004-04-03T20:23:00.000-06:00

I-Church

My friend funkypancake sent me a link for this article, "Wanted: Virtual Vicar for Online Parish".

What do you think of this idea? Is it possible that the idea of an "i-church" could actually take of and prosper? Or is it somehow wrong to have a virtual church?

2004-04-02T14:45:00.000-06:00

Numbers on Blogrolls

Question: How many blogs do you have on your blogroll?

0 blogs, 2% of respondents
1-9 blogs, 13% of respondents
10-19 blogs, 25% of respondents
20-30, 21% of respondents
31-40, 9% of respondents
41-50, 10% of respondents
51-60, 4% of respondents
61-70, 1% of respondents
71-80, 1% of respondents
81-90, 1%of respondents
91-100, 6% of respondents
>100, 3% of respondents

59% of respondents had between 1 and 30 blogs on their blogroll.

20% (23/115) of those surveyed stated that they do not know anyone on their blogroll "in real life."

On average, respondents knew four people included on their blogroll "in real life." Six respondents stated they knew between 20 and 40 people "in real life" who are included on their blogroll.

Only one respondent knew or had met everyone on their blogroll.

2004-04-01T21:58:00.000-06:00

Church Community Interaction

23% of survey respondents stated that they interact with people from their church community through blogging.

Of those who interact with members of their church community via blogging, they averaged interaction with 5 church members, but 61% of those who interact with church members this way interacted with less than four members.

One youth director even stated that she had tried to get youth interested in weblogging, but that it had not caught on.

Eight other participants said members of their church community do not blog but read their blog.

2004-03-27T14:52:00.000-06:00

Christians on Blogroll

Remembering that all survey respondents identified themselves as Christians, this is how they answered the question "What percent of blogs on your blogroll are written by Christians?"

Percent Christians on Your Blogroll..........Number of Respondents (out of a total of 115)
None........................................................2
10%.........................................................4
25%.........................................................6
30%.........................................................2
40%.........................................................3
50%.........................................................7
65%.........................................................5
75%.........................................................9
85%.........................................................2
90-99%..................................................21
100%.....................................................48
No Answer or "No Idea"..........................5

What this means: 41% of all Christian bloggers surveyed linked exclusively to other Christians.

If you add the 21 bloggers who claimed their blogroll had less than 10% blogs written by non-Christians, then 60% of those surveyed barely link, if at all, to blogs of non-Christians.

Overall, 69% of those surveyed stated that between 90-100% of the bloggers on their blogrolls were Christians. As many respondents commented that they only blogroll weblogs they would want to recommend to others, the lack of blogrolling non-Christians implies a wariness and caution to promote the weblogs of any non-Christians through permanent linking.

Some respondents stated that they are always surprised to find non-Christians linking to their weblogs, and a few survey respondents even answered that they had asked non-Christians to remove a link to them in the past because they did not want to be associated with the linking website or it's content.

2004-03-27T14:41:00.000-06:00

Bloggers Interaction

Do you interact with other bloggers in ways besides blogging?
(Blogging would include reading and commenting)

Way of interacting..................Number of Respondents
None..............................................15
Email..............................................81
Instant Messenger........................46
Telephone......................................21
Regular Mail ("Snail Mail")..............15
In Person.......................................23

31 of the 115 respondents had also met people in the flesh whom they had originally come to know through weblogging.

What these statistics mean:

With 87% of participants interacting with webloggers in ways other than simply reading and commenting on blogs, the statistics tells us that webloggers are highly communicative and interactive people. They do not just maintain their weblogging relationships through the medium of weblogging, but instead branch out to other communication modes. They are willing to go beyond the given medium when developing and maintaining relationships they first found through weblogging.

2004-03-27T14:30:00.000-06:00

Reading Habits

How many blogs do you read on a regular (daily) basis?

Number of Blogs read..........Number of Respondents
1-5.......................................13
6-10.....................................34
11-15...................................16
16-20...................................14
21-25.....................................6
26-30.....................................5
36-40.....................................7
46-50.....................................4
65-70.....................................3
100........................................1
No Answer...........................12

2004-03-27T14:29:00.000-06:00

What Blogging Tool or Service Do You Use?

b2: 3 respondents, or 2%
Blog Studio: 1 respondent, or <1%
Blog-City: 1 respondent, or <1%
Blogger: 54 respondents, or 47%
Blogger Pro: 1 respondent, or <1%
Handcode the html by hand: 4 respondents, or 3%
iBlog: 1 respondent, or <1%
LiveJournal: 1 respondent, or <1%
Movable Type: 33 respondents, or 29%
Own PHP Creation: 1 respondents, or <1%
Pivot: 1 respondent, or <1%
Pmachine: 2 respondents, or >1%
Radio Userland: 1 respondent, or <1%
Typepad: 5 respondents, or 4%
WordPress: 4 respondents, or 3%

2004-03-25T21:39:00.000-06:00

Population Survey Statistics

The following are population statistics from those who participated in my online websurvey of Christian webloggers, as originally discussed here.

To gain survey participants, I posted a request on my blog, and I also emailed ten "big name" Christian webloggers (including some whose weblogs receive up to 1000 visitors per day and having anywhere from 100-350 other weblogs linking to them, according to www.technorati.com). Eventually, over 30 weblogs linked to my original survey post.

Total number of valid responses:
115
(valid responses included both Parts One and Two completed).

Gender:
Male: 54%
Female: 45%
Undisclosed: < 1%

Age of Respondents:

11-15 years old: 2
16-20: 7
21-25: 29
26-30: 23
31-35: 14
36-40: 14
41-45: 9
46-50: 6
51-55: 3
56-60: 5
Undisclosed: 2

The average age of respondents was 34 years old. The youngest respondent was 11 years old, the oldest was 60 years old.

Geographical Location:

United States: 80 respondents
Canada: 13
Australia: 7
United Kingdom: 5
New Zealand: 2
Malaysia: 2
Bosnia: 1
Brazil: 1
Nicaragua: 1
Philippines: 1
South Korea: 1
Ukraine: 1

Professions:

Middle School/High School Students: 5
College Students: 13
Graduate Students (Seminary): 3
Ph. D. Level Student: 1
Teachers (Elementary, Middle School, and High School): 6
College/University Instructors/Professors: 4
Pastors: 6
Missionaries: 5
Youth Pastors: 4
Web or Computer Technologies: 18
Housemaker/Housewife/Stay-at-home Dad: 13
Other Professions: 11
Writer/Journalist/Reporter/Editor: 8
Engineering: 3
Arts Related Fields: 3
Company Director: 2
Retail Management: 2
Disabled: 2
Unemployed: 2

* Some respondents listed more than one profession, therefore numbers will not add up to 115.

Denominational Affiliation or Church Currently Attending:

Alliance: 1
Anglican: 3
Assembly of God: 1
Baptist: 10
Baptist (Fellowship): 1
Baptist (Reformed): 1
Baptist (Southern): 8
Baptist Union of Western Canada: 1
Bible Church: 1
Brethren: 1
Christian Reformed: 5
Church of Christ: 1
Church of God: 1
Church of the Nazarene: 3
Church Plant: 1
Congregationalist: 1
Conservative Congregational Christian Conference: 1
Eastern Orthodox: 1
Emergence-type church: 1
Episcopal: 5
Evangelical Covenant: 1
Evangelical Free Church: 1
Evangelical Friend ("Quaker"): 1
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America: 2
Evangelical Missionary Church of Canada: 1
Evangelical Presbyterian: 2
Evangelical Protestant: 3
Home Church: 2
Indigenous Nicaraguan Evangelical Church: 1
Interdenominational :2
Methodist (Free): 2
Methodist (United): 1
Non-Denominational: 10
None: 2
Not Identified: 8
Orthodox Church: 1
Orthodox Presbyterian: 1
Pentecostal: 2
Presbyterian: 4
Presbyterian (liberal): 1
Presbyterian (Orthodox): 1
Presbyterian Church in America: 7
Roman Catholic: 4
Catholic: 3
Seventh Day Adventist: 1
Vineyard: 3

2004-03-25T21:19:00.000-06:00

Posted

There's a thread over at the Center for Parent/Youth Understanding Forums about Kids and their Websites. I posted some thoughts here.

2004-03-25T21:10:00.000-06:00

Blogging and Privacy

Fernanda Viegas, a a PhD candidate working in the Sociable Media Group at the MIT Media Lab, just posted the results of the surveys he did for a class called Ethics and Law on the Electronic Frontier: Electronic Surveillance and Copyright Control.

His survey was on Expectations of Privacy and Accountability in blogging. The background on his survey can be found here, and the results can be found here

Link via Benediction Blogs On.

2004-03-10T15:01:00.000-06:00

Generation Blog

In the mid to late 1990s, Christian thinkers started putting forth the idea that internet ministry was a viable option and should be embraced by the church as a whole in order to stay culturally relevant, and to avoid being passed by on the information highway. The idea of Christianity using technology to advance the Gospel was not a new one (think of radio and television programs, for example). Internet evangelism simply stems out of other ways of evangelism. (see Jeff Zaleski’s The Soul of Cyberspace: How New Technology is Changing Our Spiritual Lives, San Francisco, CA: HarperEdge, 1997, p. 103).

With Generation X, "it's all about relationships," (see Ralph Moore's Friends: The Key to Reaching Generation X. Ventura, CA: Regal Books, 2001, back cover) and incarnational ministry is also important. If we want to reach the young adults and adolescents of today, connecting with them through relational and incarnational ministry is key. Youth today want to see genuineness. Everyone wants to see genuiness.

With weblogs fostering communication and community, it would seem that they would be an ideal place on the internet to do ministry. Relational and incarnational ministry, it seems, have the potential to flourish via weblogging.

But, are Christians grabbing hold of the potential of ministry through weblogs? How are weblogging Christians online fostering relationships? Are they simply developing relationships with other Christians and perhaps alienating the non-Christians? Are they creating a distinct Christian weblogging community and alienating themselves from the rest of the online blogosphere? With all the adolescents who are blogging online, is anyone seeing the potential for youth ministry?

Are weblogging Christians, in essence, creating a weblogging "bubble," a closed Christian circle that includes only others of "like mind"? When you take a look at the weblogging community of an individual Christian weblogger via their sidebar and the other blogs they link to, it seems that often include mostly other Christian weblogs. Are Christian webloggers tending to communicate solely with other Christian webloggers?

Does the average Christian weblog invite non-Christians in? While Christian fellowship is happening amongst the Christians, what about the seeker? How is the world of Christian weblogging ministering to him, and how can it be improved? How can we encourage Christian webloggers to reach out to non-Christians in the blogosphere? How can we foster and facilitate relationships between non-Christians and Christians?

2004-03-05T16:00:00.000-06:00

The Beginning

This project is one that has been somewhat on the go for me since sometime in Summer 2002. That semester I did an independent study called Adolescent Sub-Culture Profile, which was the last of the requirements for my Bachelor of Arts in Youth Ministry degree.

For my Adolescent Sub-Culture profile, I decided to do something new, something that little (or no) research had been done on yet. I chose to study adolescents steeped in the somewhat new sub-culture of online journalling/weblogging/blogging. I was going to be a new kind of Patricia Hersch.

My independent study lasted the span of the semester (September to December), and during it I spent a lot of time seeking out and reading the blogs of adolescents online. Late in September I started my own blog which I called Mikao's World.

Mikao's World became the platform from which I reached out into the world of blogging adolescents. It didn't take long to realize that to have the right to be delving into a sub-culture, it's quite beneficial to be in and part of that sub-culture. Mikao's World gave me a basis and a platform from which to explore their world.

People love the interactive nature of blogging. It breeds and facilitates communication. Commenting back and forth. Tagboards. Emailing. Instant-messaging. I've done all of them with people I've "met" through blogging.

I've been able to develop relationships with people I would have never met any other way. I have friends with whom I talk to regularly via our blogs and emails and IM.

The number of bloggers is expanding. Adolescents and 20-somethings love this new fad. Is it just a fad? I don't know. Maybe. But while it's here, I think it has a tremendous potential for relational and incarnational ministry.

Getting online is easy. Starting a blog is easy. Maintaining it takes discipline and dedication. I am assuming however, and I know I'm correct, that most of the people, if not all, who are reading this, already have their own blog.

Developing relationships takes time. And discipline. And dedication.

This new project, of which this blog is a part of, stems from my early project. I want to encourage dialog on this topic of relational and incarnational ministry online via blogging.

I welcome your thoughts.