A Networked Conspiracy

Welcome

This is the blog that accompanies my book, A Networked Conspiracy. You may be here because you bought the book. Or perhaps you stumbled across the blog through Technorati, Google or some other link. Welcome.

This blog is like the book - designed to help you understand the Power of the Collective Intelligence available in the "pews" of your church - and the ability to create social networks that can effectively utilize that power.

If you've read or are reading the book, I've provided the Book End Notes as web links in the expanded section of this post.

Technorati Tags: A Networked Conspiracy, audio book, Bill Kinnon, Wizard Academy Press

Wycliffe Presentation

Updated: Wednesday morning.

Here's a list of resources as discussed in my Wycliffe Refresh Seminar - Church in a Digital Age.

Download my short book, A Networked Conspiracy in pdf format.  All the links/footnotes in the book are available as links in the top post of this blog. See above.

Clay Shirky presentation: Read Jay Rosen writing about it here. Watch it here. Order Shirky's new book here.

PowerPoint (if you use a Mac, you should be using Keynote - and if you're not using a Mac...)

My blog post, Microsoft Abandons PowerPoint

Seth Godin pdf download on Really Bad Powerpoint (and how to avoid it).

Church Presentation Software other than PowerPoint: Easy Worship or Media Shout. Just remember to, please, keep it simple.

Recommended books:

PresentationZen  - Simple Ideas on Presentation Design and Delivery (Click here for blog.) - Garr Reynolds

Waiting for Your Cat to Bark (Persuasion Architecture for Website Design) - Eisenberg Brothers

Wikinomics - How Mass Collaboration Changes Everything - Don Tapscot (UofT Prof)

The Laws of Simplicity - John Maeda

Wikiklesia, Voices of the Virtual World, the book in which I wrote a chapter along with many other "voices."

Web designer: There are lots of good web designers out there. I'd recommend the bi-vocational pastor and web developer, Todd Heistand.

Cheap and good web hosting: Media Temple and Bluehost

My blog is hosted by TypePad. I'd recommend you build your site and/or your blog with WordPress.

Feel free to drop me a note via the email link on my main blog, achievable ends.

Kindle and Clicker in One Last Post, Today...

...as I'm off early to bed and wasn't going to post at all today. (SIGH)

Amazon launches their new eBook reader, the Kindle, tomorrow. Newsweek has the scoop. There is much oohing and awing about it. Looks bug ugly to me. And the name. Good grief. (Image lifted from here.)

"Ah. Well. It's a Kindle." "A what?" "You know. Kinda like Kinder and Spindle shaken together."

Check out Seth's response.

The perfect device for me would have an eBook reader on one side (using the E Ink process - with it's low battery usage) and an iPhone-like device on the other. I'd really rather not carry another electronic device. Maybe my favourite phone manufacturer, Sony Ericsson could make it.

And speaking of technology, I've had a blast using the Salling Clicker with my Mac and W810i phone. It turns my phone into a Bluetooth remote control - with a lot of info on the phone screen.

Check it out to see if it works with yours. It does an amazing job of controlling iTunes including artwork, complete listing, volume control and more - all from your phone. It also does a great job controlling Keynote or PowerPoint while showing you your notes. 'Tis a powerful and inexpensive little software package.

Jared Seibert was using it with his Treo 650 yesterday at the Cultivate Gathering in Hamilton.

Cultivating Reality

Am off to Cultivate in the morning. Will we be doing some shooting and grabbing some interviews. Hope to have a video report up early next week. Stay tuned. Will take the laptop in the hope that I can do a little live blogging as well. We shall see.

It's Called a Civic Generation

This morning's USA Today talks about the civic involvement of Generation Y (oft called millenials or emergents).

A growing body of academic and market research suggests millennials — who are in their mid-20s and younger — are civic-minded and socially conscious as individuals, consumers and employees. This generation, also known as Generation Y and Echo Boomers, has been pressed for its vote, sought for its purchasing power and watched closely by sociologists and historians for insight into the way its members will shape the future.

I talk about this Civic Generation and their difference from Baby Boomers, in my book, A Networked Conspiracy - based on the research of Roy Williams and Strauss and Howe. Read Roy's Monday Morning Memo from my 49th birthday (two years ago next week).

Baby Boomers were idealists who worshipped heroes, perfect icons of beauty and success. Today these icons are seen as phony, posed and laughable. Our cool as ice, suave lady's man James Bond has become the comic poser Austin Powers or the tragically flawed and vulnerable Jason Bourne of The Bourne Identity. That's the essence of the new worldview; the rejection of delusion, a quiet demand for gritty truth. We're seeing it reflected in our movies, our television shows and our music.

Baby Boomers believed in big dreams, reaching for the stars, personal freedom, "be all that you can be." Today's generation believes in small actions, getting your head out of the clouds, social obligation, "do your part."

A Baby Boomer anchored his or her identity in their career. The emerging generation sees his or her job only as a job.

Baby Boomers were diplomatic and sought the approval of others. The emerging generation feels it's more honest to be blunt, and they really don't care if you approve or not.

Boomers were driven, self-reliant and impressed by authority. Emergents are laid back, believe in working as a team, and have less confidence in "the boss."

This is a huge change in understanding of how we lead, market and engage in community building. The same old boomer-driven leadership style (evident in many corporations and most megachurches) is coming apart at the seems. Millenials aren't interested in the standard bullcrap - they want to be involved in truth-filled enterprises that have a positive impact on the planet. They are more interested in everyone "living their best life" than in their own personal success. And the world is going to be radically changed as a result.

I find it interesting that USA Today is talking about this today, years after people like Williams have seen it coming. If you'd like to get ahead of the curve (and stay there), might I recommend this course at Wizard Academy. (And if you struggle with the name, read or listen to this week's Monday Morning Memo.) And, as I've said before, make a point of subscribing to Roy's Monday Morning Memo.

[HT: TP Wire Service]

Technorati Tags: Civic Generation, Monday Morning Memo, Roy Williams, Strauss and Howe, Wizard Academy

Internet Time Management

This isn't a post on the tools I use for Time Management*, but rather me telling you what I'm doing to maximize my time in terms of how I use the "interweb". (And speaking of speed, remember that the official Firefox 2.0 is released this evening. I've been using a prerelease version, and love its speed.)

I commented on Robert Scoble's post about the challenges of the Internet Video Business. Scoble is putting a lot material online at his new gig with PodTech.net. My problem is that I have little time to view the content - figuring I have about 15 minutes a day max to watch vlogs (on any kind of regular basis). Scoble promises to meet my needs by producing a highlights version of the PodTech videos - giving me the opportunity to sample before I commit any more time to viewing.

One of the problems for an information junkie like me is the amount time I can waste spend reading the feeds in my RSS reader. I used to use Sage in Firefox, but this was too slow. I moved to NetNewsWire with its NewsGator integration, but even this wasn't fast enough. Now I'm using Google's Reader and am a happy camper (turned on to it by the rave reviews from the Scoble Bunny.). I've cut my blog reading time down to about 25% of what it was - Google does a fabulous job of marking posts read as I scan them - and I can easily star any posts I want to go back to. And it doesn't matter what platform I'm on (I normally have both a Mac and PC open on the three LCD monitors on my desk).

If you're already using an RSS reader, then switching to Google Reader is simple. Just export an OPML file from your present reader and import it into Google Reader. If you aren't using an RSS reader, want to, and are wondering what I waste spend my time reading - you can download my recent OPML file of feeds and check it out for yourself. And if you're wondering about the diverse nature of what I read, remember I am a member of the ADD club.

Download MySubscriptions.opml (47.4K)

*My net based Time Management Tools include Gmail, Google Calendar, 37Signals Backpack, Basecamp and Writeboard. And I can't wait to play with Scrybe.

Technorati Tags: Firefox Sage, Google Reader, internet time management, internet time wasting, NetNewsWire, Newsgator

Oaktreeidea Interview

The good folks at oaktreeidea have an interesting blogger interview....with me.

Thanks for the interview, Brady. And all the best with your community of hope, innovation and purpose.

oaktreeidea, like MyChurch.org are social networking communities patterned on the lines of MySpace. Check both communities out - MyChurch is oriented towards churches - oaktreeidea towards individuals. "Good on ya!" to both of them.

They are both examples of the kind of communities I talk about in my book, A Networked Conspiracy.

Technorati Tags: Bill Kinnon, MyChurch, oaktreeidea, blog interview

Technorati Tags: Bill Kinnon, blog interview, MyChurch, oaktreeidea

Scrybe - Very Interesting Off & On-line AJAX Time Management

I've become a Google Calendar aficionado (even though I still love 37Signals Backpack and am excited by coming upgrades) but the AJAX-powered Scrybe looks very interesting - and very powerful - especially with it's ability to work in off-line mode. And it's ThoughtPad section looks exceedingly usable. Rob Hyndman calls Scrybe "a gorgeous interface" and he's right. Watch the video. Sign up for the Beta. [HT: Scoble.]

Technorati Tags: AJAX, calendar apps, Scrybe, time management

Joseph Suh reviews A Networked Conspiracy

Joseph Suh, of mychurch.org, has reviewed my short audio book, A Networked Conspiracy, at Amazon. In an act of shameless self-promotion, I've copied it here.

A must-read for church leaders, August 28, 2006
Reviewer: Joseph Suh (San Jose, Ca)
A thorough examination into how our postmodern culture and the social web are crossing at this point in time, both in parallel and in series. It is a well-researched work designed to explain our changing online world to internet novices, yet insightful to Web 2.0-savvy bloggers. With the perspective of someone who has worked for 30 years in old media and was an early adopter to new media, Bill Kinnon applies the paradigm shift in the secular world to lessons that the church must heed in order to stay relevant and effective.

The author is not shy in pointing out the remarkable analogies between the Protestant Reformation and the "Postmodern Reformation." He backs this claim up with compelling facts, stories, and trends. Anecdotes that we are familiar with, but packaged in such a way that you draw the same conclusion that he does: that the world is rapidly changing and that the church must seize the opportunity to be a part of this new world.

This book should be required reading (or listening) to all church leaders, as it will change the way ministry is viewed and run. I recommend referencing the published transcript while listening to the audio CD. When the author is reading quotes, it can be ambiguous to decipher if he's speaking in first person or third. Other than that minor issue, it is an entertaining and informative read/listen.

Technorati Tags: A Networked Conspiracy, Bill Kinnon, Joseph Suh, mychurch.org, review

An Example of Leveraging Video

Here's a video I just finished for Alan Roxburgh's new book, The Sky is Falling. I'm hosting it a YouTube which is free to all of us. They provide the bandwidth. We provide the content. A win-win situation. If you don't mind the Google ads, that is.

Technorati Tags: Alan Roxburgh, Allelon, Brian McLaren, The Sky is Falling!?!

An Example of Leveraging Video

Here's a video for Alan Roxburgh's book, The Sky is Falling. I'm hosting it a YouTube which is free to all of us. They provide the bandwidth. We provide the content. A win-win situation. If you don't mind the Google ads, that is.

Technorati Tags: Alan Roxburgh, Allelon, Brian McLaren, The Sky is Falling!?!