Scientific Ghost City (or, why we need a place to make mistakes)

I came across this news article today…

Scientific Ghost City To Test Future Technology

A “world first” $1bn scientific ghost city will be built in New Mexico to test the latest next-generation technology.

Researchers will use the facility in Lea County, near Hobbs, to look at everything from intelligent traffic systems and next-generation wireless networks to automated washing machines and self-flushing toilets.

The town will be modelled on the real city of Rock Hill, South Carolina, complete with roads, houses and commercial buildings, old and new.

No one will live there, although they could as houses will include all the necessities, like appliances and plumbing.

The point of the town is to enable researchers to test new technologies on existing infrastructure without interfering in everyday life.

For instance, while some researchers will be testing smart technologies on old grids, others might be using the streets to test self-driving cars.

Hobbs Mayor Sam Cobb said: “It brings so many great opportunities and puts us on a world stage.”

The city will be built by Pegasus Holdings and its New Mexico subsidiary, CITE Development.

The Centre for Innovation, Technology and Testing (CITE) is being billed as a first-of-its kind smart city that will be developed on about 15 square miles west of Hobbs.

Bob Brumley, senior managing director of Pegasus Holdings, said work on the city will begin by June 30 .

The initial development cost is estimated at $400m, although Mr Brumley estimates the overall investment in the project to top $1bn.

The project is expected to create 350 permanent jobs and about 3,500 indirect jobs in its design, development, construction and ongoing operational phases. (http://uk.news.yahoo.com/scientific-ghost-city-test-future-technology-005707004.html) 

Now, put aside for a moment the issues they may have with squatters or the fact there are millions of starving people in the world and this might seem like it’s a good idea…

I’m sure they will make the money back from leasing it as a film set within a few years but it will be interesting to see what technologies are tested there. The conspiracy theorist inside me thinks it’s probably the first stage towards building an alien refugee camp like District 9 but we’ll have to wait and see…

Anyway, there is obviously a point to this post and I shall come to it now.

It got me thinking about whether there is a testing ground for stuff we do in church? Is there a safe and yet realistic environment for us to try out a sermon or a new song, a liturgical painting, a poem or those funky intercessions you’ve written? During my time as a youth worker it has always been ‘the evening service’ or another time when the main body of the church is not actually present to get upset. 10 years down the line and I’ve been let loose in main services but we’re always learing aren’t we so where do we get to try new things? It can’t be right that it’s only the long-suffering wife or dog or mirror that is our practice audience…

It worries me that so many churches are seeking such perfection in everything that they have removed all space to let people ‘have a go’. How can we bring an openness and spirit of graciousness back to our churches? I am keen to see gatherings and space for creatives to collaborate and produce wonderful new things for churches to use but this is surely a much deeper issue. This is an issue which has become engrained in our church culture and it needs to change…

‘In the world, not of’ comes to mind as I consider how church should look, work and communicate – have we (the church) taken on too many of the traits society pushes on us everyday?Lets create some space to try, to explore, to fail.

 

How hacking could help the church get more creative

This is a copy of my April post for Big Bible - please do check out all the other Digi Disciples!

‘Hacking’ is bad. it’s done by rebels and revolutionaries trying to bring down institutions or make a political stand. Or that’s how it was. Over the last couple of months I’ve attended a number of events for web developers and designers, one of which was called a ‘hack event’.

Hacks are now organised to encourage creativity and innovation over a particular period of time. The ‘Culture Code‘ hack I attended was 24 hours set up to get cultural sector organisations and developers, designers and artists together. 120 lots of data were shared and small groups began to form to create websites, apps, and other media fuelled by pizza, red bull and sweets.

This was a great event for a number of reasons;

1. designers and developers did really cool things with data that is otherwise pretty boring

2. they had a 3D printer they were showing off

3. all sorts of people who would not normally talk to each other began to have a dialogue

4. there was more pizza than you can possibly imagine

5. it was held in an awesome cinema complex and I watched The Goonies at 6am

6. the project that won the overall competition was for a children’s poverty charity – it reminded me that people do care

7. they had lots of excellent freebies including an Arduino (which I’m yet to play with)

8. it’s amazing what you can get done in 24 hours when you set your mind to it

9. you get to know lots of new people

10. lots of other projects were discussed and future collaborations were born

So – with all that in mind,

WHY DON’T CHURCHES HAVE SIMILAR EVENTS?

It doesn’t even need to be developers and designers, it could be worship leaders and digital media artists, liturgy writers and children’s workers, intercessors and painters…

I’ve babbled on about collaboration before but these events have highlighted for me the lack of creative collaborations within churches. We need to be putting unlikely matches of people in a room together for 24 hours with plentyful amounts of pizza (or quiche), lots of sweets and a range of Bibles and see what happens. For those of you that were paying attention over Advent, you will have been aware of ‘The Littlest Star’, a story written by Richard Littledale which was illustrated, formatted, sponsored, printed and in people’s hands within a couple of weeks – IMAGINE what we could all do given 24 hours in a room together!

I also volunteered at a conference called DIBI (Design it, Build it) and noticed that they had a sleepover to open the event, a party on the first night at a local pub and then a closing party on the second day – all these events were sponsored which meant free stuff in abundance…

What’s happened to all the parties?? Jesus spent so much of his time eating with people, I wonder why we’ve lost this as part of our spiritual practice?

All in all, I’d like to hear from anyone who would be interested in organising more creative events of this kind to encourage collaboration and innovation. Perhaps we could tag a hack onto an exisiting event / conference? If you are interested in alternative ways to do events and learn together – do check out anewloom or the anewloom blog where I’ve been exploring this further.

Prayer Pods

The more people I speak to people about new monasticism, the more I find people struggling to find a quiet space, somewhere they can reflect and pray. Although the garden shed may suffice, a space full of tools and the smell of damp grass may not be overly conducive to time with God.

So, here’s a few options – sorry they cost so much.

Option 1.

WikiHouse – check this out, it’s an opensource construction set. It’s aim is to allow anyone to design, download, and ‘print’ CNC-milled houses and components, which can be assembled with minimal formal skill or training.

Option 2.

officePOD - Creating bespoke and sometimes specialist working environments such as edit suites, control rooms, consultation rooms and other quiet work places, whilst still retaining the POD’s ability to be dismantled and relocated, ensures that you will be investing in an asset that will enhance the business for years to come. I like the design of these, shame they retail at £16960 +VAT. I think they’d make pretty cool spaces to put your collection of icons or Ignatius postcards.

Option 3.

PodSpace has a whole selection of different size spaces to cater for all your prayer needs. Pod Space design garden studios to be contemporary and eco friendly, so you can rest assured that our garden buildings will complement your outside space. Our garden studios also have low operating costs as they incorporate super insulated walls, energy glass and low energy heating and lighting – so you can be confident that these garden rooms are built to last.

Option 4.

SleepBox - We believe that urban infrastructure should be more comfortable. For this, we have developed SLEEPBOX. It is intended primarily to enable a person to sleep peacefully. It provides quick escape from the crowd without wasting time searching for a hotel. SLEEPBOX may be used both in public and private spaces, for rent or for internal needs. With prices starting at 7000EUR, there are probably cheaper ways to create a reflection space but I think these would be awesome for silent retreats.

Option 5.

Archipod - The ‘Pod’ is primarily suited to use as a garden office, but could easily be adapted to anything you choose: Playroom, Studio, Hobby Room, Meditation/ Quiet Room, Outside entertaining/Dining Room, Tree House!The most environmentally sound option, the Archipod is a cool shape, made from natural materials and should be in every church garden in the country. Although the £15000 +VAT price tag may inhibit a majority of churches getting one.

Apps – They’re Child’s Play

Puck Meerburg is 12. He has 7 Apps (mostly free) which include TafelTrainer which helps children learn their times tables and a guide to The Netherland’s oldest museum. Meerburg taught himself Javascript, PHP and jQuery when he was seven of eight and hopes to be a games designer.

Puck says that “In 10 years, computers will be superfast. We’ll be able to play games using brain sensors.” I love how kids are forward thinking, I just wonder how often we listen to them?

I dislike the “they’re the church of tomorrow” concept – it’s rubbish. Children and young people are part of the church today and their opinion should matter every bit as much as an adults. I challenge everyone reading this (whether you go to church or not), to find a group of children and ask their opinion on something to do with the way you provide a service for them, their answer may not make any sense at all but I bet if you act on those comments the service will improve.

As a continuation of that  – why is it that we only encourage young adults into leadership of things? we have workshops to learn about leading churches, leading worship, leading youth groups, leading lent courses, leading services, leading …. but the Bible talks about so many other gifts – where are the weekends away to focus on prophecy or creative arts?

I’m assuming Puck Meerburg has pretty encouraging parents, people who value the gifts their Son has – we need to value the gifts that our whole church has and listen to kid’s opinions.

Jargon Watch – Ikea Effect

Ikea Effect n. Feelings of pride for an object that has been self-assembled.(WIREDUK 02.12 p32)

In this short but punchy post, I wonder what the church might learn from the Ikea Effect? How much of your church services, events or whatever are organised by just one person or a small team who do everything?

I’m a big fan of participation and this should include the planning stages of whatever it is that’s being organised. I think people may well get a much greater sense of satisfaction from church if they had assembled it themselves.

I think top down leadership and small committees are dead – long live the Ikea Effect.

{Ikea Effect can also refer to consumers seeing cheap furniture as disposable and simply binning theirs every couple of years. I don’t think this is environmentally friendly and would encourage people to purchase longer lasting furniture where possible}

from the mouths of babes

You may have read recently that Sainsbury Supermarkets are changing the name of their Tiger Bread after receiving a letter from 3 and a half-year old Lily Robinson.

In May 2011, Lily Robinson wrote to the supermarket, suggesting that the bread should be called giraffe bread.

She received a letter back saying that renaming it was “a brilliant idea”.

Her mother posted the letters on her blog and after it again became a topic of conversation on social media sites last week, the bread has been renamed.

Lily’s letter said: “Why is tiger bread called tiger bread? It should be called giraffe bread. Love from Lily Robinson age 3 and 1/2″.

Chris King from the Sainsbury’s customer services team wrote back: “I think renaming tiger bread giraffe bread is a brilliant idea – it looks much more like the blotches on a giraffe than the stripes on a tiger, doesn’t it?”

But he went on to explain how it had got its name: “It is called tiger bread because the first baker who made it a looong time ago thought it looked stripey like a tiger. Maybe they were a bit silly.”

He included a £3 gift card, and signed the letter “Chris King (age 27 & 1/3)”. (source – BBC news)

The story went viral via social media and I’m impressed at the speed Mr King managed to create such a brilliant publicity stunt based on the letter.

I do wonder whether churches pay quite as much attention to their children or act as quickly when suggestions are made? Do you have any examples of children’s suggestions being taken seriously and in particular being acted upon?

 

Digital fly on the wall

Now, I’m not saying that people are not listened to in churches…

well – I am really, but perhaps this technology could change the way churches work so they are more positively influenced by what the congregation are saying.

Bluefin Labs have come up with a cunning piece of technology that is basically a digital fly on the wall.

Deb Roy, director of the cognitive machines group at MIT’s Media Lab installed cameras and mics throughout his house to study how his new-born son Dwayne learnt language. Hours of video were converted into ‘space time worms’, non moving objects were made transparent leaving ‘events’ that moved. These events were correlated with what was being said at the time…

What’s really cool is that they have taken that idea and adapted the technology to tell TV networks and advertisers what people are saying about their products. They are doing this by correlating thousands of tweets, blogs and facebook updates to what people are watching.

I think this would be terribly revealing for some churches but I guess we’ll have to get over the ‘tweeting in church’ issues first? Perhaps denominational heads could utilise this technology to gain a better idea of what people really think?

On second thoughts – you’d really only be getting the opinions of digitally savvy members of the congregation…

hmmm – perhaps that is who we should be listening to?

I’ll stop there.

thoughts welcome.

 

Conscientious Consumption

I’m guessing that my church isn’t the only one to have signed up to be a ‘fair trade parish’? yours too! excellent.

However, I do wonder to what extent having a paper certificate on the notice board really makes a difference. I’ve noticed a dreadful lack of fairtrade tea, coffee, sugar and biscuits in our cupboards and It just goes to show that unless someone is championing an agenda then people will generally not pay attention for long.

Conscientious consumption is not just about fairtrade bananas with the well-known logo on…

  

All sorts of companies have begun to adopt the ‘one for one’ principle pioneered by Blake Mycoskie of Tom’s Shoes. Since 2006, for every pair of slip ons purchased from Tom’s Shoes, they have sent another pair to a child in need. This example has grown into a movement, a desire for conscientious consumerism.

Fig Ties  gives a school uniform to a child in the developing world for EVERY tie sold!

Roma Boots has dropped more than 2000 pairs of boots to street kids and orphans in eastern europe.

Warby Parker have distributed over 85’000 pairs of glasses across more than 25 countries

other companies are distributing condoms, nutrition packs, clean water, solar-powered torches and meals to thousands of people in need all over the world.

You may not be interested in any of those products but what would it look like if we adopted a one for one attitude to our leisure time?

• What would your community look like if you spent as long helping clean up the streets as you did in front of the TV?
• What could we do in our world if we spent one week on mission for every week we took on holiday?
• What would happen if we invited our neighbours over for a meal for every time we got a take away?
• What would happen if we gave an equal amount to charity that we spent on hiring / buying films or playing computer games?

 

multi use space

I struggle with the space in which I worship – a 160 year old church sandwiched between two main roads. It’s not the architecture as such, although the paintwork leaves a bit to be desired… It’s mostly the furniture. Large wooden pews fill the nave from front to back and although I love to show visiting school parties the ‘Mousey Thompson’ mice, it just seems a bit of a waste. We have large plain glass windows which flood the nave with light – it would make a wonderful art gallery. Many a day I have spent plotting the demise of those pews to make way for theatre, music, art and culture… perhaps even dancing but I’d probably stand at the back.

Reordering this particular building is not likely to happen in a hurry as we have the rather wonderful parish hall next door but there’s something about being in sacred space and using it for a variety of expressions of worship.

  

I got to thinking about this while reading about BrightFarms, a company that designs and builds hydroponic greenhouses near supermarkets to greatly reduce foodmiles. They have taken to building these green houses on the roofs of massive supermarkets which I think is genius.

There are of course examples of churches, cathedrals even who have reordered their furniture (or ditched it altogether) to provide a flexible space for a variety of events. A great example is Gloucester cathedral which I had the pleasure of exploring last summer during a night for Greenbelt contributors.

I understand the need to keep some level of traditional aesthetic to parish churches for weddings etc but I do struggle with keeping things just because they’ve always been there. Let’s lighten up a bit, make a few quid selling the old stuff and make our churches places where people feel welcome with modern conveniences for a variety of uses.

Jargon Watch – L33t

L33t (Leet)  n. ‘Elite’ – to be skilled at or well-versed in the internet.

I fondly first remember hearing this term while watching the 1995 classic ‘Hackers’ starring Jonny Lee Miller and Angelina Jolie. Elite is a term which back then was reserved for the super cool geeks who hacked corporate firewalls but now it seems to be filtering through to other areas such as gaming and even non-computing groups.

I wonder whether there are things we would consider ourselves to be L33t at? Perhaps it would be better to ask the people we work with or a trusted friend to tell us?

I think the church needs to recognise people’s skills and talents, not so we can abuse their spare time by getting them to do us lots of favours but because they are God given.

The final scene of Hackers (SPOILER ALERT) sees many individuals pulling together to thwart the bad guys. Wouldn’t it be cool to have churches full of motivated volunteers and staff who recognise their gifts and work as a team to get stuff done?

The other day i was having a moan during a meeting about the fact we only seem to encourage leadership ability – leadership of youth, leadership of church, leadership of worship – these are the workshops, conferences and resources we are providing, what about all the other gifts? perhaps we should organise L33t Fest – a weekend of recognising and being thankful for ALL the skills and talents God has blessed us with.