Solar-powered cellphone kiosks give jobs to Ugandan women

An interesting insight into how rural cellphones are charged in developing countries - and maybe a gateway for evangelism and cellphones?

Dave Hackett

Springwise: Motopower: solar-powered cellphone kiosks for Ugandan women

Mobile phones are connecting people around the globe like never before, but the simple fact remains that they don't work without electricity. In Uganda, which has one of the lowest levels of electricity in Africa, Motorola has launched an initiative to provide solar recharging stations that can be run by local, entrepreneurial women.

Launched last year, Motorola's Motopower project has brought 55 solar-powered kiosks to Uganda that offer free mobile phone charging to local consumers. Each kiosk is charged by a 55-watt inverted solar panel and can charge up to 20 phones at a time. The women who run the kiosks, meanwhile, are also equipped to sell handsets and operator SIM cards and to provide repair services. For local people without their own phones, the kiosks effectively function as a local "phone booth" for making occasional calls as well.

The initiative was designed to empower entrepreneurial women by providing them with the foundations to manage their own sustainable businesses.

(Follow link to read the rest of the article.)

Transmission to Russia Continues Despite Setbacks

Trans World Radio describes how opening new Internet radio streams lets it continue its ministry in Russia despite losing radio airtime on two large national networks late last year. This shows how Internet-based forms of traditional broadcast are proving to have a growing reach and greater capacity - in this case, opening a new channel available to a quarter of Russia's population.

Dave Hackett

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--- From TWR's May TWR "E-Snapshots" eNewsletter

"Something must have happened. Your programs are not coming to us anymore. I need them! Please let me know where I can find you." "What happened to your broadcasts? They were like healing, clean, living water!" These and other Russian listeners responded to TWR’s loss of airtime on two large national networks late last year. Because of that situation, TWR lost a critical means of spreading the gospel across all 11 times zones of the country.

Despite these setbacks, TWR-Russia’s ministry continues. In January, Internet radio streaming began and has already yielded positive results. Statistics show that the role of the Internet in Russia is growing; within the last six months, the State statistics show 28.7 million Internet users, about 25 percent of the total population.

Please continue to uphold TWR-Russia in prayer as the team seeks to bring the good news of salvation to its country. For more, see www.twr.org

Toward a Theological Ethic for Internet Discourse

This longish article explores how Christians can best reflect Christian values when communicating on the Internet. It raises some fascinating aspects worth reading.

 

Dave Hackett

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Toward a Theological Ethic for Internet Discourse
http://blog.acton.org/archives/2310-Toward-a-Theological-Ethic-for-Internet-Discourse.html

(Acton Institute PowerBlog)

..."If the medium affects the message, how will the Christian message be affected by the new media?" The perception is that discourse on the Internet, particularly Christian and theological discourse, is characterized by a spirit of divisiveness and sectarianism. One evangelist wonders somewhat doubtfully, "Can Christ be truly glorified in blogging?" Scriptorium Daily recently recorded a podcast exploring with prescience the "coarseness of digital dialogue," especially among Christian websites....

...To answer Armstrong’s question, whether Christ can be glorified in blogging and the new media, I feel compelled to answer unhesitatingly, “Yes!”"

[Note from Dave: So do I!]

Mobile Social Network "Qeep" an International Hit, with 100,000 Members Worldwide in First Three Months

Qeep, Germany's most popular mobile social network, is in the midst of a successful international expansion. Since the launch of qeep's international version, qeep has reached over 100,000 users, with between 1,500 and 2,000 new users registering daily.

See this article at http://snipr.com/qeeparticle for more - and consider how Christians might use Qeep for evangelism in international venues.

Dave Hackett

IT Missionaries and the Internet

Loren Cunningham, founder of YWAM, first reflects back on the expansion of God's Kingdom via communications advances of the past, and then expresses his heart for seeing the global Church exploit the internet's massive potential to do the same... only with far greater impact.

A welcome reflection on the role of Internet-based evangelism.

Watch the podcast.

From the Perspectives Course Alumni eNewsletter "Perspectives in Practice" April 2008.

Some of the places I watch for Internet and Mobile Ministry info

The Internet and Mobile Ministry world is a fascinating place, full of new developments all the time. So I find it helps to scan these sites, blogs and tech columns, along with others. Happy hunting! (Listed alphabetically; listing does not necessarily endorse the site.)

• Appsafari's Religion iPhone Webapps - http://appsafari.com/categories/religion
• Christian Web Trends Blog - http://blog.ourchurch.com/
• BBC Tech - http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/default.stm
• Brooding Savage Blog - http://www.broodingsavage.com/
• Business Week Tech - http://www.businessweek.com/technology/
• ComputerWorld's Mobile News Index - http://www.computerworld.com/taxonomy/000/000/000/taxonomy_000000015_index.jsp
• ComputerWorld's Network and Internet News Index - http://www.computerworld.com/taxonomy/000/000/000/taxonomy_000000016_index.jsp
• ForwardThinking Blog - http://forwardthinkingforchrist.blogspot.com/
• Geeks and God Blog - http://geeksandgod.com/
• Int'l Herald Tribune Tech - http://www.iht.com/pages/technology/index.php
• JK on the Run Blog - http://jkontherun.blogs.com/jkontherun/
• KillerApps - http://www.killerstartups.com/
• Korea Herald Tech - http://www.koreaherald.co.kr/infotech/index.asp
• London Times Tech - http://technology.timesonline.co.uk/
• MediaBistro Mobile Content - http://mediabistro.com/mobilecontenttoday/
• Mobile Ministry Magazine - http://mobileministrymagazine.com/
  
• Textually - http://www.textually.org/
  

Nine in 10 U.S. adults have a mobile

Harris Interactive reports that according to a recent survey, nine in 10 adults (89%) in the U.S. Have a wireless or cellphone. (Seattle Times, 4/14/08)

TiddlyWiki for iPhone

I'm playing around with TiddlyWiki for iPhone, a free web application that lets you construct an iPhone-optimized website that TiddlyWiki will even host for free.

If you have a website, you can download the whole TiddlyWiki software to put on the server so that it operates on your own domain name.

But that's not necessary if you don't mind having an address such as "http://itw.bidix.info/YourTitle". Heck, you could even use Snipr to make that an even shorter address, "http://snipr.com/YourTitle".

The whole idea of TiddlyWiki is that you're supposed to be able to construct a whole site right from your mobile phone's browser. Amazing. But it works.

IE Day's Mobile Outreach Site

The most complete write-up on mobile outreach anywhere that I know of is the mobile outreach section of the Internet Evangelism Day website. Take a while and browse through his explanation of various facets of mobile outreach.

Tony Whittaker, the guy behind the IE Day site, is a remarkable advocate for all things web and mobile evangelism and has provided an ongoing and growing resource.

Mobile Ministry Magazine & iPhone Bibles

This week I've had a wonderful discussion with Antoine, who runs Mobile Ministry Magazine . Check out his posts for a treasure trove of mobile ministry information.

I've especially appreciated his updated section on Bibles for your iPhone.

Way to go, Antoine!

Mobile Evangelism Wiki

For a starter, here's a link to my Mobile Evangelism Wiki, where I have attempted to categorize a large number of approaches Christians are using to harness the mobile phone platform for ministry. I'm amazed at the variety and creativity people are using.

It doesn't matter to me that some are for-profit and others non-profit - that is, whether they charge you to use the site or tool. Often this simply reflects people's funding model. Or it might reflect the view (pretty well documented) that people value a service or tool more if they pay some amount for it.

At this point I've identified about 17 different approaches to the use of the mobile for ministry.

Tracking mobile ministry

This blog is meant to be a place to track the emerging use of the mobile phone as a Christian ministry platform.

I will be putting up links on these topics, and more, and I'll be tagging them with these labels:

• Ways to use the mobile for a Christian audience (discipleship)
  
• Ways to use the mobile for a non-Christian audience (evangelism)
• Tools to use to have a mobile ministry (applications)
  
• Websites to use to announce a mobile ministry (distribution)
• Strategies and perspectives for a mobile ministry (strategy)
• Mobile haiku (well, maybe)
  

Let's get on with some links!