St. John's Epsicopal Church

Here is Where I talk about the community's set upon rule for using digital devices during the worship experience

[for the purposes of this project, this page details and considerations for the project ] 

 

Jimmy Hartley

RCL-524

Digital Project Description

5/8/15

 

 

One of obstacle found in worship, especially for a new comer, is the newness or unfamiliarity of the liturgy.  Even for the “seasoned” worshiper in the Episcopal Church, there is a level of tediousness and distraction that is accompanied with managing multiple books and service guides.  The much-overstated danger, then, is allowing our participation in worship to become an exercise in keeping up with the service itself and not on the transformative nature of meeting Christ in the Eucharist.  A goal of the parish should be to assist both new comers and long attending communicates by offering tools that aid in deeper connections with the God and the community within the liturgy.  The aim of this digital ministry project attempts to try to meet this need.  The “Sunday Morning Digital Experience” attempts to offer a way to experience and participate within the Eucharist without the distraction or confusion of keeping up with the service.  It also attempts to offer a way for the community to connect with one another and with the liturgy outside the actual rite.  The aim of this project, then, is to use personal digital devices in and around worship settings to accomplish this goal.

The “Sunday Morning Digital Experience” (SMDE) project may need some contextualization to understand the intended experience.  The major focus for this project is for those that are coming to a church for the first time.  Guests are welcomed with a “Welcome Kiosk” (and presumably with other ways of welcoming guests) that would be placed around the entrances and other places where people gather before the service starts.  The “Welcome Kiosk” would help to explain the way the SMDE works and how to get connected.  Included here would be an overview of content included in the digital experience.  The kiosk would also detail its purpose and usage.  An engaging looping video that explains all this would be one way to approach disseminating this information. The Kiosk would also be an easy way for people to connect to the website. A QR code and a web address on the sample poster is used for the purpose of demonstrating this project but may also be a helpful way of getting people connected. The kiosks would also detail the community’s set upon “rules of agreement” or “user terms of agreement.” From there, the website should be pretty usable.

One major consideration to be made while attempting this project is the use of personal electronic devices themselves.  There are a number of things to consider. (1) Do personal devise use in the “world” serve to disconnect one another from personal interaction?  If so, would this cultural sensitivity serve to create an unintended harmful element within the worship experience?  In other words, would the use of personal devices in liturgy serve to disconnect one from another rather than gather people into a worshipful experience? (2) Would the use of personal devices serve to alienate those that do not have access to such devices?  How would the community deal with those that do not own or are proficient with these devices?  (3) How does the community agree upon the appropriate usage of personal devices within the worship experience?  What are the agreed upon rules of usage for digital devices in the worship experience?   

These considerations need to be discussed within the context of the whole community.  The use of a series of forum style community settings would be an appropriate way to engage in this conversation.  However, as a suggestion, below is one appropriate response to these considerations. 

Through discussion, the hope would be to create and specify an understanding of personal device use in the church, which will work to reimagine their use as a tool communally rather than a means of cultural disassociation.

The community would also need to be sensitive to those that may not have their own personal devices.  Likewise, the community would also need to be sensitive to the people in the community who are resistant to the use of technology or not proficient in its use.  While the project is created for easy of use, alternative forms like hard copy bulletins, copies of the Book of Common Prayer, and Hymnals would need to be offered to accommodate those that do not want to use their digital devices during the service.  There may also be a need for ushers to be present that could help with troubleshooting. Video tutorials at welcome kiosks may also be helpful in assisting people in connecting to the SMDE.  There could also be devices supplied by the community for use if people forget theirs or do not have one on their own.  With this, however, an issue may arise with theft.  Maybe there would be a way to limit the supplied device where only this particular application may be used.

Finally, the desire would be that people would live into the community’s agreed upon rule to limit the use of personal devices during the service.  In regards to the rule of usage, it would be appropriate to ask those that wish to use this program to set their devices to “do not disturb” and “silent modes.”  It would also be appropriate to agree to not surf the web or engage in other uses of the devices except for the digital experience.  Instructions and tutorials could be placed at welcome kiosks to help set these phones properly and detail the limitations agreed upon.