Digg-ing in the Dirt

Even though I'm an SEO kinda guy, I've not really been all that focused on Digg.  I know it's a cool place to find interesting stuff, and a great way to promote stuff, but I've just been busy in other areas, like Blogging, Twitter and Facebook.

But today, I thought I'd, if you'll pardon the pun, digg a little deeper and see how it works.  So, I went to Digg.com and did a search for "Mormon".

Yikes.

I clicked through five full pages before I found a posting that was favorable.  And, of course, the ones I saw about the Mormon Church that were favorable had one, two, at most three diggs.

My first thought was to come back here and tell everyone within the sound of my typing (that means both of you) to go to Digg and click to digg any pro-mormon piece you can find there.  Let's get these things ranking higher!

My second thought was that if we all did this, it would mean that a lot of faithful church members would be suddenly looking at a lot of anti-mormon ranting.  Which isn't necessarily bad, but I'm not sure that it's a good thing, either.  It certainly didn't make me smile.  Why make someone else's day miserable...

My third thought was that perhaps we, as members of the Mormon church simply prefer not to use Digg.  Maybe we're all on StumbleUpon, or Delicious.  A part of me is not sure that I want to go there and see.

I guess it's simply a symptom of being who we are.  In a lot of ways, that's good and bad.  I mean, we believe what we believe, and we don't apologize for it.  That means that people who believe otherwise are going to be upset at us.  We do have a reputation for having these "pushy" guys out there knocking doors.  And there is a lot of misinformation circulating about us (contrary to what many seem to be saying, we don't believe it's right for a 45-year-old man to marry six 14-year-old girls).

I guess what frustrates me is that I know there is a lot of material out there that is telling the story from our perspective.  But I guess that it's not cool enough to "Digg".


Mark has a lifelong testimony of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (the Mormon Church). Mark also has other sites and blogs, including MarkHansenMusic.com and his Dutch Oven blog.


Mark's Other Blog Posts: Dutch Oven Dessert, Connecting to LDS Music, FTC Sets New Rules

Book of Mormon Stories Go Social?

So, this morning, I was at lds.org reading the scriptures. That's how I do it in the morning: I wake up, check my emails, read my webcomics, and read my scriptures. Today I also checked the going price on my son's Yu-Gi-Oh cards on eBay, but that's a whole other blogstory...

I got to thinking how cool it would be to be able to do all of my Book of Mormon reading and scripture studying online. I can really do it anyway, but imagine along with me, a website where:

• I could read and bookmark my place, for linear, start-to-finish reading.
• When I have an insight on a verse that I read, I could open up a "stickynote" window and write my thought down. That stickynote would be "stuck" to that verse.
  
• While I'm writing in my sticky note, I could jump to another window, search for a different scripture and add that reference to the initial sticky note. That connection could appear in both verse A and verse B.
• I could tag both verses with keywords that help me to identify the topics and thoughts on them.
• In the stickynotes, I could even include external links to net resources, like articles, documents, blogs, videos, etc...
  

Pretty simple stuff, so far. But what if I'm not reading from Genesis to the Articles of Faith? What if I'm studying a topic? Or preparing a lesson?

• I can access scriptures from the existing Topical Guide. Those could be tagged with stickynotes, just like the others.
  
• I could look up scriptures based on keywords in the verse itself, based on topics like the topical guide, and based on keywords and tags in my stickynotes.
  
• I can create my own "Topical Guide" lists of scriptures around topics of interest to me.
  
• I can connect and interweave all of these lists, tags, and stickynotes to the myriad of publications of the church
• The scriptures
• Conference Talks
• Magazine articles
• Lesson Manuals
• Church History Documents
• (with proper security) My own Patriarchal Blessing
  

Still pretty simple. There are possibly existing software packages that do things like this. But BaBAM, let's kick it up a notch! What if we take this whole thing social!?

• I can have a profile page that shows things like:
• Where I'm currently reading
• My most recent stickynotes
• Some of "Topical Guide" lists
• blogs, lessons, and articles I've written
• My written testimony
  
• I can make any of these and more bits be public, or shared.
  
• I can have a list of friends and see some of the study points that they've made public.
• While I'm reading, or looking up scriptures, I can have access to the stickynotes my friends have left on any particular verse, maybe I can even comment on them.
  
• I can message (via email, internal messaging, or even internal chat/IM) any of my friends and ask them questions or talk about any of their stickynotes, blogs, or lessons.
• I can make any of my stickynotes, lessons, or blogs even more public by sharing them in twitter, facebook, digg, delicious, or any of a number of other social networks.
• There could be moderated topical forums and groups formed that would discuss certain topics from a scriptural point of view.
  

It'd be, like, the ultimate Mo' Social Network! More than just hangin' with friends in the ward, or playing Mafia games on facebook! This is like a Book of Mormon Book Club!

Whatdya think? It would take some serious back-end programming. Any programmers out there willing to take on a project like this one? I'd be all over promoting it!



Mark has a lifelong testimony of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (the Mormon Church). Mark also has other sites and blogs, including MarkHansenMusic.com and his Dutch Oven blog.

Finding Your Legislator

It's funny. We have a presidential election and EVERYBODY shows up to vote.

We have a municipal election and nobody knows it even happened. We seem to pay a little more attention at the state level, but not much. How many of us even know the name of our state legislators? Every person in Utah has two: One in the House and one in the Senate.

It's funny because, in a very real way, the state legislators have a much bigger impact on my life than the President of the United States. Their biggest task of all, in addition to occasionally passing or not passing a state law, is to figure out how they're gonna spend my tax dollars in my state. That will impact me a lot more directly than most federal programs.

I've learned, over the years, that this is a very important issue, and something that we should take very seriously.

So, after quite a while of digging through the 'net last election, trying desperately to find out which districts we're in, and who were the candidates, and what did they stand for, etc... It's a real joy to find a tool like this one!

You simply type in your address. It finds it on Google Maps, draws in your congressional district boundaries, and then shows you your legislators with their phone numbers and links to websites and email addresses. So simple!

So, if you want to tell them to vote to not cut the services to the disabled, like I suggested last time, or if you want to tell them to vote any other way on any other issue you think is important, there you have it.

If any of you have other good online resources for following and influencing the state legislators, just let me know and I'll post it here!



MRKH
Mark Hansen
http://markhansenmusic.com

Alex Boye, the Cell Phone, and the Book of Mormon

The other weekend, at the music festival, Alex Boye presented a little bit comparing how we treat our cell phones compared to our Books of Mormon. Afterward, I did a little search, and found the same bit on some other blogs and sites. It’s really cool because it makes you think about which fills a bigger role in your life. Here’s the text:

Ever wonder what would happen if we treated our Book of Mormon like our cell
phones?

• What if we carried it around in our purses or pockets?
• What if we turned back to get it if we forgot it?
• What if we flipped through it several times a day?
• What if we spent an hour or more using it each day?
• What if we used it to receive messages from its text?
• What if we treated it like we couldn't live without it?
• What if we gave it to kids as gifts?
• What if we used it as we traveled?
• What if we used it in case of an emergency?

Now, at the time, Alex took it a little bit further, and to catch his extension, click to the youtube video of him presenting it at a fireside and see. I’m not gonna spoil it for you. It’s cool.

It’s kinda funny for me, because I have one of those PDA smart phones. So, I actually carry my Book of Mormon IN my cell phone! Alex laughed when I showed him that. Even still, I could stop and read it more than I do.

He’s also asked for everyone that watches the video there to post their testimonies of the Book in the comments section. He talked about how cool it would be to get a million testimonies. I read through some of them (there were about a hundred when I was there), and I felt very inspired. I left mine there, and I’d like to encourage you all to as well.


MRKH
Mark Hansen
http://markhansenmusic.com

How to Use LDS "New Media"

Social networking is a big buzzword these days on the ‘net. For good or ill, we want to use the ‘net to connect. A while ago there was a book called “Megatrends” that coined the phrase “High-tech brings high-touch”. The idea was that the more we plug ourselves into our computers, the more we want to use that tech to reach people. It’s kinda funny, in some ways. We isolate ourselves in our homes and rooms in front of a glowing screen and still strive to connect with each other. Some call it a pathetic attempt to make false friends while hiding from the world, others call it using the tech to expand their world and associates.

I, of course, use the ‘net to make friends all the time. It’s part of my own effort to be connected to humanity, and, frankly, part of how I promote my music. It’s also my job, supporting my family.

Within Mormondom, it’s also got another unique angle. Several unique angles, actually.

One is that the LDS world suddenly gets smaller. I grew up in Indiana, and I had few Mormon friends. Most of my friends, in fact, were born-again Christians who, in their own good intentions, were trying to save me. I would have loved to have an internet where I could connect with other young church members all over the world. The best we could do was driving a couple of hours to stake dances in Indianapolis every other month or so.

Even now that I live in Utah, I still find it to be cool that I can be in contact with church members all over the world.

Another angle is that our leaders have now begun to encourage us to use the “New Media” to share the Gospel with others. Instead of being afraid of the technology, they are encouraging us to embrace it, still with caution and prayer. There are many ways to do this. We can create and post websites with our testimonies. We can blog, we can participate in forums and networks.

In the process of bumping around the ‘net, I’ve been encountering a lot of LDS-oriented new-media resources. Let me share a few with you:

1. http://LDS.net A cool new Mormon myspace/facebook clone. Come to my page and be my friend.
2. Mormonwiki.com An unofficial LDS encyclopedia, edited and maintained by church members everywhere
3. Mormontestimonies.org Another wiki, this one primarily about testimonies. “Why We Believe” is the slogan. Great site.
4. Sustaind.org Can you Digg it? This one’s for us church members!
5. LDS and Mormon life swicki A “Swiki” is a community developed search engine. This one’s all about Mormon life.
6. http://www.ldsfind.com/ A more formal and static search engine of the LDS related sites on the ‘net.
7. To find good email forums, go to Yahoogroups.com and search for “LDS” or “Mormon”. There are a lot of good groups out there.
8. http://yourldsneighborhood.com is a new site that’s primarily about advertising books, music, media, and products for the LDS community. There are also a lot of blogs and info pages there.
9. http://mormon-blogs.com/ “The Bloggernacle” is a rich and varied network of LDS blogs. There are many pearls of great price, and many lumps of coal. Proceed with interest and with caution!
10. http://mormonwebtv.com I love this site. It features a lot of web video content, all focused on LDS life. Sometimes funny, sometimes spiritual, sometimes informative. Always lots of fun.

Warnings: As always, nothing is ever easy or clear.

1. All standard net safety rules apply. Don’t think that because these people are Mormon that there can’t be a few that are dangerous. Don’t give out your personal information online.
2. Watch out for anti-Mormon propaganda. This comes in many forms. Some sites are quite up front about the fact that they think the church is false and they make it clear that they’re out to prove it. Others are more subtle, tempting church members to engage in debates and “discussions” so they can try to confound our doctrines. Still others are more subtle, church members challenging their own fundamental beliefs in the interests of “intellectual discourse” that amounts to little more than snarking or speculation.

The “New media” is here to stay, but it will change forms many many times as the years go on. Jump in and participate. See what’s out there. And when you find new stuff, come back and tell me about it!

MRKH
Mark Hansen
http://markhansenmusic.com

And Now for Something Completely Silly...

Here's something funny. I was checking my traffic, and I noticed someone hit me with a search for "Mormon Blasphemy"! I come up on page one! Wow! This is even better than being snarked!

MRKH
Mark Hansen
http://markhansenmusic.com

An Old Man and New Media

It’s probably to be expected. We do, after all, live in technological times. And Pres Hinkley understood the nature of media better than any of our leaders up to this time.

Still, it makes me chuckle to think of how the news of his death and people’s reactions to it has spread.

I, for example, didn’t hear about it for the first time from the newspaper, nor the TV news. It wasn’t even a phone call. How did I hear? I was on my computer, and an IM window popped up and told me the news. Instantly, I leapt to other websites to confirm. Once I was assured that it was, in fact, true, I jumped back on my Instant Messenger and told everyone that was on my list. By then, most of them already knew. By that time, blogs had already begun to bear the news and the reactions.

My good friend John (of “From the Basement”) found out the news because someone sent it out via a twitter.com posting!

I’d be willing to bet that if you think back at how you got the news, 9 out of 10 of you didn’t hear it through the “Traditional Media”.

Then, I read this article in the Deseret News about how students in Northern Utah highschools, as well as BYU, dressed in Sunday best for classes last Monday, as a tribute to Pres Hinkley. How did this get organized and spread? Via text messaging on cell phones!

This comes at a time when Elder Ballard (? I believe) speaks to the saints encouraging them to represent the Church and the Gospel well as we blog and participate in forums. To spread the gospel using the new media.

It is a new age.

As a funny aside, when I was in my mission in Honduras, I can remember once talking with a new member who was looking at a flip-chart picture spread of all the general authorities. My companion was saying, “…And this one is now an apostle, and this one is dead, and this one is dead…” We used to joke that the only way we’d hear about any of this is when they’d send out new flip charts!

We’ve come a long way, baby…

MRKH
Mark Hansen
http://markhansenmusic.com