How quick are you to judge?

How quick are you to judge? In our society, we have gotten to the point where we do look at something with a glance and believe we know what its all about. We do that with people, movies, cars, and everything else.

Article from yahoo.com –> Internet users judge Web sites in less than a blink

The writer says that people make a judgement about a website in less than one-twentieth of a second. If you want to think about how long that is, just blink. It was less than that.

Websites have to be professionally done. I know my website isn’t always the best (especially when I started it in 1996) but I have learned and am still learning to make it visually inviting for my target audience – you. Unfortunately, there are a lot of websites out there, especially Christian websites, that are poorly done. While their content is great, they lack making it past that initial judgement.

We have to design websites for a target group. By knowing who it is we are trying to reach with our content, we can design the visuals for them. Did you know that certain colors mean different things depending on the culture you are in? Do you know what the “new black” is if you were targeting a website for a youth culture in Western Europe? When do you use straight lines verses curved lines?

It might look good to you but are you your target audience?

At eDOT these are the things we think about when helping ministires use websites to reach different people groups. If you have these skills, would you be willing to volunteer your time with us? Please contact us.

Technology use in the Ukraine

From Yahoo.com — Ukraine Russia gas fallout

During the natural gas scare in the Ukraine this New Year’s Day where Russia was threatening to turn off all gas flow to this former part of the Soviet Union, Ukrainians used technology to communicate a special message to each other. Ukrainians were text messaging and emailing each other to encourage them to boycott all things Russian.

I am not one to judge what is to be done in this situation but I think it is really cool that they turned technology to communicate and motivate each other. We at eDOT look for ways to use technology to communicate and motivate Europe however the message we have is the good news about Jesus Christ.

If you would like to know more about what eDOT (electronic Discipleship Outreach Training) is all about, make sure you check out our website.

Is this the future?

From Yahoo UK –> Computer chips get under skin of enthusiasts

The idea is to have a personalized RFID computer chip inserted into your hand so that you can swipe it near a receiver. The receiver picks up your personalized radio frequency ID and gives you access whether it is to a computer, office, house or possible down the road – your bank account through an ATM. The possibilities are huge.

Personally, I like the idea of not having to worry about logins and passwords especially when the authentication system would be a closed circuit which means that someone from the outside couldn’t hack it. However I am concerned whenever there is something that could be used as a single identifier especially in the area of commerce. I seem to recall something in the book of Revelation about a special mark that affects one’s ability to buy food and other necessities. It seems like a good thing at first but not later as you go on in the reading.

Still, I am intrigued by the implications that this type of technology could be used for and there are some things that it could really be great for like in hospitals when areas need to be able to be accessed quickly but only by restricted personnel.

Oh, if you are new to RFID computer chips and they sound like something out of the Jetson’s cartoon, just know that they aren’t. RFID computer chips are currently being used in shipping packaging to be able to track shipments via Global Positioning Satellites. They are also used for high value retail items to help curb shoplifting and give instant inventory status without a manual count having to be done. These are just some of the more common uses; the new idea is to put them into people.

Blogging: New Grassroots Methodolgy

“Who Let the Blogs Out?” by Biz Stone

I finished reading this book a few weeks ago and it was a great help in understanding blogging and how useful it can be for what you might be trying to do. (Hence, I redid the format of this website out of the inspiration this book gave). It’s a non-technical book and is an easy read. I highly recommend it.

If you have questions about it, drop me a note.