CAMsoc Update, Vol. 15, No. 2: February, 2009


Volume 15, Number 2		February, 2009

Contents: News: Survey pinpoints generational differences in technology use, Taiwanese church uses used computers in outreach, , Custom Christian Linux distributions becoming popular. Coming Events New or Changed Mailing Lists New or Changed Entries in the Church Related Software Index Legal Stuff: Mine! All Mine!!!
News:
"Generation Gap" Department A recent survey by the Barna Group highlights the differences between how different generations use technology. The survey divided respondents into four generations: Mosaics (18-24), Busters (25-43), Boomers (44-62), and Elders (63 and up). According to the survey, at least half of Mosaics use email, commenting on other people's blogs, instant messaging, downloading music, search, texting, streaming video, and have a personal web site or home page. The technologies used by half of the Busters surveyed were limited to email, search, texting, and personal web sites or home pages. Boomers and Elders were much less active. The only activities reported by at least half of them were email and search. This has implications for churches wanting to reach out to younger generations. The younger generations are more into "social networking" features like blogging, and media files like music and video. If churches want to reach the younger generations effectively, they need to use those technologies. ("New Research Explores How Technology Drives Generation Gap." February 23, 2009. Published by The Barna Group. Riley, Jennifer, "Survey: Understanding How Different Generations Use Technology." The Christian Post. February 24, 2009. To subscribe: www.christianpost.com/services/newsletter/subscribe Published by The Christian Post.)
"Revival" Department As those of you who have looked at the Computer Re-use Optimisation Project know, I have long been interested in taking old computers and giving them new life by using them for charity. So when I saw a story about a church in Taiwan which was doing just that, of course it caught my interest. (Ma, Lydia; Chen Yi-shuan, "Church uses second-hand computers as tools for children outreach." Taiwan Church News. February 23-March 1, 2009. Published by Taiwan Church Press.)
"Chopped and Channelled" Department I've spent years tracking Christian software, whatever operating system it works on, but lately, there's been something new popping up that just doesn't fit into my standard categories: Christian operating systems! One of the things about Linux (or any open source project) is that anybody can take it, add different bits to it, and create a new distribution. So these days, there are several Christian Linux distros, in which Linux comes bundled with tools like Bible software already built in. (Grehan, Rick, "More specialty Linuxes to the rescue." InfoWorld. February 24, 2009. To subscribe: www.infoworld.com/newsletters Published by Infoworld, Inc. Ichthux: www.ichthux.com Ubuntu Christian Edition: ubuntuce.com)
Coming Events:
For the current list of computing events, please consult the current issue.
New or Changed Mailing Lists:
For the current list of mailing lists, please consult the Christian Telecommunications Toolkit.
New or Changed Entries in the Church Related Software Index:
For the current list of Christian software, please consult the Church Related Software Index.
Legal Stuff:
CAMsoc Update is a newsletter on computing in general, and Christian computing specifically. The contents are copyright © 2009 by Greg Slade and contributors, and may not be reprinted nor copied in any form without prior written permission from the author. For reprint permission, please contact the editor.

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