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"We hope we can talk about something that will help you out in your church or ministry!"

Building Online Community: Leadership

 
Originally Aired On January 21, 2008

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Today we wrap up our series on Building Online Community by talking about how, once the website is done and the geeky tools are put away, you lead this community so it's successful and positive.

We talk about how online communities are more grass roots than top-down and we warn you not to expect people to just fall in line and start using the grand site that you talk about. We chat about the importance and methods you can use for getting church staff and leadership on board and talk about how to lead and train people both online and off. MF keeps wanting to do some hand-holding which leads Rob to quickly move onto the topic of the important of patience when leading one of these web communities. We wrap up by talking about the excitement and long term commitment that are necessary if you want to build up your church community online.

Before all this, we remind you that registration is open for the Geeks & God Web 2.0 Conference and we notify you that the dates have been changed to July 24-26 (due to a venue conflict). We talk about your listener feedback, thereby keeping good on our new year's resolutions. Thanks for joining us for yet another fun filled episode!

Building Online Community: Usability

 
Originally Aired On January 12, 2008

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So, you've built this beautiful and functional community website for your church or ministry. The problem is, you're a geek. Yeah, and I'm a geek. We know how to use geeky CMS websites without any intructions, special menus, training or hand holding. The problem is, not everyone in your church is nearly as computer literate as you are...therefore, we have to make this new website usable for the average congregation member.

That's why, on today's episode, we focus on creating some usability in our community based website. We start by talking about why we should even care about or consider the usability issue and emphasize how important it is that you, yourself, use the site to encounter the same issues that other users will.

We then proceed to talk about navigation and user menus, instructions and training and, well, making sure you're site actually works as advertised. We talk about a little bit of user-hand-holding that should happen and chat about user-paths through the website.

But before all this, Rob profiles the idea of an 'expert-setup templating system' for any church ministries by profiling a new podcast setup he did at his church. All on this week's Geeks & God Podcast....

Building Online Community: Organic Groups

 
Originally Aired On January 7, 2008

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On today's episode we continue our series about Online Communities by talking about forming small online groups on your church website. We talk about why we call them "organic" groups, tying them to the physical world, what these groups might look like, and what types of content you might put into these groups.

The second half of the show is for our Drupal lovers. We talk, specifically, about how to build online groups using the Organic Groups module. When doing so, we talk about the different setting options on organic groups, add on modules, and some things you can do to customize the layout of the content.

But before all this, we announce that Rob and Matt's new podcast, The Super Average Podcast is now online with the first episode ready to download. Jump over there and check it out today!

Building Online Community: User Profiles

 
Originally Aired On December 17, 2007

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Ok, racefans....are we ready to build the core of all community driven websites? Yup, that's right, today we talk all about building user profiles.

On this episode of G&G, we chat about why user profiles are important for creating real community on the web. We gab about what information you should collect and give some ideas on what type of dynamic info could and should go on a user's profile page.

For the second half of the show, you drupal folks are going to be in hog heaven. We talk about 3 approaches you can take to drupal profile setup, and recommend our favorite. We talk about the the core profile module, the bio module, and the combo of usernode and nodeprofile modules.

But, before all that, we weigh the idea of whether privacy concerns on the internet are driven by security...or if maybe it's something else? All on this week's edge-of-your-seat episode of Geeks and God.

Building Online Community: Content

 
Originally Aired On December 10, 2007

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In today's episode, we talk all about the building blocks of an online community. We talk about types of content that will make for an interactive and engaging community type. We've got the roundup of usual suspects when we talk about how podcasting, blogging, forums, groups, resources, and a community blogroll can help enhance your church community website.

We also talk about how a community site is going to feel a little less structured (ie. more organic) than the past site structures that we've talked about, with content bleeding over from one area to another.

But before all this, we propose a test: How do you know if your church is ready for a community website?

Forming Online Community: Concepts

 
Originally Aired On December 3, 2007

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On today's episode we make the big announcement: The Geeks and God Web 2.0 Conference is coming to fruition, and here are some quick details (the only thing still missing is a solid date). It will happen July 2008 at Michigan Theological Seminary (Plymouth, MI). Tickets are $99 for the first two days, and $50 for the third, which is a 'hands on' web building day (Or $100 for the last day without the first two). We were determined to make it cheap enough for everyone to travel and attend...We're totally pumped, and we hope you are too!

After that, we start our series on Forming Online Community by tackling the basic concepts: What do we mean by online community? Why online community? What are the basic aspects of online community? In the process we talk about old concepts becoming new again, how churches and society have changed, and Rob gets pumped when talking about life-integration and niche markets. And, finally we ask: What are your church's barriers to creating an online community? (feel free to answer in the comments below)

It's an action packed day here on Geeks and God...

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