What is a godly use of the internet?

Wrote in my diary last week about what was a godly use of the internet. I was becoming somewhat disillusioned after searching through blogs for blogs from a specific country by missionaries. It was well nigh impossible to do this because of limited blog search features and because blogs of missionaries from this country probably would not reference that country anywhere in their posts, or only in a limited manner. My conclusion was that the person wanting to do this search would have to ask missionaries to submit their blogs for inclusion.

But in reading through so many blogs and seeing so many lists, I wondered about the point of it all. What does the Lord require of us in this? Looking through reams of information and then forgetting it serves no purpose. On the other hand, some well written blogs and websites can be very useful.

That's when I came up with the idea of having help for internet use. In the business world, secrataries, also called administrative assistants, have long been employed to help with correspondence, phone calls and filing. These people shield their employers from excessive amounts of information. Therefore, what if missionaries had the same sort of help with their use of the computer and internet?

The task of a missionary is important: to carry the gospel to those who have not yet heard. They should certainly then qualify for help. I have found in my own use of the computer and internet there is a lot of overhead required to properly accomplish something. In the short term, there is not much work: an internet enable computer with email and use of Google can yield a lot of results. But as time continues, more depth is required.

A properly equipped computer requires anti-virus, anti-spyware and a good firewall. Backups should be made on a regular basis. And the internet contains so much information, it takes a lot of time to really find out where the good stuff is. Not only that, but these things are a moving target. Computers, operating systems and software develop, the internet matures and grows, some things are left behind and others added.

Keeping up with these things takes time and energy, time and energy that a missionary would be better focussing on in ministry than devoting to a computer. How can they be assisted? A search for virtual secretary yields a lot of results, so it is a concept that is being tried. It is a concept that certainly could be developed and applied to the christian missionary situation. And perhaps it is already to some degree.

In some ways Internet Missions Research assists missionaries in a secretarial role by performing searches for them if they are too busy or simply don't know where to locate needed resources. But this service is limited. The demand is potentially high and resources limited to the number of people willing to do custom web research. Having a person dedicated to one or a few missionaries could expand on the work of IMR and offer additional services as well.

But all of this could be a pipe dream if the people and resources are not available. Missionaries typically operate on a limited budget, so finding funds to pay a secretary would be improbable, though possible in some cases. Volunteers would be the likeliest means of making this happen, though there would be an administrative burden required to screen them, match them up with missionaries and and monitor their work to ensure quality is maintained.

Viewed in its most positive light, both volunteers and missionaries could stand to benefit greatly from this collaboration. Missionaries, by being shielded to a greater extent from information overload, and volunteers by being able to get to know and assist a working missionary.

Of course, precautions would have to be taken. Working with someone you can't see is more difficult. Motivation and quality may be more difficult to maintain if a secretary worked out of his or her home than when going into an office and being surrounded by others engaged in the same work. It is possible, however, that an office is set up where volunteers go into work, file through correspondence and handle phone calls. Doing things in this manner should yield better results than if worked out of home.

Whatever the case, there is potential here for the right people to engage in assisting the mission movement. It is a relatively low cost alternative that should relieve some of the overhead computer burden from missionaries and allow them to focus more on their ministry.

Stages of Looking

I was asked why people would use this service, when they could simply type their request into Google. That is a good question. I started Internet Missions Research because it put together the three things that are in it's name for me. I had the internet available as a tool and I was interested in both "missions" and "research."

IMR gave me the ability to help others interested in christian missions at some level. When I first advertised using Brigada there were about 15 requests in three days, which then dropped off. A lot of these requests posed good questions which required in depth research.

Lately, when advertising through Google Adwords, the requests are about difficult to find items or about requests for funds. There aren't as many requests that are from people looking to research topics. This could be due to the fact that a lot of people simply do the research themselves. So let's take a look at the "stages of looking" a person might go through.

(1) A person has an idea or question and simply relies on memory to retrieve the facts needed. Most missionaries and those working for mission agencies are trained in their field. As part of that training they have acquired a good deal of the knowledge needed to work in their field. So their memory should aid them in many cases.

(2) Reference books and texts acquired during and after training. Training usually includes books and unless thrown out, they should still be available! If these are nearby, they will likely be consulted as the need arises.

(3) Internet sites and reference works on computer. As the computer and internet came on the scene, more knowledge has been transferred to electronic storage. As learning takes advantage of these, these will also be consulted when there is a question.

(4) Friends, librarians and experts. Joe is as likely to yell to the person in the next cubicle, "Hey where do I find that?" as he is to look something up. In the same way these people may be the first ones he asks when looking.

Depending on where a person is and how often he uses the computer and internet, (3) is only one of four major areas a person can look. Even when looking on the internet, a person with experience on it may go to an expert site first with a query rather than using a search engine.

In summary, offering an internet research service should come with a realization that there are many ways to find information. Experts have training, books and a network to help them find what they need. Therefore an expert may need help only when exploring a new field. A relatively young person who is gaining experience may need help to be pointed in the right direction. There are also experts who have a limited internet connection who may need assistance. And there are those with limited internet experience and a poor connection who need help. Each requires a slightly different form of help.