The passing of Nobel Prize-winning economist Milton Friedman offers a lesson for misunderstood webmasters who can’t get their organizations to adopt Web 2.0 participatory media. Here’s how he described intellectuals:
“We do not influence the course of events by persuading people that we are right when we make what they regard as radical proposals. Rather, we exert influence by keeping options available when something has to be done at a time of crisis.”
(From “Two Lucky People” memoir as quoted by The Wall St. Journal.) The same holds true for church webmasters who are trying to evangelize using the latest tools available. Keep speaking up. Your parish leaders may not be ready for participatory media today, but tomorrow may bring your opportunity.
It’s not a loose analogy, but almost a literal description. SlideShare looks and works like a near clone of YouTube, except it’s for sharing PowerPoint slides instead of videos. Tagging, sharing, embedding in other sites—it’s all there.
Now there are plenty of good reasons not to use the much-abused PPT medium as the preeminent information designer Edward Tufte has eloquently described. The Wall St. Journal recently covered this territory as well. But maybe your pastor is a big slideware fan or you’re looking to make the most of existing content from your ministries to put on your church website. If so, SlideShare is worth a try.
The site doesn’t support animated transitions at this point, but it does support the PPT and PPS extensions along with ODP (Open Office) and KeyNote (if saved as a PPT).
Here’s an example of presentation on a compendium to the Catechism. Take a look a few pages in for some amusing images of DVD covers from Biblical movies. Your visitors aren’t going to remember all the small print, but the pictures might register.
Have you had success sharing slides at your church? Please share with the rest of us.
Changing of the Guard at Arlington Cemetery by Mark Alves
[Updated for Veterans Day 2012]
Veterans Day, which doesn’t have an apostrophe, is November 11. Here are threesix 13 14 prayers and several prayer videos to mark the holiday on your church website or for your own reflection (plus some cool posters) —
“Freedom always comes at a high price. It requires a generous heart, ready for sacrifice. . . We cannot excuse ourselves from our own personal responsibility for freedom. There is no such thing as freedom without sacrifice.” -Blessed John Paul II via Archdiocese of the Military
Church Mojo 