Summit Photos

I just posted a few photos from the Summit. Check them out at http://www.visualstorynetwork.com/photo/albums/2009-summit. Select Visual, photos, all albums and then 2009 Summit.

Emerging Technologies / Media Mythologies

VSN member Robert Fortner (Intl. Center for Media Studies) is hosting a two day symposium on "How Globalization and Emerging Technologies are Shaping Our World." The event will be October 5-6 in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Robert is a brilliant thinker and researcher. For more info go to www.center4media.org.

After the Summit

Tired. Thrilled. Thankful. Anticipating. What an amazing group of world changers assembled for two days! Thanks to each who invested the time in coming. There were great connections, insightful presenters, inspiring stories and new strategy teams. Please keep praying for God's annointing on the follow-through in the weeks to come.

One Week Prayer Request

A unique group of influencers is meeting next week for our Leadership Summit. Please pray with us the following...
Creative, Redeeming God. Help your people live fully for your kingdom and reveal this reality in transforming visual ways. Use the 2009 Summit for your purposes. Assemble the people you are using and yet desire to use. Birth the visions, relationships, partnerships, strategies and products that will please you.

Arts in Mission

VSN member Byron Spradlin has offered an excellent article on "the artist in mission" to our community. Go to the Resource tab to find his article "Worship and Arts in Mission." Thanks Byron.

Butterfly Circus

VSN member Josh Weigel did a great job writing and directing "Butterfly Circus" as a Doorpost Film Project finalist. To watch it, go to www.thedoorpost.com and select the icon. Great work Josh!

Spotlight :: Pamoja Ministries

I recently met VSN member Nadine Feser. She serves with Pamoja Ministries (www.pamoja.info). Their mission is to "disciple cultures through media" in Africa. They are developing a fascinating, musical feature film in Tanzania (Nollywood meets Bollywood) to teach people to overcome their fear of anscestors. Check it out at www.nipejibu.com. Great work Nadine!

First Ever Media Mission Project

On August 25-28, VSN is taking its first ever "media mission" team to serve a young ministry having a big impact in the Middle East through television. We're taking a team of four volunteers with extensive television experience to help this ministry take their impact to a new level. Pray for God's blessing as we serve.

Echo Conference thoughts

Rob Thomas and his team did a great job at the Echo Conference in Dallas two weeks ago. Only in their second year, they had 400 gather to learn how to more effectively use media in the context of the church. You can check out Rob's profile to find out more. Great job Rob! My personal favorite was the panel on future trends.

Steps to a Global Movement of Visual Story

The PowerPoint presentation I'm using today at the Echo Conference is available for download. Select the Resources tab and it will be at the top of the list. This document outlines steps to seeing the movement became a global reality.

Echo Conference: July 29-31

Let me know (clyde@visualstory.org) if any of you are planning to be at the Echo Conference this week (www.echoconference.com). I'll be doing one of the breakout sessions. Echo is "a conference for church leaders that love using media, technology, and the internet to be more effective in sharing God's story."

Damah Film Festival is baaaack

I was excited to hear that the Damah Film Festival is back. It was a privilege to have been involved in helping it get started. Damah is looking for submissions under 30 minutes. Go to www.damah.com

Nollywood

Mark Moring from Christianity Today writes about the growing film industry in Nigeria. He includes a link to a trailer of recent documentary about this phenomenon. http://blog.christianitytoday.com/ctmovies/2009/07/christianity-witchcraft-and-th.html

New Resource Tab

To make it easier to access the wiki, the "How to Story" training modules, and down-loadable files we created a new "Resource" tab. Hope this is helpful.

Media Mission Partnership - Dates set

We just set the dates for our first effort to bring experienced visual communicators alongside those with less experience to help them improve their craft. We'll take a team of three television veterans (plus myself) to serve a young television broadcast organization working in a very challenging country. To read more, check out the Media Mission Partnership discussion below.

Robert McKee Story Seminar

We're excited to attend the upcoming seminar offered by Robert McKee in July. If you're not familiar with his work, at least purchase his classic book "Story." Join us for this world-famous seminar on July 17-19 in San Francisco. Check out the events section for more info.

Internet for Everyone

Here is an ambitious for-profit attempt to open the door to Internet access to the half of the world that doesn't have access currently. Their mission, "to make the Internet accessible and affordable to everyone on the planet." Check them out at www.o3bnetworks.com.

Spam Attack

I'm sorry if you received messages from "Erelene Alford." That was a spam attack and the profile was banned which deleted any messages you may have received.

Social Networking: Next Trend

Here is an interesting report on how social networking will soon evolve. Thanks to the folks at Asia Media Notes...

Forrester: Social Web To Evolve Due To Portable IDs
Posted: 27 Apr 2009 09:03 PM PDT

Transforming the world of online media and marketing, technologies that enable a portable identity will soon allow consumers to bring their identities with them across the Web, according to a deep-dive study on the future of social media from Forrester Research.

What’s more, IDs are just the beginning of this transformation, in which the Web will evolve step-by-step from separate social sites into a shared social experience, according to the report’s key author, Forrester analyst Jeremiah Owyang.

“Consumers will rely on their peers as they make online decisions, whether or not brands choose to participate,” Owyang explains in the report. “Socially connected consumers will strengthen communities and shift power away from brands and CRM systems … eventually this will result in empowered communities defining the next generation of products.”

Brands anxious to exploit the flurry of social activity presently face one key challenge: social information about people, their profiles, and their friends is locked up in separate networks.

But, according to Forrester, the social web is about to evolve from a few social network sites into a consistent backdrop for every online activity. Portable social IDs and the changes they enable will transform how consumers, brands, and social networks interact, according to Owyang.

In the next stage of social evolution, starting later in 2009, technologies like OpenID and Facebook Connect will let individuals traverse the Internet with their social connections along for the ride.

The boundaries of social networks and traditional sites will blur, making every Web site into a social experience.

Next year, meanwhile, as sites begin to recognize people’s personal identities and their social relationships, they will customize visitors’ experiences based on their preferences, their behaviors, and who their friends are.

In addition to enabling more intense social applications, in this stage social networks will absorb features of email and become a base of operations for everyone’s online experiences.

Further into the future — in about two years, Forrester predicts — as social networks become the repository for identities and relationships, they will become more powerful than corporate Web sites and CRM systems.

“Communities will become the driving force for innovation,” according to Owyang. “As a result, brands will cater to communities, resulting in a power shift toward the connected customer.”

Presently, among the U.S. online consumers who visit Facebook, LinkedIn, or MySpace at least monthly, 42% must juggle at least two social network IDs, according to Forrester, while 63% of those in social networks are also logging in to discussion forums — again with a separate ID.

Ultimately, the new browsers and identity technologies will let consumers choose to surf the Web and see what sites their friends have visited — and what they thought of the information there.

Biola Media Conference

4/27: Great time on the CBS Studio lot this Saturday. Great job Peggy, Kathleen, Scott et al! The connections were fun...good to see Scott Edge, Larry Frenzel, Doug Weiss, Joey O'Conner, Nathan Bluedorn, Charlie Matz and more! Solid keynotes, good workshops. I was particularly taken by Joe Esterhas' story...amazed at the power of God to reach into a dark place to bring someone into the light.