Missiotechnica: Three Apps for EVERY Worker

This geeky idea for a series on our blog is still very much being experimented with. Maybe it’s because I’m having to spend too much time by myself while my family is away. My staff is laughing at me, saying that I’m like a sad, old man who lives alone with a dog (They primarily said that after watching a video I made for my family while they were in NYC). Nevertheless, I am going to make another nerdy “Missiotechnica” post this week.

There are always new applications that I like to experiement around with. Just this week I discovered Squarespace Notes for IOS and was quite impressed with this. Still experimenting around to see if it becomes a part of the daily flow. However, today, I wanted to share with you three Apps that I couldn’t work without … and that I think every IW in the world should invest in. I suppose I’m giving free advertising to these developers. But, frankly, I’m happy to do it, as I really do use these things, and think they make for excellent … and dare I say ... even essential tools for folks who are working in a cross cultural context.

Note: none of these apps are free (at least the way I use them). However, there are some things in life that are worth paying for, and it’s my opnion that these are at least three of them. I also think you should pay for good coffee and fast Internet. But that’s a different issue for a different time.

1. 1Password
   This is available for both my Mac and my iPhone. There are versions available for Windows and Android, as well. Here’s the deal with 1Passwowrd … not only should every IW have this on all of their computer equipment … everyone, everywhere should have this on all of their computer equipment. The concept is simple ... yet, in the day and age in which we live, it is essential. Too many people have one password that they use for their banking information, their social media accounts, Amazon, Ebay … whatever. One, most of the time relatively easy to guess password. The name of your cat. Your birthday. Your kid's names. "password" (Some of you are totally convicted right now, aren't you?) This is bad. Bad. Bad. If this is you, know this: you will eventually be one of those people who have to email all your friends notes of regret and apology because “I’ve been hacked” (I’ve actually received three of those emails from different people I know this week). 1Password lets you make highly complicated and convoluted passwords for your stuff, and securely holds that information for you. It will sync through Dropbox (next on my list) which allows you to use the IOS/Android or the desktop version on any other devices you may have. You have one password that you memorize (or write down somewhere) and you make crazy unguessable, unmemorizable passwords for all of your other stuff. You can also securely keep credit card numbers, addresses and other data stored in this virtual vault. It’s awesome. Seriously everyone needs this. I’ve tried similar apps that are free/open source … and have never really liked the way they operate. Some of them almost feel like malware, themselves. 1Password is the real deal, and in this day and age cyber-security is a non-negotiable. You need 1Password.

2. Dropbox
   I use the heck out of Dropbox. This is one that you can definitely get for free. There is a free 2GB account, but if you refer friends and family to Dropbox you can get up to 18GB for free. I pay a small amount per month to use the 100GB plan. Dropbox basically creates a folder “out there somewhere” (i.e., “the cloud”), and you can then access that folder from any computer, anywhere. The “Dropbox folder” is placed in the list of folders on your computer, and it all just works. You can access your dropbox on a mobile device, or on any machine that you use. Anywhere. There is where the alchemy of Dropbox really shows up. I have an iMac at work and use a MacBook air at home and when traveling, as well as an iPhone 4. Sometimes I even get to use Renee’s iPad. Wherever I am, whatever I’m doing, whatever device I am using, I have complete access to my entire documents folder. Sharing is super easy, and the way Dropbox works is just … magical. I don’t think I could work without it, at this point. For those of us who travel around a lot, particualrly traveling on the field … being able to access all of my teaching documents, for example, no matter where I am is critical. Dropbox also makes for an excellent collaboration tool. My colleague in Darhan (or America ... whereever!) can make changes to documents in a shared folder that are instantly synced to my computer. Dropbox is a “must have” tool.

3. Photo Editing Software (like Aperture or Adobe Lightroom)
   There will be another post coming in the next week or two about why IWs should work at taking better pictures. However, I will say … having a decent photo editor is essential. I don’t know what the default editor is in a Windows machine anymore, but every Mac will have iPhoto preloaded. That’s great. But it is limited (although the latest version does have better storage and organizing capabilities). I recommend one of these two. It’s a small investment that will have great returns. I’m a fan of Aperture for Mac. However, Adobe Lightroom is available for both PC and Mac and is alos a great photo editing tool. I don’t think it’s essential to have Photoshop. Most people don’t really even know how to use Photoshop, nor do they need it. One of these two applications will do two essential things:
   1. Organize your photos - this is a big deal when you are taking pictures that you need to find later. You can organize, tag and file all of your pictures. I believe both applicaitons also has other tools like face recognition, and ways to organize the metadata in your pictures. This is really important when you get back to your homeland and need to find pictures to put into slide presentations. Both applications also organize and store video clips, as well.
   2. Tweak your photos - Once you learn some of the basic tools you can make a mediocre photo look pretty good, and good photo look great. I do not advocate over processing pictures, but the beauty of digital photography is the fact that post processing is a possiblity for all. Learn to use the tools that are provided to make your pictures snap. 

Aperture is $80 bucks in the Mac App Store and I think Lightroom will set you back $150. However, I think having one of these two applications on your computer is an essential for the IW.

This is my opinion, only. There are lot’s of cool Apps … and depending on the specific kind of work you’re doing, you may need many others I don’t mention here. However, I think these three are pretty universal and should be a part of ever IW’s work flow.

What do you think?

What about you? Are there Apps on your computer that you can’t live without as an IW? Let me know what you think in the comments

Missiotechnica: Mailing Monkeys

This week’s Missiotechnica… Taking our “Prayer/News Letters” to the next level is so easy a monkey could do it.

Communication from the field can be a daunting task for many. However, we do need to recognize the fact that the days of the “Missionary Prayer Letter” are over. Done. Gone. The folks left stamping and addressing envelopes are few and far between. My Grandmother (who is well into her 80’s) has an email address. Heck, she has a Facebook account. Most workers are at least using email to send out communication to our consitituency, because the majority of our constituency isn’t going to read a mass mailing that they get in the mailbox. I know, there will be a few who insist that they will. However, there are some pretty amazing statistics about who reads this stuff ... I'll show you the e-version in just a moment.

I want to share a couple of “don’ts” when it comes to using email for our prayer/news letters and one “do”.

Don’t (ever, ever, ever) send an email to multiple receivers so that everyone can see your “Send to” addresses.
This is bad, bad, bad for multiple reasons. Many ISPs (Internet Service Providers) will consider you a spammer and will block your email to begin with. If your emal does get through, it becomes a security risk for everyone on your list. Then when one of your constituents hit “reply all” and responds to everyone your list to say “thanks” … well … best case, you’re not winning friends or supporters, and many people will just be annoyed and never hear what you have to say. Worst case, you've opened up your entire mailing list to dangers from spam to viruses. Use the BCC (blind carbon copy) feature in your email software. Please, please. I am STILL getting newsletters from colleagues with 217 people in the “send to” list. Just stop it. Drop everyone into the BCC field and put your email address in the “To” field. That is a much better way of getting your communication out.

Don’t embed photos in your email that are more than about 500–600 kb
That means … don’t take the pictures directly out of your camera and drop them into your email newletter. I recieved a newsletter from a colleague a few weeks ago that was over 40MB. Again, many service providers and email servers will block large files from ever getting through, and you’ll never know whether they received your email or not. There are a few who are creating newletters in PDF format and sending them (we have done that for a long time). This is better, but you still have to watch your file size. The total weight of the email shouldn’t be much over 1.5MB, at least in my opnion. You get much larger than that and you'll begin having a hard time getting your message through without being flagged as a potential spammer.

I will stop with these two don’ts … because I want tospend more time on the “do” …

DO use Mailchimp
This has become one of my favorite communication tools. I used to be a little hesitant to recommend MailChimp to colleagues, as there was (and probably still is) a bit of a learning curve. However, recent improvements have made creating an e-communicaiton easy and secure. There is no reason why every international worker in the world shouldn’t be using MailChimp for communication. It easy. It's secure. The Mailchimp monkeys do all of the work for you. 

I’m going to give you a quick-start tutorial right here. There are tons of cool features that you can explore. But in 10 minutes or less, you can send out an email to your constituency that looks good, communicates well, gives your receivers control over how much (or how little) they hear from you and, from an awesome stalker-y perspective, you can see exactly who reads you letter, how many times people open your letter and where they click in your letter. So awesome.

1. Sign up for free
   Go to MailChimp.com and sign up. Now. None of this is going to cost you anything, unless you have over 2000 people on your email list and will be sending more than 12,000 emails a month. For the vast majority (if not all) of you who read this blog, that’s not going to happen any time soon. Making an account literally takes 30 seconds. Just follow the directions. When get to your account page (I think you’ll have to verify your email address, etc.) go ahead and let MailChimp link to your social media. Facebook and Twitter can be integrated right into your email campaign. (Yes, they’re called campaigns. Weird, I know. But that’s what it is)
2. Create a list
   Once you’re inside with an account, you will want to “create a list”. At the top right/center you’ll see a menu with several items on it, including “lists”. Click that. And then click the orange “create list” on the left. Fill out the form (fairly straight forward). That creates the list.
3. Populate your new list
   So you have a list. But there are no email address in it. Now you can enter adresses into your mail list one at a time. But that’s for the birds. Mailchimp is for monkeys. When click on the little orange link that says “import”. It will take you to a page with all kinds of option to choose from. I use “Contacts” app for Mac. It was just a matter of exporting my list into a format called “V-Card” and then importing that into mailchimp as a file. Worked fairly well. If you use Google contacts, that’s pretty straight forward. You can also import an Excel file. Upload … presto … you have a populated list.
4. Make some groups
   This is one of the most powerful features of MailChimp. You can divide your list into groups. Perhaps you want to divide by churches or by geographical locations. You can also do this later on, as you see the need for it. The cool thing is that you can use the groups feature to send emal to segments of your list, rather than to everyone. It gives you super control over who gets your communications.
5. Create and send a ‘campaign’
   Now the fun starts! Click on the create a campaign button … and you just want a “regular ’ole campaign” for now. Pick which list you want to send it to (it also gives you the option to send the email to segments of your list. You can send it to a group, multiple groups, and several other cool options I don’t have space to get into here. Check it out!). Click through to “setup” you’ll decide what the name of your campaign will be, the email subject line, how it will connect to your social media, etc. Then you will design your email. There is a very cool new “drag and drop” editor that will allow you to pick a template and simply drag in text, photos, buttons, etc. You put in whatever content you want! You can create links to your website, Facebook, etc. Write your whole newsletter right there. It can be one long letter … or multiple articles. You choose. I know that we go back and forth between using the MailChimp email as the newsletter, and sometimes creating a PDF newsletter that’s printable for churches that like this kind of thing that is upliaded to our website and linked to the MailChimp email. It will create a “text only” version for people who don’t use a rich text or HTML friendly email client. Then you send you email. It’s that easy. If you know some HTML, you can get really nitty gritty into the code, create templates and more. 
   
6. Stalk your campaign
   The MailChimp stats are fun and enlightening. It’s interesting to note that I very rarely get even a 50% open rate. Meaning that usually over half of my email list never even opens the email I send to them. Click rate is even less. I’ve moved past taking it personally and just find it interesting. Especially since my list ranks much higher than other lists in the “non-profit” catagory. But I do tend to geek out on the stats. There’s even an iPhone app (also free) that lets you check this. The nice thing is that Mailchimp takes care of your mailing list. If there are bounces, the monkeys clean up your list and let you know what they did.

The other nice thing is that your subscribers can control whether they remain on your list or not (don’t take it personal - but some people get tired of hearing from us). MailChimp also gives you code to create a signup form on your website and more.

Sign up. Send a campaign. Try out the features. I think you’ll soon love these guys as much as I do.

And I think the people to whom you are communicating will love you.

And isn’t love where it’s at?

If you have a question or some better ideas of how to use these kinds of communication tools, leave your 2 cents in the comments!

Missiotechnica: Facebook is for 15 Year Olds

"I don't have time for Facebook".

I hear that a lot. And in the 15-year-old-girl sense of the word, I don't have time for Facebook, ether. Or Twitter. Or YouTube (although I prefer Vimeo for video sharing). Or Pinterest. Or any of the other Social Media options that exist on the Internet. The issue is I am not a 15 year old girl (That is admittedly an ageist and possibly a sexist statement, for which I apologize up front) and I believe that there is great value and power in Social Media, particularly as it applies to those who are involved with worlwide Kingdom work. I want to use this article to make a plea to all of my colleagues to consider using social media for Kingdom work and communiction.

Here's the caveat.

Yes ... all social media (Facebook, Twitter, etc.) can be addictive and narcissistic. It's true. As with anything that causes stumbling or unholiness or disconnects us or our work from Jesus, caution should be exercised and disconnection may be the healthiest option for any one of us at any given point in time. For some, social media can replace "real life" relationships and be an escape for those who are in particularly lonely or unhealthy circumstances. I get that.

However, I don't believe it has to be this way.

And ... these tools, used for the Kingdom, are tools to be reckoned with.

Here are some reasons why all M workers should consider their use.

1. Your kids are on
   The reason I started a Facebook account back in 2007 was not to play Farmville. It was mainly because my kids were wanting to join facebook (we have a strict familial policy of not lying about your age, so both of my kids were the required 13 years old before joining). For young teenage kids, there isn't much they can hide on there. I highly recommend that all parents of teenage children join what ever social media you allow your children to join. Yes, both of my kids have been grounded at some point because of something that happened on social media. But that's the point. I could see everything they did on there. Sure, my kids called me a "stalker" ... but I don't mind footing that bill when it comes to my own kids.

I hear from people with children who chuckle about the fact that their kids are on Facebook but "Oh, I don't have time for that". My interior response is that if you allow your kids on any kind of social medua, then you'd better make time. Our children are more important than our ministry. and for that reason alone, I joined social media networks 6 years ago, and have been keeping digital tabs on my kids ever since.

1. Your extended family is on
   Now that my kids are older, and living in the US, it's a key technological connection point between us and them. Now I also connect with my Dad (and my Mom vicariously through my Dad's account) and other family members, who would really have no contact point with our family otherwise. Most conversations with my brother are through Twitter. Hudson Taylor lamented the limited contact he had with his beloved family. That's not a necessary evil in missions anymore. You can (and should) stay in touch with the lives of family members, and a healthy use of social media provides a quick and easy way to do so. For many, they are some of our biggest supporters and most important relationships.

2. Your supporters are on
   Social media is a powerful communication tool for engaging our supporters and "rope-holders". My wife has more than once received immediate prayer support in distressful times through Facebook. More people read our newsletters (and even this blog and website!) because of the nature of quick dissmination through Social Media. If we still depend on newsletters or "deputation" to stay connected with people in our home churches, I think we're going to miss enormous opportunities and, ultimately, will not really stay connected. Most of my generation and younger connect this way. We are missing real opportunities with them if we're not connecting with them through these means, as well. I often hear "I prefer to just pick up the phone and have a real conversation with real people." That sounds very holy and spiritually correct. But the thing to remember is 1. the people we connect with via social media are "real people" 2. when living time zones away from our friends, supporters and family the phone is rarely both a timely and viable option for communication.

3. The World is on
   There are over one billion people actively on Facebook. Twitter stats are a little less forthcoming, but it seems that there are about 200 Million active Twitter accounts as today. I have so many Mongolian friends and coworkers who I connect with via Social Media. Our Center in Ulaanbaatar actively uses Facebook to connect with local residents, as does UBean Coffee House. I use Twitter to stay conncted with news, products and Internet posts in which I'm personally interested.

I realize there are issues that prevent some workers from connecting with social media. This would be particularly true where security levels are high, or where it's not possible because of restrictions on public Inernet use. I've seen some creative ways around this. Using a VPN is an excellent security tool in most parts of the world (and enables you to use NetFlix ...  just saying). We have colleagues who live in high security areas who simply keep an anonymous Facebook profile, but are still able to connect with coworkers and supporters all over the world.

So, I encourage my colleagues who are not connecting with friends, family, colleagues and supporters in this way to seriously consider, or reconsider, your use of social media. Again, I realize that it's not for everybody. But for those who are in our line of work ... I don't see how it can't be useful.

How (if at all) do you use social media in your work and ministry? Do you agree that it's a useful tool that should be used in the "M" worker context, or something that should be avoided? Would love to hear your thoughts in the comments!

(note: I am going to be trying some new kinds of blog posts on the RememberMongolia.org website. I'm keenly interested in the way International Workers use technology to further the interests of the Kingdom. I'm going to try and write a weekly "MissioThechnica" related post on various issues surrounding technology and international work. Let me know if you have anything in this area interests you. I'll try to bring it up here for review and discussion.