Weekly Link Roundup, January 18

Copy Blogger on Cornerstone Content: As Silas Partners has been working with a number of clients, we have advocated the creation of cornerstone or guidepost or flagship content. Regardless of what you call it, this content can define ministries and can define how search engines see your site.

NeoSmart Files on Tag Standards: Tagging is all the rage in the Web 2.0 crowd, but there is no standard around how you deal with spaces in tags or which part of speech you use to tag.

Kevin 0′Keefe on Competitor’s Blogs (via ProBlogger): In the ministry world a competitor is an interesting concept. Certainly similar organizations compete for giving dollars. This is written from a law blog perspective, but brings out what I would say are great, and valid points.

A new way of tithing?

The Chronicle of Philantrophy (CoP) recently highlighted a new level of “sophistication” in the way people tithe. Of particular interest is the way technology has a role in the said developments. Highlighting a New York Times report, CoP writes that the “collection plate is being superseded by technology.”

The article is a reminder of the new perspective on giving - more and more people look at their donations as investments. These investment-oriented donors are quite involved in securing where their money goes. They want to make sure it is used well so they research the organizations they give to. They want to track returns (albeit non-monetary), so they keep abreast on what the organization is doing. Technology allows them to do that by specific communication sent by way of emails, website updates, or even personal logins to see their donor history, among others.

Read the original article on “Tithing evolves as donors gain financial savvy: Churches turn to technology to keep congregants giving” by the New York Times and let us know what you think!

Devotionals 1/15/07

A beautiful psalm this morning. Of David the servant of the Lord. (From the New International Version)

“An oracle is within my heart concerning the sinfulness of the wicked: There is no fear of God before his eyes.

For in his own eyes he flatters himself too much to detect or hate his sin.

The words of his mouth are wicked and deceitful; he has ceased to be wise and to do good.

Even on his bed he plots evil; he commits himself to a sinful course and does not reject what is wrong.

Your love, O LORD, reaches to the heavens, your faithfulness to the skies.

Your righteousness is like the mighty mountains, your justice like the great deep. O LORD, you preserve both man and beast.

How priceless is your unfailing love! Both high and low among men find refuge in the shadow of your wings.

They feast on the abundance of your house; you give them drink from your river of delights.

For with you is the fountain of life; in your light we see light.

Continue your love to those who know you, your righteouness to the upright in heart.

May the foot of the proud not come against me, nor the hand of the wicked drive me away.

See how the evildoers life fallen - thrown down, not able to rise!”

Psalm 36 (NIV)

Dynamic Korea

Today I thought I’d just tip my hat to www.korea.net .

The site’s simple navigation and good use of space is attractive. The three things I might want to know about Korea is pretty accessible. Try looking for local news, information about their culture, and the economy and you’ll see what I mean. There’s lots of interesting items too, like this video called “Let’s Speak Korean”. Some things I thought were c-o-o-l:

• a marketing kit for their “Dynamic Korea” campaign
• an interesting way of displaying news highlights (title and photo only, no text. I think this is hard to pull off sometimes but for this page it worked!)
• and items for other viewer interests like a wallpaper gallery and quite a number of videos. They even have videos of different Korean sceneries.

Enjoy!

Catasrophemail?

Some corners of the web-design community are up in arms about a recent Microsoft decision to dump the current HTML email engine for Outlook 2007, instead adopting an outdated and flawed engine based on, no, really, Microsoft Word. What’s on the chopping block? Consistent support for background images and colors, nice margins, and overall control of object placement and spacing inside emails. If the rumors are all true, a lot of emails are going to start looking bad, and a lot of email designers are going to be tearing out their hair.

More after the jump:
Read more >>

Weekly Link Roundup

37 Signals on Frustration: A short post, but a true one. Frustration is something we all encounter. How do you deal with it, comment away!

The Chronicle of Philanthropy on Giving (via ThinkPersonality): About 83 percent of adults gave last year, but what they gave declined. Check out the link for more stat goodness.

Read/Write Web on Web 2.0 Trends: What to find out what’s next in 2.0, or what even is 2.0? Great analysis of some raw data Seth Godin puts out.

Campaign Monitor Blog on How to test HTML emails: Ever wonder why it can take so long to test emails?

Web Worker Daily on Google/Outlook Sync: I use Google Calendar for personal stuff and the program we love to hate, Outlook, at work. This plugin promises syncing. I just finished the download, stay tuned to found out if it works.

Viral Pigment Power Opportunity

People want the pigment power. It is a primal instinct exposed through the child development years, this need to choose the crayon of one’s choice to color. I cannot remember hearing an adult chastise me for coloring a tree purple with crayons but I can trace my early works of art from purple trees to green trees. It happened to us all, this sad day when authority took away our color freedom. THE TREE MUST BE GREEN they scolded! Forget the fact that trees are orange or yellow in the autumn. Forget that your classmate Lulu ate your green crayon. Forget it all. You must adhere to society’s coloring guidelines - adhere they tell you! Make sure your pillow sheets match the comforter they tell you. Those pants don’t match those shoes they tell you.

Understanding the drain of giving up one’s power to color the world the way they want, Silas Partners developed an Read more >>

Computers in movies also warrant suspended disbelief

Computers in movies also warrant suspended disbelief Some time ago, I watched Jack Bauer from the TV series “24″ use his cellphone camera to magnify a serial number on a jacket 200 feet away. That said, I was also willing to suspend disbelief that his PDA can download an abandoned building’s schematics in a matter of seconds. (and that they were able to retrieve that schematic diagram in the first place!)

Would watching a show like “24″ where computers are standard props have any effect on the way we perceive technology and usability? Jakob Nielsen thinks they might. Could it potentially explain why we, the populace, expect to understand any interface we sit in front of and rant if we can’t figure it out? Would it explain why we have a hankering for everything voice activated?

In his chuckle-inducing article “Usability in the Movies — Top 10 Bloopers ” he summarizes that “User interfaces in film are more exciting than they are realistic, and heroes have far too easy a time using foreign systems. ” Here are some of my favorites:

1) “This is Unix, It’s easy.” Enough said.

2) “You’ve Got Mail” is always good news. Wading through hundreds of emails after getting back from holiday break makes these three words cause for trepidation. (”Nooo! I still have 243 unread emails!”)

3) “Big fonts. ” Another website observed that they seem to be an inch high. Imagine glaring “Yes” and “No” buttons and fullscreen “Enter Password” screens.

Read all 10 bloopers on UseIt.com>>

Devotionals: Jan 8, 2007

This was our first Devotional of the New Year! It’s Ephesians 3: 4-12, this is the New King James Version.

“By which, when you read, you may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ, which in other ages was not made known to the sons of men, as it has now been revealed by the Spirit to His holy apostles and prophets; that the Gentiles should be fellow heirs, of the same body, and partakers of His promise in Christ through the gospel, of which I became a minister according to the gift of grace of God given to me by the effective working of His power.

To me, who am less than the least of all the saints, this grace was given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, and to make all see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the ages has been hidden in God who created all things through Jesus Christ; to the intent that now the manifold wisdom of God might be made known by the church to the principalities and powers in the heavenly places, according to the eternal purpose which He accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord, in whom we have boldness and access with confidence through faith in Him.”

Eph 3: 4-12 (NKJV)

Weekly Link Roundup

Look for these every Thursday from now on. If you have a link to add to the round up, just post it as a comment.

Matt Cutts on howto files: A great tip on how to keep a list of all the little things we learn how to do, but never remember.

Read/WriteWeb on Kiva: Kiva:Philanthropy::Digg:Slashdot. An interesting way to do philanthropy, direct one on one. This is something that many ministries could do as well, since most of their work is one on one.

Church Marketing Sucks on Burritos and Churches: Crossings Church in Richmond, VA found a novel way to partner with businesses and serve church visitors at the same time, mmmm cilantro, lime rice

Remember the Milk on Doug’s Brain: Doug Nelson here at Silas put me on to a to-do list manager I’m digging it so far as a way to keep me on the task straight and narrow.