An interesting article from http://www.ucg.org/ about Google Glass. This follows this post about the rape crisis in post-apartheid South Africa.  This follows this post about the commercialization of Thanksgiving and Christmas. For a free magazine subscription or to get the book shown for free click HERE! or call 1-888-886- 8632.

Google Glass and Studying the Bible

by Aaron Booth

Google Glass invite

Source: Google

Is there any use for a pair of wearable electronic glasses in church or in your personal Bible study?
As the Internet manager for the United Church of God, I am always looking for ways technology could be used to study the Bible and enhance that learning experience. Earlier this year, Google introduced their optical head-mounted display device called “Glass.” It allows the wearer to take photos and videos, connect to their personal Google+ account and interact with the Internet via voice commands. This week I received an email invitation to become part of Google’s Glass Explorer program.
This got me thinking on how a wearable device like this could be used to study the Bible and what possibilities it could have in a church service or worship setting. Wearable computer devices are not new and have been available but they have not been widely accepted and functionable in daily life. That may change with devices like Google Glass and other wearable Internet connected devices.
Here are three ideas on how something like Google Glass could be used to enhance Bible learning:

1. Scripture recognition

Since Glass has a built in camera it could recognize various word patterns in the real-world and translate that information to its display screen. Imagine being able to scan words in your physical Bible and have it display various other Bible related resources to view. This could be definitions, translations, images, videos, audio and more. Maybe a popular Bible app such as YouVersion could open in the display and connect you to other Bible translations or read the verse to you. This type of application already exists in Glass to help in realtime translation of words from one language to another.

2. Visit Biblical and historical locations

Maybe you can access an interactive video that allows you to walk through Jerusalem and immerse yourself in that location and visit historical landmarks. With the use of augmented reality you can blend a real-world visit to a museum featuring Biblical artifacts with interactive information from the web. Just point your device’s camera toward the displayed QR code and the display screen shows relevant information or plays audio about what you are looking at.

3. Online Bible classroom setting

While taking an online class, a Biblical instructor in Jerusalem can give a personal tour of ancient sites via a live video feed and show the online class what they see and take questions from the class. This can already be done via a Google Hangout.
I believe there are many more day-to-day ease of technology use applications that could be developed which would assist those with mobility limitations or even sight limitations (read the online article from USA TODAY - "Beyond a gadget: Google Glass is a boon to disabled "). I would guess that in the next 5 to 10 years or even less, that wearable Internet devices will be more common and integrated into daily life somehow. Technology like this will become the everyday device for my kids when they are adults - as much as smartphones and tablets are for us today.
This makes me think of scripture in Revelation 11 that talks about how the whole world will see the bodies of the two witnesses:

And for three and a half days, all peoples, tribes, languages, and nations will stare at their bodies. No one will be allowed to bury them. (Revelation 11:9And they of the people and kindreds and tongues and nations shall see their dead bodies three days and an half, and shall not suffer their dead bodies to be put in graves.
See All... NLT)

With every advance of technology we can see how this future Biblical event will become a reality.
But till that time, I will keep searching (as well as our UCG.org staff) in how to best use technology to fulfill the mission of the United Church of God of preaching the gospel to the whole world.
If you are curious about Google Glass and would like to learn more - here are some online resources.
What Can You Do with Glass?
Glass - What It Does
Glass Support
Glass Quick Start Guide

How a Church uses the Internet to Preach the Gospel!!

This is a very interesting article as a how-to on preaching the Gospel via Social Networks. In particular, this is from the United Church of God www.ucg.org

How You Can Help Preach the Gospel on the Internet
In this interview, Internet managing editor Aaron Booth explains the logic of sharing UCG Web content on the Internet and how you can make an impact in preaching the gospel.
by Elizabeth Cannon
Since July 2008, visitors to the UCG Web site used the "ShareThis" link to share our Web pages and articles in 704 e-mails, 233 Facebook posts, 118 MySpace posts and a slew of shares on sites such as Delicious, LinkedIn, Windows Live, StumbleUpon, Yahoo/Google bookmarks and Digg.
"The more people who bookmark our articles and sites, the more buzz we can create," said Internet managing editor Aaron Booth. "If more people find it valuable, others will say, 'What's this all about? What's all the excitement about?' and then want to go to the links on our sites."
When others click on a link you have bookmarked, this adds to the total number of viewers. In some cases, videos become very popular and end up with thousands of viewers all around the world. In the industry this is known as "going viral," because the video spreads quickly without our help.
One way to promote viral activity is the "ShareThis" link, located on all of our Web sites. "ShareThis" is a tool that makes it easier to bookmark and share articles, commentaries, booklets and other content on our Web sites with a limitless audience on the Internet.
"ShareThis" has been used to share The Good News magazine through 2,035 e-mails, 447 Facebook posts and 251 MySpace posts.
More people may be sharing articles and information from our Web sites, but "ShareThis" is designed to track this kind of sharing and allows us to monitor how many times people share our sites and literature. People can share anything that is posted to our sites—anything from booklets to magazines to Beyond Today programs to Good News commentaries.

The Theory Behind "Viral"
First, a person sets up an account on a Web site, either a bookmarking Web site such as Delicious, Twitter or Digg or a social networking site like Facebook or MySpace.
Then after reading articles or viewing videos on our Web sites, that person can share links to them on their bookmarking or social networking Web site by clicking on the "ShareThis" link on our Web sites. By doing this, that person has just shared that link with a new audience.
"I would love to see 40 of my friends [on Facebook or Twitter] posting the same thing I'm posting, because that means all of their friends see it too. It will create more buzz, because you're reaching additional people, all with very little effort," continued Mr. Booth.

The Key Is Generating Buzz
"Our goal is to have thousands of views per video to create more buzz. It just takes members watching the videos. The more views you can get, the more chances that the video can get posted to the YouTube home page. We can jump to 25,000 or 50,000 views with very little effort," he said.
Currently there are 64 GN commentary videos posted on YouTube. As of Feb. 12, they have been viewed 43,088 times, or 673 views per video.
"The daily commentaries, which deal with items currently in the news, are intended to pique viewers' curiosity and draw them to the Good News Web site for further information," added GN commentary contributor David Johnson.
As of December 2008, we have posted 274 videos on YouTube. These include Beyond Today programs, Beyond Today commentaries, Good News commentaries and various World News and Prophecy seminars. To date, they have been viewed 452,571 times.
Some videos have more views than others—some have 20,000 views—but we want to see each video have half a million views. It may seem like a long shot, but the process is surprisingly simple.
For instance, say five people watch a video, enjoy it, and then want to share it with five of their friends. Those first five views have just become 25 views. If this process is repeated, that video will soon become viral, with thousands of views logged.

How You Can Help
This is where all the members in the Church can get involved. If 1,000 Church members watch the GN commentaries or the BT commentaries, then we have already logged 1,000 views. If those 1,000 Church members post a commentary to a bookmarking site or on a social networking site such as Facebook, then that video has now been exposed to a greater audience who will continue the momentum of sharing the video, increasing the likelihood that more people will view it.
When more people view the video, the popularity of the video skyrockets, and suddenly the message we are preaching becomes viral. This is an exciting way that every Church member can become involved in preaching the gospel of the Kingdom of God to the whole world. UN
http://www.ucg.org/un/un0903/how-can-you-help-preach-gospel-on-the-internet.htm