Jeanette_Eggert

Proposal: Major Project for EDFL 675b – Fall 2007 Posted: October 10, 2007

Title: An investigation of the blessings, risks, and limitations of an online prayer site

(a) __Who is working on this project?__

I will carry out this investigation, document my journey, and report to our class members about my learning. Although I do not have formal collaborators, I welcome feedback, reactions, and ideas along the way.

(b) __Thematic area and methodology__

1. Thematic Area:

This investigation involves an online prayer site as a specific type of social community. Social communities are one aspect of the Web 2.0 environment. It is an area that I have not experienced beyond email and online discussions. As a Christian in our networked world, I intend to consider the blessings, risks, and limitations of this online prayer site.

2. Methodology:

I plan to focus on OurPrayer.com, a relatively new website that spun off from Guideposts.com. I will register on that site. I am not aware that any of my current friends or relatives are using that site. I intend to walk in as a newcomer seeking to partner with other Christians through prayer.

I will join two or more of the existing prayer groups. I will join groups that I am actually interested in. I will “be myself,” that is, I do not plan to assume a different web-identity. I will participate appropriately for about five weeks, until November 17th, for the purposes of this project. (It will also be interesting to see if my participation continues beyond November 17th, which would provide the very best kind of evidence that I established connections within these spiritual, social, online communities.)

My investigation will include visits to other prayer groups that are open with an interest in monitoring participants’ satisfaction with the new OurPrayer.org site compared to the previous discussion forums on Guideposts.com.

I will visit the chat rooms on OurPrayer.org and participate to a level that I feel is appropriate. I am interested in monitoring the participants’ utilization of synchronous contact.

On our course Wikisite I will journal at least twice each week about my participation and investigation.

After November 17th I will present the results of my investigation synchronously in the GFU virtual classroom at some mutually appropriate time. The presentation for our class members will utilize PowerPoint, including some screenshots of my journey.

(c) __Media__

During the investigation, I will utilize the web both for research and for journaling. I will post a journal entry on our course Wikisite at least twice each week.

Results will be summarized in a PowerPoint presentation shared with classmates to allow for questions and discussion.

[End of Proposal for Major Project]

Jeanette's Place:
In my professional role at Concordia University, I teach physics and math courses. My math lab courses cover basic skills as well as beginning and intermediate algebra. Many of my students have had previous bad experiences with math. I created a website on googlepages as a course introduction for an online math course that I teach. [Scot created this link as a demo during "live session number one." I kept his title and linked it to my google homepage. Can you tell that Scot and I have talked about my 'math-challenged' students?] [|Math for scared people]

For this course, I'm interested in investigating several web applications ... and not sure which one may turn into a project.
 * Journal entry: Thursday, Sept. 20th:**

(1) Our congregation is just starting to use a 'member connect' program. I could help to nurture and educate those interested in using that tool. (I haven't even used it myself, yet!) One congregation member asked if Bible study would be available?!?

(2) I have read about using blogging to keep family and and friends 'up-to-date' during a medical crisis or other family event. I have not yet examined that option.

(3) I have read about prayer partnerships...beyond just email messages. It would be interesting to look for and participate in that type of spiritual social networking.

I'm interested in feedback and advice. It should be an interesting journey.

This is my third faith and learning seminar. The inclusion of the faith and learning intersection is one of the reasons that I chose the GFU doctoral program over other options. I have not regretted it! One of the 'customs' that my husband and I have followed in recent years is reading to each other. A few minutes of our 'close of day' routine includes reading out loud. The topics are wide ranging...sometimes academically related, sometimes "laugh therapy" (one of our favorite laughter-producing authors is Pat MacManus), or whatever! During each faith and learning seminar, the textbook has become a part of our daily reading journey together. It is a great way to trigger conversation and share contemplations. It is a part of our routine that we value and recommend to our students and friends. In a world that seems filled with 'sound bites' and flashing, glitzy visual images we enjoy the contrast of reading aloud, listening, and discussing ideas. Both John and I use our computers for HOURS of each day, so these reading times are a special kind of 'wireless' connection for us.
 * Journal entry: Thursday, Sept. 27th:**

Does anyone else read aloud these days?

In starting to work (explore) related to my project, I visited caringbride.org website. Wow! I am excited about this compassionate and 'people-connecting' use of technology. Stay tuned. I am planning to provide more information about this and similar applications.

Today I visited Guideposts.com website and clicked around a bit to look for their 'social community' and blog-type sectors. They also have a spin-off site called OurPrayer.org that is currently a beta version. On a forum, there were various comments about the joys and difficulties of using the new site.
 * Journal entry: Saturday, Sept. 29th**

It was obvious that there is an online community that connects through the Guideposts forums. Some of the screen-names were familiar quickly, so they are obviously active and frequently posting. Next stop: OurPrayer.org.

Today I investigated "Goodsearch.com" which I had heard of but never visited. Basically it is a search engine that makes contributions to the charity of your choice as you search the web. I first heard about it from a friend of ours that is a leader in a Blind Ministry organization. It seems like one of those "this is too good to be true" sort of things. I clicked around on their site and then used it for a couple of searches that I needed to do to get ready for teaching on Friday.
 * Journal entry: Thursday, Oct. 4th**

This is another example of a good use of the web to provide funding to charities. It is not an intrinsically Christian use of the web, but it does raise for me this type of question: As a Christian, can I utilize information technologies in ways that are God pleasing?

I visited OurPrayer.org today and visited or toured various functions. This is a beta site and a spin-off from Guideposts.com. The intention is to provide increased Web 2.0 functionality including live chat. On the Guideposts forum, there are many negative comments about the new site. The regular users of the Guideposts forums have expressed a significant amount of frustration with the changes. It is obvious that, at least for some users, the forums presented a remarkable social network. There are expressions of grief about the loss of the Guidepost forums and fear that they won't be able to 'find' their familiar friends on OurPrayer.org. I have not yet 'joined' either the Guideposts site or the OurPrayer site. My investigations have been as a guest so far. I think that my "digital immigrant" status shows up in my hesitance to create user names and identities all over the web. I am also still exploring and considering the scope and content for my project for this course.
 * Journal entry: Tuesday, Oct. 9th**

I did it! I became a member of OurPrayer.org today. I scanned through the list of established prayer groups, but did not join any yet. I visited the "meet and greet" chat room, but no one was there. As a part of the registration process, I was given the opportunity to invite friends to join OurPrayer, but decided not to do that. My intent is to meet new friends in this online, spiritual, social community. Not that I will tell current friends to stay away...but I don't want to just gather an already existing set of friends as prayer partners...at least no right now.
 * Journal entry: Thursday, Oct. 11th**

A portion of my journey as a Christian in this networked world involves actually reading printed pages rather than web adventures. Both Guideposts and Prevention magazines have had recent articles related to the topics of this course. My husband also shared with me a segment from a book that he is reading. Indeed, the concerns raised by Schultze, our own frenzied life-pace, and the seemingly constant electronic-connectedness of our students all serve as reminders of the challenges that we face. At the same time, my 81-year old Mother (It's her birthday today! She lives with us.) loves having email contact with her friends in Michigan and her children and grandchildren that live far away. John is her technology trouble-shooter when she gets in a snarl. I love the web as a tool, but I don't want it central in my life.
 * Journal entry: Friday, Oct. 12th**

I read project plans from several classmates and posted a response to **Deb Jetton**.
 * Journal entry: Sunday, Oct. 14th**

My Mom receives local pictures from her home area in Michigan through a public source associated with the local paper (I think). There is no formal discussion board or chat room, but the site that posts the pictures has a way for people to post comments or request help if they are unable to download the photos. Mom told me that she always reads those comments and that she feels like we (those who look at the pictures) "are a community." I found it fascinating that she would describe it in that way! My mom is part of a web-based social community above and beyond email with existing friends.
 * Journal entry: Thursday, Oct. 18th**

I read project plans from several classmates and posted responses to **Alyssa Packdell and Amy Dee**.

I did it! I joined an online prayer group. I submitted a message introducing myself. There are twelve other members. They schedule meetings in the chat room and I really wanted to try that 'venue' for building relationships within this cyber community. I once again felt like an alien just trying to figure out how to post a message to the group discussion site. I took the site 'virtual tour' hoping that I would be clued in by that. Hmmm. The tour was pretty basic. Then I wasn't sure if I was supposed to send a 'message' to the group, like email, or if there was another way to post a message to their discussion. I eventually did it with a bit of cyber exploring. Then on the group member list, I clicked on a couple of the names and it takes me to their profile and tells me whether or not they are currently online. I'm sure that will be really nice as I get to know some of those folks. That was enough new cyber-adventures for this alien for today.
 * Journal entry: Saturday, Oct. 20th**

I have been invited by one of my Cyber Prayer group members to be her 'friend'! It is very interesting that I find that very flattering and exciting. I was not able to be online during the group's chat time today, but I did visit the personal profiles of most of the group members. Only one has his/her profile 'private.' For the others I can see whatever information they have chosen to share, which usually includes their city and state, their age, and religious affiliation. We are scattered across the USA and one member is from outside the USA. It appears that all are Christains. On Monday they have two chat times scheduled...I hope to make it to one of them.
 * Journal entry: Sunday, Oct. 21st**

I read through **Sue Phillips** journal and project postings and provided a discussion message for her.

This evening I participated in online prayer for the first time. I showed up in the chat room at the time that my prayer group was scheduled. There were three others already there. They welcomed me and and chatted informally for a few minutes, then the designated leader urged us to quiet our hearts and minds for prayer. After a pause, she opened the prayers and all of us added responses and petitions for about the next twenty minutes. Some were specific and some were general. We closed with the Lord's prayer. It was texted onto our chat screen by various members adding subsequent phrases. We closed the session with some informal greetings and well wishes.
 * Journal entry: Monday, Oct. 22nd**

It was very interesting and I look forward to joining them again. I plan to arrive a bit earlier for some additional casual conversation. It is certainly a new mode to read and type prayer petitions. My prayer partners were obviously very literate. I can picture that a person who is hesitant about their spelling proficiency may feel shy about the spontaneous typing (although based on some email messages that I get from college students, casual spelling and grammar does not bother them!).

What a busy week, both online and offline! Tuesday evening I participated in my cyber prayer group. There were six of us together for prayer. Already, on my second visit, I could recognize three or four of the 'regualars' and the fact that a couple of our participants were with us for the first time. The group now lists fifteen members, so two more have joined since I did. They have a daytime prayer time also, but I have not been able to be with them. I will try to do that sometime to see if that time slot attracts a different segment of our group members.
 * Journal entry: Thursday, Oct. 25th**

I was again impressed with the leadership. She was welcoming to all our participants and yet kept the petitions flowing. Our entire early sequence of our prayer time focused on praise and thanks, then transitioned into petitions about our fears and concerns. With six in the room, our closing with the Lord's prayer was still very special. Some parts were repeated or out of order due to the typing lag, but it really 'felt' like we were all praying it together. We closed it with several Amens. I couldn't stay for much of the fellowship time, but told the group I would not be online on Wednesday evening, but hoped to return on Thursday. It is evidence of my connection with the group that I have several times today found myself wondering how many were there for prayer last night.

Meanwhile, back in EDFL675b land, I visited various portions of our Wiki site and responded to a few posts. I re-visited the Diigo social annotation project, read new stickies from Tricia and added a couple more of my own. I worked on learning more about Diigo and had a slight internet mishap (sorry, Tricia!). That dampened my spirits, but I persisted and used Diigo to bookmark a few physics simulation sites. Although not specifically related to this course (other than improving my proficiency in using Diigo) I see that type of bookmarking as useful for me moving forward. I like to search for good web-based simulations that I can point my students toward or even include as a portion of a lab assignment. Here is where Diigo can help me: On campus I use both my office computer and the computer in the physics lab. At home I use my MacBook, but sometimes I am booted up in Windows using Internet Explorer and sometimes in MacOS using Safari or Firefox. I have had times that I could not find something that I know was bookmarked within one of my other browsers. Ta Da! Diigo to the rescue. So I am starting to build a 'tagged' file of physics simulation websites that I will be able to get to whenever (and wherever) I'm on the web.

I have nearly completed the readings in Schultze for this session, but only plan to interact informally in the Foxtale forum. [Scot: Thank you for making the formal writing assignment optional. I appreciate being able to spend more time learning about Diigo and on my project related to the cyber-prayer group.]

On Thursday evening I participated in prayer with my group and enjoyed it very much. I signed in about ten minutes early for the fellowship time and learned some about a couple of the group members. They are so welcoming; it is really a pleasure to gather with them. The two leaders were discussing which one of them would "usher." I was watching their conversation on chat, but wondering what "ushering" meant...in a chat room. They explained to me that the usher welcomes any late arrivals by "whispering" to them so that it doesn't disturb the prayerful tone of the group. I asked how to whisper online... They explained that it is their term for sending a private message so that it doesn't pop up on everyone's screen. I'm learning new things every day! It was a wonderful, prayerful time.
 * Journal entry: Sunday, Oct. 28th**

On Friday evening, in spite of a hectic schedule, I got on the prayer website a few minutes before 6 pm. Only one prayer partner was there. We joined in prayer for about 20 minutes, a large part of that time spent in petitions of praise and gratitude. Then on Saturday I read an article in Guideposts magazine the "Gratitude" is good for our health! I would like to read more about the studies referenced, but it made me smile to realize how good I feel after our gratitude-rich prayer time online!

It is All-Saints Day! My online prayer group prayed about it last night and it will be included in our prayers tonight also. I continue to enjoy the cyber prayer experience. I now have two cyber-prayer-friends that I connect with often, and we continue to welcome new members into our group. Last night there were four of us online for the prayer time. Our new prayer partner was able to join in comfortably and at the end expressed how happy she was to join us in prayer.
 * Journal entry: Thursday, Nov. 1st**

Today I clicked around both the "public" (that is not-signed-in) and the "member" portions of OurPrayer.org. I wanted to see which features are blocked from the public side. You can get to the 'read-only' versions of some discussions, but cannot enter a chat room.

I also did some web searching on prayer and social communitites. I bookmarked several articles and shared them with our group on Diigo. My Diigo skills are improving. I have also bookmarked some physics simulations, but did not 'share' them since they were not related to this class. I'm learning about tags and private and public bookmarks. On one website I even got a 'warning' when I was selecting a public bookmark. I was warned that the site is monitored for inappropriate content and if I bookmarked with a public note that was deemed inappropriate, that my comment would be removed.

I responded to a couple of the discussion forums on Foxtale and read others. John and I continue to read through Schultze.

I read through discussion posting in Foxtale and replied to one classmate. I read through some recent journaling by classmates on these Wikipages and sent a message to one classmate. I have used Diigo for some personal bookmarking, especially related to physics websites. Today included long hours of pencil-and-paper grading...
 * Journal entry: Sunday, Nov. 4th**

Last night there were seven of us gathered for cyber-prayer. One participant has not yet actually posted a petition during our prayer time, but has joined us at least three times that I know of! Interesting. I continue to participate, but not specifically lead. There are two prayer-friends that I feel very connected with since we have chatted during the fellowship times that precede and follow our prayer time. Others are welcoming and I am welcoming to them, but we have not gotten too connected yet. When I joined the group I was the thirteenth to join. The list is now twenty! There is a daytime prayer time that I have not attended. I don't know how many participate in that.
 * Journal entry: Wednesday, Nov. 7th**

So far nearly all of my contact has been in the chat room. In the next two weeks, I'm going to try to send messages to some of the prayer group members. Two have "invited" me to be their friend. I'm going to try "inviting" others on our group list to be my friend and see if that leads to social networking.

My cyber prayer group meets Monday through Friday. I have usually been able to join in at least twice and sometimes three or four times each week. If my schedule does not permit me to join, I still think about those cyber-prayer friends and pray for some of their personal needs that I know about. Tonight there were four of us on during our usual prayer time. At the end of our 'structured' prayer time, two signed off quickly, but I was chatting with one of my cyber-prayer friends. While we were talking, another person entered the room, we greeted the new person, explained our regularly scheduled "prayer time" but then asked if this new person had any prayer requests that we could pray about. She did...and we (the three of us) spent a few minutes praying together. Then just as I was signing off, another new person entered the room and my cyber-prayer friend was welcoming this newcomer, too. It will be interesting to see if either of those come to our prayer time tomorrow.
 * Journal entry: Monday, Nov. 12th**

Busy life...and I missed the Tuesday evening prayer time. I'm trying to be there as often as I can without totally scrambling other things that need my attention. Tonight I arrived a bit late, but enjoyed joining with four or five others. I stayed for some 'fellowship' time after our formal prayer time ended and was able to ask these cyber prayer friends how long they have been involved. Several responded that they had been involved for a month or so; most reported that this was their first involvement with a cyber prayer group.
 * Journal entry: Wednesday, Nov. 14th**

During our fellowship time, one person entered the room that has visited us a few times. This person has never yet contributed a prayer petition, but "listens in" and then talks to us during our informal chat time. Very interesting....

Prayer time last night included a new person that had not prayed with our group before. She was very appreciative of our welcoming group and our prayer time together. During the fellowship time, I learned that the people in the room were in dirverse places like Tennesee, New Jersey, and Ohio. Our sense of community and spiritual connectedness was strong. At the end of our fellowship time, one wrote, "Let's all go out for Pizza!"
 * Journal entry: Saturday, Nov. 17th**

Hmm...unable to open our resources page today. I get an error message instead. I had previously posted two links, but wanted to add a link for the Institute for Research on Unlimited Love, [|www.unlimitedloveinstitute.org]. I described some about it on our Foxtale discussion board, so I won't repeat that here. I also suggest that you take a look at [|holypal.com], [|xianz.com], and [|hisholyspace.com] as examples of Christian social networks. Some are aimed at being an alternative to myspace or facebook.
 * Journal entry: Sunday, Nov. 18th**

Scot replied in Foxtale that he had no trouble accessing our Resource Page, so I came back to our Wikispace to try again. When I select our Resource Page from our homepage I get an error message: "Internet Explorer cannot open the Internet site edfl675b.wikispaces.com/Resources+Page". If I click OK, I get a page not found. If I click I get no response and must use my favorites drop-down menu to get back to our Wikispace homepage. I accessed the Resource page on Saturday, the 17th, but today...no go. Any suggestions?
 * Journal entry: Sunday, Nov. 18th ...later...about 9:20 pm:**

Monday afternoon I was working on research for the presentation that I plan to make for this class. I was on the OurPrayer website and there was suddenly a pop-up that someone had a message for me, was I willing to accept the message. I clicked on yes, and an Instant Messaging window opened and one of my cyber prayer group friends was typing a greeting to me! It was my first ever IM-ing. I asked her how she found me. I'm on her "friends" list and there is an icon that shows which friends are currently online. So she went to my prayer space and sent a message to see if I wanted to IM. It was nice to connect with her.
 * Journal entry: Tuesday, Nov. 20th**

Later during our prayer time, one friend was having technical diffculties in the chat room. She could see our messages, but her typing did not get posted for us to see. One of our leaders tried to find a tech support person, but none were online. Instead she opened an IM window with the person that could not post to the chatroom and served as a bridge between the two systems. Yikes! I nearly get sensory overload from one scrolling message-screen; she was dealing with two!

Another interesting situation during prayer time tonight. There were four of us participating in prayer, when another person entered the room. That person had been at one other prayer session, so I wasn't even feel that it was a 'new' person. Then one of the leaders "whispered" to me to be very careful around that new arrival! The leader said that we would IM ... that is do Instant Messaging...after prayers so that she could fill me in about the warning. Apparently, nothing bad has happened, but some responses from that person have caused the site monitors to alert the prayer group leaders to be extra careful not to share any personal information if that person is in a chat room. I'm glad that there is monitoring going on since the sign-in procedure is very simple. In all my times participating, this is only the second time that anything 'questionable' has occurred. Tonight, that questionable person did not interact with our prayer session in any way and left without posting a message...which is strange behavior for our prayer space.
 * Journal entry: Friday, Nov. 23rd**

I am still having trouble with accessing our Resources pages. Tom sent me a direct link via email, but it only works the first time I use it. For example, tonight I went to email first and used Tom's direct link. I got to the Resources page, selected edit and added a link to the website for the Institute for Research on Unlimited Love. When I saved it, I got an error message and my same old 'page not found' routine. My browser was completely locked up and I had to force-quit out of it. I tried using the direct link from email and got an error message again. After another forced-quit, I came straight to Wikispaces and to my journal page without trouble. I'll keep investigating to see if I can unsnarl this issue.

Thanks, Tom, for your message about the direct link....it works, sometimes!

On Scot's advice, I tried to clear my browser cache in hopes of resolving the access problem with the resources page. I not sure that I have exactly completed that task, but I tried and have gained some access. Today, from our Wikispaces homepage, I linked to the Resources page using the descriptive mid-page link rather than the left-side menu type link. It worked, but then I got an error trying to go back to the homepage. The good news is that instead of totally freezing my browser, I was able to navigate back to our homepage and when I selected the resources page, I got it. So, I do not yet have full functionality, but some access.
 * Journal entry: Sunday, Nov. 25th**

I have completed the reading, and visited Foxtale to update and read the current forum. This wraps up Session Four for me.

I managed to connect with my cyber prayer group three times this week. One evening we had seven people participating. I think that is the highest that I have experienced. It was very lively.Tonight there were four of us, and during the fellowship time before we started, one of the leaders said that last night they (the two regular leaders) were the only ones in the room at prayer time. They prayed briefly and when no one else came to join them, they signed off early. I think that 30 have joined our group. When I joined, I was number thirteen. It will be interesting to see how this continues.
 * Journal entry: Friday, Nov. 30th**

I enjoyed the presentations on Saturday and attempted to attend the Monday night session. Our DSL was acting up (due to heavy rain??). Eventually my husband, John, got us reconnected, but not in time for me to join our group sessions.
 * Journal entry: Tuesday, Dec. 4th**

On Sunday at our congregation, I was talking to a few people about the cyber prayer group. They were surprised that it was "live" or "real time."

I have missed cyber prayer time both Monday and Tuesday....and I miss it!

This week has been a scramble, it is the last week of classes at Concordia. Next week is final exams with graduation on the 15th. However, I made it home in time for my cyber prayer group tonight. One of our leaders is having internet problems, but there were three there that I knew and several new people joined us along the way. The big surprise was when one of our new arrivals said, "Hi from Malaysia." Wow! One of our leaders had told me that they had someone joined in the daytime prayer section from an overseas location, but that was a first for me....as for as I know. I don't always know where people are from.
 * Journal entry: Wednesday, Dec. 5th**

A couple of the newcomers participated during prayers and remarked during the fellowship time that they were glad that they had come. It will be interesting to see how this group continues to development.

Two comments with respect to recent cyber prayer experiences: (1) Really nice online chat conversation with one of my cyber prayer friends after prayer time one evening. (2) An interesting experience related to authenticity online: When a new person enters the chat room during our prayer time, we are welcoming and inclusive. We use their screen name, often dropping numerical suffixes, to praise God that they joined us and include them in other petitions as seems appropriate. When we get to our fellowship time they often share their "real" first name ... even though we do not ask them to do that. It was most obviously recently when a person had a screen name that was a common first name with a numerical suffix, something like Karen92. During prayers, we welcomed her as Karen and prayed several petitions referencing her. During fellowship time, she told us "I am Julie." She apparently felt a need to be authentic with us in comparison to the need that she felt to be protected or hidden by a fake screen name when she signed into the OurPrayer site.
 * Journal entry: Friday, Dec. 7th**

This really struck me, even more significantly than the situation where a "made-up" screen name is used, perhaps like RedFlower47. We welcome "red" but it doesn't seem that surprising when they share their name. So it could be that the prayer community is one in which people prefer their real names....Does that help us form "real" community?

Our prayer times continue to be a blend of "regulars" and newcomers. I now have three or four cyber prayer friends that I think about often, at random times during my day...and pray for them! I know some of their ongoing challenges and prayer concerns, so my prayers for them are not restricted to the times that we are together in the chat room. Even some that join us only occasionally come to my mind often. Perhaps they shared a concern for a high risk pregnancy, or an elderly parent in a nursing home. I find myself hoping that they will "show up" for prayer time so that I can tell them that I've been thinking of them and praying for them. Some of these prayer connections have spread to my husband, too. He'll ask me, "Was RedFlower on tonight?" Without ever signing onto the website, my husband is connected to our prayer community.
 * Journal entry: Thursday, Dec. 13th**

I'm thankful the opportunities that I have had, through journaling, discussions, and a synchronous presentation, to be connected with each of you this semester.

Christmas Blessings, Jeanette