http://glennfrazier.com/ The personal musings of the Rev. Glenn "Mac" Frazier, New Christian (Swedenborgian), American, husband, father, entrepreneur, preacher and all-around know-it-all. All opinions and errors are his and his alone. en Copyright (c) 2001-2006 Glenn M. Frazier. All Rights Reserved. Tue, 10 Jul 2007 09:00:55 -0500 http://www.sixapart.com/movabletype/ http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss Copyright (c) 2001-2006 Glenn M. Frazier. All Rights Reserved.glenn,mac,mckinley,frazier,,tempblog,,glennfrazier,com,,mac,thefraziers,org,,warblogger,,conservative,,swedenborgian,,american,,philosophy,,news,,commentary,,reviewReligion & SpiritualityNews & PoliticsArtsSociety & Culture/PhilosophySociety & Culture/Personal Journalsmac.frazier@gmail.comGlenn "Mac" FrazierGlenn "Mac" Fraziernoglenn,mac,mckinley,frazier,,tempblog,,glennfrazier,com,,mac,thefraziers,org,,warblogger,,conservative,,swedenborgian,,american,,philosophy,,news,,commentary,,reviewThis podcast is whack. And I don't mean that in a good way. Stay tuned, though, as I get it working. Then expect all kinds of bloggy, podcasty, videoy, straight from the preacher's PDA/Phone goodness...This podcast is whack. And I don't mean that in a good way. Stay tuned, though, as I get it working. Then expect all kinds of bloggy, podcasty, videoy, straight from the preacher's PDA/Phone goodness...40.424336-79.887255This is an XML content feed. It is intended to be viewed in a newsreader or syndicated to another site, subject to copyright and fair use. http://glennfrazier.com/articles/2007/07/introduction.php http://glennfrazier.com/articles/2007/07/introduction.php Church and the Long Tail big idea church long tail pastors religion web 2.0 Tue, 10 Jul 2007 09:00:55 -0500 mac.frazier@gmail.com (Glenn "Mac" Frazier)noWow, this took a long time to get to, didn't it? Sorry about the delay, folks, but June was an extremely busy month as it turned out. Anyway, this hopefully means that plenty of people have managed to pick up The Long Tail and start reading. Don't know whGlenn "Mac" FrazierWow, this took a long time to get to, didn't it? Sorry about the delay, folks, but June was an extremely busy month as it turned out. Anyway, this hopefully means that plenty of people have managed to pick up The Long Tail and start reading. Don't know what I'm talking about? Go check out my earlier post/podcast on this subject for all the details. In essence, I'm podcasting and blogging through this fascinating book, looking for insights relevant to the life and future of the church, both generally the Christian church and also as it specifically applies to New Christianity (Swedenborgianism). Anyway, welcome to the first real installment: "The Introduction". First, for those who don't (yet) have this fantastic book, here's a quick synopsis of what you missed from the Introduction: SYNOPSIS Chris Anderson, editor in chief for Wired magazine and author of this book, opens up by noting how as a society we are obsessed with tracking "hits". Best-seller lists, music charts, movie box-office figures, television ratings, and all that. He then notes that hits are becoming harder to achieve, and that fewer people are watching the "best" shows and buying the "best" albums. A major cause of this decline of the economic popularity of "hits" is the Internet. Anderson contrasts his own teen years with that of an adolescent of the early 21st century. Today's teen uses TiVo, iTunes, Web comics, Slashdot, Fark, BitTorrent and instant messaging to enjoy a huge host of niche versions of standard media in a way that caters to his very particular tastes, and all in a manner that is independent of schedule and location. This is a big jump from those of us that sat in front of the TV in the living room for Gilligan's Island and whose parents learned about the world from the city newspaper and the nightly network newscast. Back in the day, most information, media and entertainment consumption was done by means of a small number of "big buckets". This was an economic necessity in the era of broadcast media that dominated the 20th century. Today, though, the idea of one-size-fits-all media marketplaces is ending. As Anderson puts it, what we once thought of as "the mainstream" is "shattering...into a zillion different cultural shards". Traditional media companies don't like this. New technologies that allow information consumers to pick from scads of "little buckets" are resulting in a decline in the economic power of "hits". Bottom line: more and more money is flowing to a larger number of "non-hits" and away from the small number of big bucket "hits". The category of "non hits" has of course always been bigger than the category of hits. Only a select few movies can be blockbusters; only a handful of books make the best-seller lists. These non-hits may have audiences in the millions, but put into the larger context of the overall human population, they don't make even a blip on the radar. And yet, that is where people are increasingly turning. This doesn't mean the mass market is going away, to be replaced wholly with millions of niches; it's just that the balance is shifting. This synopsis is running long, but it's important to get this idea clear in everyone's heads up front. Future synopses will be briefer. Anyway, Anderson says "This book began with a quiz I got wrong." Want to take the quiz yourself? There is a company called Ecast that places digital jukeboxes in public places (bars, restaurants, etc.) which through a broadband connection to the Internet are able to offer a huge selection of music to paying customers. Here's the question: "What percentage of the 10,000 albums available on the jukboxes sold at least one track per quarter?" Heard of the 80/20 rule? Well, Anderson used it as a starting point, and then guessed, somewhat outrageously, that 5,000 of the 10,000 available albums sold at least one track every three months. And he was wrong. The answer? 98 percent! It turns out that the combined market for niche music is, as Anderson puglenn,mac,mckinley,frazier,,tempblog,,glennfrazier,com,,mac,thefraziers,org,,warblogger,,conservative,,swedenborgian,,american,,philosophy,,news,,commentary,,reviewWow, this took a long time to get to, didn't it? Sorry about the delay, folks, but June was an extremely busy month as it turned out. Anyway, this hopefully means that plenty of people have managed...<br/> <br/> [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]] http://glennfrazier.com/articles/2007/07/the_counterclockwise_power_meter.php http://glennfrazier.com/articles/2007/07/the_counterclockwise_power_meter.php Philosophy Tue, 10 Jul 2007 08:09:16 -0500 mac.frazier@gmail.com (Glenn "Mac" Frazier)I am not an environmentalist&mdash;too many kooks, "true believers", charlatans and fascists inhabit that space. However, I am a conservationist; conserving natural resources makes good economic...<br/> <br/> [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]] http://glennfrazier.com/articles/2007/07/new_health_program.php http://glennfrazier.com/articles/2007/07/new_health_program.php Miscellaneous Mon, 09 Jul 2007 23:59:11 -0500 mac.frazier@gmail.com (Glenn "Mac" Frazier)Tomorrow morning I am "officially" starting my new health regimen. Now, technically speaking, I've been "sneaking up on it" for some time, adopting piecemeal various components. But tomorrow is my...<br/> <br/> [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]] http://glennfrazier.com/articles/2007/07/communicating_for_a_change.php http://glennfrazier.com/articles/2007/07/communicating_for_a_change.php Philosophy Mon, 09 Jul 2007 11:12:25 -0500 mac.frazier@gmail.com (Glenn "Mac" Frazier)New sermon up at TheoBlog.com: "Make Spiritual Victory a Habit". It is the first sermon I've done that fully follows the Communicating for a Change model of "ME-WE-GOD-YOU-WE", in that for the first...<br/> <br/> [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]] http://glennfrazier.com/articles/2007/07/refinery_inc_sold.php http://glennfrazier.com/articles/2007/07/refinery_inc_sold.php Features Miscellaneous Thu, 05 Jul 2007 13:40:26 -0500 mac.frazier@gmail.com (Glenn "Mac" Frazier)Friends and longtime readers know that I co-founded a strategic web design and development company, Refinery (ne Image Refinery Productions) a dozen years ago, that I was an executive there until my...<br/> <br/> [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]] http://glennfrazier.com/articles/2007/06/long_tail_coming_soon.php http://glennfrazier.com/articles/2007/06/long_tail_coming_soon.php Church and the Long Tail Sat, 23 Jun 2007 16:32:34 -0500 mac.frazier@gmail.com (Glenn "Mac" Frazier)Sorry about the delay, folks. I've been running around like a madman these past two weeks, and Friday and today were especially crazy. It looks, now, like the first formal installment of the Church...<br/> <br/> [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]] http://glennfrazier.com/articles/2007/06/my_life_as_a_car.php http://glennfrazier.com/articles/2007/06/my_life_as_a_car.php Housekeeping Wed, 20 Jun 2007 23:05:45 -0500 mac.frazier@gmail.com (Glenn "Mac" Frazier)I'm on the road, again. Two weekends ago was a little break from travel. Last Friday I spent the night (with wife and kids) in nowhere, West Virginia. Then Saturday and Sunday we stayed in Charlotte,...<br/> <br/> [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]] http://glennfrazier.com/articles/2007/06/young_church_adults_in_michigan.php http://glennfrazier.com/articles/2007/06/young_church_adults_in_michigan.php Miscellaneous religion travel twenty-somethings Mon, 04 Jun 2007 19:38:17 -0500 mac.frazier@gmail.com (Glenn "Mac" Frazier)Wow, am I tired. I just got back from a four day retreat up in Michigan, on the lake about an hour south of Grand Rapids. I was there with over a dozen men and women in their twenties and thirties...<br/> <br/> [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]] http://glennfrazier.com/articles/2007/05/the_long_tail_and_the_church.php http://glennfrazier.com/articles/2007/05/the_long_tail_and_the_church.php Church and the Long Tail Features big idea church growth long tail podcast Tue, 29 May 2007 10:24:07 -0500 mac.frazier@gmail.com (Glenn "Mac" Frazier)noAs I mentioned yesterday, I've been reading The Long Tail and thinking about its implications for the church. Between going to bed and falling asleep, I decided to do a blog series on just that. So what I'm going to do is blog through the book, chapter byGlenn "Mac" FrazierAs I mentioned yesterday, I've been reading The Long Tail and thinking about its implications for the church. Between going to bed and falling asleep, I decided to do a blog series on just that. So what I'm going to do is blog through the book, chapter by chapter. I'll be posting a very short synopsis of each chapter, accompanied by my thoughts and reactions and questions and musings. In general, I'm looking to find answers&mdash;or at least have conversations around&mdash;the following questions: What implications does the Long Tail phenomenon have for religion and spirituality in general? What lessons can the individual church congregation take from all this? What about whole denominations? Entire religions? What can an individual do to take advantage of the lessons learned here on behalf of their church? What are the special implications for new/unusual/niche expressions of faith, such as New (Swedenborgian) Christianity? What does this all imply with regard to online ministry? How can we benefit as content providers? As content aggregators? As information "consumers"? How do we fit our new understanding of Long Tail distributions into the concept of Divine Providence? I'm posting this now, but my plan is to wait a bit before putting up the first chapter post. I'd like to invite you to get a copy of the book to read or listen to so you can follow along and participate. Even if you aren't reading the book along with us, though, feel free to participate in the conversation, whether by posting comments here or writing in your own blog or emailing me privately or whatever. I'm not doing this because I'm an expert in the topic, but because I want to tap other people's perspectives on this new and exciting way of looking at how people trade value and information with one another. If you missed yesterday's post, go back and scroll to the bottom for a list of resources that will help you learn more about this book, where to get it, where it came from, and what it says. UPDATE: I have decided to also offer this series as a podcast. I'm also hoping to include interviews with various knowledgeable people, but we'll see. Click here to hear this post's audio, and click here to subscribe to the special Church and the Long Tail podcast. glenn,mac,mckinley,frazier,,tempblog,,glennfrazier,com,,mac,thefraziers,org,,warblogger,,conservative,,swedenborgian,,american,,philosophy,,news,,commentary,,reviewAs I mentioned yesterday, I've been reading The Long Tail and thinking about its implications for the church. Between going to bed and falling asleep, I decided to do a blog series on just that. So...<br/> <br/> [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]] http://glennfrazier.com/articles/2007/05/my_two_new_brothers.php http://glennfrazier.com/articles/2007/05/my_two_new_brothers.php Church and the Long Tail Features Philosophy Review Mon, 28 May 2007 19:38:17 -0500 mac.frazier@gmail.com (Glenn "Mac" Frazier)Well, I just got back in town (Pittsburgh) after spending the weekend out east (Philadelphia). I&mdash;along with wife and all four kids&mdash;drove out to Bryn Athyn, PA to witness two good friends...<br/> <br/> [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]] http://glennfrazier.com/articles/2007/05/back_in_the_bladdle_again.php http://glennfrazier.com/articles/2007/05/back_in_the_bladdle_again.php Features Housekeeping Thu, 24 May 2007 12:02:19 -0500 mac.frazier@gmail.com (Glenn "Mac" Frazier)Er...do blogs have saddles? Anyway, I've decided to get back into personal blogging again. For awhile, the only blogging I've done has been sermons and sermon summaries, with an occasional...<br/> <br/> [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]] http://glennfrazier.com/articles/2007/01/still_here.php http://glennfrazier.com/articles/2007/01/still_here.php Housekeeping Wed, 17 Jan 2007 11:17:35 -0500 mac.frazier@gmail.com (Glenn "Mac" Frazier)Someone noted I hadn't posted since December. Am I still alive? Yep. Just busy. I've got mucho travel this month and next, plus several projects starting up all at the same time. So the free ice...<br/> <br/> [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]] http://glennfrazier.com/articles/2006/12/apocalypto_academico_1.php http://glennfrazier.com/articles/2006/12/apocalypto_academico_1.php Review Mon, 11 Dec 2006 17:17:32 -0500 mac.frazier@gmail.com (Glenn "Mac" Frazier)I'm a language geek, so for a long time now I've been looking forward to Mel Gibson's Apocalypto, just because of his quirky idea of doing the whole thing in a language practically nobody on earth...<br/> <br/> [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]] http://glennfrazier.com/articles/2006/11/goodbye_vlog_hello_glennfraziercom.php http://glennfrazier.com/articles/2006/11/goodbye_vlog_hello_glennfraziercom.php Mac.theFraziers.org/Dev Tue, 28 Nov 2006 12:54:00 -0500 mac.frazier@gmail.com (Glenn "Mac" Frazier)Okay, inspired by my transferring of the archives from my astronomy blog (ylog.blogspot.com) over to my main site (GlennFrazier.com), I've decided to also import all my Dev Log (VLog) archives over...<br/> <br/> [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]] http://glennfrazier.com/articles/2006/11/goodbye_ylog_hello_glennfraziercom.php http://glennfrazier.com/articles/2006/11/goodbye_ylog_hello_glennfraziercom.php YLog.blogspot.com Tue, 28 Nov 2006 12:19:00 -0500 mac.frazier@gmail.com (Glenn "Mac" Frazier)I recently received an email from someone who noticed that it's been years since I posted to Mac's [Astronom-] YLog hear at ylog.blogspot.com. They asked if I would be willing to give up the URL. I...<br/> <br/> [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]] Glenn "Mac" Fraziernonadult