Blogs Benedict?
Several weeks ago I wrote that the late Pope John Paul II helped usher the Catholic Church into the information age with daily homilies delivered to people's wireless devices as well as other interesting innovations, not to mention a deep and inclusive Vatican Web site.
Now that Cardinal John Ratzinger has been dubbed Pope Benedict XVI, at least one wag thinks that even more digital means of communication are around for the taking. Writing in a campus publication at the University of Minnesota, Bobak Ha'eri suggests that the Holy See get even more cyber-savvy than it is already.
| ___About Random Access___ Random Access is a daily column by Robert MacMillan that explores the latest trends in technology and how they are changing daily life. Random Access won't tell you why a new gizmo will revolutionize your ad server. It will tell you about episodes from daily life -- exasperated waiters who use blogs to vent about their customers, whole runs of salmon injected with nanoparticles for individual tracking in Norwegian fjords and the growing number of DJs who are sick of being sidelined in favor of iPods. (Only one of these stories is fake.) Most of what you see will be culled from news sources and blogs from around the world, though we will supplement Random Access with original files on the novel, unusual, bizarre and reactionary happenings in the world of technology and society. E-mail: Send links and comments. | | |
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" I propose weekly online chats with the pope, in which believers and the curious can pitch questions and hope for answers. But I realize a sane person wouldn't want to moderate such a project -- just imagine all the translation and filtering!" Ha'eri writes in his piece, titled "Suggestions for Pope Benedict XVI." More from Ha'eri: "Of course, the pope could also start a blog. I'm sure pontiffs come up with all sorts of interesting ideas during the day and never get a chance to write them down. Having some sort of papal LiveJournal would be a great way of letting us know more about who he is by posting random thoughts, poetry, jokes and whatever news articles he found interesting. Nothing appeals to youth more than image, and I think the pope could really swing his image in his favor."
There's no telling how serious Ha'eri is; after all, he also mentions a reality TV program with the possible title, "A Papal Life." As for the blogging idea, two words -- Why not?
Readers: What are some other ways that the Vatican can take advantage of the Internet to preserve -- and modernize -- the Church? What about other world religions? Write me.
Meanwhile, there is no shortage of information on the new pope at washingtonpost.com and many other sites. But here is one unique item I located this morning: Barbara McMahon of the London-based Guardian newspaper provides a roundup of commentary from Italian media on the new pontiff. Here is one item that struck me as interesting: " Massimo Gramellini... believes Benedict XVI will not appeal to the younger generation as his predecessor did. 'Today's young people have an attention span only as long as an SMS or a TV advert,' he adds, saying a pope who reads books and listens to the radio will not understand how to deal with a worldwide audience in today's media-hungry society."
Messaging on the Masai
Kenyan telecommunications company OneWorld International is offering a mobile phone text-messaging service that advertises jobs and allows users to apply through their phones, regardless of whether they're in Nairobi or deep in the bush. "It's relatively easy. All you need is access to a mobile phone with a Safaricom connection,'' Antony Mwaniki, OneWorld International's business manager, told Reuters. Each message costs 3 Kenya shillings, equivalent to 4 cents. Connecting to the Internet through the service would cost at least 10 shillings, or about 13 cents, plus an extra shilling per minute. There are approximately 3 million cell phone users in Kenya, according to the country's Communications Commission. The country's entire population is 30 million.
And speaking of cell phones, lawmakers in Washington state approved a bill that would forbid cell phone companies from publishing customers' phone numbers in a directory without their specific consent, the Seattle Times reported.
Send links and comments to robertDOTmacmillanATwashingtonpost.com.
