Mobile View

This week on WELSTech Martin and Sallie commemorate their 100th podcast with tech-in-ministry success stories from the listeners.

Listen now or download Episode 100 (45:11)

The discussion:

WELSTech and YOU! - The 100th WELSTech podcast anniversary is dedicated to the success stories WELSTech listeners have experienced using technology in their personal and public ministry.  Join Martin and Sallie as they share stories of audio and video editing, social networking, personal time management, Bible study, RSS reading, blogging, and more.

• Listen to find out the winner of an official WELSTech Sigg Water Bottle

Coming up on WELSTech:

(39:50) Pastor Aaron Frey shares the latest news from Logos (Release date 10/14/09)

The featured artist:

(41:18) We close with music of WELS praise band Koine (www.koinemusic.com) - Jerusalem the Golden from their CD titled “Koine II”

Get involved:

• Add a comment below
• Send us an e-mail welstech@wels.net 
• Leave us a voice mail 414-375-2334
• Add to the WELSTech wiki welstechwiki.wels.net 
• Contribute to the #WELSTech Twitter conversation
• Follow us on Twitter - mspriggs and welstechtrainer 
• Use the del.icio.us tag welstech 
• Join the WELSTech community:
  • WELSTech listserve
  • WELSTech on facebook
       

This week the tech talk on the WELSTech podcast centers around group collaboration, the world of the independent Christian artist, and a geeky kitchen dream come true.

Listen now or download Episode 067 (1:10:47)

The discussion:

Group Effort Web 2.0 Style - Martin and Sallie revisit Clay Shirky’s book Here Comes Everybody and focus on chapter 5, “Personal Motivation Meets Collaborative Production”, as they explore the power of one of the core Web 2.0 tools, the wiki.  Listen for ideas on how you can use a wiki in your congregation or school.

• Wikis in Plain English by CommonCraft
• Episode 034 focused on wiki tools
• Sample church ladies organization wiki – hosanna.wetpaint.com

The interview:

Independent Christian Artist (18:22) – WELS musician Mike Westendorf joins Martin and Sallie to talk about getitng started in the music business, the recent CIA Summit for independent Christian artist and the role technology plays in music today.

• www.mikewestendorf.com

The tidbits:

New technology showcase (38:30)

• The “new” Friend Feed – beta.friendfeed.com
     

Picks of the week (42:25)

• World Wide Web in Plain English from CommonCraft with subtitles from dotSub.com
• Windows Live Writer blogging client – writer.live.com
     

Contest – Top 5 Desert Island Software Picks (47:47)

• Send us the five software titles you wouldn’t want to live without – free or fee, desktop or Web 2.0, anything goes
• Get us your list via your favorite WELSTech communication channel – e-mail us, leave us a voice mail (414-375-2334), send us a message on facebook or twitter – just get us your top 5 picks!
• One random entry will receive a $25 gift certificate to the WELSTech store (cafepress.com/welstech)
• Deadline for entry is Sunday April 26, 2009 @ 11:59 p.m.
• Listen to WELSTech Episode 069 on April 29th to find out if you are the winner and to experience a virtual desert island of software picks
     

Community feedback (49:17)

• Check out the WELSTech listserve archive for a balanced discussion of fee vs. open-source software for school computer usage
• David Schumann from Peace in Janesville, WI shared his success with recycling old hardware with Linux
• The #WELSTech Twitter conversation this week included
  • Sallie’s under-the-counter geek kitchen computer dream came true this week and she’s posted a flickr set of images of the project
  • Jason Schmidt from Gethsemane in Omaha, NE shared a links to tweetdeck.com to organize your twitter feed and prezi.com for zoomy online presentations
• John Simonson from Good Shepherd in West Bend, WI suggested incorporating a call to action link on church sites – “Why join?” or “Why attend?”
• Dan Schoeffel from St. Paul’s in Onalaska, WI shared a link to their Drupal members only site – members.stpaulsonalaska.org
  • We discussed Drupal in a episode 047 and have a page on the WELSTech wiki dedicated to Drupal
  • Take a sneak peek at the new Drupal-based WELS.net – beta.wels.net
• David Savatski from WELS Missions added a presentation tips section to the WELSTech wiki
• Greg Letiecq shared a “He Is Risen” video clip. Find it on the WELSTech wiki, posted using drop.io/welstech.
       

Coming up on WELSTech (1:04:32)

• Episode 068 - It’s time to make plans for a summer of learning.  Gail Potratz will join us to discuss a multitude of opportunities for personal enrichment.  And we’ll wrap up our interview with Mike Westendorf.

The featured artist:

This week we close with WELS artist Mike Westendorf (www.mikewestendorf.com) - Prelude to Praise from his newest CD titled Color Through the Gray (1:06:20)

Get involved:

• Add a comment below
• Send us an e-mail welstech@wels.net
• Leave us a voice mail 414-375-2334
• Add to the WELSTech wiki welstechwiki.wels.net
• Contribute to the #WELSTech Twitter conversation
• Follow us on Twitter - mspriggs and welstechtrainer
• Use the del.icio.us tag welstech
• Join the WELSTech community:
  • WELSTech listserve
  • WELSTech on facebook

This week the WELSTech podcast goes global as Martin and Sallie discuss internet evangelism and chat with Dr. John Lawrenz from Asia Lutheran Seminary.

Listen now or download Episode 066 (1:17:37)

The discussion:

• Internet Evangelism - Playing a WELSTech version of alphabet soup, Martin and Sallie share digital evangelism tips for your church web site in the form of five “W’s” (who, what, when, where and why) and “D’s” or “Do’s” for consideration.
  • InternetEvangelismDay.com
  • Sallie’s 5 W’s links
  • Listen to our interview with John Simonson on search
  • Google Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
  • Online worship on the WELSTech wiki – Add your congregation!

The interview:

• Reaching out to billions (24:34) – Spanning the globe to bring you the latest news on technology in ministry, Martin and Sallie talk with Dr. John Lawrenz about the work being done in Hong Kong through Asia Lutheran Seminary and how technology is a blessing to their efforts. Listen also for details on their newest project, the Translation Working Group.

The tidbits:

• New technology showcase (47:55)
  • Yahoo! oneConnect
  • Skype for iPhone
• Picks of the week (52:35)
  • Free audio – www.FreeSound.org
  • Social reading list – www.GoodReads.com
• Contest – Top 5 Desert Island Software Picks
  • Send us the five software titles you wouldn’t want to live without – free or fee, desktop or Web 2.0, anything goes
  • Get us your list via your favorite WELSTech communication channel – e-mail us, leave us a voice mail (414-375-2334), send us a message on facebook or twitter – just get us your top 5 picks!
  • One random entry will receive a $25 gift certificate to the WELSTech store (cafepress.com/welstech)
  • Deadline for entry is Sunday April 26, 2009 @ 11:59 p.m.
  • Listen to WELSTech Episode 069 on April 29th to find out if you are the winner and to experience a virtual desert island of software picks
• Community feedback (1:00:09)
  • Jason Schmidt from Gethsemane in Omaha, NE shared a link to embedit.in which generates embed code for any type of content you want to post on your web site
  • Alyssa Dunning from WELS Web Services shared a link to VisualCV.com where you can create a free online resume
  • Ryan Rosenthal from Faith in Fond du Lac, WI came through with a response to Sallie’s last Pick of the Week – NCShtDwn will shut down computers at whatever time you set
  • The #WELSTech Twitter conversation this week included
    • David Savatski from WELS Missions with a link to blip.tv
    • Jason Schmidt tried out AlertThingy.com
    • Pastor Tim Wagner from Abiding Peace in Elgin, IL recommended the Free Color Picker from Eltima
    • Martin posted about the new wiki copyright page
    • Sallie shared a link to a DIY under-the-counter PC project from LifeHacker- Stay tuned for project updates!
  • John Shoosmith from Redeemer in Yakima, WA offered to encode closed caption videos in Microsoft Silverlight for WELS congregations, free of change.  Contact John through the e-mail options on the Redeemer web site for details.
• Coming up on WELSTech (1:11:21)
  • Episode 067 - We’ll return to Clay Shirky’s book Here Comes Everybody and discuss chapter 5, “Personal Motivation Meets Collaborative Production”.  Also we’ll share part one of our conversation with WELS musicianary Mike Westendorf.

The featured artist:

• This week we close with the WELSTech debut of artist Stephen Bautista (www.stephenbautistamusic.com) - The Man Who Drove The Nail from his CD titled Abandon (1:13:10)

Get involved:

• Add a comment below
• Send us an e-mail welstech@wels.net
• Leave us a voice mail 414-375-2334
• Add to the WELSTech wiki welstechwiki.wels.net
• Contribute to the #WELSTech Twitter conversation
• Follow us on Twitter - mspriggs and welstechtrainer
• Use the del.icio.us tag welstech
• Join the WELSTech community:
  • WELSTech listserve
  • WELSTech on facebook

This week on WELSTech Martin and Sallie are joined by Gail Potratz, our semi-regular classroom technology correspondent, and we discuss digital devices in the classroom and kick off a new WELSTech contest.

Listen now or download Episode 038 (50:13)

The discussion:

• Digital devices in the classroom – Are computer labs necessary in today’s schools?  Martin, Sallie and Gail share ideas for integrating digital devices into the classroom learning process.
  • Interactive whiteboards
    • SMART Board – www.smarttech.com
    • eBeam – www.e-beam.com
    • Mimio boards - www.mimio.com
  • Computers
    • Gail’s 8th grade home page is a launching pad for all of their online classroom resources 
    • Teacher supervised e-mail for students – www.gaggle.net
    • Sample Acceptable Use Policy (AUP)
  • Phone in your comments (414-375-2334) to this question
          
    What digital devices do you use in your classroom or Bible class? 
    • All comments received by October 7, 2008 will be entered in a drawing for a $15 gift certificate to the WELSTech Podcast store - www.cafepress.com/welstech

The tidbits:

• Picks of the week (30:25)
  • Build images for your wiki menu – glogger.mobi
  • NASA Image gallery – www.nasa.gov/multimedia/imagegallery
  • HP 2133 Mini-Note PC
• WELS.net feature (40:37)
  • Sunday School Teacher Training – www.wels.net/jump/wnusstraining
• Community feedback (42:08)
  • Cindy Krueger, member of Shepherd of the Hills in Lansing, MI, shared a link to Michigan Library Consortium’s (the other MLC) list of open source software recommendations
  • Anna, a student at Kettle Moraine Lutheran High School, asked about uses of technology in church – a religion class assignment

The featured artist:

• We close with the music WELS artist Mike Westendorf (www.mikewestendorf.com) - Prelude to Praise from his CD titled Run Boy Run (45:27)

Get involved:

• Add a comment below
• E-mail: welstech@wels.net
• Voice mail: 414-375-2334
• del.icio.us tag: welstech
• Join:
  • WELSTech listserve
  • WELSTech on facebook
• Shop the WELSTech store

This week Martin and Sallie reveal the results of the inaugural WELSTech listener contest. Our listeners shared some great free software tools, and we give a mini-tour of several of the titles submitted. Listen to hear if you are the winner of a 1 GB thumb drive.

Listen now or download Episode 018 (1:04:30)

The discussion:

• Top Free Software Tools Listener Contest – Martin and Sallie explore ten of the user software submissions (6:40) and pick a winner in the listener contest (43:45). Listen to see if you are the winner and contact us at welstech@wels.net to claim your prize!
  • Check out the complete listing of
    Listener’s Free Software Picks

The tidbits:

• This week’s picks (43:45)
  • TED Videos – www.ted.com
    • Johnny Lee’s Wii remote interactive whiteboard
  • Sync Toy 2 Beta
• WELS.net feature (50:45)
  • Fifth Pew from the Front – Video Bible study series
    • www.fifthpew.com
    • Watch on Streams
• Community feedback (53:23)
  • Pastor Stephen Daley from St. John’s in Riga, MI shared information on his many uses of Linux and Open Source software
  • Pastor Tim Wagner from Abiding Peace in Elgin, IL suggested we dedicate a podcast to the technology of MIDI music
  • Dr. Jim Grunwald of Martin Luther College suggested we enhance our show notes with time markers to make the audio content easier to index. Check out the new time stamps in today’s show notes, and let us know what you think.
• Of interest (57:25)
  • Upcoming streamed services from MLC and WLS

The featured artist:

• This week we close with the music of contemporary WELS band Koine (www.koinemusic.com) – Now Rest Beneath Night’s Shadow from their Koine II CD (58:53)

Get involved:

• Add a comment below
• E-mail: welstech@wels.net
• Voice mail: 414-375-2334
• del.icio.us tag: welstech
• Join:
  • WELSTech listserve
  • WELSTech on facebook