It's a new (open) world coming...

This was a day to show me the new extremes in the world of communication, or at least the world that is Walker County.

On the one hand, I've been hearing some people in the Walker County community complaining about something on Facebook. Since it is a closed community intended for friends you let in yourselves, I won't reveal the exact discussion, but it has been raging all day. It is the sign of how people can be disgusted when traditional media does not fulfill its role in the community, and the new media can take over.

Meanwhile, I am going again to tonight to the ComeUnity community that Jim Odom of Berean Christian Bookstore began last week in Jasper. (The meetings are at his home at Thursdays at 7 p.m.) Essentially it is a Bible study but also a means for people of Christian faith to come together and support each other, with a more open mind of allowing a new generation of Christians who don't fit into the traditional Walker County mold. (In other words, someone with an iPod and tattoos can sit next to a clean-cut conservative.) Jim did a fantastic job last week of launching this and proving he is maturing as a Christian leader. Part of his genius is for new technology, and he was able to use Facebook -- same site as the angry people used -- to network and bring Christians together in Christ's work.

For that matter, I recently went on Facebook at the suggestion of James Phillips, as I recall. I now have about 100 friends, some of whom I had been out of touch with and hadn't seen in years. Some of them gave me much relief they were OK. Moreover, I've actually used it to quickly contact people on work-related business. It is not surprising that I am told more kids today use a Facebook or MySpace e-mail for most of their e-mailing than traditional e-mail. (Did you ever think we would get this old this quickly to have to explain something as "traditional" e-mail, as if we ever thought there would be any other e-mail but e-mail?)

Meanwhile, I waded into radio today. Yesterday I bought a new Olympus WS-321M digital voice recorder at Radio Shack which is slimmer than my last one but holds more than 30 hours of recordings. More importantly, the battery compartment separates out and the top park has a USB terminal that plugs into a computer. That way, you can download the recording for saving on a CD (or Heaven knows what else). In my case, it can be saved on a computer at WJLX-AM (1240 on the dial) where an interview can later be played back on my new hour-long show that begins Monday at 2 p.m. (Nice way to ease into a shameless plug, huh?)

Since the Alabama Legislature will be in session Tuesday, I today (Thursday, Jan. 29) interviewed state Rep. Tommy Sherer, D-Jasper, in the studio. (By the way, I tried repeatedly to get state Sen. Charles Bishop and state Rep. Ken Guin, but was unsuccessful. The invitation is still open for later.) We couldn't use the station's equipment in the process at that moment, and we wanted to test out the recorder anyway, so Tommy and I went into a production room and did the interview using the recorder. Station manager Brett Elmore then took the recorder and in minutes downloaded the material, saying the recordings were fine.

I had thought at one time I would be using some bulky 1970s-era recording equipment, towing it all around town like a suitcase. As it turns out, I can carry it in my pocket. The only addition to it is a $10 microphone from Wal-Mart, and that will not be used all the time.

What strikes me in comparison to newspaper work, where I used a recorder for taping and transcribing interviews, is that many times not all the material would be used. Some of the best stories, one-liners or points would be cut from a story. Sometimes the nuances could not fully be explained or come through. Sometimes the speaker would not get his point across.

On a show like we are planning, it is not the breakneck speed of a "Today Show" interview. Sherer had time to elaborate and make points, as well as explain positions (such as what happened with the bingo bills during the last session, when he was roundly criticized by others).

Even if we did not have radio, think about it: Digital interviews like this can also be downloaded to blogs and Web sites. I noticed Gov. Bob Riley got on board with that, as he originally posted his news about the new bingo task force with a traditional press release on his Web site. A day or so later, he updated it to included video excerpts from the press conference announcing the creation of the task force.

For that matter, when my friend, Jeff Yastine, gets to fill in for the Miami anchor of "Nightly Business Report" at PBS, I can go to his Web site at a video archive and watch the whole 30-minute program, hours or days later. Needless to say, we are discussing at WJLX on how we can do much of the same thing, as they are already trying live streams and some attempts at presenting shows aired earlier in the day.

It is a process that can be applied to almost anything. My good friend, Gresham Hill of the Reach Your City ministries (http://www.reachyourcity.com/)recently posted an online article where he talked about how churches need to get beyond the idea of only posting up a static Web site. Now, he says youth ministers and other church officials need to think about constantly blogging to reach the members of their church and those who are unsaved in their community. That article made me think, and it may lead me to tinker some more with this blog. (The story can be found at http://www.preaching.com/resources/preaching_ online/11598587/#.)

Is it any wonder that newspapers are in trouble, when a new generation is now actively networking, blogging, web casting and doing things we could not dream of to get around traditional media? In effect, that generation banded together to elect a president. There is no telling what else it will be able to do in the future.

I only hope I can catch up with it in time to understand the next e-mail system.