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    online discussion boards and forums
erin dunigan
I was talking with a youth pastor friend of mine the other day about the popular website, MySpace. He had just set up an account for the church. “The thing is, all of our youth group students are on it. And you know what? They are talking to each other, hanging out—they are on it every day. That’s why I like it, because it gives them a forum. ”
Speaking of forums…this month we’re looking at the second part of our discussion on forums (or discussion forums, but “our discussion on discussion forums” seemed a bit cumbersome). MySpace is, hands down, the fastest growing site for such interaction so if you haven’t checked it out, you probably should. But, and this is not an incidental but, the problem with a site like MySpace is that it is not necessarily a controlled or controllable environment. Basically, anything goes. Which brings us to the focus of this month’s article. There are really three things to keep in mind as you consider forums—a trinity, if you will—platform, configuration and administration. Before you decide that your study of the holiness codes in Leviticus is more exciting, allow me to explain a little bit further.
First, platform. The main question here is do you want to set up your own forums or go with some sort of third party resource, such as MySpace? We’ve already looked at one of the main disadvantages of a third party—lack of control. On the flip side, you don’t really have to do much to set things up, so in terms of your own effort, going with a third party is a lot easier. (In fact, if your answer is that you want to go with a third party you don’t really even need to think about the second and third pieces. Your job is just to figure out which third party option to go with.) You’ll have to decide which is more important.
If you do decide that you want to create and host your own forums the next question is, do you have a place to put them? Basically, does your website support using forums? Some do, some don’t. And even if your hosting provider does support forums, then you will have to install a forum application on your server. With various scripting languages and database options, this can often be a daunting task for the uninitiated. Here at SnapShot Web we have a Forum module that you can set up and use on your site that is a built in part of the website.
The second issue is configuration. Again, this is assuming that you are going with your own solution, rather than outsourcing through a third party. Among the configuration questions that you will need to consider are: Will you allow just anyone to contribute to your forums, or will you require a log-in? Will you allow just anyone to read the posts on your forums, or will you require a log-in to even access them at all? How will you arrange the forum topics? (Helpful hint: Setting up good topics is key in getting students to actually use the forums. So, for instance, if your topics are The Problem of Evil, Theological Doctrines of the 13th Century, and An Extensive Excursus on Exegesis you probably won’t get as much traffic to your site as you might want…unless, of course, you have a very unique group of students!) This month’s newsletter is all about small groups—maybe you want to arrange the forum topics around small group study questions. Maybe the groups can be ‘talking’ during the week so that when they come together for a meeting, there is already that much connection and discussion going on.
Finally, the third item is administration. Forums don’t just run themselves, or at least good forums don’t. Once you have your forums set up and configured the last piece is to decide how you will administer them. Who will moderate the forums? A moderator is simply someone who makes sure people are playing by the rules, not being ‘inappropriate’ and who also may be involved in stirring up discussion or moving it forward. Again, on the small group topic, maybe each of your small group leaders could be in charge of moderating a particular forum topic, or their small group’s forum. Probably, you as the youth pastor don’t want to be sitting at the computer for hours each day moderating your forums (though if you have that much discussion going on that it would take hours to read, good for you!) but likely you do want to be involved in the forums. If your students know that using the discussion forums can be another way to interact with you and each other they will be drawn toward them and you will be providing another way for them to interact, get to know each other and be formed and transformed in their faith as part of a community. When it all comes down to it, at the end of the day, it’s not really about the technology. It’s about the relationship, and forums are just another tool at your disposal for creating connection and fostering community.
http://www.simplyyouthministry.com/community-articles-from-the-field.html
erin dunigan
I was talking with a youth pastor friend of mine the other day about the popular website, MySpace. He had just set up an account for the church. “The thing is, all of our youth group students are on it. And you know what? They are talking to each other, hanging out—they are on it every day. That’s why I like it, because it gives them a forum. ”
Speaking of forums…this month we’re looking at the second part of our discussion on forums (or discussion forums, but “our discussion on discussion forums” seemed a bit cumbersome). MySpace is, hands down, the fastest growing site for such interaction so if you haven’t checked it out, you probably should. But, and this is not an incidental but, the problem with a site like MySpace is that it is not necessarily a controlled or controllable environment. Basically, anything goes. Which brings us to the focus of this month’s article. There are really three things to keep in mind as you consider forums—a trinity, if you will—platform, configuration and administration. Before you decide that your study of the holiness codes in Leviticus is more exciting, allow me to explain a little bit further.
First, platform. The main question here is do you want to set up your own forums or go with some sort of third party resource, such as MySpace? We’ve already looked at one of the main disadvantages of a third party—lack of control. On the flip side, you don’t really have to do much to set things up, so in terms of your own effort, going with a third party is a lot easier. (In fact, if your answer is that you want to go with a third party you don’t really even need to think about the second and third pieces. Your job is just to figure out which third party option to go with.) You’ll have to decide which is more important.
If you do decide that you want to create and host your own forums the next question is, do you have a place to put them? Basically, does your website support using forums? Some do, some don’t. And even if your hosting provider does support forums, then you will have to install a forum application on your server. With various scripting languages and database options, this can often be a daunting task for the uninitiated. Here at SnapShot Web we have a Forum module that you can set up and use on your site that is a built in part of the website.
The second issue is configuration. Again, this is assuming that you are going with your own solution, rather than outsourcing through a third party. Among the configuration questions that you will need to consider are: Will you allow just anyone to contribute to your forums, or will you require a log-in? Will you allow just anyone to read the posts on your forums, or will you require a log-in to even access them at all? How will you arrange the forum topics? (Helpful hint: Setting up good topics is key in getting students to actually use the forums. So, for instance, if your topics are The Problem of Evil, Theological Doctrines of the 13th Century, and An Extensive Excursus on Exegesis you probably won’t get as much traffic to your site as you might want…unless, of course, you have a very unique group of students!) This month’s newsletter is all about small groups—maybe you want to arrange the forum topics around small group study questions. Maybe the groups can be ‘talking’ during the week so that when they come together for a meeting, there is already that much connection and discussion going on.
Finally, the third item is administration. Forums don’t just run themselves, or at least good forums don’t. Once you have your forums set up and configured the last piece is to decide how you will administer them. Who will moderate the forums? A moderator is simply someone who makes sure people are playing by the rules, not being ‘inappropriate’ and who also may be involved in stirring up discussion or moving it forward. Again, on the small group topic, maybe each of your small group leaders could be in charge of moderating a particular forum topic, or their small group’s forum. Probably, you as the youth pastor don’t want to be sitting at the computer for hours each day moderating your forums (though if you have that much discussion going on that it would take hours to read, good for you!) but likely you do want to be involved in the forums. If your students know that using the discussion forums can be another way to interact with you and each other they will be drawn toward them and you will be providing another way for them to interact, get to know each other and be formed and transformed in their faith as part of a community. When it all comes down to it, at the end of the day, it’s not really about the technology. It’s about the relationship, and forums are just another tool at your disposal for creating connection and fostering community. |
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