by Nancy A. Carter

Globally, 17 million women and 18.8 million men between ages 15 and 49 live with HIV/AIDS. Global Ministries' first web-based networking site was launched to help people affected by HIV/AIDS connect with each other to counter their social isolation. Image by: G. Pirozzi/UMNS Source: New World Outlook

New World Outlook, September/October 2009

Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by doing that some have entertained angels without knowing it. --Hebrews 13:1b-2

When my father urged me to go online in 1991, I said no. Somehow, I knew that "logging in" would change my life. Actually, the internet has dramatically altered all our lives, whether we use it or not. Having worked with online communications for the General Board of Global Ministries for more than 16 years, I am sometimes overwhelmed by the number and pace of changes.

In the early 1990s, while I was still refusing to get involved, Cathie Lyons and Charles Carnahan, executives of the agency's Health and Welfare Ministries, decided to launch a dial-up electronic bulletin board system (BBS) for HIV/AIDS ministries. They hired consultant Tom Madron to help them choose equipment and software that fit their needs and criteria.

When I finally did go online, I did so for relational reasons. After my mother died in 1992, I ordered dial-up service in order to communicate regularly with my father. My first email to him was on his birthday, January 2, 1993.

Soon I discovered "message boards." Tying up my phone line for hours, I participated in electronic discussions about the Bible, theology, and the church. I had expected civil debate, not personal attacks, but I was "flamed" by some Christians who disagreed with me. So when Cathie Lyons invited me to oversee Computerized AIDS Ministries (CAM), I definitely knew what CAM should not be.

Early Online Support Communities

We are simply trying to embody the spirit and belief that people living with HIV disease are of infinite worth in the Creator's eyes, and as people of faith we are called to respond to people who are hurting. (Charles Carnahan, in "Unique AIDS Programs," AIDS Alert, American Health Consultants, Inc., Atlanta, GA, 1993.)

The CAM bulletin board system (CAM BBS) was launched in June 1993. Consistent with criteria that staff established for the free service, CAM offered two 212 (Manhattan) phone lines and two 800 dial-up lines for people who could not afford long distance charges. CAM was also accessible to visually impaired individuals who could use screen readers (computer voice software) to read and write messages.

CAM was run on the principle of Christian hospitality. Our community guidelines included an affirmation from Health and Welfare's "Covenant to Care" program: "If you have HIV/AIDS or are the loved one of a person who has HIV/AIDS, you are welcome here…."

Soon we came to realize that CAM's members were connecting with one another not only through the discussion forums but also through the post office ("snail mail"), telephone, and face-to-face meetings. No wonder a West Coast reporter dubbed CAM the "Electronic Church on the Information Superhighway." As CAM became more like a church community, some of its participants looked on me as their pastor. For example, after a beloved participant died in a car accident, another member of CAM asked me to officiate at the memorial service for her.

Our "CAM-munity," as we called it, became a lifeline for people who were homebound or isolated for various reasons, not only from AIDS. One bed-bound young woman with a rare degenerative disease volunteered to write on CAM daily. Near the end of her short life, she could not even talk on the telephone because a tube was in her throat, but she could dial up and type on a laptop computer that friends had given her.

A number of people with a variety of disabilities joined CAM. I learned later that people who were deaf, deafened, or hard of hearing were early users of electronic communication tools such as email and the World Wide Web. Health and Welfare Ministries launched the Disability Concerns (DISC) forum in late November 1995. Then, as now, Charlotte Shepard managed DISC, which today is an egroup that can be accessed via email and the web. (CAM's egroup closed on December 31, 2008, after 15 ½ years of service.)

The success of CAM and DISC required a considerable commitment of time by staff members, consultants, and members of the communities themselves.

Accessibility and the Web

The power of the Web is in its universality. Access by everyone regardless of disability is an essential aspect. (Tim Berners-Lee, W3C director and inventor of the World Wide Web [Web Accessibility Initiative, or WAI]).

Global Ministries' first webpage debuted in May 1995, on the eve of the "browser wars." These rivalries began in July 1995 when Microsoft launched Internet Explorer 1.0. As Microsoft targeted the popular Netscape Communicator and competed to grab more and more market share, proprietary and non-standard enhancements were added to both Netscape and Internet Explorer.

These corporate battles for browser dominance caused collateral damage. People who used screen readers to listen to the webpages encountered barriers that had not existed previously. Some sites became totally inaccessible. Web designers had to figure out for themselves how to handle the incompatibilities among browsers. The Web Standards project states the problem bluntly: "By releasing browsers that failed to uniformly support standards, manufacturers needlessly fragmented the Web, injuring designers, developers, users, and businesses alike." ("WaSP: Fighting for Standards" http://www.webstandards.org/about/mission/)

Some developers decided to design their sites for Internet Explorer only or for Netscape only. Global Ministries' approach in the second half of the 1990s was to incorporate enhancements from both browsers as long as the code markup did not interfere with the use of screen readers or of Lynx, a plain-text web browser. Eventually, the agency stopped trying to design for all browsers and used web standards instead. (The World Wide Web Consortium--[W3C] at http://www.w3.org--issued the first Web Content Accessibility Standards on May 5, 1999; version 2.0 was released in December 2008.)

Global Ministries' website developed as a direct result of the earlier work of Health and Welfare Ministries. The agency's first webpage was for CAM. From the beginning, internet accessibility was a major concern. Today Global Ministries' website is still more accessible than many others--though it's not as accessible as it once was.

Connecting the Church in Mission

We see UMCommunities helping to connect the church in mission in this era of electronic communications. We hope that people of all ages and cultures will find it of value. We especially welcome teenagers and young adults. (Christopher Heckert, associate general secretary for Mission Communications, in "UMCommunities: Connecting Around Faith and Mission," Global Ministries press release, May 8, 2009.)

Another example of Global Ministries' electronic Christian hospitality is its free web-hosting service, launched publicly in February 1996. The free web-space program is a means to literally "connect the church in mission."

Today, although most annual conferences and large-membership churches have moved to other web servers, Global Ministries still hosts more than 7,000 groups. Many small churches especially appreciate the gift of 20 megabytes of free web space, with no ads, on a broader United Methodist website. By mid-2010, Global Ministries hopes to install new web-hosting software, significantly upgrading the basic features currently available to electronic guests.

Global Ministries also runs a free electronic discussion group called "UMConnect." There, more than 500 United Methodists discuss their electronic ministries and can receive help in creating and running their websites, regardless of their internet service provider. This email list was founded by the Rev. David Mullens. In January 1995, he began an unofficial website called "The United Methodist Church ONLINE!" This site predated the launch of the official site at umc.org, and the unofficial site is online no longer. Later, Global Ministries hosted the Mullens list on its Lyris server and then became the list owner. One of the reasons why Lyris was chosen in the mid-1990s was that it met Global Ministries' criteria for accessibility.

In May 2009, in partnership with Brick River, Global Ministries launched a new online message board called UMCommunities.org. The agency plans to encourage and equip United Methodist missionaries, conference secretaries of Global Ministries, and other mission-minded Methodists to become active participants on this website, along with other users of the free service.

Changes and Transitions

This year I retire as Global Ministries' web manager. In mid-July 1976, while still in my 20s, I began my sojourn in New York City shortly after the tall ships had sailed up the Hudson River to celebrate the bicentennial of the Declaration of Independence. At the General Board of Global Ministries, I began as the book editor for United Methodist Women.

Never could I have imagined the world of church publications as it is today. Then, the agency's highest-tech editorial tool was an electronic typewriter, so church communications moved much more slowly. People putting out publications sent big, fat envelopes of typed text and photographs to the printer using the US standard mail service. Today, a file can be emailed or put on a server for retrieval within seconds of its posting!

The increasing popularity of the internet changed people's expectations concerning how quickly they could receive information about a current event or an emergency. By the time Hurricane Mitch hit in October 1998, United Methodists wanted to know how their church was responding as soon as the disaster made the network news. Global Ministries learned this lesson well. For example, on September 11, 2001, within hours of the attack on the World Trade Center, the agency had posted a prayer and some basic information about the United Methodist response. This work was done even as some employees at 475 Riverside Drive could look south and see the smoke rising in lower Manhattan. Soon, Global Ministries was receiving compassionate emails from all over the world.

Those of us at Global Ministries have, to the best of our abilities, operated on the web from a stance of Christian hospitality, particularly in regard to accessibility for people with disabilities and those with slower computer connections. Sometimes that has meant avoiding complex technologies and adopting free web hosting and a free 800 phone line so that those who might not otherwise be able to afford the service can have access to it.

Technology, like society and life, is constantly changing, but Christian hospitality and other core Christian values never go out of style.

The Rev. Nancy A. Carter is general manager of Global Ministries' website.

	See Also... Topic: AIDS/HIV |  Communities |  Health |  United Methodist Church |  Welfare |  Focus on Global Health |  Source: New World Outlook
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Date posted: Sep 01, 2009