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CURRENTLY ON THE WEB
From Sputnik to spam

Marshall Janzen

This is the first of a series of columns aimed at helping churches make use of the Internet. Future columns address constructing the church web site foundation and Canadian MB Conference Internet resources.

Although legend has it that the Internet was born to spread pornography and Star Trek gossip, the truth has more to do with Sputnik.

Launched in 1957, the Russian satellite Sputnik demonstrated that the US was losing the space race. President Eisenhower responded by forming the Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA) which, after developing a successful satellite, went on to focus on computer networking and communications. During the mid to late 1960s, ARPA worked with universities to create ARPANET, a network of interconnected university computers. The first bytes of information sent over this network were the letters “LO”, part of the word “LOGIN” that was typed to start a connection. The system crashed when the letter “G” was entered, but history was still made.

Over the next years, problems were fixed, connections became faster, and ARPANET was used by more and more people. By late 1994, media and corporations had become aware of the network – now called the Internet. It has grown both in content and number of users ever since.

The Internet today

The Internet is a pipeline to a variety of services. Some are used mainly for displaying information, while others are for two-way communication. Email and the web are by far the most popular services.

Email allows text messages (letters, memos) to be sent from one computer to another. Computer files, such as pictures, programs and even viruses, can also be transported this way. Besides speed, the greatest advantage to email is the cost. If you have an email address, you can generally send and receive email for free. An unfortunate side effect is that many less reputable businesses and individuals use email to send mailings to thousands or millions of people at very little cost. Such unsolicited email sent to people without giving them a way to stop future mailings is known as “spam”.

Web sites present information in the form of text, pictures, sounds, videos, etc. People connected to the Internet use a web browser to view and hear this information. Although the web is mainly one-way communication (like TV), there are many sites that allow visitors to interact with them.


What is it good for?

What is the Internet good for? Some Internet zealots may claim “absolutely everything”. Like most media in their infancy, the Internet has been called both “the end of civilization” and “the complete replacement for blank” (where blank is TV, newspapers, paper or the telephone, depending on who’s talking). As the Internet matures and hype fades, the reality emerges that the Internet is primarily a new communications tool with strengths and weaknesses different from those of any other medium.

The Internet can be used by churches for a variety of purposes:

An office email address can allow church members to send information to the church office. Weekly email newsletters, sent from the church office to the members, can inform the congregation of upcoming events and give details of the Sunday service. Church web sites can store previous sermons for members who miss a Sunday, or for people studying a certain topic. By posting testimonies from church members, a church can create an evangelistic web site. A web site can invite seekers to email questions to the church; pastors or other trained staff can answer them.

There are even more complicated uses for the Internet (such as setting up discussion boards or moderated chat rooms). However, even churches with limited budgets can start to use email and web sites effectively.

Next issue: Points to ponder before building a church web site.

Marshall Janzen is webmaster for the Canadian MB Conference, and a member of Parliament Community Church in Regina. He can be reached at marshall@launch.ca.

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Last modified November 5, 2001.

© 2001 Mennonite Brethren Herald.
Published by the Canadian Conference of MB Churches.
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