Comments on: A Peculiar I.T. Shop

By: Graham

Graham — Fri, 16 Mar 2007 09:14:08 +0000

I’ve been intrigued by this talk and the tech talks concept and I think its a great reach out by you.

I have to say that as a user of church systems in a UK ward Bishopric it feels to me as though we are way behind the US since so many things appear not to be available to us here. (even the tech talks ;o)

Simple things like the ward and stake web sites feature are still unavailable, and yet because the church has it’s ‘own’ mechanism we are all under the same edict that we should not be hosting local versions of ward websites. (I understand the reasons for this and support it by the way, its just frustrating that we are not able to access the feature for our members.)

As a manager of international IT infrastructure myself I understand the challenges of providing infrastructure across the globe but the national infrastructures in the Europe West Area and Nordic Areas are, in many cases, at least as good as most of the US.

I wonder what balance is given to rolling out existing developments to other world areas versus pushing ahead to the next big thing in North America?

So a couple of pleas. Some consideration on this topic please and also, can we have a recorded webcast of a tech talk. (You might even want to consider a live one with email questions?)

By: Damaris Fish

Damaris Fish — Tue, 13 Mar 2007 06:20:31 +0000

Br. Dehlin, does your IT dept work with the BYUs? BYU TV International now in Spanish & Portuguese online and available to cable systems is pretty amazing!
And then there is the active missionary work – so you have to really plan for More growth. Thank you for your service

[JPD: Hello Damaris. We, along with the Church's audiovisual department, work with BYU to broadcast conference. Our team is responsible for the satellite systems and the Internet streaming. Thanks!]

By: Robin Johnson

Robin Johnson — Mon, 12 Mar 2007 23:06:25 +0000

It is awesome to see just how easily the Church flows as each week goes by to the next. This is where the Lord’s hand comes into play…keeping each one of us where we need to be each day. Thank you for all your hard work in helping the Church’s IT systems flow.

By: David

David — Fri, 09 Mar 2007 15:55:32 +0000

I didn’t realize that all missionaries and local ecclesiastical leaders had email through the church. That would be a unique challenge.

Do you ever parse the Saturday night lesson preparation further – to see preparation for Elders Quorum compared to preparation for Primary or Relief Society classes?

By: William

William — Thu, 08 Mar 2007 20:24:27 +0000

I’m just glad we don’t have to do all of this by typewriter…

By: Connor

Connor — Thu, 08 Mar 2007 05:17:02 +0000

Any job that lets you wear more than one hat is a good job, in my opinion.

By: Michael B.

Michael B. — Wed, 07 Mar 2007 14:07:13 +0000

Joel,

Thanks for your insight and unique perspective. Not just in this recent post, but since the beginning of this blog. As someone who has recently accepted a position in Church employment (although not in IT) I appreciate the insider view. I’m actually looking forward to the challenges you describe.

It strikes me that while the challenges are unique, so is the opportunity for divine assistance. Could you comment sometime on how you see the Lord’s hand in the “secular” side of the Church?

Thanks, again for the insights.