The digital brings different possibilities for engaging with the Bible, via smartphones and social media. For some this digital world is hell, for others it is paradise, but it is the reality for most in our world, and therefore Christians need to engage with it. We’ll identify a number of positive examples as the basis for discussion.
Confirmed Contributors: Dr Bex Lewis, Dr Tim Hutchings
Talk submission to Greenbelt for 2012.
Finding Your Own Digital Paradise: 
Tribes, Digital Sabbaths & Crowd-Sourced Worship
Panel Session: Is there such a thing as ‘digital paradise’? How does the digital allow us to do things differently? Who do we connect with and not get lost in a Christian bubble? How do we ensure that we gain from partaking, rather than getting exhausted?
Confirmed contributors: Dr Bex Lewis, Rev Joanne Cox, Bryony Taylor & crowd-sourced content
I’ve already booked to attend Greenbelt for this year, having been for the last couple of years. Sara Batts & I have just submitted an abstract for this year’s festival (August Bank Holiday). We’re well ahead of the deadline of 14th February, and look forward to hearing in due course whether we’re “in” or not!
Who would have predicted Facebook’s 600 million+ users? Predicting the future is impossible, but irresistibly fun! What next in a social media world? How can you begin, or improve, your current practices? How can you make the most of the tools available? Come and debate the issues to consider!
Sara Batts is a PhD student examining how English churches are embracing – or ignoring – the rise of social media. Based in Colchester, Sara has a day job as a librarian in the City so she’s well placed to understand how best to find and provide information online. Blogs, twitter feeds and other social media are second nature and she’s been using the internet for longer than she cares to remember.
Dr Bex Lewis is Blended Learning Project Manager for the BigBible Project/Lecturer in History & Media Studies, with a background in the history of visual communications (Keep Calm and Carry On anyone?). Bex both embraces and encourages the use of digital communications, building her first website in 1997. She has truly found her forte with social media (there’s always something new to play with!).
Simon Jenkins… needs no introduction… but is the founder and editor of Ship of Fools, the irreverent online magazine and community and was project leader on Church of Fools, the online 3D church. Simon has been coming to Greenbelt since about 30 BC.