This post is a reminder of the big to-do’s coming up for me…

1. Graduate Research Conference presentation on Friday 13 June. I haven’t done the report yet but will get it done today (I hope - I’m writing this post at Tullamarine airport for a flight to Adelaide for my sister’s birthday and a visit to hear a PhD presentation on abuse in the Uniting Church - interesting stuff - for a nerd like me).
2. Finish first chapter by 13 June (almost all done, but every time I get into it I realise I have so much more reading to do, and end up putting it on hold to read more - have decided to stop reading and start writing and see what gaps come up)
3. Presentation on online religious advertising for CMRC
4. Presentation on emerging church bloggers in Australia for CMRC
5. Presentation on meanings, methods and ethics in blog research for CMRC (found out I’m on this panel this morning)
6. Presentation for AoIR doctoral colloquium (found out I got in yesterday)
7. Presentation on rhetorics and realities in web 2.0 - men, women, literacy and religious authority for AoIR
8. Presentation on religious podcasting for AoIR (had a response from a religious podcaster the other week, and I’m looking forward to talkign with him about his experiences and achievements)
9. Complete organising the data I’ve collected
10. Complete collecting all the data (even though I don’t think I need all of it)
11. Complete all the interviews (has been a while since I’ve contacted bloggers to arrange interviews)

Is anyone willing to do me a favour and eat and sleep for me? Will save me having to do it.

Today is the last day of my classes at RMIT. While I will enjoy the extra day to study and sleep and whatnot, I no doubt will miss the extra cash that’s been coming my way. *sigh*

Anyway, if you click on the link marked “articles” at the top of this page you’ll find more links that will lead you to the powerpoint slides I used for lectures. I know one of you guys is interested. If they don’t make sense, don’t worry, there’s no shame in being stupid. Ha ha ha ha, kdding, I mean I’ve been asked to compile a course book for RMIT based on my lectures and when that happens I’ll add notes to these slides.

I’m also presenting this paper at AoIR in October, as part of a panel on online religion:

Godcasting: exploring religious audiences and podcasting communities

In 2006 it was reported that, second only to radio station programs, religious programs are the most popular genre of podcasting. Yet to date very little research has been conducted on religious podcasting, its content, production or consumption. I would like to offer some preliminary findings from data collected in 2006 and 2007 from individuals’ and organisations’ use of podcasting for religious purposes. In my presentation I will consider how information produced by religious practitioners has been framed by podcasters for online consumption, and its effect on the messages received by audiences. I will also put forward some arguments and questions to consider on how podcasting is working to create and enhance online religious communities, and shape relationships between producers and consumers of podcasted religious content. I will focus particularly on the new role of “podcast priest” and how religious practitioners’ roles are changed in this relatively new online medium.

At the beginning of 1994, at the tender age of 22, I had worked for a year in a Uniting Church in the Adelaide Hills, doing the usual youth worker things like youth groups, bible studies, yada yada yada. Before then I had only ever earned money stacking shelves at K-Mart, tutoring high school students in Maths and Italian, and translating the odd letter or two for smoking dosh, so this looked like a real like career-type job.

So when I moved to Melbourne I decided that ministry was the route to take. I scored another youthie-type gig in the city’s northwest for a while, and worked my way towards becoming a student of the reverendist arts. By 1995 I was a candidate. During all that time I knew I would not be made of money, that I would never expect to be completely comfortable financially, that I would have something new to learn about being without money from time to time. So when the Synod offered to raise my student stipend by way of a loan, I accepted without thinking too hard. After all, money is money and I should take it when I can get it.

Little did I know (well, little did I choose not to ignore) the bill that I would receive at the end of 1997. Can’t remember exactly what it was, but knew it would take a short lifetime to pay it off.

And Friday, I did. 10.5 years paying back the church.

Ah the sweet freedom.