Ginny+Nolan-+DDBC+Essay

CAPSTONE PROJECT ESSAY

PROJECT CONTACT:  Ginny Nolan  239-285-5472  gnolan42@comcast.net December 1, 2012

My Capstone Project was not a specific short term project, but the beginning of an ongoing adventure of growing and discovering ways to reach out to the churched and unchurched and “gather them in” through digital technology.

My experience with the Digital Discipleship Boot Camp was beyond my expectations! If I had known how much time and intensity was going to go into the course, I would not have signed up for it. Thank God for my ignorance for once! My summer goals of “catching up” on projects at work went by the wayside, but the unexpected happened. I not only grew in my knowledge of technological tools to explore and learn via the internet, but greatly intensified my thirst to learn more about everything. The biggest surprise of all was that my faith grew and deepened. Looking back, I feel like I had been on a cyber-retreat!

In my position with the parish, I am not engaged in religious education per se, but in ministry. My goal for this project was to maximize the use of our website, social media and E-news, to make it a collaborative effort and to educate and inform the staff about how to use the various Web 2.0 tools and technologies in compliance with USCCB guidelines and copyright guidelines.

At a meeting with others also interested in growing the technology aspect of our parish, a few of us met (including one of our priests, our web site team, and a couple who volunteer in religious education) to discuss the need for the growth of digital technology in our parish. We also discussed the copyright issues and the ISTE standards. That volunteer couple have been helping with the Facebook page and with Year of Faith articles for the bulletin.

I have been working with a couple of people in charge of Eucharistic ministries, and have been teaching them to use Google Drive so that we can share information. It has been difficult, but it finally seems to be working.

Growth has come to our website through expansion of our pages, adding more informational links, more videos, making the most needed items more accessible and trying to keep the information current.

The parish has signed up with Constant Contact to publish our parish e-newsletter now. This makes it look more professional and includes our address which is in compliance with federal anti-spam laws. I have tried to make the articles brief with links to further information, which is usually on our website. Photos and videos have been used to heighten interest.

Our Facebook page has grown quite a bit! Our “Total Reach” is up 43% and our “Followers” are up 100%. We have fans in Mexico, India and Kenya! Our posts have educated, informed of events, posted pictures or videos of events in the parish, and, hopefully, engaged by reaching out with thoughts or questions in anticipation of responses.

Overall I am pleased with the progress, but this is just the beginning.