Interviews

Between writing on his personal blog, Open Switch, recording the latest edition of his podcast, Ask a Minister, and writing for Blog Ministry, Ben Gray has slowly become one of the blog scene’s premier religious writers. Majoring in Family Ministries at Toccoa Falls College and currently serving as a youth minister at a small church in Atlanta, 28-year-old Gray is well-positioned to offer a youthful, modern perspective on issues of religion and spirituality. He took some time out of his packed schedule recently to sit down and answer a couple of questions regarding religion, the media, and what each can do to better understand the other.

BG: The media is often accused of poorly representing religious and spiritual stories in the news. What’s your view? Are journalists generally doing a good job, or are we missing the mark completely?

BG: I would say that yes, journalists are generally doing a good job, even a very good job, in representing religious/spiritual stories in the news. But it’s hard to accurately represent a belief you don’t buy into. I know first-hand that it’s very hard to accurately represent something that you don’t believe in. I run into this with ministry all the time. For instance, I don’t believe that the earth is 6,000 years old, I think it’s more like billions and billions of years old. However, a lot of Christian curriculum we use in church teaches a young-earth theory. I also realize that many Christian parents don’t agree with me on the age of the earth. So what am I supposed to do when I teach their 6 year-olds about creation? Do I teach them what I think or do I try and give an unbiased representation of Scripture? In the end I decide to just teach the Bible and leave my own view out of it. I teach neither old-earth or young-earth theory.

I think many of those in the media are in a similar situation. Generally speaking, many journalists want to report the news in as unbiased a way as possible. But it’s hard to do that without letting their personal views and opinions get in the way. Honestly, I think the media does a better job at being unbiased than I could be. I try to put myself in their shoes, wondering what I would do if I had to report on a religion I didn’t believe in like Islam or Judaism. Would I be unbiased or would my own personal views cloud the story? It’s a hard position to be in.

But to directly answer your question: No, I don’t think the media is completely missing the mark. Yes, I do think that they are generally doing a good job. Yes, I think there is room for improvement.

BG: What steps can journalists take to improve their understanding of
these topics? How can we bridge the gap between the media’s
interpretation of religion and the reality?

BG: There are so many religions in America and the world at large that it would be impossible for journalists to study each one in order to understand them better. I think a better solution to “bridging the gap” would be for journalists to make an intellectual effort to put themselves in the shoes of a religious person. I think this would go a long way towards that goal. Keeping an open mind would go a long way.

BG: How do you feel the media is regarded in the religious community? Is there a fear of mis-representation?

BG: I think part of the issue with many religious people is that they feel looked down upon by secular society as a whole. I know that personally I feel like others who aren’t religious or Christian think I’m somehow less intelligent or less intellectually honest than they are (i.e. Flying Spaghetti Monster, etc.). There is most definitely a fear of mis-representation among religious people. I think many people sense the way secular society tends to view them so they’re very guarded in their answers, fearing that they might be portrayed as ignorant folks who still believe in Santa and the Easter Bunny.

BG: Are there any religious or spiritual resources that you feel would be of use to the journalism industry? Any websites, books, or other publications?

Like I said earlier I think it would be unrealistic to expect journalists to study up on every religion they may come in contact with. I think the most effective thing they can do immediately is to keep an open mind. As far as resources go I personally love Wikipedia. Having read many of the articles there dealing with Christianity I know that it’s very unbiased, simply providing information in a logical manner. I would imagine that it’s similar for other religious articles there too. Taking a cursory look at a religion’s beliefs and views might help a lot in accurate reporting.

As a Christian I tend to only read those books I agree with and I tend to only go to those web sites who’s views I share. It’s human nature to spend more time with people who are similar to you. I have to make a concerted effort to read people I disagree with. I try to get inside Richard Dawkins’ head and see things the way he does. I try my best to understand where Hindus are coming from and how they view the world. I would love to see more journalists do this same thing.

BG: Is there anything else you would like to add?

BG: Yes, I would like to thank you, Brian, for taking the time to ask these questions and giving me the opportunity to answer them. I’ve enjoyed your blog ever since someone suggested it for inclusion in 9rules just prior to round 5. I think that by you simply seeking my opinion on this issue it shows that you’re striving to be a well rounded journalist and I think you’re a good one at that. (Thanks! -B)

Thanks for the great interview, Ben!

Founder of Business Logs and “minor helper” in the founding of 9rules, Matthew Oliphant has made an impressive mark on the web. A self-described part-time superhero, swashbuckler, and adventurer extraordinaire, he splits his time between working for MathWorks, enjoying the company of his wife and daughter, and blogging about a wide variety of topics. Coming to you live from Framingham, MA, Oliphant recently sat down to answer a few questions about his site, his daughter, and what the future holds for one of his biggest projects.

BG: One of your recent projects, Pink for October, garnered quite a bit of attention. What began as a fairly small project blossomed into a full-blown phenomenon with around 1500 sites taking part. Were you surprised by the reaction to P4O? Where is the project headed in the future?

MO: I was very surprised at the number of sites in the final count. I had hoped to get about 100 when I started the idea, so in a way 1500 completely freaked me out. What I liked was that while there were a lot of sites what went Pink that were familiar to me, there were a ton of sites I’d never seen before. It reminded me how big the web is. I know that is a “duh” statement, but I suspect most people forget that from time to time.

I plan on doing P4O again next year. The sign up process will be more automated, with editorial control to combat spam. I think I got about 2000 sign-me-up and thank-you emails over 3 days when the site got slash-dotted and I was completely crushed by it. I’d also like to add more static-y pages for informational-type content.

I think the For Men section should be expanded and be more like a stand-alone page(s) than a blog post. And of a whole-site a redesign. Not because Tammie did a bad job (not at all) but because redesigning is a habit that must be succumbed to.

Lastly, I’ll add an aspect to the site for donating money and make it available for other to put on their sites (much like the badges). The point is still 90% about awareness, but next year I think there’ll be enough awareness about the event to add a donation aspect. Beyond that, I am open to ideas from others and will be looking for help starting in July.

And for the record, I don’t think P4O would have been as successful without help and you were a big help so…thank you. (While my involvement in P4O was limited, thank you! I look forward to hopefully helping again next time around. -Brian)

BG: What sort of projects have you been working on the last few weeks? What’s coming up for Matthew Oliphant?

MO: I’ve actually been doing small things to “passively” monetize my site. I have added some pages which aren’t live yet to support my Threadless habit and a couple of other things. I say “passive” because I am not out to make big bucks with my personal blog. I just want to make enough to pay for hosting and have some fun now and again. These new pages will require an IA change, which will be welcome as my site’s all over the place now.

Mostly I’ve been acclimating to my new job and the new state in which my job requires me to live. That’s been taking a lot of my attention.

Coming up I just need to write more. Who doesn’t? I’d like to see my readership/visitors grow again. Switching hosts lost about 80% of my RSS subscribers and my visits went down a lot especially after I was moved out of the 9rules Design Community (rightly so, I will add, since I write all over the place).

I’d also like to get more involved in some side projects in collaboration with others. There have been some ideas floated over the past couple of years but we are all so busy nothing sticks. So that’s more a hope than a plan, though I’ll seize on opportunity if it knocks.

BG: You spend a considerable amount of time writing about your daughter, Sagan, on your site. You have also published a huge number (over 400!) of photos of her. What prompted you to begin writing about such a personal subject in such a public way? What sort of response has there been from your readers?

MO: My site is such a mess topic-wise, especially given the URL. That’s due largely to having too many separate sites at one time (I think I had seven) then I changed hosts and decided to combine all my content into one site. Part of the reason I write so publicly about my daughter is that we are so far separated from our families the site makes it an easy way to share with them how Sagan is growing.

If you hover over the Sagan link in the topnav on my site you will see a tool tip. It says, “This link is primarily for the grandparents.” The link is prominent because I want my non-techie relatives to be able to find things easily. But beyond that, Sagan is such a powerful influence on my life that it never occurred to me not to write publicly about her.

I suppose it is odd in a way. I’ve written, much more publicly than my blog, about Sagan a couple of times, and have received some feedback about doing it. Most people don’t feel like putting so much of themselves online. I find it very natural, though I didn’t start out that way. I hid behind a pseudonym for a long time and didn’t really change to be “me” until I did a guest writer stint on SVN.

I don’t really know what the response is from my readers. While I’ve received feedback it’s in the realm of telling me it’s odd and they wouldn’t do that. I do have some comments on a couple of posts about her from people who are glad to find other kids named Sagan in the world.

BG: How do you decide what topics to write about on your site? While you tend to lean toward personal content, you also bounce around other topics, like design, cars, and (gasp!) usability.

This goes back to my mentioning combining sites. I have a lot of interests. I should redo my URL to be matthewoliphant.com, but I’ve sorta come to be known for usabilityworks.org. I should just make the switch and damn the loss in pagerank!

Most of my posts do fall into the design and usability categories, but my varied interests carry my writing in different directions. I tend to post only when I have something to say that I feel will add to the collective conversation on a topic, or if something strikes me as really funny, strange, or cool.

A lot of what I know about design and usability is so ingrained in me that it is second nature. I forget that most people don’t know much about these topics. So writing what I feel is a boring topic (like how to prepare for and run a card sort, for example) wouldn’t occur to me to do since there’s not much I can add to the topic. Except that most people don’t know how to do it or why it can be helpful.

Let me ask you a question… is my bouncing around on topics good, bad, or indifferent? I’ve thought about this now and again. I’m not sure if my bouncing around, even though I want to write about these differing topics, is something my readership likes and if it keeps my readership from growing. I’ve never received many comments on what I write so I am not sure what people like or dislike about my site. Though I suppose it doesn’t matter. I will still write about what I want. (I think it’s fine. -Brian)

The funny thing is I just received an email today from someone thanking me for all the information I’ve shared on my site. It was from someone in the usability field so that was nice to see. In my plans to write more this year I do want to do more design and usability related posts, especially more rants. Some of those Adaptive Path people really peel my potatoes so hopefully I can take them down a peg or two.

BG: I hate to delve into clichéd interview questions, but what sites have caught your eye lately? Why?

MO: I just re-added the 9rules OPML to my feed reader so now I have about 200+ more sites (I don’t think I added when round 4 went through). I’ve been whittling the ones who cover topics in which I have no interest, but I’ve found a couple of others that I will stick with for a while I think (need to follow them for a few weeks to make sure).

I will admit to being in a web rut lately so nothing’s really catching my attention.

BG: Anything you’d like to add?

MO: 98791+717. I like to add that. It equals 99508. Good ZIP code which I will soon be visiting.

Thanks Matthew!

Blogging for just over five years now, James Mathias is an accomplished artist, writer, and developer. 32 years old, he lives in Bonners Ferry, Idaho with his wife and two sons (and another child on the way!) Always willing to share his latest drawing or sketch, Mathias has been a member of 9rules since June 2006. His site, titled Leihu after two Chinese symbols, went pink for Pink for October, and he continues to post great content on a near-daily basis. Taking a few moments out of his busy schedule, James sat down to answer a couple of questions.

BG: You publish a large number of sketches and drawings on your site — there have been almost 80 entries in your “Random Illustrations” category so far — and work as a professional artist. Where do you find the inspiration for these unique creations? What sort of creative process takes place?

JM: Wow, I hadn’t noticed that, between the Random Illustrations, Illustration Friday and Alternate Friday I’ve published 132 illustrations. Yikes. In fact it may be more by the time you read this. Drawing is just something I love doing and never really think about finding time for. I just do them, sometimes with no thought. I don’t really have a creative process when it comes to illustrations, I just start drawing and whatever comes out is what goes down. I know it’s disappointingly boring as an explanation, but it’s the truth.

BG: On your “About” page, you mention that you are a Buddhist. While far from being a religious or spiritual person myself, I find other’s beliefs to be extremely interesting. What are some of the common misconceptions about Buddhism? If there were one thing you could tell anyone interested in Buddhism, what would it be?

JM: A very common one I hear a lot; people think Buddha is a god I worship, this is not the case. Buddha was a man, whom became enlightened through meditation and study and taught the Dharma (the way) to others. The basic idea is to live your life as purely as possibly, all the while trying to understand the human condition, at least that’s how I see it.

One thing I’d tell people who are interested in Buddhism; Study religion in general, read the bible, read the koran, learn as much as you can, search your soul and find your path. You do not find religion, ideas finds you.

BG: Your blog’s archives go back as far as February 2005. Looking back, what sort of impact has blogging had on your life? Professionally? I’ve noticed your wife commenting on many of your entries. What do your friends and family think of the site?

JM: Yeah, the current incarnation only goes back to Feb 05, but the site actually goes back to April 01, but unfortunately I’ve lost the database quite few times. Blogging has had a very good impact on my mental condition, and my ability to share my thoughts. My wife is a devoted reader and commenter, as well my mom, aunt, uncle, sisters and brothers-in-law and a couple of my offline friends and a few of my clients read consistently. It’s a nice feeling that the people who know me best find an entertainment value behind the site and keep coming back and not just because they feel they have to.

BG: You briefly experimented with limited edition t-shirts and the “Kiosk” section on your site lists some of your other ideas for custom-designed items. Has there been any progress in that area? I’m sure there are plenty of people who would love to own a James Mathias-designed skateboard deck.

JM: The t-shirts idea was a miserable failure. So I’m a bit gun-shy to put any time or effort into another for sale item, unless it was something that I could produce easily and sell consistently. I want to do the skate decks, and some illustration prints as well, I hope to get the first board up this year, but it’s not on the top of my priority list.

BG: What does the future hold for your site? What will we see next from James Mathias? Your fans want to know!

JM: Fans? Not sure I have fans, but I appreciate them if I do. This year we’ll see 362 more daily drawings, a couple of fun videos, the loss of 140 more pounds, some code improvements to the site, the return of an old friend, the announcement of my novel’s completion and the introduction of a new family member.

Thanks James!

The last five months have been a time of great personal change for Olav Bjorkoy, both online and off. In that short time, the 20-year-old designer from Lillehammer, Norway has completed a mandatory, year-long military service, undertaken five years of study to become a civil engineer, and launched a highly-successful weblog. In short — he’s a busy guy.

Focusing on topics close to him — writing, photography, and coding — his weblog has garnered a large amount of attention in a short period of time. With a killer single-column layout and extensive, easy-to-read articles, it’s easy to see why. Accepted into the 9rules network during round four, Olav has truly proven that, on any site, content is king. And, when it comes to content, he is truly an exciting, young writer to watch.

BG: You recently finished your service as a journalist in the Norwegian navy, how does it feel to be back to civilian life?

OB: It’s great to be back! In Norway, one year of military service is compulsory if you get selected, and I wasn’t too happy when I found out that I was amongst the chosen. But the year turned out pretty good, and I learned a lot through my job as a journalist (although it felt like I was in marketing most of the time).

BG: Your weblog was accepted into the 9rules network during round four. What has the experience been like? How has becoming a member helped your site?

OB: In short, humbling. I get a lot of traffic without them asking for anything in return, and they’ve also put me in touch with lots of people who share my interests. It has been great writing for a big audience, as my blog was pretty stale traffic-wise before I became a member.

The fact that I now have more readers has also led to more clients, which of course only makes me even more grateful towards the network. And I’m not even required to speak fondly of them in interviews, so this is no mindless plugging.

BG: Since its inception, your weblog has consistently featured well-written articles. What sort of writing process do you have?

OB: Thanks, I’m glad to hear that.

Every article I write evolves while I write it. I normally start with an idea, something I want to say, or think would be of value to the reader, but the article never end up the way I envisioned it.

I think it’s easier to structure your own thoughts if you write them down. Because of this, I’ve often written entire articles, just to discover that I disagree with what I just wrote. So every article I write is a learning process for me, which I think is great.

BG: How would you sum up your experience in the navy? Is journalism a career you hope to pursue, or does life hold something different for Olav Bjorkoy?

OB: Boredom was a common theme in the navy, with a lot of spare time to spend within the confines of the naval base. However, because of my job, the experience was quite unlike what I thought it would be. I learned a lot, both good and bad, but I’m still hesitant to say that I’m glad I got selected to serve.

I just embarked on five years of studies to become a civil engineer in communication technologies, so no, journalism is not a career I’m pursuing. However, I’m trying to find some freelance work, and will of course continue writing at my blog.

BG: By most standards, you are fairly new to the blogging scene. However, your site has been very successful in a short time. What sort of advice would you give to other bloggers and writers?

OB: Yeah, I’m quite new as a blogger, but I’ve been lurking the blogging scene for many years. Now that I’ve started blogging, I can’t understand why it has taken me so long. So that would be my first piece of advice: Start blogging sooner than later, it’s a great experience no matter what.

The second piece of advice would be to focus on your content, not your traffic. Keep dishing out quality articles, and don’t get too upset when the comment counter never exceeds zero, because if you do this, traffic will come to you. Keep producing stuff that is of value to others, and great opportunities like getting digg’ed or being accepted into a network will come.

I would also advice that one should not underestimate the importance of your blog’s design. The design is what sparks the readers interest upon first visit, and a very important factor in what your audience thinks of you. If they think your design is great, they are more likely to believe that what you write is great as well. After all, you don’t take design advice from someone who’s design you don’t like.

Lastly, replying to comments is very important. I know that I feel very appreciated when a site’s author takes the time to respond to my comment, and I’m much more likely to leave another one.