Techies unite.

The Seventh-day Adventist Church is examining how to best use new media in Africa, a region in which the church has yet to capitalize on mobile Internet access.

Church communication leaders, technicians and broadcasters will meet for an Internet ministry conference in Cape Town, South Africa, from February 28 to March 2, to address ways of boosting the church’s presence on the Web in Africa.

The conference is a regional extension of the Adventist world church’s Global Internet Evangelism Network (GIEN) conference held annually since 2004.

“We want to really start this from the ground up,” said Andre Brink, communication director for the Adventist Church in southern Africa. “There’s not much being done by our church on the Internet in Africa and we want people to see what the possibilities are.”

Brink said there are some 200 million mobile phones in Africa and far fewer personal computers. “We need to look at how more and more people are accessing the Internet via cell phones.” The conference will begin with a presentation from a mobile phone company representative about future plans and technologies for the continent.

Church leaders have also recognized the problem of intellectual property violations in that region of the world, Brink said. “Some people in the church think they can copy something because it’s for the Lord’s work.”

The conference will host a panel discussion on copyright and release statement to the media regarding the Adventist Church’s commitment to intellectual property laws, Brink said.

Other workshops will focus on media asset management, Internet trends and optimizing Web sites and podcasts.

Many presenters will bring new ideas gleaned from international technology conventions.

“We want to relay things we learn to our colleagues in ministry,” said Marvin King, Web manager for Adventist World Radio, who will lead several workshops at the conference. He also hopes to build the GIEN forum on the social networking site Facebook to create community among the church’s technology users.

“GIEN is a forum where people can share and learn what works and what doesn’t in that part of the world,” said Williams Costa Jr., associate communication director for the Adventist world church. “We want everyone to be aware of the new technologies so they can keep reaching places that were once thought unreachable.”

The 2008 GIEN international conference is scheduled for July 9 to13 in Denver, Colorado, United States.

For more information, see gien.adventist.org.