Any prospect of viewing this evening's much talked about historic conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn was dashed by continuous low cloud and rain all day and into the evening, Although I was awake at seven, in good time to upload the day's prayer video (without incident thankfully), it took me until the afternoon to venture out fully clad in waterproofs and do a full circuit of the parks. Most of the morning was taken up with catching up with this blog. Remembering today or yesterday in detail is challenging enough, as I never make notes. Remembering two days ago takes even longer, especially if it was seemingly uneventful. But it's on such days there's time to muse and reflect, and not just report.
I had an interesting conversation with Owain this morning about communication strategy, and he told me how some big corporate companies were issuing reports and news news updates, by audio podcasts with a written back up maybe, but not using video media unless there was a specific need speak face to face. An interesting piece of research by an occupational psychologist has revealed that recipients of an audio podcast understand and retain three times as much information as those who watch a Powerpoint or a video presentation.
Visual information, despite appearances is more complex to digest, as visual words and signs must be translated into real words and thoughts to be processed and understood. If used at all to inform they must be used far more sparingly than is commonly the case. Simple old fashioned static signs work far better than animated video messages. Spoken words are portable and don't hijack the whole of one's attention as visual communication does. You need to sit down to watch. It you look at something on the move you risk not seeing danger before you. It's simple and obvious.
This conversation started because I was telling Owain about the prayer videos I worked on yesterday, and how much more demanding a task this was than producing audio only worship material in Ibiza. His response was - why not stick with audio only then. Clare also confirmed that she only momentarily looks at a prayer video, and then just sits back and listens. Audio only is easier to prepare, even when editing together several voices, sound effects and ambient music together if needed. Being lighter in digital size, it consumes less time uploading and downloading. Case made, as far as I'm concerned, but I only have to do what's asked of me, and that involves video! Even so, Owain sent me a digest of the research article he had spoken of, and I forwarded it to our parish clergy for interest's sake.
The river Taff wasn't as high as I had expected, when I got there half an hour before sunset. The fields were sodden with big pools of standing water around tree trunks, too much to be soaked into clay subsoil quickly. If the river had burst its banks flood water would possibly cover an area of grassland even greater than the last overflow in February this year. Few people were out, except for determined runners and dog walkers, whose charges seem delighted to run with great gusto in the rain. The surface was so waterlogged that dogs running on grass sounded like a high speed fusillade of splashes from a hose.
Mother Frances sent me a copy of the liturgy for Sunday next, St John's day, one of our Parish patrons. I spent an hour of the evening reformatting the original to print into a simple readable booklet for me to use at the altar. The variety we now use in liturgy is such a change from the limitations of the old Prayer Book liturgies I grew up with. I like the flexibility, but still pine for a solid Missal rather than a leaflet.
Each Anglican Province produces its own, as does the Roman church, but the use of leaflets has become widespread in the past decade, and I'm not at ease with this because it involves the consumption of so many ephemeral resources, adding to our carbon footprint, while dioceses and churches attempt to move in the direction of becoming 'greener' institutions. A bit contradictory really, and I was a much to blame for that in my full time ministry as anyone else. Sooner or later poverty will make us change our habits of consumption.
