Archive by Author

Our tech setup for covering the papal conclave

With the resignation of Pope Benedict XVI announced on February 11 and effective on February 28, our office at Pilot New Media and the whole Catholic Media Secretariat at the Archdiocese of Boston went into top gear. Part of our mission is to provide formation and evangelization through the use of media and when you [...]

Continue Reading →

When disaster strikes, how will your parish communicate effectively?

The record-breaking blizzard over the first weekend of February, 2013, showed how far we’ve come in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts since the Blizzard of 1978 in terms of preparedness and response to major snow events. In 1978, people were stranded on highways and roadsand it took weeks to clear them and return to normal. While [...]

Continue Reading →

Prepare your parish website for Ash Wednesday and Lent

Did you know that Ash Wednesday is the busiest traffic day for parish websites? Catholic Tech Talk informs us that is and gives some tips on how to get ready. First, are your Ash Wednesday mass times updated on your website? Let’s make sure the website we’re responsible for have their mass times updated and [...]

Continue Reading →

Google discontinues free Google Apps for Business; Non Profit program still available

A few weeks ago we highlighted Google Apps for Non Profits, a program where they give non-profit organizations no-cost access to their suite of apps using your own domain name. This was similar to Google’s product, Google Apps for Business. That program had a version that allowed anyone to use the same suite of apps [...]

Continue Reading →

Thou shalt not steal: Avoiding copyright infringement in your parish new media

One of the thorniest and most confusing topics when it comes to the use of new media by not just parishes and ministries, but everyone on the Internet, is copyright. What is copyright? How do I know what images, music, writing I can use on my website? If I find it on Google, does that [...]

Continue Reading →

Survey shows how Catholics use new media in 2012

The Center for Research in the Apostolate at Georgetown University released a new report this week that should be of interest to every Catholic who works with new media, whether paid or a volunteer. The report, entitled Catholic New Media Use in the United States, 2012, surveyed more than 1,000 self-identified Catholics (which includes those [...]

Continue Reading →

Rome Reports on Cardinal Seán’s Twitter and Pilot New Media’s work

The English-language Italian news agency Rome Reports has a nice video report on Cardinal Seán’s Twitter initiative and our efforts in new media at the Archdiocese of Boston. The other web sites mentioned in the report are SuicideIsAlwaysATragedy.org and YearofFaithBoston.org

Continue Reading →

Google is dropping support for Internet Explorer 8 and below

Google is dropping support for Internet Explorer 8 and below

Google has announced on one of its company blogs that it plans to end support for Internet Explorer 8 in its products and websites as of November 15, 2012. (Internet Explorer 7 has already been sidelined.) While Windows users on Vista, 7, and the upcoming 8 are likely using Internet Explorer 9 and, soon, 10, [...]

Continue Reading →

Google Apps for Nonprofits for your Catholic parish or ministry at no cost

Google Apps for Nonprofits

One of the challenges faced by parishes and Catholic ministries in new media is setting up a good communications infrastructure. Email continues to be the primary means for most organizations to communicate, yet many parishes find themselves stuck using a hodgepodge of addresses from their Internet provider (e.g. Comcast or Verizon), free Internet services (e.g. [...]

Continue Reading →

Benefit of claiming your Google Places for your parish

Search engines like Google have pretty much replaced the Yellow Pages and other directories as the way that most people find local businesses and organizations. We’ve talked before in our presentations and on this site about the importance of your website and its content for search engine optimization (SEO), but there’s another way to ensure [...]

Continue Reading →