Tuesday, September 22, 2009

a QWERTY church?

Here's an interesting anecdote I wasn't aware of:

Many of the rules that apply in businesses were set years ago and have endured by force of habit. A good example is the QWERTY keyboard, which is in use on all desktop computers. The original QWERTY layout of keys on the typewriter keyboard was designed in the 1870s to slow down the speed of typing because fast operators were causing typewriter keys to jam together. By putting the most commonly used letters e, a, i, o away from the index fingers of the hands, speed was reduced and jams were avoided. Those mechanical jams are long gone but we are stuck with a rule for a keyboard layout that is outdated and inappropriate. How many of the rules in your organisation are QWERTY standards – set up for circumstances that no longer apply today?


(You can read the whole article here)

Interesting as that is, it set me thinking: are there aspects of our church life & practice that are, effectively, QWERTY-standard?

And if there are, what then? Changing keyboard isn't possible - not now, not this late in the game. But changing church? Wadda ya think?

4 comments:

The Masked Badger said...

hmm but you can't change keyboards because computers demand uniformity; but churches don't have to...

Anyway, QWERTY churches are OK, but what about NERDY ones?

minternational said...

No, churches don't have to - I guess what I was asking was 'What parts of church life were designed for a previous, no longer appertaining, reality?'.

As for NERDY churches...I can take no responsibility whatsoever.

Alan said...

I think there probably are qwerty aspects to church life.

In francophone countries we have azerty keyboards - a reminder that things are different in different countries and languages

minternational said...

Can I ask what you might consider to be qwerty aspects of church life? Not that I want to put you on the spot or anything.....