Walking to get a glass of water from the hallway, I saw Georgia Baptist Convention archivist George Houston carrying a set of dusty black folders chock full of yellowing papers. Asked if he was getting rid of some old, useless stuff he corrected me in saying, "Just old."

That led to my going with Houston into the archives (conveniently, for me, located across the hall from my office) and getting a quick rundown of items donated by a career Home Mission Board-appointed police chaplain. Not having my regular camera with me, I clicked off a few shots with my phone.

At one time accepting pictures taken from a phone was... well, unacceptable. But with higher resolutions becoming the norm and online becoming the preferred option for consumers, those parameters are falling. A quick check by our designer showed my pictures were a high-enough resolution to fill most of a page in our print edition.

I've just been baptized into the world of the iPhone thanks to an unfortunate meeting of my previous phone with our kitchen floor. I'm still finding my way around, but in exploring its possibilities for journalism I've become fixated on Instagram.

Instagram is the quirky (their term, but yes, it fits) program where iPhone owners can take photos and edit with various light and color settings. More important for journalists, it's also a social network where others can follow your photos and make comments. For Android, where I lived up until about a week ago, there are similar applications such as Vignette and picplz. These apps are picking up on a seemingly nostalgia-led craze by providing filters that make your top-of-the-line, highly-technological photo appear like it came straight out of 1977.

Perhaps the closest thing to Instagram on Android is Lightbox. Until checking my account recently, I'd forgotten just how many pictures I'd placed there. In terms of sharing it actually has a leg up on Instagram by providing a link to your Google+ account.

Those are just options, though. The point is whenever there's a way to transmit pictures of an event quickly and easily - especially to social networks where more of your audience is living - it's another tool to share your story.

Taking a couple of photos in the archives with Houston, it struck me how easy it would be to use these apps to create an online photostream at an ongoing event. There's live blogging and live tweeting, why not live photoing? In addition to uploading to your photo site, you can share through various other sites such as Twitter, Facebook, and Tumblr. A photo of Houston I took was shared over Twitter as well as posted directly to The Christian Index's Facebook wall.

As for professional development, in Instagram a search through my Twitter list revealed profiles by ABC World News and The Washington Post. Reputable media outlets are already seeing the benefits of having securing a presence. Baptists aren't behind the curve on social media or photo sharing. No reason for those of us telling their stories to be.

It pains me to say this, and please don't tell anybody, but... my writing isn't perfect. Though most of my prose exists on the same plane as Shakespeare, Hemingway and Sartre - not to mention that my leads are the stuff of which Pulitzers are forged - I admit there is at least a hair's width of room for improvement.

I'm kidding of course, but there's a bit of truth in every joke. Sometimes it's tough humbling ourselves enough to realize we need to grow. No matter how much talent or experience we have, we'll never come to the place where we've so completely mastered our craft that there's nothing left to learn. That's why BCA is working to provide professional development opportunities beyond our annual workshop.

This fall we're proposing a series of "regional workshops" - mini-conferences designed to boost your skill set without taking too much time from your schedule or money from your budget. Ideally, the workshops would span an afternoon or evening and, at most, be a two- to three-hour drive from home. Possible locations include Richmond, Atlanta, Birmingham and Nashville.

But before we move too far into this planning process, we want to gauge interest from our BCA members. What are some topics you'd like to see offered? Would you prefer a workshop on a weekday or weekend? Would you come?

Send me your ideas/suggestions at don.graham3@gmail.com, or to BCA President Julie McGowan at julie.mcgowan@okbu.edu. We look forward to hearing from you.

Stay tuned... there's more to come!

Whenever The Next Big Thing in social media comes along the techie squeals of joy are almost drowned out by the groans of practically everyone else. What is another great option for staying connected and finding story resources is also seen as yet another password to remember and site post to update.

It's not hard to find online sources chronicling the growth of G+ (apparently that's the hipster shorthand). The latest social media effort by search giant Google reached 10 million users in 16 days, quite a feat when you consider the time it took Facebook (852 days) and Twitter (780) to reach that mark.

I was given an invite to G+ and have been using it a couple of weeks now. What does it offer you?

• Synchronization with other Google services. Of course, this is what the folks at Google are counting on. When on G+ the regular toolbar on your browser is replaced with a black one containing your Google services such as Gmail and Reader. I'd like to see an option where a story or blog post in my Reader can be shared easily on G+. The service is still in development. This goes back to the handing out of invites as opposed to a Wal-Mart-on-Black-Market-Friday opening. Google technicians wanted to fix snags as they showed rather than deal with an instant crush of users.
• Sharing on Facebook and Twitter. These are extensions you have to find (I always go to Mashable.), but they are out there.
• Sparks. These are news feeds out of Google News. Featured interests are available (movies, recipes, gardening) but can also search for ones more applicable to you (Southern Baptist Convention, Bible Study, Jacksonville State football).
• The Circles. We've all probably shared something on Facebook that applies to some groups more than others. Facebook has the capability to separate your friends into lists, but I'm just too far into my Facebook existence to divvy those names up. That's a lazy answer, but with the new start in G+ I've already created Circles for the Georgia Baptist Convention (where I work), Friends, Professional sources, and yes, BCA. I really like the ability to pinpoint my message. There's a Public option for posting if you want your message out for everyone.
• Hangouts This has a lot of potential. Hangouts are video chats that can host up to nine people at one time. There's a YouTube option where the chat can be recorded for later as well. I sponsored a Christian Index Hangout this week and had the cyber walls busting with... 1 attendee. Okay, but a youth minister in a rural church who also had planned on participating was foiled by a group trip to the movies. Even with a small showing, I spent a few minutes talking to the pastor on about stories coming out in the current issue of The Index and what we were working on for the next edition. At the end I asked him for feedback on story ideas he'd like to see, where he provided a couple I've now started to follow up on. I plan on holding another Hangout in a couple of weeks. Hopefully a few more pastors and even laypeople will join in.

The narrative has been G+ is seeking to take over Facebook. I don't see it that way. I'm still on Facebook and do quite a bit of work on there and Twitter because right now that's where the people are. There are several functions of G+ that are particularly useful for journalists. With its options, Google+ could definitely be a tool worth investigating.

Perhaps I've reached the age where I can now think back and remember a day when time moved slower. A time when there were five television stations that you had to get up to change, most households received a newspaper and the phone had a cord. Perhaps I'm also young enough to appreciate the changes that have been made over the years enabling more entertainment, information and conversation options.

How people communicate, relate to one another and share information has changed exponentially in my 38 years. It has happened on the back of the ever-improving technology platforms, connectivity and hardware.

It took radio 38 years to reach 50 million users and Facebook only two. The world is moving so fast that we are constantly trying to figure out how to best communicate in technologies as they grow and then wane in popularity. Due to this turnover speed, we in the communications field find our constituents spread out among numerous platforms and are left with limited time and financial resources to reach them all where and how they want to communicate.

The technological advances that make some things easier also are continuing to cost us less money. I bought my first computer in like 1995 for about $1800 (just did a quick Google search and found one for sale for $300). I remember dialing up through AOL and chatting with my next-door neighbor whom I could literally see through our facing windows. We laughed about the irony and kept on typing to one another. Today I can go to Best Buy and get a brand new computer for $279 and it will have WAY more than that old 486. My first mobile phone was a Motorola International 3200. It wouldn't fit in my pocket unless I was wearing those styling camo cargo pants of the 90s.

With technological devices becoming more accessible, they are being integrated into our daily life and society. I have texted people sitting right next to me (if you are paying attention, you may see a pattern developing). I IM with people I could just as easily yell to across the office. How is this introduction into the mainstream changing society?

Having numerous communication platforms integrated into my life (and my friends' or it would be useless) also allows me as an individual to pull in only the information I care about through RSS and personal dashboards like iGoogle. I can pull in NYT headlines, triathlon and cycling news, Seth Godin, FB and twitter feeds and others without having to wade through parts of a paper or newscast to get the info I want. While this is convenient for the end user, it is a terrific challenge to the people who are trying to spread a message or idea.

Yeah, it's difficult to be in the communications world today. So, the main issue and concern we will address at the 2012 BCA meeting is communicating at the speed of life.

Join us all as we gather in Fort Worth April 11-14, 2012 to share experiences, learn new tactics and trends and learn what industry leaders are doing and seeing as the future advances closer.

Many attending BCA in Atlanta enjoyed "shopping with a mission" Friday morning during the market set up by this year's featured mission partner, The Refugee Sewing Society of Clarkston, Ga. The generosity of BCA members totaled $659 in purchases and donations. "We are absolutely thrilled for the ladies," said Cathy Palmer, founder of the the Refugee Sewing Society. Palmer, who was unable to attend Friday, founded RSS in 2008 as a way to serve a practical need for the ladies and to share the love of Christ with them. Most are Muslim or Hindu.

The ladies, who have escaped genocide and decades of living in war-torn countries, spend a few hours each week learning to sew or make jewelry. Their earnings from the markets, such as the one during BCA, helps support their families as they adjust to life in America. They keep 80 percent of every purchase, with 20 percent covering taxes and materials.

Read more about RSS at http://refugeesewingsociety.webs.com.