Comparing worship service live (in-person), live streaming (online), and playback (of earlier live stream)

 

February 7, 2025 Symposium of Worship at Calvin University

The annual gathering of church leaders in music, preaching, as well as lay leaders held five public worship services during the 3-day proceedings in Grand Rapids, Michigan. These screenshots come from the live stream of the fifth and final in the series about the 2025 theme of parables. The recorded version is online at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nNw-dGSgZl8. The same images are bundled into a slideset, downloadable in PDF for closer viewing and readability of the subtitle text, too.

Having attended the first worship service on the Wednesday in person, now to experience the same venue on a different parable and preacher and music groups, but now via the live stream offered a good opportunity to compare these two forms of engaging in the worship rhythm and substance. Both the in-person and the live-stream contrast to the playback of the uploaded, finished recording of the worship service. So all three ways of engaging can be examined here.

LIVE STREAM: Demonstrated in the Friday final worship service, there is a risk of technical glitches (audio interference on certain frequencies) having to be fixed on the fly. Events unfold in linear sequence; there is no jumping ahead or behind the present moment of engagement. Unlike in-person, the lens and editorial decisions about which camera position to select is restricted. Viewers see what the live editing team has selected. One cannot look left or right, study one person or another, or close eyes to take in the whole.

IN-PERSON at the worship service: This is a multi-sensory presence, wrap-around immersion; of being there: temperature and seat support, light in one's eyes, sound too quiet or too loud for personal preference, surrounding sounds and 3-D sound waves filling the surfaces, and even the smell of fellow worshipers.

PLAYBACK: One can chose the time and location for playback on demand; stop and start, set playback speed and volume. One can read comments by others and add one's own in reply to others and in response to the recording itself, as well. It is possible to make note of bookmarks (time marks) to revisit later or tell others about, to scrutinize or to excerpt. At times a person might want to engage with certain segments non-linearly, jumping back and forth; like reading a book according to one's aims or habits, not necessarily non-stop from start to finish. There is also the risk of distraction, notifications intruding on screen or one's wandering attention and intention (commitment to undivided attention).

In conclusion, when it is practical to participate in-person at the scheduled time and location, that is the richest form of building memories, sparking ideas, and mingling with others. Nextmost immediate is the virtual, ghostly sense of "being there" (almost) in the online live stream. But maybe the most utilitarian and usable is the recorded version to dissect, share, compare and contrast, reflect upon and digest little by little. It can offer rich rewards, according to the effort poured into it. But for most people that is a high bar and so the in-person experience fills the mind and imagination with least effort and most vivid sources of memory.

Engaging in the moment through one's lens - reality vs. representation

 

Live at the ice piano for the 2025 World-of-Winter festival

The video version of this scene filled with cameras is online. But the freeze-frame is easier to study here. Of the 50 or 60 audience members who came to the outdoor venue in Canal Street Park in downtown Grand Rapids, perhaps 1/4 or more took out cameras (mainly camera-phones) to snap a memento photo or video clip. Maybe 10 people came with tripods or big cameras and external microphones or both in order to record broadcast quality from the evening to share with others. A few of the professional-looking photo & videographers wore lanyards with photo ID, in what looked like a press pass or other credential to do their job here, in some cases blocking the view of the audience members or getting in each other's way to get the right framing for their compositions.

     Despite the mostly quiet and courteous movements of these photographers, it did nevertheless distract from the sole focus on the piano playing and the lyrics of the songs. But so ubiquitous was the picture taking by a variety of people for a variety of reasons, that it raises the question about this phenomenon: in what ways is one's experience (and by extension, memory and the way to share memories with others) mediated by carrying a powerful device for recording sound, video, and still photographs?

Pianist at the left, photographers at the right

     On the one hand taking pictures or video, and seeing others do so, is normal and possibly even expected these days. In a few situations people are specifically requested NOT to take pictures or video (some airlines include their policy during the preflight announcements: out the window is fine, but not staff or fellow travelers as photo subjects). But on the other hand, the attention diverted to the screen and the controls reduces the person's own embrace or immersion in the moment to moment rhythm and breath of the performance as well as the space that the photographer is part of then. Of course there are hands-off recording devices ("life loggers" or POV action cameras) that do not require any intervention from the person: everything is recorded for later review and selection of relevant segments. That approach might be the best of both worlds: recording but not involving the person who carries the device.

     One way of understanding the frequent use of cellphones for video or photos is something analogous to language itself. Just as many people feel the need to put an experience into words - simple description, or maybe more extended reflection and analysis - the same may be happening visually these days: the person wants to own a fragment of the moment which they can share with others as proof of having been present, as a way to replay the moment, and perhaps to give to others who may have relevant expertise or interest, too. In other words, without articulating the experience in words or images, somehow the moment passes when new things displace it. So reaching for one's cellphone in this case is a way to hold the experience closer than merely spectating as one minute passes after another.

     In any case, the sight of cameras popping up again and again is likely to continue for a long time as more and more people get used to picture-taking for self and for seeing others doing this in formal as well as informal settings. Rather than reacting with annoyance, or the reverse, joining in with the other photographers, it makes sense to understand the several reasons why people consider the positives outnumbering the negatives when pulling out a camera in all sorts of situations that seem significant for personal, professional, or avocational reasons.

College students borrowing books then and now

DIY book lending station at Calvin University's Hekman Library

Until sometime in the 1970s library books had to be recorded on the card located inside the cover of the book before the borrower could take it outside the library. Often they took out several books at a time, so the process of stamping the due date and recording the borrower's identifying information took time and effort. Those marked cards then had to be filed so that upon return the book could be reunited with its own card. This was manual labor in the most literal meaning and required many trained student workers. 

     The next stage was to use computer punch cards so the checkout desk could insert the book's punch card into the dedicated machine that recorded the time and date of borrowing, while pairing this with the borrower's campus details. The due date was still stamped in the back of the book for quick reference by the reader to come back for renewal or to return it for circulation to other borrowers.

     After that bar codes were added to the punch cards for optical reading and registration of the book to the borrower. When the book came back to the library then its barcode could be scanned optically with something very much like the one in the photograph, above. In this way the book(s) could be tied to the borrower's ID barcode with just a blink of the light in the scanner beam. And reminders of approaching due date could be emailed to the borrower. As well, the borrower could renew the book electronically (no need to present it at the checkout desk) - if no other borrower was waiting for it.  

     Fast-forward to the February 2025 photo, above. The old ideas continue: build library collections of physical books, lend them to people with library cards, track the book's return (and its condition), and track down any books not returned in a timely way. What is different in this photo is the self-checkout station. Gone are the student hourly employees to receive the book returns and reinsert the correct lending card in the jacket. Gone are the student workers to check out the book. Of course, the books still need to be sorted for efficient reshelving by human hands. But much of the accountability and tracking now is digital and relies on borrower honesty; although, probably there are video surveillance recordings in case anybody seeks evidence of a particular book exiting the building without being scanned first.

     This photo not only shows the absence of library workers and the sign for "self-checkout computer." But also the picture shows the card catalog underneath the countertop. Each title in the collections has a typed card that corresponds to the book or pamphlet. Since a person used to be able to search by author, by title, and by call number, each title must have been filed in several different ways. Since there are unpublished documents like sermons for the campus seminary program, perhaps the old catalog is still in use for certain collections. But probably anything written since 2000 or 1990 is searchable by electronic records, instead.

All in all the photo seems to sum up the present moment in the relationship between college students and the library collections intended for their use. Some content is online instead or in addition to the printed volumes. As a result there are some students who prefer to engage with ideas on their phone, tablet, or personal computer. Others search online for notes and summaries that others have already done, thus offering a predigested impression of the title. And since 2023 the average person has access to a certain amount of Artificial Intelligence bandwidth (search time use) to produce summaries on demand. The upshot is that fewer college students are used to wandering the open stacks in the catalog classification that fits their subject area. So the chance of serendipity to find an unknown and unbidden title is lost. And with less time spent in tactile experience of pages and indexes, college students are less comfortable with flipping around the chapters, skimming and scanning with their eye for keywords or passages that may suit their research interests. 

     The upshot is that fewer books go home with students. Fewer ever leave the shelves for reading while standing or briefly at one of the study tables. Perhaps the old and new books have each other for company, but without the touch of warm human hands, they must still be feeling a bit neglected.