SSRC & the New Landscape of the Religious Blogosphere

Recently the Social Science Research Council released a report on the new landscape of the religion blogosphere that mapped an analyzed the top 100 religion blogs to look at their influence on religious discourse and the academic study of religion. Especially interesting is section 3 which discusses the shape of religion blogosphere which seek to categorize the range of blogs and their approach to religion.

Last week the SSRC asked me and several other academics to respond to the report and the question: How are new media—from blogs and social networking sites to mobile technologies and other forms of digital connection—shaping and reshaping the practice of religion? After some thought, here was my response:

More than reshaping the practice of religion, I would argue that the uptake of new media by religious practioners and the resulting forms of religion online points to larger cultural shifts at work in the practice and perception of religion in society. New media tools support networked forms of community, encourage experimentation with religious identity construction and self-presentation and promote the drawing from multiple and divergent religious sources and encounters simultaneously. This encourages an open, fluid and individualized form of religious engagement ,which compliments what many scholars have noted as a move towards “lived religion” where media resources serve as tools to help redefine religious practice contemporary life (see Pew’s Religion Among Millennial’s report). Yet this religion online is clearly intimately connected to offline religious engagement, serving as a supplement and compliment to the ways many people engage religion offline. In a recent study I found that there are a variety of motivations for religious blogging: from a desire for a more integrated online-offline religious experience, a chance to engage in new levels religious discourse, wanting to make their private spirituality public or hoping to create new spiritual networks with like minds. Blogger’s motivation were also frequently linked to their religious or theological tradition, their beliefs about religious authority, and the offline roles or positions they held within a given faith community. Thus religious blogging seems to be embedded and connected to individual’s offline practices and convictions. (see Religious Authority and the Blogosphere) So I would argue paying careful attention to religious practice and belief online is important, because it provides a forum in which to study in a nuanced way the nature and practice of religion in the global information society.

To read other scholars reflections on the report and the question posed check out this link.

Theology after Google

I am attending a very interesting conference called Theology after Google. It is not at all what I expected but I have found it to be a fascinating journey. The conference has brought together an interesting collection of "progressive techno geeks" from emerging church theolobloggers to networked social activitists and a good helping of theologians. It is one of the most wired events I have been to (so it is a shame my laptop wireless is acting up and not working at the conference site so I can't tweet and blog about it live. They have an active tweet hub going so you follow and back track on the conversation or check out the sessions today via a live stream.

The focus seems to be, as Tony Jones stated on the opening night, an attempt to kick start a conversation on exploring a "progressive populace theology in a new media world". I have found it to be an interesting ride and have been especially provoked by the skype cast lecture from Jeff Jarvis, author of What would google do? and the changes the world of web 2.0 presents to religious communities. While I am still waiting for the theological conversation to get past the level of asking questions to trying answering some of the challenges of authenticity, disembodied mediation and shifting authority with true theological based strategies (there is still today) I have learned lots from hanging out with people like Steve Knight, Barry Taylor, Craig Deitweiler and Jana Riess.

The new landscape of the religion blogosphere

The Social Science Research Council recently released an interesting report entitled The new landscape of the religion blogosphere. According to its synopsis:

This report surveys nearly 100 of the most influential blogs that contribute to an online discussion about religion in the public sphere and the academy. It places this religion blogosphere in the context of the blogosphere as a whole, maps out its contours, and presents the voices of some of the bloggers themselves. For those new to the world of blogs, there is an overview of what blogging is and represents (section 1). The already-initiated can proceed directly to the in-depth analyses of academic blogging (section 2), where religion blogs stand now, and where they may go in the future (sections 3 and 4).

Some of the key survey's respondents and noted bloggers have also been given space to respond online to the report's findings and comment specifically on how blogs and new media changing both academic and public discussions of religion. I encourage you to check this out!

We want Religion Online!

One statistic that caught my attention in the most recent Pew Internet and American life survey, is that 41% of respondents said they wished online news covered more stories on religion and spirituality. This ranked just behind the 44% who said they would like to see more on scientific news and discoveries online. So while this is just one of a number of finding in a report the primarily focuses on how the internet is effecting the news industry I find it striking that interest in religion seems to be growing or at least maintaining momentum, rather than declining as some have suggested.

Other interesting findings of the study are that in the USA the internet now ranks above newspapers and radio as American's primary news source and that the people's relationship to news is becoming portable, personalized and participatory.

For summary of the full study report see: http://pewresearch.org/pubs/1508/internet-cell-phone-users-news-social-experience

CFP for Special issue of Online – Heidelberg Internet Journal

Call for Papers : “Religions on the Internet - Aesthetics and the Dimensions of the Senses”
Special issue of Online – Heidelberg Internet Journal, due for publication in October 2010

We herewith invite scholars from Religious, Cultural, Social, Media Studies and other related disciplines to hand in proposals for possible articles which deal with questions of the aesthtics and sensual dimensions of religions and rituals on the Internet.

When we look on the various representations of religious groups and individuals on personal homepages, in weblogs, in virtual worlds or the like and when we follow their communications on religious topics online, the visual and auditive aspects of the medium seem to play a major role. Using pictures, videos, icons, as well as music and other sounds, the internet users can design a multisensual virtual environment which might implicate its own notion of ‘aesthetics’. This might be the case in e.g. a virtual Church environment which is embedded in an area with plashy waterfalls and bird sound instead of organ music or for religious groups in social networks who link to home-made Youtube videos, online games and other homepages. But we also must not forget the connection to these sensual dimensions that refer to and rely on the (offline) bodies of religious practitioners. Religions and rituals on the Internet might most probably provoke emotional or other physical reactions. Furthermore, in transfer processes between the offline and online realm there might be a redefinition of what seems to be an ‘appropriate’ design for religious settings.

As the aesthetic and sensual dimensions of religions and rituals on the internet are so far a mostly neglected area of research, we call upon theoretical and methodical reflection as well as on empiric studies referring to these topics. We are looking forward to receive the title and a short abstract (max. 250 words) of the planned article until 31st of March 2010.

Further important dates and deadlines are:
April 15th: Notification on the acceptance of your proposal by the editors
August 31st: Submission deadline for full article
September 15th: Deadline for comments, requests of revisions by the editors (if
necessary)
September 31st: Submission deadline for revised articles
November, 1st: Publication of the Online Journal

Please send your abstract to the following Email-addresses:
Simone.Heidbrink@zegk.uni-heidelberg.de
Nadja.Miczek@zegk.uni-heidelberg.de

CFP on book on Church and New Media

Call for Papers for Edited Book on CHURCH AND NEW MEDIA: PERSPECTIVES, PRACTICES AND FUTURES
Editors: Pauline Hope Cheong, Peter Fischer-Nielsen, Stefan Gelfgren and Charles Ess

Background and Rationale
This book brings together, for the first time in five years, a collection of key articles in the area of religion and the Internet, particularly as new media relates to church, mission and interfaith dialogue. In light of the increasing mediation of everyday life in many parts of the world, this book approaches online religion with a fresh perspective, to account for contemporary developments in media and spirituality, with implications for faith and other civic organizations.

Arguably, as institutionalized religions and movements rush to leverage the Web to improve their reach, religious communication on the Internet takes an increasingly significant role alongside more traditional venues for such discourse. It may be, however, that religious use associated with new media problematizes established faith rituals, and religious community building in both its conception and operationalization. Changes in the Church can also
be conceived as intertwined with a range of other forms of social and political developments, such that new media acts as an agent and practice to challenge and transform the influence and authority of the Church. Furthermore, as ³new² media is a moving target, there may be past concepts that are more able to explain the nature of church life (such as evangelical
mission and systematic theology) or new concepts that are being developed that are better able to address the diversity and complexity of contemporary social and religious life (such as the ideas of social networking, viral marketing and church branding).

This edited collection aims to address and inform such issues and debates by offering new empirical, theoretical, and theological insights into how religious life continues to transform and be transformed by these new communication technologies. Current contributors, together with the editors, include Knut Lundby, Heidi Campbell, Mark Johns and Jørgen Straarup.
We hereby invite proposals for additional chapters (particularly in the historical and theological sections as explained below) that will complement and expand upon these contributions.

Section 1: Theoretical Approaches
This section maps the range of theoretical perspectives on religion and new media. A number of different theories have proven useful for researchers and scholars ¬ but new media also challenge our theoretical frameworks and categories. How far do current theories ³work² in helping us research and understand the complex interactions between religious life and new media ¬and how far are new theoretical understandings needed? And: what might these new theoretical understandings ³look like² ¬ i.e., are new theoretical frameworks and categories available that have yet to be fully explored by scholars and researchers that can be argued to be potentially fruitful?

Section II: Historical Perspectives
This section discusses the presence and significance of historical
perspectives in church and new media research. Transformations in communication media are deeply interwoven with the history and theology of Christianity. In light of this history, how do churches respond to the continued expansion of contemporary communication media? For example, given the close correlations between distinctive forms and modalities of communication ¬ including the broad categories of orality, literacy, print, and the secondary orality/literacy of electronic media ¬ and conceptions of self, community, and institutional authority, what does this history suggest regarding the possible implications and challenges of contemporary shifts
towards new media?

Section III: Empirical Investigations
This section reports on the empirical research studies that investigate emerging media and social media practices related to the Church. Disciplines represented include but are not restricted to: sociology of religion, ethnography and online ethnography, linguistics, and the social sciences and humanities more broadly as represented within the field of computer-mediated communication. Contributions may focus on, but not restricted to, contemporary uses (successful and not so successful) of new media in the life of religious communities (local, national, international). Guiding questions for such research and studies include: Do the possibilities and affordances of new media lead to genuinely new and demonstrable impacts on the life of congregations? What factors appear to accompany whether or not a given community or institution embraces or resists specific media? What factors are at work in both successes and failures for faith believers and organizations to adopt and adapt to new media? How does religiously related new media use interact or affect the offline practices of established religious organizations?

Section IV: Theological Reflections
The last section of the book provides theological reflections on the Internet, to forward the development of a theology of the Internet which is a budding field of research. Although practical perspectives and guidelines for Internet use have been published, a more thorough theological analysis of new media is missing. The need for theological clarification is apparent
since web-enabled applications challenge churches with a number of difficult questions.

Submission Details
Please submit a 500-700 word abstract (including important and initial references) to the editors as an email attachment to no later than April 15, 2010. Authors of accepted abstracts will be notified by May 31, 2010, and will then be invited to submit a full paper to the editors. Final manuscripts should be no more than 6,500 words, including notes and references, prepared in APA style.

Important Dates:
April 15, 2010 Deadline for abstract submission
May 31, 2010 Announcement of results and full paper invitations
August 31, 2010 Submission of full papers

Inquiries should be addressed to:
Pauline Hope Cheong
Associate Professor of Communication
Hugh Downs School of Human Communication
P.O. Box 871205, Stauffer Hall 462 Tempe, AZ 85287-1205
Arizona State University
Pauline.cheong@asu.edu

Mellon Postdocs in Technology and Memory Studies

The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Program for Research in the Humanities announces a call for Andrew W. Mellon Post-Doctoral Fellowships in the Humanities 2010-2012.Though not specifically in media and religion they are open to projects that engage with History of Science/Technology and Memory Studies which relate to these areas. For details click here.

New Publications on Religion Online

I wanted to introduce readers to 3 recent publication on religion online.

Daniel Arasa, Lorenzo Cantoni & Lucio A. Ruiz (Eds.), (2010). Religious Internet Communication. Facts, Trends and Experiences in the Catholic Church, Rome: EDUSC 2010.
Religious Internet Communication. Facts, Trends and Experiences in the Catholic Church offers readers and researchers a comprehensive overview of Catholic usages of Internet communication by providing a solid review of the creativity and motivations of Church innovators who have utilized different facets of network technologies to extend the Church’s work and solidify its internal communications. The book features fifteen cases encompassing various application areas, from Vatican online communication, to that of the Italian Bishops’ Conference, up to the websites of Opus Dei and Communion and Liberation offering a better understand the richness and complexity of online Church communication.


Heidi Campbell, (2010). Religious Authority and the Blogosphere. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 15(2),pp. 251-276.
It is often argued that the internet poses a threat to traditional forms of authority. Within studies of religion online claims have also been made that the internet is affecting religious authority online, but little substantive work has backed up these claims. This paper argues for an approach to authority within online studies which looks separately at authority: roles, structures, beliefs/ideologies and texts. This approach is applied to a thematic analysis of 100 religious blogs and demonstrates that religious bloggers use their blogs to frame authority in ways that may more often affirm than challenge traditional sources of authority.


Craig Detweiler (Ed.), (2010). Halos and Avatars: Playing Video Games With God. Louisville, Ky: Westminster John Knox Press.
Detweiler brings together a group of experts to explore the spiritual and theological implications of video gaming and together they explore issues such the formation and implications of gaming communities, how gaming impacts childeren's moral fomration and how religion gets framed and contested in different gaming genres.

Haredi and the Internet

Things continue to heat up within the Israeli Haredi community with renewed debates over the internet emerging. After several months of pressure from rabbis and the rabbinical council on communication over the work of several haredi web sites, resulting in several website closing and web masters resigning, this week rabbis have deemed haredi internet kosher as long as they follow certain directive of more closely filtering/monitoring content. Issues over suitable content seem to be more about the nature of how the community and its leaders are being framed online, rather than previous rhetoric that the internet allow questionable moral content into the community.

Today reports surfaced taht Haredi women are also being given instruction on how to keep the internet safe for their families, with such discussion being noted in a Jerusalem Post article entitled Is Facebook Kosher? Advice for torah-observant women included using laptops over desktop computers in the home which can more easily be closed and stored away from families so not to pose a temptation to husbands or expose children to online content. It seems discussion of halakhic use of the internet is now being an issues ofbehavior monitoring with the onus being place on women who work at home, so that their online activities do not to become a source of temptation or religious distraction for their families.

Fellowship opportunity in NYC on The Mediation of Meaning

CrossCurrents, an international, interdisciplinary, interreligious journal of opinion and the Association for Religion and Intellectual Life invites applications to is annual research colloquium.

It allows scholars to spend the month of July in New York working on a research or writing project of your choice with access to libraries and research facilities at Columbia University, Union, Auburn, and Jewish Theological Seminaries. They are now receiving fellowship applications. Queries are welcome at any time; the application deadline is March 1, 2010.

This summer we are encouraging, among others, projects that touch upon a broad theme:
The Mediation of Meaning.

Acknowledging the force of Marshall McLuhan's famous dictum -- the medium is the message -- we invite projects that update, challenge, or problematize his thesis. Interdiciplinary work that draws upon the sciences, religion and the arts is most welcome. We also encourage applications from people outside the academy ... artist, writers, journalists, those working within the communications industry, those who have expertise in computer mediated communications technology, gaming or virtual reality. Projects do not need to be focused on the contemporary period; applicants can suggest research that explores how cultures have been shaped by communications technologies of the past.

To that end we invite applications for a fellowship that will allow you to spend a month in a collaborative learning community, diverse in race, age, gender, religion and intellectual discipline working on a project of your design.

For more information about the colloquium and how to apply click here.

Or email: Charles Henderson, Executive Editor, CrossCurrents cph@crosscurrents.org

in the social media spirit

Today the Chicago Tribune reflects on religion online "in the social media spirit" and how religious institutions are trying to extend the mission and message through blogs and websites. Using new media to encourage affiliation and build membership is not new, yet it is still interesting to reflect on how using the internet is being framed as a key social resource for groups vying for people time and mental attention in an information society.

CFP deadline coming up for iCS special issue on Religion and the Internet

Just a reminder there is only 1 week left till the CFP deadline (1 Feb 2010) for the Special Issue of Information, Communication & Society on Religion and the Internet. We are accepting paper abstracts/article proposals for a special issue dealing with the how religion online intersects with the practice of religion offline. As the call for papers states:

In the initial waves of religion and internet research focus was often placed on how the internet would drastically change religious practice and ideology, due to growth of religious communities online and integration of religious rituals and practices into digital environments. Much attention was given to the novel uses and trends such as those seen in New Religious Movements online where once fringe or secretive religious groups were given a public platform making them more visible. Focus was also placed on how mainstream religions, such as Christianity and Islam, were appropriating to new media technologies or critiquing internet use and with a particular focus on the United states and Western Europe. As the internet has become increasingly embedded in the everyday lives of many researchers attention is now being drawn to the connection between online and offline religious practice, structures and belief. Furthermore, the rise of new software and models of internet communication, often referred to as Web 2.0, has created a heightened interest in issues of user lead content creation and web based social interaction. At the heart of these developments is an important issue, considering to what degree spiritual practices online are transformative or to what extent they reflect larger changes in religious culture and institutions offline. This special issue of Information, Communication and Society seeks to explore this area by considering what we think we know about the relationship between online and offline religion and what issues are still are in need of more detailed investigation.


More details related to the CFP can be found here.

Where CD-ROMS and Torah Study come Together

While Ultra-Orthodox Groups in Israel debate over valid uses of the internet, other sectors of the Jewish community are readily appropriating new tech for religious purposes. Using computers to study Torah has become a popular and common example of this embrace include the Judaic Responsa Project and the DBS Torah CD. A recent essay in Haartz provides some detail on the thinking behind CD-ROM study aids, and talk of Jewoooogle for Torah study.

Social in the Glue of the Network: Report on social networking

Today the Economist posted a very interesting report on the state of social networking online. Global swap shops -Why Social Networking has grown so Fast does not deal with religion online, it does provide an interesting review of the current trends in social networking and the emerging "network effect" of how media audience respond to new technologies. It also makes some interesting observations about facebook being in the business of memory production and documentation. It is worth a read.

Summer School on Digital Religion. Research in Virtual 3D Environments

University of Bremen is hosting an interesting Summer School on “Digital Religion. Research in Virtual 3D Environments". The school will be held in Bremen (Germany) from July 30 to August 9th. The course is mainly addressed to graduate and postgraduate students, but undergraduates with experience in the field are also
very welcome to apply!

As a cooperation of the University of Bremen and the Jacobs-University (Bremen) the Summer course will broach the issue of the relevance of new environments like "Second Life" or "World of Warcraft" for nowadays culture and social life with special focus on rituals and religions.

Instructed by more than 10 international teachers, the participants of the Summer School will engage into the interdisciplinary study of practical methods and theoretical approaches for the scientific handling of ritual and media. The media will not only be subject to methodological, theoretical and practical research and discussion but will also serve as platform for academic exchange and teaching. After this Summer School participants will be able to design and perform research projects on religion in and within Virtual Worlds.

Ultra-orthodox rabbbis call for a boycott of community Web sites

Israeli Ultra-orthodox rabbis this week called for a boycott of community focused Web sites. This is part of an ongoing debate since 1999 when the Belz community called for a ban of the internet for religious Jews. Concern about whether or not the internet is a permissible technology for this typically closed community have been raised on a regular basis over the past decade. A fresh wave of heated debates emerged in December 2009 resulting in the resignation of several key ultra-Orthodox web masters from well known sites such as Bharedi Haredim. Current concerns seem to be about these websites making private community discussion more public and the increased ability for community member to share their opinions in ways that are perceived as being slanderous or gossiping especially to religious leaders. For more details see: Rabbis Say Web Sites Not Kosher.

Go forth and blog

Since the 1990s the Catholic church have been ready adopters of the Internet and new technologies to get their message out. This week the pope openly advocated that priests embrace blogging "to proclaim the Gospel by employing the latest generation of audiovisual resources". His message upheld the longstanding Catholic social communication tradition which sees media as "gifts from God" to be use to benefit the ministries of the Church. For more details check out the story at Pope: Go Forth and Blog.

Providing Spiritual Relief through Solar-Powered Audio Bibles

An organization called Faith Comes By Hearing is sending a unique type of technological aid to disaster victims in Haiti in the form of solar-powered Audio Bibles known as Proclaimers that can transmit the scripture in Haitian Creole to crowds of up to 300 listeners at one time. The group also offer an MP3 Bible is a collection of compressed audio files that can be uploaded to your personal computer and Biblesticks which are digital audio players that come pre-loaded with an entire Audio New Testament. The organization's aim is to use digital audio technology to disseminate bibles into the developing world. This is a unique missionary response to the current situation in Haiti.

Vatican critiques enchanting technology of Avatar

The blockbuster hit Avatar came under criticism of the Vatican over the weekend, which was slated for release in Italy this week. The consensus over the controversy seems to be that the the Church feels that the “stupefying, enchanting technology” does not make up for it's problematic messages related to nature worship, as the NYT's highlighted in its article. AP reports suggested a concerns that the audience might be seduced by the latest computer graphics and fail to decipher what it seems as a problematic spiritual message. Many reports noted the fact the Vatican described Avatar as "bland" while other bloggers and critics have highlighted racist and anti-military undertones. For those who have watched the film I would say I would agree. The movie was a 3 hour epics that was visually tantalization, and beautiful at points, especially in 3D, that left me with a digital induced headache and an empty feeling due to the thin plot. What do other thinks? Do the graphics make up for the controversy?

Day Conference on Virtualisation and Society in Edinburgh

If you find yourself in Edinburgh, Scotland next week you might be interested in a free day conference sponsored by the Church of Scotland.

The conference is on Virtualisation and Society and the aim is to reflect on how society and the Church are being impacted upon due to the rise of digital networked technologies. They have assembled an interesting panel of scholars and researchers to talk on a variety of issues related to virtuality and technology and I have been asked to speak on religion and the internet, albeit virtually via skype.

The event will be held Thursday Jan 21st and is open to the public (but you have to RSVP). For more details check this link at the CofS website.