@article {68,
	title = {Methods and Theory for Studying Religion on the Internet: Introduction to the Special Issue on Theory and Methodology},
	journal = {Heidelberg Journal of Religions on the Internet},
	volume = {1},
	year = {2005},
	month = {2005},
	abstract = {Religious Internet research is just beginning and some of these questions have provoked initial answers {\textendash} but most of the questions have stimulated even more issues with regard to substantial and methodological demands. The social aspects and consequences of religious Internet use, particularly, still have to be considered in further research. Immanent Internet research offers many new perspectives for religious studies. While traditional media like books, magazines, and television enable us to see only the supplier and the supplies on the religious market, the Internet {\textendash} as an interactive medium {\textendash} now makes it possible to be aware of the consumer{\textquoteright}s perspective as well. By observing Internet chat rooms, guest books, frequently asked questions (FAQs), and discussion forums and discussion lists (which are normally archived) on religion-related Web sites in particular, we can observe the way religious knowledge is spread in an online community in detail. We can recognize that these new processes of communication create new hierarchies among users in discussion forums. This new diffusion of ritual knowledge, which is nowadays accessible to every Internet user, also signifies changes in the traditional structure of religious communities. However, we still know very little about what people are actually doing with the ritual and religious knowledge that they gain from Internet use. Thus, on the one hand we need to discuss new methodological and theoretical approaches in Internet research but we also have to consider the shortcoming of past approaches.},
	url = {http://archiv.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/volltextserver/volltexte/2005/5822/pdf/Introduction1.pdf},
	author = {Oliver Kr{\"u}ger}
}
