TY - JOUR T1 - Mediated Conflict: Shiite Heroes Combating ISIS in Iraq and Syria JF - Communication, Culture & Critique Y1 - 2017 A1 - Al‐Rawi, Ahmed A1 - Jiwani, Yasmin AB - This article analyzes a number of Shiite media productions in Iraq in order to investigate the significance of heroism and religious symbols during a time of heightened sectarian tension. Many of the popular heroes and symbols discussed here have direct and indirect connotations that extend beyond the national boundaries of individual countries, especially since the regional sectarian conflict is very dominant. The article relies on YouTube videos and screenshots taken from a variety of sources and argues that these symbols, heroes, and media productions play an important role in propagating popular political and religious beliefs that contribute toward the solidification of a distinctly Iraqi Shiite Ummah identity whose shared values demarcate them from the rest of the society. UR - https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/cccr.12177 ER - TY - CONF T1 - Mediated Islam: Media Religion Interface in the Middle East T2 - Hamrin International Media Conference Y1 - 2009 A1 - Omair Anas KW - interface KW - Islam KW - Middle East KW - Muslim AB - Media’s secular narratives presume that media should be agent of social change directed by project of modernity. The media is supposed to take a shift from pre modern to modern, oppressive to free, from hierarchical to egalitarian, tyrannical to democratic, religious to secular and from backward to enlightened position. The European originated narratives helped western TV channels to shift their dependency from states to the markets. However Muslim societies in Arab Islamic world are not convinced with this project and media of the Muslim world remained critical to secular narratives of media, although supportive to the professional etiquettes. With these apprehensions, Arab Televisions in general and Islamic religious channels in particular have developed their own Arab Islamic narratives. With these two hypothetical boundaries of media religion interface in the Middle East, question of Islam will be main domain of inquiry in this paper. Ignoring the role of media in the Middle East, focus will be on dynamics of Islamic media. There is gap in Arab Islamic media scholarship on how Islamic programming are determined by inter Islamic rivalries. Mediation of Islam as a process continues with all complexities and reconstructs alternative narrations like Pan Islamism, Pan Arabism, and Cultural Islam etc. It requires a framework which includes region’s own cultural and religious properties. JF - Hamrin International Media Conference CY - Jönköping, Sweden UR - http://jnu.academia.edu/documents/0043/7626/Mediated_Islam_Paper.pdf ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Mapping the Landscape of Digital Petitionary Prayer as Spiritual/Social Support in Mobile, Facebook, and E-mail JF - Journal of Media and Religion Y1 - 2013 A1 - E. James Baeslera A1 - Yi-Fan Chena KW - Digital KW - digital prayers KW - God KW - mobile KW - New Media KW - petitionary prayers KW - Self KW - Traditional prayers AB - Traditional prayers can function to provide spiritual and social support for oneself and others. With social media, this support finds a new expression in digital prayers. We map the landscape of digital petitionary prayers for self and others across three different media. In survey one (n = 218), frequency of digital petitionary prayers, described by topic, relationship, place, and outcome, was highest for the mobile medium (phone and text messaging), midrange for Facebook (posting and e-mail), and lowest for traditional e-mail. A second survey (n = 116) revealed that different types and contexts for petitionary prayers are positively associated with love of self, others, and God. Suggestions for future research include investigating the quality and outcomes of petitionary prayers across private, face-to-face, and digital contexts. VL - 12 UR - http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/15348423.2013.760385#.Ulmi51Csim5 IS - 1 ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Mapping the Landscape of Digital Petitionary Prayer as Spiritual/Social Support in Mobile, Facebook, and E-mail JF - Journal of Media and Religion Y1 - 2013 A1 - E. James Baeslera A1 - Yi-Fan Chena KW - email KW - Facebook KW - mobile KW - Prayer Online AB - Traditional prayers can function to provide spiritual and social support for oneself and others. With social media, this support finds a new expression in digital prayers. We map the landscape of digital petitionary prayers for self and others across three different media. In survey one (n = 218), frequency of digital petitionary prayers, described by topic, relationship, place, and outcome, was highest for the mobile medium (phone and text messaging), midrange for Facebook (posting and e-mail), and lowest for traditional e-mail. A second survey (n = 116) revealed that different types and contexts for petitionary prayers are positively associated with love of self, others, and God. Suggestions for future research include investigating the quality and outcomes of petitionary prayers across private, face-to-face, and digital contexts. VL - 12 UR - http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/15348423.2013.760385 IS - 1 ER - TY - BOOK T1 - Media and New Religions in Japan T2 - Routledge Research in Religion, Media, and Culture Y1 - 2016 A1 - Erica Baffelli JF - Routledge Research in Religion, Media, and Culture PB - Routledge CY - London and New York SN - 0415659124 ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Muslims on the Path of the Salaf Al-Salih JF - Information, Communication & Society Y1 - 2011 A1 - Becker, Carmen AB - The transfer of religious rituals into computer-mediated environments (CMEs) has attracted the attention of scholars in recent years. This article aims to contribute to this field by analysing the ritual dynamics in Dutch and German chat rooms as well as Internet discussion forums popular among Muslims following the Salafiyya. Two questions stand in the centre of the analysis: How are rituals transferred to new CMEs? And what accounts for the varying success of transfer processes? Religious rituals are understood to be successful when they (a) reproduce the core values and norms of a community; (b) involve a significant number of believers; and (c) protect the sacred from the profane. The ritual landscape of a religion undergoes a transformation in the course of the transfer process with mixed results: some rituals like the Muslim conversion ritual migrate successfully while other transfer processes yield ambiguous results, as the discussion of the ritual acts of gender segregation shows. Furthermore, in the case of some rituals like the Muslim prayer, a migration is not even attempted, while, on the other hand, some religious practices can become increasingly ritualized in the new environment and enter the ritual repertoire of a community. This contribution argues that the diverse outcomes of ritual transfer processes are partly the result of the interplay between affordances of CMEs and the exigencies of ritual segments. UR - https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/1369118X.2011.597414 ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Mass Media and Religious Identity: A Case Study of Young Witches JF - Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion Y1 - 2009 A1 - Berger, Helen A1 - Douglas Ezzy KW - alternative religion online KW - identity KW - teen witches VL - 48 IS - 3 ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Mass media and religious identity: a case study of young witches JF - Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion Y1 - 2009 A1 - Berger, H. A1 - Ezzy, D. AB - Drawing on interviews with 90 young people who have become Witches, we explore the visual media's influence on identity formation and maintenance. Witchcraft is a late modern religion that is highly individualistic and many young people report they have become a Witch without any interaction with other Witches. The rapid growth of interest in this religion among the young since The Craft was first shown provides an important example of the mass media's role in formation of contemporary religious identity. We argue that representations of Witchcraft in the visual mass media (along with other cultural trends such as environmentalism, feminism, and individualism) and cultural resources such as books, Internet sites, and magazines provide a mediated form of social interaction that sustains the plausibility of Witchcraft as a religion. It also helps the young to develop and legitimate their beliefs and practices and develop their Witchcraft persona. VL - 48 UR - http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1468-5906.2009.01462.x/abstract IS - 3 ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Media Theology: New Communication Technologies as religious constructs, metaphors, and experiences JF - New Media and Society Y1 - 2016 A1 - Blondheim, Manaheim A1 - Rosenberg, Hananel KW - Biblical media KW - information and communication technology (ICT) KW - internet KW - media theology KW - New Media KW - religion KW - religious experience KW - science technology society (STS) AB - Recent studies have seen religious observance as inherently related to available communication technologies. This study follows this thrust but complements the focus on religious praxis with a look at media theology—the ideological dimension of the religion and media nexus. It traces three distinct facets of media theology: the way religious sensibilities affect how we create, shape, apply, and establish a relationship with media technologies; how media technologies serve as tools for grasping aspects of theology; and finally, how media use can launch mental and existential religious experiences. The study’s orientation is historical, charting the development of the relationship between media technologies and the religious mind in the Abrahamic religions from the biblical media of fire and cloud through script and electric communications and all the way to the Internet. Keywords VL - 1 UR - http://nms.sagepub.com/cgi/doi/10.1177/1461444816649915 IS - 9 ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Mapping and leveraging influencers in social media to shape corporate brand perceptions JF - Corporate Communications: An International Journal Y1 - 2011 A1 - Norman Booth A1 - Matic, J. A. AB - The emerging new influencer community is wielding significant power over the perceptions of brands and companies, largely driven by the rapid expansion of social media channels through which influencers communicate. The “nobodies” of the past are now the new “somebodies” demanding the attention of communication professionals who seek continuous engagement with targeted consumers throughout the various channels of the social web. The purpose of this paper is to present a means of identifying these new “somebodies”. UR - https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/13563281111156853/full/html ER - TY - RPRT T1 - More Than Half of Mobile Users Avoid Certain Apps Due to Privacy Concerns Y1 - 2012 A1 - Jan Lauren Boyles A1 - Aaron Smith A1 - Mary Madden KW - App KW - Privacy AB - More than half of mobile application users have uninstalled or avoided certain apps due to concerns about the way personal information is shared or collected by the app, according to a nationally representative telephone survey conducted by the Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project. JF - Privacy and Data Management on Mobile Devices PB - Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project CY - Washington, D.C. UR - http://pewinternet.org/~/media//Files/Reports/2012/PIP_MobilePrivacyManagement.pdf ER - TY - Generic T1 - Média, spiritualité et laïcité : Regards croisés franco-roumains Y1 - 2015 A1 - Bratosin, Stefan KW - France KW - laïcité KW - media KW - secularity KW - Spirituality AB - This scientific event brought together different authorities, academic institutions and political and media organizations at the Villa Noël in Bucharest to make an assessment on the sensitive questions related to religious freedom and liberty of conscience, on spirituality and secularity, full of meaning symbols, with a significant emotional and ethical charge. This book is a contribution to the public sphere debate on the secularity and the spirituality in the service of freedom considering two paradigmatic cases, two European countries: Romania – statistically the most religious country of Europe, and France – statistically the less religious country of Europe. *** Cette manifestation scientifique a réuni différentes instances, institutions et organisations académiques, politiques et médiatiques à la Villa Noël afin de dresser un bilan sur les questionnements sensibles liés à la liberté religieuse et de conscience, à la spiritualité et à la laïcité, symboles chargés de sens intellectuel, éthique et émotionnel. Les communications sont une contribution au débat concernant la prise de distance épistémologique et éthique « politiquement correct » pour une laïcité et une spiritualité au service de la liberté en considérant deux cas paradigmatiques, deux pays européens, la Roumanie et la France, dont l'un est statistiquement le plus religieux de l'Europe et l'autre le moins religieux, et qui, dans leurs espaces publics respectifs, déclinent différemment la relation entre spiritualité et laïcité. PB - Iarsic CY - Les Arcs/France SN - 978-2953245066 UR - http://iarsic.com/en/product/media-spiritualite-et-laicite-regards-croises-franco-roumains/ ER - TY - CHAP T1 - Methodological Challenges, Innovations and Growing Pains in Digital Religion Research T2 - Digital Methodologies in the Sociology of Religion Y1 - 2015 A1 - Campbell, H A1 - Altenhofen, B KW - Digital Religion JF - Digital Methodologies in the Sociology of Religion PB - Bloomsbury Publishing CY - London UR - https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/digital-methodologies-in-the-sociology-of-religion-9781472571182/ U1 - S. Cheruvallil-Contractor, S. Shakkour ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Making space for religion in internet studies JF - The Information Society Y1 - 2005 A1 - Heidi Campbell KW - CMC KW - Internet Studies KW - religion KW - religion online AB - This paper seeks to address how religion fits into the larger domain of Internet studies and why studies of religion within CMC need to be given more attention. An argument is made for the need to take religion online more seriously, not just because it is an interesting phenomena or a popular use of the Internet, but also because religion continues to be an important part of contemporary life for many people. A summary of the growth and development of religion online is presented along with an overview of how religion has been approached and studied on the Internet. This review shows what CMC studies of religion might offer in approaching research questions related to authority, identity construction and community online. It calls for recognition of the contribution and possibilities that under-represented areas within interdisciplinary research, like religion, might offer Internet studies as a whole. VL - 21 UR - http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/01972240591007625#preview IS - 4 ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Making the Internet Kosher: Orthodox (HAREDI) Jews and their Approach to the WORLD WIDE WEB JF - Masaryk University Journal of Law and Technology Y1 - 2009 A1 - Cejka, M KW - Halakha KW - Haredim KW - Judaism KW - Kosher KW - Rabbi KW - religious fundamentalism KW - Religious law KW - the Internet KW - Ultra-Orthodox Jews AB - This article surveys the approach of Orthodox Judaism – especially the Haredi (Ultra- Orthodox) Judaism – to the Internet. In the introduction we compare the approach of the Abrahamic religions to the Internet. Then we focus on the Haredi community (especially in the contemporary State of Israel) and their specific approach to the Internet. This article argues that the use of the Internet, although officially banned by many Haredi Rabbis, is in fact tolerated on a pragmatic basis. We also survey which kind of “protection against secular threads” the Haredim1 use (filtering software, Holy Shabbat protection). In the last part of this article the role of the Internet in Israeli religious politics, and by its uses by fundamentalist and radical Jewish groups, is surveyed VL - 3 UR - https://mujlt.law.muni.cz/storage/1267475339_sb_06-cejka.pdf IS - 1 ER - TY - CHAP T1 - Mediated Intercultural Communication Matters: Understanding new media, change and dialectics T2 - New Media and Intercultural Communication: Identity, Community and Politics Y1 - 2012 A1 - Cheong, P.H A1 - Macfadyen L. A1 - Martin, J. KW - community KW - New Media KW - Politics JF - New Media and Intercultural Communication: Identity, Community and Politics PB - Peter Lang CY - New York UR - http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/17513057.2011.598047#preview ER - TY - JOUR T1 - The Message of the Medium: The Challenge of the Internet to the Church and Other Communities JF - Studies in Christian Ethics Y1 - 2000 A1 - Clough, D. KW - Chrisitan KW - ethics KW - internet AB - Imagine, if you can, a small room, hexagonal in shape, like the cell of a bee. It is lighted neither by window nor by lamp, yet it is filled with a soft radiance. There are no apertures for ventilation, yet the air is fresh. There are no musical instruments, and yet, at the moment that my meditation opens, this room is throbbing with melodious sounds. An armchair is in the centre, by its side a reading-desk — that is all the furniture. And in the armchair there sits a swaddled lump of flesh — a woman, about five feet high, with a face as white as a fungus. It is to her that the little room belongs. VL - 13 UR - http://sce.sagepub.com/content/13/2/91.abstract IS - 2 ER - TY - BOOK T1 - Muslim Networks from Hajj to Hip Hop Y1 - 2005 A1 - Cooke, Miriam A1 - Lawrence, Brude KW - culture KW - hajj KW - Islam KW - Muslim AB - Crucial to understanding Islam is a recognition of the role of Muslim networks. The earliest networks were Mediterranean trade routes that quickly expanded into transregional paths for pilgrimage, scholarship, and conversion, each network complementing and reinforcing the others. This volume selects major moments and key players from the seventh century to the twenty-first that have defined Muslim networks as the building blocks for Islamic identity and social cohesion. Although neglected in scholarship, Muslim networks have been invoked in the media to portray post-9/11 terrorist groups. Here, thirteen essays provide a long view of Muslim networks, correcting both scholarly omission and political sloganeering. New faces and forces appear, raising questions never before asked. What does the fourteenth-century North African traveler Ibn Battuta have in common with the American hip hopper Mos Def? What values and practices link Muslim women meeting in Cairo, Amsterdam, and Atlanta? How has technology raised expectations about new transnational pathways that will reshape the perception of faith, politics, and gender in Islamic civilization? This book invokes the past not only to understand the present but also to reimagine the future through the prism of Muslim networks, at once the shadow and the lifeline for the umma, or global Muslim community. PB - University of North Carolina Press CY - Chapel Hill, NC ER - TY - BOOK T1 - Mission-shaped Church : church planting and fresh expressions of church in a changing context Y1 - 2004 A1 - Mission and Public Affairs Council AB - An overview of recent developments in church planting. Detailed, practical, well-researched book describes the varied and exciting "fresh expressions" of church being created. Includes questions and challenges to help local churches engage with the issues. PB - Church House CY - London UR - http://books.google.com/books?id=eRYBUM9GK3AC&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false ER - TY - CHAP T1 - The Mediation of Religious Experience in Cyberspace T2 - Religion and Cyberspace Y1 - 2005 A1 - Dawson, L. KW - cyberspace KW - Experience KW - religion AB - In the twenty-first century, religious life is increasingly moving from churches, mosques and temples onto the Internet. Today, anyone can go online and seek a new form of religious expression without ever encountering a physical place of worship, or an ordained teacher or priest. The digital age offers virtual worship, cyber-prayers and talk-boards for all of the major world faiths, as well as for pagan organisations and new religious movements. It also abounds with misinformation, religious bigotry and information terrorism. Scholars of religion need to understand the emerging forum that the web offers to religion, and the kinds of religious and social interaction that it enables. Religion and Cyberspace explores how religious individuals and groups are responding to the opportunities and challenges that cyberspace brings. It asks how religious experience is generated and enacted online, and how faith is shaped by factors such as limitless choice, lack of religious authority, and the conflict between recognised and non-recognised forms of worship. Combining case studies with the latest theory, its twelve chapters examine topics including the history of online worship, virtuality versus reality in cyberspace, religious conflict in digital contexts, and the construction of religious identity online. Focusing on key themes in this groundbreaking area, it is an ideal introduction to the fascinating questions that religion on the Internet presents. JF - Religion and Cyberspace PB - Routledge CY - London UR - http://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=KxSmkuySB28C&oi=fnd&pg=PA15&dq=The+Mediation+of+Religious+Experience+in+Cyberspace&ots=0g7zYpYFsK&sig=nJ_zWsxPo0CCr1xnmMjA9F8ILGc#v=onepage&q=The%20Mediation%20of%20Religious%20Experience%20in%20Cyberspace&f=fals ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Muslimah Media Watch: Media activism and Muslim choreographies of social change JF - Journalism Y1 - 2013 A1 - Echchaibi, Nabil AB - This article explores media activism in the Muslim context by focusing on the blog, Muslimah Media Watch. It analyzes the significance of blogging as an activist tool used by a group of Muslim women to influence an ongoing and contested process of social change in Islam. Through interviews with the founder and bloggers of the site and a textual analysis of the blog posts, the author focuses on the aesthetic forms and discursive practices of digital Muslim activism and argues that projects such as Muslimah Media Watch should be evaluated not in terms of a revolutionary subversion of hegemonic discourse on gender in Islam, but rather as part of small but consistent disruptive flows of dissent which are significant precisely because of the nature of their intervention and the tactics of their resistance. The blog has also become a prime discursive and performative space where young Muslims debate and contest what it means to be modern in transnational settings. UR - https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/1464884913478360 ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Mass higher education and the religious imagination in contemporary Arab societies JF - American Ethologist Y1 - 1992 A1 - Eickelman, D. F. AB - This article explores the relationship between the recent growth of mass higher education in the Arab Muslim world, particularly in Oman and North Africa, religious activism, and the implications of the “objectified” religious knowledge and authority that modern education encourages. Study of the new ways of knowing and the emerging networks for communication and action produced by mass higher education and contemporary religious activism offers insight into the “political economy” of religious knowledge: the interplay of religion, politics, and national identity. [Islam, Middle East, authority, religion, education] UR - https://anthrosource.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1525/ae.1992.19.4.02a00010 ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Me, myself and the other. Interreligious and intrareligious relations in neo-conservative online forums JF - Religion Y1 - 2020 A1 - Elwert, Frederik A1 - Tabti, Samira A1 - Pfahler, Lukas AB - The Internet can be a place for exchange, but also foster echo chambers of closed world views. This poses interesting questions for the possibility of interreligious dialogue online. The article examines the cases of German Evangelical and Salafist Internet forums which mainly target a specific religious denomination, but nevertheless provide spaces for contact between different religions and denominations. For the study, a combination of quantitative and qualitative text analysis is applied. Quantitative analysis makes it possible to gain an overview of the discussed themes from a large body of text and serves as a basis for sampling smaller textual units for close examination using qualitative content analysis. The analysis yields two primary results: First, intrareligious dialogue plays a particular role for the negotiation of religious identity. Second, interreligious relations reflect the societal positions of both religious groups. UR - https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/0048721X.2020.1754603?journalCode=rrel20 ER - TY - JOUR T1 - The Myth of Catholic Italy in Post-Fascist Newsreels JF - Media History Y1 - 2018 A1 - Evolvi, Giulia AB - This article analyzes how Catholicism had a central role in the identity-creation process after the War. The study employs the online archive of the national agency ‘Istituto Luce’ to analyze 261 newsreels about religion released between 1946 and 1965. The article uses (i) Benedict Anderson’s work on imagined communities and (ii) Roland Barthes’ concept of mythology as theoretical frameworks. This study indicates that the majority of newsreels presented Catholicism as intertwined with Italian politics, and as a central element of both tradition and modernity. These findings suggest that the newly formed Italian democracy used the media to emphasize certain aspects of Catholicism, while overlooking others, such as its implications with the Fascist regime. In this way, the media contributed to create a post-war myth where Catholicism represented a moral resource for the country’s leaders and citizens. This historical process contributes to explain the contemporary pervasiveness of Catholicism in Italian media. UR - https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/13688804.2016.1207510?journalCode=cmeh20 ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Materiality, Authority, and Digital Religion: The Case of a Neo-Pagan Forum JF - Entangled Religions Y1 - 2020 A1 - Evolvi, Giulia AB - The study of material culture increasingly pays attention to digital religion, but there are certain aspects, such as religious authority, that remain underresearched. Some questions are still open for inquiry: What can a material approach contribute to the understanding of religious authority in digital venues? How can authority be materially displayed on the Internet? This article shows how religious authority is affected by material practices connected with digital media use through the qualitative analysis of a NeoPagan forum, The Celtic Connection. NeoPagans tend to hold a non traditional notion of authority, accord great importance to material practices, and extensively use the Internet. The analysis of the forum suggests that NeoPagans use digital venues to look for informal sources of authority and strategies to embed materiality in online narratives. The article claims that it is important to develop new frameworks to analyze nontraditional authority figures and new definitions of media that include both physical objects and communication technologies. UR - https://www.researchgate.net/publication/342361993_Materiality_Authority_and_Digital_Religion_The_Case_of_a_NeoPagan_Forum ER - TY - JOUR T1 - The Making of contemporary papacy: manufactured charisma and Instagram JF - Information, Communication & Society Y1 - 2019 A1 - Golan, Oren A1 - Martini, Michele AB - Recent research highlights the growth of alternative religious leadership on a global scale. In response, social media have emerged as platforms to compete for religious primacy. Accordingly, the study asks how is online religious authority constructed, re-affirmed and implemented by religious organizations? We contend that through online means, religious organizations are nowadays working to construct a public image to spark charismatic attraction towards institutional leaders. To investigate, we developed a grounded study that captured the full Instagram production of Pope Francis’ official account (429 images). Drawing on construal theory, findings demonstrated the strategic management of social, spatial, affective and hypothetical distance, simultaneously corresponding with uncovered facets: hierarchical positioning; geographical locales, haptic engagement, and leaders’ visual focus. Thus, we suggest introducing a concept of image-mediated-charisma, and its theoretical framing through digital distance. Concepts that were observed in the religious realm yet can be extended and applied to political or cultural leaders. UR - https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/1369118X.2019.1567803 ER - TY - RPRT T1 - More Americans Are Seeking Net-Based Faith Experiences Y1 - 2001 A1 - Barna Research Group KW - Americans KW - Faith KW - internet AB - You can buy books on the Internet, strike up relationships on the Internet and a growing proportion of the population are experiencing God in cyberspace, as well. A new study released by the Barna Research Group, of Ventura, California, indicates that among the growing number of Americans who use the Internet, millions are turning to the digital dimension to get them in touch with God and others who pursue faith matters. The report projects that within this decade as many as 50 million individuals may rely solely upon the Internet to provide all of their faith-based experiences. Among the findings of the studies described in the report is that born again and evangelical Christians are every bit as likely as non-Christians to use the digital superhighway. Catholics and mainline Protestants are slightly more likely to use the Internet than are Baptists and Protestants who attend non-mainline churches. Adults who are affiliated with a faith group other than Christianity have one of the highest concentrations of Net usage (85%). Adults use the Internet for a wide variety of activities, regardless of their faith commitments. The most universal value of the Internet is to find information, but other common uses include maintaining existing relationships, buying products, and previewing new media. JF - Barna Research Online ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Mediated Martyrs of the Arab Spring: New Media, Civil Religion, and Narrative in Tunisia and Egypt JF - Journal of Communication Y1 - 2013 A1 - Jeffry R. Halverson A1 - Scott W. Ruston A1 - Angela Trethewey KW - Civil Religion KW - Egypt KW - martyr narratives KW - Narrative KW - New Media KW - political change KW - Tunisia KW - virtual reliquaries AB - This article analyzes the emergence of nationalist martyr narratives and their dissemination via new media as forces for social mobilization and political change. Situating them in the religio-historical contexts of North Africa, we trace martyr narratives in Tunisia and Egypt back to pre-Islamic periods and compare them to the contemporary stories of Mohamed Bouazizi and Khaled Saeed. This reveals the impact of new media on the region, evident in “virtual reliquaries,” and the role that martyr narratives play as catalysts in social mobilization. The trajectory of the martyr narrative from the traditional religious context to the state-driven concept of civil religion allows for the political dimension of narratives resident within the religious context to surface in the contemporary discursive moment. VL - 63 UR - http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/jcom.12017/abstract;jsessionid=E24465C217B6F163E3838A3BAC3882B9.f01t01?deniedAccessCustomisedMessage=&userIsAuthenticated=false IS - 2 ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Mediated Martyrs of the Arab Spring: New Media, Civil Religion, and Narrative in Tunisia and Egypt JF - Journal of Communication Y1 - 2013 A1 - Jeffry R. Halverson A1 - Scott W. Ruston A1 - Angela Trethewey KW - Arab Spring KW - Civil Religion KW - Contemporary Religious Community KW - Mediated Martyrs KW - Narrative KW - network KW - New Media and Society KW - new media engagement KW - New Technology and Society KW - online communication AB - This article analyzes the emergence of nationalist martyr narratives and their dissemination via new media as forces for social mobilization and political change. Situating them in the religio-historical contexts of North Africa, we trace martyr narratives in Tunisia and Egypt back to pre-Islamic periods and compare them to the contemporary stories of Mohamed Bouazizi and Khaled Saeed. This reveals the impact of new media on the region, evident in “virtual reliquaries,” and the role that martyr narratives play as catalysts in social mobilization. The trajectory of the martyr narrative from the traditional religious context to the state-driven concept of civil religion allows for the political dimension of narratives resident within the religious context to surface in the contemporary discursive moment. VL - 63 UR - http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/jcom.12017/abstract?deniedAccessCustomisedMessage=&userIsAuthenticated=false IS - 2 ER - TY - JOUR T1 - The mediatisation of religion: Theorising religion, media and social change JF - Culture and Religion Y1 - 2011 A1 - Hjarvard, Stig AB - Drawing on recent advances in mediatisation theory, the article presents a theoretical framework for understanding the increased interplay between religion and media. The media have become an important, if not primary, source of information about religious issues, and religious information and experiences become moulded according to the demands of popular media genres. As a cultural and social environment, the media have taken over many of the cultural and social functions of the institutionalised religions and provide spiritual guidance, moral orientation, ritual passages and a sense of community and belonging. Furthermore, the article considers the relationship between mediatisation and secularisation at three levels: society, organisation and individual. At the level of society, mediatisation is an integral part of secularisation. At the level of organisation and the individual, mediatisation may both encourage secular practices and beliefs and invite religious imaginations typically of a more subjectivised nature. UR - https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/14755610.2011.579719 ER - TY - BOOK T1 - The Mediatization of Culture and Society Y1 - 2013 A1 - Hjarvard, Stig AB - Mediatization has emerged as a key concept to reconsider old, yet fundamental questions about the role and influence of media in culture and society. In particular the theory of mediatization has proved fruitful for the analysis of how media spread to, become intertwined with, and influence other social institutions and cultural phenomena like politics, play and religion. PB - Routledge SN - 9780415692373 UR - https://www.routledge.com/The-Mediatization-of-Culture-and-Society/Hjarvard/p/book/9780415692373 ER - TY - BOOK T1 - The media and religious authority Y1 - 2016 A1 - Hoover, S AB - As the availability and use of media platforms continue to expand, the cultural visibility of religion is on the rise, leading to questions about religious authority: Where does it come from? How is it established? What might be changing it? The contributors to The Media and Religious Authority examine the ways in which new centers of power and influence are emerging as religions seek to “brand” themselves in the media age. Putting their in-depth, incisive studies of particular instances of media production and reception in Asia, Africa, Latin America, and North America into conversation with one another, the volume explores how evolving mediations of religion in various places affect the prospects, aspirations, and durability of religious authority across the globe. An insightful combination of theoretical groundwork and individual case studies, The Media and Religious Authority invites us to rethink the relationships among the media, religion, and culture. PB - Pennsylvania State University CY - University Park, PA UR - https://www.psupress.org/books/titles/978-0-271-07322-4.html ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Media and the imagination of religion in contemporary global culture JF - European Journal of Cultural Studies Y1 - 2011 A1 - Hoover, Stewart M. AB - This article argues for an invigorated scholarship of religion within cultural studies. It suggests that this is justified both on its own terms and because there is evidence that the interaction of media and religion is creating entirely new forms of the religious in contemporary public life. Religion persists in history, but it persists in part because of its mediation and this persistent, mediated religion constitutes a new evolution. The article presents a range of contexts where this can be seen to be happening, not least those contexts most involved in contemporary cultural globalization. UR - https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/1367549411419980 ER - TY - BOOK T1 - Mass Media Religion: The Social Sources of the Electronic Church Y1 - 1988 A1 - Hoover, Stewart AB - Mass Media Religion considers and explores the implications of the evergrowing religious broadcasting media in terms of their social and political contexts. The author reviews both the historical origins of fundamentalist and neo-evangelical responses to the crisis of modernity and the historical development of the electronic church. He includes a series of interviews with representative viewers, discussing their beliefs, experiences, worldviews, and the role electronic religion plays in other aspects of their lives. Finally, the development of the electronic church in its wider context and its implications for American culture in general are considered. PB - SAGE Publications, Incorporated UR - https://www.colorado.edu/cmrc/1988/11/01/mass-media-religion-social-sources-electronic-church ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Media, Public Scholarship and Religious Controversy: Notes from Trump’s America JF - journal of religion in Europe Y1 - 2019 A1 - Hoover, Stewart M AB - The persistence of religion in the twenty-first century has renewed the importance of scholarships devoted to it. At the same time, the digital age has re-positioned and recentered the affordances of mediated circulations around "the religious." This increasing presence and significance of media and religion suggests that substantive scholarships of religion must necessarily articulate media as well. Religious controversies therefore present a special challenge and a special opportunity to scholarships of media and religion. New ways of doing scholarship, and doing so publicly, present themselves. All scholarships of mediated religion must necessarily be public, so scholarship is articulated into these circulations, and at the same time can build on and benefit from knowledge-building that occurs outside the formal boundaries of the academy. This paper explores emerging theories of digital mediation and proposes a circulation-focused understanding of the role, place, and potentials of scholarships today. UR - https://brill.com/view/journals/rmdc/8/1/article-p153_153.xml?language=en ER - TY - BOOK T1 - The Media and Religious Authority Y1 - 2016 A1 - Hoover, Stewart M AB - As the availability and use of media platforms continue to expand, the cultural visibility of religion is on the rise, leading to questions about religious authority: Where does it come from? How is it established? What might be changing it? The contributors to The Media and Religious Authority examine the ways in which new centers of power and influence are emerging as religions seek to “brand” themselves in the media age. Putting their in-depth, incisive studies of particular instances of media production and reception in Asia, Africa, Latin America, and North America into conversation with one another, the volume explores how evolving mediations of religion in various places affect the prospects, aspirations, and durability of religious authority across the globe. PB - Penn State University Press UR - https://www.psupress.org/books/titles/978-0-271-07322-4.html ER - TY - BOOK T1 - Media, Home and Family T2 - Routledge Y1 - 2003 A1 - Hoover, Stewart M. A1 - Clark, Lynn Schofield A1 - Alters, Diane F. AB - Based on extensive fieldwork, this book examines how parents make decisions regulating media use, and how media practices define contemporary family life. JF - Routledge UR - https://www.routledge.com/Media-Home-and-Family/Hoover-Clark-Alters/p/book/9780415969178 ER - TY - JOUR T1 - A mediated religion: historical perspectives on Christianity and the Internet JF - Studies in World Christianity Y1 - 2007 A1 - Horsfield, P. G. A1 - Teusner, P. KW - Christianity KW - media KW - religion VL - 13 UR - http://www.euppublishing.com/doi/abs/10.3366/swc.2007.13.3.278 IS - 3 ER - TY - JOUR T1 - A Mediated Religion: Historical perspectives on Christianity and the Internet JF - Studies in World Christianity Y1 - 2007 A1 - Horsfield, P A1 - Teusner, P. KW - Christianity KW - history KW - internet and religion KW - media VL - 13 UR - http://www.euppublishing.com/doi/abs/10.3366/swc.2007.13.3.278 IS - 3 ER - TY - CHAP T1 - The media and religious authority from ancient to modern T2 - The Media and Religious Authority Y1 - 2016 A1 - Horsfield, P JF - The Media and Religious Authority PB - Pennsylvania University Press. CY - University Park, PA UR - https://muse.jhu.edu/book/58768 ER - TY - CHAP T1 - Media T2 - Theorizing Rituals: Issues, Topics, Approaches, Concepts Y1 - 2006 A1 - Hughes-Freeland, F. JF - Theorizing Rituals: Issues, Topics, Approaches, Concepts PB - Brill CY - Leiden UR - http://books.google.com/books/about/Theorizing_Rituals_Issues_topics_approac.html?id=f4nZAAAAMAAJ ER - TY - BOOK T1 - Materiality and the Study of Religion: The Stuff of the Sacred Y1 - 2016 A1 - Hutchings, Tim A1 - McKenzie, Joanne AB - Material culture has emerged in recent decades as a significant theoretical concern for the study of religion. This book contributes to and evaluates this material turn, presenting thirteen chapters of new empirical research and theoretical reflection from some of the leading international scholars of material religion. Following a model for material analysis proposed in the first chapter by David Morgan, the contributors trace the life cycle of religious materiality through three phases: the production of religious objects, their classification as religious (or non-religious), and their circulation and use in material culture. The chapters in this volume consider how objects become and cease to be sacred, how materiality can be used to contest access to public space and resources, and how religion is embodied and performed by individuals in their everyday lives. Contributors discuss the significance of the materiality of religion across different religious traditions and diverse geographical regions, paying close attention to gender, age, ethnicity, memory and politics. The volume closes with an afterword by Manuel Vásquez. PB - Routledge SN - 9781138599932 UR - https://www.routledge.com/Materiality-and-the-Study-of-Religion-The-Stuff-of-the-Sacred/Hutchings-McKenzie/p/book/9781138599932 ER - TY - RPRT T1 - Message of the Holy Father for the 36TH World Communications Day -- Internet: A New Forum for Proclaiming the Gospel Y1 - 2002 A1 - Pope John Paul II UR - http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/john_paul_ii/messages/communications/documents/hf_jp-ii_mes_20020122_world-communications-day_en.html ER - TY - RPRT T1 - Message of the Holy Father for the XXIV World Communications Day: The christian message in a computer culture Y1 - 1990 A1 - Pope John Paul II UR - ER - TY - JOUR T1 - My iPod, My iCon: How and Why Do Images Become Icons? JF - Critical Studies in Media Communication Y1 - 2008 A1 - Eric Jenkins KW - Cult Value KW - Icons KW - Ipod KW - Symbolic Realism KW - Visual Rhetoric AB - This paper engages the cultic following of Apple computer through an examination of their brand image, here represented by the famous iPod silhouette commercials. I argue that Apple employs the techniques of the Orthodox icon, constructing a mode of seeing known as symbolical realism. This mode cues the reader to see with their divine eye, recognizing neither a realistic portrayal of an actual event nor a symbolic representation. Instead, the viewer sees the advertisements as a hypostasis of the immersion in music. This mode of seeing deflects attention from Apple's ideological gain and invites viewer participation in a cult celebrating the immersive experience. In short, the ads construct a visual enthymeme whose missing element is the user. By participating in the ritual of seeing through symbolic realism and thereby completing the enthymeme, the iPod is transformed into my iCon, bestowing the commodity, and by extension the corporation, with cult value. VL - 25 UR - http://www.informaworld.com/smpp/content~content=a904854783~db=all~jumptype=rss ER - TY - CHAP T1 - Mediatized lives: Autobiography and assumed authenticity in digital storytelling T2 - Digital Storytelling, Mediatized Stories. Self-representations in New Media Y1 - 2009 A1 - Kaare, H. A1 - Lundby, K. AB - Recent years have seen amateur personal stories, focusing on «me, flourish on social networking sites and in digital storytelling workshops. The resulting digital stories could be called «mediatized stories. This book deals with these self-representational stories, aiming to understand the transformations in the age-old practice of storytelling that have become possible with the new, digital media. Its approach is interdisciplinary, exploring how the mediation or mediatization processes of digital storytelling can be grasped and offering a sociological perspective of media studies and a socio-cultural take of the educational sciences. Aesthetic and literary perspectives on narration as well as questioning from an informatics perspective are also included. JF - Digital Storytelling, Mediatized Stories. Self-representations in New Media PB - Peter Lang CY - New York UR - http://books.google.com/books?id=Sl_WM0tVV84C&pg=PA105&lpg=PA105&dq=Mediatized+lives:+Autobiography+and+assumed+authenticity+in+digital+storytelling&source=bl&ots=MgExXTBiye&sig=V2Ms-GgkRzw5k6TU_M7KUE8h3kk&hl=en&sa=X&ei=06stT9TXCaaLsQLYndzGDg&ved=0CC0Q6AE U1 - Lundby, K. ER - TY - CONF T1 - Marketing of Religion in Cyberspace T2 - Australian and New Zealand Marketing Academy Conference Proceedings Y1 - 2003 A1 - Sudhir Kale A1 - Rajeev Kamineni AB - The Internet has begun to play a significant role in people’s lives, albeit in the lives of people living on the ‘right’ side of the digital divide. Yet, the nexus between religion and the Internet has seldom been discussed in the marketing context. This paper investigates the effect of the Internet on how people use the new technology to fulfill their spiritual and religious needs. The marketing implications of this nascent but widely spreading phenomenon are discussed since this trend has a significant impact on the providers of spiritual and religious services. JF - Australian and New Zealand Marketing Academy Conference Proceedings UR - http://smib.vuw.ac.nz:8081/WWW/ANZMAC2003/papers/CON04_kales.pdf ER - TY - BOOK T1 - The Media World of ISIS Y1 - 2019 A1 - Krona, Michael A1 - Pennington, Rosemary AB - From efficient instructions on how to kill civilians to horrifying videos of beheadings, no terrorist organization has more comprehensively weaponized social media than ISIS. Its strategic, multiplatformed campaign is so effective that it has ensured global news coverage and inspired hundreds of young people around the world to abandon their lives and their countries to join a foreign war. The Media World of ISIS explores the characteristics, mission, and tactics of the organization's use of media and propaganda. Contributors consider how ISIS's media strategies imitate activist tactics, legitimize its self-declared caliphate, and exploit narratives of suffering and imprisonment as propaganda to inspire followers. Using a variety of methods, contributors explore the appeal of ISIS to Westerners, the worldview made apparent in its doctrine, and suggestions for counteracting the organization's approaches. Its highly developed, targeted, and effective media campaign has helped make ISIS one of the most recognized terrorism networks in the world. Gaining a comprehensive understanding of its strategies―what worked and why―will help combat the new realities of terrorism in the 21st century. PB - Indiana University Press UR - https://www.amazon.com/Media-World-Indiana-Middle-Studies/dp/0253045916 ER - TY - CHAP T1 - Media logic and the mediatization approach: A good partnership, a mésalliance, or a misunderstanding? T2 - Media logic(s) revisited. Transforming communications—Studies in cross-media research Y1 - 2018 A1 - Krotz, F. JF - Media logic(s) revisited. Transforming communications—Studies in cross-media research PB - Palgrave Macmillan CY - London ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Methods and Theory for Studying Religion on the Internet: Introduction to the Special Issue on Theory and Methodology JF - Heidelberg Journal of Religions on the Internet Y1 - 2005 A1 - Oliver Krüger AB - Religious Internet research is just beginning and some of these questions have provoked initial answers – 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 – as an interactive medium – now makes it possible to be aware of the consumer’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. VL - 1 UR - http://archiv.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/volltextserver/volltexte/2005/5822/pdf/Introduction1.pdf ER - TY - CHAP T1 - Media and religion: Bridging ‘incompatible agendas’ T2 - Foundations and Futures in the Sociology of Religion Y1 - 2018 A1 - Lövheim, M KW - media KW - religion AB - This chapter addresses the challenge of finding adequate theories for understanding the growing complexity of the religious situation in Europe and the rest of the world through discussing the insights that can be gained through engagement with theories of the role of media in contemporary society. Various forms of media have become pivotal arenas for the new visibility of religion in Europe. While sociologists of religion are becoming more sensitive to these developments, they continue to lack the conceptual tools to adequately analyse what this means for the role and presence of religion in contemporary society. Following Grace Davie’s (2000) exploration of the incompatible agendas between sociologists of religion on the one hand and media scholars on the other, the aim of this chapter will be to highlight the changes currently taking place and the emerging potential for closer dialogue between these two factions in the future. JF - Foundations and Futures in the Sociology of Religion PB - Routledge CY - London UR - https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/e/9781351607391 U1 - Luke Doggett, Alp Arat ER - TY - JOUR T1 - The mediatisation of religion debate: an introduction JF - Culture and Religion  Y1 - 2011 A1 - Lövheim, M A1 - Lynch, G KW - mediatisation KW - religion AB - Within the growing literature on religion and media, a more specific debate has recently developed in relation to the mediatisation of religion. The Danish scholar, Stig Hjarvard, has undertaken leading work in articulating a detailed theory of the mediatisation of religion, arguing that contemporary religion is increasingly mediated through secular, autonomous media institutions and is shaped according to the logics of those media. This special issue is the first extended discussion of Hjarvard's thesis by researchers working across different disciplines and areas of study. This introduction sets out the background and key concepts for this debate, discusses why the mediatisation of religion debate is important for sociological and cultural understandings of contemporary religion, and provides a brief summary of the arguments of the individual articles within this collection. VL - 12 UR - https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/14755610.2011.579715 IS - 2 ER - TY - JOUR T1 - The Mediatized Conditions of Contemporary Religion: Critical Status and Future Directions JF - Journal of Religion, Media and Digital Culture Y1 - 2019 A1 - Lövheim, Mia A1 - Hjarvard, Stig AB - During the last decade the framework of mediatization theory has been introduced in the field of media, religion and culture as a parallel perspective to the “mediation of religion” approach, allowing new questions to be posed that align with religious change within Europe. This article provides a critical review of existing research applying mediatization of religion theory, focusing on key issues raised by its critics as well as how the theory have moved the research field forward. These issues concern the concept of religion, institution and social change, religious authority, and the application of mediatization theory outside the North-Western European context where it originated. The article argues that an institutional approach to mediatization is a relevant tool for analyzing change as a dynamic process in which the logics of particular forms of media influence practices, values and relations within particular manifestations of religion across various levels of analysis. UR - https://brill.com/view/journals/rmdc/8/2/article-p206_206.xml?language=en ER - TY - BOOK T1 - Media, Religion and Gender: Key Issues and New Challenges Y1 - 2013 A1 - Lövheim, Mia AB - Media, Religion and Gender presents a selection of eminent current scholarship that explores the role gender plays when religion, media use and values in contemporary society interact. The book: surveys the development of research on media, religion and culture through the lens of key theoretical and methodological issues and debates within gender studies. includes case studies drawn from a variety of countries and contexts to illustrate the range of issues, theoretical perspectives and empirical material involved in current work outlines new areas and reflects on challenges for the future. Students of media, religion and gender at advanced level will find this a valuable resource, as will scholars and researchers working in this important and growing field. PB - Routledge UR - https://www.routledge.com/Media-Religion-and-Gender-Key-Issues-and-New-Challenges/Lovheim/p/book/9780415504737 ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Mediatization: analyzing transformations of religion from a gender perspective JF - Media, Culture & Society Y1 - 2016 A1 - Lövheim, M KW - GENDER KW - mediatization KW - public sphere KW - religion AB - This book presents new research on the changing relationship between the media, religion and culture from a Nordic perspective, while engaging with the theory of the mediatization of religion. In contemporary society, news journalism, film and television series, as well as new digital media, provide critical commentary on religion while also enabling new forms of religious imagery and interaction. Religious leaders, communities and individuals reflexively negotiate their presence within this new mediatized reality. In an increasingly globalized Nordic context, the media have also come to play an important role in the performance of both individual and social identities, and in the representation and development of social and religious conflicts. Through empirical analysis and theoretical discussions, scholars from film and media studies, the sociology of religion, and theology contribute to the development of the theory of the mediatization of religion as well as to the broader research field of media, religion and culture. VL - 38 UR - http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0163443715615411?journalCode=mcsa IS - 1 ER - TY - BOOK T1 - Mediatization of Communication Y1 - 2014 A1 - Lundby, Knut AB - This handbook on Mediatization of Communication uncovers the interrelation between media changes and changes in culture and society. This is essential to understand contemporary trends and transformations. "Mediatization" characterizes changes in practices, cultures and institutions in media-saturated societies, thus denoting transformations of these societies themselves.This volume offers 31 contributions by leading media and communication scholars from the humanities and social sciences, with different approaches to mediatization of communication. The chapters span from how mediatization meets climate change and contribute to globalization to questions on life and death in mediatized settings.The book deals with mass media as well as communication with networked, digital media. The topic of this volume makes a valuable contribution to the understanding of contemporary processes of social, cultural and political changes.The handbook provides the reader with the most currentstate of mediatization research. PB - De Gruyter Mouton UR - https://books.google.com/books/about/Mediatization_of_Communication.html?id=JnKWoAEACAAJ ER - TY - CHAP T1 - Media and transformations of religion T2 - Religion across Media: From Early Antiquity to Late Modernity Y1 - 2013 A1 - Lundby, K KW - media KW - religion JF - Religion across Media: From Early Antiquity to Late Modernity PB - Peter Lang CY - New York UR - https://books.google.com/books/about/Religion_Across_Media.html?id=6yDUngEACAAJ U1 - K Lundby ER - TY - BOOK T1 - Mashup Religion: Pop Music and Theological Invention Y1 - 2011 A1 - John S. McClure KW - artists KW - digital audio KW - digital media KW - Popular music KW - religious life KW - singers KW - songwriters KW - Theological Invention KW - theology KW - traditional communities AB - Popular music artists are intentionally unoriginal. Pop producers find their inspiration by sampling across traditions and genres; remix artists compose a pastiche of the latest hits. These"mashup"artists stretch the boundaries of creativity by freely intermingling old sounds and melodies with the newest technologies. Using this phenomenon in contemporary music-making as a metaphor, John McClure encourages the invention of new theological ideas by creating a mashup of the traditional and the novel. What emerges are engaging ways of communicating that thrive at the intersection of religion and popular culture yet keep alive the deepest of theological truths. PB - Baylor University Press CY - Waco, TX UR - http://muse.jhu.edu/books/9781602583580 ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Mediation or mediatisation: The history of media in the study of religion JF - Culture and Religion Y1 - 2011 A1 - Morgan, David AB - Several different accounts of ‘mediatisation’ and ‘mediation’ circulate in the literature of media studies. This paper begins with a parsing of them, considering their conceptual distinctions and similarities. The argument developed here is for a general theory of mediation and a more particular view of mediatisation. Although developing a critical assessment of a prevailing notion of mediatisation, the paper does not dismiss it, but regards it as exhibiting a limited usefulness. In order to make its case, the paper relies on the case study of Evangelical ephemeral print in Britain circa 1800, examining the production and circulation of tracts in order to show that arguments for mediatisation need to be strongly qualified by historical evidence. Greater reliance on historical precedents will strengthen studies of mediatisation by chastening the often exorbitant and ahistorical claims made for it. UR - https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/14755610.2011.579716 ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Muslim Political Activism or Political Activism by Muslims? Secular and Religious Identities Amongst Muslim Arab Activists in the United States and United Kingdom JF - Identities Y1 - 2011 A1 - Nagel, Caroline   R. A1 - Staeheli, Lynn   A. AB - Scholarship on Muslim political mobilisation in the West has developed as an important counterpoint to public discourse, which has tended to cast Muslims as a threat to social cohesion, liberal democracy, and national security. But even as scholarly literature has shed light on civic participation among Muslims, it has sidelined the diversity of political identities and values that motivate them. Most, if not all, Muslims in the West find their identities politicised in some way, but the question of whether this leads to a consensus amongst Muslims about the role of religion in public life often remains unexamined. In this article we draw on interviews with seventy-eight activists in Britain and the United States who are both Muslim and Arab to complicate ideas about the political mobilisation of Muslims in the West. Respondents, we show, are far from unified in their views on religion as a basis for political action and mobilisation. Some are keen to place Islam squarely in mainstream political spaces; most, however, are insistent that Islam should remain a private faith and identity and that political mobilisation should take place under the aegis of Arabness or other ‘secular’ identities. Using theoretical perspectives on the public sphere, we explain the complexity of our respondents' political identities and activism. Our overall aim is to broaden perspectives on the ways in which people from Muslim backgrounds participate in public, political life in Western contexts. UR - https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/1070289X.2011.656068 ER - TY - BOOK T1 - Media, Religion and Gender: Key Issues and New Challenges Y1 - 2014 A1 - Mia L övheim AB - Media, Religion and Gender presents a selection of eminent current scholarship that explores the role gender plays when religion, media use and values in contemporary society interact. The book: surveys the development of research on media, religion and culture through the lens of key theoretical and methodological issues and debates within gender studies. includes case studies drawn from a variety of countries and contexts to illustrate the range of issues, theoretical perspectives and empirical material involved in current work outlines new areas and reflects on challenges for the future. Students of media, religion and gender at advanced level will find this a valuable resource, as will scholars and researchers working in this important and growing field. PB - Routledge UR - https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0891243214524301 ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Miracles or Love? How Religious Leaders Communicate Trustworthiness through the Web JF - Journal of Religion and Popular Culture Y1 - 2004 A1 - Pace, Stefano KW - Communication KW - Love KW - religion AB - A religious organization should communicate trustworthiness by attempting correctly to interpret its message and by recruiting new members. Modern communication involves new means of communication like the Internet, which has become an important medium capable of spreading a complex message to a large audience. Religious movements are a growing social and organizational force that employ modern communication methods and criteria. This paper addresses the convergence of religious communication and the Internet, by focusing on trust, a fundamental element of any type of communication, especially of a religious kind. Two main drivers can elicit trust: capabilities (the skill to realize what is promised) and benevolence (the lack of any opportunistic or egoistic goal). This paper employs the content analysis method to analyze the biographies of religious leaders posted on the their official web-sites, in order to verify the existence of these two trust drivers, i.e., leader’s capabilities and benevolence. The results demonstrate the different stress placed on each. UR - http://www.usask.ca/relst/jrpc/art7-miraclesorlove.html ER - TY - JOUR T1 - "Making MOOsic”: the development of personal relationships online and a comparison to their offline counterparts JF - Journal of Social and Personal Relationships Y1 - 1998 A1 - Parks, M. R. A1 - Roberts, L. D. AB - Despite the rapid development of the Internet over the past decade and the associated media hyperbole about cyberspace relationships, there is a paucity of systematic research examining the prevalence, type and development of personal relationships in on-line settings. This research examines relational topography in real-time text-based virtual environments known as MOOs (Multi-User Dimensions, Object Oriented). Current users of MOOs (235) completed a survey on MOO relationships, with 155 also completing a survey on offline relationships. Almost all survey respondents (93.6%) had formed ongoing personal relationships on MOOs. The most commonly reported types of relationships were close friendships, friendships and romances. The majority of relationships formed (83.6%) was with members of the opposite sex. Levels of relational development (interdependence, depth, breadth, code change, commitment, predictability/understanding, network convergence) were typically moderate to high. Most relationships had migrated to other virtual environments, and a third had resulted in face-to-face meetings. On average, MOO relationships were found to be more developed than newsgroup relationships, but less developed than off-line relationships. It was concluded that MOOs provide an inherently social and powerful context for the formation of personal relationships, many of which will transfer to other settings. VL - 15 UR - http://spr.sagepub.com/content/15/4/517.abstract IS - 4 ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Mediatisation of Catholicism in Croatia: A Networked Religion? JF - Revija za sociologiju Y1 - 2017 A1 - Pavić, Z A1 - Kurbanović, F A1 - Levak, T KW - Catholicism KW - Croatia KW - mediatisation KW - networked religion KW - religion AB - This paper deals with the topic of mediatisation of religion. It is seen as a process wherein the structural logic and communicative characteristics of the media play a significant role in religious communication, thus exerting an influence on the success of the transmission of such messages and on religion as a whole. Consequently, it is argued that contemporary social transformations of religion cannot be properly analysed and understood without the acknowledgement of the increasing mediatisation of religion and its effects. Having in mind the overarching importance of the Internet as a communication platform, the authors investigated whether the Internet presence of Catholicism in Croatia can be identified as a networked religion with its main components (networked communities, storied identities, shifting authority, convergent practice and multisite reality). Media content analysis using a sample (N = 200) of various categories of Catholic websites and Facebook pages was employed. Even though noteworthy differences were found between the sites affiliated, semi-affiliated and non-affiliated with the Catholic Church in Croatia, as well as between such websites and Facebook pages, the findings suggest that in the case of Catholicism in Croatia, Internet religious communication bears close connections to the offline world, does not challenge formal religious authorities, nor does it lead to new interpretations of religious doctrines and texts. The authors concluded that the Internet presence of Catholicism in Croatia leads to the re-affirmation and deepening of the existing forms of religion in the new media environments. VL - 47 UR - https://hrcak.srce.hr/193686 IS - 3 ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Making Space in Social Media: #MuslimWomensDay in Twitter JF - Journal of Communication Inquiry Y1 - 2018 A1 - Pennington, Rosemary AB - At the end of Women’s History Month 2017, social media sites were filled with posts using the hashtag #MuslimWomensDay. Muslim women have often been framed in media as either victims of a violent faith and its believers or enablers of that violence, rarely are they given the space to tell their own stories. The #MuslimWomensDay hashtag was designed to draw attention to the stories and experiences of Muslim women. This qualitative textual analysis of approximately 300 tweets explores how Twitter users deployed the #MuslimWomensDay hashtag in their posts in order to understand the story users told of what it means to be a Muslim woman as well as what narratives of Islam they had to fight against. UR - https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0196859918768797 ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Media, religion and the marketplace in the information economy: evidence from Singapore JF - Environment and Planning Y1 - 2012 A1 - Jessie Poon A1 - Shirlena Huang A1 - Pauline Hope Cheong KW - Buddhism KW - Computer KW - Contemporary Religious Community KW - cyberspace KW - digital media KW - hybridization KW - information economy KW - internet KW - Mass media KW - network KW - New Media and Society KW - new media engagement KW - New Technology and Society KW - online communication KW - Online community KW - Protestantism KW - religion KW - religion and internet KW - Religion and the Internet KW - religiosity KW - religious engagement KW - religious identity KW - Religious Internet Communication KW - Religious Internet Communities KW - Singapore KW - sociability unbound KW - Sociology of religion KW - users’ participation KW - virtual community KW - virtual public sphere KW - “digital religion” KW - “Internet Studies” KW - “media and religion” KW - “media research” KW - “networked society” KW - “online identity” KW - “religion online” KW - “religious congregations” KW - “religious media research” KW - “religious practice online” AB - In this paper we suggest that the exchange of communication in a mediatized environment is transforming the nature of transactions in the religious marketplace. In this economy of religious informational exchanges, digitalization facilitates a process of mediatization that converts religious performance into forms suitable for commodifi cation and commoditization. The intersection of digital media, religion, and the marketplace is demonstrated in the context of mega Protestant and Buddhist organizations in Singapore. We show how these large organizations embed media relations in their sacred spaces through a process of hybridization. In turn, hybrid spaces are converted into material outputs that may be readily transacted in real and virtual spaces. Hybridization attends to a postmodern audience and consumers who value experience and sensorial stimulations. It integrates retail, entertainment, and the aesthetics into a space of ascetic performance that is digitally transportable. Digital transactional spaces thrive on the abundance of information, and information multiplies when communication is unfettered by the absence of proprietary safeguards. The religious marketplace may therefore be understood as a medially driven performance space where points of interaction are digitally VL - 44 UR - http://paulinehopecheong.com/media/8eb82a57db78bb75ffff839dffffe41e.pdf ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Methods for analyzing let’s plays: Context analysis for gaming videos on YouTube JF - Gamenvironments Y1 - 2015 A1 - Radde-Antewler, K A1 - Zeilier, X KW - Beyond: Two Souls KW - context analysis KW - gamevironments KW - Let’s Play KW - YouTube AB - Let's Plays, gaming videos distributed on video platforms such as YouTube, became immensely popular during the last years. As a new research field they offer a huge new pool of research data for the study of video games/gaming and religion. But how to adequately analyze these data? We here propose a matrix for the initial section of analyzing Let's Plays, namely context analysis which then of course needs to be followed by content analysis. Based on the six wh-questions as applied especially also in the classical historical-critical method, we here propose a structured, step by step procedure analyzing specified and clearly defined components. Each step in this context analysis takes up one specific component of the Let's Play and provides context information for it. As such, we present and discuss a sequence of steps which is applicable not only in the study of Let's Plays and religion, but in research on Let's Plays in general. UR - https://www.researchgate.net/publication/282298487_Methods_for_Analyzing_Let's_Plays_Context_Analysis_for_Gaming_Videos_on_YouTube IS - 2 ER - TY - BOOK T1 - Mediatized Religion in Asia: Studies on Digital Media and Religion T2 - Routledge Y1 - 2018 A1 - Radde-Antweiler, Kerstin A1 - Zeiler, Xenia AB - This edited volume discusses mediatized religion in Asia, examining the intensity and variety of constructions and processes related to digital media and religion in Asia today. Individual chapters present case studies from various regions and religious traditions in Asia, critically discussing the data collected in light of current mediatization theories. By directing the study to the geographical, cultural and religious contexts specific to Asia, it also provides new material for the theoretical discussion of the pros and cons of the concept mediatization, among other things interrogating whether this concept is useful in non-’Western’ contexts." JF - Routledge UR - https://www.routledge.com/Mediatized-Religion-in-Asia-Studies-on-Digital-Media-and-Religion/Radde-Antweiler-Zeiler/p/book/9780367663933 ER - TY - CHAP T1 - Medios digitales y religión: investigar la mediatización de la fe en la era digital T2 - Crisis y cambio: propuestas desde la sociología Y1 - 0 A1 - Riezu,Xabier KW - Mediatización KW - medios digitales KW - podcasting KW - Rezandovoy JF - Crisis y cambio: propuestas desde la sociología PB - Federación Española de Sociología CY - Madrid VL - 2 UR - http://fes-web.org/uploads/files/modules/congress/11/Libro%20de%20Actas%20final_2.pdf ER - TY - CONF T1 - Money, God, and SMS: Explorations in Supporting Social Action Through a Bangladeshi Mosque T2 - CHI Conference Y1 - 2017 A1 - Rashidujjaman Rifat, M A1 - Chen, J A1 - Toyama, K KW - Bangladeshi Mosque KW - God KW - money KW - SMS KW - social action AB - Religious institutions hold a significant place in daily life for the vast majority of people in the world, especially in developing countries. Yet despite their social prominence, and despite HCI's emphasis on the social context of technology, organized religion is neglected in both the HCI and ICTD literature. This paper explores the relationship that mosques in Bangladesh have with their constituencies and with technology, with an eye toward the integration of technology with existing religious institutions as a way to achieve positive social ends. We first describe a qualitative exploration of several mosque communities in Bangladesh, where we find that skepticism and pragmatism about modern technology interact in a complex way that nevertheless leaves room for technical interventions. We then describe a randomized controlled trial to study the relative value of SMS messages infused with overtly religious or secularly altruistic frames for the purpose of mosque fundraising. We find that SMS messages increase donations overall, but that their framing is significant. Messages with secular altruistic framing increased donations by 9.5%, while those with religious sentiment increased donations by 57.3%. Our findings demonstrate how technologies like SMS amplify underlying religious forces and suggest the possibility of working with religious institutions in applying positive ICT interventions. JF - CHI Conference CY - Denver, CO UR - https://www.researchgate.net/publication/316706139_Money_God_and_SMS_Explorations_in_Supporting_Social_Action_Through_a_Bangladeshi_Mosque ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Media, Racism and Islamophobia: The Representation of Islam and Muslims in the Media JF - Sociology Compass Y1 - 2007 A1 - Saeed, Amir AB - This article examines the representation of Islam and Muslims in the British press. It suggests that British Muslims are portrayed as an ‘alien other’ within the media. It suggests that this misrepresenatation can be linked to the development of a ‘racism’, namely, Islamphobia that has its roots in cultural representations of the ‘other’. In order to develop this arguement, the article provies a summary/overview of how ethnic minorities have been represented in the British press and argues that the treatment of British Muslims and Islam follows these themes of ‘deviance’ and ‘un-Britishness’. UR - https://www.researchgate.net/publication/229720560_Media_Racism_and_Islamophobia_The_Representation_of_Islam_and_Muslims_in_the_Media ER - TY - BOOK T1 - Muslims and New Media in West Africa: Pathways to God Y1 - 2011 A1 - Schulz, D.E. PB - Indiana University Press SN - 9780253223623 UR - http://books.google.com.au/books?id=9mQdb6Exta4C ER - TY - BOOK T1 - Media and Religion: Foundations of an Emerging Field Y1 - 2012 A1 - Daniel A. Stout AB - This is the first text to examine the history, theory, cultural context, and professional aspects of media and religion. While religion has been explored more fully in psychology, sociology, anthropology, and the humanities, there is no clear bridge of understanding to the communication discipline. Daniel A. Stout tackles this issue by providing a roadmap for examining this understudied area so that discussions about media and religion can more easily proceed. Offering great breadth, this text covers key concepts and historical highlights; world religions, denominations, and cultural religion; and religion and specific media genres. The text also includes key terms and questions to ponder for every chapter, and concludes with an in-class learning activity that can be used to encourage students to explore the media–religion interface and review the essential ideas presented in the book. PB - Routledge UR - http://books.google.com/books/about/Media_and_Religion.html?id=p5dVywAACAAJ ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Mediated Muslim martyrdom: Rethinking digital solidarity in the “Arab Spring” JF - New Media & Society Y1 - 2017 A1 - Sumiala, Johanna A1 - Korpiola, Lilly AB - In today’s world of networked, mobile, and global digital communication, Muslim martyrdom as a multi-layered communicative practice has experienced a new type of media saturation, thereby posing a challenge for the study of media, religion, and culture in a digital age. In this article, the analysis focuses on two cases of high symbolic relevance for the events later referred to as the “Arab Spring”—the deaths of a Tunisian fruit seller Mohammed Bouazizi and a young Egyptian man Khaled Saeed. Special focus is given to the discussion of digital solidarities and their construction in circulation and remediation of martyr narratives of Bouazizi and Saeed in diverse media contexts. In this global development of digital solidarities, we identify two categories of martyr images of particular relevance—a “living martyr” and a “tortured martyr”—and discuss their resonance with different historical, religious, cultural, and political frames of interpretation. In conclusion, we reflect on the question of the ethics of global mediation of Muslim martyrdom and its implications for the study field of media, religion, and culture in its digital state. UR - https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1461444816649918 ER - TY - BOOK T1 - Media and Ritual: Death, Community and Everyday Life Y1 - 2012 A1 - Johanna Sumiala AB - This wide-ranging and accessible book offers a stimulating introduction to the field of media anthropology and the study of religious ritual. Johanna Sumiala explores the interweaving of rituals, communication and community. She uses the tools of anthropological enquiry to examine a variety of media events, including the death of Michael Jackson, a royal wedding and the transgressive actions which took place in Abu Ghraib, and to understand the inner significance of the media coverage of such events. The book deals with theories of ritual, media as ritual including reception, production and representation, and rituals of death in the media. It will be invaluable to students and scholars alike across media, religion and anthropology. PB - Routledge UR - https://www.amazon.com/Media-Ritual-Community-Everyday-Religion/dp/0415684323 ER - TY - CHAP T1 - Malaysian Christians Online: Online/Offline Interactions and Integration T2 - Cyberculture Now: Social and Communication Behaviour on the Web Y1 - 2013 A1 - Meng Yoe Tan KW - everyday KW - helland KW - malaysia KW - offline KW - Online KW - religion AB - There has been a vibrant discussion in recent years since Christopher Helland’s novel definitions and differentiation of online-religion/religion-online came to the fore of cyber-religious research. Much of the discussion since then has dealt primarily with certain features of particular religious websites, such as its level of user interactivity. My chapter is an attempt to side-step what a ‘religious’ website is or is not, and to locate specific Christian individuals in Malaysia and their online habits within the larger context of what they consider to be their Christian life - be it online/offline. In short, this chapter explores the ways in which online Christianity, in its varied forms, as practiced by its users, play a part in engaging an individual’s faith. Drawing two case studies from my ethnographic fieldwork, this paper constructs and establishes the multiple contexts and environments that shape some Malaysian Christians’ online expressions of their faith, as well as how their current practice of blogging contributes back to their personal spirituality, contexts, and environments. Rather than dwelling on whether a website allows for physical or practical interactivity, this chapter explores the possibility that the Internet is yet another incorporated extension to the already diverse repertoire of Christian expression of spirituality. JF - Cyberculture Now: Social and Communication Behaviour on the Web PB - Inter-Disciplinary Press CY - Oxfordshire U1 - Anna Maj ER - TY - CHAP T1 - Malaysian Christians Online: Online/Offline Networks of Everyday Religion T2 - Post-Privacy Culture: Gaining Social Power in Cyber-Democracy Y1 - 2013 A1 - Meng Yoe Tan KW - Actor KW - Christian KW - malaysian KW - network KW - Online KW - theory AB - Religion has already found its footing in cyberspace. Countless websites promoting particular religious organisations and ideals are easily found within a click or two online. Blogs are now an outlet for religious and spiritual discussion for different groups and individuals. Due to the relatively unfiltered nature of the Internet, it is more possible for new types of religious expressions to surface for public consumption, even if some of these expressions might not conform to conventional notions of spiritual expression. All of these new forms of online religion then, serve as a gateway to study different models and contexts of religious expression. A website, however, is in many ways only the expressed product. What about the dynamics behind these expressions? Because the online and the offline are inseparable entities, both simultaneously interact with and influence the individual’s identity and expression. This means that in order to further develop an understanding of ‘online religion’, the ‘offline’ must also be described extensively. Using two case studies of Malaysian Christian bloggers, this chapter demonstrates how with the use of Actor-Network-Theory (ANT) methods, it is possible to seamlessly describe everyday cyber-activity and everyday Christianity in relation to one another, thus providing a snapshot of how the larger context and framework in which Christianity in today’s day and age can be better understood. JF - Post-Privacy Culture: Gaining Social Power in Cyber-Democracy PB - Inter-Disciplinary Press CY - United Kingdom UR - https://www.interdisciplinarypress.net/online-store/digital-humanities/post-privacy-culture-gaining-social-power-in-cyber-democracy U1 - Maj, Anna ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Multi-mediatization and religious event: the case of the evangelical campaign "Horizon of Hope" on Hope Channel Romania (Speranta TV)/Multimédiatisation et événement religieux : le cas de la campagne d’évangélisation l’« Horizon de l’espérance » de Hope JF - tic&société Y1 - 2015 A1 - Tudor, Mihaela-Alexandra KW - convergence cross media KW - evangelization KW - neo-Protestant media KW - New Media AB - Multi-mediatization and religious event: the case of the evangelical campaign "Horizon of Hope" on Hope Channel Romania (Speranta TV) – In this article we will question how the religious media engages with the new Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) for evangelization by reconstructing neo-protestant Hope Channel Romania’s (Speranta TV) work to implement the evangelical "Horizon of Hope" campaign. Considering that ICTs cannot be regarded yet as stabilized, we suggest that the product of media evangelization created by this religious media is rooted in the logic of cross media convergence between old and new media rather than in a logic of transfer of authority toward the new media. *** Dans cet article nous questionnons les formes d’engagement des médias religieux avec les nouvelles technologies de l’information et de la communication (NTIC) pour « évangéliser » en reconstituant le chemin fait par la chaîne de télévision néo-protestante Hope Channel Romania (Speranta TV) pour la mise en œuvre de la campagne d’évangélisation l’ « Horizon de l’espérance ». Si l’on considère que les NTIC ne sont pas encore stabilisées, l’hypothèse mise à l’épreuve ici consiste à montrer que le produit d’évangélisation multimédia créé par Speranta TV s’inscrit davantage dans la logique de la convergence cross-media des médias traditionnels et des nouveaux médias que dans la logique du « transfert d’autorité » vers les nouveaux médias. VL - 9 UR - https://ticetsociete.revues.org/1840#quotation IS - 1-2 ER - TY - THES T1 - Manifestation of Religious Authority on the Internet: Presentation of Twelver Shiite Authority in the Persian Blogosphere T2 - Sociology Y1 - 2012 A1 - Valibeigi, Narges KW - Authority KW - Biosphere KW - Digital Religion KW - Iran KW - media and religion KW - new media engagement KW - New media praticipation KW - Persian KW - Religious Internet Communities KW - Shiite Muslim KW - sociability unbound AB - Cyberspace has diversified and pluralized people’s daily experiences of religion in unprecedented ways. By studying several websites and weblogs that have a religious orientation, different layers of religious authority including “religious hierarchy, structures, ideology, and sources” (Campbell, 2009) can be identified. Also, using Weber’s definition of the three types of authority, “rational-legal, traditional, and charismatic” (1968), the specific type of authority that is being presented on blogosphere can be recognized. The Internet presents a level of liberty for the discussion of sensitive topics in any kind of religious cyberspace, specifically the Islamic one. In this way, the Internet is expanding the number and range of Muslim voices, which may pose problems for traditional forms of religious authority or may suggest new forms of authority in the Islamic world. The interaction between the Internet and religion is often perceived as contradictory, especially when it is religion at its most conservative practice. While the international and national applications of the Internet have increased vastly, local religious communities, especially fundamentalists, perceived this new technology as a threat to their local cultures and practices. If we look at the Internet as a central phenomenon of contemporary modernity that interacts with practiced fundamentalist religious traditions, we can ask how broad the interactions are between religious fundamentalism and the Internet and whether these relations can be reconciled. More specifically, this thesis presents a study of the junction of the Internet and religious fundamentalism reviewing the presentation of Shiite religious authority on the Persian blogosphere. As a case study, Persian weblogs are studied for content analysis for this thesis. Weblogs’ texts are analyzed to find evidences for Shiite beliefs and shared identity, usages and interpretations of the main Shiite religious texts, references to the role of recognized Shiite leaders, and descriptions of Shiite structural patterns of practices and organizations. This research will demonstrate how the Internet has been culturally constructed, modified, and adapted to the Iranian community’s needs and how the Shiite fundamentalist community of Iran has been affected by it. Based on one of the most structured research in this area, the study by Baezilai-Nahon and Barzilai (2005), in this article I identify four principal dimensions of religious fundamentalism as they interact with the Internet: hierarchy, patriarchy, discipline, and seclusion. JF - Sociology PB - University of Waterloo VL - Master of Arts UR - http://hdl.handle.net/10012/6774 ER - TY - BOOK T1 - Media Perceptions of Religious Changes in Australia: Of Dominance and Diversity Y1 - 2019 A1 - Weng, Enqi AB - This volume explores the contradiction between the news coverage given to issues of religion, particularly since 2001 in relation to issues such as terrorism, politics, security and gender, and the fact of its apparent decline according to Census data. Based on media research in Australia, and offering comparisons with the UK, the author demonstrates that media discussions overlook the diversity that exists within religions, particularly the country’s main religion, Christianity, and presents religion according to specific interpretations shaped by race, class and gender, which in turn result in very limited understandings of religion itself. Drawing on understandings of the sacred as a non-negotiable value present in religious and secular form, Media Perceptions of Religious Changes in Australia calls for a broader sociological perspective on religion and will appeal to scholars of sociology and media studies with interests in religion and public life. PB - Routledge SN - 9780367192570 UR - https://www.routledge.com/Media-Perceptions-of-Religious-Changes-in-Australia-Of-Dominance-and-Diversity/Weng/p/book/9780367192570 ER -