TY - CHAP T1 - Religion 2.0? Relational and hybridizing pathways in religion, social media and culture T2 - Digital Religion, Social Media and Culture: Perspectives, Practices, Futures Y1 - 2012 A1 - Pauline Hope Cheong A1 - Ess, Charles KW - Authority KW - community KW - identity KW - internet KW - religion KW - social media JF - Digital Religion, Social Media and Culture: Perspectives, Practices, Futures PB - Peter Lang CY - New York UR - http://www.paulinehopecheong.com ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Cultivating online and offline pathways to enlightenment: Religious authority in wired Buddhist organizations JF - Information, Communication & Society Y1 - 2011 A1 - Pauline Hope Cheong A1 - Huang, Shirlena A1 - Poon, Jessie KW - Authority KW - community KW - internet KW - religion KW - theory of religion online AB - In light of expanding epistemic resources online, the mediatization of religion poses questions about the possible changes, decline and reconstruction of clergy authority. Distinct from virtual Buddhism or cybersangha research which relies primarily on online observational data, this paper examines Buddhist clergy communication within the context of established religious organizations with an integrationist perspective on interpersonal communication and new and old media connections. Drawing on in-depth interviews with Buddhist leaders in Singapore, this paper illustrates ways in which priests are expanding their communicative competency, which we label “strategic arbitration” to maintain their authority by restructuring multimodal representations and communicative influence. This study expands upon previous research by Cheong, Huang & Poon (in press) and finds that constituting Buddhist religious epistemic authority in wired organizational contexts rests on coordinating online-offline communicative acts. Such concatenative coordination involves normalizing the aforementioned modality of authority through interpersonal acts that positively influences epistemic dependence. Communicative acts that privilege face-to-face mentoring and corporeal rituals are optimized in the presence of monks within perceived sacred spaces in temple grounds, thereby enabling clergy to perform ultimate arbitration. However, Buddhist leaders also increase bargaining power when heightened web presence and branding practices are enacted. The paper concludes with limitations and recommendations for future research in religious authority. VL - 14 UR - http://www.paulinehopecheong.com IS - 8 ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Faith Tweets: Ambient Religious Communication and Microblogging Rituals JF - Journal of Media and Culture Y1 - 2010 A1 - Pauline Hope Cheong KW - ambient KW - Blogging KW - Communication KW - religion KW - Twitter AB - The notion of ambient strikes a particularly resonant chord for religious communication: many faith traditions advocate the practice of sacred mindfulness, and a consistent piety in light of holy devotion to an omnipresent and omniscient Divine being. This paper examines how faith believers appropriate the emergent microblogging practices to create an encompassing cultural surround to include microblogging rituals which promote regular, heightened prayer awareness. Faith tweets help constitute epiphany and a persistent sense of sacred connected presence, which in turn rouses an identification of a higher moral purpose and solidarity with other local and global believers. Amidst ongoing tensions about microblogging, religious organisations and their leadership have also begun to incorporate Twitter into their communication practices and outreach, to encourage the extension of presence beyond the church walls. VL - 13 UR - http://journal.media-culture.org.au/index.php/mcjournal/article/viewArticle/223 ER -