TY - JOUR T1 - Cultured technology: Internet & religious fundamentalism JF - The Information Society Y1 - 2005 A1 - Barzilai-Nahon, Karine. and Barzilai, Gadi KW - control and censorship KW - cultured technology KW - cyberspace KW - digital divide KW - discipline KW - hierarchy KW - localization KW - online interactions KW - patriarchy KW - religious fundamentalism KW - social capital KW - virtual communities AB - In this article we identify four principal dimensions of religious fundamentalism as they interact with the Internet: hierarchy, patriarchy, discipline, and seclusion. We also develop the concept of cultured technology, and analyze the ways communities reshape a technology and make it a part of their culture, while at the same time changing their customary ways of life and unwritten laws to adapt to it. Later, we give examples for our theoretical framework through an empirical examination of ultra-Orthodox Jewish communities in Israel. Our empirical study is based on a data set of 686,192 users and 60,346 virtual communities. The results show the complexity of interactions between religious fundamentalism and the Internet, and invite further discussions of cultured technology as a means to understand how the Internet has been culturally constructed, modified, and adapted to the needs of fundamentalist communities and how they in turn have been affected by it. VL - 21 UR - http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.96.170 IS - 1 ER - TY - CHAP T1 - Finding Liquid Salvation: Using The Cardean Ethnographic Method To Document Second Life Residents And Religious Cloud Communities T2 - Virtual Worlds, Second Life, and Metaverse Platforms: New Communication and Identity Paradigms Y1 - 2011 A1 - Grieve, Gregory KW - religion KW - Salvation KW - Second Life KW - virtual communities JF - Virtual Worlds, Second Life, and Metaverse Platforms: New Communication and Identity Paradigms PB - IGI Global CY - Hershey, PA VL - ER - TY - CHAP T1 - Online-Religion/Religion-Online and Virtual Communities T2 - Religion on the Internet: Research prospects and promises Y1 - 2000 A1 - Helland, Christopher KW - Online-religion KW - religion-online KW - virtual communities AB - After sex, religion is one of the most popular and pervasive topics of interest online, with over three million Americans turning to the internet each day for religious information and spiritual guidance. Tens of thousands of elaborate websites are dedicated to every manner of expression. Religion Online provides an accessible and comprehensive introduction to this burgeoning new religious reality, from cyberpilgrimages to neo-pagan chatroom communities. A substantial introduction by the editors presenting the main themes and issues is followed by sixteen chapters addressing core issues of concern such as youth, religion and the internet, new religious movements and recruitment, propaganda and the countercult, and religious tradition and innovation. The volume also includes the Pew Internet and American Life ProjectExecutiveSummary, the most comprehensive and widely cited study on how Americans pursue religion online, and Steven O'Leary's field-defining Cyberspace as SacredSpace. JF - Religion on the Internet: Research prospects and promises PB - JAI Press CY - New York UR - http://books.google.com/books?id=iS80IHp0cDwC&pg=PA105&lpg=PA105&dq=Online-religion/religion-online+and+virtual+communitas&source=bl&ots=gwOoakhqVV&sig=_vZdggLUGLfNebPjfzacEuvReLA&hl=en&ei=l1y8ToPTOqfO2gWDhp2aBQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=6&ved= U1 - J. K. Hadden, D. E. Cowan ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Diaspora on the electronic frontier: Developing virtual connections with sacred homelands JF - Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication Y1 - 2007 A1 - Helland, Christopher KW - electronic frontier KW - Online KW - Sacred KW - virtual communities AB - This study demonstrates how diaspora religious traditions utilized the Internet to develop significant network connections among each other and also to their place of origins. By examining the early Usenet system, I argue that the religious beliefs and practices of diaspora religious traditions were a motivating factor for developing Usenet groups where geographically dispersed individuals could connect with each other in safe, supportive, and religiously tolerant environments. This article explores the new forms of religious practices that began to occur on these sites, focusing on the manner in which Internet technology and the World Wide Web were utilized for activities such as long-distance ritual practice, cyber pilgrimage, and other religiously-motivated undertakings. Through these new online religious activities, diaspora groups have been able to develop significant connections not only among people, but also between people and the sacred homeland itself. UR - http://jcmc.indiana.edu/vol12/issue3/helland.html ER -