GRIDwrap #2 from Metaverse TV on Vimeo.
Thursday, August 26, 2010
Monday, May 31, 2010
Annotated Bibliography
Bunt, Gary R. (2003). Islam in the Digital Age: E-Jihad, Online Fatwas and Cyber Islamic Environments, Critical Studies in Islam. London: Pluto Press.
Dawson, Lorne L. & Cowan, Douglas E. (2004). Religion online: Finding faith on the internet. Eds. NY: Routledge.
Hendershot, Heather. (2004). Shaking the World for Jesus: Media and Conservative Evangelical Culture, Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Hoover, Stewart M. & Clark, Lynn Schofield. (2002). Practicing religion in the age of the media., Eds. NY: Columbia University Press.
Horsfield, Peter. (2003). Electronic Media and the Past-Future of Christianity. Mediating Religion: Conversations in Media, Religion and Culture, 275-276.
Stolow, Jeremy. (2005). Religion and/as Media. Theory, Culture & Society, 22(4), 119.
Taylor, Jim. (2003). Cyber-Buddhism and changing urban space in Thailand. Space and Culture, 6(3), 292.
van Binsbergen, Wim M. J. (2004). Challenges for the sociology of religion in the African context: prospects for the next 50 years. Social compass, 51(1), 85.
Hendershot, H. (2004). While many Christians have felt cut off from mass media, they have been quick to embrace new technologies. While a sizable number of studies have examined the growth of televangelism, few have paid attention to the Christian cultural products industry—the thousands of films, videos, CDs, and magazines sold to millions of evangelicals via mail order, the World Wide Web, Christian bookstores, and increasingly, in secular bookstores and national chains such as Wal-Mart and K-Mart. The growth of evangelical media also has been virtually ignored by film and media studies researchers. Examination of evangelical media reveals the complex ways that today's evangelicals are both in and of the world. This is not a negative value judgment; evangelicals have not simply "sold out" or been "secularized." Rather, evangelicals have used media to simultaneously struggle against, engage with, and acquiesce to the secular world.
Horsfield, P. (2003). The lack of appreciation for the culturally constructive role of media means that the significant role that media have played in the cultural and institutional development of Christianity over the centuries has been relatively unexplored. As a result, valuable lessons that could be drawn from Christian history to provide useful perspectives on current developments and possible future responses are simply undeveloped. However, a persistent issue was found in working with church leaders around the subject of electronic media is their fear that engaging in it seriously will compromise Christian faith. In this common view, electronic media are seen as more than just another form of mediation; but their very structure as well as common content are seen as a significant threat to Christianity as a thoughtful, ordered and authoritative faith structure. There have been others that thought Christianity has always been a diverse, messy and often contradictory movement. Christian identity is a continual task, not an accomplishment.
Dawson, L. and Cowan, D. (2004). The both discuss scholars that have raised important questions regarding the nature of virtual communication: Does it just provide an ‘illusion of sociality’, or is there evidence of genuine social interactions online which can lead to or enhance human communities in the ‘offline’ world? Given the centrality of the concept of community to many religious traditions, this constitutes an ongoing topic for debate. The problem is not just that there is a thrust towards making converts in today’s competitive religious marketplace, but that this seems to be occurring in increasingly aggressive ways. Now engaged in empirical studies of individuals and communities to ascertain how these new electronic forms of mediation actually influence religious practice.
Stolow, J. (2005). On Christmas Eve of 2001, in the small town of Alamagordo, New Mexico, congregants from the Christ Community Church, a local evangelical community headed by Pastor Jack Brock, gathered to light a bonfire in which they ritually destroyed a collection of Harry Potter books, alongside other items they considered to be the work of the devil, including Ouija boards and AC/DC records. Pastor Brock explained, behind that innocent face is the power of satanic darkness. Harry Potter is the devil and he is destroying children. In New Mexico, that incident was in fact only the last of a series of Harry Potter book-burnings that took place during 2001. On 26 March, just outside Pittsburgh, the Church of the Harvest Assembly of God had also committed the boy wizard to flames, along with videotaped copies of Walt Disney’s animated Pinocchio. On 15 November, in Lewiston, Maine, a group of Christians calling themselves the Jesus Party gathered in the town park for a ‘book cutting’ ceremony; apparently the local Fire Department had denied them a permit to build a bonfire, and so they set to work on a pile of Harry Potter books with their scissors. The burning of Harry Potter books, should make one recognize how this story is entwined with a powerful myth about social modernization.
Bunt, G. (2003). Suggests that a substantial number of Muslims use the Internet as a propagation and networking tool, to dialogue with each other, and to conduct research. For some, it is an important way to bypass state censorship and access other media, and it acts as a means of local and global contact. The Internet is used to disseminate and obtain decisions and points of interpretation on current events, and, for some individuals who are relatively unknown or treated as pariahs locally, to achieve fame in the larger Ummah. Since September 2001, Muslims’ activities and activism on the Internet have proliferated; meanwhile, those in power have increased attempts to restrict them. There is a small, albeit growing, minority in Muslim-majority countries that uses information and communication technologies. Muslim online discourses are part of the contemporary discussion about Islamic identities. The Internet “has not superseded traditional forms of political expression, but is a means through which conventional boundaries and barriers can be transcended”.
Taylor, J. (2003). Buddhism in Thailand has long been seen as a holistic cultural system. It’s only the beginning, but the Internet/Intranet is transforming religious space in Thailand. Nevertheless, arising from the Thai experience with modernity are new spatial possibilities engendered in large part by hyper technologies, especially the Internet. In Thailand, a number of orthodox Buddhist monks use this medium for teaching and establishing new religious communities that are not limited by location. A Thai social commentator, Sanitsuda noted on April 10, 2000 in the Bangkok Post, that “Digital dhamma” trend may soon even “threaten the standing of monks as religious experts”. Dhamma is the Buddha’s teachings or doctrine. In effect, Webmasters may become the new religious virtuosi, taking the place of monks as disseminators of information and knowledge. Also, mention by Sanitsuda was as one Webmaster says, “If monks don’t adapt, they will soon lose their role in society.” A Thai Webmaster, who maintains his site from a remote village in Chainat Province, North West Thailand, said that through his Web site he is attempting to make Buddhism accessible and meaningful again for the contemporary world. However, there is no indication that a Net community will replace a monastic community, as “Dhamma Web sites and will never decrease the importance of monks as role models for Buddhists”.
Hoover, S. and Clark, L. (2002). Religious broadcasting has provided an important platform for Evangelicalism as a movement, and helped put it on the cultural and political map. The emergence of the mass press changed many things, including the confident way that religious leaders could look at the world of the media. Up until the mid-eighteenth century, it was relatively easy to distinguish between the ’sacred’ realm of church, and the ’secular’ realm of the broader culture. However, is not to assume that an easy distinction can be drawn between the ’sacred’ church realm of religious tradition on the one hand and a ’secular’ media realm of popular practice on the other. The lines are blurred by history, practice, and social evolution. Instead, we must recognize that popular practice in the secular realm is having religious significance. The role of the historic faiths in such a context is first to listen and look at the cultural realm that is evolving and attempt to understand its logics, appeals, motivations, satisfactions, and meanings. Only then can productive efforts be made to be actively engaged in projecting, promoting, and articulating in a plausible and meaningful way, their symbols and values in an and meaningful way, increasingly complex and autonomous cultural landscape.
van Binsbergen, W. (2004). A Dutch anthropologist and a certified traditional healer trained in Botswana maintain he can heal more effectively via the Internet. In Africa the global media such as television, the cell phone, and the Internet, of globally circulating manufactured consumer goods, and of globally available religious expressions such as Islamism and Pentecostalism, has brought the forms of African social and religious life closer to those in other continents today. Over the past 50 years, the social-scientific study of religion in Africa has grown from a mere trickle to a massive undertaking, now pursuing a variety of paradigms largely unheard of at the beginning of that period. Fifty years ago it would have been impossible to predict these recent developments. Giving prospects for the next half-century is no simpler, for there is no reason to assume that the pace of religious, social, political and technological change in the world is slackening now that mankind has managed to survive, barely, into the 21st century.
Posted on Moodle Saturday, May, 29, 2010
Dawson, Lorne L. & Cowan, Douglas E. (2004). Religion online: Finding faith on the internet. Eds. NY: Routledge.
Hendershot, Heather. (2004). Shaking the World for Jesus: Media and Conservative Evangelical Culture, Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Hoover, Stewart M. & Clark, Lynn Schofield. (2002). Practicing religion in the age of the media., Eds. NY: Columbia University Press.
Horsfield, Peter. (2003). Electronic Media and the Past-Future of Christianity. Mediating Religion: Conversations in Media, Religion and Culture, 275-276.
Stolow, Jeremy. (2005). Religion and/as Media. Theory, Culture & Society, 22(4), 119.
Taylor, Jim. (2003). Cyber-Buddhism and changing urban space in Thailand. Space and Culture, 6(3), 292.
van Binsbergen, Wim M. J. (2004). Challenges for the sociology of religion in the African context: prospects for the next 50 years. Social compass, 51(1), 85.
Problems encountered with religion and emerging media in our culture lives:
Hendershot, H. (2004). While many Christians have felt cut off from mass media, they have been quick to embrace new technologies. While a sizable number of studies have examined the growth of televangelism, few have paid attention to the Christian cultural products industry—the thousands of films, videos, CDs, and magazines sold to millions of evangelicals via mail order, the World Wide Web, Christian bookstores, and increasingly, in secular bookstores and national chains such as Wal-Mart and K-Mart. The growth of evangelical media also has been virtually ignored by film and media studies researchers. Examination of evangelical media reveals the complex ways that today's evangelicals are both in and of the world. This is not a negative value judgment; evangelicals have not simply "sold out" or been "secularized." Rather, evangelicals have used media to simultaneously struggle against, engage with, and acquiesce to the secular world.
Horsfield, P. (2003). The lack of appreciation for the culturally constructive role of media means that the significant role that media have played in the cultural and institutional development of Christianity over the centuries has been relatively unexplored. As a result, valuable lessons that could be drawn from Christian history to provide useful perspectives on current developments and possible future responses are simply undeveloped. However, a persistent issue was found in working with church leaders around the subject of electronic media is their fear that engaging in it seriously will compromise Christian faith. In this common view, electronic media are seen as more than just another form of mediation; but their very structure as well as common content are seen as a significant threat to Christianity as a thoughtful, ordered and authoritative faith structure. There have been others that thought Christianity has always been a diverse, messy and often contradictory movement. Christian identity is a continual task, not an accomplishment.
Dawson, L. and Cowan, D. (2004). The both discuss scholars that have raised important questions regarding the nature of virtual communication: Does it just provide an ‘illusion of sociality’, or is there evidence of genuine social interactions online which can lead to or enhance human communities in the ‘offline’ world? Given the centrality of the concept of community to many religious traditions, this constitutes an ongoing topic for debate. The problem is not just that there is a thrust towards making converts in today’s competitive religious marketplace, but that this seems to be occurring in increasingly aggressive ways. Now engaged in empirical studies of individuals and communities to ascertain how these new electronic forms of mediation actually influence religious practice.
Stolow, J. (2005). On Christmas Eve of 2001, in the small town of Alamagordo, New Mexico, congregants from the Christ Community Church, a local evangelical community headed by Pastor Jack Brock, gathered to light a bonfire in which they ritually destroyed a collection of Harry Potter books, alongside other items they considered to be the work of the devil, including Ouija boards and AC/DC records. Pastor Brock explained, behind that innocent face is the power of satanic darkness. Harry Potter is the devil and he is destroying children. In New Mexico, that incident was in fact only the last of a series of Harry Potter book-burnings that took place during 2001. On 26 March, just outside Pittsburgh, the Church of the Harvest Assembly of God had also committed the boy wizard to flames, along with videotaped copies of Walt Disney’s animated Pinocchio. On 15 November, in Lewiston, Maine, a group of Christians calling themselves the Jesus Party gathered in the town park for a ‘book cutting’ ceremony; apparently the local Fire Department had denied them a permit to build a bonfire, and so they set to work on a pile of Harry Potter books with their scissors. The burning of Harry Potter books, should make one recognize how this story is entwined with a powerful myth about social modernization.
Bunt, G. (2003). Suggests that a substantial number of Muslims use the Internet as a propagation and networking tool, to dialogue with each other, and to conduct research. For some, it is an important way to bypass state censorship and access other media, and it acts as a means of local and global contact. The Internet is used to disseminate and obtain decisions and points of interpretation on current events, and, for some individuals who are relatively unknown or treated as pariahs locally, to achieve fame in the larger Ummah. Since September 2001, Muslims’ activities and activism on the Internet have proliferated; meanwhile, those in power have increased attempts to restrict them. There is a small, albeit growing, minority in Muslim-majority countries that uses information and communication technologies. Muslim online discourses are part of the contemporary discussion about Islamic identities. The Internet “has not superseded traditional forms of political expression, but is a means through which conventional boundaries and barriers can be transcended”.
Taylor, J. (2003). Buddhism in Thailand has long been seen as a holistic cultural system. It’s only the beginning, but the Internet/Intranet is transforming religious space in Thailand. Nevertheless, arising from the Thai experience with modernity are new spatial possibilities engendered in large part by hyper technologies, especially the Internet. In Thailand, a number of orthodox Buddhist monks use this medium for teaching and establishing new religious communities that are not limited by location. A Thai social commentator, Sanitsuda noted on April 10, 2000 in the Bangkok Post, that “Digital dhamma” trend may soon even “threaten the standing of monks as religious experts”. Dhamma is the Buddha’s teachings or doctrine. In effect, Webmasters may become the new religious virtuosi, taking the place of monks as disseminators of information and knowledge. Also, mention by Sanitsuda was as one Webmaster says, “If monks don’t adapt, they will soon lose their role in society.” A Thai Webmaster, who maintains his site from a remote village in Chainat Province, North West Thailand, said that through his Web site he is attempting to make Buddhism accessible and meaningful again for the contemporary world. However, there is no indication that a Net community will replace a monastic community, as “Dhamma Web sites and will never decrease the importance of monks as role models for Buddhists”.
Hoover, S. and Clark, L. (2002). Religious broadcasting has provided an important platform for Evangelicalism as a movement, and helped put it on the cultural and political map. The emergence of the mass press changed many things, including the confident way that religious leaders could look at the world of the media. Up until the mid-eighteenth century, it was relatively easy to distinguish between the ’sacred’ realm of church, and the ’secular’ realm of the broader culture. However, is not to assume that an easy distinction can be drawn between the ’sacred’ church realm of religious tradition on the one hand and a ’secular’ media realm of popular practice on the other. The lines are blurred by history, practice, and social evolution. Instead, we must recognize that popular practice in the secular realm is having religious significance. The role of the historic faiths in such a context is first to listen and look at the cultural realm that is evolving and attempt to understand its logics, appeals, motivations, satisfactions, and meanings. Only then can productive efforts be made to be actively engaged in projecting, promoting, and articulating in a plausible and meaningful way, their symbols and values in an and meaningful way, increasingly complex and autonomous cultural landscape.
van Binsbergen, W. (2004). A Dutch anthropologist and a certified traditional healer trained in Botswana maintain he can heal more effectively via the Internet. In Africa the global media such as television, the cell phone, and the Internet, of globally circulating manufactured consumer goods, and of globally available religious expressions such as Islamism and Pentecostalism, has brought the forms of African social and religious life closer to those in other continents today. Over the past 50 years, the social-scientific study of religion in Africa has grown from a mere trickle to a massive undertaking, now pursuing a variety of paradigms largely unheard of at the beginning of that period. Fifty years ago it would have been impossible to predict these recent developments. Giving prospects for the next half-century is no simpler, for there is no reason to assume that the pace of religious, social, political and technological change in the world is slackening now that mankind has managed to survive, barely, into the 21st century.
Posted on Moodle Saturday, May, 29, 2010
Monday, May 24, 2010
Problems in Religion Using Emerging Media
(1.) Artistic license often provokes controversy by offending those who resent the reinterpretation of cherished beliefs or previous works like religious pictures from the bible.
(2.) Facebook and MySpace can lead children to commit suicide, warns Archbishop Nichols. Websites such as Facebook and MySpace encourage teenagers to view friendship as a "commodity" and are leading them to suicide, the head of the Catholic Church in England and Wales has warned. Archbishop of Westminster Vincent Nichols said the sites are leading teenagers to build "transient relationships" which leave them unable to cope when their social networks collapse. "Too much exclusive use of electronic information dehumanizes what is a very, very important part of community life and living together." The archbishop blamed social network sites for leaving children with impoverished friendships.
"Facebook and MySpace might contribute towards communities, but I'm wary about it. It's not rounded communication so it won't build a rounded community," he said. "If we mean by community a genuine growing together and a mutual sharing in an interest that is of some significance then it needs more than Facebook." He warned that the sites are contributing to a trend for teenagers to put too much importance on the number of friends they have and that this can ultimately lead to suicide. "Among young people often a key factor in them committing suicide is the trauma of transient relationships. "They throw themselves into a friendship or network of friendships, then it collapses and they're desolate."
(3.) Social communication is causing concerns for powerful Muslims in Iran and Indonesia. Last week a group of Indonesian imams met to discuss the issues they think Facebook, and social sites like it, are causing for its members. Specifically they think the ease of communication could encourage flirtation and extramarital affairs. As a result, they're considering a ruling to steer behavior on the site. The suggestion is that they'd still be allowed to be members, but should comport themselves according to relevant edicts. Since Facebook is the number one most popular Web site in Indonesia, above even Google, this is major news for the country.
(4.) CAIRO (Reuters) – Egyptian Christians have called for government action against the author of a widely read novel they say insults Christianity, in an unusual case that puts freedom of expression in Muslim-majority Egypt under fresh scrutiny. Government investigators are looking into the complaint filed by a group of Egyptian and some foreign Copts against Youssef Ziedan, a Muslim who wrote the 2008 award-winning novel Azazeel (Beelzebub).
Egyptian law prohibits insults against Islam, Christianity and Judaism, and Ziedan could be sent to jail for up to five years if prosecuted and found guilty. "They accuse me of insulting Christianity ... It's a serious crime and this is a big shock to people, especially since the novel has been so successful," Ziedan said. Azazeel, which won the 2009 International Prize for Arabic Fiction, backed by the Booker Prize Foundation, tells the story of a 5th-century Egyptian monk who witnesses debates over doctrine between early Christians.
(5.) Competition the world empowered by the ramifications of rapidly developing information and communication technologies is suddenly more fragile than ever before. Given this challenging paradox, different cultures can be better understood by knowing their mythological background, and by enhancing cultural literacy and intercultural competence. Respect for diversity can be created only through the knowledge of other cultures. In the global village the media play a crucially vital role in these processes. The media raises questions of religion and culture to the fore of discussions in almost every global crisis. The mythical background of different cultures is often used in creating images of an enemy - for instance, as emphasized in this conference, Islamic cultures compared with Christianity.
(6.) Media technology has a complex relationship with religion. Many faith communities have noticed that media messages on TV, film, video games, the Web, etc. can influence the attitudes and behaviors of their followers in ways contrary to religious teachings.
(7.) The late Pope John Paul II "A vast work of formation is needed to assure that the mass media be known and used intelligently and appropriately," the pope said. "The new vocabulary they introduce into society modifies both learning processes and the quality of human relations, so that, without proper formation, these media run the risk of manipulating and heavily conditioning, rather than serving people. This is especially true for young people, who show a natural propensity toward technological innovations and as such are in even greater need of education in the responsible and critical use of the media."
(8.) Heather Hendershot, Shaking the World for Jesus: Media and Conservative Evangelical Culture:
While a sizable number of studies have examined the growth of televangelism, few have paid attention to the Christian cultural products industry—the thousands of films, videos, CDs, and magazines sold to millions of evangelicals via mail order, the World Wide Web, Christian bookstores, and increasingly, in secular bookstores and national chains such as Wal-Mart and K-Mart. The growth of evangelical media also has been virtually ignored by film and media studies researchers. Examination of evangelical media reveals the complex ways that today's evangelicals are both in and of the world. This is not a negative value judgment; evangelicals have not simply "sold out" or been "secularized." Rather, evangelicals have used media to simultaneously struggle against, engage with, and acquiesce to the secular world.
(2.) Facebook and MySpace can lead children to commit suicide, warns Archbishop Nichols. Websites such as Facebook and MySpace encourage teenagers to view friendship as a "commodity" and are leading them to suicide, the head of the Catholic Church in England and Wales has warned. Archbishop of Westminster Vincent Nichols said the sites are leading teenagers to build "transient relationships" which leave them unable to cope when their social networks collapse. "Too much exclusive use of electronic information dehumanizes what is a very, very important part of community life and living together." The archbishop blamed social network sites for leaving children with impoverished friendships.
"Facebook and MySpace might contribute towards communities, but I'm wary about it. It's not rounded communication so it won't build a rounded community," he said. "If we mean by community a genuine growing together and a mutual sharing in an interest that is of some significance then it needs more than Facebook." He warned that the sites are contributing to a trend for teenagers to put too much importance on the number of friends they have and that this can ultimately lead to suicide. "Among young people often a key factor in them committing suicide is the trauma of transient relationships. "They throw themselves into a friendship or network of friendships, then it collapses and they're desolate."
(3.) Social communication is causing concerns for powerful Muslims in Iran and Indonesia. Last week a group of Indonesian imams met to discuss the issues they think Facebook, and social sites like it, are causing for its members. Specifically they think the ease of communication could encourage flirtation and extramarital affairs. As a result, they're considering a ruling to steer behavior on the site. The suggestion is that they'd still be allowed to be members, but should comport themselves according to relevant edicts. Since Facebook is the number one most popular Web site in Indonesia, above even Google, this is major news for the country.
(4.) CAIRO (Reuters) – Egyptian Christians have called for government action against the author of a widely read novel they say insults Christianity, in an unusual case that puts freedom of expression in Muslim-majority Egypt under fresh scrutiny. Government investigators are looking into the complaint filed by a group of Egyptian and some foreign Copts against Youssef Ziedan, a Muslim who wrote the 2008 award-winning novel Azazeel (Beelzebub).
Egyptian law prohibits insults against Islam, Christianity and Judaism, and Ziedan could be sent to jail for up to five years if prosecuted and found guilty. "They accuse me of insulting Christianity ... It's a serious crime and this is a big shock to people, especially since the novel has been so successful," Ziedan said. Azazeel, which won the 2009 International Prize for Arabic Fiction, backed by the Booker Prize Foundation, tells the story of a 5th-century Egyptian monk who witnesses debates over doctrine between early Christians.
(5.) Competition the world empowered by the ramifications of rapidly developing information and communication technologies is suddenly more fragile than ever before. Given this challenging paradox, different cultures can be better understood by knowing their mythological background, and by enhancing cultural literacy and intercultural competence. Respect for diversity can be created only through the knowledge of other cultures. In the global village the media play a crucially vital role in these processes. The media raises questions of religion and culture to the fore of discussions in almost every global crisis. The mythical background of different cultures is often used in creating images of an enemy - for instance, as emphasized in this conference, Islamic cultures compared with Christianity.
(6.) Media technology has a complex relationship with religion. Many faith communities have noticed that media messages on TV, film, video games, the Web, etc. can influence the attitudes and behaviors of their followers in ways contrary to religious teachings.
(7.) The late Pope John Paul II "A vast work of formation is needed to assure that the mass media be known and used intelligently and appropriately," the pope said. "The new vocabulary they introduce into society modifies both learning processes and the quality of human relations, so that, without proper formation, these media run the risk of manipulating and heavily conditioning, rather than serving people. This is especially true for young people, who show a natural propensity toward technological innovations and as such are in even greater need of education in the responsible and critical use of the media."
(8.) Heather Hendershot, Shaking the World for Jesus: Media and Conservative Evangelical Culture:
While a sizable number of studies have examined the growth of televangelism, few have paid attention to the Christian cultural products industry—the thousands of films, videos, CDs, and magazines sold to millions of evangelicals via mail order, the World Wide Web, Christian bookstores, and increasingly, in secular bookstores and national chains such as Wal-Mart and K-Mart. The growth of evangelical media also has been virtually ignored by film and media studies researchers. Examination of evangelical media reveals the complex ways that today's evangelicals are both in and of the world. This is not a negative value judgment; evangelicals have not simply "sold out" or been "secularized." Rather, evangelicals have used media to simultaneously struggle against, engage with, and acquiesce to the secular world.
Thursday, May 20, 2010
Top 10 Buddhist Social Networking Sites
Buddhism founded in India 2,500 years ago. The world's fourth largest religion:
Buddhist are united with their social networking. Now, here's the top ten social networking sites dedicated to the study and observance of Buddhist principles to subscribe to for those interested.
1. One of the best known Buddhist social networking sites is Tricyle online. http://community.tricycle.com/
2. Facebook has become such a juggernaut that niche audiences have found a place to find a community of like minded people. http://www.facebook.com/
3. The Shambhala Sun Newspaper hosts a great site for Buddhist Social networking at the SunSpace Blog. http://www.shambhalasun.com/sunspace/
4. Buddhist-Network.com is an excellent site to share photos, news, and opinions about Buddhism. http://www.buddhist-network.com/
5. Dharmanet.org is a great place for resources and knowledge about Buddhist opinions on real world events. http://www.dharmanet.org/lcengaged.htm
6. Buddhist-Community.com is a compilation of classifieds and information posts from thousands of Buddhists worldwide. http://www.cafepress.com/esangha
7. For online working and sharing, Ashoka is a great resource for Buddhist networking. http://www.dharmanet.org/ashoka.htm
8. OnBuddhist is yet another popular Buddhist resource. An original layout design brings a refreshing look to social networking with soft colors and tones. http://www.onbuddhist.com/welcome/welcome.html
9. Buddhist Passions for some more in depth thoughts and idea collaboration. Grabbing headlines help sort out topics of interest for visitors. http://www.buddhistpassions.com/
10. E-Sangha is another community forum for posting on Buddhist topics. Pros are the wealth of poetry; cons are the lack of a whole lot of diverse content. http://directory.e-sangha.com/
1. Christianity - 1.9 billion - 2.1 billion
2. Islam - 1.3 billion - 1.57 billion
3. Hinduism - 950 million - 1 billion
4. Buddhism - 500 millions - 1.5 billion
Buddhist are united with their social networking. Now, here's the top ten social networking sites dedicated to the study and observance of Buddhist principles to subscribe to for those interested.
1. One of the best known Buddhist social networking sites is Tricyle online. http://community.tricycle.com/
2. Facebook has become such a juggernaut that niche audiences have found a place to find a community of like minded people. http://www.facebook.com/
3. The Shambhala Sun Newspaper hosts a great site for Buddhist Social networking at the SunSpace Blog. http://www.shambhalasun.com/sunspace/
4. Buddhist-Network.com is an excellent site to share photos, news, and opinions about Buddhism. http://www.buddhist-network.com/
5. Dharmanet.org is a great place for resources and knowledge about Buddhist opinions on real world events. http://www.dharmanet.org/lcengaged.htm
6. Buddhist-Community.com is a compilation of classifieds and information posts from thousands of Buddhists worldwide. http://www.cafepress.com/esangha
7. For online working and sharing, Ashoka is a great resource for Buddhist networking. http://www.dharmanet.org/ashoka.htm
8. OnBuddhist is yet another popular Buddhist resource. An original layout design brings a refreshing look to social networking with soft colors and tones. http://www.onbuddhist.com/welcome/welcome.html
9. Buddhist Passions for some more in depth thoughts and idea collaboration. Grabbing headlines help sort out topics of interest for visitors. http://www.buddhistpassions.com/
10. E-Sangha is another community forum for posting on Buddhist topics. Pros are the wealth of poetry; cons are the lack of a whole lot of diverse content. http://directory.e-sangha.com/
Did Facebook just get religion?
As part of the Vatican's World Communications Day, the organization launched an app called "The Pope meets you on Facebook." Strictly speaking the Pope doesn't have a typical Facebook profile, and hence you can't poke him, or invite him to play Pirates vs Ninjas. But you can choose to send one of a number of "virtual postcards" with messages from the Pope and associated photos to one of your Facebook friends. Paul Tighe, secretary Vatican's Social Communications department--and who knew it had one of those?--notes, "We recognize that a church that does not communicate ceases to be a church." The Church also recently launched a new Web site http://www.pope2you.net/.
Meanwhile it's precisely that issue of communication that's causing concerns for powerful Muslims in Iran and Indonesia. Last week a group of Indonesian imams met to discuss the issues they think Facebook, and social sites like it, are causing for its members: Specifically they think the ease of communication could encourage flirtation and extramarital affairs. As a result, they're considering a ruling to steer behavior on the site--the suggestion is that they'd still be allowed to be members, but should comport themselves according to relevant edicts. Since Facebook is the number one most popular Web site in Indonesia, above even Google, this is major news for the country.
So has Facebook gotten religion? Well, yes--kind of. What's happening is basically a high-speed version of the way religion has moved into each new medium, from the days of print onwards, and tried to leverage it to drive ethical, social and political agendas.
BY Kit EatonTue May 26, 2009
http://www.fastcompany.com/blog/kit-eaton/technomix/facebook-gets-religion-you-cant-poke-pope
Meanwhile it's precisely that issue of communication that's causing concerns for powerful Muslims in Iran and Indonesia. Last week a group of Indonesian imams met to discuss the issues they think Facebook, and social sites like it, are causing for its members: Specifically they think the ease of communication could encourage flirtation and extramarital affairs. As a result, they're considering a ruling to steer behavior on the site--the suggestion is that they'd still be allowed to be members, but should comport themselves according to relevant edicts. Since Facebook is the number one most popular Web site in Indonesia, above even Google, this is major news for the country.
So has Facebook gotten religion? Well, yes--kind of. What's happening is basically a high-speed version of the way religion has moved into each new medium, from the days of print onwards, and tried to leverage it to drive ethical, social and political agendas.
BY Kit EatonTue May 26, 2009
http://www.fastcompany.com/blog/kit-eaton/technomix/facebook-gets-religion-you-cant-poke-pope
Wednesday, May 12, 2010
Good vs Evil
Spiritual beliefs can become spiritual meanings of which could be the good and evil.
The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For out of the overflow of his heart his mouth speaks. (NIV, Luke 6:45)
“But a resolution to avoid an evil is seldom framed till the evil is so far advanced as to make avoidance impossible.” Thomas Hardy
Your Thoughts:
Using Internet as a missionary tool so; therefore, is it easier to fake religion online in order to smooth over social situations? The Internet can be a tool for promoting religion and religious practice.
Welcome to Gospel - http://www.gospel.com/
The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For out of the overflow of his heart his mouth speaks. (NIV, Luke 6:45)
“But a resolution to avoid an evil is seldom framed till the evil is so far advanced as to make avoidance impossible.” Thomas Hardy
Your Thoughts:
Using Internet as a missionary tool so; therefore, is it easier to fake religion online in order to smooth over social situations? The Internet can be a tool for promoting religion and religious practice.
Welcome to Gospel - http://www.gospel.com/
Monday, May 10, 2010
Metaphor for Media Literacy
Money Makes the World Go Round = Good vs. Evil
This is a process one can use to improve media literacy:
A picture is worth a thousand words and messages can be powerful using visual literacy.
Media literacy teaches us to critically analyze, evaluate, access, and understand all types of media e.g., TV, radio, books, video, music, newspaper, internet, and emails including mass media. We need the skills to be active consumers of media messages. Today’s society appears to simply accept messages without any questions.
Try these 10 technique steps:
1. Understand the message being conveyed.
2. Discuss many possibilities and interpretations with others.
3. Ask questions from the ordinary.
4. Use your judgment to find if the information is reliable.
5. Apply some strategy and sample the content.
6. Research Google and/or Yahoo.
7. Know how to negotiate when participating in discussion rooms.
8. Analyze the message for accuracy.
9. Demonstrate the ability to distinguish from facts and fiction.
10. Participate in networks of trust.
This is a process one can use to improve media literacy:
A picture is worth a thousand words and messages can be powerful using visual literacy.
Media literacy teaches us to critically analyze, evaluate, access, and understand all types of media e.g., TV, radio, books, video, music, newspaper, internet, and emails including mass media. We need the skills to be active consumers of media messages. Today’s society appears to simply accept messages without any questions.
Try these 10 technique steps:
1. Understand the message being conveyed.
2. Discuss many possibilities and interpretations with others.
3. Ask questions from the ordinary.
4. Use your judgment to find if the information is reliable.
5. Apply some strategy and sample the content.
6. Research Google and/or Yahoo.
7. Know how to negotiate when participating in discussion rooms.
8. Analyze the message for accuracy.
9. Demonstrate the ability to distinguish from facts and fiction.
10. Participate in networks of trust.
Monday, May 3, 2010
Emerging Media Cloud Tool
One emerging media cloud tool of choice for any religious organization is ZOHO Creator http://creator.zoho.com/
Build highly-customized database applications relating to:
What can you do?
You can add business rules, reports and easily share it with others. Even business users with no programming skills or experience can easily create an online database.
Get started by signing in with username and password or sign up:
Build highly-customized database applications relating to:
- Church Donations
- Building Fund Letter Writing Campaign
- Fundraiser Projects
What can you do?
You can add business rules, reports and easily share it with others. Even business users with no programming skills or experience can easily create an online database.
Get started by signing in with username and password or sign up:
- Choose a form template or build your application from scratch
- Create an application from scratch by adding forms, views, reports and write scripts using our app editor interface.
- Drag and drop fields here and edit their properties...
- Share the application by sending to email address
- Generate a report
Check out my ' Building Fund Letter Writing Campaign ' application in the below link.
[Note: Sign up Zoho Creator with achisleywade@acm.org to access my application.]
http://creator.zoho.com/achisleywade/building-fund-letter-writing-campaign/login/zc_email=achisleywade@acm.org
Sunday, May 2, 2010
An Example of Religion and Social Media
Comments:
Your thoughts on religion mixed with rapping, does this offend any religious group?
Your thoughts on religion mixed with rapping, does this offend any religious group?
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