IS: Religious Communication and Digital Life
Since I have so much time on my hands, I’m taking an Independent Study this semester: Religious Communication & Digital Life. This will count as credit towards a MA in Communication at the Univ. of North Dakota, but mainly help deepen my understanding of the field of religious comm, particularly as it concerns cyberculture studies, new media, and digital life. (Actually, I have very little time on my hands, but I love studying this stuff so much it’d be silly not to make it official.)
I’m pretty pumped about the course which is supervised by both a communication and religion professor at UND. In independent study fashion, however, I’ll be working a lot on my own. In blogger fashion, one of the course requirements is that I post thoughts here from time to time including reviews of each of the books I’ll be reading. These include:
- Religion, Media and Culture: A Reader eds. Gordon Lynch and Jolyon Mitchell, Routledge, pp. 296, ISBN: 0415549558
- Morgan, David. The Sacred Gaze: Religious Visual Culture in Theory and Practice, Univ. of California Press, ISBN: 0520243064, pp. 333.
- Halos and Avatars: Playing Video Games with God, Craig Detweiler, ed., Westminster John Knox, pp. 222, ISBN: 0664232779
- Campbell, Heidi. When Religion Meets New Media, Routledge, 2010, pp. 232. ISBN:0415349575
- Wilkie, Rob. The Digital Condition: Class and Culture in the Information Network, Fordham University Press, 2011, pp. 272. ISBN: 0823234231
- Miller, Vincent. Understanding Digital Culture, Sage Publications, 2011, pp. 264. ISBN: 1847874975
Of course, that’s just a smattering of what’s out there, and I’m aware the core literature in the field is shifting/still being discovered/not yet written. So, I’d love to hear what you’re reading, and take suggestions as to what I should add to the list.
In related news: next week I’ll be attending the Digital Religion Conference hosted by University of Colorado at Boulder’s Center for Media, Religion, and Culture. I’m eager to make new connections, have some great conversations, and drink some delicious Boulder-area beer. If you’re reading this, and would be there and up for that, let’s connect. (Tweet @ajc123 email adamjcopeland at gmail)
Bookstore Confession
I bought a book, then 5 minutes later found an identical cheaper one online using my smartphone, so I returned it. Was this wrong?
I recently found myself at Barnes and Noble with quite the conundrum. The parking lot was crazy busy. The Nook booths up front were heaving with rabid present-seekers. The coffee shop bustled with students cramming for finals.
I was there, however, for a reading by an author friend of mine. The reading area was, well, quieter. I can say I wasn’t the only audience member since the poet’s mom came too.
After the reading—which was great—I perused the stacks as I considered the wisdom of making a purchase for myself so close to Christmas. But, with great speed, books destroy my powers to delay gratification, so before long I had two in my hands. Thanks to a herculean effort I narrowed it down to one by Neil Gaiman, but I wasn’t certain about it.
So, I brought out my iPhone. No, I didn’t scan the bar-code quite yet, I simply Googled the title, Anansi Boys. After a few flicks, I learned the book was the story of a character from a Gaiman’s previous novel, American Gods. So, I went to find American Gods on the shelf.
They had one edition. Hard cover. $26.99. Tenth Anniversary Author’s Preferred Text Edition. I swithered, but then walked it calmly to the register. A minute later, I had purchased the book for $29.01.
As I sat in the car warming up — this is Fargo, remember — I felt deep regret. $30 is our household’s monthly book allowance (not including school books). I just blew it in one fell swoop. I did really want to read American Gods, but it was mostly an impulse buy. So, on another impulse, I whipped out my phone and brought up the Amazon app. I scanned my just-purchased book’s barcode, and its Amazon page popped up in two seconds.
Amazon price: $17.60. No sales tax. I have a student Amazon Prime account, meaning I have free two-day shipping on most purchases. I bought it one tap. One tap. Then I opened the car door, walked back in to Barnes and Noble, stood in line, returned the $29.01 copy, and drove away with more money in my pocket and a very confused conscience.
Novelist Richard Russo recently published a NY Times Op-Ed piece lambasting Amazon‘s smartphone apps.
Then, Slate’s Farhad Manjoo responded to Russo quite wisely it seems to me, complicating matters entirely.
Loyal readers will know I’m a sucker for small independently-owned book stores. I miss living in bigger areas like Decatur boasting places like Little Shop of Stories with it’s wonderfully curated collection, friendly staff, smart book groups, and glorious story times. (And, get this: Neil Gaiman has visited Little Shop.)
Often, in Fargo, I buy used books from Red Raven, and I’ve purchased several from Zambroz. I try to buy work books through The Thoughtful Christian.com, usually at great discount, but certainly not with two-day shipping. But I do buy a lot of books via Amazon. Most, even. And I’m still wrestling with my Barnes and Noble return.
So, dear Internet, I confess it. But, to be honest, I’m not sure whether I have sinned or not. If so, my penance will be donate the $11.41 difference to a good cause. But, maybe, I was just a savvy shopper with a smartphone and the good sense to take advantage of my student free two-day shipping when I can.
Am I an Amazon app sinner destroying my local economy, or a smart shopper saving $11.41 I can now spend locally?
Discuss.
What? You don’t have a TV! (part 3)
[For previous installments of this series, see Part 1, and Part 2]
The amount of time Americans spend watching TV has gone up in recent years. Studies differ, but it’s usually estimated we watch on average nearly three hours of TV a day. Since I don’t have a TV, what do I do with my time? And, what must I be missing?
Besides work, cooking, cleaning, blogging, running, and that sort of thing, I do have some leisure time. So, mainly, I read. There’s magazine: TIME, The Christian Century, Harper’s, The Atlantic and others. There’s books: mostly fiction, sometimes churchy. There’s the web: dozens of blogs, news sites, social media. There’s radio: MPR (OK, I only listen to MPR, but that’s because it’s the best). And, there’s also the TV one can stream online.
About once a week, I’ll stream a show on Netflix (Mad Men is my current project). I’ll also sometimes stream The Daily Show with John Stewart and The Colbert Report. Netflix gives options for streaming movies (though the selection is lacking). Amazon Prime, as of very recently, offers streaming, as does, of course, Hulu.
By far the most frustrating aspect of my non-TV life is the lack of streaming sports online. My Internet Service Provider does not offer ESPN3, so I can’t easily watch ESPN-broadcast sports online. While Major League Baseball and the NFL now package some online-related programming — via smart phones and iPads — neither allows realtime streaming of in-network games, even at a price. I’d gladly pay a few bucks for the joy of watching an occasional Twins game on my iPad, or Vikings, or FSU anything. I hope television networks release their hold on the rights to distribute such games as soon as possible. I mean, come on! I’ll pay, but I just want the option to watch sports online.
This way of watching TV — streaming shows after they air, but seldom — I see as a sort of DVR TV approach, but only more extreme. If folks who DVR have the option of watching only the top shows they want, at the times they want (and with the commercials they don’t want), then I take same sort of approach, just a little more intensely.
If there’s a great show about which I hear a lot — like The Wire, and Mad Men — I can figure out a way to watch it, but sometimes it takes a few years. If John Stewart was particularly strong one night, I can go back and watch it the next day. I’ll usually only do so, however, if I hear, or see online chatter, about a high quality show. So I don’t watch much mindless stuff. My TV watching — or streaming, as the case may be — is very intentional. And, due to the limitations of TV online these days, it’s also limited to significantly less than three hours a week. Just the way I like it.
A few good plugs
I’m happy to announce three cool things on A Wee Blether today. Yes. Count them: one, two, three!
- The Presbyterian Outlook, an independent magazine reporting on issues of interest to the PC(USA), is looking for two new part-time employees. And yes, you can even work from the comfort of your own home! I know I’m not alone in my push, in the most amiable way, for the Outlook to refocus efforts on web presence and social media (yes, their site makes me want to pull my hair out). Well, the new Internet Content Manager Job will do just that. They’re also looking for someone to fill this CopyEditor Job Description. I’ve worked with the Outlook folk in the past and can recommend them as a classy organization filling a vital role in the denomination.
- The Thoughtful Christian.com, a great portal for lesson plans and book deals, has recently expanded and launched a new blog: Gathering Voices. I managed to wrangle my way into the first group of regular bloggers, so Wednesdays my posts from Gathering Voices will be cross-posted back here. I’m excited to work with such an awesome group of bloggers — some young, some old, all smart — and I’m also quite happy that it’s less of a time commitment than my stint with the Century Blog. It’s live as of yesterday; my first post goes up tomorrow.
- MinnPost.com, speaking of new ventures, is a newish effort in high-quality nonprofit journalism for “news-intense people who care about Minnesota.” Well, that’d be me! I’ve followed them for a few months, and recently re-worked a post for them. It appears today in their “Community Voices” section under the title, “The Minnesota breakfast crew vs. the Twitterati: Cherishing a sense of perspective.” Check out their site, though, not for my voice but for their new model of quality journalism.
Three awesome tech tools that changed my life
Prezi — I recently learned about a newish presentation web-based program called Prezi. Move over PowerPoint–Prezi will soon be king. Well, not likely, but it’s awesome. Posted below is an example for a presentation I’m giving today on Technology and the Church for a group of Lutheran pastors in the area. It’s my first using Prezi (and it shows) but the possibilities are amazing for more conversational presentations, for more experiential work than PowerPoint allows, and just for thinking in helpful non-linear ways. Check out the Prezi.com/explore site for more work (it’s easy to share and collaborate). You have to see this tool to understand. It will blow your mind.
Jumpcut – Jumpcut is so simple it’s silly, one of those why-isn’t-this-normal programs I use dozens of a times a day. You know when you copy and paste something, and then copy something else, but you actually end up wanting to paste the thing you copied two times back? Well, Jumpcut allows this with a simple keystroke. In fact, it archives all your control-c commands up to 40 or something. No joke: I use this program at least once every hour I’m on my MacBook.
Techy Advent Calendar – there’s plenty of these out there, but Trinity Wall Street may have the best.
On not obacerating myself
Whew, my stint at a regular blogger for the CENTURY Blog has come to a (regularly scheduled) end. It was lovely, but by the final days of the two+ month partnership I did feel my blethering had become too churchy and pastor-focused. Come January, I’ll begin a different but related stint with another great organization so stay tuned. Now, though, enjoy a few random thoughts I’ve been collecting.
- An example of why I love NPR: a story on the website Save the Words, reported (quite cleverly) on All Things Considered last week. Check out the Save the Words website (it’s where I took the word “obacerate” from the title of the post) but logophiles beware: it’s addicting.
- Here’s a great story on a recent Fuller Seminary grad, Andrew Richey, whose living out of the command to “love your neighbor as yourself” has developed into some really awesome Christian-Muslim dialogue.
- My latest youth study for The Thoughtful Christian just came out, “That Mission Trip Was Fun! Now What?” You should check out their website this week anyway, as their book deals are amazing (and often beat Amazon!).
- Here’s a really pretty well done article from Arkansas Online in association with the Arkansas Democrat Gazette on the work of the Presbyterian Committee on Congregational Song on which I serve.
- Finally, this is one crazy “random act of culture” by the Opera Company of Philadelphia “Hallelujah!” in Macy’s. Enjoy!
Facebook rules for pastors
Also posted at the CENTURY Blog
“Should I post or should I not?” I ask myself this when I’m thinking of posting a particularly snarky religion-related Facebook status update that would entertain my old seminary friends, go over my high school friends’ heads and unsettle some members of my congregation.
I use Facebook daily in my work, but it wasn’t designed as a ministry tool. As the new movie The Social Network shows, Mark Zuckerberg developed Facebook on a college campus with the social networks of college students in mind. Now, as a pastor with 866 Facebook “friends,” I struggle with my mixed-up social networks.
If I post a vacation picture or two, church members will post comments on them. This is lovely and thoughtful of them, but it’s also a reminder that even when I’m on vacation I have a congregation waiting for me back home. (There are larger concerns about vacation posts as well.)
When they began looking for a call to a church, many of my seminary classmates combed their Facebook accounts and deleted photos, changed favorite quotes and blanked out political affiliations so that pastor-seeking congregations would not prejudge for or against them by their online identities. I even have several pastor friends who maintain two Facebook profiles, one personal and one professional.
Pastoral ministry is a public calling, and in our social-media age this calling extends to online identities and relationships. I laud the possibilities social media presents and urge the church to use the tools for the kingdom. But just as church-owned houses offer particular challenges to a pastor and family when members drop in unannounced to fill the fridge with makings for the women’s tea, Facebook offers the challenge of unclear and ever-changing boundaries. (For the record, Presbyterian Women of Hallock, Minnesota, this is not something I fret over but just an example.)
Since becoming a pastor, I’ve developed some different Facebook practices:
- Though I am Facebook friends with several church youth, I only post to their public walls rather than sending private messages. (I do use the message function for messages to multiple youth and their parents.)
- I rarely put up status messages; it’s too difficult to write something with so many different audiences in mind.
- My interactions on Facebook tend to be affirming and broad-minded rather than combative or controversial.
- Whatever my privacy settings, I always assume that anything on Facebook could be read by anyone at any time.
I’m a huge fan of social media, and Facebook sets the standard, at least for now. But it can be abused, and it brings with it unintended consequences, especially for those in public roles.
How do you approach Facebook for public ministry and personal use? What challenges do you encounter with social media? What are your Facebook best practices?
Image by Massimo Barbieri, licensed under Creative Commons.
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