Greenflame » Cyberspace

Theological perspectives on the Internet

stepheng — Sat, 19 Jul 2008 05:07:21 +0000

Paul Walker kicks off a series of posts coming out of his research on theological perspectives on the Internet. Part one can be found at Church 2.0 - Main - Theological perspectives on the Internet part 1.

Looking forward to parts 2 though 99(?).

World Internet Project - NZ Project Findings

stepheng — Mon, 07 Jan 2008 09:11:43 +0000

Via Russell Brown’s column in the latest NZ Listener - Wide Area News: Casting the net - a link through to the World Internet Project New Zealand being done by AUT’s Institute of Culture, Discourse & Communication.

The World Internet Project New Zealand (WIP NZ) is an extensive research project which aims to provide important information about the social, cultural, political and economic influence of the internet and related digital technologies.

The findings of the pilot programme and the interim reports can be found here. (Brown’s piece summarizes a some it as well). I’m going to download them and see if anything interesting pops out.

The Heroes Comics as Transmedia Storytelling

stepheng — Sun, 16 Dec 2007 04:32:28 +0000

As someone interested in both transmedia narratives and the TV show ‘Heroes’ I was really interested to read this article recently.

Confessions of an Aca/Fan: The Official Weblog of Henry Jenkins: “We Had So Many Stories to Tell”: The Heroes Comics as Transmedia Storytelling and to find the link to the online ‘Heroes’ comics that add to the TV episodes at Heroes TV Show on NBC: NBC Official Site

More links to transmedia storytelling at Greenflame · Transmedia.

Game and brains

stepheng — Sun, 09 Sep 2007 10:21:51 +0000

Interesting article on Wired’s web site about developments that see brain-machine interfaces moving from therapeutic domains and into the entertainment world, and medical concerns about that. see BCI - Brain to Control Games Directly, Maybe Vice Versa

“Privacy pollution”

stepheng — Thu, 30 Aug 2007 03:57:55 +0000

The NZ Privacy Commissioner has a press release out on what she calls “privacy pollution” caused by individuals and wider society being permeated by digital media and transactions.

“Privacy pollution is about the small privacy incursions that are annoying rather than harmful in themselves, but can accumulate and have widespread impact that can ultimately amount to a significant level of intrusion”

See: Private Word Issue 63, August 2007 - The Office of the Privacy Commissioner, New Zealand

Virtual Worlds on Radio NZ National

stepheng — Tue, 21 Aug 2007 09:42:33 +0000

The Ideas slot on Sunday morning on Radio NZ National was about virtual worlds, including both positive and negative voices about their effects on individuals and wider society.

Audio available via podcast or from the link on the Ideas page. (Be aware that the default audio format is WMA. If you want MP3 then you have to change your audio preferences on the RNZ web site).

Virtual Pastors

stepheng — Fri, 17 Aug 2007 03:09:48 +0000

Satirical piece over at LarkNews.com: Virtual Pastors please picky church-goers. I’d laugh more, but I can see it actually happening (given that congregations try to do it in real life sometimes).

Messianic dreams and the iPhone

stepheng — Sun, 12 Aug 2007 10:34:17 +0000

Heidi posts a collection of links that track messianic expectation (of sorts) around Apple’s iPhone. See When Religion Meets New Media: IPhone = Jesus Phone?!?.

Reminds me of this from Kevin Kelly in his article, “The Third Culture.” (Science 279 (1998): 992-993.):

One would expect to see frenzied, messianic attempts to make stuff, to have creation race ahead of understanding, and this we see already. In the emerging nerd culture a question is framed so that the answer will usually be a new technology.

Also, on the cyberspace front a three books I’ve added to my “to read” list:

Gaming Lives in the Twenty-First Century: Literate Connections by Cynthia L. Selfe and Gail E. Hawisher (Palgrave Macmillan, 2007). The chapters “Dungeons, Dragons, and Discretion: A Gateway to Gaming, Technology, and Literacy” and “Gaming and Spirituality”.
Cyberspace Romance: The Psychology of Online Relationships by Monica T. Whitty and Adrian N. Carr (Palgrave Macmillan, 2006).
Fans, Bloggers, and Gamers: Exploring Participatory Culture by Henry Jenkins (NYU Press, 2006).

Saving ‘virtual’ souls

stepheng — Sat, 28 Jul 2007 12:00:41 +0000

A recent article in La Civilta Cattolica by Jesuit Antonio Spadaro argues for Catholics to consider virtual worlds, such as Second Life, as potential mission fields.

See:
Catholics urged to save virtual souls too - Stuff.co.nz
FT.com : Gospel 2.0: Jesuits move into Second Life:

You can read the article abstract here (in Italian) and here (via Google translation).

Tim’s calling Auckland Bloggers! or Media and Religion scholars?

stepheng — Sun, 15 Jul 2007 12:11:44 +0000

Tim Bulkeley’s on the lookout for people interested in religion and media.

Calling Auckland Bloggers! or Media and Religion scholars?
Heidi Campbell (Texas A & M) author of When Religion Meets New Media (Routledge) and the blog “When Religion Meets New Media” if there are bloggers in the Auckland vicinity who would be interested in a face to face get together to meet Heidi and each other on the evening of the 24th please contact me (Tim) by email or phone 526 0344 with your contact details. We will be having a sort of semi-colloquium on Media and Religious Authority that day (hopefully with virtual participants as well as physical ones - if you are an academic and interested in this topic please also contact me!) and a quiet chat with a wider group could be a good way to finish the day.

Contact him on the phone no. above or follow the link SansBlogue: Calling Auckland Bloggers! or Media and Religion scholars?