Digital Religion

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stef Aupers ◽  
Lars de Wildt
Keyword(s):  
Digital Media ◽  
Digital Technology ◽  
Large Role ◽  
Traditional Religions ◽  
Secular Society

This article focuses on the role of digital media in the shift toward a “post-secular society.” Whereas classical sociologists presented technology and religion as incompatible by depicting technology’s spread as a powerful force of rationalization, disenchantment, and, ultimately, secularization, such assumptions have been contested as modernist ideologies rather than empirical assessments. By reviewing the literature thereon, the authors suggest, firstly, that traditional religions spread through digital media; secondly, that religious contents play a large role in digital media; and, thirdly, that there is an emergence of religions of digital media, placing digital technology itself at the center of religious speculation. As a consequence, the authors argue that this digitalization of religion makes clear that sociological assumptions about the incompatibility between technology and religion and related theories about progressive secularization and disenchantment have become problematic.

Digital media as a driver of change in political organisation: 2010 and 2015 UK general elections

2020 ◽  
Vol 42 (7-8) ◽  
pp. 1343-1359
Author(s):  
Anthony Ridge-Newman
Keyword(s):  
Political Parties ◽  
Digital Media ◽  
Digital Technology ◽  
Organisational Change ◽  
Conservative Party ◽  
General Elections ◽  
Run Up ◽  
The Impact

In Britain, by 2015, Web 2.0 had become a more widely accepted and established mode of civic engagement of which political e-participation became an observable extension. However, in the run-up to 2010, social media were newer, less understood and largely associated with younger generations. These changes present questions about how wider technocultural developments impacted political engagement between the 2010 and 2015 UK general elections. This article aims to go some way in examining this question with a theoretical focus on the role of Facebook as a driver of change in political organisation. Using the British Conservative Party as a case study, the article analyses and compares events, observations and shifting power relations associated with digital technology and organisational change observed over two election cycles spanning from 2005 to 2015. A focal aim is to examine changes in Conservative Party campaigns and organisation in order to contribute to wider debates about the impact of digital technology in changing the organisation and activities of actors, like political parties and political participants, in democratic contexts. The article concludes that a complex combination of internal and external, technological and human, and grassroots and centralised factors played roles in changing the Conservative Party.

scholarly journals A Review of Evidence on the Role of Digital Technology in Shaping Attention and Cognitive Control in Children

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maria Vedechkina ◽  
Francesca Borgonovi
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Control ◽  
Digital Media ◽  
Digital Technology ◽  
Technology Use ◽  
Public Discourse ◽  
Rapid Development ◽  
Digital Technologies ◽  
Past Research ◽  
Future Research

The role of digital technology in shaping attention and cognitive development has been at the centre of public discourse for decades. The current review presents findings from three main bodies of literature on the implications of technology use for attention and cognitive control: television, video games, and digital multitasking. The aim is to identify key lessons from prior research that are relevant for the current generation of digital users. In particular, the lack of scientific consensus on whether digital technologies are good or bad for children reflects that effects depend on users’ characteristics, the form digital technologies take, the circumstances in which use occurs and the interaction between the three factors. Some features of digital media may be particularly problematic, but only for certain users and only in certain contexts. Similarly, individual differences mediate how, when and why individuals use technology, as well as how much benefit or harm can be derived from its use. The finding emerging from the review on the large degree of heterogeneity in associations is especially relevant due to the rapid development and diffusion of a large number of different digital technologies and contents, and the increasing variety of user experiences. We discuss the importance of leveraging existing knowledge and integrating past research findings into a broader organizing framework in order to guide emerging technology-based research and practice. We end with a discussion of some of the challenges and unaddressed issues in the literature and propose directions for future research.

scholarly journals Digital video-based research in fashion: Visualizing affect and sartorial vitality

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Todd Robinson
Keyword(s):  
Digital Media ◽  
Research Methods ◽  
Participatory Research ◽  
Digital Technology ◽  
Digital Video ◽  
The Body ◽  
Video Technology ◽  
Research Activities ◽  
The World

This article examines the role of digital video in fashion research. It makes a case for the use of digital video as a valuable tool within the suite of research methods typically used in the field of fashion and dress. Its aim is to demonstrate that digital video can enrich studies of fashion, specifically in its capacity to assist the capture and analysis of visual material unavailable to unmediated perception. Central to this is the technology’s ability to document the dressed body in movement. The article discusses outcomes of a video-based methodology with reference to participatory research activities termed ‘sartorial sessions’. The approach used digital video technology to make possible the collection, analysis and manipulation of embodied material for a close interpretation and analysis as well as for others to encounter. The article demonstrates the way digital media, when used in conjunction with practice-oriented methods, opens up new ways to understand and research the body in fashion. It concludes with reflection on how revelation of a background sartorial vitality opened up by digital technology can shift understanding of fashion from commodities or signs involved in the transmission of messages about wearers, or aesthetic propositions to powerful tools shaping our encounters in the world.

scholarly journals Role of Online Media: A Study of Happiness Index in Students’ Online Screen Use in West Bengal

2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Trinanjana Das
Keyword(s):  
Physical Health ◽  
Digital Media ◽  
Digital Technology ◽  
West Bengal ◽  
Media Use ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Online Media ◽  
Present Generation ◽  
Screen Use

Objective: The research aims to study the correlation of happiness and online media use of the students of West Bengal and predict the level of influence that digital media can have on students’ happiness. Introduction: Digital technology has transformed the way the present generation navigates through life and form connections with each other. The years after 2010 in particular have shown a massive decline in terms of happiness which failed to rebound to the 1990s level. In fact, both adults and teens reported that they felt far less happy and satisfied, which was prevalent even till 2000 also. Incidences of low psychological well-being were prominent, besides deterioration of physical health.

scholarly journals A Review of Evidence on the Role of Digital Technology in Shaping Attention and Cognitive Control in Children

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maria Vedechkina ◽  
Francesca Borgonovi
Keyword(s):  
Digital Media ◽  
Digital Technology ◽  
Technology Use ◽  
Public Discourse ◽  
Rapid Evolution ◽  
Digital Technologies ◽  
Past Research ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Bodies Of Evidence

The role of digital technology in shaping attention and cognitive development has been at the centre of public discourse for decades. The rapid evolution of the technological landscape in recent years has made it increasingly difficult to study how digital devices might interact with cognition in a way that directly informs the present generation of media users. The current review presents findings from three main bodies of evidence on the implications of technology use for attention and executive functions: television, video games, and digital multitasking with the aim of identifying key lessons from prior research for the current generation of digital users. In particular, the lack of scientific consensus on whether digital technologies are good or bad for children reflects that effects depend on users’ characteristics, the form digital technologies take, the circumstances in which use occurs and the interaction between the three factors. Some features of digital media may be particularly problematic, but only for certain users and only in certain contexts. Similarly, individual differences mediate how, when and why individuals use technology, as well as how much benefit or harm can be derived from its use. We discuss the importance of leveraging existing knowledge and integrating past research findings into a broader theoretical framework in order to guide emerging technology-based research. We end with a discussion of some of the challenges and unaddressed issues in the literature, and propose directions for future research.

Digital Media

2010 ◽  
pp. 225-234
Author(s):  
Anthony Hendrickson ◽  
Trent Wachner ◽  
Brook Mathews
Keyword(s):  
Digital Media ◽  
Value Chain ◽  
Digital Technology ◽  
Business Models ◽  
Digital Technologies ◽  
User Generated Content ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Initial Reaction ◽  
Assess Quality

Few would argue that digital technology has impacted nearly every industry, especially media and related firms. Media’s initial reaction to digital technology was reactive in nature: How can we convert traditional processes to fit digital technologies, mostly in the form of distribution (e.g., traditional newspapers making content available online)? In this chapter the authors argue that digital technologies have now permeated virtually every aspect of the value chain and are forcing traditional firms to rethink long held business models. The authors identify five areas of potential inquiry: (1) What is a resource in the digital age and why does this matter? (2) Where does value creation fit in today’s horizontal business models? (3) What is the demarcation between consuming content and creating content (e.g., user-generated content)? (4) What mechanisms can be used to assess quality in a world where anyone can publish? (5) What is the role of regulation and changing business models in the world of digital technology? They do not claim to have the answers, but they hope to at least create dialogue that encourages future research.

ADAPTATION OF LABOUR MIGRANTS FROM CENTRAL ASIA IN CONTEMPORARY RUSSIA: THE ROLE OF DIGITAL TECHNOLOGY

2019 ◽  
pp. 122-144
Author(s):  
Vadim E. Vasilev ◽  
◽  
Julia I. Eremenkova ◽  
Alina N. Ermokhina ◽  
Alexander A. Nikiforov ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Central Asia ◽  
Digital Technology

scholarly journals From audiences to data points: The role of media agencies in the platformization of the news media industry

2021 ◽  
pp. 016344372110298
Author(s):  
Ida Willig
Keyword(s):  
Digital Media ◽  
News Media ◽  
Media Industry ◽  
Ethical Challenges ◽  
Media Audiences ◽  
Data Points ◽  
The Public Sphere ◽  
The Many ◽  
Marketing Budgets

Media agencies have become one of the key actors in the contemporary media industry: by channelling marketing budgets to some media and some platforms and not to others, media agencies play an important role in creating the digital media infrastructure and laying the tracks of the public sphere. Yet we know very little about these commercial middlemen between advertisers and audiences, what they do, and how we should understand their role in the digital media ecology. This article discusses the role of media agencies in relation to platformization with a focus on the news media sector. Based on interviews, publicly available material and trade journals, the article depicts an industry deeply engaged in digitizing, tracking and commodifying media audiences, while at the same time aware of ethical challenges of the digital media infrastructure. This leads to a call for more political attention and critical research on the democratic implications of the new value chains between platforms, advertisers, audiences, media agencies and news media as well as the many tech companies providing derived digital services and products.

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