Cross-cultural digital religion in the age of corona?
Hi all, Some of you know one of my stock jokes: as a philosopher I only need one data point ... I've collected a few more in this case - namely, casual observations of the differences between Denmark and Norway in terms of use of both traditional broadcast and SoMe, both secular and within the Lutheran communities. Briefly: 1) the Norwegian Lutheran Church offers occasional "musical devotions," e.g., a small choir (at proper distance) singing a psalm or two, a short sermon, and then music (primarily organ) for ca. 45 minutes or so - livestreamed from their FB page. 2) The organist /cantor from a Danish church offers a morning song, livestreamed from his FB page, featuring two songs as sung by him and his family (who are gathered in for school at home, etc.) 3) The Danish broadcasting channel, DR1, also offers a morning song, beginning with familiar singing warm-ups, followed by two (sometimes more) favorites from the Danish "High School Song Book," sometimes the Danish Psalm Book, and/or other places, e.g., favorite children's songs. These are requested by listeners / viewers, sometimes accompanied by a video of the requestor, explaining why s/he thinks the song would be good in these times. Something like 100,000 people tune in and, presumptively, sing along. (<https://www.dr.dk/drtv/serie/morgensang-med-phillip-faber_176557>, though you'll have to use a VPN with a Danish connection to get the content. Speaking for a friend ...) FWIW: These and other experiences give the general impression that such (secular) morning song tradition is far stronger in Denmark: I'm not finding anything like this in the main Norwegian channels currently. Three data points, and hence two queries: despite all the disasters, dangers, and exceptional challenges - for those still able to muster a research agenda 1) is anyone paying closer, far more skilled and disciplined attention to such phenomena in Scandinavia? 2) ditto for other places in the world? It would be good and interesting to know. My simple-minded hypothesis / assumption is that documenting and analyzing comparisons and contrasts such as these might tell us something interesting, a) not only about SoMe and/or traditional broadcasting (where the latter is likely more consumed precisely by those in the highest risk group) but also and/or b) cross-cultural differences, both subtle and gross, that might be related to other factors of cultural histories, infrastructures, etc. In all events, all best to us all, despite it all ... - charles ess -- Professor in Media Studies Department of Media and Communication University of Oslo <http://www.hf.uio.no/imk/english/people/aca/charlees/index.html> Fellow, Siebold-Collegiums Institute for Advanced Studies, Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg, Germany Co-chair & Editor, Internet Research Ethics 3.0 <https://aoir.org/reports/ethics3.pdf> 3rd edition of Digital Media Ethics now out! <http://politybooks.com/bookdetail/?isbn=9781509533428> Postboks 1093 Blindern 0317 Oslo, Norway c.m.ess@media.uio.no
You might query Yale’s HRAF ethnography database (if you have access) to see what non- broadcast traditions are. The broadcast time/ routine may have nothing to do with the material or even culture and more to do with suddenly being at home. Sally Applin, Ph.D. ………. Voted one of Lighthouse 3’s '100 Brilliant Women in AI Ethics for 2020" ………. Research Fellow HRAF Advanced Research Centres (EU), Canterbury Centre for Social Anthropology and Computing (CSAC) .......... Research Associate Human Relations Area Files (HRAF) Yale University .......... Associate Editor, IEEE Consumer Electronics Magazine Member, IoT Council .......... http://www.posr.org http://www.sally.com ……... ORCID ID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2443-5530 .......... sally@sally.com I am based in Silicon Valley
On Mar 23, 2020, at 2:45 AM, Charles M. Ess <c.m.ess@media.uio.no> wrote:
Hi all,
Some of you know one of my stock jokes: as a philosopher I only need one data point ... I've collected a few more in this case - namely, casual observations of the differences between Denmark and Norway in terms of use of both traditional broadcast and SoMe, both secular and within the Lutheran communities. Briefly:
1) the Norwegian Lutheran Church offers occasional "musical devotions," e.g., a small choir (at proper distance) singing a psalm or two, a short sermon, and then music (primarily organ) for ca. 45 minutes or so - livestreamed from their FB page.
2) The organist /cantor from a Danish church offers a morning song, livestreamed from his FB page, featuring two songs as sung by him and his family (who are gathered in for school at home, etc.)
3) The Danish broadcasting channel, DR1, also offers a morning song, beginning with familiar singing warm-ups, followed by two (sometimes more) favorites from the Danish "High School Song Book," sometimes the Danish Psalm Book, and/or other places, e.g., favorite children's songs. These are requested by listeners / viewers, sometimes accompanied by a video of the requestor, explaining why s/he thinks the song would be good in these times. Something like 100,000 people tune in and, presumptively, sing along. (<https://www.dr.dk/drtv/serie/morgensang-med-phillip-faber_176557>, though you'll have to use a VPN with a Danish connection to get the content. Speaking for a friend ...)
FWIW: These and other experiences give the general impression that such (secular) morning song tradition is far stronger in Denmark: I'm not finding anything like this in the main Norwegian channels currently.
Three data points, and hence two queries: despite all the disasters, dangers, and exceptional challenges - for those still able to muster a research agenda 1) is anyone paying closer, far more skilled and disciplined attention to such phenomena in Scandinavia? 2) ditto for other places in the world?
It would be good and interesting to know. My simple-minded hypothesis / assumption is that documenting and analyzing comparisons and contrasts such as these might tell us something interesting, a) not only about SoMe and/or traditional broadcasting (where the latter is likely more consumed precisely by those in the highest risk group) but also and/or b) cross-cultural differences, both subtle and gross, that might be related to other factors of cultural histories, infrastructures, etc.
In all events, all best to us all, despite it all ... - charles ess
-- Professor in Media Studies Department of Media and Communication University of Oslo <http://www.hf.uio.no/imk/english/people/aca/charlees/index.html>
Fellow, Siebold-Collegiums Institute for Advanced Studies, Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg, Germany
Co-chair & Editor, Internet Research Ethics 3.0 <https://aoir.org/reports/ethics3.pdf>
3rd edition of Digital Media Ethics now out! <http://politybooks.com/bookdetail/?isbn=9781509533428>
Postboks 1093 Blindern 0317 Oslo, Norway c.m.ess@media.uio.no _______________________________________________ The Air-L@listserv.aoir.org mailing list is provided by the Association of Internet Researchers http://aoir.org Subscribe, change options or unsubscribe at: http://listserv.aoir.org/listinfo.cgi/air-l-aoir.org
Join the Association of Internet Researchers: http://www.aoir.org/
Dear colleagues, On 23/03/2020 11:01, Sally Applin wrote:
You might query Yale’s HRAF ethnography database (if you have access) to see what non- broadcast traditions are.
Thanks much for this - certainly useful, rich and interesting. I'm not seeing, on first blush at least, much that intersects with Digital Religion. As interesting and useful as the materials on religion are, "digital" as a search term returns no results. Nor do the terms "Scandinavian," "Denmark," etc. But will keep poking for all the other goodies to be gleaned.
The broadcast time/ routine may have nothing to do with the material or even culture and more to do with suddenly being at home.
or all of the above. Regrets for not making explicit that yes, most people in Norway and Denmark have been under quarantine and related restrictions for some time, e.g., since March 12 in the Norwegian case. And a fourth data point: in Norwegian coverage of all of these disasters - it is striking that somewhere around the 3rd or 4th prioritized story on national news covers apparently widespread and deep concerns about the welfare of children who are likely susceptible to violence and sexual attack. Now that schools and kindergartens are closed, these (usually) safe havens for such children are no longer available: what, reporters keep asking, is the government doing to protect these children under the new circumstances? None of my U.S.-based news media, even the most left-wing, etc. seem to mention this. Please let me know if I'm missing something. Again, many thanks and all best despite it all, - charles
Sally Applin, Ph.D.
-- Professor in Media Studies Department of Media and Communication University of Oslo <http://www.hf.uio.no/imk/english/people/aca/charlees/index.html> Fellow, Siebold-Collegiums Institute for Advanced Studies, Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg, Germany Co-chair & Editor, Internet Research Ethics 3.0 <https://aoir.org/reports/ethics3.pdf> 3rd edition of Digital Media Ethics now out! <http://politybooks.com/bookdetail/?isbn=9781509533428> Postboks 1093 Blindern 0317 Oslo, Norway c.m.ess@media.uio.no
Hi Charles,
Thanks much for this - certainly useful, rich and interesting. I'm not seeing, on first blush at least, much that intersects with Digital Religion.
It seems unreasonable to expect to find an ethnography on the specific thing you are looking for. HRAF offers a place to view the biggest global collection of historic ethnographies—a starting point. You may or may not find something there. We are seeing some coverage in the US of people asking about welfare for domestic violence victims during the lockdown, but not so much aimed at children, and very little coming from the US government. -Sally
As interesting and useful as the materials on religion are, "digital" as a search term returns no results. Nor do the terms "Scandinavian," "Denmark," etc. But will keep poking for all the other goodies to be gleaned.
The broadcast time/ routine may have nothing to do with the material or even culture and more to do with suddenly being at home.
or all of the above. Regrets for not making explicit that yes, most people in Norway and Denmark have been under quarantine and related restrictions for some time, e.g., since March 12 in the Norwegian case.
And a fourth data point: in Norwegian coverage of all of these disasters - it is striking that somewhere around the 3rd or 4th prioritized story on national news covers apparently widespread and deep concerns about the welfare of children who are likely susceptible to violence and sexual attack. Now that schools and kindergartens are closed, these (usually) safe havens for such children are no longer available: what, reporters keep asking, is the government doing to protect these children under the new circumstances?
None of my U.S.-based news media, even the most left-wing, etc. seem to mention this. Please let me know if I'm missing something.
Again, many thanks and all best despite it all, - charles
Sally Applin, Ph.D.
-- Professor in Media Studies Department of Media and Communication University of Oslo <http://www.hf.uio.no/imk/english/people/aca/charlees/index.html>
Fellow, Siebold-Collegiums Institute for Advanced Studies, Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg, Germany
Co-chair & Editor, Internet Research Ethics 3.0 <https://aoir.org/reports/ethics3.pdf>
3rd edition of Digital Media Ethics now out! <http://politybooks.com/bookdetail/?isbn=9781509533428>
Postboks 1093 Blindern 0317 Oslo, Norway c.m.ess@media.uio.no
Charles, You are correct that the national news media in the U.S. have not given a lot of attention to children, local stations have done so. Two network affiliates in our top-20 market have run stories just in the past two days: https://minnesota.cbslocal.com/video/4492262-your-questions-about-kids-coron... https://www.kare11.com/article/news/health/coronavirus/families-figuring-out... and a quick Google search turned up these from other markets: https://www.ksla.com/2020/03/23/suffering-silence-covid-increased-risk-child... https://fox6now.com/2020/03/23/texas-hospital-sees-spike-in-severe-child-abu... Understanding how news media work, I also searched for PR activity that may have triggered some of these stories, and discovered this from Monday: https://www.fbi.gov/news/pressrel/press-releases/school-closings-due-to-covi... An interesting line of research. Hope you and Connie are well. -- Mark D. Johns, Ph.D. Professor Emeritus of Communication Studies at Luther College, Decorah, Iowa USA now residing in Minneapolis, MN ----------------------------------------------- "Get the facts first. You can distort them later." ---Mark Twain On Wed, Mar 25, 2020 at 1:29 AM Charles M. Ess <c.m.ess@media.uio.no> wrote:
Dear colleagues,
On 23/03/2020 11:01, Sally Applin wrote:
You might query Yale’s HRAF ethnography database (if you have access) to see what non- broadcast traditions are.
Thanks much for this - certainly useful, rich and interesting. I'm not seeing, on first blush at least, much that intersects with Digital Religion. As interesting and useful as the materials on religion are, "digital" as a search term returns no results. Nor do the terms "Scandinavian," "Denmark," etc. But will keep poking for all the other goodies to be gleaned.
The broadcast time/ routine may have nothing to do with the material or even culture and more to do with suddenly being at home.
or all of the above. Regrets for not making explicit that yes, most people in Norway and Denmark have been under quarantine and related restrictions for some time, e.g., since March 12 in the Norwegian case.
And a fourth data point: in Norwegian coverage of all of these disasters - it is striking that somewhere around the 3rd or 4th prioritized story on national news covers apparently widespread and deep concerns about the welfare of children who are likely susceptible to violence and sexual attack. Now that schools and kindergartens are closed, these (usually) safe havens for such children are no longer available: what, reporters keep asking, is the government doing to protect these children under the new circumstances?
None of my U.S.-based news media, even the most left-wing, etc. seem to mention this. Please let me know if I'm missing something.
Again, many thanks and all best despite it all, - charles
Sally Applin, Ph.D.
-- Professor in Media Studies Department of Media and Communication University of Oslo <http://www.hf.uio.no/imk/english/people/aca/charlees/index.html>
Fellow, Siebold-Collegiums Institute for Advanced Studies, Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg, Germany
Co-chair & Editor, Internet Research Ethics 3.0 <https://aoir.org/reports/ethics3.pdf>
3rd edition of Digital Media Ethics now out! <http://politybooks.com/bookdetail/?isbn=9781509533428>
Postboks 1093 Blindern 0317 Oslo, Norway c.m.ess@media.uio.no _______________________________________________ The Air-L@listserv.aoir.org mailing list is provided by the Association of Internet Researchers http://aoir.org Subscribe, change options or unsubscribe at: http://listserv.aoir.org/listinfo.cgi/air-l-aoir.org
Join the Association of Internet Researchers: http://www.aoir.org/
Hi Mark & colleagues, Just to say thanks for this - most helpful and interesting, however deeply distressing the topics. Thanks as well to Sally for an off-list exchange which helped clarify some of my misunderstandings regarding her initial suggestions. Will keep you posted off-list of whatever we find out. Again, many thanks and all best, - c. On 25/03/2020 17:07, Mark D. Johns wrote:
Charles,
You are correct that the national news media in the U.S. have not given a lot of attention to children, local stations have done so. Two network affiliates in our top-20 market have run stories just in the past two days: https://minnesota.cbslocal.com/video/4492262-your-questions-about-kids-coron... https://www.kare11.com/article/news/health/coronavirus/families-figuring-out...
and a quick Google search turned up these from other markets: https://www.ksla.com/2020/03/23/suffering-silence-covid-increased-risk-child... https://fox6now.com/2020/03/23/texas-hospital-sees-spike-in-severe-child-abu...
Understanding how news media work, I also searched for PR activity that may have triggered some of these stories, and discovered this from Monday: https://www.fbi.gov/news/pressrel/press-releases/school-closings-due-to-covi...
An interesting line of research. Hope you and Connie are well. -- Mark D. Johns, Ph.D. Professor Emeritus of Communication Studies at Luther College, Decorah, Iowa USA now residing in Minneapolis, MN ----------------------------------------------- "Get the facts first. You can distort them later." ---Mark Twain
On Wed, Mar 25, 2020 at 1:29 AM Charles M. Ess <c.m.ess@media.uio.no> wrote:
Dear colleagues,
On 23/03/2020 11:01, Sally Applin wrote:
You might query Yale’s HRAF ethnography database (if you have access) to see what non- broadcast traditions are.
Thanks much for this - certainly useful, rich and interesting. I'm not seeing, on first blush at least, much that intersects with Digital Religion. As interesting and useful as the materials on religion are, "digital" as a search term returns no results. Nor do the terms "Scandinavian," "Denmark," etc. But will keep poking for all the other goodies to be gleaned.
The broadcast time/ routine may have nothing to do with the material or even culture and more to do with suddenly being at home.
or all of the above. Regrets for not making explicit that yes, most people in Norway and Denmark have been under quarantine and related restrictions for some time, e.g., since March 12 in the Norwegian case.
And a fourth data point: in Norwegian coverage of all of these disasters - it is striking that somewhere around the 3rd or 4th prioritized story on national news covers apparently widespread and deep concerns about the welfare of children who are likely susceptible to violence and sexual attack. Now that schools and kindergartens are closed, these (usually) safe havens for such children are no longer available: what, reporters keep asking, is the government doing to protect these children under the new circumstances?
None of my U.S.-based news media, even the most left-wing, etc. seem to mention this. Please let me know if I'm missing something.
Again, many thanks and all best despite it all, - charles
Sally Applin, Ph.D.
-- Professor in Media Studies Department of Media and Communication University of Oslo <http://www.hf.uio.no/imk/english/people/aca/charlees/index.html>
Fellow, Siebold-Collegiums Institute for Advanced Studies, Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg, Germany
Co-chair & Editor, Internet Research Ethics 3.0 <https://aoir.org/reports/ethics3.pdf>
3rd edition of Digital Media Ethics now out! <http://politybooks.com/bookdetail/?isbn=9781509533428>
Postboks 1093 Blindern 0317 Oslo, Norway c.m.ess@media.uio.no _______________________________________________ The Air-L@listserv.aoir.org mailing list is provided by the Association of Internet Researchers http://aoir.org Subscribe, change options or unsubscribe at: http://listserv.aoir.org/listinfo.cgi/air-l-aoir.org
Join the Association of Internet Researchers: http://www.aoir.org/
-- Professor in Media Studies Department of Media and Communication University of Oslo <http://www.hf.uio.no/imk/english/people/aca/charlees/index.html> Fellow, Siebold-Collegiums Institute for Advanced Studies, Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg, Germany Co-chair & Editor, Internet Research Ethics 3.0 <https://aoir.org/reports/ethics3.pdf> 3rd edition of Digital Media Ethics now out! <http://politybooks.com/bookdetail/?isbn=9781509533428> Postboks 1093 Blindern 0317 Oslo, Norway c.m.ess@media.uio.no
We have been studying the video broadcast by religion-related public figures in Bangladesh. One thing that we have been seeing there is, many suggestions of the religious leaders are being criticized by others from a 'scientific' point of view. Sometimes those videos are being identified as a source of misinformation. Regards Ishtiaque Assistant Professor Computer Science University of Toronto www.ishtiaque.net On Sat, Mar 28, 2020 at 5:33 AM Charles M. Ess <c.m.ess@media.uio.no> wrote:
Hi Mark & colleagues,
Just to say thanks for this - most helpful and interesting, however deeply distressing the topics.
Thanks as well to Sally for an off-list exchange which helped clarify some of my misunderstandings regarding her initial suggestions.
Will keep you posted off-list of whatever we find out.
Again, many thanks and all best, - c.
On 25/03/2020 17:07, Mark D. Johns wrote:
Charles,
You are correct that the national news media in the U.S. have not given a lot of attention to children, local stations have done so. Two network affiliates in our top-20 market have run stories just in the past two days:
https://minnesota.cbslocal.com/video/4492262-your-questions-about-kids-coron...
https://www.kare11.com/article/news/health/coronavirus/families-figuring-out...
and a quick Google search turned up these from other markets:
https://www.ksla.com/2020/03/23/suffering-silence-covid-increased-risk-child...
https://fox6now.com/2020/03/23/texas-hospital-sees-spike-in-severe-child-abu...
Understanding how news media work, I also searched for PR activity that may have triggered some of these stories, and discovered this from Monday:
https://www.fbi.gov/news/pressrel/press-releases/school-closings-due-to-covi...
An interesting line of research. Hope you and Connie are well. -- Mark D. Johns, Ph.D. Professor Emeritus of Communication Studies at Luther College, Decorah, Iowa USA now residing in Minneapolis, MN ----------------------------------------------- "Get the facts first. You can distort them later." ---Mark Twain
On Wed, Mar 25, 2020 at 1:29 AM Charles M. Ess <c.m.ess@media.uio.no>
wrote:
Dear colleagues,
On 23/03/2020 11:01, Sally Applin wrote:
You might query Yale’s HRAF ethnography database (if you have access)
to
see what non- broadcast traditions are.
Thanks much for this - certainly useful, rich and interesting. I'm not seeing, on first blush at least, much that intersects with Digital Religion. As interesting and useful as the materials on religion are, "digital" as a search term returns no results. Nor do the terms "Scandinavian," "Denmark," etc. But will keep poking for all the other goodies to be gleaned.
The broadcast time/ routine may have nothing to do with the material or even culture and more to do with suddenly being at home.
or all of the above. Regrets for not making explicit that yes, most people in Norway and Denmark have been under quarantine and related restrictions for some time, e.g., since March 12 in the Norwegian case.
And a fourth data point: in Norwegian coverage of all of these disasters - it is striking that somewhere around the 3rd or 4th prioritized story on national news covers apparently widespread and deep concerns about the welfare of children who are likely susceptible to violence and sexual attack. Now that schools and kindergartens are closed, these (usually) safe havens for such children are no longer available: what, reporters keep asking, is the government doing to protect these children under the new circumstances?
None of my U.S.-based news media, even the most left-wing, etc. seem to mention this. Please let me know if I'm missing something.
Again, many thanks and all best despite it all, - charles
Sally Applin, Ph.D.
-- Professor in Media Studies Department of Media and Communication University of Oslo <http://www.hf.uio.no/imk/english/people/aca/charlees/index.html>
Fellow, Siebold-Collegiums Institute for Advanced Studies, Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg, Germany
Co-chair & Editor, Internet Research Ethics 3.0 <https://aoir.org/reports/ethics3.pdf>
3rd edition of Digital Media Ethics now out! <http://politybooks.com/bookdetail/?isbn=9781509533428>
Postboks 1093 Blindern 0317 Oslo, Norway c.m.ess@media.uio.no _______________________________________________ The Air-L@listserv.aoir.org mailing list is provided by the Association of Internet Researchers http://aoir.org Subscribe, change options or unsubscribe at: http://listserv.aoir.org/listinfo.cgi/air-l-aoir.org
Join the Association of Internet Researchers: http://www.aoir.org/
-- Professor in Media Studies Department of Media and Communication University of Oslo <http://www.hf.uio.no/imk/english/people/aca/charlees/index.html>
Fellow, Siebold-Collegiums Institute for Advanced Studies, Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg, Germany
Co-chair & Editor, Internet Research Ethics 3.0 <https://aoir.org/reports/ethics3.pdf>
3rd edition of Digital Media Ethics now out! <http://politybooks.com/bookdetail/?isbn=9781509533428>
Postboks 1093 Blindern 0317 Oslo, Norway c.m.ess@media.uio.no _______________________________________________ The Air-L@listserv.aoir.org mailing list is provided by the Association of Internet Researchers http://aoir.org Subscribe, change options or unsubscribe at: http://listserv.aoir.org/listinfo.cgi/air-l-aoir.org
Join the Association of Internet Researchers: http://www.aoir.org/
-- Syed Ishtiaque Ahmed Assistant Professor Department of Computer Science University of Toronto. web: http://www.ishtiaque.net/
participants (5)
-
Charles M. Ess -
Mark D. Johns -
S.A. Applin -
Sally Applin
-
Syed Ishtiaque Ahmed