2015 Reports

Religion, Media, and the Digital Turn

Cantwell, Christopher; Rashid, Hussein

This report documents the effects that digital modes of research and publication have on the study of religion. Based on the examination of over 150 digital projects that attend to religion as well as interviews with project directors and participants, the report aims not only to map the study of religion’s emergent digital landscape, but also to explain the methods that are shaping this evolving terrain. We attempt to do the latter in part by structuring the report based on the workflows of many of the digital projects we examined. After an introductory section that lays out key terms, section two explores the crowdsourced and commons-based world of idea exchange where many digital projects take shape. Section three then presents a rough typology of new digital work in the study of religion, paying special attention to the tools and methods of production, while section four covers the many issues affecting digital projects after they launch, from peer review to public scholarship. Section five ends the report with a discussion of those technical and institutional issues that affect the sustainability of digital scholarship. In this way, we hope to point the field toward areas that require attention and intentional effort in order to ensure that such work can thrive.

Keywords: Religion, Religious Studies, Study of Religion, Digital Humanities, Open Access, Creative Commons, Documentary Advocacy, Social Media, Participatory Media, Crowdsourcing, Commons, Intellectual Property, Academic Freedom