%0 Journal Article %J Journal of Muslim Minority Affairs %D 2010 %T Connecting the Actual with the Virtual: The Internet and Social Movement Theory in the Muslim World—The Cases of Iran and Egypt %A Lernerת Melissa Y %K Blogging %K Egypt %K Internet use %K Iran %K Islam %K Kefaya Movement %K Muslim Brotherhood %K Muslim minorities %K New Media %K Weblogistan %X The rapid expansion of Internet use in the Muslim world has called into question what role—if any—this medium can play in political action in these countries. This paper seeks to analyze the extent to which the Internet offers space for an expansion of social movement theory in the Muslim world. It relies on a number of case studies from two Muslim countries, the One Million Signatures Campaign and “Weblogistan” in Iran, and the Kefaya Movement and Muslim Brotherhood blogging in Egypt. When placing Internet use in the context of political scientist and historian Charles Tilly’s “repertoire” of social movement characteristics (worthiness, unity, numbers, and commitment) and political scientist Robert Putnam’s theory that the Internet can isolate individual users, it appears that the key to the successful collaboration of the web and social movements is an adaptive dynamic, through which groups function in both the cyber-world and the real world. This paper presents a potential vision for the future of the Internet and Islamic activism based on the assumption that an online element will help generate some of the elements of Tilly’s social movement repertoire, particularly if the Internet is used to inspire sympathetic individuals to real world political action. %B Journal of Muslim Minority Affairs %V 30 %G eng %U http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/13602004.2010.533453 %N 4 %& 555 %0 Book Section %B Digital Judaism: Jewish Negotiations with Digital Media and Culture %D 2015 %T Communicating Identity through Religious Internet Memes on the ‘Tweeting Orthodoxies’ Facebook Page %A Yadlin-Segal, A %K internet meme %K Orthodox %K religious %X It is the well-known “bulletproof” scene from The Matrix movie. We see Keanu Reeves in a green hallway, wearing a black trench coat, dark sunglasses, and a Kippah. His hand is stretched out, holding back a stream of hovering candies, instead of machine-gun bullets. The caption above the photo states “Neo’s Bar-Mitzvah.” This is not a Jewish remake of The Matrix, it is an internet meme shared on the religious Facebook page “Tweeting Orthodoxies,” that playfully presents the custom of throwing candies at the Bar-Mitzvah boy after reading the Haphtarah on his Aliyah La-Thorah. This meme, and many others like it, demonstrates how digital culture provides a group of National Religious Jews with unique opportunities to communicate about and engage in the reconstruction of their religious identity. This engagement is studied in the current chapter by investigation of the ways a specific National Religious Facebook group employs internet memes. %B Digital Judaism: Jewish Negotiations with Digital Media and Culture %I Routledge %C New York %P 110-123 %G eng %U https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/e/9781317817345/chapters/10.4324%2F9781315818597-11 %1 H. Campbell %0 Journal Article %J Sociological Focus %D 2013 %T Internet Accessibility of the Mizuko Kuyo (Water-Child Ritual) in Modern Japan: A Case Study in Weberian Rationality %A Mieko Yamadaa %A Anson Shupea %K Buddhist %K children %K infants %K Japan %K memorial service %K mizuko kuyo %K New Religious %K religion %K Ritual %K Shinto %K Spirituality %K websites %X The mizuko kuyo is a Japanese (Buddhist, Shinto, New Religious, other) memorial service for infants or young children who have died through some misfortune, including disease, miscarriage, and, increasingly, elective abortion. Indeed, abortion is the predominant form of contraception for many Japanese families. Here we consider, in Weberian terms of the rationalization of institutions, how Internet accessibility and its created virtual reality of the mizuko kuyo has driven its popularity along the dimensions of privatization, bureaucratization, and commodification in decisions to perform the ritual by Internet. We utilize a sample of Tokyo mizuko kuyo Web sites and the contexts of their advertisements and available services for mizuko kuyo, including fee structures and other advertising “lures,” to analyze this merging of traditional and modern technological paths of spirituality along Weberian theoretical lines. %B Sociological Focus %V 46 %G eng %U http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00380237.2013.796833#.Ul1LyVCsim5 %N 3 %& 229 %0 Journal Article %J CyberPsychology & Behavior %D 2009 %T Extrapolating Psychological Insights from Facebook Profiles: A Study of Religion and Relationship Status %A Sean Young %A Debo Dutta %A Gopal Dommety %K dating %K Facebook %K online profiles %K participants %K relationship %K religion %K religious information %K social network %X Online social network users may leave creative, subtle cues on their public profiles to communicate their motivations and interests to other network participants. This paper explores whether psychological predictions can be made about the motivations of social network users by identifying and analyzing these cues. Focusing on the domain of relationship seeking, we predicted that people using social networks for dating would reveal that they have a single relationship status as a method of eliciting contact from potential romantic others. Based on results from a pilot study (n = 20) supporting this hypothesis, we predicted that people attempting to attract users of the same religious background would report a religious affiliation along with a single relationship status. Using observational data from 150 Facebook profiles, results from a multivariate logistic regression suggest that people providing a religious affiliation were more likely to list themselves as single (a proxy for their interest in using the network to find romantic partners) than people who do not provide religious information. We discuss the implications for extracting psychological information from Facebook profiles. To our knowledge, this is the first study to suggest that information from publicly available online social networking profiles can be used to predict people's motivations for using social networks. %B CyberPsychology & Behavior %V 12 %G eng %U http://online.liebertpub.com/doi/abs/10.1089/cpb.2008.0165 %N 3 %& 347 %0 Book Section %B Religion Online: Finding Faith on the Internet %D 2004 %T Reading and praying Online: The Continuity in Religion Online and Online Religion in Internet Christianity %A Young, Glenn %X After sex, religion is one of the most popular and pervasive topics of interest online, with over three million Americans turning to the internet each day for religious information and spiritual guidance. Tens of thousands of elaborate websites are dedicated to every manner of expression.Religion Onlineprovides an accessible and comprehensive introduction to this burgeoning new religious reality, from cyberpilgrimages to neo-pagan chatroom communities. A substantial introduction by the editors presenting the main themes and issues is followed by sixteen chapters addressing core issues of concern such as youth, religion and the internet, new religious movements and recruitment, propaganda and the countercult, and religious tradition and innovation. The volume also includes thePew Internet and American Life ProjectExecutiveSummary, the most comprehensive and widely cited study on how Americans pursue religion online, and Steven O'Leary's field-definingCyberspace as SacredSpace. %B Religion Online: Finding Faith on the Internet %I Routledge %C New York %P 93-106 %G English %U http://books.google.com/books?id=iS80IHp0cDwC&pg=PA93&lpg=PA93&dq=Reading+and+praying+Online:+The+Continuity+in+Religion+Online+and+Online+Religion+in+Internet+Christianity&source=bl&ots=gwOo6jbtWZ&sig=pvuLD0owBLZkWNawTX0RJUmHFKU&hl=en&ei=0QS2TqXZPLP2sQKD