Week 12: Performing Religious Identity through the Digital

This week you will produce 350-500 summary report synthesizing your claims and observations from the previous week's blogging assignment. This report should address the mission of the church, how it represents its identity online and what messages this communicate about how the Church sees the relationship between digital media. It should specifically address the following questions:


What is the perceived and performed religious identity of the church that you see online?

How does the digital media design and features communicate this?  Identify 2-3.


What at is the stated mission of the Church?


What aspects online best communicate this? Identify 2-3.


What message about how this group sees and understands digital media is communicated by the website and app?

Week 11: Apps as mediators of online and offline church experiences

This week you are asked to reflect on the theme of change and stability by looking at how church's use media technology to connect online and offline communication, experiences and relationship.  You are asked to do this by analyzing the Apps for the respective church you are studying. (Except if you are studying The Block church, in this case you will study their Facebook page). Play close attention to the following attributes:

-How is the app organized & designed in comparison to the website?

-What interactive elements do they offer? What ways do they provide to communicate with leaders or members of the church?

-Is the mission of the church shared on the app similar or different than the one on the website?
-What new information is shared on the app not present on the website?

-How does the design and experiences offered on the app frame your understanding of the mission of the church and what it does offline?

After noting your observations related on these questions please write a paragraph that summarizes what you found with concrete examples to illustrate these claims.

Next you are asked to reflect on these findings in relation to our class discussion on the extend to which church and technology can be seen as creating a bounded, bridging, blending and/or blurring experience. For a further reminder of our discussion of these 4 categories please refer to the document  Online and Offline Relationship between the Church and Digital Media/Culture which is found on the class blackboard site under the assignments folder.   In a second paragraph please respond to the following questions.

In your study do you see a bounded, bridging, blending and/or blurring of offline and online church practices and relationships?  In what ways does the church technology use and media create a space that is bounded, bridged, blended and/or blurred?

 Supporting questions used to help reflect on this theme:- What kind of experience or encounter are the app creators facilitating for people with the church?- How does app design inform the style and communication of the church’s mission?- How do you see the relationship between their church and digital culture communicated through the app?

Week 10: Presenting Mission through Multi-Media Online

This week you will be looking at multi-media resources offered on the church websites, especially any welcome videos they offer that speak to focus and identity of the church.  You are asked to find 2 videos to watch and take notes on them. Please make sure one is a general or informational video and one is a sermon video. If the video is over 30 mins you can fast forward to the end and watch the last 5 minutes (paying attention to the introduction and  conclusion of the message are key elements to take notes on).  After you have done this

Summary & Description of Video 1

Summary & Description of Video 2

What seem to be the main message/s communicate in the 2 videos you watched?

What message about the mission of the "Church" is modeled and communicated in these videos specifically and the type of multi-media materials they provide generally on the site?

-        What is seen in the video (images, performance) that communicates this?

-     What is heard in the video (quotes, slogans, ideas) that communicate this?

(2)   How would you finish this statement: 

Based on the materials and information shared in these videos this Church exists for the following reason/s…

Summarizing: Assessing Church Identity and Mission Portrayed Online

Please write a complete paragraph that summarizes what you have observed about the identity and mission of the church you are studying thus far.  State how you read and understand the identity and mission of the church based on their website.  This should be followed by 3 sentences, which provide concrete evidence and explanation that back up this observation.  These examples should be drawn from your blog posts.  Finally summarize your claim and explain how your assessment compares to the actual mission/identity of the church stated on the website under the about section in 2 sentences.  Your paragraph should follow this outline

1) Claim about mission/religious identity of church

2) Example 1-back up claim with a clear textual or visual evidence cited from your blog in sentence format.

3) Example 2-back up claim with a clear textual or visual evidence cited from your blog in sentence format.

4) Example 3-back up claim with a clear textual or visual evidence cited from your blog in sentence format.

5) Provide descriptive summary of claim made and what this says about the church.

6) Compare and contrast this to stated mission/identity found on website.  Is this similar or different.

Week 9: Communicating Belief and Practice Online

The focus of this week's blog is to consider how the Internet can be used to communicate religious beliefs and practice. The aim is to consider how websites communicate in explicit and implicit ways the beliefs and priorities of the religious a religious group. You are asked to explore the text and topics covered by your case study website in depth. Consider how they express the mission and goals of theorganization, comparing what they explicitly state in their about section with the topics and values expressed through these site content organization and design features.  Then answer the following questions. Please provide a concrete example (citing quotes and detailed description with links) for each response and claim you make.

(1)   Who seems to be the main audience for this website?  (ie. People already Christians, New Believers, Non-Christians, Families, Youth, Inter-generational…)

 (2) What appears to be the main goal of the website?

-        Is website simply focused on information dissemination, experiencing aspects of church programs/life, building relationships with leaders or members, making a case of the Christian faith, etc.?

  (3) What aspects of the church ministry does the website primarily feature?

-        Is the information mainly about the Sunday service, mid-week activities, community events, outreach focused, missionary/evangelism focus, etc.?

 (4) What does the site say the mission of the church is?

Does this match the message communicated through the website material?

-        Do the ideas, texts and images on the site actually portray the same mission of the organization?