In commemoration of the feast day for the patron saint of journalists, St. Francis de Sales, on January 24th, Pope Francis released his message for the 48th World Communications Day. Like Pope Benedict XVI before him, Pope Francis focuses on the digital media environment, asking “What is it, then, that helps us, in the digital […]
Archives for January 2014
The Marriage of Religion and Technology: Reading Apple’s Allegorical Advertising
January 27, 2014 By
Steve Jobs invited a number of lofty comparisons during his career. The New York Times likened him to Thomas Edison. Others have called him the Leonardo da Vinci of our generation. Jobs also had a lot in common with the early American philosopher-inventor, Benjamin Franklin. He inherited Franklin’s “Protestant ethic” of mixing morality and capitalism […]
Reading List: Snowden in Russia, Tech Cultists, and the Lottocracy
January 27, 2014 By
Happy Monday! If you enjoyed our brief treatment of tech cultism last week, you’ll love the Verge’s long read on fanboys. We’ve also got some updates on Snowden staying in Russia, social media guidelines from the Church of England, and a proposal that we replace our elections with a lottery. Fanboys – The Verge “I’m […]
Apple and Technological Fundamentalism
January 21, 2014 By
In a post earlier this year at Re/Code, Walt Mossberg nails his 95 theses to the door of the Church of Apple. Apparently fed up with the amount of criticism he receives from unwavering Apple fans, Mossberg argues that users need to remember that “it’s not a church, it’s just an Apple Store.” As a […]
Reading List: Present Shock and Paul Miller, Obama and the Decline of Facebook
January 20, 2014 By
We hope you all had a great weekend. This week, you can read the estimates of how many millions of young people have left Facebook since 2011 and read why Obama thinks that is important for healthcare.gov. We’ve also got an anecdotal look at how the next generation perceives the internet and advertising and a […]
Born Again Ideology?
January 15, 2014 By
Arthur Kroker, of Ctheory.net, meditates on the connections between religious ideology in the 21st century, the surveillance-security state and the future of technology and religion. If not controversial, it’s at least interesting. What are your thoughts?
Present Shock and Paul
January 13, 2014 By
In haste, I broke open my fortune cookie, discarding the cardboard tasting shell, searching for that slip of paper of banal wisdom. But to my surprise, there was nothing inside. Thinking I must have missed it hidden within the folds of the golden-ochre pieces, I double-checked to no avail. I had no fortune. Maybe this […]
Reading List: NSA Reform, Activists, and Cars that Watch You
January 13, 2014 By
Happy Monday! Here’s a good mix of articles on everything from social media creditworthiness, cars that watch you, NSA reform, and an untold story of an FBI burglary. We also hope you enjoy Michael Toy’s take on Present Shock and Paul. If you want a brief overview of Rushkoff’s Present Shock, watch this. Trial of […]
Reading List: Snowden and Surveillance
January 6, 2014 By
For our reading list this week, we’ve got all the best Snowden, NSA and surveillance coverage we could find, starting with a video of the message he released on Christmas day. Enjoy! Edward Snowden, Whistle-Blower – NY Times A quick and dirty overview of the entire Snowden story to get you up to speed. […]
5 Must-Reads on Religion and Social Media
January 2, 2014 By
Keith Anderson has a list of must reads on religion and social media over at Religion Dispatches, and we’d like to recommend them to you as well. Anderson is the co-author of Click2Save: The Digital Ministry Bible and notes that 2013 was an important year for new media and religious practice as tech users became […]
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