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The chapter, based on a set of developed teaching scenarios, discusses how virtual worlds, in particular Second Life, can be used in student centered pedagogy; intertwining theory and practice, emphasizing process-thinking, critical perspectives, and strengthen the confidence and independence of the student. Drawing upon experiences from traditional education, Web 2.0-tools, and problem based pedagogy grounded in project work, social media, engineering, and digital humanities, this chapter presents a pedagogy based upon the concepts of participatory culture, and co-creation on the part of students in the learning process. The authors have been involved in developing the core curriculum for a term-long (four month) course for Museum Studies. A problem based, student centered pedagogy is both integrated and contrasted with traditional classroom settings, that are also part of the planning, implementation, and assessment stages of the course. Based upon the practical experience of conducting this course, the article critically discusses ICT and problem oriented learning on a general level – including the benefits and disadvantages for the student and for the teachers. How this approach to learning, from the experiences in virtual worlds, can fit in to the established structure of learning goals, lectures, examination, and assessment is questioned in the chapter, based on the experiences gathered from teaching the course.

This chapter is both a summary and a glimpse of the future regarding the twelve months of activity in Second Life by the digital humanities lab and studio HUMlab at Umeå University. Art and cooperation have been the emphasis in the early stages of the HUMlab Second Life project. In the few months prior to the authoring of this chapter things began to move quite rapidly for HUMlab in Second Life with numerous projects emerging in relation to the large HUMlab Island. Through a constructivist pedagogical model, and lots of trial and error many lessons have been learnt by all involved. Some of the more interesting learning experiences are related in this chapter.

This paper discusses the possibilities for the creative use of virtual worlds as tools for learning. Initially it describes the starting points and motivations for this work. It goes on to report the experience of a course in which students in the museum studies program created exhibits in the virtual three-dimensional world of Second Life. The purpose was primarily to provide the students with competence in digital visualization and presentation techniques, but also to give them the tools to combine theoretical perspectives with practical work, and thereby stimulate creative thinking and practice. The experience shows that students, above the intial goals, also gained insight into themselves through community processes, group dynamics, the individual's own role in a working group, in relation to language processing, and the laws of copyright.

Protestant Periodicals in Transition: From the Twentieth Century to the Digital Age demarcates the field of religious periodical studies by offering a range of historical and contemporary case studies from different Protestant traditions drawn from various regions of the world. Taking religion, periodicals, and their cultures seriously, this volume focuses not only on content but on the people, processes, networks, technologies, and economics involved in periodical publishing. Case studies explore the role of the Protestant magazine in defining, policing, and extending the boundaries of religious communities, of engaging with and influencing the surrounding society through political activism and lifestyle advice, and adapting to and sometimes spearheading technological changes to keep relevant in changing times. 

Users of digital media leave traces that corporations and authorities can harvest, systema-tise, and analyse; on the societal level, an overall result is the emergence of a surveillance culture. In this study, we examine how people handle the dilemma of leaving digital footprints: what they say they do to protect their privacy and what could legitimise the collection and storing of their data. Through a survey of almost 1,000 students at Umeå University in Sweden, we find that most respondents know that their data are used and choose to adjust their own behaviour rather than adopting technical solutions. In order to understand contemporary forms of surveillance, we call for a humanistic approach – an approach where hermeneutic and qualitative methods are central.

This text gives two examples of how research within the history of science and ideas can make use of digital methods through a combination of close and distant reading. The first case maps all churches and prayer chapels in the Diocese of Luleå to answer the question if a Bible belt exists in Norrland; what it (if there is one) looks like, what its characteristics are, and how it has evolved over time. The spatio-temporal visualization both clarifies patterns of religious fervor and reveals “white spots”, creating questions for further research. In the second case distributional concept analysis is performed using Sketch Engine on the corpus enTenTen20, consisting of 38 billion words gathered in 2020 from the Anglophone Internet. Lists are assembled over which words are most often used together (co-locates) with creativity. Then, the research process is outlined, where use of such distant reading tools encourages returns to close readings of other materials (for instance speeches by American presidents) in an iterative process. The cases illustrate the benefits of moving between “distant” levels where digital methods show large patterns, and more specific, detailed, “close” levels, with focus on particular points of interest. We also show how this oscillation between large-scale computer aided methods, and small-scale interpretations generate new questions. Finally, we discuss our experiences of multidisciplinary approaches to digital history, and describe setbacks and unexpected wins.

Geovisualization, here perceived broadly as a representation of data on a digital map, has been used within a number of disciplines for different purposes: from creating new knowledge to sharing existing scholarly ideas. This chapter focuses on how building maps conceptually and with specific research questions in mind often requires a set of fresh methodologies. Methodologies ought to be tailored to conceptual research questions and existing limitations set by data, as well as aggregation, and visualization software. Through an analysis of three case studies spanning the disciplines of archaeology, linguistics and ethnology, classics and media studies, we identify a number of methodological choices and limitations for geovisualization set by available fragmented historical data, digital platforms for data aggregation, and visualization software. We then highlight two issues that are open for further development, more specifically 1) the complexities of representing multiple temporal data in one single mapping interface, as well as 2) the need for common global vocabularies and ontologies that provide us with the possibilities of linking common references.

Universities around the world have increasingly turned to digital infrastructures as a way to revamp the arts and humanities. This article contributes a fresh understanding by examining the material development of HumlabX, a research laboratory for digital humanities at Umeå University, Sweden. Specifically, we approach the empirical case as a timeline of research funding, projects, events, and deliverables to examine how the research laboratory as an organizational and material space developed and evolved in relation to new technology investments. Based on our analysis, we argue that while digital research infrastructures can, indeed, stimulate innovation in and around research, aimed to produce new knowledge, digital technologies carry social and material implications that affect organizational processes. We show that while knowledge production processes at HumlabX were highly influenced by the infrastructural legacy of the past, they indeed directed scholars toward innovation. By discussing these implications in detail, we move beyond the debate of humanities qua digital, and demonstrate the need for scholars of digital humanities to engage in the development of policies for digital research infrastructures. Using a Swedish case study, we argue that research laboratories for the digital humanities must be scrutinized and should be fully exposed as socio-material organizations that develop, and should develop, over time. In particular, we stress the need to ensure that digital humanities laboratories are sustainable and open for redevelopment.

The digital initiatives in the parishes within the Church of Sweden were founded upon local initiatives from the parishes based on local needs and context. In keeping with the diaconal responsibility of making church a place for all, new ways to reach people were welcomed. Widespread internet connectivity and digital literacy, individual skills, and competence among Church staff, combined with a local ability to harbour and develop such initiatives, together with an open atmosphere within the larger Church, paved the way for the digital transformation of the first half of the year 2020. However, the results bring to the fore a question regarding the identity of the Church of Sweden (CoS). Is it a denomination with a solely inward focus towards the already active, or is it also a church reaching new people by preaching the gospel?

The American televangelist and healer Benny Hinn was invited to host three meetings at a Christian conference in Uppsala 2010. The hosting institution was the Swedish charismatic Christian denomination Livets Ord. Benny Hinn has been invited by them several times before, and it can be said he is popular in some parts of Christianity, but considered rather controversial in others. The invitation and the whole event spurred an online debate, mainly on blogs and Twitter, where Livets Ord and Benny Hinn were discussed and scrutinized. This article will focus on describing and analyzing how the event was perceived and evaluated, primarily in the digital media, before, during and after the event. The churches are currently attempting to reach new audiences through digital channels, and hope to support their adherents in their everyday life beyond the meetings and activities hosted at their physical church building. However, as seen in the article, entering the digital era is not always unproblematic or straight-forward. What is of particular interest here is how the digital media relocate the event – how this opens up a previously closed event, and potentially flattens out and questions traditional authorities.

This chapter deals with the Church of Sweden’s digital communication.The focus is on how to be a church in a digital age. The chapter is primarily examining and discussing how digital communicationis perceived and discussed in terms of need, possibilities and limitations. The concrete “how” of this communication in the different online channels is not of particular interest here.

Today, the church has developed its web presence through for example websites, blogs and social media channels. The main argument for being online is the importance of being where people are. It is argued that when people (in general) tend to spend more and more time online, the church should be online too. This is in line with the idea that the Church of Sweden is a folk church. The web gives the church the possibility to be present all over the country, and beyond – and this is seen as part of its mission.

The informants describe the necessity for the church to be online, and how online communication opens up possibilities to reach new people. Simultaneously, concerns are expressed that online communication might make the idea of the folk church more difficult to maintain, because people are given the possibility of picking and choosing only certain parts of church life.

One challenge, expressed by the informants, is to organise communication work in tandem with established church structures. However, informants have seen the work of communication officers (and their likes) gradually becoming closer to, and partly integrated into, everyday work within the church structure.

Digital communication is here to stay, and consequently, the church must work out how best to harbour the possibilities of digital tools, while acknowledging and learning from the difficulties and consequences.

Att bönhusen har en särskild ställning i Västerbotten, och då kanske särskilt i trakterna kring Skellefteå, ärväl etablerat – då kanske främst de bönhus man förknippar med Evangeliska Fosterlands-Stiftelsen. I ett projekt som undertecknad driver håller vi på att ta fram en karta där alla Luleå stifts bönhus och kyrkor är inprickade, med år för etablering, samfund och plats som sorterande kategorier. I en hel del fall är dock både plats och årtal ungefärliga, men fyller ändå syftet med kartan. Totalt handlar det som drygt 1100 byggnader som kan härledas till Svenska kyrkan och de olika samfunden i hela stiftet.

This chapter describes and discusses how digital media has been used, implemented, and negotiated within Christianity and how these processes vary between and within different traditions (divided here into Catholic, Protestant, and Orthodox). The view on digital media differs between different traditions, and therefore the goals and purposes of digital media also differ. For example, the presence of differing theology, history, and established structures and practices influence how digital media is perceived and implemented by different actors, such as churches and denominations, and their representatives. Related to differences, similarities, and tensions across traditions, this chapter also discusses the future of research on digital religion. While research on Protestant digital religion is thoroughly researched today, the growing body of research on other cases—other traditions and in other geographical locations—will probably change how digital religion is viewed and interpreted.

The underlying question for this article is: – “is what is now happening online really new, and something never seen outside the internet, and before the internet?” Previous research has to a large extent emphasized the distinctive characteristics of internet culture, as separated from what is happening in the “real/physical” world. That is a approach also valid for how churches online have been seen, and there has been an established distinction between religion online (religious churches and representatives with an online presence), and online religion (religion conducted and practiced in an online environment). However, technical advantages in recent years (which also has changed our behavior online) has made this distinction more fluid and difficult to defend. But there is also a historical continuity of using modern media within the church, making it difficult to claim that contemporary transformations within the Christian sphere are unique. There are several historical examples of how media use changes religious faith and practices throughout time. This article will put digital churches into a contemporary and historical context in order to discuss if it is relevant to uphold a distinction between churches online vis-à-vis churches offline.

The subject of this dissertation is the confessional revivalist organisation Evangeliska Fosterlands-Stiftelsen (EFS – approximately the Swedish Evangelical Mission Society) between 1856 and 1910. EFS was founded in 1856 in a Pietistic tradition, and its aim was to revitalise from within what was seen as a too dormant State church, and also to counteract the influence of the emerging free churches.

The study has five main sections. The introductory part consists of the theoretical framework and the historical context. In the second chapter EFS’ aims and expectations are studied on a national level. The third chapter examines the content of published and distributed tracts. The fourth chapter focuses on the activities of the itinerant colporteurs, and the fifth and final part studies the work of a local EFS-congregation.

The aim of the dissertation is twofold. The first objective is to describe the transformation EFS underwent during the period studied. This process is described in terms related to Jürgen Habermas’ expression “public sphere”. When EFS was founded, as a board, it can be seen as one of other middle- and upper-class associations, and as such a part of the Swedish public sphere. By 1910 EFS had begun to move away from the Swedish State church and had become more like contemporary popular movements and free churches – it had started to take the shape of an limited alternative sphere, a denomination.

The second aim is to use EFS as an example to describe and analyse the changed perception of religion during the second half of the 19th century. This change is described as a process of secularisation. Secularisation is seen here as the process that turned religion into an individual, voluntary and optional act of faith, among other religious and non-religious alternatives, for ordinary people. Of particular interest is the paradoxical relation between revivalism and secularisation. Various revivalist movements emphasised the personal relation to God and the individual right to interpret the word of God. The individual choice for salvation was also stressed within revivalism. These movements also created new alternatives to the all-embracing State church. Thus both the position of the Church, and the universal claims of Christianity in general, were undermined.

The transformation EFS underwent is seen as an adaptation to the rise of modern society, which became more pluralistic and hence competitive during the final decades of the 19th century. This development meant that new strategies were required for religious organisations overall, in order for them to be able to compete and flourish.

This dissertation examines the relation between revivalism and secularisation through the Swedish Evangelical-Lutheran organisation Evangeliska Fosterlands-Stiftelsen (EPS - approximately the Swedish Evangelical Mission Society) between 1856 and 1910.

Secularisation is a problematic expression, but here it is used to describe a changing perception of religion in terms of personalisation and individualisation of beliefs.

Christianity provided by the State church was compulsory and self-evident in early 19^th century Sweden. In mid 19^th century the homogeneous society began to fall apart; a transformation related to modernisation. Within the religious sphere, different revivals undermined the Church’s hegemony. EFS was founded in an attempt to safeguard the confessional content of the revival.

In the beginning of the examined period EFS’ antagonists were mainly non-confessional branches of Christianity. During the latest quarter of the century the situation changed under the influence of a more pluralistic society. EFS and the Church became alternatives among other ideologies and lifestyles, which had to be marketed and sold. On a national level EFS’ competitors now became different secularists, and EFS also started to form its own identity separated from the Church. Locally EFS adapted to the new market situation by downgrading the specific Lutheran content and instead emphasising the social aspect. This transformation can be described in terms of secularisation, denominationalisation, and individualisation of beliefs.

This article deals with the paradoxical relationship between thenineteenth-century Evangelical Revival and secularization. It is arguedhere that the revival and its worldview played a role in increasingpluralism and choice in the nineteenth century – a process often relatedto secularization. The Evangelical movement both attempted to op-pose modernity and rationalism and emphasized religious freedom,voluntarism, and individualism. It therefore induced and popularizedself-reflection, doubt, and deconversion. It also favoured religiousdemocracy in opposition to a state-imposed religious monopoly (atleast in northern Europe). Furthermore, by dividing people into be-lievers and nonbelievers, it emphasized religious polarization. Thiscontributed to an undermining of established religious structures,fragmenting and pluralizing the religious landscape and giving peoplethe option to abstain completely from religious commitment. TheSwedish confessional (inner mission) revivalist denomination Evan-geliska Fosterlands-Stiftelsen (EFS – approx. the Swedish Evangeli-cal Mission Society), founded in 1856, is used as a case. The popularliterature they published and distributed manifested an evangelicalworldview. In this article four themes, based on the popular literature,are used to study empirically the changing role of religion in relationto nineteenth-century revivalism: ‘the dualistic worldview’; ‘conver-sion’; ‘activism’; and ‘self-reflection’.

This article studies how the Laestadian movement (a Christian confessional revivalist movement that is sceptical of technology) uses digital media in general, and the internet in particular, in its work. In a time when churches on a large scale are concerned with how to communicate with people through digital media, the Laestadian movement choses another path, based upon other assumptions and choices. The focus here is on how congregations and representatives use digital media, and not on individual and private use, and this article will focus primarily on Sweden and Finland. Based on interviews with representatives and by mapping the congregations' online presence, this article provides an interpretation of the use of the internet within Laestadianism. Through this group, we see how ideology, faith, and practices regulate a restricted, negotiated, and conscious use of the internet, which challenges any preconceptions regarding use and effect of the internet on religion. This case study therefore gives additional perspective for understanding the role of digital media within and in relation to institutionalized Christianity.

Review of Campbell, Heidi, ed. (2013). Digital Religion: Understanding Religious Practice in New Media Worlds. (272 p.). London and New York: Routledge. (pbk). ISBN 978-0-415-67611-3