by Emily D. Crews
In 2010 The Immanent Frame, a website published in conjunction with the Social Science Research Council, released a report entitled, “The New Landscape of the Religion Blogosphere.” The study traced the contours of the changing terrain of writing about religion on the web, highlighting significant blogs and religion commentary sites, interrogating why and how scholars of religion share their perspectives through digital platforms, and asking what the future of such an enterprise (well into its second decade by the publication of the report) might hold.
Nearly half a decade later, many of the issues the Immanent Frame raised in its report continue to be relevant, even while there have arisen many new questions and concerns about the content, scope, and ultimately the significance of websites and weblogs written by academics. From daily opinion powerhouse Slate to the Chronicle of Higher Education to University of Alabama’s Studying Religion in Culture, there has been consistent debate about how, what, why, and whether academics should share their research and ruminations via the internet.
In light of the persistence of this broader issue and the continued growth of websites devoted to the scholarly analysis and explication of religion, the Web Forum seeks informal comments from its readers about their own experiences with websites devoted to the scholarly analysis of religion. We would like to know, How have they enabled you to share your own research or to engage with the ideas of others? What is the value of such sites? What makes them most appealing? What are their limitations? All comments may be sent to religionandculturewebforum@gmail.com and may be shared publically unless otherwise requested.
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