fishers, surfers and casters

This is The Edge’s world question for 2010. This site draws on recently published literature to highlight what we know, hope and fear about how being online changes how we think. The project has also gathered some 150 people to put together a reader.

My awesome friend Heidi Campbell has scored a pocket of money from Texas A&M University to seed a Virtual Centre for Research into New Media, Religion and Digital Culture. She’s looking around for people who may have any ideas, opinions or resources to share. If you’re one of those people, check out the Facebook page and contact her there.

‘Athens’ on the net is an interesting read on the rhetoric of Internet use, social connections and democracy, against what we know of the Internet and social change. It’s set against a reading of the documentary, “Us Now”, which is also available online.

Us Now from Banyak Films on Vimeo.

The Pew Research Project has a couple of good research publications online at the moment.

• The Internet and Civil Engagement report makes the claim that while the Internet is not changing the relationship between socio-economic status and civic participation, there are signs that blogs and social networking sites are helping youth become more politically vocal.
• The Teens and Mobile Phones report talks about the rise in ownership and use of mobile technology by youth. The rise is apparently faster than that of older people, to show that the gap between young and old is closing.