Navigating Hybrid & Digital Cultures
Ability to move with confidence through many relevant spaces and communities online, including hybrid spaces that have a strong correlation to a particular face-to-face community. Includes knowing and using the social conventions of a particular online community, making connections between in-person events and online reflection, etc.
Research Interview Excerpts
WHAT DO THE EXPERTS SAY?
“Anybody can put something up on YouTube. That doesn’t mean it’s gonna get any traction."
“I wonder, too, about ways in which we encourage people to move conversations online or offline. When does a conversation that begins in person, when would it really be helpful to spread that network of connections further? When does it makes sense to help people know how to discern when to come offline? To know the balance between the limits of a particular medium.”
“One student [did] a lot of research into other LGBTQ pastor Tumblrs. He uncovered quite a few of them … Ev’ry Day I’m Pastorin’ hit the nail on the head. It was just an exemplary use of Tumblr. That use of the gif and the humor. He was like, ‘I’m not really a pastor. I don’t really go to church. I don’t know much about it, and yet I feel like I can understand and relate to all this. I would read this Tumblr just because it’s funny and it’s interesting.'”
REAL WORLD EXAMPLES
Ev’ry Day I’m Pastorin’
A Tumblr blog that uses the verbal and visual style of this network to reflect on the joys and challenges of leading congregational ministry. (Hat tip: research interview subject.)VISIT
@BroderickGreer
An Episcopal priest and writer well-known on Twitter for his active participation, fearless advocacy, and humor.VISIT
Humble Walk Lutheran Church
“A community of folks gathering around about the West 7th Neighborhood of Saint Paul.” Coordinating and growing an embedded, distributed church requires excellent use of popular digital communication tools. (Hat tip: Keith Anderson’s The Digital Cathedral.)VISIT
EXPLORE RESOURCES FOR NAVIGATING

Foundational Research Now Published
The research upon which this website is based now appears in multiple peer-reviewed journals!
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“Reassessing Embodiment” Amid Pandemic
Stacy and Kyle being present to their congregations during Covid-19 lockdown. Digital
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How to Caption Videos
Got captions? It's easier than you may think. If you are creating your own digital content, like a
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Are you curious about how to design and facilitate an entirely online course? This guide offers a
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Easy Video Creation Handout
As part of our pilot project implementing digital storytelling assignments in a biblical studies
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This guidebook by Adam J. Copeland introduces the concept of crowdfunding, explains trends in
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How to Create a Google Earth Tour
This video tutorial and written documentation by Shamika Goddard demonstrates how to use Google
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Mapping the Reformation
Working with a professor at Union Theological Seminary in the City of New York, Shamika Goddard
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Crowdfunding for a Cause
This crowdfunding assignment has been successfully launched by Adam Copeland in seminary classes
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