Design and the digital Bible: persuasive technology and religious reading
This article analyses two 'digital Bibles', products that allow the user to engage with the Bible through the screen and speakers of his/her mobile phone, tablet or computer. Both products, 'YouVersion' and 'GloBible', have been created by Evangelical Christian compa...
Main Author: | |
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Format: | Electronic Article |
Language: | English |
Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
Journals Online & Print: | |
Interlibrary Loan: | Interlibrary Loan for the Fachinformationsdienste (Specialized Information Services in Germany) |
Published: |
[2017]
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In: |
Journal of contemporary religion
Year: 2017, Volume: 32, Issue: 2, Pages: 205-219 |
Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains: | B
Bible
/ Digitalization
/ Evangelical movement
/ Bible reading
/ App (Computer program)
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Further subjects: | B
electronic text
B Christian Bible B Sacred Texts B Digital Media B Evangelical Christianity B religious reading B technology design B Persuasion |
Online Access: |
Volltext (Verlag) |
Summary: | This article analyses two 'digital Bibles', products that allow the user to engage with the Bible through the screen and speakers of his/her mobile phone, tablet or computer. Both products, 'YouVersion' and 'GloBible', have been created by Evangelical Christian companies. I argue that both are designed to train the user in traditional Evangelical Christian understandings of the work of reading. Digital media offer new opportunities to guide and influence the user, and this article applies the concepts of persuasive technologies' and procedural rhetoric' to analyse the design intentions of the two digital Bibles. This approach helps us to appreciate the significance of the material form of a sacred text as a vehicle for religious socialisation and raises important questions about the potential for digital media to re-shape traditional relationships of power in Evangelical Christian communities. |
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ISSN: | 1469-9419 |
Contains: | Enthalten in: Journal of contemporary religion
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Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1080/13537903.2017.1298903 |