[Air-L] Call for Proposals for Research Database Projects on Religion and Digital Media

[Heidi Campbell]

The Network
for New Media, Religion and Digital Culture Studies is looking to help
facilitate the work of students and scholars by aiding in the development of
research-oriented databases related to scholarship in religion and new media. 
Proposals
are invited for database projects to be housed on the “Researcher’s Toolbox”
section of the Network for New Media, Religion and Digital Culture Studies
website (http://digitalreligion.tamu.edu/toolbox).   Database projects should be related to focused
research studies on an aspect of religion and new media (i.e. the
categorization and identification of Hindu cybertemples, a database for
analyzing the mission and aims of Jewish websites, analysis of religious social media strategies, etc.) and the database
creation component framed as integral part of the data collection and analysis
of the given area of research.  Project
awardees will receive support for the design and implementation of their chosen
database project from the network technical director (of up to 24 hours).
Awardees will also receive a small stipend towards travel for a project
presentation and consultation at Texas A&M University to be scheduled during
the 2013/2014 academic year.
Databases
will be embargoed and accessible only to the awarded scholar, network director
and technical director for a period of 24 months, after which they will be made
open to network members or other subscribers who can apply to gain access to
these resources.  Awardees will be able
to port their data to an alternate site at the end of the project; however the
database and associated data will remain on the network in perpetuity for the
life of the site. The hope is also to make these databases collaborative so
scholars can add new entries and/or tags after they are published online. 
 
Applications
are invited from any member of the Network, though priority will be given to
postdoctoral applicants, full-time faculty, and 2nd year or above PhD
candidates.   Proposals should be 2-3
pages in length and include a narrative of the proposed project, detailed specification
of desired database, justification of its centrality to the project and a
project time line. In addition, a brief CV should also be included.  Preference will be given to projects that
investigate under-explored religious contexts online.The deadline
for proposals is 30 October 2012. Complete applications should be sent directly
the network director, Heidi Campbell (digitalreligion at tamu.edu). 
Membership to
the network is required for proposal submission and the full application
process must be completed before proposals will be considered. Membership information can be found at: http://digitalreligion.tamu.edu/join-network