[Air-L] Cross-cultural digital religion in the age of corona?

[Charles M. Ess]

Hi all,

Some of you know one of my stock jokes: as a philosopher I only need one 
data point ...
I've collected a few more in this case - namely, casual observations of 
the differences between Denmark and Norway in terms of use of both 
traditional broadcast and SoMe, both secular and within the Lutheran 
communities. Briefly:

1) the Norwegian Lutheran Church offers occasional "musical devotions," 
e.g., a small choir (at proper distance) singing a psalm or two, a short 
sermon, and then music (primarily organ) for ca. 45 minutes or so - 
livestreamed from their FB page.

2) The organist /cantor from a Danish church offers a morning song, 
livestreamed from his FB page, featuring two songs as sung by him and 
his family (who are gathered in for school at home, etc.)

3) The Danish broadcasting channel, DR1, also offers a morning song, 
beginning with familiar singing warm-ups, followed by two (sometimes 
more) favorites from the Danish "High School Song Book," sometimes the 
Danish Psalm Book, and/or other places, e.g., favorite children's songs. 
  These are requested by listeners / viewers, sometimes accompanied by a 
video of the requestor, explaining why s/he thinks the song would be 
good in these times.
Something like 100,000 people tune in and, presumptively, sing along.
(<https://www.dr.dk/drtv/serie/morgensang-med-phillip-faber_176557>, 
though you'll have to use a VPN with a Danish connection to get the 
content. Speaking for a friend ...)

FWIW: These and other experiences give the general impression that such 
(secular) morning song tradition is far stronger in Denmark: I'm not 
finding anything like this in the main Norwegian channels currently.

Three data points, and hence two queries: despite all the disasters, 
dangers, and exceptional challenges - for those still able to muster a 
research agenda
1) is anyone paying closer, far more skilled and disciplined attention 
to such phenomena in Scandinavia?
2) ditto for other places in the world?

It would be good and interesting to know.  My simple-minded hypothesis / 
assumption is that documenting and analyzing comparisons and contrasts 
such as these might tell us something interesting,
a) not only about SoMe and/or traditional broadcasting (where the latter 
is likely more consumed precisely by those in the highest risk group) 
but also and/or
b) cross-cultural differences, both subtle and gross, that might be 
related to other factors of cultural histories, infrastructures, etc.

In all events, all best to us all, despite it all ...
- charles ess

-- 
Professor in Media Studies
Department of Media and Communication
University of Oslo
<http://www.hf.uio.no/imk/english/people/aca/charlees/index.html>

Fellow, Siebold-Collegiums Institute for Advanced Studies, 
Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg, Germany

Co-chair & Editor, Internet Research Ethics 3.0
<https://aoir.org/reports/ethics3.pdf>

3rd edition of Digital Media Ethics now out!
<http://politybooks.com/bookdetail/?isbn=9781509533428>

Postboks 1093
Blindern 0317
Oslo, Norway
c.m.ess at media.uio.no