How virtual is reality?
The information is outdated. The new summer school's website is located at http://how-virtual-is-reality.eu/
The Web is changing the face of religion worldwide. With the emergence of so-called Virtual Worlds like Second Life or World of Warcraft a further step towards a completely new field of research has been done since these environments offer new possibilities to meet, communicate and also “perform” religion. In contrast to the increasing importance and influence of these new environments on the religious discourse, this research area has mostly been excluded and sometimes even banned from scholarly attention up to now.
The Summer School “Digital Religion. Research in Virtual 3D Environments?”, a cooperation of the University of Bremen and the Jacobs-University (Bremen) will try to fill this research gap and deal with the question to what extent changes or inventions in the processes of performance, interaction and communication are caused by the change of media.
Instructed by more than 10 international teachers, the participants of the Summer School will for ten days (July 10 to July 19) engage into the interdisciplinary study of practical methods and theoretical approaches for the scientific handling of ritual and media. The media will not only be subject to methodological, theoretical and practical research and discussion but will also serve as platform for academic exchange and teaching. After this Summer School participants will be able to design and perform research projects on religion in and within Virtual Worlds.