Virtually Islamic Blog - Regenerated

08 September 2018 17:30 Filed in: Publications

Work in progress:

My Virtually Islamic blog has been running in various formats since 2000 (2003 on Blogger). All of the entries can be found here.

While I will continue to maintain that page, as part of my website revision in anticipation of the publication of 'Hashtag Islam', I will also be using this platform for further Virtually Islamic blog posts.

Tags: Gary R. Bunt's publications

Hashtag Islam - Print Version

08 September 2018 17:26 Filed in: Publications

I'm very pleased to have received my first printed copy of 'Hashtag Islam'. It's been great to have had the chance to work again with series editors Bruce B. Lawrence and Carl W. Ernst - alongside Executive Editor Elaine Maisner and the excellent UNC Press team. The book is out in October.

Photo: Hashtag Islam covers

Tags: Gary R. Bunt's publications

Saudi Arabia Seeks Death Penalty Against Prominent Cleric

08 September 2018 17:23 Filed in: Security | Religious Authority | Social Media

Bloomberg.com, Saudi Arabia Seeks Death Penalty Against Prominent Cleric, 4 September 2018 "Salman Al-Odah was detained in September 2017. Foreign Minister Adel Al-Jubeir said at the time that the roundup of a diverse group of clerics, businessmen and intellectuals had targeted people who were “pushing an extremist agenda” with the help of foreign funding." Analysis/commentary.
I discuss Al-Odah in 'Hashtag Islam'.

Tags: Saudi Internet, Salman Al-Odah

Lessons From ISIS: Using the Internet for Counter-Terrorism

08 September 2018 17:08 Filed in: Security | Radicalisation

The Quint, Lessons From ISIS: Using the Internet for Counter-Terrorism "Bloom and Daymon in their research paper titled ‘Assessing the Future Threat: ISIS’s Virtual Caliphate’ join a chorus of other researchers such as Charlie Winter and Haroro J Ingram from the International Centre for Counter-Terrorism (ICCT) at The Hague in highlighting how ISIS has, by design and impeccable execution, changed the way the internet can be used for radicalisation.."

I discuss similar themes in 'Hashtag Islam'.

Also see Mia Bloom and Chelsea Daymon, Assessing the Future Threat: ISIS's Virtual Caliphate

Tags: Gary R. Bunt's publications, Security Issues, 'Islamic State', Radicalisation, Research

Saudi and Amazon Deploy Twitter bots

08 September 2018 17:04 Filed in: Security | 'Fake News' | Social Media

albawaba, Manufacturing Consent: Saudi and Amazon Deploy Twitter Bots to Insist They Are Virtuous, 26 August 2018
opinion/analysis (with a nod to Chomsky): "The contemporary media landscape is experiencing a shift: as news is increasingly shared through and understood by social media, powerful companies and countries are exploiting loopholes to create hordes of accounts tweeting along regime and corporate lines. In so doing, manufacture an image of consent and create an air of doubt whenever a damaging report surfaces."

Tags: Saudi Internet, Qatar internet, 'Fake News'

Hajj Representation

08 September 2018 16:32 Filed in: Religious Authority | Social Media

It's been interesting to review the output of CIC Saudi Arabia on Twitter during Hajj 2018, presenting human stories within the hajj. Some examples are below (check my @garybunt Twitter feed for more):

The following video isn't on theYouTube channel yet, but here's a Twitter link: in contemporary times, the long distance journey to hajj on foot becomes all the more remarkable #hajj CIC Saudi Arabia, [@CICSaudi], "Hajj is over but for Othman AlShahin the journey is not over yet. The man who walked 450km to Hajj (the equivalent distance of #Paris to #Geneva) is now on his way home by foot. "

Tags: Saudi Internet, hajj

Library Journal Review - Hashtag Islam

08 September 2018 16:30 Filed in: Publications

“ … the sociological underpinnings of this work make for a touchstone for further investigation.” James Wetherbee, Library Journal, 'Spirituality and Religion', August 2018

Tags: Gary R. Bunt's publications

Publishers Weekly - Review of Hashtag Islam

08 September 2018 16:28 Filed in: Publications

Publishers Weekly, Nonfiction Review, Hashtag Islam: How Cyber- Islamic Environments Are Transforming Religious Authority

" ... by investigating how Muslim communities are utilizing (and being transformed by) the ongoing worldwide digital revolution, this work proves to be an important addition to literature on contemporary Islam."

Gary R. Bunt

'Hashtag Islam: How Cyber-Islamic Environments Are Transforming Religious Authority'

Editions

Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2018

New Delhi: Pentagon Press, 2019

Pentagon Press edition - Hashtag Islam

Oxford University Press: Oxford Index Edition (Subscription)

Disclaimer: provision of links and commentary is for academic purposes, and does not imply endorsement.

Tweets by garybunt

Virtually Islamic Blog Archive 2003-Oct 2018