Transcript the powerpoint slideshow

CANADIAN BUDDHISTS
ON THE WEB
Push, Pull & Practice
JOHN NEGRU
Karma Yönten Gyatso
October 15-17, 2010
Buddhism in Canada: Global Causes, Local Conditions
Buddhists on the web
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Any area of study of the internet can and should be applied
to Buddhists AS Buddhists.
To understand Canadian Buddhists on with the web, we must
look at issues affecting Canadian web use in general…
…and then apply those assessment criteria to Canadian
Buddhists as a sub-set of demographic groups.
What is the internet?
A medium not
a thing
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Multi-modal
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Continually
evolving
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Generational
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Ethnic
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Regional
Consequential
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Portal
Aggregator
Electronic brochure
Soapbox
Disruptor
Collaborative work
space
Archeological site
Icon
Marketplace
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Espionage target
Alternate reality
Social network
Knowledge base
Crime
De facto standard
Celebrity-maker
Entertainer
Trickster
Push and pull media
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Push media is mass marketing.
It’s about creating a strong brand and making it well-known
through advertising and public relations.
Pull media is one-to-one custom marketing.
It’s about meeting the needs of individual customers and
building strong relationships through that process.
Push
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The web as a channel for Buddhist centres to DELIVER
information.
Organization websites
Buddhist portals + aggregators
Buddhist news in mainstream media
Pull
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The web as a place individual Buddhists and others go to
FIND information about Buddhism and Buddhist community.
Centre website contact information
Centre event news
Social network dimension
Hacker subversion dimension
Practice
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The web AS practice.
Time on the web in a Buddhist frame of mind
An expression of one’s faith
A place to learn
Worldly action in service of Dharma
Blogosphere
E-commerce
Questions
Education isn’t about finding the right answers.
It’s about learning how to ask the right
questions.
How are Canadian Buddhists using the internet?
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The same as any other Canadian, on a daily basis.
Look to analytics for traffic data.
Look to “the Way-back Machine” for evolution data.
Who are the people making best use of web technology
to get their Dharma message out, and what can we
learn from them?
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Buddhist centre sites, portals and blogs
Groups with/without websites
Language, ethnicity, settlement and other demographic issues
Ways of assembly and Sangha issues
The evolution of Dharma in Canada before 1996
How is the internet changing the way people seek out
Buddhist teachings and Sangha connections?
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Lineage affiliations
Contact modes
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Direct contact
Phone but not fax
E-mail
Social network
Geo-tagged
Real-time
Where are the fault lines between digital immigrants
and digital natives within the Canadian Buddhist
community?
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Ethnicity?
Ordination?
Age?
Livelihood?
Lineage?
Location?
Where is the boundary between practice and politics on
the web?
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Shadows in the Cloud
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Afghanistan, Pakistan
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Nobel Peace Prize
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Insurgencies, Refugees, Disasters
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Dalai Lama
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Buddhist scandals
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Panchen Lama
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Sex, booze and cash
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Dossier Tibet
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Cults
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Aung San Suu Kyi
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Hijacked lineages
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Burmese Democracy
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Interfaith dialogue
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Nepal, Thailand, Indonesia
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Canadian bloggers in jail
Is the web a substitute for practice, a new way of
practice, or nothing to do with practice?
PUSH – Buddhist Organizations
Pull – Buddhist Practitioners
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Embracing the web
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Meets personal need
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Rejecting the web
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Authentic experience
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Ambivalent about the web
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Misguided and/or shallow
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Academic remove
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Slack-tivism
What are the new opportunities and threats presented
by social media, collaborative open-source computing,
e-books and mobile computing?
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Universal global access
Teacher/student relationship
New Sangha relationship
E-Commerce, Second Life, Wiki
What is real?
Would Buddha tweet?
Analytics
Online tools for research into, and assessment of,
Buddhist organizations in Canada
www.canadianbuddhism.info
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canadianbuddhism.info is the definitive directory of
Canadian Buddhist organizations
400+ organizations currently listed
2010 edition
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Created and maintained by The Sumeru Press Inc.
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Replaces www.buddhismcanada.com, which is now closed
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www.sumeru.ca
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Sumeru is a Canadian Buddhist news blog
800-1000 visitors/month
The Sumeru Press is a Canadian publisher
Publisher of Buddhist books and art
By, for and about Canadian Buddhists
Books, e-books & ephemera
Analytical Tools
The first four
online tools
allow you to
monitor and
assess web
traffic.
Web.Archive
is also known
as the WayBack Machine,
and allows
you to view
websites as
they existed
in the past.
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7zoom
Alexa
Compete
Google Analytics
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Web.Archive
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Dialectics
Fault lines in the Buddhist
firmament
Traditionalism vs Modernism
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Fear that technology will
erode values
Emphasis on physical
experience
Ear-whispered lineages
Guru-disciple relationship
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The cult of the new
The myth of progress
Social validation
It’s all about me
Spiritual materialism
Digitally disadvantaged communities
Vibrant web presence
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Tibetan
Chinese
Japanese
Vipassana
Vietnamese Zen
Poor web presence
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Vietnamese Pure Land
Lao
Khmer
Sri Lankan
Thai
Empowered but uninterested youth
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Religion, ritual + relevance
Generation gap
Secularized society
Linguistic tar pits
Here vs “back home”
Not your parents’
immigrant experience
Welcome to the “Daily
Show” generation
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Dharma Punx
DIY Dharma
Martha Grey Buffalo
Tzu Chi
Girls vs boys
Activist focus
Cultural mis-appropriation?
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“Buddhist” celebrities (Steven Seagal,Tiger Woods)
“Buddhist” interior design ( Visvavajra backdrop on Jay Leno show)
Martha Wetaskiwin Grey Buffalo (Facebook)
Personal empowerment (Allan Knight)
Health + Wellness (Dr. Deepak Chopra)
Ghost stories (Ghost Whisperer)
Quest movies (Matrix, Batman Begins)
Dragon tattoos
Fluid group identification
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We exist in multiple dimensions simultaneously
Relativistic value sets
Shopping around and the loyalty problem
No commitment messages (cell phone ads)
Bounce rate, click-throughs + unique visits
Understanding a mile wide and an inch deep
Authority vs the Wiki model
Established institutions
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Ordained teacher
Vertical hierarchy
Charismatic leadership
Succession issues
Gender segregation
Buddha Dharma focus
Formal web presence
Resilient
Orthodoxy
Flat, open, democratic institutions
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Lay teachers
Horizontal management
DIY focus
Succession issues
Gender neutrality
Sangha focus
Ad hoc web presence
Chaotic, ephemeral
Innovation
No-Self vs Celebrity Branding
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Can you brand “no-self”?
Identity as branding (eg. teens on Facebook)
Intimate strangers
Second Life avatars
Is the web sambhogakaya?
I
the Dalai Lama, Aung San Suu Kyi, Leonard Cohen, the
Panchen Lama, Richard Gere, Tina Turner, Alanis Morissette,
Adam Yauch…
Following celebrities is easier than actual practice
Giving freely vs Commercialism
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How can we reconcile Dharma with commerce?
Dharma websites hobbled if they try to “sell” something
Practitioner supplies stores
E-Bay vs the Snow Lion model
What is a “fair” price?
Proceeds to charitable causes
Fund-raising (and lack thereof) in various communities
Retreat versus Engaged Practice
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Does practice require withdrawal from society?
Can the forest model work in Canada?
Since most of us MUST work, can’t we find some way to
practice engaged Buddhism?
Practice and daily life as “not-two”
Trending toward egalitarian, lay Sangha
Canadian immigration laws and ordained Sangha
Local Activism vs Global Citizenship
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Support Tibet, but ignore native Canadians?
Disaster activism instead of constant attention
Little activist focus on most Canadian Buddhist websites
Little linkage with contemporary issues in society
Fund-raising, vegetarianism, environmentalism, health +
wellness, political action, pro-peace, gender equality, universal
access, etc.
Inter-community Alliances
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Growth of lineage and ethnic associations
Weak local associations across lineage/ethnic divide
Associations have no web presence
Exclusions and Norms
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New Kadampa
Novayana
Non-English websites
Centres that no longer exist, and their web shadows
Do you exist if you are not on the web?
Practice vs academe
Thanks for being here!
Buddhism in Canada: Global Causes, Local Conditions