God in bits and pixels: A study on interface in Catholic websites

• Main Author: Moisés Sbardelotto
• Format: Article
• Language: Portuguese
• Published: Universidade Federal Fluminense 2012-07-01
• Series: Ciberlegenda
• Subjects: Interface; interaction; religious experience; religion; materiality
• Online Access: http://www.uff.br/ciberlegenda/ojs/index.php/revista/article/view/542/325

The online digital media is today an environment to the experience of Catholic faith as from strategies permeated by mediatic logics and operations, which are built through the interactional interface. After analyzing this concept, this essay analyzes the technological and symbolic levels of some Catholic websites, through which the construction of meaning and the religious experience of the faithful occur. It describes four levels of interactional interface: the screen; peripherals such as keyboard and mouse; the organizational structure of information (menus); and the graphic composition of the pages. Finally, it concludes by arguing that digital religiosity brings with itself a materiality substantially of its own, which also changes religion