Subjectness of Digital Communication in the Context of the Technological Evolution of the Contemporary Society: Threats, Challenges, and Risks

The purpose of this article is to identify the risks, threats, and challenges associated with possible social changes in the processes of digitalization of society and transformations of traditional communication practices, which is associated with the emergence of new digital subjects of mass public communication that form the pseudo structure of digital interaction of people. The primary tasks of the work were to identify the potential of artificial intelligence technologies and neural networks in the field of social and political communications, as well as to analyze the features of “smart” communications in terms of their subjectness. As a methodological optics, the work used the method of discourse analysis of scientific research devoted to the implementation and application of artificial intelligence technologies and self-learning neural networks in the processes of social and political digitalization, as well as the method of critical analysis of current communication practices in the socio-political sphere. At the same time, when analyzing the current digitalization practices, the case study method was used. The authors substantiate the thesis that introducing technological solutions based on artificial intelligence algorithms and self-learning neural networks into contemporary processes of socio-political communication creates the potential for a wide range of challenges, threats, and risks, the key of which is the problem of identifying the actual subjects of digital communication acts. The article also discusses the problem of increasing the manipulative potential of “smart” communications, for which the authors used the concepts of cyber simulacrum and information capsule developed by them. The paper shows that artificial intelligence and self-learning neural network algorithms, being increasingly widely introduced into the current practice of contemporary digital communications, form a high potential for information and communication impact on the mass consciousness from technological solutions that no longer require control by operators – humans. As a result, conditions arise to form a hybrid socio-technical reality – a communication reality of a new type with mixed subjectness. The paper also concludes that in the current practices of social interactions in the digital space, a person faces a new phenomenon – interfaceization, within which self-communication stimulates the universalization and standardization of digital behavior, creating, disseminating, strengthening, and imposing special digital rituals. In the article, the authors suggest that digital rituals blur the line between the activity of digital avatars based on artificial intelligence and the activity of actual people, resulting in the potential for a person to lose his own subjectness in the digital communications space.

Using Browser Data to Understand Desires to Spend Time Online

There is growing recognition that many people feel the need to reduce and/or manage their use of the internet and other digital communications technologies in support of their wellbeing. To understand the role played by various usage factors in desires to regulate time spent online we used Mozilla Firefox browser telemetry to investigate how six metrics pertaining to time spent on the internet and the diversity and intensity of use predict participants’ (n = 8,094) desires to spend more or less time online. Across all six metrics, we did not find evidence for a relationship between browser usage metrics and participants wanting to spend more or less time online, and this finding was robust across various analytical pathways. The study highlights a number of considerations and concerns that need to be addressed in future industry-academia collaborations that draw on trace data or usage telemetry.

Protest potential and protest activity of modern Russian youth: value dominants, dynamics and trends

This study analyzed the phenomenon of youth protest activity in modern Russia. The purpose of the work is to identify the specifics of the formation and development of the phenomenon of youth protest in the Russian Federation. Currently, there is an increase in social tension among young people, which is due to a large number of phenomena and factors. By analyzing the cases of protest activity in the Russian Federation over the past 10 years, their causes, mechanisms of organization, actors, stages, resources, and results have been identified in the dynamics. Based on the analysis of the results of sociological studies of protest activity of modern Russian youth and cases of protest activity, the article analyzes value orientations, dynamics and trends in the development of this phenomenon, presents concepts containing an analysis of the specifics of social protest, considers factors associated with the strengthening of various effects of the influence of digital communications on the political interaction of citizens and processes associated with the complexity of the nature and structure of political communication. Two structural levels of the system of social factors of protest behavior are identified: individual protest behavior and protest social movement, the most significant factors of protest social activity of young people are characterized. Based on the analysis of the results of a number of sociological studies devoted to the study of the role of digital communications on the protest social activity of Russian youth, it is concluded that the influence of digital networks on the political activity of citizens is increasing, while at present there is not a decrease in the civic activity of young people, but a change in the models of their participation in political events.

Polymedia repertoires of networked individuals

This article introduces the concept of the polymedia repertoire to explore how social meaning is indexed through the interplay of communicative resources at different levels of expression (from choice of media to individual signs) in digitally mediated interactions. The multi-layered polymedia repertoire highlights how people move fluidly between media platforms, semiotic modes and linguistic resources in the course of their everyday interactions, and enables us to locate digital communications within individuals’ wider practices. The potential of our theoretical contribution is illustrated through analysis of mobile phone messaging between participants in a large multi-sited ethnography of the communicative practices of multilingual migrants working in linguistically diverse UK city neighbourhoods. Our analysis of mobile messaging exchanges in a day-in-the-life of these networked individuals reveals the importance of device attention in shaping interpersonal interactions, as well as the complex ways in which choices at different levels of a polymedia repertoire are structured by social relationships, communicative purpose and (dis)identification processes.

The criminalisation of intentionally harmful digital communications - Encouraging the responsible use of cyberspace or an offence of unnecessarily limited application?

<p>The Harmful Digital Communications Bill has recently been reported back from the Justice and Electoral Select Committee. The Bill seeks to deter, prevent and mitigate the harm caused to individuals through digital communications and to provide victims of harmful digital communications with a quick and efficient means of redress. In addition to modernising existing legislation and establishing a new civil enforcement regime, the Bill controversially introduces a new criminal offence of posting a harmful communication with the intent that the communication causes harm to a victim. Surprisingly, the offence differs significantly from comparable legislation abroad where neither a mens rea standard of intent is present nor a requirement that a victim must suffer serious emotional distress in order for an offender to be liable. This paper critiques the likely application of the offence and ultimately concludes that in light of differing legislation abroad and cases which have arisen since the enactment of the Communications Act in the United Kingdom, that the mens rea standard should be modified to include subjective recklessness, and the requirement that an intended victim must suffer actual harm should be removed.</p>

Safe harbour: Should we be worried? An analysis of Clause 20 of the Harmful Digital Communications Bill, and its application to the law of defamation

<p>Liability of internet intermediaries for content created by third parties is a contentious area of defamation law. Recently, the law in New Zealand has begun to depart from English law, and move closer to strict liability. Parliament has responded with a ‘safe harbour’ in clause 20 of the Harmful Digital Communications Bill, which will provide online content hosts with conditional immunity from liability for content created by others. The author supports the creation of a legislative safe harbour for internet intermediaries, but highlights a number of deficiencies with clause 20 as currently drafted. This paper analyses the existing law, including possible defences, and clause 20. It also looks to other jurisdictions’ safe harbours, and concludes with recommendations on how clause 20 ought to be improved.</p>