Online communication in the educational environment of Russia and Germany: functional and dysfunctional effects of digitalization

Nowadays, the ability of the higher education system to adapt to external conditions is facing the challenge of online transformation and digitalization against the background of changes in the format of social relations in the direction of greater pluralism, demassification of information sources, channels and recipients. The relevance of the study lies in the need to assess the consequences of the transition to online communication of teachers and students in order to identify new functional / dysfunctional effects of digitization of the educational environment. The paper represents the results of an online survey (spring – summer of 2020), when the pandemic of the new coronavirus led to the transition to distance learning. The survey was conducted among students of Russian and German universities to identify the attitude of students to online education. Possible unintentional consequences of digitalization of the educational environment were identified. On the basis respondents’ answers, the authors have analyzed emotional attitude of Russian and German students to the compulsory transition to online learning as well as their assessments of its positive and negative aspects. The authors provide ratio of the advantages and disadvantages of online learning in the perception of Russian and German students, highlight some side effects of online communication between teachers and students, as well as the concerns of students caused by the transition to a new communication format. According to students of Russian and German universities, online communication is not beneficial for the quality of education. The increased time spent in front of the computer screen is considered harmful. Besides, students in both countries are concerned with the weakening of social ties and the loss of social contacts.

Valdai forum as a platform of political communication: articulation of cultural, spiritual and political traditions of Russia (a review of Valdai international club agenda)

The article represents the results of an actual analysis of the discussions on the site of the Valdai International Club over the past ten years in the context of the broadcast of the Russian message to the world as one of the instruments of Russian soft power. The author shows how the articulation of cultural, spiritual and political traditions of Russia occurs at the Valdai Forum as a platform for political communication and based on the appeal of the head of state to the problems of preserving cultural and national identity, forming a positive image of the state in the international arena, preserving national values and patriotic consciousness. A brief analysis is made of a number of fundamentally important thematic contours of the discussion by the Valdai Club members, which in recent years have become significant components of the formation of the Russian message to the world. Besides, the author substantiates the actualization of the concept of cultural imperative in the political science understanding of the cultural and value matrix of the Russian state and society in the Valdai discourse, and highlights an internal axiological aspect focused on civil-patriotic values, a sense of national identity, and the ideology of social justice.

Theoretical aspects of digitalization in social management

The paper discusses the issues of digitalization of modern society. Within the framework of the system analysis of the subject of research, the author highlights the theoretical aspects of digitalization in social management, examines the historical background for digitalization; social management is represented through the categories of selfgovernment, organizational order, goal-setting, subject-subject interactions, management tools. In the system of social communications, digital technologies and artificial intelligence are presented by the author as a new socio-digital reality that transforms the environment of interaction. The author’s review of the main stages and markers of the development of digitalization made it possible to update the list of positive aspects in social management, as well as problems caused by the digitalization process.

Communicative Competences of Civil Servants in Service State

The purpose of the paper is to specify the definition of communicative competence, civil servant essential to the service (customer-centered) state and methods of their formation. The authors analyze the scientific views as well as the advanced international and Russian experience of forming a customer-oriented communicative competence in the governmental agencies and business structures. It was revealed that the new communicative competence of the public officer is related to the providing of public services and expressed by the skills to identify and fulfill the needs of citizens in direct contact with them. The emotional and digital competencies are emphasized. The latter is expressed in the skill of consulting citizens with the newest digital technologies in front offices. The authors found that in foreign experience the formation of communicative competence is carried out largely by activity methods – in the workplace in real practice, whyle in Russia – by simulation methods that only imitate real conditions.

Media Effects in Modern Neo-Information Society

The article proposes a systematization of the main media effects cultivated in the modern neo-information society, draws conclusions about their relationship and interdependence. Information overload, which produces information noise, becomes the cause of media effects. All sources of information noise are currently predominantly embedded in the field of the Internet, which, on the one hand, determines information liberalism, and on the other hand, as a result of the provision of illusory freedom, the overall effect of media manipulation increases. In turn, information noises give rise to such a process as information anomie. Pseudo-news precedents, differentiated into fake and post-truth, based on the motives of media controllers, are considered as manifestations of information noise. Media fraud is a radical form of post-truthization of the information agenda. The classical media effects are the spiral of silence, moral panics, information fatigue, narcotic dysfunction and compassion fatigue, which must be considered from an interdisciplinary perspective – both in the context of social sciences and natural sciences (in particular, medicine), since the influence of media on society and inspired media effects become more and more systemic, targeted, spreading to all spheres of social everyday life, unrecognized by consumers, as a result of which they often turn out to be beyond regulation and control.

Influence of media convergence on public governance subjects in Russia

The objective of the article consists in representation of a sociological portrait of the subject of management in a digital society. Based on the analysis of the texts of the Russian media and Russian-speaking social networks and in-depth interviews with the heads of media editorial offices, the authors obtained the following results. The phenomenon of media convergence is manifested in the need to take into account in the management process those phenomena and trends that radically change the life of society, in particular, integration between individuals and digital devices, which gradually blurs the border between reality and the virtual world leading to the need for the subjects of management to acquire new communication skills, work with information resources, understand digital threats and know how to protect against them. The influence of media convergence is manifested in the fact that Russian subjects of government, using various digital devices to enter the virtual space, do not indicate their personal data and can act in contradictory ways, acting in different social roles. Conclusions: the formation of digital society requires monitoring the formation of social digital institutions, the principles of integral collective intelligence and symbiotic intelligence, including value foundations, norms, culture of behavior and interaction, systems of statuses and roles. The subjects of management cannot apply the old formats of the command style of management and administrative pressure in the virtual space. Therefore, it is necessary to develop specialized communication formats in the process of implementing public administration.

Ecology of Communication: the toxicity factors in media

The paper raises the problem of media ecology. The concept of media ecology is considered from the standpoint of post-nonclassical rationality: the object of research is viewed as a system that unifies communicants, their communities and the information environment within the framework of ongoing interactions, which, in turn, affect all elements of the ecosystem. The authors analyze socio-cultural changes caused by media influence and give the interpretation of the manifestations of media toxicity through five components of communication (toxicity factors): (1) subject; (2) sign code; (3) content; (4) method and (5) discourse background. The experimental base of the research is represented by a lexical-semantic analysis of materials from print and electronic media and students' essays (n>300), an associative experiment conducted with students of the direction of training “Advertising and public relations” (Moscow and St. Petersburg, n> 200). At the end the authors share the experience of holding a scientific conference dedicated to the discussed problem as an optimal format for involving students in the problems of the ecology of media communication.

Differentiation of the functions of social networks in the media environment of students (on the example of MGIMO University)

The paper represents the results of an empirical case, the purpose of which was to characterize social networks as a source of information in the media consumption of students. Based on the analysis of the results of focus group interviews with MGIMO students, as well as on the secondary analysis of quantitative data collected by the Russian Public Opinion Research Center (VCIOM), the author discovers a clear differentiation of functions between various social networks, due to their varying ability to satisfy information, communication and leisure needs of students. Qualitative differences were revealed in the practices of using social networks like Telegram, Instagram, VKontakte, TikTok and YouTube. The author concludes that sociological study of social networks is essential, taking into account the specifics of different functions in various target groups of users. Besides, the research has shown the risks of using social networks perceived by students, among which the most obvious are the spread of fakes, clip thinking, and learning disabilities.

Virtual internationalization as a new form of communication between university and foreign students during the global pandemic

This article introduces an original methodological approach to determining and creating mental images of the university and the region in which it is located for foreign students and enrollees. This approach is based on methodology of determining cultural artifacts, concepts and constants that may become the base for the digital visualization of the region’s (in which the university is located) cultural environment. Mental images created using this methodology are the foundation for the new form of communication that is the basis of the “virtual internationalization”. In the article we justify the idea that in the process of globalization - that was heavily influenced by the pandemic – universities can provide unique experiences in exploring culture, history and everyday life of a foreign country or a different region. It is this very experience that motivates enrollees in their choice of studying at a foreign university, and this is why it can be considered the driving force of internationalization, the importance of which for the university’s reputation is not diminished by the pandemic.

Russian Twitter as an Interpretation and Agenda-Setting Tool

The article examines the specifics of the Russian Twitter communication space from the perspective of the agenda-setting theory by Maxwell McCombs and Donald Shaw. Various topics’ blogs are analyzed to identify the communication features of Twitter interaction with external communication channels and information platforms. The authors apply semantic and event analysis to consider the main methods of Twitter influence on the external communication environment, and provide the interpretation of the events in the external environment within social network community. Based on this analysis the authors conclude concludes about the role of Twitter as one of the news feeds interpretive aggregators from the external communication space, which transforms meanings and creates its own in the framework of influencing the audience, and consider further prospects for researching the Twitter media environment to identify its interrelations with the communication environment.