The Trajectories of the Daily Routine of Josvainiai Town in Online Periodicals

Abstract

Based on the articles in online periodicals, the author aims to investigate and to find out if daily life can be examined in general through the method of analysis of online periodicals and if so, how these periodicals can be useful in carrying out field research. Research into the daily routine is relevant in Lithuania because it can help in revealing the modern life style of the country’s population that consists of the common fields of a person as a social unit and also indicates the trends in these fields. Understanding the daily routine of modern Lithuanian population is valuable in that it promotes a better understanding of current ethnic culture and traditions, evaluation of their change at the turn of the centuries, and defining the changing social and communal relations. Modern Lithuanian cities seem to be obliged to seek progress and increase the level of globalization, while towns are turning into certain ethno-cultural centres where the traditional lifestyle or its relicts are maintained longer. Modern daily life of Lithuanian towns is revealed as more unique and less affected by external influences. Not only can attempts at gaining information on the daily routine of a town by analysis of online periodicals assist in checking its usefulness and reliability; it also enables finding out how the media interacts with individual and communal memory of a town, and the understanding of how publicistic discourse creates and at the same time reflects the daily routine of a certain residential area that is usually invisible and unknown. Analysed in this paper are articles about Josvainiai, a small town in Kėdainiai district, and its daily routine from the period of 2016–2019 selected by specific keywords from www.rinkosaikste.lt, the news website of Kėdainiai district. The aim is to investigate if the daily routine as a research object can in general be knowable in such a platform. The gathered and analysed information shows that certain fields of daily life, such as specific geographic features, community gathering places, relationships of certain persons or groups, and individual aspects of daily life can be relatively accessible in online periodicals, but they cannot substitute the reliable and in-depth data gathered during field research. Since the primary aim of journalistic articles is to inform and to enlighten, they are not intended for a thorough understanding of a particular phenomenon. However, they can be useful as secondary sources supplementing the data about the town and the daily life of its community gathered during field research.