Digital Media Space Research Articles

The Nexus Between Freedom of Expression under the Indian Constitution and Creative Liberty of Content Creators Over OTT

It is important to analyse the mutually intertwining and rather entangled contingencies associated with the creative freedom of content distributors and the freedom of speech that is granted by the Indian Constitution. Essentially, this abstract looks at the detail of this relation and how laws and the Constitution pragmatics shape various entertainment content in the contemporary world. According to Article 19(1)(a) of the Indian Constitution, the citizens have the right to freedom of speech and expression, nevertheless, restrictions may be placed on this right. Artistic and creativity freedom are part of this broad categories of freedom of expression. It makes communication, opposition to the power and cultural exchange possible, becoming the cornerstone of democracy. The use of the over-the-top platforms has given the producers an avenue through which they can produce quality and diverse content through their work. There are no mediators and gatekeepers in the processes of content production; everyone, starting with non-affiliated freelance directors and ending with directors of the giant studios, freely creates their works. This freedom has resulted in splendid replication of narration, as well as the proposal of many approaches and stories. Holding Indian autonomies suitable for the protections granted under Article 19, decision-makers are adjusting regulations concerning the content delivered through OTT platforms. Namely, the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021 are designed to regulate the over-the-top (OTT) platforms by prescribing the requirements in relation to grievance redressal mechanisms and content classification. However, there are concerns over such notion as censorship and restriction of the freedom of artists from being realised as a consequence of the implementation of these measures. Co-ordinating between applications of artistic permissiveness and general freedom involves a highly involved manipulation of loyalty towards the Constitution and what the numerous concerns dictate the society as a whole. The law makers need to have discussions with the media, business circles, and civil society organizations to create legislative frameworks that would foster creativity, variety, and the production of responsible content for the audiences, maintaining the positive balance in the digital media space while respecting the active use of moderation, transparency and other principles used in modern societies.

How Digital Cats Tame Ideology: the Cat Content of Soviet Nostalgia as an Ideological Mediator

The article deals with the mechanics of broadcasting ideology through online user content, dedicated to domestic cats. The author believes that digital culture is changing the logic of the relationship between written and oral, long and short genres of objectification of ideology in mass consciousness. It ensures the presence of complex long ideological genres of Modernity in the media space, reinforcing it with a wide “protective belt” of microformats characteristic of entertainment content. The most typical type of the latter is cat content, which is understood as a form of social reflection that sets a cliched reaction to a media message through the image of a digital cat. The purpose of the article is to analyze the use of political ideologies in the context of Soviet nostalgia. The author examines the polar versions of the visualization of Soviet nostalgia in the context using the example of Vasya Lozhkin’s cats and the VK public “Cats for Communism”. The semantic multilayering of Vasya Lozhkin’s paintings is ensured by the fluidity and interchangeability of zoo- and anthropomorphic features of the characters and the ease of their ethical (de)evolution. The transition of cats to the red side is shown as a rather late phenomenon of digital culture, inscribed in the period of the last five years. Digital cats dearchaize communist ideology by associating it with digital fashion. In general, digital cats disassemble ideological narratives into micro-rhythms and creolize them, performing the function of a mediator forwarding the actualized old ideologies into the digital media space.

Examining the emergence of new journalistic forms and innovation in the Indian newspaper industry

This exploratory research uses in-depth interviews with journalists and editors of print news media outlets to explore how new forms of journalism support and augment the news production process. The paper employs labor theory as a theoretical framework to examine how the use of technology and financial influence has transformed the role of reporters and the tasks that they perform. The study findings reveal that the print media industry has leveraged the digital media space and is trying to understand its intricacies and possibilities post-COVID-19 pandemic. Media professionals are acquiring digital skills beyond text in audio and video formats for financial viability. This shift to digital content has led to adopting diverse journalistic forms and given momentum to producing quality news.

“Creatures of kek:” Affordance and enregisterment within “kek” on 4chan's “/pol/” board

AbstractThis paper examines the relation of affordance and enregisterment in the socialization of users through the popular 4chan phrase “kek.” This word, overwhelmingly used as an equivalent for “lol” (netspeak for “laugh out loud”), has taken up several other meanings within “/pol/,” the politically incorrect subforum on 4chan, an anonymous imageboard forum. Drawing from both enregisterment and affordance theory, I claim that the processes of mobilizing kek in very community‐specific ways allow for users within this digital media space to not only enregister what a /pol/ user should “sound like,” but that it creates an environment which socializes a very specific kind of user itself. These branching paths of kek explored in this article situate kek as first, an affective assessment marker within interactive speech; then, as a lamination of the word, and deification of chaos magic and mischief celebrated on 4chan, represented by the frog‐headed Egyptian god Kek; and finally, as a sovereign nation, known as “Kekistan.” Through these examples, I argue that a “creature of kek” is a socially constructed, enregistered framework of “knowing,” by which users on /pol/ legitimize themselves to new users, and in broader digital spaces.

Cultural Aspects of the Transformation of t he Term Podcasting

This article presents the results of a study of the transformation of the very concept of podcasting in domestic scientifi c discourse, in the Russian media fi eld from a cultural point of view. Podcasting is a form of transmission of mainly audio or video materials (VODcasts) to the Internet, which has existed in the world for about twenty years. Today, podcasts are associated not only with spoken audio content, but also with video interviews, and even with voice messages on the social media Telegram. Moreover, a podcast can be understood as almost any work in the digital media space, even text. This work was carried out in 2023 as part of a comprehensive study of the transformation of the audiovisual environment on new technological platforms, which has been carried out by the Department of Television and Radio Broadcasting of the Faculty of Journalism of Moscow State University since 2017. The purpose of this stage was to determine what is currently understood by the word podcasting and an attempt to capture its distinctive format features, cultural aspects of the evolution of the concept. The methods used were conceptual and contextual types of analysis. The cognitive approach made it possible to consider the verbalized key concepts of scientifi c discourse. The defi nitions given to podcasting by domestic and foreign researchers, practitioners, market participants in the process of development and formation of the industry, as well as a control group of listeners were analyzed. The authors of this article make an attempt to give the most relevant cultural interpretation of the concept of podcasting. The main conclusion is that Russian-language podcasting, for a number of reasons, is developing along a trajectory that is largely different from the world one, in particular the American one. But its development is complicated by a number of factors, including geopolitical and cultural ones. The concept of “podcasting” will most likely continue its evolutionary movement in search of a more solid position in the sociocultural space. Keywords: podcasting, media system, audiovisual content, social media, broadcasting, formats, genres

Dissemination of Religious Formation in The Fatwa of The Indonesian Ulema Council on Digital Da’wah Etichs

Social religious problems triggered by the provocation of preachers in the digital media space are important problems to be addressed by all elements of society including the government. This qualitative research in the form of a literature review aims to identify the dimensions of religious formation in the Fatwa of the Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI) of East Java No. 6 of 2022. The theory of religiosity becomes the main theory of analysis in the discussion of this study. This data was obtained through documentation. Data were analysed through reduction, presentation and verification. This study shows the content of the formation of religiosity dimensions in the fatwa, such as da'wah recommendations that emphasise the practice of worship rituals, and attitudes to maintain harmony in social life amid social plurality. This research confirms the importance of disseminating holistic religious formation in digital da'wah materials. The limitations of this research have not examined the effectiveness of the fatwa in the community.

Becoming Wanghong: How Foreigners Achieve Internet Celebrity in China

The burgeoning internet celebrity industry in China has encouraged the emergence of foreign wanghong (洋网红) as active content producers on the Chinese internet. Achieving online fame and constructing a resonant personal brand while staying within Chinese state’s permissible boundaries is a challenge for all internet influencers in China. Foreign wanghong, for their part, also have to deal with Chinese publics’ ambivalence and fluctuating perspectives on engaging foreign culture, expectations around “being foreign” and cultural nationalism fed by the currents of geopolitics. This study focuses on the performance and personas of foreign wanghong and investigates how these creators navigate the complexities of the Chinese internet to achieve substantial followings. Going beyond treating foreign participants in Chinese digital media spaces as co-opted instruments of propaganda, we take seriously foreign creators’ articulations, constructions and self-presentations of foreignness and acculturation in their efforts to earn social, cultural and economic capital in the competitive Chinese internet celebrity sphere. A mixed-method content analytical study of several hundred Douyin videos generated by 33 foreign wanghong reveals the adoption of calculated self-presentation and cross-cultural communication skills alongside a constant negotiation of an individual’s own foreignness and local constructs of the “typical foreigner”.

Challenging the local logics of oppression in times of post-colonial amnesia – a study of Ugandan LGBT+ activism in digital media spaces

ABSTRACT Against the backdrop of an increasingly repressive environment, the study explores to what degree five established LGBT+ organizations use self-controlled digital spaces, Twitter and Facebook, during one month in 2022 to expose and challenge constructs that rationalize oppression of Ugandan LGBT+. The analysis revealed that digital media spaces were not used to challenge the local logics of oppression or contemporary processes sustaining oppression. Instead, spaces, often displaying a conspicuously uniform Western sexual rights language, focused on providing digital services and/or notification of offline services to the community and promoting the individual organization. The adoption of Western sexual rights campaign language, including using LGBT+ as identity labels to communicate Ugandan same-sex desires and gender identities, could be explained by the community’s dependency on international resources. The study’s contribution lies in its astute reminder – that the realization of digital spaces’ emancipatory potential is dependent on the political economy of the activists' context.

The specifics of digital media and the communication role of media content consumers in assessing the student audience (based on the materials of a sociological study)

The article highlights the results of a study, the subject of which was the student audience's ideas about the specific characteristics of digital media, the role and place of authors and consumers of media content in the communication process. The authors consider such aspects of the topic as awareness of the reasons that encourage the audience to turn to digital media content; the grounds and directions for evaluating relevant media phenomena; reflection on the activity or passivity of the role that the audience assumes. Particular attention is paid to the respondents' perception of social norms and rules that determine the forms and types of communicative behavior in the digital media space, since the dynamism of their development disposes not only to search for options for adaptation to innovative technologies for working with information, but also to search for a reliable value basis both in the field of media communications and in broader areas of social life. During the research, the questionnaire method, descriptive method and analysis method were used. The respondents included students majoring in Advertising and Public Relations. In analyzing digital media, the target audience relies on both their own individual experience and the experience gained from studying theories and practices relevant to specialists in the field of communication studies. In the process of reflection on the specific characteristics of digital media, students demonstrate primarily a value-based approach, choosing traditional moral values and norms as the basis for evaluating the studied phenomena. The main attention is paid to the problem of responsibility to society of both authors and consumers of media content, who must be guided by such requirements as honesty, conscientiousness and willingness to act in the interests of the majority of people. Analyzing the role of communicators, students, in addition to being involved in ethical issues, also demonstrate a desire to develop critical thinking and personal development. The activity of this role, however, is assessed in two ways: respondents record both the opportunity for digital media audiences to act as active figures implementing the function of co-authors of media content, and their exposure to media influence, in which the active role of co-authors is replaced by the passive role of addressees who act within the dominant code.

The blurry lines between popular media and party propaganda: China's convergence culture through a linguistic lens.

There is a growing body of scholarly evidence that media convergence blurs the boundary between media production and media consumption and obscures the lines between institutions and individuals. Media convergence in the context of China has garnered attention in communication studies and in cultural studies. However, there is a scarcity of research on convergence culture from a linguistic perspective. Recent research has generated initial evidence that state media appropriates a pop-cultural social address for clickbait and information management in China's digital media space. However, the patterns and perceptual reality of linguistic convergence remain unexplored. This study investigates popular and party uses of xiaojiejie 'little older sister', a familiar expression of fictive kinship reborn as a viral personal reference and social address in China's convergence culture. Analysis of the Target Group Index in the Baidu search engine suggests xiaojiejie is gaining ground over its predecessor among young Chinese. Trends analysis of its usage in WeChat public accounts showed that the term has spread from popular media to state media, which employs the viral address to drive clickbait and disguise propaganda. An online survey of young Chinese WeChat users (N=330) on their perception of xiaojiejie headlines from WeChat public accounts showed that respondents could not tell state media uses from popular uses, providing perceptual evidence of the blurry boundaries between popular and state media uses of the viral address. The findings demonstrate the reality of linguistic convergence driven by participatory performance and its perceptual consequences in China's convergence culture.

The Impact of Educational Technology on Distance Learning in The Era of Post-Covid-19

E-learning is a type of electronic educational technology that enables online or distance learning to become the norm even before the COVID-19 era. It is a depiction of convergent products, services, and activities that have emerged in the digital media space and are thought to be more efficient at delivering learning and content, resulting in time and cost savings, and having a smaller negative impact on the environment. Based on existing research, the problem area of this study is to understand how technological convergence provides opportunities to promote the convenience of distance learning and its effect on society, as well as the barriers to the idea remaining implemented post-COVID-19. This paper collects data through a semi-systematic literature review based on similar themes which are educational technology, distance learning, and education during and post COVID-19. The primary objectives of this article are to analyse and discuss the impact of educational technology, as well as to discuss the implications of distance learning, particularly after the world was compelled to embrace it during the COVID-19 lockdown. In summary, it appears that educational technology is growing more interactive, mobile, immersive, and ubiquitous in the second decade of this twenty-first century. The development of digital platforms and tools, the availability of digital content to adult professionals, and self-paced continuous learning appear to be the key components of the learning of the future. Although numerous challenges such as infrastructure and internet must be addressed, distance learning has a bright future, and e-learning is the most effective tool for achieving it. More research is needed to shed light on educational technology as a product of technological convergence, which is not only about unification and commonality but also about divergence in various aspects and opportunities.

Journalism in the Digital Media Space: Integrity Terms

The interest of the topic is determined by the fact that many problems in the theory and practice of journalism in the context of the infor­mation revolution arise as a result of the digitalization of the media space, which makes it possible to carry out significant transformations in media and journalistic creativity, ensure the successful implementation of civilizational development trends, and also resolve modern challenges. The result of these transformations should be the harmonization of media culture resources. It is obvious that the emergence of new problem situations causes an urgent need to increase, firstly, the dynamics of media creativity of content producers, and secondly, everyday media consumption of this potential. The authors argue that the digital media space, having received active development in the class­room, author, editorial, economic, and technological processes, will be able to ensure the unity of consciousness and activity of these subjects, the unity of media production and media consumption. The goal of the study is to ana­lyze the nature of the integrity of journalism operating within the digital media space. The article notes that journalism in the digital media space is called upon to fulfill an important social role: to ensure high dynamism of informa­tion exchange, social interaction between individuals and society. The authors concluded that modern journalism studies in the context of digitalization of the media space note its rapidly increasing typological capabilities as a factor of media creativity, actively promoting integration, unity of actions of individual and society in everyday media culture, which contributes to the implementation of strategies and programs for the civilizational development of society.

Virtual Reality Technologies in the Modern Library Environment: Use in the Conditions of Society’s Mediatization

The purpose of the article is to study the introduction and impact of virtual reality (VR) technologies in modern library environments, particularly in the context of the mediatization of society. The study reveals the ways in which libraries are adapting to the dynamic digital environment and the benefits VR technologies can offer to libraries and users. Research methods. A comprehensive literature review and analysis of examples of successful implementation of virtual reality in libraries were conducted. Domestic and international databases were used to collect scientific articles and research publications about modern university libraries and the impact of digital media on their role and functions. This comprehensive research methodology allowed us to draw a complete picture of the transformations in modern university libraries and the impact of digital media on their roles and functions. Using content analysis, we thoroughly analyzed regulatory documents and policy guidelines for university libraries and the digital media space. The scientific novelty of the article lies in the study of the practical application of virtual reality in the library environment, the assessment of potential benefits and problems, and the consideration of the broader implications of mediatization for library practices and services. Conclusions. The study demonstrates that the VR technologies’ implementation in the library environment can increase user engagement, promote learning, and optimize various library processes. In addition, it emphasizes the need for libraries to adapt to the mediatization of society by integrating advanced digital tools and services, such as VR, in order to remain relevant and accessible to users in the digital age.

Digital Media Space in Modern Higher Education Libraries: Transformation of Roles and Functions

The purpose of the article is to investigate the transformation of the role and functions of modern university libraries, to study the impact of digital media integration on the traditional role of libraries in higher education establishments (HEEs), and to offer a comprehensive understanding of the new requirements that are put forward to them. Research methods. In the course of the study, general scientific research methods were used to reveal the current state of libraries at higher education establishments and the factors shaping their transformation, in particular, source research (for a thorough review of the literature, case studies of various university libraries), analytical (to analyze new trends in digital media), systematization and generalization (to summarize). The scientific novelty lies in identifying key trends, challenges and opportunities arising from digitization, as well as analyzing best practices for adapting to these changes. Recommendations and guidelines are offered for libraries seeking to overcome the challenges of the digital transition associated with updating library infrastructure to support user needs. The principles of successfully addressing issues related to information literacy and copyright, as well as managing budgetary constraints and navigation in a complex and changing ecosystem of digital resource providers are formulated. New opportunities that arise with the digital integration of HEEs and can contribute to the sustainable, adaptive and innovative network of university libraries’ development that can meet the demands of users in the digital age are emphasized. Conclusions. The study demonstrates that the digital media space significantly affects the role and functions of university libraries. These institutions should take advantage of the opportunities offered by digital technologies and adapt their services, facilities, and policies accordingly. This transformation not only brings new challenges but also improves the library’s ability to serve users’ information and educational needs, contributing to the success of students and researchers in the digital age.

Globalizing information networks, social media, and participation

AbstractObjectivesThis study is one of the first to systematically evaluate the relationship between the Internet and social media use and participation in politics cross‐nationally, in democracies and non‐democracies. Most existing research on this topic analyzes one country or region. We contend that access to globalizing information networks—which exist within digital media space and where discussions of political norms and values are frequent—promotes higher rates of political participation.MethodsUsing multivariate analysis and individual‐level data from the seventh wave of the World Values Survey with representative samples from 45 countries, we employ jackknifed samples to investigate the association between self‐reported frequent Internet and social media use, our proxy for the exposure to globalizing information networks, and political participation.ResultsResults show that more frequent social media use is associated with higher political participation, all else equal. This relationship is significant in democracies and non‐democracies, suggesting that information networks increase political participation even in countries with Internet shutdowns, censorship, and limited rights and freedoms.ConclusionsDespite censorship, propaganda, and misinformation, the Internet and social media may help foster political participation across international borders.

Being scene-un/seen: Demonstrations, theatricality and community afterlives in technological mediation

This article examines the visibility of communities of demonstration and protest in live happening and in digital reproduction – how a protesting community becomes seen, individuals unseen and how theatrical elements are employed and deployed to enhance and augment such visibility as a scene. Looking at protests by Extinction Rebellion (XR), I observe how heightened performance/theatricality saturates their demonstrations and spawns heightened visibility. This hyper-articulates their messages as optically charged, ready for representation in photography, video and audio that can echo through media channels. Instigated with an intention for a technologically reproduced and mediatized after-event – a digital afterlife. In this sense, theatricalizing the demonstration event as performance scene makes it, and any associated messages, ready to transcend event time–space and become a demonstration hyper-object, following Timothy Morton. That is, through theatrical performance their message/statement/community becomes part of a massive entity that exists beyond local scales of space and time. As accessible, temporally extensive data such communities and messages exist far beyond the live protest. While not an object per se, XR’s messages and their affective impact contaminate and spread by being commented on, seen, retweeted, hash-tagged, forwarded, printed and so on in print and digital media spaces. In so doing, they reach far greater audiences than those at the demonstration event, amplifying their virtual spaces with the community’s application of theatricality working both as a catalyst and carrier.

DISINFORMATION ABOUT FAILURES IN NUCLEAR POWER PLANTS AND THE SOCIO-PSYCHOLOGICAL EFFECTS

The article aims to show how the negative aspects of information management and limiting access to it affect the psychological and social aspects. These issues were presented in the con-text of accidents in nuclear power plants, presenting this process as a historical background and in a long-term perspective. Both the Chernobyl and Fukushima disasters are deliberately ex-plored, comparing them and showing that different systems, operating under different geopoliti-cal conditions but managed in a similar way, can have different psychosocial impacts. The col-lected material also illustrates the scale of the impact of information on a global scale and the danger of its arbitrary shaping by selected social groups as a result of the lack of access to relia-ble knowledge. It also takes up, based on these examples, the topic of false content in the digital media space and how easy it is to become a "scientific authority" today.

Conceptual model of innovative library media space

The purpose of the work is to build a conceptual model of the library media space, identify the structural and functional elements of its subject area, and outline the relationships between them. The research methodology is based on a set of general scientific methods of generalisation, systematisation, and forecasting. The work used the semantic analysis of the texts of publications and the methodology of conceptual modeling to outline the connections between the ‘digital’ component of the library media space and the library socio-cultural functions, the compliance of the library professional resources with new competency requirements. The scientific novelty consists in the identification of the main system-forming elements, which in the relationship and mutual influence form the innovative media space of the modern library. On their basis, the conceptual model of the library innovative media space is substantiated, the main concepts of which are defined as digital technologies, the tasks of the library social and communicative activities in the digital media space, as well as the digital competence of the library specialist. Conclusions. The conceptual model of the innovative media space of libraries is based on the following concepts: digital technologies, the tasks of social and communicative activities of the library in the digital media space and digital competences of the library specialist. The evolution of the functioning of the innovative media space of the library should take place in accordance with the general processes of digitisation of society, the development of librarianship, and be actualised in IT projects for the introduction of digital technologies in libraries and the acquisition by library specialists of the necessary competencies for their use. Keywords: innovative media space of the library, conceptual model, digital technologies, social and communicative activities, competencies of library specialists.

The Impact of Digital Transformation on Power-Management Relations in the Changing International Landscape

The development of new digital technologies provides an opportunity to create new business models and improve not only economic, but also socio-cultural and political processes. The development of the digital media space involves the construction and functioning of a new digital hybrid real-virtual structure. Digitalization in the modern sociopolitical reality acts, on the one hand, as a phenomenon of society’s vital activity (digital values, technological ideas and images, digital architecture and hardware, digital culture, interactive forms and models of interaction, etc.); and, on the other hand, as a process of quantitative and qualitative changes in the social system stem reflecting the transition from one type of socio-political relations to a fundamentally different one. The development of new digital media technologies expands the capabilities of state and non-state actors. One of the most important components in a digital society is the ability to generate new digital technologies. In a dramatically transforming global landscape, differences in interests, values and concepts of the global order are deepening, which sharply worsen any expectations of a sustainable partnership between countries, a reset or a significant improvement in interconnections. A special role in the formation of global power-management relations is now played by Russia, China, and the United States.

Digital Media and Discursive Contestation: The Importance of Feminist Counterpublics Online

For feminist research, digital media now enable other ways of knowing currently lacking in mainstream research. Therefore, searching for African women's lived experiences in other sites, such as digital media spaces, requires the appropriation of methodologies that empower women. This article discusses the feminist approach of centring women as subaltern counterpublics, to show how this unearths the intersection of technology, power, hegemony, and subordination in the Zimbabwean context. The overall goal is to explain how the feminist counterpublics approach enables empirical findings on the emancipatory potential of blogs for Zimbabwean women. This research approach reveals how Zimbabwean women are using digital media as spaces to circulate counterdiscourses that resist their subjugation and the legitimation of power. Utilising the feminist approach to qualitative content analysis and semi-structured interviews, the study shows that communicative spaces online enable traditionally emasculated groups in Zimbabwe, particularly women, to reaffirm their identities and to begin to question the societal norms that continue to oppress them. This approach illustrates that blogs act as sites for regrouping and contestation, developing remedies for women's oppression, taking positions, and influencing wider publics.