1) globalisation and/in communication;

2) local communities and the internet;

3) new media and pop culture;

4) the internet and collective memory.

Specific research questions include:

1) Have the effects of the globalisation in communications been comparable in Russia, Eurasia, Central and South-East Europe? What is the impact of globalisation on cultural production in the region?

2) How do new media affect internet users’ relationship with their local communities? How does the regional cultural context inform their online activity?

3) What impact have new media had on pop and celebrity culture in the region? Do the internet and new media liberate popular culture from the hegemony of large mass communication corporations?

4) How are digital environments used to project collective memories of the past (such as that of the Soviet regime)?

Martin Calvert (Identity, Strategic Essentialism and Informal Networks among Social Activist Livejournal Bloggers in Nizhny Novgorod; Implications for Information Transfer and the Individual)

Boris Gladarev and Markku Lonkila (The Role of the Internet in Organizing Environmental Protests in Russia and Finland)

Stephen Hutchings (Media Convergence and Russian Television: Remote Control, Or The Mouse and the Elephant)

Yelena Jetpyspayeva (Promoting New Media and Citizen Journalism in Central Asia and Kazakhstan)

Galina Miazhevich (New Media and Pop-Cul0074ure: Eurovision in Post-Communist Europe)

Jeremy Morris (Narratives of Internet Use in the Post-Socialist Margins: the Strange Bedfellows of Knitting, Diesel Engines and One-Armed Bandits)

Natalia Rulyova (The Construction of Immigrant Identity: What Are the Chinese Made of on the Runet?)

Lara Ryazanova-Clarke (Minimal and Incomprehensible: Political Satire on the Internet (The Case of Rulitiki))

Natalia Sokolova (Online Fan Communities in a Context of Transmedia: Cyber-Entertainment or ‘Free Labour’? (The Case of Runet))

Orlin Spassov (Searching for Identity: Latin vs. Cyrillic Script on the Bulgarian Internet)

Claire Wilkinson (neweurasia: Learning to Blog in Central Asia)

Faith Wigzell (Re-jigging Traditional Fortune-Telling for Internet Users in Russia Today)

9:30-10.00 Registration and coffee/tea

10:00-10:40 Keynote Address: Yelena Jetpyspayeva (Gazeta.kz, neweurasia, Global Voices, BarCamps), ‘Promoting New Media and Citizen Journalism in Central Asia and Kazakhstan’

10:40-12:30 Session One: On- and Off-Line Identities in New Eurasia

Orlin Spassov, ‘Searching for Identity: Latin vs. Cyrillic Script on the Bulgarian Internet’

Jeremy Morris, ‘Narratives of Internet Use in the Post-Socialist Margins: the Strange Bedfellows of Knitting, Diesel Engines and One-Armed Bandits’

Martin Calvert, ‘Identity, Strategic Essentialism and Informal Networks among Social Activist Livejournal Bloggers in Nizhny Novgorod; Implications for Information Transfer and the Individual’

Natalia Rulyova, ‘The Construction of Immigrant Identity: What Are the Chinese Made of on the Runet?’

12:30-13:30 Lunch

13:30-14:45 Session Two: New Media and/versus Old Media: Regional Insights

Claire Wilkinson, ‘neweurasia: Learning to Blog in Central Asia’

Boris Gladarev and Markku Lonkila, ‘The Role of the Internet in Organizing Environmental Protests in Russia and Finland’

Stephen Hutchings, ‘Media Convergence and Russian Television: Remote Control, Or The Mouse and the Elephant’

14:45-15:00 Coffee

15:00-16:45 Session Three: New Media in New Eurasia: Spectacle and Entertainment

Natalia Sokolova, ‘Online Fan Communities in a Context of Transmedia: Cyber-Entertainment or “Free Labour”? (The Case of Runet)’

Galina Miazhevich, ‘New Media and Pop-Cul0074ure: Eurovision in Post-Communist Europe’

Lara Ryazanova-Clarke, ‘Minimal and Incomprehensible: Political Satire on the Internet (The Case of Rulitiki)’

Faith Wigzell, ‘Re-jigging Traditional Fortune-Telling for Internet Users in Russia Today’

16:45-17.00 Closing Remarks

You can find UCL’ location in central London here.

And here is information on getting to UCL via public transport.

You can plan your journey in London by using this service.

Accommodation

There are dozens of hotels and B&Bs near where the workshop will take place, with a full range of rates and amenities. Here are some of the more affordable options:

(Upper Woburn Place, London WC1H 0JW, +44 (0)20 7387 5544, +44 (0)20 7387 5544)  County Hotel

£43.00 Single / £57.00 Double/Twin (Including VAT & English Breakfast)
(N.B, There is one bathroom to every four bedrooms, with a washbasin in every bedroom)

(Tavistock Square, London WC1H 9EU, +44 (0)20 7636 8383 +44 (0)20 7636 8383) Tavistock Hotel

£66.00 Single / £91.00 Double, Including VAT & English Breakfast, (Private [en suite] bathrooms in all rooms)

Any of the small, B&B-type hotels on Gower St. are also convenient, and most cost approx. £60/night for a single and £85 for a double:

Arosfa Hotel,    Arran House Hotel,    Jesmond Hotel

If you have any difficulties finding and booking accommodation in London, please contact Seth Graham at s.graham{at}ssees.ucl.ac.uk.

1) the internet and politics;

2) new media and government;

3) social media;

4) new media and the mass media.

Specific research questions include:

1) Does the internet provide liberation from socio-political norms or is it conditioned by them? How does the map of internet usage correlate with the new political map of the region?

2) What tactics do governments apply to use and control the internet and new media? How effective are e-government/e-security tools?

3) What is the role of social media (such as blogging and video-sites, twitter, facebook, myspace and its national versions)? How does the specific political and cultural context of the region inform the function of web-enabled media?

4) What is the future of the mass media in the age of digital technologies: popularity versus authority in societies with ‘managed democracies’? How does the convergence of old and new media take place in different parts of the region?

Nadezhda Azhgikhina (New Media and Discussions on the Future of Journalism in the Mirror of Professional Discussion)

Maria Bakardjieva (Mundane Citizenship: New Media and Civic Society in Bulgaria)

Floriana Fossato (Virtually Connected and Still Atomised)

Olena Goroshko (Political Blogging: More Gender or Culture? (Ukraine))

Eugene Gorny (The Theme of Motherland in the Works of Russian Bloggers)

Dimitri Jagodin (The State Presence in the Russian Live Journal: the Blog “Medvedev community”)

Olessia Koltsova (New Media on Social Movements in Russia)

Adi Kuntsman (War, Conflict and the Politics of Location: Reading Hatred in Russian Language Blogosphere)

Sarah Oates (Political Party Websites as Mirror or Prism: Comparing Russian Communists and British Liberal-Democrats in the Online Sphere)

Katie Pearce (Media Convergence Through Mobile Peer-To-Peer File Sharing In The Republic Of Armenia)

Robert Saunders (The Ghost in the Machine: Digital Power Structures and the Soviet Legacy in the New Eurasia)

Florian Toepfl (Scandals on the Russian Internet: A Series of Case Studies)

9:30-10.00 Registration and coffee/tea

10:00-10:45 Keynote Address: Nadezhda Azhgikhina, ‘New Media and Discussions on Future of Journalism in the Mirror of Professional Discussion’

10:45-12:15 Session One: Activism and/or Apathy

Olessia Koltsova, ‘New Media on Social Movements in Russia’

Katie Pearce, ‘Media Convergence Through Mobile Peer-To-Peer File Sharing In The Republic Of Armenia’

Florian Toepfl, ‘Scandals on the Russian Internet: A Series of Case Studies’

Sarah  Oates, ‘Political Party Websites as Mirror or Prism: Comparing Russian Communists and British Liberal-Democrats in the Online Sphere’

12:30-13:15 Lunch

13:15-14:45 Session Two: Legacies of the Past and Challenges of the Present

Robert Saunders, ‘The Ghost in the Machine: Digital Power Structures and the Soviet Legacy in the New Eurasia’

Adi Kuntsman, ‘War, Conflict and the Politics of Location: Reading Hatred in Russian Language Blogosphere’

Olena Goroshko, ‘Political Blogging: More Gender or Culture? (Ukraine)’

Eugene Gorny,  ‘The Theme of Motherland in the Works of Russian Bloggers’

14:45-15:00 Coffee break

15:00-16:30 Session Three: Politics and Civic Society

Maria Bakardjieva, ‘Mundane Citizenship: New Media and Civic Society in Bulgaria’

Dimitri Jagodin, University of Tampere, ‘The State Presence in the Russian LiveJournal: the Blog “Medvedev community’”

Floriana Fossato, ‘Virtually Connected and Still Atomised’

See the map for further details and directions.

Birmingham (Edgbaston) campus is a 5 minute train ride (c. £3 return to University Station) from the main Birmingham Station (New Street). A taxi will cost £5-10 each way.  A map and details can be found here:

The accommodation (Conference Park) is 5 minute walk from the workshop venue, location on the map.

The workshop venue is Room 113 of the Muirhead Tower – the tallest modern building visible from the University railway station: R21 on this map.