Research Questions

The workshop will focus on four themes:

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?