The course will introduce students to various aspects of Russian digital culture. We will start with the historical perspective: how can digital communication be studied in the broad context of the history of reading and how the Russian internet, Runet, has evolved technologically, culturally and socially. We will take a closer look to specific areas of digital culture, such as, electronic libraries, social media, internet’s regulation and online popular culture. All these topics offer important insights into Russian contemporary culture and society from the point of view of digital communication while introducing theoretical and analytical frameworks that will be useful when planning individual theses and further studies.

The course consists of 20 hrs lectures and seminar work as well as individual assignments prepared outside the class work. The students are expected to attend lectures, read 1-2 articles before each lecture and participate in class discussion. There will be 2 mini-assignments during the course, which are presented and discussed in the last class. In addition, the students will write a final paper (7-10 pages) on a selected topic related to the course theme. The return date of the final papers is one month after the last lecture.

The course is organized in cooperation with Aleksanteri Institute's Russian and East European Master's School.

The course will be organized as an intensive course (Sep. 12th-Sep 16th, 2016).

Does freedom of speech exist in Russia? What does it mean in Russian culture? Who are the agents of state control? How did Russian media operate in the climate of oligarchs? How did Russian media change after the emergence of the networked society? What is the political potential of social media in Russia?

The course provides students with conceptual frameworks for thinking through a range of key issues related to Russian (new) media: authorship, regulation, convergence and freedom of expression. The course provides a chronological survey of the history of digital media in Russia as well as a synthetic approach to media studies. The focus will be on Russian media of the past 20 years, emergence and function of new media in Russian culture. The objectives of this module are: 1) to study the theory of media and its institutions and economics in relation to the issues of media regulation; and 2) to study the practice of new media in contemporary Russia.

Vlad Strukov is Associate Professor in Digital Culture in  University of Leeds, UK.

The course is organized in cooperation with Aleksanteri Institute's Russian and East European Master's School.

The course will introduce students to various aspects of Russian digital culture. We will start with the historical perspective: how can digital communication be studied in the broad context of the history of reading and how the Russian internet, Runet, has evolved technologically, culturally and socially. We will take a closer look to specific areas of digital culture, such as, electronic libraries, social media, internet’s regulation and online popular culture. All these topics offer important insights into Russian contemporary culture and society from the point of view of digital communication while introducing theoretical and analytical frameworks that will be useful when planning individual theses and further studies.

The course consists of 20 hrs lectures and seminar work as well as individual assignments prepared outside the class work. The students are expected to attend lectures, read 1-2 articles before each lecture and participate in class discussion. There will be 2 mini-assignments during the course, which are presented and discussed in the last class. In addition, the students will write a final paper (7-10 pages) on a selected topic related to the course theme. The return date of the final papers is one month after the last lecture.

The course is organized in cooperation with Aleksanteri Institute's Russian and East European Master's School.