SPEAKERS S

Presents in panel 1B

Changing Structure of Working Age Population in Russia in the Context of Population Ageing

With ageing development needs for its thorough analysis increase, especially for Russia, where this process is progressing rapidly and where the spread of new technologies is gaining strengths. Population ageing is a multifaceted process, it affects all sub-populations, including labor force. Emerging technologies and their interaction with societies have many aspects, including one related to labor market. Working age span covers a rather long period (about 45 years) – usually from 20 to 65 years old. During such period, numerous new technologies may appear, requiring adaptation of labor force, especially at older ages, to them, e.g. additional training or retraining. Thus, it is important to examine age structure of working age population.

The paper aims to make a concise analysis of dynamics of major age groups proportions (children 0-19, working age population 20-64, population 65+) and to focus on changes in age structure of working age population (divided into groups 20-34, 35-49, 50-64, designated wa-i, wa-ii, wa-iii) in Russia in 1990 – 2015 and in the medium term. Computations are made for males, females and both sexes. The mentioned changes are compared with analogous changes in selected European countries, representing different regions of Europe - Western (France), Eastern (Poland), Southern (Spain) and Northern (Sweden and Finland).

The study is based on data given by Rosstat and Human Mortality Database. To consider medium-term age structure trends World Population Prospects 2017 (WPP 2017) is used.

It was found, in particular, that proportions of population aged 65+, as well as proportions of older age group wa-iii (for both sexes) in Russia increased. The latter raised from 30.2% in 1990 to 32.6% (like in Poland) in 2015, but this change was not linear. In 2050 the share of wa-iii may reach 33.4 % of working age population (medium variant WPP 2017). In 2015, for the considered countries, the proportion of wa-iii had its maximal value in Finland (35.3 %), minimal – in Spain (31.0%), being 31.4% for Sweden, 32.6% for Poland and 33.8 % for France. By 2050, the situation may change: maximal value of wa-iii will take place in Poland (40.3%), minimal one – in France (32.2%), being 32.4% for Finland, 33.4% and 33.5% for Russia and Sweden respectively, and 34.2% for Spain. From 1990 to 2015 the share of wa-iii increased for all considered countries, while from 2015 to 2050 it may decrease for France and Finland. Dynamics of wa-i, wa-ii and wa-iii percentage have different shapes. For Russia, proportions of wa-i have values from 34.3% (in 2000) to 38.8 % (in 1990), proportions of wa-ii – from 31.0% (in 1990) to 40.5% (in 1999), proportions of wa-iii – from 24.8% (in 1998) to 32.6% (in 2015).

Gender differences in age composition of working age population have been revealed.

Results of the study may contribute to a better understanding of effects of age structure changes on the labor market and its managing in ageing populations in the coming era of new technologies. They may be helpful in a better use of older age groups potential.

This paper is co-authored with Gaiane Safarova 

Presents in panel 1B

Changing Structure of Working Age Population in Russia in the Context of Population Ageing

With ageing development needs for its thorough analysis increase, especially for Russia, where this process is progressing rapidly and where the spread of new technologies is gaining strengths. Population ageing is a multifaceted process, it affects all sub-populations, including labor force. Emerging technologies and their interaction with societies have many aspects, including one related to labor market. Working age span covers a rather long period (about 45 years) – usually from 20 to 65 years old. During such period, numerous new technologies may appear, requiring adaptation of labor force, especially at older ages, to them, e.g. additional training or retraining. Thus, it is important to examine age structure of working age population.

The paper aims to make a concise analysis of dynamics of major age groups proportions (children 0-19, working age population 20-64, population 65+) and to focus on changes in age structure of working age population (divided into groups 20-34, 35-49, 50-64, designated wa-i, wa-ii, wa-iii) in Russia in 1990 – 2015 and in the medium term. Computations are made for males, females and both sexes. The mentioned changes are compared with analogous changes in selected European countries, representing different regions of Europe - Western (France), Eastern (Poland), Southern (Spain) and Northern (Sweden and Finland).

The study is based on data given by Rosstat and Human Mortality Database. To consider medium-term age structure trends World Population Prospects 2017 (WPP 2017) is used.

It was found, in particular, that proportions of population aged 65+, as well as proportions of older age group wa-iii (for both sexes) in Russia increased. The latter raised from 30.2% in 1990 to 32.6% (like in Poland) in 2015, but this change was not linear. In 2050 the share of wa-iii may reach 33.4 % of working age population (medium variant WPP 2017). In 2015, for the considered countries, the proportion of wa-iii had its maximal value in Finland (35.3 %), minimal – in Spain (31.0%), being 31.4% for Sweden, 32.6% for Poland and 33.8 % for France. By 2050, the situation may change: maximal value of wa-iii will take place in Poland (40.3%), minimal one – in France (32.2%), being 32.4% for Finland, 33.4% and 33.5% for Russia and Sweden respectively, and 34.2% for Spain. From 1990 to 2015 the share of wa-iii increased for all considered countries, while from 2015 to 2050 it may decrease for France and Finland. Dynamics of wa-i, wa-ii and wa-iii percentage have different shapes. For Russia, proportions of wa-i have values from 34.3% (in 2000) to 38.8 % (in 1990), proportions of wa-ii – from 31.0% (in 1990) to 40.5% (in 1999), proportions of wa-iii – from 24.8% (in 1998) to 32.6% (in 2015).

Gender differences in age composition of working age population have been revealed.

Results of the study may contribute to a better understanding of effects of age structure changes on the labor market and its managing in ageing populations in the coming era of new technologies. They may be helpful in a better use of older age groups potential.

This paper is co-authored with Anna Safarova

Presents in panel 1B

Informality and Innovation: An Evaluation of New Management and Business Technologies and Their Role on the Business Environment of the Former USS

Informality and shadow transactions have been acknowledged as a main component of a large amount of companies operating in post-socialist spaces (Polese 2014; Putnins and Sauka 2015; Schneider 2013; Williams 2016). Little is known, however, on the reasons why companies prefer to remain in the shadow; the relationship between informality, informal practices and performance.

The main goal of this paper is to present the results of the SHADOW survey (Marie Curie RISE project – 2018 – 2022) conducted in five countries of the former USSR (between January and March 2019): Georgia, Russia, Ukraine, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan).

We scale up the Baltic Managers Survey used to calculate the shadow economy index in the Baltics (Putnis and Sauka 2015) to three post-Soviet regions to explore: 1) the correlation between the effects of technological innovation (including management techniques), the institutional (and macro-economic) environment, its transformation, and the likelihood of a company to engage in informal transactions; 2) the main alleged motivations by company managers to justify this behaviour. In turn, this will allow us to engage with the theorization of informal practices in a cross-country and cross-regional perspective and how they can be interpreted and taken advantage of in public policy perspective.

This paper is co-authored with Abel Polese

Presents in panel 5C

Presents in panel 2C

Presents in panel 2E

Computer Game Citizens Play as the Reality of New Urbanism

Thanks to little mobile gadgets, computer games have become convenient entertainment that fills long and not very long the free time intervals that every citizen has at home after work, and more often on transport trips, while waiting in line, during moments of various breaks. Computer games, being considered in the paradigm of city leisure, open up new opportunities for researchers to understand the urban lifestyle. The goal of our work is the development of a sociological perspective of computer game experience using empirical data on leisure activity of St. Petersburg adult citizens.

The theoretical basis of the study was the sociologies of culture and consumption (R.A. Peterson's concept of omnivorousness) and rhythmanalysis by A. Lefebvre. Following Peterson's idea about the trends of omnivorousness in the cultural consumption a hypothesis about the combination of gaming leisure with the traditional activities (reading, theater & cinema visiting, art exhibitions & concerts practices) was formulated and tested. Lefebvre's rhythmanalysis allowed conceptualizing mobile leisure, spread with the development of miniature wearable gadgets.

Empirical data was collected using a telephone survey of the adult population of St. Petersburg (18+) on the RDD sample of mobile numbers (2017, N = 1000 people).

Among adults in St. Petersburg who participated in the survey, a third (300 respondents) play computer games on any of the devices (phone, tablet, game console, stationary computer), of which 251 people play more often than once a week. The average age of the players is 37.7 years. We note that gender and age disproportions are gradually eliminated: male gamers to all men - 37.3% (165 people), women - 24.0% (135 people), the group playing 20-29 years old was 35, 6%. Game applications for smartphones make gaming a ubiquitous process. At a time when the house can still be for women, and older married people, a place of care and "work," the urban everyday life allows them to "stay in the game."

The frequency of computer games among St. Petersburg adults does not block interest in traditional types of cultural consumption. This observation confirms our original assumption that computer games today are combined with a variety of cultural experiences; they are built into the rhythms of city life. Using the concepts of Lefebvre's rhythmanalysis, we discuss the isomorphism of time and space of computer games to the chronotope of everyday urban practices. In the circumstances when the mobile gadget complements any of our actions, it is hardly correct to imply the existence of opposition between "virtual reality" and "physical reality." The changing cultural and technological landscape of city life is defined by us as "new urbanism," allowing the intersection of realities.

This paper is co-authored by Daniil Glebov

Presents in Panel 1G

Gamification of Civic Activity (Current Cases in Modern Russia)

Our study aims to highlight the theoretical and practical aspects of gamification in the development of citizen projects in Russia. We consider the innovative forms of cooperation and promote civic participation ideas through new communication technologies.

Until now, the authors have been competing in their attempts to define gamification, and usage with this concept fluctuates between two principal meanings. First, gamification relates to the widespread and institutionalization of computer games, which affects the experience of our daily life and interactions. Secondly, gamification is considered as an application of game elements (points, badges, virtual currencies, levels and progress indicators) to motivate participants in any activity, increase their intensity and retain attention and interest. Among game theorists, there are both critics of gamification (for example, I. Bogost) and analysts of the positive aspects of this trend (for example, J. McGonigal).

We suggest the gamification effects depend on the social context of the activity into which it is introduced. From this point of view, gamification in projects uniting citizens to solve environmental, city, and neighboring problems through the initiative “on the ground” seems to us a positive solution.

We systematized the cases of gamification in public and political projects implemented in Russia, for which a meta-description has been developed, and an electronic database has been built. In the analysis of cases, we relied on the medium theory, which considers the characteristics of communication channels and how these characteristics affect various social, cognitive and psychological effects in the transmission of information through one or another channel. The most critical parameter in the meta-description of the gamification cases was game mechanics, that is, technology-driven action, moving the game in civic activist projects. Game mechanics are points, ratings, group tasks, avatars/characters, storytelling, quests, countdown, activity charts. For example, the rubbery collection competition “Clean Games” take advantage of points, ratings and group tasks (https://www.cleangames.ru/about). Inclusive art project "The game with masterpieces" uses points, ratings and a quest in the labyrinth (https://www.jewish-museum.ru/exhibitions/bum-bam-igra-s-shedevrami-ot-anri-mati…). Identifying the specifics of game mechanics helps to get closer to explaining the social and cultural effects of gamification.

We are discussing how the use of game studies language ensures the generation of new concepts and the addition of interpretations of existing ones necessary for new scientific hypotheses and the methodology for analyzing contemporary civic and political activity.

This paper is co-authored with Ekaterina Orekh 

Presents in Panel 2D

Presents in panel 3D and 5A (individual paper and co-authored paper with Irina Shevtsova)

This paper is co-authored with Nikolai Bobylev

Presents in panel 5F

Civil Activity of Students in the Russian Social Network "Vkontakte": Constructive and Destructive Regional Manifestations

Aim - identification and interpretation of manifestations of civil Internet activity (constructive and destructive) of students of the Saratov region in different types of socio-political discourses, in the arguments of destructive language identification in the social network "Vkontakte".

Background. Understanding the genesis of the problems of civil activity today is the focus of different socio-political sciences. Civil activity in the socio-political sense is one of the forms of social activity, expressed in a caring attitude to the problems of society, the ability and desire to defend group and personal rights and interests. In modern political conditions, there is a growing need to study civil youth activity, which takes different forms of expression and reflects the current political, economic, socio-cultural values of society. The significance of this study is confirmed by statistical data of research centers, which demonstrate the accumulated social tension and dissatisfaction in the Russian society (public opinion Fund survey on the protest moods of Russians January, 2019, N=3000/ https://fom.ru). At the same time, creative and destructive manifestations of civil activity of Russian students are observed both in the real environment and in the Internet space.

Modern online space has become not just a tool, but a platform for the implementation of practices of civil activism. Civil Internet activism is defined as conscious purposeful actions (actions) of individual citizens or groups in the online-space, built around a specific situation-problems and aimed at solving it. This article will present the results of content analysis of discursive (constructive and destructive) manifestations of civic activity of students in the Russian regional social network.

Methods. The study (the reported study was funded by RFBR and EISR according to the research project № 19-011-31001) is aimed at interpreting the content of civil youth activism in the social network "Vkontakte" and conducted using the method of content analysis of information. Groups of social network "Vkontakte" were selected for analysis through the search system of the network and, based on the results of surveys of students of the Saratov region, conducted by the authors in 2019. The criteria for the selection of the group were: its popularity, daily filling with new content and a significant presence in the group of young people. The process of analysis enabled to form criteria for evaluation and classification of the features of the content of civil activism in social networks: popularity, evaluation, komentiruete, replicability, participation, constructiveness / destructiveness of the content.

Findings. The article defines popularity trends of specific topics that reflect the civic activism of young people among the groups of the network "Vkontakte". All selected groups of the network "Vkontakte" are arranged in accordance with the largest number of messages, leadership in the number of likes, comments. This indicated the level of audience attention to the published information and its involvement. Markers of the destructive content are as follows: the stream of insults, threats, defamation, denial of socio-political regime; the presence of foul, abusive, offensive spoken language.

Several bright cases of constructive and destructive civic activity of young people were selected and analyzed. Cases included content that was present in the form of an Internet meme, flame, fail, trolling.

Conclusion/Recommendations. The growth of active involvement of young people in various civil practices requires finding a mechanism to deter destructive forms of manifestation of civil activity in the online space and reorientation to positive civil activity. The article suggests directions for modeling activation of creative potential of civil activity of youth to reduce destructive orientation, maintain safety and social stability of society are offered.

This paper is co-authored with Irina Surkova and Larisa Loginova

Presents in panel 7F

Belt&Road Influence in Central Asia

In his “Clash of Civilizations” Huntington basing on cultural and religious identity stated that Central Asia is a part of Islamic World.

However during 90’s and 00s, Russia tried to show that CA is in Russian sphere of influence.
Since announcing in 2013 in Nazarbayev University in Astana “One Belt-One Road” initiative situation significantly changed.

Many experts note that if in the 90s and 2000s, China has invested mainly in the energy sector of Central Asian countries, at the present time it is mainly the development of infrastructure, construction industry, assembly plants, as well as agriculture.

Russian experts call "One Belt – One Road" more competitive than the Eurasian Economic Union
For instance, in 2015 56% of Kyrgyzstan's total imports, 41% of Tajik imports, and 20% of Uzbek imports belonged to China. At the same time, the intra-regional export of the EEU is only 9%.

This work aims to look at the current state of affairs of Chinese presence in Central Asia and analyze some potential threats and benefits of it.

Presents in Panel 2B

This paper is co-authored with Andrei Semenov

Presents in panel 5A

Newsgames as a Strategy of Problematization in Modern Russia

Problematization as the process of interpreting and promotion some condition as a social problem is the part of modern public policy. But now the importance of a social problem is defined not so much by the scale of its negative consequences or broad coverage as by the level, strength and duration of public attention to it. "Who owns information, owns the world" was a popular quotation in the mid-twentieth century, which at the beginning of the XXI century turned into a more relevant: "Who owns attention, owns the world". Social problems should attract the attention of the public, professional communities and public authorities, must look attractive and "successful" on the public agenda in order for action to be initiated and resources mobilized. The concept of public attention has acquired special significance and has become applicable not only to advertising and politics, but to the social sphere and, specifically, to social problems.

Functionaries of social problems, among which the state, political movements, civil activists and social media occupy an important place, are in search of new ways and methods of attracting and retaining public attention to social problems, as well as ensuring political and social participation. In recent years, in Russia among such methods and techniques is the technology of gamification which implies the transfer of game elements and mechanics in the non-game context using digital technologies. One of the variants of the spreading gamification is newsgames, i.e. journalistic game projects in the form of quizzes, puzzles, simulations, the content of which includes facts and problems of urgent socio-political reality. The game form of information creates an experiencing of the situation in the audience. Naturally, such experience can be very superficial, but the immersive potential of newsgames is estimated by researchers and practitioners of modern media as more significant compared to traditional media reports.

We discuss the development of newsgames, based on S. Zizek’s ideas about interpassivity. Interpassivity means that through computer games the human user is immersed in the problem, but not directly, but using a variety of on-screen game mechanics. We put questions about interpassive citizen and interpassive public policy.

In the report we present a study of how the articulation of socio-political problems in newsgames is made by Russian journalists of Lentach and Meduza. The focus of our attention is on the positive and negative effects of penetration of gamification in the field of public policy, as well as the emergence of direct and reverse links between messages in the virtual space and statements and actions in the social space. The description and systematization of new gamified practices of identification and promotion of social problems in the public discourse of modern Russia, as well as their participative resources are of particular interest.

This paper is co-authored with Elena Bogomiagkova 

Presents in Panel 2D

Presents in Panel 1A, 2A, and 3B

This paper is co-authored with Zhanna Chernova

Presents in panel 6C

Engendering Technology for Communication: Female Telegraphers in Eurasia, 1865-1900

The now familiar metaphor of the telegraph as "the Victorian internet" has brought telegraph technology into early histories of digital networks. More recently, based on the extensive annual data gathered from members of the International Telegraph Union beginning in 1867, "big data" analyses have operationalized the numbers of telegraph stations, instruments, and telegrams (see Wenzlhuemer 2007, 2014) and data have been visualized for European (Wenzlhuemer 2009) and regional telegraph systems (Blaunutsa 2010).

The Eurasian space presents a challenge and opportunity for analyzing technology and society in this period. The imperial Russian telegraph network traversed this space already in 1871 with the completion of the Trans-Siberian Telegraph and extension to the "Far East" (Siefert 2011). However, compared with the oceanic cables that "girdled the earth," Russia's land-based system required more human intervention in relaying the telegrams and mastering the codes. This human-technological interface (Hayles 2012), repeated over long distances, offered political opportunities for potential "disruption," like cutting lines in times of war or through telegrams intercepted for "state security" (Siefert 2019). A more social type of disruption emerged when Russian telegraphers, needing to transmit "foreign" telegrams outside its borders, required personnel who knew French and German. By 1859 this meant broadening of eligible "classes of workers" to "serve the state" and in 1865, the Telegraph Administration "found it necessary" to admit women into service. Women telegraphists, first employed in Finland, by 1870 comprised 32 percent of all employees.

This paper explores how women were introduced into telegraph service so as not to "disrupt" more traditional gender and class relations and how their efforts were assessed over the following decades. In 1870, for example, only unmarried or women, widows, or exceptionally married to men in the telegraph service could be hired and only at the lowest rank. They were not considered in state service, could not be promoted, and could not be office managers. At the same time, women were judged to require less instruction than men, to surpass them in terms of punctuality and order, and to be "economical." My data derive from articles done at the behest of the International Telegraph Union in Journal Télégraphique and articles published in the Russian journal of Post and Telegraph (Pochtovo-Telegrafnyi Zhurnal). For more detail the paper will draw on archival documents from RGIA on women's employment in both regional telegraph stations and on the railroad.

Overall, the research aims to elaborate the social and cultural adaptations "engendered" by the introduction of telegraph technology for transnational communication and digital expertise by enlarging the discussion to Eurasia in the late nineteenth century.

Presents in panel 6D

Vkontakte Users’ Social Capital: The Role of Privacy Concerns, Propensity to Make Connection and Access to Online Communities

Social network sites (SNSs) are playing an increasingly important role in interpersonal relationship building and maintenance, including the formation of social capital. Social capital, broadly understood as access to and use of social ties that help achieve specific goals, is associated with a multitude of factors. Knowledge of those factors can help us understand why some individuals are more successful in accumulating social capital than others. In Russia, where formal social institutions are not as developed as in some of the “Western” societies, interpersonal ties are especially important for individual life chances.

However, there are still many gaps in the knowledge on mechanisms connecting SNS user practices and social capital. First, most online studies have been bound to ego-network research. Second, the existing research has mostly employed self-reported data on online social capital, which has its strengths, but also limitations. Third, some obvious potential determinants of social capital have been omitted or under-researched; they include propensity to make connections and the goals of the SNS use, privacy concerns that are increasingly important after a series of scandals related to personal SNS data, and such features as access to diverse online communities.

This study aims to overcome the listed above limitations. Our goal is to figure out what types of SNS user behaviors contribute most to the increase of users’ social capital in a location-bounded online network. To reach this goal, we use the data from VK (VKontakte, http://vk.com) – the largest Russian-speaking social network site. We collect rich observational data consisting of 194,601 user accounts and 9,800,107 friendship ties that represent the full SNS network of a typical middle-size Russian city of Vologda. We then collect self-reported data from a sub-sample of Vologda network (N=375 which roughly corresponds to the margin of error of 5%). While the large sample allows us to model observable social capital, the small sample provides a possibility to model both observed and self-reported social capital.

We find out that the city network is both clustered and highly centralized which suggests the presence of an hierarchical structure: a set of sub-communities united by city-level hubs. Against this background, we find out that multiple group membership – even if they are not city-specific – is positively related to global brokerage and eigenvector centrality, and so is the share of local friends and a number of other factors. In the small sample, we find that relationship maintenance behavior mediates the influence of propensity to make connections on the self-reported social capital, while privacy concerns play no role. We thus confirm the well—known privacy paradox and the importance of brokerage, as well as bring the research that was previously done only in the Western context into a post-Soviet country.

This paper is co-authored with Olessia Koltsova, Alexander Porshnev, and Yuri Rykov 

Presents in panel 5E

Domain Name Blocking: How to Control Online Content by Digital Technologies

This paper aims at shedding some light on how governments control online content by digital technologies. This topic has already been discussed in Internet governance (DeNardis) and legal academic literature (Lessig, Balkin). The researchers have emphasized that online content is vulnerable to control because websites depend on the Internet infrastructure. Consequently, by installing digital locks in the infrastructure, governments can filter out and block unwanted content. However, regarding Russia, studies have been limited to the case of website blocking. This control strategy allows the Russian government to make websites inaccessible for Russian users by including websites in a register in order to initiate the blocking of these websites by Internet service providers. In contrast to previous research, this paper focuses on a new example of control-by-technology strategy – the case of domain name blocking. Although domain name blocking, as well as website blocking, leads to blocking online content, the fist strategy, in contrast to the second, is more efficient from a technological perspective. Domain name blocking, implemented by terminating the registration of a domain name for a website, prevents not only Russians but also Internet users from any part of the world to access a website. Furthermore, users cannot circumvent domain name blocking through VPN (virtual private network) channels.

This paper investigates whether the Russian government has obtained the power to block domain names. The paper looks at Coordination Center for top-level domains RU and РФ – an organization which governs the Domain Name System of the Russian Internet. By analyzing the list of its stakeholders, before and after a recent reform of 2015, this paper finds out that after the reform the government may control the organization by making an alliance with stakeholders loyal to the Kremlin. This alliance might allow the Russian government to begin applying domain name blocking as a new control-by-technology strategy. Indeed, this new strategy has already been tried. In August 2017, the Russian government blocked the domain name of the Daily Stormer website. This paper not only discusses this example but also explains the practice of domain name blocking in general by analyzing the Rules on Domain Name Registration in Russia and Coordination Center’s public reports. This paper concludes that domain name blocking in Russia, in contrast to website blocking, does not have a clear legal framework but rather relies on private-public arrangements between the Russian government and Coordination Center. This places the domain-name-blocking practice in a grey area, which opens a new way for arbitrary censorship by the Russian government.

Presents in panel 7E

Presents in panel 4B and 5B

Presents in panel 2F and 7A

Presents ib panel 4C

Potential for Online Participation in Urban Improvements Discussion in Nizhny Novgorod

The paper aims at mapping the social environment of urban development discussion in a big non-capital Russian city. The mapping includes identifying the key actors, exploring the structure of their relations, and their resources. The special emphasis is made on the structure of relations reflected in the social media, and on the online potential of citizens’ participation.

The methodic approach of the paper is based on the World Resources Institute’s ‘Mapping Social Landscapes’ approach (Buckingham et al. 2018)

In the recent years, big cities of Russia have seen much of political and social activity. They were the scenes of mass political activities, but that’s just one aspect of citizens’ rising involvement. The sphere of urban development and improvement also attracts a lot of attention from concerned citizens, which results in political actions, as well as in less visible, but highly significant process of negotiations and attempts for cooperation between the stakeholders. Moscow gives some of the brightest examples of public activism. However, other big cities of Russia have their own agenda of urban improvements, involving authorities, active citizens, NGOs (and GONGOs), and expert communities.

Nizhny Novgorod provides a number of cases which can be analyzed from the point of view of various actors’ relations. The data of a 2018 regional survey demonstrate that the potential of an active online feedback in the region might potentially exceed 20% of the population. The qualitative data gathered in 2018-2019 suggest that the city by now has a vivid and competitive social environment of urban discussion, which has been evolving and differentiating through the recent years. However, the existing system of public involvement experiences problems with reaching wider population, both in the sense of participation, and feedback collection. This implies that the potential of an online public participation in Nizhny Novgorod if far from being fully realized and those stakeholders seeking public support in urban development debates should rethink their strategies of online activities.

This paper is co-authored with Natalia Patokina

Presents in panel 3E

Presents in panel 2A and in Thursday Roundtable

Greenhouse Emissions and Economic Growth in Yakutia

The paper is focused on the estimation and detailed elaboration of C emissions in the sectoral and territorial context and studies the interrelation of economic growth and greenhouse gas emissions dynamics in the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia), the hugest region of Russian Federation with mining industrial economical specialization, harsh climate and heavy fuel consumption.

The impact of anthropogenic factors on the climate change is one of the urgent scientific tasks of the last two decades. The Kyoto and Paris Protocols, ratified by the governments of many countries, are the basis for the further development of national low-carbon economy concepts. According the Kuznets environmental curve hypothesis, economic growth initially stimulates an increase in greenhouse gas emissions, and after reaching the threshold value of GDP (or GRP) ensures its reduction. Russia has overcome this threshold ($ 15–22 thousand per capita), but as a number of studies show, the dynamics of greenhouse gas emissions are significantly differentiated by industries and regions. Climatic factors also contribute to the level of emissions. Thus, the sectoral and territorial detailization on the emissions is very relevant for the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia).

The calculations are made on the basis of the IPCC model, developed by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. The main source of information on greenhouse gas emissions in the Russian Federation is the National Report on the Cadaster of Anthropogenic Emissions. On the regional level, there are now no similar document, and there is a lack of statistical and analytical information. For this purpose, the open information and official reports of  the regional authorities were aggregated. The methods of statistical analysis, graphical modeling and circuit map making were used to analyze the data obtained in the sectorial and territorial context.

The main component of anthropogenic greenhouse emissions in C-equivalent are estimated for the industries and territories of Yakutia for 2013-2017. The analysis of the obtained data showed the substantial territorial emissions differentiation by both climatic and economic factors. Emission is higher in the Arctic, as well as in areas with a large number of small isolated settlements. The high cost of energy has a negative effect on economic activity. Higher emissions are typical for industrial areas and large cities, as well as for settlements, where coal is the source of energy generation.

Despite the fact that the implementation of industrial development projects leads to an increase in emissions in a number of territories, the analysis confirms the sustainability of the trend towards a decrease in C emissions in Yakutia in the medium term (2013-2017). A significant contribution was made by the implementation of a number of state, municipal and corporate programs aimed at modernizing the energy system of the region. Against the background of sustainable economic growth in the region with a significant excess of the threshold value of the GRP, this trend can be considered a confirmation of the theory of the Kuznets environmental curve.

Presents in poster session

Research Through Musical Records: Preservation, Perception and Reception of Alexei Stanchinsky’s Works in the Modern Day

This paper sets out to discover how music recording technologies and processes can preserve historical knowledge, facilitate musicological research and influence our perceptions of historic composers. It will focus its case-study on the modern recordings of the music of the forgotten Russian composer Alexei Stanchinsky (1988-1914). Stanchinsky is a largely understudied musical figure of early 20th century Russia, whose short-lived fame came to a close after his unexpected death at the age of twenty-six. Despite Stanchinsky’s innovative compositional approach and the popularity of his works in late Imperial Russia, his legacy has since been neglected. Current research on the composer is sparse and his works are rarely performed; however, a number of recordings of Stanchinsky’s works have been released over the last three decades. This paper will discuss how modern technologies such as commercially available recordings can preserve historical knowledge and influence the field of musicology, encouraging and facilitating research. By examining the timeline, circumstances and reviews of the recordings of Stanchinsky’s music, this paper will provide a deeper insight into the treatment of Stanchinsky’s legacy. The release dates of the recordings demonstrate a resurgence of interest into Stanchinsky’s artistic legacy since the 1990s. In addition, performers, record labels and commercial availability of the recordings play an important part in the preservation and dissemination of the composer’s works. They allow an insight into the geographical expanse of musical interest into Stanchinsky’s works, as well as their path to popularity and recognition outside of Russia. The musicological reviews, prompted by the recordings, are influential in determining our current perceptions of the composer. They affect not only the treatment and the reception of Stanchinsky in the field of musicology, but also within the classical music industry and the programming of concert halls. Preserving knowledge, encouraging research, and inspiring a new generation of musicologists and performers, these recordings provide a new insight into Stanchinsky’s artistic legacy and its treatment today.

Presents in panel 5G

Nuclear Awareness, Narrative Tools

Our dependence on energy against the background of environmental change and climate change agenda results in reconsideration of energy and energetic sources which leads to shaping our societal values, priorities and behaviours. Under such circumstances the discussion of nuclear energy and nuclear-related issues go beyond sciences and engineering and encourages the development of energy-focused researches (which shape energy humanities as an interdisciplinary field for researching energy within humanities and social sciences). Such approach defines how nuclear energy and nuclear energy-related issues are considered, estimated, accepted and represented in the contemporary energy-dependable society.

Such critical and multidisciplinary reconsideration of nuclear energy can be implemented with the help of nuclear awareness which is considered to be a useful tool for developing the critical societal assessment skills on nuclear energy-related issues in the context of sustainable development and for shaping the social attitude towards nuclear technology, nuclear energy policy and nuclear safety culture. Nuclear awareness can be a base for providing narrative toolkit of the contemporary nuclear discourse in terms of implementing critical thinking skills towards nuclear fiction/non-fiction narrative, regarded as an archive of the Nuclear Anthropocene.

Taking U.S. nuclear fiction as a case study, the presentation intends to show the ways of using the narrative tools, encouraging nuclear awareness as a critical thinking product, stemmed from the knowledge of the nuclear history of humanity, which can demonstrate the transformations of “nuclear energy” concept, influenced by nuclear disasters in the context of the late Cold War, the global nuclear counteraction and beyond. The analyses of Frederik Pohl’s Chernobyl (1987), Andrea White’s Radiant Girl (2008), James Reich’s Bombshell (2013) help studying the narrative tools of shaping the critical thinking of the nature of nuclear energy, the nuclear history, the technological aspects of nuclear industry, nuclear threats and the nuclear culture components. Regarding nuclear awareness as a set of critical thinking skills, related to nuclear knowledge, such analysis leads the nuclear debates beyond the oppositional views on nuclear energy, and suggests researching nuclear fiction as a response of the society to the need of nuclear awareness in the context of the current nuclear discourse.

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Symbolic Capital of Territories of "Analogue" and "Digital" Generations of Russians

Based on the socio-semiotic theory of representation, the concept of the symbolic capital of the place, ideas about the “analogue” and “digital” media generations, 157 audiovisual messages reflecting the symbolic capital of the Russian territories, in particular the Urals Federal District, are analyzed. The study aims to reveal a complex of diverse semiotic resources, “multimodal ensembles” of the representation of symbolic capital in the institutional and non-institutional texts of the “analogue” and “digital” generations of actors.

The chosen research method is a multimodal discourse analysis. Its methodology was specially developed by the author. It includes the following parameters: institutional and non-institutional messages, messages from actors of the “analogue” and “digital” generations, symbolic capital of the place, ways of representing symbolic capital in multimodal texts.

The results of the research indicate various generational “multimodal ensembles” of messages and, as a result, only partially coinciding “worlds in the frame”.

Without exception, institutional actors designate industrial capital of the territories, with the leading infrastructure triad of provincial actors «factory - Orthodox temple - palace of culture”, and the most common bunch of actors of a megapolis “architecture - socio-cultural and business objects - transport”. Natural landscapes, personalities and the search for signs of development are the subject of interest of institutional and non-institutional actors of the “analogue” and “digital” generations of provincial territories. “Kindness, responsiveness, hospitality and patience of the locals” is the symbolic capital of the institutional actors of the provincial territories. Sometimes it is due to difficult working conditions and everyday life, which emphasizes the value of “living in spite of”, and the leading ideology of institutional actors of the “analogue” generation of provincial territories is declared only as “work as a symbol of happiness”. This ideologeme is not accepted, it is not a valuable capital for the audience of the “digital generation”.

Summarizing the results of the study, we can state the coexistence of multiple subcultures of the translation of the Symbolic capital of territories meanings due to institutionalization, belonging to the “analogue” or “digital” generation of actors, the level of ownership and demand in the territories of digital technologies in the production of audio-visual messages. The “multimodal ensembles” of mixed texts are more diverse, provided they are produced by the “digital” generation.

Composition, accents of multimodal texts - everything works on semantic setting, peculiar to this or that generation of actors. Discourses generated and transmitted by institutional and non-institutional actors, especially the “analogue” and digital generations, are only partially intersecting sign-symbol systems. As a result, different interpretations are given to the same territories (events and phemomena), and different dominants are represented. The common place is the symbolic capital of natural resources and development markers. A distinctive feature of the institutional, especially actors of the “analogue” generation, is the emphasis on industrial and human, and the non-institutional, especially “digital” generation - on economic, cultural and social capitals of the territories.

This paper is co-authored with Alina Lozovskaya

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