Russian Scientists Have Begun to Study Patterns of Users’ Behavior in Social Networks and on the Internet

Scientists of the Institute of Fundamental and Applied Studies at Moscow University for the Humanities have received a grant from the Russian Foundation for the Humanities for a research project titled "The Potential of Youth Online Communities: the Formation of Information and Communication Culture of the Person”.

The process of receiving, dissemination and processing of information by a human being and human societies have been significantly changed over the period of last two decades. People get more and more information and the value of such information increases. With the advent of search systems users’ interests became known — the most frequent search requests. Social networks accumulate information about a person: his/her social environment, interests, political and religious views, cultural preferences, etc. Along with the mass media expansion on the Internet we have got a good source of information about the news stream, information channels, which have an influence upon a user’s choice of goods, his/her decision making, inclinations to certain kinds of actions. These tendencies in the sphere of information and communication technologies expansion give new characteristics to users’ interaction, involving new generations and representatives of different cultures into it.

Users’ communications within the Internet communities form a special type of a personality, which can be characterized by a willingness to obtain new contacts, openness to a dialogue with representatives of different cultural codes, more tolerant attitude to some elements of foreign cultures. The interchange of cultural values by means of network contacts causes a new type of social experience — “bush” virtual interactions, i.e. relatively stable contacts between dozens, sometimes hundreds of people, communicating at a distance. “Bush” virtual interactions form a reality, which by its consequences means no less than an alive relationship to a person (group).

Within the research it is planned to project network communities’ models, inclined to acceptance of a certain worldview, on the basis of the analysis of the Internet communities’ members. Such types will be determined, described and classified. Thus, the aim of the research is to undertake a complex study of the Internet communities’ members in the aspect of formation of an informational and communicative culture of the person. This is expressed in worldviews, which are assimilated by users and which they interchange of in the course of their intercultural communication. In this research a special attention is paid to the possibility of projecting and practical application of the Internet communications’ potential for the young people’s worldviews building and their further usage in projecting (construction) of models, oriented on representatives of different cultures (including the models of political views). In addition, investigation of worldviews presumes searching and providing of the possibilities of information technologies usage in scientific, educational and social networks. In the course of the research implementation the participants will consider the foundations of social communications among young people and the theories of information society in order to comprehend the long-term tendencies and changes in the sphere of youth’s communications under conditions of the information society formation.

Eduard Pogorsky, the manager of the project, commented on the expected results: "At the end of the project we are going to give recommendations to the representatives of federal and regional public authorities, local government, youth and children’s organizations regarding the establishment of communication with young people in online communities, aimed at the dialogue of cultures".

E. Pogorskiy, S. Lukov

The original piece of news in Russian

Подготовлено в рамках работы над проектом «Потенциал молодежных интернет-сообществ: формирование информационно-коммуникативной культуры личности», осуществляемого при поддержке РГНФ (грант 12-33-01293a2).