Publications

In the era of post-truth and healthcare 2.0, when lay experts have equal credibility as medical professionals and when the internet challenges the techniques of seeking and gaining health information, healthcare systems are in need of change. The key to the path of systemic changes lies in un-knowing not only the ways health issues have been communicated, but also the very process of the production of meanings of health. In Russia, neglecting the critical assessment of communication strategies in healthcare (or, as the direct translation suggests, health protection), might well result in the field looking like the famous croquet game in Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. Reconciling the strategies of each “hedgehog” and each “flamingo” through a careful consideration of constantly fluctuating goals might be a much-needed shift to co-creation in Russian health communication.

In this chapter we discuss the messy meaning-making strategies (and their interactions) which characterize Russian health communication today. We open our discussion by situating the game field that produces the meaning of health in contemporary Russia. In this opening, we introduce the key health communicators (pharmaceuticals, governmental or regulatory actors, the institutional medical sector, health professionals, and patient NGOs and communities) and how they share the field. We then introduce the Russian national strategy of patient-oriented health protection and the contradictory meanings that each sector of communicators attaches to it. We elaborate on the mismatch in communication of patient-oriented health protection, discussing successes and failures of health communication practices in different sectors. We analyze how the government, activists, institutions, business, and medical professionals communicate their meanings, the place of other communicators in campaign planning and execution, and how flexible and interactive the practices of each communicator sector are. We conclude with propositions on how the road towards patient-oriented health protection can be built in Russia.

In the era of post-truth and healthcare 2.0, when lay experts have equal credibility as medical professionals and when the internet challenges the techniques of seeking and gaining health information, healthcare systems are in need of change. The key to the path of systemic changes lies in un-knowing not only the ways health issues have been communicated, but also the very process of the production of meanings of health. In Russia, neglecting the critical assessment of communication strategies in healthcare (or, as the direct translation suggests, health protection), might well result in the field looking like the famous croquet game in Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. Reconciling the strategies of each “hedgehog” and each “flamingo” through a careful consideration of constantly fluctuating goals might be a much-needed shift to co-creation in Russian health communication.

In this chapter we discuss the messy meaning-making strategies (and their interactions) which characterize Russian health communication today. We open our discussion by situating the game field that produces the meaning of health in contemporary Russia. In this opening, we introduce the key health communicators (pharmaceuticals, governmental or regulatory actors, the institutional medical sector, health professionals, and patient NGOs and communities) and how they share the field. We then introduce the Russian national strategy of patient-oriented health protection and the contradictory meanings that each sector of communicators attaches to it. We elaborate on the mismatch in communication of patient-oriented health protection, discussing successes and failures of health communication practices in different sectors. We analyze how the government, activists, institutions, business, and medical professionals communicate their meanings, the place of other communicators in campaign planning and execution, and how flexible and interactive the practices of each communicator sector are. We conclude with propositions on how the road towards patient-oriented health protection can be built in Russia.

An innovative development based on the use of modern media and communication technologies requires a certain level of competence in how to use such technologies. These competencies are united by the concept of “information literacy”, proposed by Paul Gilster in 1997. The tradition of studying digital literacy in Russia is the subject of the following chapter. The different approaches to understanding digital literacy are as follows: ICT, psychological and pedagogical, media and information and industrial approaches.

Special attention is paid to the four-component digital literacy model, proposed in the framework of the project by ROCIT and the Higher School of Economics. This model is based on two substantial oppositions: firstly, the opposition “technical-technological/socio-humanitarian” and, secondly, the opposition “opportunities/threats”. It was used to construct the Index of Digital Literacy in the Russian Regions, measured since 2015.

The results of a series of media literacy measuring surveys by the ZIRCON Group from 2009–2016 are also presented.

The title of the book refers to the sociological survey, conducted by the "Public opinion" Fund in 2000. It is focused on the representation of Internet as a complex phenomenon in modern Russia. First, the Internet is considered as part of the media system that not only rapidly developing, but also significantly transforming the system as a whole. Second, it contains the analysis of main online markets in Russia. Thirdly, the Internet is analyzed in political, social and cultural contexts.

The article shows, which segments constitute social and political activity in online social networks in the Karachay-Cherkessia Republic (KChR) and the width of their representation. The author's technique allows to collect data on politically active groups of KChR. The segments of social and political activity of the Republic on the social networks are shown. Eight main clusters of political activity in social networks of KChR were obtained by the author's method of grain clustering. Each cluster was analyzed by social network analysis methods. The most influential persons and social movements are shown, and features of their network activity were investigated.

The paper analyzes speech markers and semantic concepts typical for patriotic and oppositional discourse in social networks. About 100 000 posts from Facebook, VKontakte, and LiveJournal were analyzed, and 35 000 most frequent speech markers were processed, of which 1800 markers were selected for analysis. The alternative method to tf-idf metric for specific text markers identification is proposed. The features of oppositional discourse in comparison with the patriotic discourse were formulated. On the one hand, the analysis of sets of speech markers that characterize political groups allows us to understand social models and attitudes embedded in the discourse and the subsequent behavior of representatives of these groups. On the other hand, it is possible to extend a set of keywords for text search of a certain political orientation, based on the obtained results.

History of Communication as a field and discipline in Russia is often viewed as the development of different communications domains. This chapter considers the evolution of public relations education as one of the branches of communication in post-Soviet Russia. The chapter raises the question how the legacy of the Soviet Union and the inclusion of Russia in the global context shape the current state of public relations industry and education. Due to Soviet ideological patterns and the country’s social-cultural and economical evolution, institutionalization of post-Soviet public relations seems to support the logic of “path dependence”. The history of Russian public relations education and research is predominantly driven by the influence of the United States and some European countries. Greater convergence with the latter being partly determined by the similarity in the value systems of these countries and the fact that Russia has been a country-participant of the Bologna Process. Therefore, both historical legacy and global context have had an impact on institutionalization of public relations as an academic field in post-Soviet Russia. Today, the identity of Russian public relations school is most clearly manifested in the establishment of an integrated degree program combining Advertising and Public Relations. The Russian degree’s eclectic nature, public relations industry needs, and historical context are a promising foundation for development of Integrated Communications.

The research is devoted to the critical analysis, modeling and rethinking of tasks and functions of design, object and subject of design activity at a new stage of development of social, economic and technological systems. Design is considered in the context of fundamental problems of social relations and social forms of the future. The paper raises the problems of post-capitalism, metamodernism, post-truth, precariat, technological displacement, etc. as an actual component of modern design theory.

Environmental protest has become the main form of political protest in Russia in 2018-2019. The decision to open a landfill for waste disposal at Shies station in the Arkhangelsk region caused dissatisfaction of residents with the policies of regional elites and strengthened the position of environmental protest in the whole country. In the article we identify the politicization of environmental discourse using the case of the landfill at Shies. We show how the political decision of the authorities, which was excluded from the public discussion and competing discourses, has led to the dominant discourse construction of an environmental problem as a political one among citizens. Based on 19 semi-structured interviews with residents of the Arkhangelsk region we conclude that the politicization of environmental discourse and high political mobilization occurred due to three main mechanisms that worked simultaneously. Citizens assess the decision as illegitimate, unfair and attributed responsibility to certain political leaders.

Among the goals of social policy there is a specific one that welfare states are particularly interested in. This goal re­fers to a decrease in inequality levels, and consequently, an increase in subjective well-being. But does a successful social policy in fact offset the effects of inequali­ty on subjective well-being? This question has long been an important feature of the research agenda but few give a straight answer to it. This work tests a hypothesis assuming that in regions with relatively low levels of average household income and high levels of inequality social policy can reduce negative effects of inequality by redistributing large budget shares be­tween health care, education and social programs. Two sources of empirical data were used in the study: (1) results of a survey conducted in 34 Russian regions representing the population of these re­gions, (2) objective indicators measuring the extent of social policy tools used in the regions under consideration. To evaluate whether regional social policy is capable of compensating for inequality effects the authors test Bayesian hierarchical mod­els with uninformative and informative prior distributions. The authors conclude that expanding the scope of social policy tools in health care can compensate for the negative effects of the perceived ine­quality on subjective well-being.

The global transformations are posing challenges to the informational society as we know it and to the communicational patterns developed through the perios of the enlargibg globalization.

Student academic dishonesty is a pervasive problem for universities all over the world. The development of innovative practices and interventions for decreasing dishonest behaviour requires understanding factors influencing academic dishonesty. Previous research showed that personal, environmental, and situational factors affect dishonest behaviour at a university. The set of factors and the strength of their influence can differ across countries. There is a lack of research on factors affecting student dishonesty in Russia. A sample of 15,159 undergraduate students from eight Russian highly selective universities was surveyed to understand what factors influence their decision to engage in dishonest behaviour. Ajzen’s Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB) was employed to explain dishonest behaviour among students. The explained variance in the engagement in academic dishonesty equals 48% in the model for the full sample, and reaches 69% in the model for one of the considered institutions. The major findings of this study were: (1) subjective norms appeared to dominate as the strongest predictor of academic dishonesty across the Russian universities; (2) perceived behavioural control, appeared to be positively related to the dishonest behaviour. In the majority of universities, this factor was found to be insignificant. This finding indicates a specific feature of Russian students’ an ethical decision-making process discussed in the last part of the paper.

Organizational crisis communication: A multivocal approach by Finn Frandsen and Winni Johansen, renowned crisis communication researchers from Aarhus University, could potentially grow to be a milestone work in the field for two reasons. First, it contributes to the integration of crisis management and crisis communication into a single multidisciplinary and multidimensional research area. Second, the authors set forward the theory of rhetorical arena and the multivocal approach to crisis communication as a complex and dynamic interaction of many voices beyond the organization in crisis. In addition to the above, Frandsen and Johansen pay particular attention to cultural differences that should be taken into consideration in crisis communication research and practice. Significantly, the book introduces the reader to a variety of case studies and examples of organizational crises and crisis communication in Denmark. Students and crisis communication scholars will also benefit from the detailed outline of preexisting theories and methods, and from the focus on debated and under-researched aspects of the field. Practitioners in their turn may also find the book useful though it is not a how-to guide but rather an invitation to critically reflect on managing crises in today’s complex environment.

Although many scholars have analyzed the role played by the siloviki in Russian politics, they usually focus on the presence of siloviki in the federal elite or the pressure they exerted on business. In this article, we use new data on the appointments of regional governors and the heads of regional departments of the Federal Security Service (ufsb), as well as data on regional economic growth from 2005 to 2017, to examine how decisions by the Kremlin with respect to the appointment of key regional siloviki have affected economic development in Russian regions. We find that regions where the governor-siloviki relationship has been stable over time also display higher rates of growth. We then investigate whether regional fsb heads are specifically appointed to start investigations on regional governors, but do not find a statistically significant relationship. Finally, we show how a number of newly appointed political heavyweights among Russia’s governor corps have been given their “own” silovik to support them in their region.

The narrative of inequality has always played a prominent role in the

way the Harry Potter fandom reflects on the issues of the actual world. This

essay explores how Harry Potter fans negotiated the 2016 United States pres-

idential race and made sense of their own political participation by using

representations of inequality from the Harry Potter storyworld. We argue

that the Harry Potter universe has effectively transcended the realm of pure

fantasy and become a site of political r e- imagining, engagement and activism.

We begin with conceptualizing inequality to see what types of inequality are

present in J.K. Rowling’s story about “the boy who lived.”

Mobility of highly qualified personnel between countries and regions is closely related to the issue of the effective distribution of human resources and the prospects for the innovative development of the state. The focus of this study is the interregional mobility of Russian researchers: the geographical movements of scientists between different regions (subjects of the Russian Federation). The empirical base of the study is the data obtained in 2016-2017 during the questionnaire survey of 1880 Russian researchers. Two main aspects are analyzed: already accomplished movements of researchers (moving for the educational or working purposes) and the “attitude to mobility” - readiness to move in the future. The features of researchers depending on their mobility pattern are analyzed. Among the most researchers who had the experience of moving in the past (both for education and work purposes) develops the “attitude to mobility”. In the future, they are more willing to consider various options for moving both “for interest” (to participate in an important large-scale project), and “for money” (to get the job with acceptable level of remuneration). There exists a category of Russian researchers who are ready to move “anywhere”: both abroad and within Russia, to large and to small cities. Researchers who are not ready to move to the place that they consider as a small town in a remote region, are concerned about the prospects for professional growth, difficulties for the family, a different lifestyle, change of professional and personal social circle. These aspects should be taken into account in the development of various programs and measures aimed to stimulate internal academic mobility in Russia.

Doctoral education has experienced dramatic changes all over the world in the last three decades. Currently, Russia is at the beginning of a doctoral education transformation to structured programs according to needs of knowledge-based economies. This paper aims to identify national-level barriers to PhD completion in Russian doctoral education. The data from the empirical study in highly selective Russian universities that participate in a special government program were employed. About 40% of all doctoral students participated in the Russian Federation study at these universities. The following problems were revealed and discussed in the research: (1) problems of transition to a structured model of doctoral education, (2) diffusion of doctoral education’s goals, (3) unpreparedness of Russian universities for the massive expansion of PhD education, (4) ineffective mechanisms of doctoral student selection, (5) a lack of funding and a need for doctoral students to have paid work, (6) excessive dependence on supervisors and (7) insufficient study time and skills for meeting the requirement for publications before the date of defence. Some problems correlate with the global challenges, but some are unique to the Russian institutional context. The relevance of the Russian case to understanding the worldwide transformation of the doctorate is discussed.

The article provides a comparative analysis of reflection on the boundaries, functions and interactions of PR, marketing and integrated communications of Russian higher education teachers ((conventionally, theorists) and employees of PR agencies and PR departments of companies (conventionally practitioners). The problem of approaches to the definition of areas These disciplines are still relevant and have a certain impact on the Russian communicative practice.

In “The University: an owner’s manual” Henry Rosovsky points out that there is a lack of consensus on how teaching should be evaluated, whereas there is more clarity with assessing achievements in research. However, most universities see the need to reward outstanding teaching work and to identify cases of unsatisfactory teaching. In this article we make a brief overview of the instruments used at HSE University for these purposes.

This paper aims to explore the response-order effects for rating questions presented in item-by-item and grid formats. It was hypothesized that the primacy effect occurs for both formats of questions, and that this effect is dependent on age, education, and type of device used for responding to questions. Two randomized experiments were conducted in 28 pre-course surveys of massive open online course students (N = 22,910). Our findings suggest that the order of response options affects respondents’ perception of the option lists and their responding patterns. The primacy effect is found for the item-by-item question, while there is no evidence for the presence of such an effect for the grid question format. Primacy effect for the item-by-item layout is lower for respondents with higher education degree while there are no interaction effects between ordering and age, gender, and type of device. For a grid question, mixed results were observed.