In Ukraine, the unique processes of post-Soviet nation building, democratization and derussification have paralleled the proliferation of communications technology worldwide. The thriving Ukrainian blogosphere, in particular, has become fertile ground for engaging new forms of community and nationhood – but does it have the potential to become an alternative public sphere?
My project will focus on the logistical issues in promoting digital access and literacy in Ukraine and how they affect the formation of cohesive virtual spaces. My work for this class will become a chapter of my Master’s thesis, which will be examining the potential impact of the blogosphere and other online social media in boosting Ukraine’s weakly-developed civil society. The other core issues I will be looking at in my thesis will be the crippling effects of the Soviet legacy on civil society formation and Ukraine’s polarizing linguistic hierarchies, which are often reflected in online activities. While my project for Intro to Civic Media will only be analyzing digital inequalities, it is important to be aware of these other, equally salient factors shaping the current state of online networks in Ukraine.
My analysis will be based largely on statistics and public opinion survey results: general socioeconomic indicators, rates of Internet penetration in Ukraine, types and locations of ICTs, polls on citizens’ levels of comfort and trust in online information sources, numbers of blogs by region and language, etc. Preliminary research has indicated that older people are less proficient in technology and are less trusting of non-traditional media forms. Internet seems to be fairly evenly spread throughout Ukraine’s oblasts (regions), however I assume that there is a significant accessibility gap between rural and urban populations (corresponding with overall socioeconomic disparities).
At the moment, it appears my deliverable project will be a paper. However, I would also like to incorporate various data visualization methods. For example, I would like to make a few maps on ArcMap (similar to those that our class was shown at the beginning of the semester).
As I continue to gather data, I will make weekly updates on my findings through my blog posts.