CRITICAL THINKING ON SERBIAN DIGITAL PORTALS

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The paper explores critical thinking in columns as a genre of analytical journalism, taking on the peculiarities of digital media such as hypertextuality, multimedia and interactivity. Through an analysis of over eighty columns from various portals, the topics of columns in online journalism will be considered, deriving which journalists write analytically today and whether they write critically. The research sample has enabled analysis of 85 columns published in the period from July 1 to July 31, 2020 on the N1, Nova.rs and Pečat portals. Out of the total of 85 published columns in the given period, 13 columns were published on the N1 television portal, 19 on the Pečat portal and 53 on the Nova.rs portal. The main goal of the research was to determine whether and to what extent critical thinking was present on these online portals.

MEDIA TEXT AS AN INTERPRETER AND A CRITIC OF REALITY

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In March 2020, a state of emergency was declared worldwide as a result of the rapid spread of COVID-19. In Serbia, this led to strict preventive measures (curfew). In Sweden, such measures were not taken, but the system relied on personal responsibility of each individual, instead. In emergency situations, the media gain great importance as a source of information, and as such have the ability to alleviate or worsen the insecurity that the public feels, which can further contribute to the moral panic. In order to determine the potential of electronic media for informing citizens and encouraging critical thinking (during an emergency situation), we have explored rhetorical strategies and their potential for affirming the pluralism of views. The subject of research were broadcasting practices of three TV stations: two public media services (Radio Television of Serbia and Swedish Television) and one cable TV from Serbia (N1). By method of content analysis, we have come to a conclusion that all three media provided viewers with comprehensive, coherent and verified information. During the analysed period, the media in Serbia almost doubled the duration of their news programs, which gives an impression of non-selectivity and a desire to prove maximum coverage on all topics. On the other hand, SVT was consistent in the duration and scope of news programs. The way in which events were presented was mainly characterized by objectivity, although the Serbian public service also displayed a tendency towards intimidation. The biggest differences were noticed in terms of pluralism of views, since it was much more present in the programs of the Swedish public service and cable television (N1) than in the Serbian public service television programs. One of the rhetoric specifics in the way how N1 was presenting the news is discrediting the current political leadership and the decisions they have made. 

CRITICAL THINKING IN THE DIGITAL ERA

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This paper starts from a premise that critical thinking is a threat to the owners of capital in the media, but that a critical view of the world is also an essential need of journalists and wide public. That is why there are so many changes in the work of modern journalists. The paper, through empirical insight, points out the inevitable pitfalls that stand in the way of the development of critical thinking among journalists employed in new media. The main goal of the paper is to investigate survival of the role of critical thinking in the digital environment media, which keep developing faster and faster in the (never clearly stated) conditions where critical thinking remains foreign to most Internet users. Possible strategies of resistance against exclusively market-oriented media are also pointed out at the end of the paper.

HATSUNE MIKU – THE SUBVERSIVE POTENTIAL OF PARTICIPATORY CREATED CYBERPOP IDOL

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Virtual worlds and online interactions are the base of cyberpop culture, in which consumption also causes production of meaning. It possibly can, but does not have to bring out subversive and/or activist potential. The overflow of the virtual into the spaces of physical reality, by use of technologies as gestural interfaces, holographic projections and the like, allows direct bodily interactions with virtual objects. Some of these objects are so-called virtual idols. Their appearance, identity and celebrity status are constructed and assigned by real people in the real world. This paper analyses the role of fans in the creation of the most famous virtual idol, the vocaloid Hatsune Miku. Based on this analysis, the paper puts forward a thesis that existence of Hatsune Miku puts emphasis on the activity (participation) per se, instead of activism. It does not serve the idea of social change, but the maintaining of the social status quo. 

SOCIAL ENGAGEMENT OF YOUNG FEMALE ARTISTS IN THE DIGITAL CONTEXT

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Young women take more and more significant place in online space using all the benefits of the creative features of Internet and digital media. Even though gender inequality is possibly even more present in the online space comparing to the offline, digital environment also stands for a platform for (artistic) expression and an arena of the tension between attitudes, tastes, expressions and ideas. New generations of female authors in the local and regional digital context (could) precede, inspire and lead with their authentic critical thinking and production. This text examines if, to what extent and how young female authors use their artistic production, especially their digital platforms, for expressing social and political opinions. We were particularly investigating their understanding of feminism and gender (in)equality, as well as their experience of discrimination and sexism. The article is based on the individual interviews with selected female authors of the younger generation, through which their attitudes, values, critical artistic production, messages and narratives, as well as reactions to the global crisis and social problems were investigated. To the certain extent, the article also reflects on their content on digital communications channels (web sites, Facebook profiles and pages, Instagram profiles and other platforms for digital creativity and distribution of artistic content). This pilot research included eight female artists active in different artistic and creative fields in Serbia: visual and applied arts, music (popular and contemporary experimental), film, literature and performing arts. A particular topic that marked the social context of the first half of 2020 when the research was conducted, has been the pandemic caused by the virus covid19, as well as emergency state and isolation that came as a consequence. Additionally, context of their production, activism and life is marked by sexism existing in media, online as well as offline public space.

ONLINE THEATRE AND FILM FESTIVALS

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Applying interdisciplinary theoretical analysis within a framework that cross-references studies in the fields of performance, cultural policy, film and screen media, this paper examines transformations of festivals in digital environment during the Covid-19 pandemic. Festivals are cultural and artistic showcases that present and value certain content, as well as places of public gathering and critical debate, on which we particularly focus in this study. After a brief theoretical remark on what theatre and film encounters represent as places of real physical meetings, we move on to online festivals and events of similar nature which take place in digital surroundings. We then set out to analyse two online festivals, using the case study method on FIST – Festival Of International Student Theatre (2020) and My Darling Quarantine– Short Film Festival (2020). These examples help us examine the potential advantages and disadvantages of online festivals, and also their specifics: by moving to the digital realm, online festivals lose their exclusivity given by space-time and geographical limitations. Thus, it is necessary to find new models of functioning that can contribute to having quality collective discussions and transnational exchanges of knowledge and ideas. FIST has accomplished this through opening a space for debate through live online chat, making viewers an integral part of the performance. Likewise, My Darling Quarantine has proven itself as a place of collective effort through its creative cooperative programming. We conclude that the critical and socio-cultural potential of online festivals is exceptional, therefore they should not necessarily be thought of as surrogates or extensions of live events, but as authentic cultural practices.

TRANSMEDIA LITERACY IN THE SERVICE OF CULTURAL DEVELOPMENT

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This paper considers changes caused by new technologies that enable an increasing participation of average Internet users in the field of cultural production. From the perspective of pyramidal participation, different forms of achieving user participation in culture are presented, according to the level of freedom they achieve, that is the structure of the relationships in participation. The main argument of the paper is that development of culture can be accelerated by increasing participation in cultural production. Accordingly, a link between participation pyramid and the competencies related to transmedia literacy is made, in order to point out the potential that transmedia literacy can have for enriching global culture.

THE MEANING OF ART AND CULTURE

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The paper critically assesses theoretical and practical differences between “an original” and “a copy” of an artwork, in the context of dominant strands of thought about cultural and creative industries. One strand refers to the Frankfurt critical theory, whereby the other refers to the theory of balancing contemporary European theory of cultural policy. The first favours authenticity in arts and duality between an original and a copy, while the other critically appraises most contemporary social dichotomies in culture and arts. The paper aims to examine basic strategical dilemmas of cultural policies regarding the meaning of art and culture in the context of development of cultural and creative industries. The research starts with an assumption that dilemmas stem from unsustainable dichotomies, particularly in the context of digitalization, which additionally encourages critical assessment of the reasons “for” and “against”. It is placed in the context of comparative theory of democratic transition and consolidation, particularly referring to Serbia which is crossing over from the final phase of transition into a democratically consolidated society. The research results show that the difference between an original and a copy is not such a sharp line as the Frankfurt critical theory suggests. It is demonstrated that the disappearance of the original’s aura is the most visible in creative activities of industrial type, more precisely cultural industries, whose expansion has marked the 20th century and which are completely based on technical reproduction i.e. copying of artwork. On the other hand, two other pillars of creative industries typical of the 21st century are not sensitive to the difference between an original and a copy. They involve significantly more from the contemporary artistic production, including creative activities of non-industrial type, such as various types of visual and performance arts, as well as business-like cultural and creative activities which use artistic creativity to bring about added value of products and services, that can be, but are not necessarily, artistic or cultural. This is why the debates about the original and the copy do not make much sense. Actually, because of the involvement of these two pillars of cultural and creative industries, the more pertinent issue is the decay of the artwork aura reduced to an aesthetical value, without a spiritual – theurgic dimension, which secular society refuses to pose in science and education, as well as art production practice, even though it is vital for the understanding of the meaning of culture and art in the contemporary society

RELIGION, SCIENCE, ART

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