Regional Formation and Development Studies

The greatest achievement of technology, the Internet, not only changed the lifestyles of the world population, but also created unheard of before opportunities for learning and teaching foreign languages. The development of digital technology provided the important shift from the informational Web 1.0 to the social Web 2.0, which allows involving users in active communication and collaboration with each other. The number of social media websites keeps constantly increasing, which makes them available to learners all over the world. The estimated number of social network users worldwide is 1.79 bn. Students’ familiarity with online social media has been reported in this article. The opportunities for applying the Internet websites in active learning / teaching of languages depend to a great extent on what sites learners are accustomed to using and how often. The findings on the use of social media websites are obtained from the survey completed by two samples of students of Klaipeda University. The research reveals that learners use (constantly or often) Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, Google, and Wikipedia. However collaborative editing, social bookmarking, weblogs and conversational sites are never used or even not familiar. The data imply that it is essential to increase learners’ training in application of social sites. Some statistical correlations between the data for both samples have been found by using the Software Package for Social Sciences (SPSS). There is either 99 % or 95 % probability that an observed Pearson’s correlation coefficients are not a chance finding. It means that the findings might be applied beyond the studied samples.

The rapid development of internet and technologies in the 21th century is providing an opportunity for the development of digital democracy – citizen engagement in the decision-making process in an easier, faster and more contemporary way. The paper analysis Latvian public administration’s attitude to the development of digital democracy in Latvia, looking into digital engagement as a possible solution that could foster the low rates of civic and political participation in Latvia. Research methods of the paper consists of an analysis of academic publications on digital democracy and political engagement, and survey to the representatives of the public administration in Latvia. Conclusions of the paper suggest that there are good preconditions for the development of digital democracy in Latvia, however, there is a need for a common regulation for how digital communication and online participation is coordinated. Public institutions should pay more attention to Latvian youth, educating them about public administration and political engagement, thus ensuring that gradually Latvian citizens become more knowledgeable about advantages and necessity to participate in the decision-making process of public administration in Latvia.

Civic engagement is a core value of democracy that approves legitimacy of democracy itself and decisions made by public institutions. In Latvia, civic engagement rates are decreasing, thus for public institutions it is important to find new ways how to engage citizens in the decision-making process. In the twenty-first century, it means that public institutions should also be present in social media. The objectives of the article are to identify foreign experience how public institutions are using social media for civic engagement and evaluate the reasons for Latvian public institutions to learn from this foreign experience. Accordingly, methods of the research are analysis of scientific publications covering examples about digital democracy, civic engagement and use of social media by public institutions, as well as analysis of data about the Internet and social media usage in Latvia. The study findings suggest that Latvian public institutions are already using social media for one-way communication. Moreover, in Latvia, availability of the Internet and participation rates in social media are above the EU average, thus there is potential to use social media also for two-way communication and foster civic engagement.

This article examines the attitudeof young people of age 18 to 30 from Lithuania, Latvia, Finland and Norway towards the national costume. The aim of this article is to analyze and determine how national costume is appreciated by the youth of countries mentioned before. The article briefly presents the preconditions for the emergence and creation of a nationalcostume; it analyzes what kind of information is lacking about national costume. The research was made in 2017-2018. Information was provided by 156 respondents. In conclusion, the worst situation is is between Finnish youth and the deepest traditions of costume‘s wearing has Norway. The results of Lithuanians reveal that national costume is not very important tradition, Latvians show the growing interest in the costume.

Young people are a very important group of modern societies, they will replace the currently ruling generation and will shape our common future. Due to that, young people have become the relevant target of national and international policy and science researches. Youth civic participation is a key aspect of the development of a society and should be shaped by effective youth policy at national and international level. This paper is an attempt of determining the capacity of public institutions and non-government organizations to develop youth civic participation in the context of the European Union youth policy. It reveals the importance of various elements of the potential of institutions’ environment in increasing civic participation of young people on the example of the South Baltic Youth Core Groups Network project which is implemented within the South Baltic Program 2014–2020. The project’s partnership is represented by entities from Denmark, Lithuania, Poland, and Sweden in which the quantitative research was carried out on civic participation of young people aged 14–24. The initial survey results have allowed confirming the hypothesis: the potential of the institutional environment of youth is not fully exploited in the process of increasing civic participation of young people in municipalities involved in the South Baltic Youth Core Groups Network Project. The research has revealed the strengths and weaknesses and barriers and opportunities of public institutions and non-government organizations to enhance youth civic participation in project partner countries.