Tiltai

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 article deals with the “theater” of entertainment world as issue of mediated society. Modern Western society can be called a mediated society for a strong impact of new, global media. Under these conditions, society, culture and everyday life is increasingly interpreted using a model of theatre and theatrical metaphors. Theatre is becoming one of the key concepts of the modern Western social categories, such as the use of concepts as simulation or society of the spectacle. Regarding to the wide spread of the new – digital media, especially the Internet, in recent decades of Western society, has increased the consumption of popular culture, one might say, began the era of the entertainment world. This study – one of the first attempts to analyze the philosophical Lithuania entertainment world phenomenon: the genesis, structure, impact on society. This article analyzes the phenomenon of entertainment world: its genesis, structure, impact on society. The objective: to explore the causes and trends of mass spread of the phenomenon of entertainment world in contemporary Western culture as an integral part of a technological breakthrough result of new media. The analysis of the phenomenon of entertainment world aims to: 1) explore genesis, causes and objectives of the world of entertainment as a cultural phenomenon and to reflect critically its forms of thinking and lifestyle; 2) reveal the structure of the entertainment world in twenty-first century society of the spectacle; 3) analyze the influence of the media impact to the entertainment world.

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.

Over recent decades, speaking in dialects has lost its aspect of comic expression, and attained a much greater degree of prestige. In fact, owing to processes of globalisation, dialects are no longer tied to a clearly defined habitat: they have transcended traditional geographical boundaries, and have become an instrument of creative work and communication on social media. Furthermore, the public have a clear inclination to abandon the dichotomy of the dialectological and ethnographic segmentation of Lithuania, and to match dialects to ethnographic regions as closely as possible. Therefore, by distancing ourselves from perceiving a dialect as a static and closed-ended system, we can assume that dialects have every opportunity to survive and evolve, if they adapt to the needs of modern society.

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.