The participatory model of civic participation is attracting more and more attention from researchers of modern societies. The article is devoted to the issue of determining the content and structural components of digital participation concept. The problem of the digital technologies’ effectiveness for the implementation of civic activity is considered in the context of the practice and experience of foreign organizations in the implementation of digital activism. The author conducts an informal analysis of 46 foreign websites, their content is related to the development of digital participation (government agencies, educational and charitable organizations, digital platforms). The study made it possible to build a structural model of digital participation, including the main subjects, their goals and the necessary conditions / factors of the non-digital and digital environment, as well as the personal component. This is connected with an expanded context in the interpretation of digital participation, which considers the activities of not only the subjects of civic participation itself, but also all other subjects and conditions necessary for the involvement of citizens in digital participation. It is shown that the practice-oriented understanding of digital participation is based on a number of provisions in the documents of international organizations (the United Nations, the European Union) and is based on the assessment through various international indices. The participatory interpretation allows us to conclude that civic participation is extremely positive, based on a culture of participation and consistency in the goals of various social groups and subjects.

The article presents the findings of a sociological study, which uses Self-Determination Theory to describe and explain the motivation of remote workers. Representing a fundamentally different form of labor organization, remote work forms new conditions in which many management problems are solved, including motivation. An online survey conducted among Russian remote workers (N = 402) measured the satisfaction of three basic psychological needs (for autonomy, competence and relatedness) and six types of motivation, forming a continuum from amotivation to intrinsic motivation. According to the results, satisfaction of psychological needs creates conditions for the development of intrinsic motivation of remote workers, thus supporting Self-Determination Theory. The study also reveals that identified regulation and intrinsic motivation are more pronounced than other types of motivation. This may explain why in many studies remote workers are very positive regarding their remote work experience, in comparison with traditional forms of labor organization. The study thus confirms the applicability and value of Self-Determination Theory for explaining the features of remote work and designing optimal work organization models based on it.

The development of neural network technologies leads to their integration in decision-making processes at the level of such important social institutions as healthcare, education, employment, etc. This situation brings up the question of the correctness of artificial intelligence decisions and their consequences. The aim of this work is to consider the origin and replication of social exclusion, inequality and discrimination in society as a result of neurotraining. Neurotraining understood as the principles of any neural networks’ training. Social exclusion and the resulting discrimination in decisions made by artificial intelligence is considered as a consequence of the big data processing principles. The authors review the theories of foreign and Russian authors concerning the impact of artificial intelligence on strengthening the existing social order, as well as problems with processing and interpreting data for training computer systems on them. Real situations of the specifics of the data itself and its processing that have led to increased inequality and exclusion are also given. The conclusion about the sources of social exclusion and stigmatization in society is made due to the similarity between natural and artificial neural networks functioning. The authors suggest that it is the principles of neurotraining in a “natural” society that lead not only to discrimination at the macro level, but also cause vivid negative reactions towards representatives of the exclusive groups, for example, interethnic hatred, homophobia, sexism, etc. The question about the possibility of studying “natural” society in comparison with “artificial” one is raised.

Memory is the fundamental basis of human learning. Conceptual assessment and study of the memory mechanisms, its formation, consolidation and preservation at different levels of the structural and functional organization of the nervous system constitutes the necessary knowledge for solving many problems of practical and fundamental psychology. This article presents the study of memory, namely the process of its transition from a short-term to a more stable long-term form in a digital environment under the influence of the interference factor of social networks. The aim of the work is to study the influence of the social network interference factor on the processes of consolidation and reconsolidation of memory in adolescence. The total sample size was 68 adolescents aged 12–17 years. The authors conducted an experiment to achieve this goal. Its results showed that adolescents have difficulty remembering information in the form of short, successive videos in the digital space. It was found that videos that are characterized not only by visual accompaniment, but also by speech production are subject to better memorization. Under the influence of the interfering factor of social networks, adolescents faced difficulties in linking individual elements of stimuli with each other – they connected elements of one video with elements of another. According to one of the provisions of the theory of interference, information storage is characterized by the “unbinding” of representations of objects, followed by their reverse linking in an arbitrary combination during further reproduction.

The article is dedicated to the analyses of actual strategies of Internet users’ media activity in the ecosystem of today’s social media (social networks, blogs, hostings, messengers, mobile applications, etc.). The base of the author’s approach that specifies the novelty of the research lies on the analyses of the users’ media activity as a complex of media consumption and production which make a dialectical unity, as well as on the problematization of subject oriented research optics which draws attention to the individual as a direct media subject. The interaction of the individual and media ecosystem is analyzed with the help of a system of incoming and outcoming activity markers. The incoming activity is understood by the authors as a total of institutional and environmental factors of media activity practices realization, the outcoming one is understood as the characteristic of individual’s personal activity in realizing media practices. It is shown that the configuration of the dominant types of incoming and outcoming activity forms the individual media strategy. It is theoretically based and empirically proved by the author’s sociological research with the use of factor analyses (online poll of social network users, N = 1000) that there practically exist four types of individual media strategies: inclusively open, exclusively open, inclusively conservative and exclusively conservative ones. It is found out that the majority of the Internet users (38,3%) use the exclusively open strategy, estimate modern media conditions as too liberal and thus needing control and restrictions. In the conclusion there are shown the perspective directions of the following scientific enquiry on the topic of the research.

This article discusses the issue related to ways to improve the social efficiency of small and medium-sized businesses in the context of digitalization. The authors consider key aspects concerning the internal component of business processes through the prism of a behaviorist approach – study the role of human capital in the formation of social efficiency of the company, identify ways of measuring it and the role of job satisfaction, as well as the impact of this indicator on the productivity of the workforce as a whole. The social efficiency of a company is a complex phenomenon, therefore, the study of ways to improve it through internal business processes is important. As the main conclusions to the work, the authors formulate recommendations for improving the level of job satisfaction through the integration of the latest digital technologies. An important place in this article is devoted to the study of the issue related to the factors of increasing job satisfaction. The authors consider the main groups of factors that form the level of employee satisfaction with work. Based on the identified factors, the authors make recommendations to improve the social efficiency of the company. In the final part of the article, the authors make conclusions regarding the further development of the social efficiency of small and medium-sized businesses in the conditions of digitalization.

Intensively developing information and information and communication technologies contribute to the transformation of the modern international students’ migration process. There is a need to redefine and rethink many concepts, including the concept of diaspora, as well as rethinking the role of Internet technologies in diaspora communication processes, which are formed at several levels: migrant – country of origin and migrant – recipient country. The nature of interactions of a foreign citizen is changing not only with his historical homeland, but also with the state in which he finds himself. It becomes obvious that Internet technologies and Internet communications can influence the process of adaptation of foreign students, as well as the nature of their interactions with compatriots and representatives of other socio-cultural environment. Media communication, which is formed in the Internet, has an impact on the organization of the diaspora, on its self-organization, which requires studying this area, as well as possible aspects of self-organization in new media conditions. In this article, the authors attempt to analyze how modern Internet technologies help a foreign student at various stages of his adaptation to new socio-cultural conditions, also assess the role of Internet technologies in the preparatory stage, when a foreign student is just planning his move and actively searching for reliable information about possible obstacles, problems and opportunities of his stay in a new territory. An important section of the article is the analysis of Internet technologies as a mechanism of diaspora communication, as well as a mechanism for implementing the communicative capital of the diaspora in the process of adaptation of a foreign student and his integration into new socio–cultural conditions and the educational environment of the university.

The study is devoted to identifying the role of local initiatives and local communities in solving garbage problems in the cities of Apatity and Kirovsk in the Murmansk region. The cases of Apatity and Kirovsk show that the basis for the consolidation of the local community as a socio-territorial community is the place of residence and the use of existing social structures, in this case, localized neighboring communities, Internet communities and their communication channels. The interviews conducted at the field stage in the cities showed that thanks to local initiatives, in parallel to the actions of regional operators, there is a process of transformation of ecological thinking and the formation of a certain mentality. In each city, more and more people are involved in the process of cleaning the territory from garbage and separate collection of waste. In many ways, urban initiatives in Kirovsk and Apatity in the conditions of urban shrinkage exist not because of, but in spite of the socio-economic processes that are taking place there. Most of the citizens involved in the process note that it is very important for them to make their city better and feel like a part of something in common, to feel their need.

In the age of digital transformation, there is an increasing discussion about human resource shortages. In particular, IT professionals, and specialists in science and technology (STEM – Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) in general. One of the decisive factors in attracting and retaining a highly skilled workforce is the level of compensation, so it is important to understand what determinants affect its level in Russia, which is the focus of this study. The influence of human capital (special experience and availability of higher education) and institutional factors (organization size, economic sector, organization profile) were considered. The data of the National Research University Higher School of Economics Russian Monitoring of Economic Situation and Health for 2010–2020 were used for the analysis. The paper presents a detailed description of the final sample (N = 4 674). The J. Mintzer wage equation is used as the main econometric model. The results show that the level of financial compensation increases when a STEM specialist has higher education, works in a large and commercial organization. Work experience has no effect on compensation. The profile of the organization (technical or not) also did not show an unambiguous result in this study.

The article discusses the influence of media digitalization on the individuals’ trust in artificial intelligence technologies. The authors study the key features associated with the current state of the media market, as well as highlight the risks that affect the development of the media and consumer confidence in them. An important place in this work is given to the analysis of the media digitalization. The main elements that reflect the consequences of this process are described, as well as global trends associated with the mass media market. In this paper, the aspect of individuals’ trust in artificial intelligence is studied, in particular, the main reasons for distrust in the phenomenon under study are considered. The authors have identified the relationship between the process of digitalization of the media and the trust of individuals in artificial intelligence. In the final part of the article, the authors present the results of digitalization of the media in the context of the transition to new formats, and also reveal the existing mechanism of the impact of this transition on people’s trust in artificial intelligence.

The problem of information security of minors does not concern only the federal regulator. It should be provided at all levels of regulation: federal, regional, municipal and local. The basic principles and mechanisms for ensuring the information security of minors are regulated by federal legislation. At the regional level, the mechanisms are being detailed, independent concepts are being developed. This study analyzes the experience of individual subjects of the Russian Federation in ensuring the information security of minors. The following regions were studied: Komi Republic, Perm Krai, Orenburg Region, Republic of Tatarstan. The state of criminalization of minors has been recorded by region. Based on this, regions with an average level of juvenile delinquency have been selected. The work examines regional legislation on the protection of minors from the destructive information environment, regional information security programs. The law enforcement practice is also considered, in particular, increasing the media literacy of adolescents. The participation of regional law enforcement agencies in explanatory work has been studied. The role of volunteer movements in protecting minors from negative information and in educational work is investigated. The positive experience of the regions in protecting children from negative information is highlighted. At the end of the study, conclusions about the translation of positive experience were made.