Human rights are “basic rights and freedoms to which all humans are entitled”. Proponents of the concept usually assert that all humans are endowed with certain entitlements merely by reason of being human. Human rights are thus conceived in a universalist and egalitarian fashion. Such entitlements can exist as shared norms of actual human moralities, as justifi ed moral norms or natural rights supported by strong reasons, or as legal rights either at a national level or within international law. However, there is no consensus as to the precise nature of what in particular should or should not be regarded as a human right in any of the preceding senses, and the abstract concept of human rights has been a subject of intense philosophical debate and criticism. As the new millennium emerges, trends in global human rights are changing. Human rights issues are crossing sovereign boundaries and are no longer just issues of the state. As more and more non-governmental organizations are growing, and the Internet expands and facilitates a quicker spread of information, there are more and more people raising concerns about human rights related issues. Some of these come from the increasingly larger and infl uential commercial sector including large, multinational companies, while the others are raised by ordinary people, being parts of diff erent networks. The aim of this article is to examine the way social networks influence and change the methods of raising the awareness concerning human rights on one hand, but, on the other hand, to analyse how new media contribute to deepening global inequalities.

Political life in western democracies, even beyond the periods of subsequent elections, resembles permanent electoral campaign. All the actions of politicians and public relations of professionals are calculated to maintain supporters, attract hesitant citizens and persuade opponents. There is a common perception of media as a channel serving politicians, supported by spin doctors, to submit messages, aiming at achievement of political success. Analysis of changes in terms of communication and political marketing requires redefinition of classical categories operated by political marketing and communication, namely the notions of sender, message and receiver. While reformulating these categories, it is necessary to also analyze new tools and devices used by domains mentioned above. Presentation and explanation of their new content, definitions and relations between them leads to the conclusions concerning new role of media in the world dominated by high technologies.

E-learning 2.0 to learn and teach Italian as a second language: social network, Facebook and language activities

Nowadays it would not be possible to plan an Italian language and culture class without considering the opportunity to use ICT. After the evolution from web to web 2.0 and from e-learning to e-learning 2.0, teachers approached a new concept of learning and teaching online. Web 2.0 tools, the social networks in particular, are considered a valuable resource for communicating, interacting and sharing linguistic and cultural contents, in formal and informal learning. Facebook, the most famous social network, becomes a virtual learning environment for students of Italian as a Second Language where posts, images, links and videos can be shared and used as L2 input. The Facebook page Lingua Italiana Per Stranieri (progetto LIPS), that we described it in this article, represents an example of a didactic use of this famous social network.

Transformation and informatisation of society contribute to introducing social media and information and communication technologies (ICT) as an integral part of society. The article is devoted to studying forming such a key competence of modern personality as media literacy through social media. The analysis of recent research and publications shows that the use of social media is controversial and has already been studied by scholars in various aspects. The use of social media today can be perceived as a pedagogical tool and a lever of information and political influence on society. Taking into consideration the imposition of martial law in Ukraine, we experience a special need to create own platforms of proven and quality information presented to the audience on social media as well as experts and influencers that will support the image and spirit of the country and ensure the dissemination of verified and reliable information. Education is considered the main counteraction to propaganda, manipulation and bias, and educators have been the headliners of the educational process. When conducting the research, the following tasks were set: 1) to find out the peculiarities of social media functioning (especially in martial law); 2) to test the feasibility of using social media as a tool for forming media literacy (based on findings of the educators in Dnipropetrovsk region). To conduct a comprehensive study of the use of social media as a tool for forming media literacy, we used a mixed research design based on quantitative and qualitative methods. The information overload that occurred at the beginning of the Russian military aggression against Ukraine negatively affected Ukrainian citizens’ ability to perceive information critically. However, by adapting to life in new conditions and restoring the ability to think critically, citizens continued their professional activities at a qualitatively new level. Exploring the potential of using social media for political manipulation and propaganda requires further in-depth study and analysis and can serve as a basis for political or psychological research in modern society.