Special Issue of World of Media is out

Special issue of World of Media. Journal of Russian Media and Journalism Studies (issue 3-2025) brings together four original research papers on the topics linked to the concept of digital capital as well as to the specifics of digital divide and inequality and related challenges that media space is facing nowadays. The title of the special issue is 'Digital Capital: Inequalities, Measurement, and Environmental Intersections', guest edited by Massimo Ragnedda (University of Sharjah) and Maria Laura Ruiu (American University of Sharjah).

The lead article Reframing digital capital in unequal contexts is authored by researchers from UAE and Russia. In their article, Massimo Ragnedda (University of Sharjah), Maria Laura Ruiu (American University of Sharjah) and Anna Gladkova (Lomonosov Moscow State University) examine the concept of digital capital as a distinct and field-dependent form of capital. As being grounded in the context-aware approach to digital inclusion, the research also explores how the benefits of technology are shaped and shared.

The study A shorter scale for measuring digital capital: Cross-national validation of the Digital Capital Scale is written by Massimo Ragnedda (University of Sharjah), Felice Addeo (University of Salerno) and Maria Laura Ruiu (American University of Sharjah). Grounding the theoretical framework into practice, this paper develops the idea of digital capital by presenting data from a cross-national analysis. The authors utilize a shortened version of the Digital Capital Scale (DCS) and prove its suffice for the emerging need for a research tool to measure digital capital in comparative contexts. 

Glenn Muschert (Khalifa University of Science and Technology) and Aizhan Shomotova (Zayed University) authored the paper Digital capital as access and competence: A national-level study of the UAE. The article, based on the UAE socioeconomic context, investigates the dynamics between digital capital and such factors as gender, age, education, income, employment status, religion, etc. By analyzing a technologically advanced and multicultural society, this study demonstrates how digital inequalities reflect existing social structure.

The closing article of the issue is The nexus of digital-environmental habitus: Examining the intersection of digital and environmental capital in higher education by Max Posner (Northumbria University). Willing to trace the intersection of digital capital and environmental capital in higher education the author interviewed 25 UK-domiciled students. The research presents the differences of eco-conscious and environmental awareness engagement in various institutional and disciplinary fields. It also reveals that turning digital skills into environmental responsibility depends on institutional support, thus, the author concludes, an integration of ecological topics into digital education can produce graduates who are both technologically capable and environmentally responsible.

The new issue is available here.

The academic journal World of Media. Journal of Russian Media and Journalism Studies has been published by the Faculty of Journalism of Lomonosov Moscow State University since 2009. World of Media represents a collection of original research in the field of media and journalism studies conducted by authors from diverse cities and institutions. World of Media is aimed at promoting the development of media and journalism studies in both national and global contexts, and stimulating a wider public interest in the journalism theories, methods, findings and applications generated by research in communication and allied fields.