Blogging in Russian Academia: Practices of Self-Representation in Public Contexts

Academic blogging occupies an important place in the Russian social communications system. Russian academics are now creating and maintaining blogs on various digital platforms, using diverse formats to interact with on-line audiences. This paper explores how the behaviour of academic bloggers resembles that of other bloggers on the Internet. What are the features of academic blogging that distinguish it from other social media, and how visible are Russian scholars as bloggers? The paper examines the spaces in which academics in the Russian blogosphere position themselves in the public digital environment, and analyzes the ways in which they present and identify themselves. On this basis, it provides insight into how academic professionals organize their interactions with the wider public, and the ways in which specialized knowledge is transformed and broadcast in public online culture.