Strategic narratives are vital for states to frame issues, goals, and preferences to convey a rationale for military actions in global conflicts. Russia’s warfare in Ukraine, coupled with the rise of Telegram as an independent information platform, has fostered the rise of military bloggers within the Kremlin-controlled media ecosystem. This thesis explores the role and functioning of these military bloggers in shaping strategic narratives during the Russo-Ukraine war. To do so, the thesis compares three critical junctures in the war as case studies using a mixed-methods approach. The thesis has found that milblogs operate within a pre-determined strategic narrative framework outlined by the Kremlin. The findings further indicate that while operating within this frame, the Telegram operators have the capacity to shape strategic narratives and, at times, are the driving force behind the official narrative production. The study provides new insights into the Russian information environment by shedding light on the milbloggers' roles as legitimators, amplifiers, and, at times, opposition. While de-monopolizing the information environment to include milbloggers has served the Kremlin well so far in the war, giving up power might pose severe problems for the Kremlin in the future, potentially impacting the outcome of the war in the long run.

Актуальность темы обусловлена необходимостью различных предприятий в автоматизации процесса обработки обращений клиентов в чаты, для повышения эффективности работы сотрудников и снижения ресурсных затрат, а также для повышения уровня клиентского сервиса. Цель работы: улучшение качества обслуживания клиентов посредством разработки чат-бота, автоматизирующего бизнес-процессы обработки обращений клиентов в чат на языке программирования Python в мессенджере «Telegram» с интеграцией бота в Яндекс.Алиса. Для достижения поставленной цели необходимо решение следующих задач: изучил понятия чат-бота и его функции; использовать преимущества использования мессенджеров для бизнеса; настроить языки программирования и выбрать язык для разработки чат-бота; выбрать мессенджер, в котором будет реализован чат-бот; разработать ИТ-проект по разработке чат-бота. Объектом исследования данной выпускной квалификационной работы является информационная система предприятия. Предметом исследования является обработка бизнес-процессов клиентов с часто задаваемыми вопросами в клиентских сервисах различных предприятий. Научная новизна составила то, что проанализировано большое количество программных средств для реализации проекта, показано большое количество прикладных чат-ботов в бизнесе, а также разработан уникальный чат-бот. Практическая оригинальность заключается в том, что данного чат-бота можно применять в любой компании, в которой есть бизнес-процесс обработки обращения клиентов в чат. / The relevance of the topic is due to the need of various enterprises to automate the process of processing customer requests in chats, to increase the efficiency of employees and reduce resource costs, as well as to increase the level of customer service. Goal of work: improving the quality of customer service by developing a chat bot that automates the business processes of processing customer requests via chat in the Python programming language in the Telegram messenger with the integration of the bot into Yandex.Alice. To achieve this goal, it is necessary to solve the following tasks: studied the concepts of a chatbot and its functions; take advantage of the benefits of using instant messengers for business; configure programming languages and select a language for developing a chatbot; select the messenger in which the chatbot will be implemented; develop an IT project to develop a chatbot. The object of study of this final qualifying work is the enterprise information system. The subject of the study is the processing of customer business processes with frequently asked questions in customer services of various enterprises. The scientific novelty was that a large number of software tools for the implementation of the project were analyzed, a large number of applied chatbots in business were shown, and a unique chatbot was developed. The practical originality lies in the fact that this chatbot can be used in any company that has a business process for processing customer requests via chat.

Over the last few years, text messaging has taken the domination among young adults. Messaging via phones has a wide range of both, human and social factors. These Instant Messaging [IM] applications also offer features other than just texting and for example, sending documents, photos, videos, links and more. All these features and attributes are making people pull towards these IM applications more and more. Despite having these features, people expect more from these IM applications, which leads these IM applications to compete with each other by providing more features or modifying the existing features. This competition to be the better application amongst the IM applications has led us to do a research study on which applications have better user experience through a survey evaluation. Background: Messaging through phones got a lot easier when platforms like iMessage, Telegram, WhatsApp, etc., were introduced to people. WhatsApp and Telegram gained popularity over iMessages as iMessages was limited only to IOS. So, technically people preferred WhatsApp and Telegram over iMessages. In order, to deduct which application is preferred among WhatsApp and Telegram, a survey evaluation is done based on Usability Heuristics. Thus, the title of the thesis is “Comparative research of WhatsApp and Telegram by using heuristic principles.” Objectives: The prime objective of the thesis is to compare both the applications, WhatsApp, and Telegram and to find which application has followed the principles of Usability most. The comparison between these two applications is done via a survey evaluation and the results will be noted. Methods: The method that has been chosen and used for comparison is survey evaluation. The survey will be done via google forms, and the questions of the study are based on HCI principles. The survey will have a total of 10 questions. Approximately of 45 users will be given the questionnaire google form to fill out. Results: The results from the survey will be collected and noted. The results are examined and the application that has the better user experience will be found. Conclusion: From the study and the survey, it is concluded that WhatsApp has a better user experience than Telegram.

The theory of mediatized war implies that any study of conflict that takes place in modern times must also consider the impact of the media within that conflict, especially including new media and communication technologies. Images as visual representations of war have become a part of the information warfare and used to create narratives rooted in the culture of media witnessing (Mortensen) but sometimes entirely divorced from reality (Baudrillard’s simulacrum). The purpose of this thesis was to study images from two Telegram channels, in order to analyze the visual representation of the Russo-Ukrainian War in 2022. A qualitative content analysis was used on the images, to observe and interpret the visual themes and context of the images. The theoretical framework that was applied to the categories were the theory of the visual, the culture of witnessing in war, and mediatization of war. The results indicate that both channels try to employ features of media witnessing, with a notable difference that the Russian channel presented a more sanitized, gore-less, and staged version of war while the Ukrainian one focused on the casualties and horrors of war. The study contributes to the fields of mediatization of war and visual representation of war by focusing on the previously unstudied material and combining this unique case with a broad theoretical and empirical body of knowledge.

В выпускной квалификационной работе магистранта рассматривается развитие новых SMM-сервисов – Телеграм и Тик-Ток, как инструментов продвижения туристского продукта на рынке. Уделено внимание истории создания и развития этих приложений, проанализированы кейсы применения на российском туристском рынке, результаты работы дополнены социологическим исследованием, проведенным автором работы. / The master's thesis deals with the development of new SMM-services - Telegram and Tick-Tock, as tools of tourism product promotion in the market. Attention is paid to the history of the creation and development of these applications, cases of application in the Russian tourism market are analyzed, the results of the work are supplemented by sociological research conducted by the author of the work.

Using a poststructural and reader-response theoretical framework, the author explores competing ideas of interpretation, epistemology, and the problematic nature of truth and meaning in Henry James’s novel, The Golden Bowl. The author analyzes the ways in which emergent nineteenth century communication technologies, specifically how telegraphy both mediates and facilitates intimacy in a modern landscape. James anticipates modern forms of social media by exploring the nuances and the potential erotic nature of mediated communication and knowledge.

Embedding itself in the larger discussion on protests against measures taken by governments all over the world to mitigate the effects of the covid-19 pandemic, this work concerns itself with the role of the Holocaust in narratives found in prominent Telegram channels and chat groups of German covid-protests. Building on the existing body of research, it uses the theoretical framework of New Social Movement (NSM) theory to categorise the protests in Germany. Choosing a mixed-methods design, the phenomenon is described using narrative analysis, computer-assisted coding, and elements of network analysis. The narrative analysis and results of computer-assisted coding, find that the Holocaust is narrated as a valid comparison to pandemic politics, while some Telegram channels engage in historical revisionism. The network analysis reveals a large network of Telegram channels, strengthening the importance of the analysed channels for the protests in Germany

Over the past decade, the success rate of non-violent resistance movements has decreased. With the development of information and communication technology (ICT), governments have taken repression into the digital realm to tamper with protest movements. The effects of repression on protest mobilization have been rather inconclusive; even less is known about the effects of digital repression. By using the political jiu-jitsu, backfire and moral jiu-jitsu theory as well as the theory on emotion and protest participation in hard autocracy, this thesis showcases how the moral shock and indignation helps to overcome fear caused by both traditional and digital repression, thus helping to explain the relationship between repression and mobilization. This theoretical framework is applied to the case of Belarusian post-election protests in 2010 and 2020. Although traditional repression was present in both time frames, there is a significant variation in the government’s digital repression resolve. The analysis shows that mobilization was primarily driven by traditional repression – police brutality and violence. However, in 2020 people were also outraged by censorship and Internet shutdowns that left them in an information vacuum which was deemed completely undeserved. The outrage about digital repression was facilitated by the opposition activities that acted against digital repression.