Features of the Ukrainian popular science blogosphere

Abstract

The object of the research is popular science blogs — a specific direction of Internet communication aimed at spreading scientific knowledge in an accessible way. The relevance of the study is determined by the active development of the Ukrainian popular science blogosphere and the identification of the need to analyze the main trends in this area. The purpose of the article is to analyze the popular science blogosphere using the example of blogs on the YouTube platform. The methodology of researching the topic includes social communication, axiological approaches, as well as statistical methodological techniques. Content analysis, synthesis and generalization are the main methods that were used in the process of scientific research. The novelty of the article lies in highlighting the features of blogs with audiovisual and textual possibilities for creating popular science content, as well as revealing the specifics and trends of functioning of popular science blogs. In this regard, popular science blogs on the YouTube platform became the object of this scientific research. As a result of the research, it was concluded that blogs, in which one can use audiovisual and textual components, are the most convenient means of creating popular scientific content. Actually, this meets the demands of the modern consumer of information. Based on the ranking and content analysis, it was found that historical topics tend to be the most popular. They are followed by natural sciences, astrology, medicine and psychology. In particular, the top ten popular blogs include: “Named after T. H. Shevchenko”, “History Without Myths”, “Damn Rationalist”, “WAS: Popular History”, “Interesting Science”, “History for Adults”, “Your Underground Humanitarka”, “Khmarynka Science”, “Universe UA”, “Pitiatko”. On the basis of the analyzed popular science blogs, the following trends have been identified: the presentation of material in the blogs has the characteristics of the author’s journalistic programs; the use of emotionally charged vocabulary, subjective judgments and other artistic techniques in the materials (in their titles, on the covers or in the videos themselves); forms of citation of sources of information used in the blog differs in differently themed blogs (their indication in the description is mostly absent in materials on historical topics, but present in the rest of the studied blogs).