CC BY
8I Journal of Siberian Federal University. Humanities & Social Sciences 2020 13(5): 688-699
DOI: 10.17516/1997-1370-0599 УДК 004.773+314.742
Construction of Horizontal Networks on "Migrant" Russian-Language Digital Platforms
Dmitry O. Timoshkin*
The Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy
and Public Administration
Moscow, Russian Federation
Irkutsk State University
Irkutsk, Russian Federation
Tomsk State University
Tomsk, Russian Federation
Siberian Federal University
Krasnoyarsk, Russian Federation
Received 05.03.2020, received in revised form 22.04.2020, accepted 08.05.2020
Abstract. The article discusses the Russian-language "migrant" groups in the social networking service "Vkontakte." The author analyses mechanisms of constructing horizontal networks in these groups uniting Russian-speaking immigrants in the Russian Federation, their role in migration planning and solving everyday household, legal and moral problems. The article uses the language of describing mobility by J. Urry: we consider "migrant" digital platforms to be the space in which thematic network "nodes" are created, which allow accumulating the information resources of several horizontal networks needed to solve a particular current problem. The article also formulates a hypothesis about the existence of a "migrant" meta-network consisting of people who are part of migration flows, and who service or exploit them. We assume that the digital platforms under consideration significantly simplify the integration process by being a space that allows the formation of local, "thematic" nodes of the "migrant" meta-network that accumulate a social capital and information.
Keywords: mobility, migrants, social network, digital platforms, nodes, legalization.
The article was support by RSF project No. 18-18-00293 "Creation and use of the urban infrastructure of the Siberian regional capitals by the migrants".
Research area: sociological sciences.
Citation: Timoshkin, D.O. (2020). Construction of horizontal networks on "migrant" Russian-language digital platforms. J. Sib. Fed. Univ. Humanit. Soc. Sci., 13(5), 688-699. DOI: 10.17516/1997-13700599.
© Siberian Federal University. All rights reserved
* Corresponding author E-mail address: dmtrtim@gmail.com ORCID: 0000-0001-5478-0469
The importance of horizontal networks in the daily lives of immigrants is undeniable (Rouz, 2009). Acquaintances and family ties help to look for a job, accommodation, neighbours to share, to solve legal issues, to survive, in a word. Most migrants arriving in Russia from Central Asia actively join the networks created by their predecessors. Relatives and friends of the newly-arrived who have already visited the Russian Federation and are more familiar with the nuances of staying here actively contribute to this inclusion.
The attitude towards "migrant" networks is very ambiguous both in the academic community and in the media. On the one hand, the network organization of migrant communities is considered as an occasion for alarmist statements about the existence of closed "migrant" enclaves in large cities that are aggressive in relation to local ones. On the other hand, they see them as a powerful integration tool that makes up for many shortcomings of the state integration mechanisms, allowing "locals" and "migrants" to interact (Ivleva, 2009; Dmitriev, Piadukhov, 2013) and create common spaces and practices (Elias, Lemish, 2009).
Increasingly (Hayness, Wang, 2019; An-dersson, 2019; Dekker, Engbersen, Klaver, 2018), research works focus on the role that the digital space plays in the process of constructing migrant networks and identities. Being a highly mobile and marginalized group (Ban'kovskaia, 2002), migrants willingly use the tools for creating horizontal networks offered by digital platforms. The latter contribute to the simplification of global migration by eliminating many barriers related to the information deficit (Van Meeteren, Pereira, 2018). Moreover, digital communication platforms contribute to the formation of supranational "migrant" communities, which, according to some researchers, make it possible to more effectively solve integration problems than stand-alone community groups offline (Komi-to, 2011). In short, digital platforms have begun to play an important adaptive role in migration processes (Alencar, 2018).
The digital space complements the capabilities of horizontal offline networks (Dekker
et al., 2018), becoming literally guides across state lines, determining the choice of direction, a way of crossing the border and even specific phrases that a migrant will tell the customs official (Dekker, Engbersen, 2014). Social media allows "migrant" families separated by large distances to maintain unity (Dekker, Engbers-en, 2013). In a certain sense, they become a weapon of the weak (Scott, 1985), just like the existing offline "weak ties" that allow migrants to go beyond the state-proposed mechanisms of border crossing and adaptation in the host country (Timoshkin, 2019).
In general, Russian-language "migrant" digital spaces perform the same functions, ranging from moral support to the accumulation of social capital. At the same time, they often find themselves connected through a multitude of cross-links with other online and offline spaces united by a common theme. Links can be published by creators of the digital platform (for example, an author of a YouTube channel publishes a list of resources similar in topic), or by users who, in response to a particular request, provide links of other digital and offline spaces containing the necessary resources.
The links can occur if the information and social capital (as understood by P. Bourdieu) accumulated by users of the given digital community is not enough to solve the problem under discussion. So, for example, a user of a regional "migrant" group on Vkontakte can give a person in need a link to another site where it is easier to find more complete and relevant information for his request.
We assume that many cross-linked thematic digital and offline sites constitute a "migrant" meta-network. It unites not only migrants directly, but also other actors servicing, exploiting, supporting and researching migration flows in the Russian Federation. By "meta-network", or "network of networks", we mean a vast, unstructured community that exists simultaneously in offline and online spaces. Dialogues in "migrant" groups are the nodes of this meta-network, in which information and social capital of various local networks, that are part of it, are accumulated. Cross-links arising spontaneously connect individual regional or
narrowly specialized "migrant" networks into a single whole, albeit very unstable in space and time.
We suppose that one of the semantic frameworks that ensure the existence of a me-ta-network include the need for migrant users to regularly contact the state, and solve the numerous problems arising during such contacts. They may not know each other, however, the migration experience that unites them, in particular, the experience of interacting with the Russian bureaucracy (which is one of the most frequently discussed topics in the previously considered migrant groups) at any time allows them to create a thematic network node in the digital space. Which, in turn, will attract many users with relevant experience interested in discussing it.
The purpose of the article is to concretize and conceptualize this hypothesis. The subject of the research is the "migrant" communities in the Vkontakte social networking service. It is the leader in the number of registered users in Russia and there are thousands of "migrant" communities concentrated. The groups under the study were selected from many others due to the fact that a significant number of dialogs between the users take place publicly, on the "wall."
Another reason is that these groups are "live", daily new information appears here, and many active users participate in the discussion. These groups are focused on a discussion of migration issues reported by moderators in a short text placed next to the name of the group, they can be found in the built-in search engine at the request of "migrant."
Thus, the study was conducted in the groups called "migrant messenger", "NSRL -native speakers of the Russian language", "ref-ugees-migrants-resettlers", "FMS", as well as "plus resident". All groups are united by the fact that they are positioned precisely as a "migrant", supranational association that accepts migrants from different countries, and the only condition for using them is knowledge of the Russian language. The groups position themselves as private initiatives to provide legal support to foreigners, create conditions for free communication and exchange of experience
between migrants who find themselves in similar situations.
The method used in the analysis of groups can be characterized as a retrospective (Paechter, 2015) online observation (Bas-si et al., 2019; Beneito-Montagut, 2011), while the researcher retains the role of a passive observer (Kas'ianov, 2017). The authors viewed dialogs between users posted on the group wall, as well as messages posted in group discussions. We looked for references to how the information received in the group was somehow used offline, and how this could affect the fate of a particular user. We were also interested in user references to the horizontal networks they were a part of - other virtual and offline communities. Based on these observations, tracking this or that dialogue, we tried to determine how horizontal online networks are built and used, how they are interconnected and whether these networks and their capabilities go beyond the limits of virtual platforms.
Dialogues on digital platforms as "migrant" network nodes
The specificity of the described digital platforms presupposes the emergence of small dialogs in terms of time of existence and volume of information. Most of them take place in a "question and answer" format, when one of the users, having encountered difficulties in the migration route, describes the situation on the wall and asks for help. This appeal may be answered by moderators or users with relevant experience who will describe how to solve the difficulties that have arisen. Those who have a different problem may show up. They post their question in the hope of catching the moment while there are experts in the "live" discussion who are able to answer them.
If moderators consider it important to spread information over the network, they attach it on the group wall so that each visitor sees it in the first place. This may be a post about changes in the work schedule of migration officials, the beginning of the issuance of quotas or some warning. New users evaluate information from a position of their own expe-
rience. In such dialogs, there are many links to social networks in which the authors of statements are included.
Thus, the administrator of the "migrant messenger" publishes a warning addressed to amateurs to openly discuss not quite legal methods of integration in public: "You cannot buy fake registration, you can not violate 90/180, you cannot work informally, you cannot fictitiously marry. Those who like to argue and say 'I do this and I am good' will answer: talk about it as loudly and often as possible. It is desirable to have a real photo on the profile picture and real name in the profile;). "1
A debate flares up, based on one's own or another's experience, about the justification for using such services. The discussion lasts no more than an hour, and during this time it accumulates information collected within several networks. The first is a network of "migration experts", to which the group administrator belonged, as well as several regular visitors who play a similar role. The second can be attributed to a migrant who claimed, referring to the experience of friends, that status can be bought without problems - it is all about money. The third network is represented by a person who clearly belongs to the academic community and has posted on the group wall an announcement on the recruitment of employees for a migration research project in Moscow.2 Referring to his field experience, he quotes migration cards in a city and region, claiming that thousands use this service.
For a rather short period of time, information was accumulated in the dialogue, which was the result of informal contacts of many people who belong to different social groups and belong to different, possibly unconnected networks. This was made possible thanks to a sequence of random and planned events, the totality of which was reflected literally in several text paragraphs. Such events were the participation of one of the users in the field work of one of the Moscow research groups, which, perhaps, allowed him to observe the informal
1 Source: https://vk.com/vestimi-granta7W=wall-142390258_176298%2FaU
2 Source: https://vk.com/vestimi-granta7W=wall-142390258_181549%2FaU
economy built on the exploitation of migration flows. His message was the result of the contact of academic networks with others formed as a result of informal contacts of migrants and security officials.
The event of another dialogue is citizenship through business marriage. When discussing this, users mention another horizontal network, which was the result of informal contact between migrants and representatives of the host community, where everyone sees a business marriage as a win-win deal.
A dialogue in which a migration lawyer, based on a combination of court decisions from his practice, indicates the danger of any, even the smallest, offenses for a migrant due to possible expulsion and a ban on entry into the country is similarly constructed.3 As in the previous case, users with their own experience discuss the problem, confirming or refuting the statement of the lawyer.
Dialogue participants can cut off channels that distribute substandard or irrelevant information that could be harmful. So, in one of the discussions, a user requests a template for filling out a document, the other sends it to a digital platform, where it is proposed to fill out a document of interest for 500 roubles. The administrator deletes this message, publishing, in turn, links to regional groups that help to do the same for free.4
Each of the links provided by the administrator leads to digital sites where network nodes arise that unite migrants arriving in a particular Russian city. Apparently, the administrator sends the user to them due to the fact that these sites accumulate more relevant information that is characteristic of a certain region, and, at the same time, enjoy a good reputation. The horizontal networks arising in the dialogs can be called "thematic", since each of them unites people who find themselves in a similar situation, who are interested in the same problem. It is the topic set at the beginning of the dialogue that simultaneously becomes both an invitation and a filter.
3 Source: https://vk.com/vestimi-granta7W=walM42390258_176638%2Fall
4 Source: https://vk.com/vestimi-
granta7W=walM42390258_176599%2Fall
Some dialogues are opened with a goal of creating new communities on other digital platforms. One of the visitors of the "migrant messenger" suggests creating a clan in the online game Player Unknown's Battlegrounds, or PUBG5, trying to attract users from one digital community to another. Users from different digital hub platforms join the dialogue: someone is part of the PUBG gaming community, others are members of the Minecraft clans, and others offer to play Call of Duty: Modern Warfare. However, all of them are united by the experience of migration to Russia.
These dialogues became the nodes connecting the experience of representatives of all these networks in space and time, and at the same time the result, a summary of a series of events that allowed these networks to exist. They helped to accumulate information coming from several networks, sending links, if necessary, to other similar network nodes that are more relevant to the problem stated by another user. In a certain sense, each dialogue, a node of horizontal networks, can be considered as a thematic micro-community of migrants.
Communities are unstable within digital sites; they are fluid, small, and spontaneous. Being the embodiment of the world of "Bau-man mobility" (Bauman, 2008), situational, thematic communities become a point of attraction for several others that exist both offline and online. A spontaneously occurring dialogue can be called a network node. It can exist just a few minutes, falling apart and occur again.
A request or a replica becomes an invitation to the formation of a thematic micro-community. The subject can be varied, however, as a rule, dialogues are associated with one or another fragment of the legalization procedure. A dialogue - a community is joined by those who either themselves have experience of a similar situation, or are part of a horizontal network in which the necessary information is distributed. The number of communities of several thousand people, as well as the presence in the expert group, allows users to count on either
5 Source: https://vk.com/wall-142390258_176017
providing information in a fairly short time, or sending it to other digital hubs.6
Communities arise and disappear when necessary: a theme of the initial appeal unites those who now have a common interest in obtaining or transmitting certain experiences. Everyone can simultaneously contact many other micro-communities, collecting information from several groups and several digital platforms at once.
Thus, in one of the dialogs, a user can attract the information resource of the network that unites migrants trying to obtain legal status with the help of a specific state programme.7 In the other, to attract the resource of the local neighbourhood network created by the residents of the region in which he settled; in the third - the resource of the migrant network operating at the country level.8
The general flow of migrants is divided into numerous social categories: those who obtain citizenship by marriage; in a simplified manner as a native speaker of the Russian language; fellow countrymen who arrived from the common region of the exodus, mothers, refugees, and many others. Each of these categories has its own digital platform. Using a dramaturgical metaphor of Hoffmann, you can imagine a digital group with decorations, which are both an invitation and a thematic frame for anyone who wants to enter into a conversation on a given topic. It is the migration experience and related issues that become the common framework. The second (albeit rather dubious) factor is the solidarity of actors in the face of common problems.
The way such networks work is illustrated by the example of dialogs that simultaneously demonstrate the scale of "migrant" spontaneously emerging networks and the reasons for their emergence: "Good day. Here is the story. I myself live in the Russian Federation (Tomsk), I have a residence permit, official work, working experience of more than a year (in general, I meet the criteria for resettlement in Tomsk). When learning about the
6 Source: https://vk.com/vestimi-granta?w=wall-142390258_181456%2Fall
7 Source: https://vk.com/nositeli_russkogo_yazyika
8 Source: https://vk.com/murino_infrastruktura
program of resettlement of compatriots and going to the information on applying for citizenship, and when I had already received the resettler's card, I saw that I needed a document ("A document confirming the application for declaration of alienage and a receipt on registered mail"). Question No. 1, is it (a document) executed by a notary? Can I make it in the Russian Federation, and send it by mail, and do I need to wait for a response from Kazakhstan, or wouldjust a declaration of alienage and the receipt itself be enough? Question No. 2, in the end, anyway, after obtaining citizenship of the Russian Federation, it is "advisable" for me to notify the consulate of the change of citizenship personally, or I can do it in written? Question No. 3, obviously, there is no need to de-register for permanent residence; where can I find the information that it is not needed, so that I could show it to the inspector, just in case (since in Tomsk people were forced to do it). Thanks in advance, and thanks for this group, you often help out.
- When do you apply for citizenship? I am preparing a letter to Kazakova with an explanation of the unlawful requirements of consular registration and de-registration for permanent residence. Tomsk is the fourth region on my list with similar inadequate requirements. I will get the reply in 40-50 days at best. "9
The user in the first part of the appeal models a social situation in which he finds himself, indicating the place of action, his status, and also the stage of the migration path. He then indicates a specific problem that he has encountered and asks for help. This dialogue, which has become the node of several local horizontal networks, demonstrates that they are interconnected, their participants are aware of a common interest and know how to defend them. At the same time, each individual fragment is invisible, but is implied in the response that the user received.
The task of this network is not only local changes in the fate of a particular migrant, but also attempts to influence the migration policy of the state in general. The user mentions that he is preparing an appeal to Kazakova, and
9 Source: https://vk.com/kaz-2rus?w=wall-149967104 4482%2Fall
most likely he is referring to the head of the Main Directorate for Migration of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia Valentina Kaza-kova.
Information that can directly affect the migration trajectory of a particular user is distributed through such network nodes, practically ignoring spatial boundaries and shifting the time ones. The recipe available to a small local network, for example, in St. Petersburg, becomes available to many other local networks by going through the discussion node on the wall of a digital platform.
Similar thematic micro-communities exist in a multidimensional space: information circulates from one node to another, from one time period to another, affecting many local nodes and processing a significant amount of information. A researcher who is in the observer position and does not cooperate with the administration of the social network is unlikely to be able to track such user transitions between spaces. Communication events can lead participants to different planes10, to different digital platforms11, removing them from the observer's field of view. Then the following question arises - do these networks go beyond the digital space, are they embodied in reality?
Migrant meta-network
and transitions from digital space to offline
The boundary between offline and digital spaces is supposedly permeable. This is evidenced by regular references to existing offline "migrant" spaces and communities, and numerous examples of the use by users of the advice received in groups, in practice. Reports on the results of such actions can be easily found publicly. The user can apply the information received on a digital platform offline almost in real time.
For example,12 a user with documents in hand can request instructions for filling them out by creating a dialogue on a group's wall.
10 Source: https://vk.com/kaz-2rus?w=wall-149967104_4134%2Fall
11 Source: https://vk.com/kaz-2rus?w=wall-149967104_4090%2Fall
12 Source: https://vk.com/kaz-
2rus?w=wall-149967104 4346%2Fall
Guided by the advice received, the user fills out documents, which can seriously affect his fate. Then the user can literally within a few hours post a review on how useful the received tips were, and ask for others.13
Another visible "bridge" connecting digital migrant groups and offline reality is the tradition adopted in some of them to publish photographs of new passports14 upon obtaining citizenship. A photo is accompanied by words of gratitude to the community for their help and support, as well as a description of the migration history: "So here I am having gone through the quest)))) I submitted a quota in 2014; in 2015, complained to the president's reception office through a letter, and in 2016 they gave a quota. I filed for temporary residence permit immediately, after half a year they gave it to me. Then they said to wait another half a year and only then apply for permanent residency. Exactly half a year has passed, I collected all the documents and then I faced a problem - a certificate of income is required. I went to the tax agency, paid 14,500, but this was not enough, turned out I needed a certificate that I worked. I went and registered as a self-employed individual and all the headache ended... I applied for it all, got a residence permit, and only by 20191 applied for citizenship at the beginning of the year... (why so long? I have been waiting for a lot of different certificates). "15
Users not only take congratulations, but also answer questions of those who have not gone this way to the end.16 17 The tradition allows people to demonstrate solidarity between the members of the group and at the same time confirm its effectiveness, which positively affects its reputation. Sometimes in such "grateful" dialogs, a user tells in detail about his misadventures on the way to the coveted
13 Source: https://vk.com/vestimi-granta?w=wall-142390258_182059%2Fall
14 Source: https://vk.com/rossi-yavsem?w=wall-74133362_178187
15 Source: https://vk.com/nositeli_russko-go_yazyika?w=wall-80511847_263834
16 Source: https://vk.com/kaz-2rus?w=wall-149967104_4297%2Fall
17 Source: https://vk.com/vestimi-granta?w=wall-142390258_179214%2Fall
document,18 or, on the contrary, about the lack thereof.
Users literally lead those who post a request on the wall from one stage of the migration process to another, responding to each of their requests.19 20 21 In one of the discussions, a user asks a question regarding the legality of actions of a migration official. Several people with relevant experience join the dialogue, who not only point to normative acts confirming the official's wrongness, but also prompt the user with an algorithm that allows him to influence his decisions.22 Similarly, thematic communities suggest which areas in the city people should be wary of,23 where to go to get public services,24 etc.
In numerous publicly available dialogs, one can guess the process of forming supranational, migrant solidarity based on common problems and common needs on digital platforms. Each invitation-question that appears on walls becomes a representation of the social situation in which the respondent finds himself. This description may be detailed, or, on the contrary, very short, but, as a rule, it is enough for the rest of the community to visualize the picture in detail. Such a visualization is necessary in order to give other users the minimum data needed to assess the appropriateness of sharing their experience in the dialogue. Sometimes, literally just a few keywords are enough for a user who has been in a similar situation to understand the difficulties experienced by the applicant and suggest the necessary sequence of actions.25
18 Source: https://vk.com/nositeli_russko-go_yazyika?w=wall-80511847_262013
19 Source: https://vk.com/kaz-2rus?w=wall-149967104_4372%2Fall
20 Source: https://vk.com/kaz-2rus?w=wall-149967104_4379%2Fall
21 Source: https://vk.com/kaz-2rus?w=wall-149967104_4411%2Fall
22 Source: https://vk.com/kaz-2rus?w=wall-149967104_4471%2Fall
23 Source: https://vk.com/vestimi-granta?w=wall-142390258_180473%2Fall
24 Source: https://vk.com/vestimi-granta?w=wall-142390258_180499%2Fall
25 Source: https://vk.com/kaz-2rus?w=wall-149967104 4280%2Fall
Sometimes a few phrases may not be enough, and the user creates a narrative in which he describes his "migration" history in detail. A dialogue in which "migration" as a physical movement did not occur at all, however, due to problems with paperwork, a user born in the Russian Federation may be at risk of expulsion from the country, is interesting. Having completed all the necessary steps, he fears that he will not pass the final part of the procedure, the "exam" for the native speaker of the Russian language, thus levelling all the previous efforts: "Hello everyone, I wanted to share my situation and ask for advice. I was born in Russia, in Mordovia, my parents are citizens of Ukraine. I have never left the territory of Russia. Parents did not deal with documents and since I was 18, I had to do it myself. <...> I didn't have any passport; I was forced to get a passport of a Citizen of Ukraine. I received it at the embassy in Moscow, but they gave me an international passport; they cannot give an internal one because I have never been there! After that, the question of migration registration arose. They said that I should go to Ukraine to get a migration card to register, so I went to a lawyer; he said that if left the Russian Federation, they would not let me go back, they would give me at least a 3-year deport. <...> One month later I received a positive reply, then I received a migration card and went through registration. Then I started collecting documents for the native speaker of the Russian language. Since my grandmother was a citizen of the Russian Federation, I had problems with documents because my mother was married 3 times and they could not track the relations with my grandmother because I had divorce certificates on my hands, but I had to have marriage certificates. <...> So, on 07/28/2019 I submitted the documents, they said to come in 3 weeks, but after that they called back and assigned to the 8th to submit the documents and come on the 13th to pass the exam. What should I expect on the exam?? What questions will they ask? What to prepare for? I will be very grateful for your help."
Members of the occurred micro-community with similar experience reassure the user, showing him that there should not be any diffi-
culties with the exam, and he does not require serious preparation:
- If the passport is Ukrainian, then they will take you to the hall and say: you are recognized as a native speaker, because when you filed documents, the employees talked to you and gave an assessment.
- We did not even have an interview. All those with the Ukrainian citizenship were brought into the hall, read the law and said that they were talking to you when submitting documents and understood that you are a native speaker of the Russian language. My husband submitted documents in Kotelniki; they just took everyone to the assembly hall and said that everyone was recognized as native Russian speakers.
After some time, the user reports how the event went and thanks for the advice: "Sergey, we went into the hall, we were all told that we were recognized, that's it. Thank you all for your support, good luck to everyone. "26
A number of keywords published in the initial request sets the coordinates not only of the space (host city, region of origin, unit of the migration service), but also of time (the timing of going through a particular bureaucratic procedure, the timing of expulsion, filing of documents). These coordinates are important for constructing the scene in which events will unfold. Each advice has a certain resource of relevance - today's advice may become useless tomorrow if, for example, the legislation changes, or the applicant misses the deadlines that are, for example, related to the submission of a document.
The space is specified by the region of exodus/region of arrival, city of residence or a specific region/specific territorial migration authority. Time limits can be set by the formal dates for going through a bureaucratic procedure, or by the time that an actor is willing to spend waiting for information or searching for it.
Time limits are very important because the information discussed in a particular group has a limited resource of relevance. Today's advice may become useless tomorrow. As a result, if
26 Source: https://vk.com/nositeli_russko-
go_yazyika?w=wall-80511847_262675
the requests and interests of several visitors to the digital platform coincide in time and space, they form a node (discussion on the wall) that allows you to combine the information they have. The guarantee of the quality of information is "migrant" solidarity, moderation, as well as the observation of active and supposedly competent users. And the most "material" effect of these virtual hubs is the time spent by users connecting to the state network node.
Perhaps the best permeability of the boundaries between online and offline realities within the "migrant" nodes is shown by the groups of joint lease of housing. Here, migrants, both internal and cross-border, post their social profiles, requirements for possible neighbours, housing and living conditions by posting, as in regular migrant groups, a message on the wall. In dialogues, those who wish to accept the proposal are noted, and, depending on the success of the communication, its result is a joint lease of housing.27 Many users of the above groups are also members of joint lease communities in Moscow and other large Russian cities.
Calls for help published in all types of groups can be considered as invitations to create a local network node, in which the information (mainly experience) necessary for the user will be concentrated. A set of social and spatial coordinates that the user provides with a call for help allows potential interlocutors to determine whether their experience or the experience available to the horizontal network that they are a part of, is relevant. Each of the requests can be caused by a desire to make an imaginary journey, similar to what people experience while sitting in front of a TV set (Urry, 2012: 100), where the key social parameters indicated by the user become the desired direction.
The technology allows us to level spatial and partly temporary boundaries, in fact, realizing the "migrant" meta-network as a set of cross-links involved in the dialogue, which allow us to concentrate and process a large volume of memories of individuals who have come across the same situation. When the call resonates and information accumulates in the dialogue, the user increases his social capital.
27 Source: https://vk.com/topic-27701671_25196225
If digital platforms become a tool that makes the creation of network nodes possible, then the reason and, at the same time, the semantic framework that unites these nodes into something more becomes the need for many local, marginalized and super mobile groups to gain access to the global network node - the state (Castells, 2016: 64). To be more precise, the part of it that deals with the distribution of a key resource for a migrant - the possibility of naturalization. A migrant meta-network can arise as a response to this need, being set up to create mechanisms to facilitate connection to the state node and obtain necessary resources from it. Experiencing the situation in a digital space allows users to turn to account various tactics of connecting to the state node, understand how successful they are given the conditions, and thereby save time and effort in offline reality.
In this context, the numerous requests for virtual travel published by users acquire a common goal: to facilitate access to a particular fragment of the state resource node. The goal is recognized by the participants in the networks themselves, who openly discuss, for example, loopholes that open with the introduction of another regulatory act.28 In this context, "migrant" digital platforms can be considered as tools for creating meta-network nodes (Castells, 2016: 65). Nodes can disintegrate after completing their task, but they can also persist when users who go through all the necessary procedures and are connected to the state hub help their followers do the same.
Conclusion
The very existence and popularity of the digital platforms described here suggests that the interfaces provided for contacts with state nodes (regulations, job descriptions, normative acts) are complex and often not suitable for ensuring communication at the proper level. Without mediation, additional, artisanal entry points, contact with state information nodes seems to be very difficult. "Migrant" digital platforms and the network nodes created within them become an instrument that compensates
28 Source: https://vk.com/kaz-2rus?w=wall-149967104 4311%2Fall
for the technological imperfection of the state information hubs. They are more mobile, they better adapt technologies to a situation, quickly adapt to any changes in the rules of access to state hubs.
"Migrant" digital platforms become a place of concentration of information available to many disparate local horizontal networks. And this information can most directly affect the fate of certain people. The platforms can exist only under the condition of trust experienced by users for digital platforms and their visitor. And such trust clearly exists, given the willingness of a number of users to take advantage of advice from strangers that can change their lives.
The "migrant" digital platforms themselves can be considered as a complex "mobile hybrid" in the terminology of J. Urry (Urry, 2012: 28), in which a person, the material and, in fact, the digital platform, are one (Urry, 2012: 114), a tool aimed at gaining access to the state resource node.
The network nodes inside the dialogues make it possible to compose memories of different people, a subjective sense of time, scenery, put them in a single social context at a time when users experience the same situation suggested by the author of the appeal from the perspective of their own experiences. For a relatively short period of time that a user spends sitting in front of the screen of his device, he can "live through" several social situations at once. A few hours online allow you to save days, weeks, months, and even years of real time. In this context, the fare of a few hours, which a user who acquires citizenship spends in order to answer all who wish to join his ex-
References
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We assume that the trust between migrants, regardless of the country of origin, transmitted in network nodes - dialogues, as well as the common need to receive resources from the state network node, leads to the emergence of a meta-network related by similar cross-links, united by the common problem of a combination of local "migrant" networks. Meta-network nodes are created at the moment when one of the migrant users wants to connect to it in order to obtain the necessary information. He describes the situation and other users who responded to his request create a unique configuration of mobile hybrids, which contributes to the accumulation of collective experience and social capital, which can be used to solve the originally stated problem. Collective experience allows a person to play possible options in virtual space for developing the situation in which he finds himself, and then think of the most favourable scenario in reality.
Digital platforms, human experience, the need for it on the part of newcomers and the willingness to share it are likely to form a "migrant" meta-network. Each of the users who make up the micro-community goes on imaginary journeys into the past and the future, just as they would go with the help of more conservative technologies (Castells, 2016: 100). You are free to order this textual trip at any time: if a person needs to go, for example, from Moldova to Russia, he enters a digital platform and, by setting the parameters of his social situation, invites other users to create a meta-network node, where others can share their experience and social capital.
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Конструирование горизонтальных сетей на «мигрантских» русскоязычных цифровых площадках
Д.О. Тимошкин
Российская академия народного хозяйства и государственной службы при Президенте РФ Российская Федерация, Москва Иркутский государственный университет Российская Федерация, Иркутск Национальный исследовательский Томский государственный университет Российская Федерация, Томск Сибирский федеральный университет Российская Федерация, Красноярск
Аннотация. В статье рассматриваются русскоязычные «мигрантские» группы в социальной сети «Вконтакте». Анализируются механизмы конструирования в этих группах горизонтальных сетей, объединяющих русскоязычных иммигрантов в РФ, их роль в планировании миграции, решении повседневных бытовых, юридических и моральных проблем. В статье использован язык описания мобильностей Дж. Урри: «мигрантские» цифровые площадки мы считаем пространством, в котором создаются тематические сетевые «узлы», позволяющие аккумулировать информационные ресурсы нескольких горизонтальных сетей, необходимых для решения той или иной текущей проблемы. Формулируется гипотеза о существовании «мигрантской» метасети, состоящей из людей, которые являются частью миграционных потоков, обслуживают или эксплуатируют их. Мы предполагаем, что рассмотренные цифровые площадки существенно упрощают процесс интеграции, являясь пространством, позволяющим формировать локальные, «тематические» узлы «мигрантской» метасети, аккумулирующие социальный капитал и информацию.
Ключевые слова: мобильности, мигранты, социальная сеть, цифровые площадки, узлы, легализация.
Исследование выполнено при поддержке РНФ, проект № 18-18-00293 «Использование и создание мигрантами городской инфраструктуры сибирских региональных столиц».
Научная специальность: 22.00.00 - социологические науки.
