EDUCATIONAL COMMUNITY: AMONG THE REAL AND VIRTUAL CIVIC INITIATIVE

The new media enable numerous advantages in the strengthening of civic engagement, through removing barriers in space and time and through networking of individuals of the same social, civic or political interests at the global level. Different forms of civic engagement and civic responsibility in the virtual space are ever more present, and internet and mobile technology are its main instruments. Taking into account the findings of previous research in this area, in particular, the findings of a positive correlation between new media literacy and civic engagement in the United States and in Serbia, the objectives of this study were to investigate the differences in civic engagement in relation to media exposure and the differences in civic engagement in relation to digital participation of the Serbian academic and educational community. The survey was conducted in 2013. Questionnaire regarding the presence of respondents' civic engagement has been taken from the author's Literat earlier study (2011) and it consists of 5 close ended questions, whose reliability is satisfactory: α = 0.742. The research sample was consisted from the members of Serbian educational community, including those from high school students to university professors. The research results of differences in civic engagement in relation to media exposure showed that the research participants who spend more time reading the print media or using the Internet for the purposes of work or school are more socially engaged, while respondents who watch television program are not. Analysis of civic engagement in relation to digital participation showed that respondents who use online communities, forums and message boards (online activities that require discussion and active participation) achieve higher scores on civic engagement, in contrast to respondents who spend more time on entertainment, commercial facilities, such as YouTube and video gaming. The results of this study are indicative of the impact of the media on creating a responsible, civic and democratic society. Due to the fact that the number of users and media consumers increases progressively, the changes in the level of state and educational institutions in terms of acquiring of media competence and media literacy are becoming all the more necessary.