A review of online communication research in Hungary

Abstract

Ever since the mid-nineties, Internet-related communication research has been a growing field in Hungary. Notwithstanding, scholars have so far failed to deliver a systematic overview regarding the historical and topical trends defining the field. To mend this gap, we provide a systematic literature review concerning the main trends and developments of Hungarian online media research as indicated by the most influential journals of the field between 1995 and 2021. Given its historical legacy, Hungary serves as an indicative case study from the socialist and post-socialist Central and Eastern European region, where following the repressive political regime of the Soviet Union, the development of social scientific fields was rendered virtually impossible for decades. In this study, the major research traditions of the field–new media and the Internet; information society; inequalities and the digital divide; education and digital literacy; e-governance; social media; video games; Big Data; algorithms and artificial intelligence – as well as their historical development are assessed. Furthermore, we formulate reflections regarding the results with a high emphasis on current internationalization processes in the region, as well as the prospects of Hungarian communication research within the context of these changes and of the historical-cultural legacies of the country.