Cultural periodicals: research marginality, gaps and importance

The problem area of cultural periodicals is made up of their conceptual specificity. Cultural periodicals serve as distributors of peculiar information. Traditionally, the distribution of this kind of knowledge has been based and reliant on the printed format. At the turn of the 21st century, with the era of virtualization gaining dominance, changes started getting manifested. As both culture and world outlook initiated a transformation while following the digital trends, cultural periodicals inevitably started facing the new trends of publishing and communication. They were actually forced to adapt to the changes, i.e., to distribute their cultural content not only in the traditional, but also in the digital format. They started setting up websites, and launching communication in social networks. Hence, in the era of virtualization, printed cultural periodicals ceased to serve as the only means of reaching the reader, that is, reading on the screen and communication in social networks became an inseparable part of their everyday reality. In this context, discussions were flaring as to which form of publishing – the virtual, or the traditional printed format, is the more appropriate one for cultural periodicals, and how the two formats of publishing should be aligned. Thus, the relevance of the research of cultural periodicals is determined by two aspects: 1) the importance of cultural mass media, including cultural periodicals, for the cultural life of the nation, especially in the context of the mass culture and globalization; and 2) the problematic situation of publishing Lithuanian cultural periodicals at the time of media transformation , especially prior to 2015, which may be deemed the year of the initiation of the threshold in the publication of cultural periodicals. It was then that countless discussions and social campaigns started in an attempt to note the very existence of cultural periodicals and the issues they were facing. This period of a shift continued until 18 May 2018, when the Association of Cultural Periodicals was established, which actively contributed to the establishment of the Media Support Foundation. This has given cultural publications greater visibility, visibility and accessibility. Together, this has opened up more opportunities for research and reduced research gaps in this area.