Boundaries as illusion: the historical vicissitudes of the "mediatization”

The article summarizes the results of a critical analysis of the term "meditatization" evolution in scientific and journalistic discourse. The number of publications on this topic in recent years has increased significantly, a number of new terms have been introduced into the scientific vocabulary. There is a need to revise the methodological tools for researching practices of imposing special media logics on autonomous public institutions functioning. The objective of the article is to trace the factors of the emergence and development of the phenomenon of meditatization in different historical periods. It emphasizes the paradoxical nature of the evolution of meaning in the era of hypermedia, where many concepts acquire a latent mode of existence. The meaning of the concept is designed to capture the presence of imperceptible substitutions of senses that gradually transform the semantic orders of communities. This contributes to the tendency to perceive neutral signals of the external environment as semantically structured symbolic messages. Mutual layers of media worlds contribute to involuntary blurring of the familiar semantic boundaries, bring an annoying confusion to collective judgments and assessments. The result has often been the "viral" effect of mass mania - witch hunts, gold fever, and tulip fever and so on. The author distinguishes between strong and weak versions of the theory of mediatization, applying the network logic to the design of the hypermedia system. The essence of the process itself is treated by the angle of editing matrices and codes of an integral cultural identity collective memory from special controlling links mediating the natural mode of its development. The historical and cultural prerequisites for maintaining a natural semantic balance in the communication ecosystems are determined. The conclusion is drawn that the origins of mediation practices should be sought in the early periods of the cultural history of mankind simultaneously with the development of skills of articulate speech and mass participation in collective rituals.