The author employs a theoretic construct based on self-presentation approach and a self-concept which is taken as a complex structure of self-schema and possible selves. Within the framework of this model (or “self-matrix”), self-presentation is observed under the conditions of virtual reality, in which the usual ties between various aspects of one's self may be lost, producing uncharacteristic performance. The author claims that immersive interaction within the simulated environment of virtual reality may be experienced to such an extent that new properties of the self are obtained, bringing a change in real behavior. The resultant performance might contradict existing social circumstances and vice versa.

This article examines and exposes substantial fragments of the crucial for the Russian autocracy discursive formation that hegemonically produces disempowered identities and relationships, inactive social practice and representations for ordinary Russian people. Employing a multi-sited critical discourse analysis of a school textbook, TV coverage of protests, and an annual press-conference with Vladimir Putin, this study looks at the contexts, representations and identities constructed via interrelated means of power, participation and change. The analysis shows how the state perpetually and diversely propagates via the discourse of non-participation a necessity to leave the matter of the social change to those in power. As a result, non-participation represents both the politically intentional absence of participatory practices among citizens, and forms of ‘participation’ suggested and mediated by the state. Overall, the study illustrates the suppressive ideological work that the Russian state performs exploiting various communication channels, institutions, and social domains to sustain the hegemonic domination over its citizens.

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This article discusses boundaries of immersive technologies applied for storytelling by exploring the experiential differences between sensory/technological and mental/narrative immersions as distinct cognitive states. While storytelling, as a reproduction of narratives, can be immersive in itself, the way immersive technologies are afforded by users can be better described in terms of the sense of presence. Understanding differences between immersions is necessary because sensory and mental immersions can contradict each other as they rely on different sides of cognition to gain experiences. Their differentiation can help to better incorporate storytelling with immersive technologies or virtual simulations, as well as to study its effects (e.g., in terms of empathy) and factors that contribute to it.