Although "versioning" is not a fully developed concept in social-humanistic contexts, apparently someone's idea was to insert the 2.0 supplement to "modernize" the narrative, which intuitively suggests to the external audience that it is about some more updated and up-to-date practice, i.e. the group, not about the students
The version used by the creators of the "Students 2.0" initiative at first glance sounded unusual and an unexpected step forward in an attempt to do something more ambitious. For a moment, my colleague and I considered whether someone on the trail of the "Culture 2.0" concept (which combines and reflects the relationship between national and organizational culture in organizations and groups) wanted to develop a story through a kind of iteration. I admit, I was naively even happy that we would have a topic for analysis, because the title suggested it.
But at a second glance (under the title) it was clear that there was no broader concept or hidden messages. The goal was very simple: to give another name to the "boys".
The term, which quickly entered Wikipedia, became popular when the graffiti "Go to school" was written on the gate of the famous "Jovan Jovanović Zmaj" Gymnasium in Novi Sad, which was blocked. The appearance of the letter Ć instead of Đ soon became a common place for mockery and ridicule of less literate students.
Although "versioning" is not a fully developed concept in social-humanistic contexts, it was obviously someone's idea to "modernize" the narrative, by inserting a 2.0 add-on, which intuitively suggests to the external audience that it is about some more updated and up-to-date practice, i.e. group.
Internally, with this name, the idea was to "encourage" the members of that other group that is the object of ridicule, because the assumption is that even if someone wants to declare himself as being against faculty blockades, he does not want to be identified with a group that is a minority and whose image is not positive. Therefore, they were called "Students 2.0".
Photo: FoNet / Milica VučkovićPioneer Park
Political marketing
As political marketing experts know well, that is. propagandists, it is not important how something is, but how it is presented. And for a large target group, it was important to show that these are some students who want to learn, and not blackmailed, misled, paid people, or students with political ambitions.
As this case indicates, in crisis situations, when it is impossible to control the narrative, the marketing tactic is a quick reaction aimed at drawing attention in this case with a new name, i.e. with a new story and image. From bad students to good and hardworking students who just want to go to their colleges to take exams. While authentic students feel that many previous years have been wasted due to living in a system that is not fair, students 2.0 do not want to lose or repeat a year.
What the marketing experts didn't count on is that the narrative with the boys has already taken root so much that it threatens to become the word of the year, thereby threatening the popularity of plenums and assemblies. Besides being authentic and organically created by themselves, the term "students" precisely describes a phenomenon that we accept as inevitable: that a group of mostly bad students is where it is, due to party membership, while meritocracy is a long-forgotten social concept.
In creative fields like art, music, or literature, versioning is used to track changes and iterations in the creative process. This may include keeping multiple drafts or versions of the work to reflect progress and growth over time. Therefore, if students 2.0 were an authentic iteration of the original students, they would have the right to carry the name students 2.0.
Like this, they're just kids.
There remains hope, that in the future there will be various versions of student groups and movements, and that those versions will not necessarily be a reaction to social or political crises, but a force that is a control mechanism of society. Until then, we are left with authentic students, who reminded the whole society that it is cool to be a student.
The author is an assistant professor at the Faculty of Dramatic Arts in Belgrade
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