Stories from RuNet Echo from August, 2011

Russia: Why We Are Leaving Our Country Behind

  31 August 2011

Recent months have seen a new spin on the topic of emigration that seems to be ever-present in the Russian online space. Several powerful blog posts written by people from different social groups have become a platform for expressing one's take on the present and future of the country and people's place in it.

Russia: Content Analysis of Party Manifestos

  30 August 2011

LJ-user schegloff analyses [ru] party manifestos of the Russian parties using Wordle word clouds. “Opposition can be identified by the word “must,” patriots by the word “Russia,” ruling party by the word “Unity,” concludes the blogger, speaking of the word frequency in each document.

Uzbekistan: Journalist Harassed in Tashkent Airport

  23 August 2011

Elena Bondar, Young Uzbek journalist, was detained at the arrival to Tashkent airport after attending a course on modern journalism tools, organized by OSCE and Deutsche Welle in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, Fergana News reports [ru].  After thorough examination of her documents and baggage, the customs officials let the journalist go home, but confiscated CDs and USB...

Russia: “Democracy Without Balls”

  21 August 2011

Oleg Klimov writes [ru] that Mikhail Gorbachev, speaking on the 20th anniversary of the Soviet Union's collapse, said that “Putin is no dictator – he has just castrated democracy by depriving citizens of the democratic right to choose.”

Russia: Bloggers Remember 20th Anniversary of August Coup

  19 August 2011

On August 19, Russians commemorate 20 years since the "August Putsch," a failed coup d'etat conducted by a number of KGB officers and military units who were opposed to Gorbachev's reform program and decentralisation of power to the Soviet republics. Citizens took to the streets to defend democracy, and bloggers are remembering their efforts.

Russia: New Legislation to Allow “Creative Commons” License

  16 August 2011

Russian Communication Ministry submitted  to President Medvedev a project for legislation update that would allow using “Creative Commons” (CC) copyright license in Russia, newspaper Vedomosti reports [ru]. The project is a follow-up to a meeting between Medvedev and leaders of Russian Internet community [en] where the president promised to support...

Russia: A Psycho-Neurological Patient's Photo Stories

  11 August 2011

Pasha Kyshtymov, a lifelong psycho-neurological patient in Siberia, cannot communicate through speech, but had no problems learning to express himself through photography. On his blog, the Russian photographer Oleg Klimov has documented the poignant impromptu experience of teaching Pasha to share his worldview with others.

Russia: One Million Twitter Accounts in Russian

  11 August 2011

The number of Twitter accounts in Russian crossed the point of one million, according to recent reseach [ru] by Russian Internet company Yandex. Now, Russian speakers publish around 370,000 tweets a day (comparing to 150,00o a year ago).  The percentage of daily active  Twitter users (of the total Russian speakers)...

About our RuNet Echo coverage

Subscribe to RuNet Echo!


RuNet Echo on LiveJournal