Stories from RuNet Echo from March, 2011
Russia: An Alternative Rating of Russian Bloggers
LJ-user Ognenna have compiled an alternative rating of Russian LiveJournal bloggers based on the citation of their names in wordstat.yandex.ru. According to the rating, the most cited bloggers are: Artemiy Lebedev (graphic designer), Boris Nemtsov (opposition politician), Anastasia Volochkova (rowdy ballet dancer).
Japan: Tokyo's Crowded Metro
@MIG22K (RUS) is tweeting from Tokyo's extremely crowded metro – here, here and here (a few pictures and short video).
Russia: Election monitors harassed
Putin Watcher reports on the threats, harassment, arrests, and beatings election monitors from the organization Golos have received while monitoring the recent regional elections in Russia.
Russia: Police Requests IP Data of a Designer For Drawing Political Posters
Mr Edisonic writes [ru] about a graphic designer known as “Isabelle.” After Isabelle drew a series of political posters (most of the mock the ruling party “United Russia”) [ru] and posted them at NevinkaOnline.ru, police have requested [ru] her IP-address. The discussion of the case here [ru].
Russia: Fukushima Plant Disaster Triggers Nuclear Power Debate
The natural disaster unfolding in Japan after the 8.9 magnitude earthquake on Friday 11 March, 2011, is currently the one of the most widely discussed topics in the Russian blogosphere. One of the most worrying impacts of the quake and related tsunami has been at the Fukushima nuclear power plant. Here, Russian bloggers discuss the question of nuclear energy.
Russia: Will Prosecutor's Office Use Crowdsourced Data To Fight Illegal Gambling?
While discussing the issue of illegal gambling with the Prosecutor General, President Medvedev has stated that the Prosecutor's office can use crowdsourced data of gdecasino.ru, a mapping portal offering users the ability to map illegal gambling sites, interfax.ru reported [RUS]. Right after the news broke, the site went down, though....
Russia: Social Media Monitoring Tools
Katya Trubilova of Social Media Lessons From Russia and the UK writes about social media monitoring tools produced in Russia and Ukraine.
Ukraine, Japan: Fukushima Discussion at Pripyat.com
Forum users of Pripyat.com (RUS), a portal devoted to the 1986 Chernobyl disaster, are examining news reports and discussing the technical aspects of the situation at the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant and the response to it on the ground, pointing out some of the differences between the current disaster and...
Russia: Sochi Mascots, Politics, and Some Twitter
In an unprecedented move, the Sochi 2014 Olympic Committee was going to let the Russian people participate in the choice of the mascots, from their creation to the very selection. However, it all got mired by political controversy, "Russian style."
Japan: Russian Twitterers Report the Earthquake
The attention of Russian twitter-o-sphere is riveted on six Russian-speaking Twitterers that are currently reporting from Japan (all of them situated in different locations of the country): @msvetov, @japanreports, @mig22k, @sanmai, @touzoku, and @harunoko.
Russia: The Dead Journal
Social networks strongly tie a person to themselves. The person opens a page under his/her name, puts out photographs, indicates interests, joins groups and communities, writes notes, shares impressions and thoughts. What happens to this page when the person dies?
Russia: Putin, Piano and Vanishing Foundation Create Controversy
Growing influence of online communities on Russian politics and media agenda is illustrated by the recent story that involves Hollywood stars, singing Putin, charity donations and mysterious "Federaciya" foundation.
Russia: Mobile Users Prefer Traffic Maps
The most popular Russian online map service Yandex Maps conducted a survey among its mobile users. The survey showed that the most Russian use online maps for traffic updates. Searching for addresses and places comes only second in the list of mobile users’ activities.
Russia: First Guide on Twitter Released
Russian readers can finally enjoy the first guide on Twitter that was released in the country in March, 2011, Veri.ru reported. All sentences in the guide are no longer than 140 characters.
Russia: Bloggers Celebrate Gorbachov's Birthday
Russian bloggers celebrate Mikhail Gorbachov's 80's birthday by debating his role in history. Notable posts in English on the subject are here and here.
Russia: Torture and Lawlessness in Dagestan
At OpenDemocracy.net, Tanya Lokshina writes about torture, humiliation and lawlessness taking place in Russia's North Caucasus region of Dagestan.
Russia: Online Ecosystem Case Study of Perm Region
Alexey Sidorenko shares his observations of the digital activism scene in the city of Perm.
Russia: Militsia out – politsia in
Stanislav of Mat Rodina addresses the problems of the Russian militsia (police) changing names to politsia and whether this is merely a cosmetic change or an honest attempt to reform Russian law enforcement.
Russia: A slap in the face of public taste
Putin Watcher writes about the avantgarde art group Voina and how its art happenings challenge the boundaries of public taste.
Russia: Photographer Complains About Illegal Activities in Moscow Metro
Photographer Alexei Vitvitskiy posted pictures of allegedly illegal activities in one of the central stations of Moscow metro “Komsomolskaya.” “Here they opened a market of illegal immigrants,” Vitvitskiy wrote. ” They sell drugs, fake documents (Russian passports are especially popular), diplomas, certificates, driver's licenses and offer courier services.”
Russia: New Crowd Sourcing Web Project Will Monitor Politician's Promises
Online activists from Yekaterinburg has launched DalSlovo.Ru (“Gave a Word .ru”), a new crowd sourcing portal that will report all promises made by politicians and check if these promises are fulfilled. So far, the service is available for federal and Yekaterinburg officials.
