Stories about Russia from March, 2011
Russia: First Candidates for the ‘Net Parliament’
Novaya Gazeta website publishes [ru] the first results of the nominations for the ‘Net Parliament,’ the virtual project described by its creators as an ‘organ of the representative power of Russian Internet.’ Among the first hundred of the nominated candidates are mostly Moscow-based bloggers.
Russia: Photos of Saint Patrick's Day Parade in Moscow
Photoblogger Dervishv publishes [ru] extravagant photos of Saint Patrick's Day celebration: all kinds of green, Moscow hipsters, Irish flags… and police (the parade was officially banned). At least, some parts of the police forces were in green uniform.
Russia: Reaching Out to the President
Many projects have been recently created in Russia on the basis of crowdsourcing (or user-generated content (UGC)), when information on any particular topic is collected by internet users. Almost each one of these projects signalizes about a problem. Marina Litvinovich analyzed them and proposed a thesis that the success of these projects depends on their ability to establish their contact with the officials.
Russia: 80 Million of Russians to Go Online by 2014
Given current online trends in Russia, the Internet penetration in the country in 2014 will be as high as 71 percent with 80 million of Russians using the Web, the latest report [RUS] of the Public Opinion Foundation said.
Russia: New Website Fights Corruption in Moscow University
New website MGIMOleaks.com is designed to fight corruption at prestigious Moscow State University of International Relations. People are urged to inform the site administration about any cases of bribery, scams, abuse of powers, etc. The information will then be published on the site and given anonymously to the police.
Russia: Tweets From State Duma “Internet Law” Hearing
Inna Smbatyan, analyst at “Social Networks” Agency, tweets [ru] from the Russian State Duma “Internet Law” hearing. The draft of the law that would regulate online activity in Russia can be found here [ru].
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).
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: Ramzan Kadyrov's Brazil Game
Siberian Light comments on the “football match between an ageing team of Brazilian World Cup winners and a Chechen team featuring […] Ramzan Kadyrov,” which took place in Grozny, Chechnya, earlier this week: “The money to pay all these Brazilian superstars came from somewhere – and I’ll bet most of...
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.
