I was born in Moscow, lived most of my life in Jerusalem, spent 3 years in Washington DC (where I did MA at GW). But now I live in London and my major role is doctoral student at PhD program in New media, Innovation and Literacy at the London School of Economics media department. The topic of my research is development of online political institutions and ICT based models of governance in crisis situations.
I also worked as a consultant on information technology, new media, and social media projects for The World Bank, American Councils for International Education, and Internews, and was a research assistant at the Berkman Center for Internet and Society. Previously I worked as a journalist for major Russian daily newspapers Kommersant and Novaya Gazeta, and served as news editor and analyst for Israeli TV.
Alexey Sidorenko and I were founders of Help Map, the crowdsourcing platform, which was used to coordinate assistance to victims of wildfires in Russia in 2010 and won a Russian National Internet Award for best project in the “State and Society” category.
My Russian blog (since 2002): http://pustovek.livejournal.com/
You can reach me through Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/asmolov
Latest posts by Gregory Asmolov from February, 2010
Russia: Closure of Torrents.ru Makes People Suspicious of .Ru Zone
The decision to close Torrents.ru is certainly controversial and became one of the major discussion topics in the country. Going beyond the copyright concept, bloggers wonder how safe it is to have a domain in .ru zone.
Russia: New Military Doctrine and Information Security
The new Russian military doctrine provides an interesting opportunity to evaluate the role of information from security perspective. This may apply to the issues of cyber security and Internet, as well as other information platforms.
Russia: Torrents.ru Is Suspended
The major Russian torrent (files exchange) service torrents.ru has been suspended due to investigation of copyright violations, RIA Novosty reported. The service continues to work via another domain.
Russia: When Politicians Go Online
When more and more Russian politicians become bloggers and seek the help of PR firms to develop and manage their blogs, people wonder about the future of the Russian blogosphere as an independent information platform and valuable public sphere.
Russian Search Giant Plans To Buy ICQ
The Russian online search giant Yandex.ru became one of the top candidates to purchase a popular instant messaging service ICQ, Russian news agency Lenta.ru reported [RUS].
Russia May Use E-mail Addresses As ID Tools
The Russian minister of communication and mass media Igor Shegolev said [RUS] that Russia considered using e-mails accounts as additional identifications for Russian citizens along with traditional passports. According to the minister, it would make it easier for the government to communicate with citizens.
Russia Wants To Be Twitter Trend
A new Russian Internet campaign [RUS] focuses on Twitter and aims to make #Russia one of the ten most discussed hashtags. So far, about 3,000 users joined the Russian Twitwave [RUS]. The campaign was initiated by a member of the Russian parliament and Internet activist Konstantin Rykov
Russia: Another Video Blogger Arrested
Grigoriy Chekalin, a former deputy prosecutor of Uhta region, who published [RUS] a YouTube video where he accused local official in falsification of investigation materials regarding a fire in a local mall, has been arrested [RUS] by the Russian police. Chekalin is being accused of providing false information to investigators.
Famous Researcher Talks About Internet in Russia
Alexander Voiskounsky is one of the first scholars who started researching the Internet in Russia. In an interview to Global Voices, Dr. Voiskounsky shared his view on current problems of the Internet research in Russia, described how science can stop hackers and explained why social networks cannot play a significant political role in the country.
