Internet Research in Russia 2005

Internet Research in RussiaAlexander VOISKOUNSKY: 

Internet Research in Russia Alexander VOISKOUNSKY December 21st, 2005 Haifa University, Israel

Alexander Voiskounsky’s Regular Address:: 

Alexander Voiskounsky’s Regular Address: Dept. of Psychology, Moscow State University after M.V. Lomonosov 8/5 Mokhovaya st., Moscow 103009 Russia Tel.: +7 095 203 3409 (dept.) E-mail: vae-msu@mail.ru For long files: vaemsu@gmail.com

Personal Experience in CMC studies: 

Personal Experience in CMC studies Study, patterns in LAN communication (1980-1983); F2F interviews with Soviet participants (N=11) of the UN teleconference in biochemistry (December 1983); Content analysis of listings of several international newsgroups with one Soviet participant (1983-1985); Use of computer networks for bibliographic search in PsycInfo & other databases (since mid-1980s); Listening to a lecture course, S.R.Hiltz & M.Turoff (authors of: The Network Nation, 1978); early 1980s; Personal e-mail account, end of 1991, access to e-mail & news-conferences.

Internet development in Russia: 

Internet development in Russia 1980s – National Center of Automatic Exchange of Information (Acad. of Sciences): limited access of selected representatives of several organizations (including the MSU), assisting operators. Late 1980’ – enthusiastic Unix programmers worked on computer telecommunications. August 1990 – connection to fuug.fi (Helsinki). 19 Sept. 1990 – registration of the domain .su 7 April 1994 – registration of the domain .ru

 PREHISTORY OF THE INTERNET RESEARCH IN RUSSIADuring the 1980s, years before the regular access to the global telecommunications became available, two research projects had been advanced in Russia (then the USSR); the first started shortly before 1985, i.e. before the Soviet perestroika, and the 2nd in 1985:1.   Speech Patterns‘ Analysis in Computer-Mediated Communication (1984-1990)2. VELHAM (Velikhov-Hamburg) joint Soviet/Russian – American project on „COGNITION AND COMMUNICATION“ (1985-1994).: 

PREHISTORY OF THE INTERNET RESEARCH IN RUSSIA During the 1980s, years before the regular access to the global telecommunications became available, two research projects had been advanced in Russia (then the USSR); the first started shortly before 1985, i.e. before the Soviet perestroika, and the 2nd in 1985: 1.   Speech Patterns‘ Analysis in Computer-Mediated Communication (1984-1990) 2. VELHAM (Velikhov-Hamburg) joint Soviet/Russian – American project on „COGNITION AND COMMUNICATION“ (1985-1994).

Prehistory (continued): 

Prehistory (continued) 1. „Speech Patterns Analysis“   Research was based on the analysis of LAN users‘ behavior patterns and on the analysis done while episodic access to listings of newsgroups‘ communication patterns. The main results are the description of the peculiarity of awareness and orientation practices while computer mediated communication (direct and indirect ways of orientation in the variety of communicative partners), and the specifics of speech patterns, with features common for written and spoken speech, for dialogues, monologues, and polilogues.

Prehistory (continued) REFERENCES: 

Prehistory (continued) REFERENCES - Voiskounsky A. (1995). The development of external means of communicative orientation. Journal of Russian and East European Psychology, 33 (5), 74-81. - Voiskounsky A. (1998). Telelogue Speech. F.Sudweeks et al. (Eds.). Network and Netplay: Virtual Groups on the Internet. AAAI Press/The MIT Press, pp. 27-40. - Voiskounsky A. (1992). Speech in computer mediated communication. Human-Computer Interaction, Proc., East-West Internat. Conf. - St. Petersburg, pp. 240-243. - Voiskounsky A. Internet Communication: Social Language. Proc., Fourth International Conference on Cultural Attitudes towards Technology and Communication (CATaC'04), Karlstad, Sweden, 27 June-1 July 2004. Ed. by F.Sudweeks & Ch. Ess. – Murdoch University, Australia, Publ., 2004, pp. 201-205.  

Prehistory (continued)2. The Velham Project: 

Prehistory (continued) 2. The Velham Project   The research was based on the cooperation between the Californian and the Moscow research groups; the former provided the hardware and the telecommunication facilities, the latter introduced the new way of communication into the Soviet/Russian academic institutions, libraries, and high schools. The main research results are based on the observation of schoolchildren and adults working and entertaining in the computer-rich environment (the so-called 5th Dimension).   References   1.Cole, M. (1996). Cultural Psychology: Once and Future Discipline. Cambridge, MA, and London: The Belknap Press of Harvard U Press. 2. Papers in the Journal of Russian and East European Psychology.

Slide9: 

THEORETICAL BACKGROUND OF THE INTERNET RESEARCH IN RUSSIA Both prehistoric teams included psychologists. The theoretical background of the both projects was the cultural-historical theory of psychic development introduced by Lev Vygotsky (1896-1934). Vygotsky’s main publications in English: Vygotsky, L.S. (1962). Thought and language, Cambridge: Harvard U Press. Vygotsky, L.S. (1978). Mind in Society: The Development of Higher Psychological Processes, Cambridge: Harvard U Press. Many other books/papers, and chapters in textbooks are available, too  

Theoretical background (continued): 

Theoretical background (continued) Vygotsky emphasized that the higher mental processes (including cognition) are of social origin, their development is based on joint actions (especially within the zone of proximal development, in the child-adult dyad), on interpersonal communication, and presumably on mediated forms of behavior.

Slide11: 

Theoretical background (continued)   Investigation of mediated forms of behavior is traditional for the Vygotskian approach in (Russian) psychology. The main mediating sources are, according to Vygotsky, physical objects, signs and semiotic systems. Having been internalized (the term common both for J.Piaget and L.Vygotsky), the signs and the methods of handling the material objects form the higher psychological processes. Thus, the individual psychic activity is actually a transformed joint (usually child-adult) activity. As a result, external and internal (mental) activities have the same origin and the same structure, as it is stressed by A.N.Leontiev (in a book Problems of the Development of Mind, Moscow: Progress Publ., 1981) and by many other Vygotsky’s followers.

Slide12: 

Theoretical background (continued) Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) originate from highly developed semiotic (sign) systems that mediate and remediate[1] almost every human practical or theoretical activity. Thus research in the field is apt to the paradigm of Vygotskian approach in psychology.   The Internet and the WWW are probably the leading social technologies within the ICT field. Research of the Internet/WWW usage patterns is “traditional” within the Vygotskian approach in the Russian psychology.   [1] For remediation, see: Cole, M. (1996). Cultural Psychology: Once and Future Discipline. Cambridge, MA and London: the Belknap Press of Harvard U Press.

Slide13: 

Theoretical background (continued) Computers and the ICT, being primarily semiotic instruments, are externalized tools, mediating and remediating human psychic activity. Unlike the developmental psychology approach, externalization and not internalization is of primary interest for anyone doing research of the Internet-mediated forms of cognitive, communicative, or entertaining activities. Progress in technologies means that psychologists should pay much more interest in externalization than they traditionally used to. Thus, psychologists seemed to be the most prepared in Russia team of specialists to initiate any Internet-related research projects.

CURRENT STATUS OF THE CMC RESEARCH, or the INTERNET RELATED/MEDIATED RESEARCH IN RUSSIA: 

CURRENT STATUS OF THE CMC RESEARCH, or the INTERNET RELATED/MEDIATED RESEARCH IN RUSSIA

Slide15: 

The Russian segment of the Internet audience includes residents of diverse countries (including Israelis) – post-Soviets & born abroad. In the 20th century there were at least four periods of massive migration from Russia. SpyLog (www.spylog.ru) tracker: approximately 45-50% of navigations are made from outside Russia. For example, Global Internet Statistics (by Language) estimates the number of Americans who regularly access the Russian segment of the Internet is over 100,000. The Russian segment includes: Little Russia in San Antonio, Texas (http://mars.uthsca.edu/Russian), Israeli sites, e.a.

Global Internet Statistics (by Language) : 

Global Internet Statistics (by Language) The *latest* (refer to: Fall, 2004) estimated figures of the number of people online in each language zone (native speakers), classified by languages instead of by countries, since people speaking the same language form their own online community no matter what country they happen to live in. Source: Global Reach (global-reach.biz/globstats/)

Reasons for Joining the Russian Internet Community: 

Reasons for Joining the Russian Internet Community Several ethnic_language_segments, presented on the Internet, may be called ‘points of attraction’. These are languages other than English. The Russian segment of the Internet is a ‘PoA’. Method: discussions (F2F or mediated, but not formal interviews) with non-Russian residents (N=67), held since 1994.

Reasons for Joining the Russian Internet community: cont’d: 

Reasons for Joining the Russian Internet community: cont’d Lack/shortage of attractive web content in ethnic languages Poor command of official languages of post-Soviet states by ethnic Russians, residing outside Russia Poor literacy skills in their mother-tongues of non-Russians in the post-Soviet states: they got formal education in Russian. Use of Arabic or Latin alphabets in some post-Soviet states, instead of a modified Cyrillics. A peculiar sociolinguistic situation: different generations speaking the same language might soon have no common written language. Less populated countries: few forums, sites, blogs in ethnic languages; more diverse views and more valuable information may be found abroad. Residents of post-Soviet states often have better command of Russian than of English.

Reasons for Joining the Russian Internet community: cont’d: 

Reasons for Joining the Russian Internet community: cont’d Nostalgia towards older times: chatting from abroad to people someone used to know earlier, or to new chatters; share hobbies 7. Media in some post-Soviet states are even less independent compared to the Russian media: residents of these countries get access to less censured news 8. Politically-minded people keep group discussions; they blame the communist regime, and/or the modern regimes 9. Creative people from outside Russia present their artworks to a wider audience compared to what is available in their states 10. Russian Internet experts are often advanced. Non-Russians subscribe to the Russian language newsgroups, surf reviews published on Russian web-sites, discuss technical issues. 11. Speakers of Russian residing outside the former USSR feel themselves ‘missionaries’: consult in web-related issues, provide information (folk or avant-garde music, etc.).

Some references: 

Some references Voiskounsky, A. E. (1999). Internet: Culture, diversity and unification, Javnost - The Public. Journal of the European Institute for Communication and Culture, VI(4), 53-65. Voiskounsky, A., and Hilton, T. S. (1995). Global networking and remote communities formation, Information systems and global competitiveness, Proceedings of the International Association for Computer Information Systems, Toronto, Canada: IACIS Press, pp. 282-287. Voiskounsky, A.E. Internet: Clusters of Attractiveness. (2002). Electronic Journal of Communication / La Revue Electronique de Communication. Volume 12 (3-4). http://www.cios.org/getfile/voiskoun_v12n34

Actual Research Areas: 

Actual Research Areas Philosophy Political Science Education Culture & Gender Research Linguistics, Literary & Art Critics Sociology Applied Statistics Economics Psychology

  PhilosophyA seminar at the Institute of Philosophy, Russian Academy of Sciences; some edited volumes & theses of the Ph.D. level;seminars at different universities; Major themes: new approaches toward the unique & the multiple, the natural & the artificial, the real & the virtual; new identities;sociality of gadgets; critics and/or development of the heritage of foreign philosophers (mainly the French ones), etc.: 

Philosophy A seminar at the Institute of Philosophy, Russian Academy of Sciences; some edited volumes & theses of the Ph.D. level; seminars at different universities; Major themes: new approaches toward the unique & the multiple, the natural & the artificial, the real & the virtual; new identities; sociality of gadgets; critics and/or development of the heritage of foreign philosophers (mainly the French ones), etc.

Culture and Gender Research: 

Culture and Gender Research Research on web cultures in post-Soviet & post-communist states Digital divide & inequality of access to the Web Role of non-residents in the Russian web culture Web-related shift in culture identities Gender identities on the web Gender attitudes toward the Internet use Gender differences in the web use, etc.

Culture & Gender (continued): some references: 

Culture & Gender (continued): some references Voiskounsky A. (1999). Internet: Culture, Diversity and Unification. Javnost – The Public. Journal of the European Institute for Communication and Culture, Vol. V(4), pp. 53-65. Voiskounsky A.E. Culture specifics on the Internet. Asian-Pacific Human-Computer Interaction (APCHI'96) Conf. Proc., Eds. Lim Kee Yong, Linda Herman, Ying K. Leung & Jackie Moyes. Singapore: ITI, 1996, pp. 151-161. Voiskounsky A. Internet Culture in Russia. Internet-based teaching and learning (IN-TELE) 99. Proc., IN-TELE 99 Conference. Frankfurt a/M: Peter Lang, 2001, pp. 36-44. Mitina O.V., Voiskounsky A.E. (2005). GENDER DIFFERENCES OF THE INTERNET-RELATED STEREOTYPES IN RUSSIA. To be published in: PsychNology Journal (www.psychnology.org) , December, 2005.

Education: 

Education Projects on distant education Didactics of remote learning in virtual groups Remote competitions for K-12 & adults in different fields, including effectiveness of the web search Advanced teaching programs for gifted & talented kids Education of high-school teachers (governmental and/or private programs, e.g. www.fio.ru, www.iatp.org)

Education, continued: 

Education, continued FIO = Federation of Internet Education (in Russian) FIO (www.fio.ru/) is a non-profit investment into Russian education, owned solely by JUKOS Since 1999: 43 educational centres have been organized (usually located at local Universities). 130,000 teachers have been extensively taught (~9% of school teachers in Russia). Source: www.fid.ru/forum/Musher/

Linguistics, Literature & Art Critics: 

Linguistics, Literature & Art Critics Web fiction & verses as an example of a postmodern literature Use of hypertexts & chats in fiction Digital art as a new cultural phenomenon Web publications – a new genre? Investigation of computer slang/argot, SMS & online genres, etc. The 1st monograph on functioning of Russian language on the Internet, by G.Trofimova (http://planeta.gramota.ru/gnt.html)

Political Science: 

Political Science Analysis of web-sites, web-pages & web-portals of political parties & political leaders Web-mediated confrontations between political groups Web-discussions of modern political theories; Web-forums, blogs & newsgroups on internal & external politics in post-Soviet states, etc. Researchers contribute to an official ‘e-government Program’: only several years ago Russia took 74th position (out of 103) in the rating of the use of web technologies by national governments (transparency & interactivity were estimated). Source: http://cyprg.arizona.edu/hypo_content.htm

Economics: 

Economics Digital economics Tendencies toward globalization & anti-globalization Web-based economics: B2B & B2C, etc. High technologies & economics ‘Brain drain’ & offshore IT economics Internet as an advertising medium For some information (in English) on IT market research, click: www.auriga.ru/it_market_resea.html

Sociology: 

Sociology E-mail & online surveys, self-selected respondents Representat-ive fieldwork research, quoted respondents

Sociology (continued): 

Sociology (continued) - Amateur „census-like“ survey www.stars.ru/people.htm, August-September, 1998, 33,201 respondents (2nd survey was held in 1999) - Numerous episodic surveys of certain site’s visitors - Episodic Professional Web surveys (self-selected respondents). Example: Gallup Ltd. (May-June, 1999, in S.Peterburg) www.rocit.ru/opinions/research.htm - Yearly e-mail monitoring (combined self-selected and sample-constructing principles), 1992 -1998. Brief results are available at: www.ripn.net Reference: Voiskounsky A. (1998). Investigation of Relcom Network Users. – F.Sudweeks et al. (eds.). Network and Netplay: Virtual Groups on the Internet. AAAI Press/The MIT Press, 113-126.

Sociology (continued) Representative Fieldwork, Internet Audience: 

Sociology (continued) Representative Fieldwork, Internet Audience www.comcon-2.com - the pioneer, started in 1996, cities only, kids including, no free data available since 2002 www.gallup.ru cities only, no kids, no free data available www.monitoring.ru no kids, no free data available www.gfk.ru or mr.gfk.ru (Austrian company) towns only, no kids, no free data available Most of the companies carry on quarterly surveys. www.fom.ru (The Public Opinion Foundation) Since 2001; cities/towns/villages; no kids; quarterly research (fieldwork + panel), data fully available (the last refer to Summer, 2005); methodology compatible with that of Nielsen/NetRatings

Sociology (continued): 

Sociology (continued) Several organizations & companies (e.g., www.masmi.ru, www.romir.ru, etc.) carry on episodic surveys. International sources present always outdated information on the Internet audience in Russia: e.g., the International Development Corporation www.idc.com (www.idcrussia.ru or www.idccentraleurope.com), or the US Government 2000 report www.tradeport.org/ts/countries/russia/isa/isar0012, or the eLab report, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee www.2000ogsm.vanderbilt.edu/papers/Internet_in_Russia, or the F. Ebert Foundat. www.riisnp.ru/PUBLIC/russia100. At the nua.ie the “Russian” entries refer to outdated figures.

Sociology (continued)The FOM Data (Summer 2005)): 

Sociology (continued) The FOM Data (Summer 2005)) Total & regional data Activity of web users Places of web access Interests Total Demography (by gender, age, level of education, etc.) Earnings & web use

FOM data (continued)Sociology of web use in Russia (Summer 2005)No children/teenagers: the data refer to 18+: 

FOM data (continued) Sociology of web use in Russia (Summer 2005) No children/teenagers: the data refer to 18+ 5.9 mln daily aud. 11.2. mln weekly audience 16.1 mln monthly audience 18.9 mln quarterly audience 20.9 mln 6-month audience 19 % of population (23 % males, 16 % females) 57 % males, 43 % females 38 % age 18-24 29 % age 25-34 17 % age 35-44 13 % age 45-54 3 % age 55 & older

Applied Statistics: 

Applied Statistics www.yandex.ru/chisla statistics from the major Russian search engine provider Yandex rumetrica.rambler.ru/data/ statistics from the 2nd major search engine provider (based on the Rambler’s Top 100, i.e. visitor’s index of the most visited Russian URLs) See these two sources to learn: the number of unique servers & unique URLs, the current amount of content (~ 5.00 Gb)

Applied statistics (continued)Yandex Statistics (May 17, 2004): 

Applied statistics (continued) Yandex Statistics (May 17, 2004) “Black Square” (under painter Malevich). www.lexa.ru/lexa/black A click within the square opens a webserver www.yandex.ru/nini Weekly index of the most popular key-words inserted (~6,000,000 a day) for the Yandex webspider.

Applied statistics (continued)Index of daily activity (from the Rambler Statistics): 

Applied statistics (continued) Index of daily activity (from the Rambler Statistics) ~2/3 residents of Russia ~7-9 % Ukrainians ~2.0 % USA/Canadians Less than 2.0 % Israeli Estonians Germans Byelarussians Kazakhstans

The main websites on cyberpsychology (in Russian): 

The main websites on cyberpsychology (in Russian) http://psynet.carfax.ru/ http://cyberpsychology.report.ru/ www.psychology.ru/internet/ecology/ http://www.nedug.ru/lib/ http://psy.piter.com/library http://www.auditorium.ru/ http://www.relarn.ru:8080/human/ http://www.fio.ru http://flogiston.ru/articles/netpsy http://redeyes.ru/ http://add.net.ru/ http://psynet.by.ru http://sufism.ru/ /

Psychology (projects): 

Psychology (projects) Identity transformations (some diploma & PHD theses)  Comparative research of the development of the Internet users‘ communities in the Eastern/Central European transient post-communist states (Moscow/Ljubljana Univ.) Internet addiction Gender issues on the Internet Attitudes towards hacking, and motivation of hackers (see the next two slides) Flow in online gaming (comparative study: samples of Russian, French & Chinese MUDders) IT-Giftedness Psychology of Cyberethics

Psychology Projects (cont’d): 

Psychology Projects (cont’d) The next slide will be illustrative of the development of computer hackers’ intrinsic motivation, namely the flow motivation. It is illustrated as a balance/counterbalance of the available skills & of task challenges.

Psychology (continued)REFERENCES: 

Psychology (continued) REFERENCES Arestova, O., Babanin, L., Voiskounsky, A. (1999). Psychological Research of Computer-Mediated Communication in Russia. Behaviour and Information Technology, 18 (2), 141-147. Voiskounsky A. (1998). Investigation of Relcom Network Users. In: F.Sudweeks et al. (eds.). Network and Netplay: Virtual Groups on the Internet. AAAI Press/The MIT Press, 113-126. Voiskounsky A.E., Babaeva J.D., Smyslova O.V. Attitudes towards computer hacking in Russia. – Cybercrime: Law Enforcement, Security and Surveillance in the Information Age. – Ed. By D.Thomas & B.Loader. – L. & NY: Routledge, 2000, pp. 56-84.

Psychology (continued)References (Continued): 

Psychology (continued) References (Continued) Babaeva J.D., Voiskounsky A.E. IT-Giftedness in Children and Adolescents. Educational Technology & Society, vol. 5(1), 2002, pp. 154-162. http://ifets.ieee.org/periodical/vol_1_2002/babaeva.html , http://ifets.ieee.org/periodical/vol_1_2002/babaeva.pdf Voiskounsky A.E., Smyslova O.V. Flow-Based Model of Computer Hackers’ Motivation. CyberPsychology & Behavior, Vol. 6, № 3, 2003, pp. 171-180. Voiskounsky A.E., Smyslova O.V. Flow in Computer Hackers’ Activity. // 8th International Conference on Motivation (Workshop on Achievement and Task Motivation). Abstracts. – Moscow, 2002, pp. 128-129. Voiskounsky A.E., Smyslova O.V. Flow in computer hacking: A model. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol. 2713. – Berlin e.a.: Springer, 2003, pp. 176-186.

Factor models for Russian & French samples of MUDders (explorative analysis): 

Factor models for Russian & French samples of MUDders (explorative analysis) Russians F1 = Flow F2 = Achievements F3 = Activity vs. passivity F4 = Interaction F5 = Thoughtfulness vs. spontaneity F6 = Cognition French F1 = Achievements F2 = Interaction and Cognition F3 = Flow

Psychology (continued)References: 

Psychology (continued) References Voiskounsky A.E., Mitina O.V., Avetisova A.A. Communicative Patterns and Flow Experience of MUD Players. Int. J. of Advanced Media and Communication, V 1(1), 2005, pp. 5-25. Voiskounsky A.E., Mitina O.V., Avetisova A.A. Playing Online Games: Flow Experience. PsychNology Journal, 2004, Volume 2, Number 3, pp. 259 – 281. www.psychnology.org/PSYCHNOLOGY_JOURNAL_2_3_VOISKOUNSKY.PDF

Cyberethics Meets Developmental Psychology: 

Cyberethics Meets Developmental Psychology Open-ended questions on moral judgments show: Adolescents/kids often fail to transfer well-known moral norms to less known, e.g. virtual environments. In the Cyberspace they lack ‘ethical sensitivity’, that is, the ability to distinguish moral/immoral behavior.

What is needed, world-wide:: 

What is needed, world-wide: research of Web-related moral views & judgments of children/adolescents; education program to be worked out & taught, to update Web-related moral values of K-12 students; teach globe-wide, *every* language: Cyberspace is global indeed.

References: 

References Voiskounsky A. Current problems of moral research and education in the IT environment. Human Perspectives in the Internet Society: Culture, Psychology and Gender. K.Morgan, C.A.Brebbia, J.Sanchez, A.Voiskounsky (eds.). WIT Press: Southampton, Boston, 2004, pp. 33-41. Voiskounsky A.E. Virtual Environments: the need of advanced moral education. Ethics of New Information Technology. Proceedings of the 6th Internationаl Conference of Computer Ethics: Philosophical Enquiry (CEPE2005). Ed. by Ph. Brey, F. Grodzinsky, L. Introna. Enshede, the Netherlands: CTIT Publ., 2005, pp. 389-395.

THE END(for today): 

THE END (for today)

HAPPY CHANUKA !: 

HAPPY CHANUKA !