By exploring the changes among online elites who have constructed the Internet, this article traces the unique history of the Russian Internet (RuNet). Illustrating how changes in online elites can be associated with changes in the socio-political role of the online space in general, it concludes that, although the Internet is of global nature, its space is constructed on the level of nation, culture and language. To show this, the article presents five stages in the development of RuNet, suggesting that the change in the stages is associated with the relationship of power between, first, actors (users, developers, the government, etc.) that construct Internet space and, second, alternative elites that emerge online and the traditional elites that seek to take the online space under their control by making their imaginary dominate.
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Andrei Soldatov, Irina Borogan, The Red Web. The Struggle between Russia’s digital dictators and the new online revolutionaries (New York: Public Affairs, 2015).
Eugene Gorny, “Understanding the Real Impact of Russian Blogs”, Russian Analytical Digest, no. 69 (2009): 8–11.
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Andrey Podshibiakin, Po-Zhivomu. 1999–2009. LiveJournal v Rossii (Moscow: Kolibri, 2010): 7.
Florian Toepfl, “Managing public outrage: Power, scandal, and new media in contemporary Russia”, New Media & Society 13, no. 8 (2011): 1314.
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Karina Alexanyan, “Social networking on Runet: The view from a moving train” Digital Icons: Studies in Russian, Eurasian and Central European New Media 1, no. 2 (2004): 1–12.
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Julien Nocetti, “Russia’s’ dictatorship-of-the-law’s approach to internet policy”, Internet Policy Review 4, no. 4 (2015), doi: 10.14763/2015.4.380.
Tom Balmforth, “Meet The Kremlin’s Young Army Of Cybersnitches”, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 26 March 2015, available at http://www.rferl.org/a/russia-mediagvardia-stalin-era-internet-snitching/26921838.html, accessed 16 December 2016.
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By exploring the changes among online elites who have constructed the Internet, this article traces the unique history of the Russian Internet (RuNet). Illustrating how changes in online elites can be associated with changes in the socio-political role of the online space in general, it concludes that, although the Internet is of global nature, its space is constructed on the level of nation, culture and language. To show this, the article presents five stages in the development of RuNet, suggesting that the change in the stages is associated with the relationship of power between, first, actors (users, developers, the government, etc.) that construct Internet space and, second, alternative elites that emerge online and the traditional elites that seek to take the online space under their control by making their imaginary dominate.
All Time | Past 365 days | Past 30 Days | |
---|---|---|---|
Abstract Views | 1557 | 296 | 13 |
Full Text Views | 389 | 14 | 0 |
PDF Views & Downloads | 388 | 209 | 0 |