Internet Research in Russia Alexander VOISKOUNSKY

1
Internet Research in RussiaAlexander
VOISKOUNSKY

• December 21st, 2005
• Haifa University, Israel

2
Alexander Voiskounskys 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_at_mail.ru
• For long files vaemsu_at_gmail.com

3
Personal Experience in CMC studies

• Study, patterns in LAN communication (1980-1983)
• F2F interviews with Soviet participants (N11) 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.

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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

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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 19851.   Speech Patterns Analysis in
Computer-Mediated Communication (1984-1990)2.
VELHAM (Velikhov-Hamburg) joint Soviet/Russian
American project on COGNITION AND COMMUNICATION
(1985-1994).
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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.

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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.
•  

8
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.
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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). Vygotskys 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  
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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.

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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 Vygotskys followers.
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Theoretical background (continued)
Information and Communication Technologies
(ICT) originate from highly developed semiotic
(sign) systems that mediate and remediate1
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.

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

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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
  (N67), held since 1994.

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Reasons for Joining the Russian Internet
community contd

• 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.

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Reasons for Joining the Russian Internet
community contd

• 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.).

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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

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Actual Research Areas

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

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

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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.

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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)

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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/

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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)

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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

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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.htm
  l

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Sociology

• E-mail online surveys,
• self-selected respondents

• Representat-ive fieldwork research, quoted
  respondents

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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 sites
  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.

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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

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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_Rus
  sia, or the F. Ebert Foundat. www.riisnp.ru/PUBLIC
  /russia100.
• At the nua.ie the Russian entries refer to
  outdated figures.

36
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

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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

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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
  Ramblers Top 100, i.e. visitors 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)

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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.

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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

42
The main websites on cyberpsychology (in Russian)

• http//www.relarn.ru8080/human/
• http//www.fio.ru
• http//flogiston.ru/articles/netpsy
• http//redeyes.ru/
• http//add.net.ru/
• http//psynet.by.ru
• http//sufism.ru/

• 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/

/
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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

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Psychology Projects (contd)

• 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.

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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.

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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/babaev
  a.html , http//ifets.ieee.org/periodical/vol_1_20
  02/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.

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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

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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_VOISK
  OUNSKY.PDF

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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.

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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.

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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
  Internation?l Conference of Computer Ethics
  Philosophical Enquiry (CEPE2005). Ed. by Ph.
  Brey, F. Grodzinsky, L. Introna. Enshede, the
  Netherlands CTIT Publ., 2005, pp. 389-395.

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THE END(for today)
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HAPPY CHANUKA !