NEWS: Russian Cyberspace journal - First call for submission - Virtual Power: Russian Politics and the Internet
Is the Internet in Russia a political factor of ‘real’ significance? Or do the countless websites, journals and blogs simulate rather than stimulate political activity and decision making? The objective of this special issue is to examine the relationship between Russian politics and new media, especially the Internet. The deadline for submissions is 15 August 2008.

Project description

What: A research group concerned with Russian Internet studies, Russian-cyberspace.org represents scholars from various disciplines (philology, cultural and media studies, sociology and ethnology). It aims to analyze the development of the Russian-speaking Internet in Russia itself as well as its various Diasporas. Main points of interest are: net culture and literature, net politics and social networking, media identities and cultural hybridity.

How: The website Russian-cyberspace.org provides articles in German, English and Russian from the years 2004-2008. We welcome contributions by scholars with similar interests in Russian internet studies and from related disciplines. For more information see the Style guide for authors or contact one of the members of the editorial board.

Launched in January 2008, our collective blog offers topical information on recent developments in the versatile fields of Russian Internet studies (publications, conferences, resources) as well as personal insights into Russian net culture. Do you know of any events and initiatives that might be of interest toour blog? Please feel free to contact the editors.

Who: Russian-cyberspace.org has been initiated in 2004 by Henrike Schmidt, Katy Teubener and Nils Zurawski as part of a larger research project dedicated to “the Runet”. It has been funded by the Volkswagen Foundation (Hannover, Germany) and the German Research Foundation DFG (Bonn, Germany). Since January 2008 Russian-cyberspace.org’s activities are continued by a group of scholars from Germany, the UK and Russia.

Why: We hope that the ‘new’ Russian-cyberspace.org will further encourage academic work in the field of Russian cultural and Internet studies and that it may serve as a platform for researchers from various disciplines and countries.

The editors

Ekaterina Kratasjuk (Moscow)
Ellen Rutten (Cambridge)
Robert Saunders (New York)
Henrike Schmidt (Berlin)
Vlad Strukov (Leeds)

For a description of the 'old' Russian-cyberspace.org-project click here