In March, Moscow hosted its first International Conference on Blogs. Leila Tanayeva was there to represent Global Voices, and has posted an intriguing report.
I was particularly interested in news of an effort to take blogging to the streets of Moscow, so that even those without computers can read the latest blog posts:
Russia has a vibrant community of bloggers on Livejournal platform. Recently, a group of volunteers started publishing the offline journal “Live Journal“, realising that the conversations online are too important to be ignored. “LiveJournal”, which republishes posts from LiveJournal bloggers, is distributed free of charge in Moscow cafés, and is soon to reach the regions.
Other than that, some positives, and some negatives - pretty much as you’d expect. Plus some more thoughts about the somewhat confused state of legislation when it comes to blogs in Russia:
Some sites are punished for failing to register as mass media, others for doing just that. Citizen media sites, in particular, new but rapidly developing in Russia, are currently in a legal limbo: there is a need for a legal document that would regulate citizen media. The lawyer said that it is up to journalists to take the initiative, to urge the government to draft regulations before the state drafts them without consulting them.
This idea I’m particularly interested in. Like pretty much everywhere else in the world, legislators in Russia don’t have a particularly good grasp of the dynamics of the internet. This strikes me as a particularly good opportunity for people in Russia to be involved in crafting a law which is actually relevant and workable.
