Untitled - socium.ge

96 Elena Vartanovaacademic or literary magazines read by a few hi-brow intellectuals. Withimprovements in living standards, at least among those of the Runet audience,content preferences have begun to change. Polls have illustrated the shift ofinterest from sites devoted to light entertainment to sites containing informationon information technology, science, practical economics, and cars. As aliving organism, Runet constantly produces new myths and heroes. A modestflash cartoon, transmitting stories about Masyanya, an optimistic, friendly, butunlucky girl from St Petersburg, has become extremely popular since itreflects the philosophy of many Russians who have failed to achieve financialsuccess but retain their optimistic attitude to life. More convincing than manyoff-line characters, Masyanya has turned into a popular image for TV newsand cartoons, and an object of conversations and chats.The language of Runet has become a particularly crucial area for presentRussian cultural identity. Postmodernist experiments with Cyrillic and Latincharacters, Russian and English words, and the integration of verbal and nonverbalforms of expression, have produced a new Internet language that haslexically reflected the new virtual reality. In addition, an innovative use of theRussian language by the Russian Internet community, migrating from site tosite, has become the sign of a constant renewal and reconstruction of communicationand its substance. The language of the Russian Internet is an area thathelps users to quit the hierarchical world for a virtual network society.CONCLUSIONSParadoxically, in Russia, a country still surviving economic crisis, the networksociety has got a comparatively good foundation. There exists a workingsystem of satellite connections, considerable intellectual potential forresearchers, engineers, and designers of software programs, as well as thenecessary technological hardware. Telecommunications, information services,and content markets are rapidly developing, and the number of computers inoffices and households is increasing. The level of education is still high, atleast in administrative and industrial centers. Students, schoolchildren, andactive professionals stand at the core of the new media universe. Private business,especially banking and service companies, is an active force in using andpromoting information and communication technology. Even state agencies, atleast formally, promote openness to e-democracy and e-governance, thusenforcing the use of the Internet in executive and legislative processes andlaying down the foundations for a new political infrastructure of e-Russia.On the other hand, in the Russian context, there exists an obvious lack of a“network culture,” a specific type of interrelation between various socialagents that provides a society with a new logic of economic and social inter-