Russia’s Public (Blogo)sphere
Blogging as Social Practice, Consequences for the Net
Natal’ja Konradova, Michail Kalužskij
Deutsche Fassung
Abstract
In the summer of 2010, bloggers organised citizens’ initiatives to fight the fires in Moscow’s environs and in doing so revealed the fire-fighting operations of Kremlin sympathesizers to be staged. In Russia, where there is a lack of public spheres and discussion culture, the blogosphere is an exclusive space for civil understanding and civic resistance. It acts as a surrogate public sphere. While bloggers intervene in reality, members of the Duma present themselves in online social networks. As these spheres begin to overlap the Internet will cease to be a place of socio-cultural autonomy and will revert back into a pure communication technology.
(Osteuropa 11/2010, pp. 153–162)