A Creative History of the Russian Internet

The study investigates manifestations of creativity in the history of the Russian Internet. It seeks to discover internal logic of the development of creative forms, to identify the factors that account for change and to analyse the relationship between Internet creativity and wider sociocultural contexts. Creativity is defined as production and communication of cultural value. On this basis an operational concept of Internet creativity is developed which allows identifying regularities in the phenomena which have been usually studied separately. Case studies concern the evolution of Russian online media, the virtual persona as an artistic genre, the Russian community on LiveJournal and Jokes from Russia web site. The theoretical issues include the role of cultural identity and social context as a shaping force of Internet culture; motivation for creativity; user contribution, collaboration and the interplay between personal and collective creativity; the opposition between official and non-official spheres in Russian culture; issues of censorship and free speech. The study develops theories which challenge or expand concepts established in research literature and provide a model for further research.

Source: citeseerx.ist.psu.edu