Henrike Schmidt studied Slavic Literatures, History and Economics in Bonn, Cologne and St. Petersburg. Her PhD thesis (2000) was dedicated to intermedial conceptions of poetic language in Russian poetry of the 20th century. Schmidt is Associate Professor at the Peter Szondi-Institute for Comparative Literature, Freie University Berlin. She previously worked as researcher at the Lotman-Institute for Russian and Soviet Culture, Ruhr-University Bochum. Her other research interests include contemporary Russian poetry and Bulgarian literature. She is currently working on a monograph on The Sociology and Aesthetics of Russian Literature on the Web. Her publications include articles on the poetic work of Sergei Biriukov and Oleg Janusevskii, among others. She edited and translated to German a collection of poetry by Russian avant-garde poetess Nina Chabias.
The buzzword 'Web 2.0' originates from the dot.com-industry. The term designates participation, collective collaboration and networking - the very same qualities that make social software an efficient tool for political technology. The U.S. 2008 election campaign demonstrated how important participatory Internet applications (blogs, video platforms, social networks) are. In Russian election campaigns of the years 2007 (State Duma) and 2008 (presidency) the Internet played an important role as well. This is particularly true as regards the oppositional forces that meet tight limits in 'traditional' media. Conversely, Runet is actively used for official media policies, too. The article offers two scenarios of successful implementation of the web's participatory potential by the Russian political establishment and Kremlin media consultants. The first involves the absorption of popular, 'authentic' trends of Internet culture for political goals (viral marketing; video clip production on the Russia.ru online television channel). The second consists in the strategic design of participatory platforms (the interactive platform Zaputina.ru).
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Henrike Schmidt
Language of contribution: German
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