On May 16, the Organizing Committee held a meeting on celebratory events marking the 25th anniversary of the .RU domain. The committee members reviewed the decisions they made in April and made adjustments to the schedule of events to be held this year thus significantly increasing the number of regional events.
In May, the celebration of the .RU domain’s 25th anniversary will move to St. Petersburg. On May 30, the St. Petersburg Internet Conference (SPIC) will be held; it will kick off a regional series of anniversary celebrations. Another event to be held in the Leningrad Region in May is the HostObzor forum for hosting providers and registrars, which will include domain and hosting organizations as well. In June, the celebrations will continue in the Altai Territory, where a meeting of IT young volunteers will be held as part of the Electronic Week,. The list of other celebrations of the 25th anniversary includes the regional Russian Internet Forums in Tatarstan and Dagestan. In the fall, more celebrations will take place in the Far East and the Urals, within the framework of the Far Eastern (in Khabarovsk) and Urals (in Izhevsk) internet conferences.
Additionally, in the second half of the year, the Runet anniversary website will introduce a section with video lectures for small and medium-sized businesses. The lectures will be given by noted experts who will talk about starting a business on the internet, issues to be taken into consideration and possible risks. The list of lecturers includes Coordination Center experts, who will expand on the latest changes to the internet and domain industry-related legislation.
“It is very good that many Russian regions − and not just Russian regions − will be able to participate in .RU domain anniversary celebrations,” said Coordination Center Director Andrey Vorobyev. “For instance, in July, special celebrations to honor the national domain will be held at the APrIGF International Forum in Vladivostok. In September, Lithuania will join in, with the 12th International Conference for ccTLD registries and registrars in the CIS, Central and Eastern Europe (TLDCON 2019).”
Many .RU domain anniversary events have already taken place in the past four months; the most important ones, however, are yet to be held. Director of the Russian Association for Electronic Communications Sergei Plugotarenko noted that the anniversary year offers a range of events of all sorts: educational, informative, analytical, business and sports-related, for active internet users of all ages.
“In late May, a roundtable discussion, 25 Years in Industry, will be held at the St, Petersburg Internet Conference; on August 11, IT industry representatives and athletes will partake in the RunIT 25 km race,” he said. “In the fall, the traditional Russian Internet Week and the Runet Awards will take place. Also, everybody is welcometo participate in Digital Dictation that will continue through May 24.”
