On May 25, the RIF.Online platform hosted a roundtable discussion to mark the Day of Slavic Writing and Culture, which is celebrated annually in Russia and many other countries and coincides with the remembrance day for Saint Cyril and Methodius, the founders of the Cyrillic alphabet and Slavic writing.
The discussion was part of the celebrations to mark to 10th anniversary of the .РФ top-level domain, with speakers emphasizing the development of the internet's Russian-language segment and the world's first Cyrillic domain.
Director of the Coordination Center for TLD .RU/.РФ Andrey Vorobyev spoke about the important role .РФ plays in preserving and developing the Russian language on the internet. Vorobyev presented the center's educational projects aimed to boost users' knowledge of the domain name system and digital literacy, and talked about the launch of the Information Culture in the Digital Economy department and educational course, created together with the Russian Association for Networks and Services and the Moscow State Linguistic University.
"Back when the world's first Cyrillic domain came online 10 years ago, many were doubtful about its prospects. But reality has shown that most people find the opportunity to use their native language and alphabet very important, and this applies not only to content but to the domain name as well," Vorobyev emphasized. He noted that ccTLD websites have more content in their national languages than do gTLD ones. IDNs, which include .РФ, allow for preserving language diversity on the web and support those who are sole users of the Russian language.
One of the areas for IDN development and promotion is introducing technical standards to support internationalized domain names and email addresses, and the Coordination Center is doing extensive work to speed up the process. Maria Kolesnikova, head of the center's поддерживаю.РФ project, spoke about international projects to support national languages on the web as well as the Cyrillic segment's development on the internet. "Overall, national language digitization is relevant for many countries. According to UNESCO, some 98% of web pages are provided in 12 languages only. We should stay focused and put effort into supporting and developing the Cyrillic content on the web. Also, we should differentiate between the concepts of content and protocol. When we mention domain names and email addresses, we are actually referring to internet protocol parameters. The поддерживаю.РФ project was launched by the Coordination Center to develop the ecosystem of supporting IDNs and email addresses," Maria Kolesnikova said, inviting everyone to join the project.
In his report, Director of the Regional Public Internet Technology Center (ROCIT) Sergei Grebennikov summed up the results of the Digital Dictation nationwide event and talked about work to continue the effort, saying that the deadline for answering the questions on IDNs and the .РФ ccTLD is May 31. The major Digital Dictation event, which took place between April 11 and April 28 this year, drew over 330,000 participants, or almost nine times as many as last year. Grebennikov noted the importance of such campaigns that help assess users' digital literacy, and expressed hope that digital literacy will grow along with digital culture.
Director of the Russian Association for Electronic Communications (RAEC) Sergei Plugotarenko spoke about the development of the Russian language on the web. He said that, according to the association's Runet Economy research, the number of internet users in Russia amounts to nearly 100 million, with 90% of them going online on a daily basis. Since 2008, an interesting trend has been observed in the use of the Russian language on the internet, a survey by the VCIOM has revealed. It has shown that almost 54% of people have used internet slang online in 2020, while the number of those who used it back in 2008, including such verbs as to google and to like, was only 13%.
According to the survey, a greater number of Russian users now quote movies and books as well as lyrics online, with 86% in 2019 against 66% in 2008. Two-thirds of Russians (66%) said they use professional slang; the percentage of those 11 years ago was considerable less (44%). Meanwhile, the poll has revealed that the number of Russians who use profanity has not changed much, with this year's 60% against 61% in 2008.
The roundtable discussion held to mark the Day of Slavic Writing and Culture was also attended by General Director of the Russian State Library Vadim Duda, Manager for Research and Internet Projects at ROCIT Katerina Savenok, and Head of the Department for Priority Projects and Programs at the Russian State Youth Library Maria Khokhlova. They spoke about the ways libraries operate in the digital environment and what they are facing amid the COVID-19 pandemic and lockdown, as well as digital literacy classes and efforts to interest users - particularly, young people - in taking part in them.
"Importantly, efforts are underway to launch plenty of good resources in Russian. We are starting a new section of the National Electronic Library, called Literary Monuments. This year, some 8,000 unique documents have been made available in digital format, including Apostle by Ivan Fyodorov," Vadim Duda said. He noted that members of the librarian community are highly adaptive to the current situation: "Since the restrictions came into effect, we have launched a system for remote book lending, with users receiving them in their personal accounts on the library's website. Even when the lockdown is over, we will continue improving our services," Duda said.
On May 12, 2020, an online marathon took place to mark the 10th anniversary of the .РФ top-level domain. One of the event's highlights was the Cyrillic on the Web roundtable discussion, where leading internet experts spoke about the history of delegating the Cyrillic domain to Russia, multilingualism and cultural diversity on the internet and the role of the Russian language in uniting the Russian community on the web, as well as new opportunities for the Runet's development. The roundtable discussion concluded with the start of the nationwide event Digital Dictation - 10 Years of .РФ: Internet in Russia, which is going on until the end of May.
