Today Internet Week - a series of events dedicated to the development of Internet technologies and addressing systems, the basics of digital literacy and safe behavior on the Internet - started in Petrozavodsk. The organizers of the Week are the Coordination Center for TLD .RU/.РФ and the Administration of the Petrozavodsk City District. The event is supported by Petrozavodsk State University, Petrozavodsk Technical School of Municipal Economy and MediaWeb.
Andrey Vorobyev, the Director of the Coordination Center, welcomed the Week's participants and emphasized the significance of hosting such events in the country's many regions as well as the expanding contribution of these areas to the growth of the Internet in Russia. “The этокарелия.рф, a website about tourist attractions in Karelia, won the Runet Prize 2022 last year. This served as one of the reasons for Petrozavodsk to host both the TLDCON 2023, which begins tomorrow, and the Internet Week, which includes educational events, master classes, and meetings with Internet industry experts. Today, our experts are conducting lectures and seminars at Petrozavodsk State University and the Technical School of Municipal Economy, and in the administration building there is a meeting with the heads and teachers of schools, colleges and technical schools in Petrozavodsk and students, for whom a Safe Internet Lesson and a quiz of the project “Study the Internet & Govern It!” will be held!” – Andrey Vorobyev said.
General Director of Internet design studio MediaWeb Elena Kuznetsova spoke about the activities of the Internet design studio, focusing in detail on work with government organizations. Also, Andrey Vorobyev, in his presentation, spoke about the wise choice of domain names, the legal aspects of their administration and the fight against domain abuse, and also answered questions from participants.
Then, IP CLUB President Marina Rozhkova gave a special lecture on the types of digital money. She spoke in detail about how digital money appeared, about its features and how the legislation of different countries interprets digital money. Listeners were introduced to different types of digital money. Marina Rozhkova also spoke about how the Federal Law, 340-FZ dated July 24, 2023, which came into force on August 1, 2023 “On the Digital Ruble” will work. She explained how the digital ruble works, how it will be implemented and how it can be used.
At the opening of the educational track of Internet Week, Natalya Karmazina, Deputy Head of the Administration of the Petrozavodsk City District and Chairman of the Social Development Committee, addressed the participants with a welcoming speech. She noted that Internet Week participants have a unique chance to listen to brilliant experts in the field of the Internet, cybersecurity and information hygiene and improve their knowledge of the Internet and working in the information environment. She emphasized that the Internet is an integral part of the lives of children and teen-agers, and the task of parents and teachers is to ensure their safety online and give them access to useful and reliable information.
Youth digital ombudsman Dmitry Gulyaev told teachers how to recognize fake manipulations and unreliable information in the media and social networks. He explained what a fake is, how to recognize it, how fakes differ from fake news, and also revealed the main ways to protect against this destructive phenomenon. Listeners learned what fact-checking is and how they can independently check information for accuracy.
In her report, Rector of the Academy of Innovative Education and Development Olga Rubtsova spoke about the screen image in the life of a modern child. She noted that at the beginning of 2023, social networks had 4.76 billion users, or almost 60% of the world population. Social media accounts for the largest share of time online—almost 4 minutes out of every 10 minutes online.
“The development of digital technical equipment and technology has significantly changed the role of human senses - vision is moving to the first place: the eye acts as the main “supplier” of reality (up to 80%). It “reads” the signs and symbols contained in the screen image and transmits them to the brain, where the received information is processed. Visual images influence not only the speed of “reading” and perception, but also the entire human nervous system. However, the organ of thinking is not the eye, but the human brain, which receives and processes information contained in visual images. Images created by digital technologies, by their nature, are always spectacular and emotionally charged, easily penetrate the consciousness and become fixed in it,” said Olga Rubtsova.
She drew attention to some negative aspects of using the Internet for children - for example, a decrease in the ability to concentrate. “Student’s attention span has decreased not just several times, but tens of times. If previously a child in a lesson could maintain attention for 40 minutes, and this was considered the norm, now literally only a few in the class are capable of such concentration,” the speaker stated.
At the end of her speech, Olga Rubtsova presented the “Safe Information Environment” project, the winner of the Runet Prize 2020 in the “Building Digital Immunity” category. The goal of the project is to create a social institution for public self-regulation of the security of the information environment for children and teenagers as a mechanism for promoting the implementation of state policy in the field of protecting children from information harmful to their health and development and the formation of a comfortable and safe childhood space. The speaker invited teachers to join the project and work together to create a safe and useful Internet environment.
High school students from Petrozavodsk schools take part in the second part of the event. Dmitry Gulyaev will conduct a “Safe Internet Lesson” for them, and experts from the Coordination Center for TLD .RU/.РФ will conduct a quiz for the project “Study the Internet – Govern It!”
And tomorrow the central event of Internet Week in Petrozavodsk starts - the 16th International Conference of Administrators and Registrars of National Top-Level Domains in the CIS Countries, Central and Eastern Europe TLDCON 2023. Follow our publications!
