Dear Readers,

This issue is dedicated to information technologies in Russia – a drive that has revolutionized our lives. For us at Russia Profile, this month also marks a transfer to a new technological base, which will bring about some changes in the way our content will be distributed.

Indeed, it seems like email, cell phones and the Internet have always been around, so dependent are we on these omnipresent tools. But I remember how, in 1984, in my first year at Moscow State University’s Journalism School, we were shown the “personal computer classroom” behind a black iron door, equipped with cabinet-like, green-flickering computers. They explained to us the function of the cursor, allowed us type a bit on the keyboard and print out what we typed. The entire room was the department’s proud recent acquisition and was very futuristic.

The future materialized in the early 1990s when I began working for The Christian Science Monitor’s Moscow bureau. We still had telex in the room, but the brand new technology for word processing was a personal computer. Some time in 1995 I filed my first story by email to Ecumenical News International in Geneva. It was only in 1997, after joining The Moscow Times, that I remember beginning to use the Internet. And only in 2000 did cell phones cease to be a luxury associated with “New Russians” and began to be available to the middle class.

After a brief survey of my colleagues, both Westerners and Russians, it seems that we discovered these technologies around the same time. Today we not only cannot imagine our life as journalists – or people of almost any profession – without these means. And as a result, a whole new type of journalism has emerged – Internet journalism, followed by the advent of the blogosphere. For Russia Profile, it has meant that over the past year we have prioritized our website, www.russiaprofile.org, where there is much more material available to our readers than appears in our magazine.

This month, our website is moving to a new server that will enable our site to be more flexible and add new functions. One of the additions will be the expansion of the blog sections, which will feature more authors – and hopefully provoke comments from our readers.

From April 15, we will introduce a registration requirement in order to access all material on our website. Additionally, access to the Russia Profile web archive – articles older than 30 days – and certain portions of the Resources section, will only be open to subscribers. We are also introducing paid subscription to Russia Profile Magazine, as of the July issue. Detailed information and a subscription form are provided on page 6; you can also subscribe through our secure on-line payment system, operational from April 15.

Unfortunately it is impossible to continue improving upon our present standards of reporting, analysis and comment without a more substantial financial base than we have at present. Due to our international readership, of which we are very proud, we also face substantial and ever increasing distribution costs. We appreciate your understanding as we go through this transition.  Please let us know immediately of any irregularities you may encounter.

We would also like to wish a fond farewell to our publisher, Stephan Grootenboer, who helped build Russia Profile, and was with the project from its inception. We are very grateful for his contribution and wish him all the best.

With thanks,

Andrei Zolotov Jr.
Editor and Publisher