Sociotechnical discrepancies in the Russian digital economy

• In Event: Doing STS in the Post-Soviet World: The Regression of Progress

Abstract

Russia strives for the digital economy, which requires massive science and technology development reconsidering post-Soviet engineering heritage. But not only this. Material infrastructure, which is always highly heterogeneous and dependent on many physical and geographical factors, determines and anchors digitalization of Russian economy. Indeed, technological development caused expansion of the digital and gradually transformed communication, networking opportunities, and everyday life. Global netting gave rise to a natural need for ubiquitous digital technologies, though digitalization requires updated infrastructure and literacy. In this context, the professionals in IT sphere pioneered in skimming the cream off this digital revolution – they do not just use emerging possibilities, but rather create alternative spaces, other practices, and unanticipated discourses. The IT professionals represent a community, which incorporates advanced achievements in technoscience and implements its results for mass consumption. In the Russian context, they reinforce and legitimize technocratic perspective often ignoring the impending social transformations as technologies engage people, infrastructure, and skills, which in complex provide the human basis for the digital economy. The talk traces connections and discrepancies between official discourse on innovations and digital economy, practices, and views of professional IT community, and some case of user experience.

Author

• Liliia Zemnukhova, European Univeristy at St. Petersburg