| MARCH 31 - APRIL 6 // COPYRIGHT 1997 THE ST PETERSBURG TIMES |
By Eric Schwartz
STAFF WRITER
The Russian strike and demonstrations were literally heard around the world in "real time," thanks to the Internet.
Futures Telecom, which has already put the local radio station Radio 1 Petrograd online, worked with correspondents around Russia to bring reportage on the strike to its World Wide Web site.
People checking out Futures Telecom's site Thursday were offered choices of reportage from St. Petersburg, Nizhny Novgorod and Vladivostok.
Starting at noon, viewers could read or listen to reporting on the demonstrations through the Web site. The site also had a spot where people could communicate their thoughts about the national strike and comment on the demonstrations.
"We had this idea so that the whole world could listen to what was happening in Russia on this day," said Oleg Shilnikov, technical director at Futures Telecom, which is an Internet service provider.
"The idea was to transmit the information instantaneously to the Internet," he added.
The effort, he said, required planning and coordination with journalists spread throughout Russia.
"I can't even name all the people who volunteered their help," he said. "This was very difficult, because no one has done this before."
The special strike Web page will be up on Friday too, Shilnikov said, and then will go into the archives of Futures Telecom, he said.
Shinikov did not know how many people had viewed the Web site, but he guess thousands. By Thursday afternoon he had heard from Web browsers in the United States and Sweden.
The company will do another Internet broadcast soon, but he said it will be for a happier occasion. On April 11, the company will broadcast a rock festival via the Internet, said Shilnikov.