Russia since the 60s has been a Technologically advanced country but the country despite its population has not been able to catch up American innovation and ingenuity. It still ranks among the top technologically speaking but political events have overshadowed advancements in other sectors.
In a bid to give users an alternative to the online encyclopaedia known as a Wikipedia, The presidential library of Russia has announced that it is planning its own version of Wikipedia.
The statement read “Russia does not have enough detailed and reliable information about Russian regions and the life of the country”. Some 50,000 books and documents had been collected, it said, to portray Russia “objectively and accurately”.
Well they have a lot of catching up to do as Wikipedia is still ranked the 6th most popular website in the world according to alexa ranking.
But Russia misses a key point here again, much of the growth in the west regarding internet based ideas is built on private initiatives and not the government. In August, there was law forcing all bloggers with more than 3000 daily viewers to register with the media regulator and earlier this year sites run by President Putin opponents were reportedly blocked.
My take
I believe Russia has what it takes to compete very much with western nations in terms of technology but there needs to be a liberalisation on the part of the leadership in order to actualise this. I wish them well and let me add that I’m eager to see this Wikipedia alternative.
Paul Balo is the founder of TechBooky and a highly skilled wireless communications professional with a strong background in cloud computing, offering extensive experience in designing, implementing, and managing wireless communication systems.
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