Virtual Non-Profit Organisations: Literary Virtual Communities in Russia

This paper is a study of one of the “unknown” segments of the Internet non-profit ventures in the Russian language. Based on the understanding of the concept of virtual community we consider the family of free publishing literary websites. We discuss their experience to demonstrate their contribution not only to the national culture, but also to the creation of open and democratic society in the former communist world, and to new forms of literary life. Some of the innovative concepts, principles and practices, adopted on those sites may be of interest to the Internet developers and communities worldwide. INTRODUCTION Inter-cultural information flows, concerning the latest developments in different language based sub-sets of Internet, appears to be directed one way only. Normally, Internet developers and customers of non-English speaking countries are very well aware of the current state of play in the English speaking world. They adopt cutting edge technologies introduced by leading providers and follow the most fashionable business models, directions and practices. In contrary, not very much is known about some of the niches of Internet being developed in languages other than English. Meanwhile, there are examples of such developments that do not particularly follow the pattern existing in the English speaking world, that are advanced and innovative in their own right, and that could significantly contribute to the worldwide Internet culture if there were no linguistic barriers. This paper is an attempt to study one of such “unknown” segments of Internet non-profit ventures in the Russian language. The study uses a particular case of literary virtual communities. Based on the understanding of the concept of virtual community we consider the family of free publishing literary sites. We discuss their experience to demonstrate their contribution not only to the national culture, but also to the creation of open and democratic society in the former communist world, and their contribution to new forms of literary life. Some of the innovative concepts principles and practices, adopted on those sites may be of interest to the Internet developers and communities involved in analogous virtual community life in the English language. In this paper we will discuss technical and social aspects of the selected model, and the factors which play important role in turning this family of sites into a significant cultural phenomenon with a unique creative atmosphere. For the purposes of this analysis we have utilised a number of the virtual community formation frameworks presented in IS, CMC, and social science literature, with Rayport & Jarowsky (2001) framework as a basis. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY For the purposes of this study we have adopted a case study research based on the interpretative or phenomenological approach. In accordance with interpretative research philosophy, the aim of our study was not to measure or find causal explanations of the observed patterns, but rather emphasise the role of the individual experience, different meanings associated with this experience, to understand and explain a phenomenon as holistic and socially constructed. Our research framework includes a brief review of the key aspects of virtual communities as discussed by academics and practitioners. Then we investigate the process of community building in the considered case, business model employed by the project owners, aims of the project, and key factors of success as they are viewed by community members and the owners of the site. This aspect of the research analysis has been based on the review of literature on virtual communities, interviews with the community members, observations, and personal experiences. 2 The other aspect of our research utilises and extends the body of knowledge on the interaction of web-based technologies with human actors in the social construction processes. In the considered case the use of specific web-base technologies play an important role in the community building process. We show that the particular fundamental (democratic) principles, which form the structural basis of this community, being successfully facilitated by the particular technologies, have an immediate impact on the individuals, and also affect the societal change in the long term. Finally, we discuss the difference from analogous on-line processes in the English speaking world, contribution of this case to the creative use of technology, to the body of knowledge, and experience which may be relevant to many communities worldwide.