A roundtable discussion entitled “Information Culture and Development of Mass Communications” was held at the Institute of Contemporary Development.
 
Participants included Ilya Ponomaryov, a State Duma deputy and member of the Information Policy and Information Technologies Committee; Valentin Makarov, President of Russoft Association; Alexander Tikhomirov, President of Rosintranet Consortium, and other experts.
 
The roundtable discussion was held as part of the Fourth Assembly of the “Intellectual Russia” Global Forum, and was entitled “Raising People’s Awareness of Russia’s Strategy of Innovative Development”. The forum was aimed at the consolidation of intellectual forces both within the country and among the Russian communities abroad for the country’s benefit. The forum’s President is the Speaker of the Federation Council and Co-Chairman of the National Committee “Intellectual Sources of Russia”, Sergey Mironov.
 
The participants discussed issues related to the launch of the “National Internet” project, enhancement of the nation’s familiarity with IT through a large-scale “eGovernment” program, the introduction of continued IT education for Russian citizens, and many other initiatives.
 
Ilya Ponomaryov pointed out the growing importance of the information culture’s development, especially at a time of crisis. The deputy specified several projects aimed at the development of Russia’s information society. The projects envisage the provision of Internet connections to all schools, the development of digital broadcasting, and the introduction of electronic election campaign tools.
 
Valentin Makarov suggested concrete measures aimed at facilitation of the development of Russia’s information society. He believes it necessary to establish a state body to handle support of innovative activities. It is necessary to develop a new program “e-Russia - 2” aimed at the implementation and popularization of “eGovernment” technologies. In order to cope with a personnel shortage in the IT sector, Mr. Makarov suggested that educational institutions training IT specialists raise the salaries of their specialists up to the average level within the industry. With a view to supporting local manufacturers, Mr. Makarov suggests introducing a special taxation system to launch a special community of innovative companies, etc.
 
Alexander Tikhomirov drew special attention of the representatives from the mass media to the problems arising while using the Internet. These include: an information gap between the state and the nation, a legal rightlessness of users, an absence of protection of the network environment at the strategic level, etc. Mr. Tikhomirov advised on network development at the strategic level; separation of ‘extra-net’ and ‘intra-net’ definitions; preparation for the parliamentary hearings on ‘the evaluation of the informational security of Russia’; and passing the law on ‘the creation and development a single informational space of Russia in the period 2010-2020’.
 
The roundtable was organized by the ‘Intellectual Resources of Russia’ National Committee in co-operation with the Institute of Contemporary Development, the National Association of Innovations and Development of Informational Technologies, and the Russoft Association, with the support of the Subcommittee on Technology Development under the State Duma Committee on Informational Policy, Information Technology and Communication.