Appendix 4. Finding Russian Content on the Internet

Lindsay Johnston

© 2002 by Lindsay Johnston. All rights reserved.

There are several web directories that are very useful for finding information on Russian cities, towns, and cultural institutions on the internet:

• For resources on a wide variety of subjects, Sher's Russian Index is an amazing, constantly updated collection of links divided by subject: http://www.websher.net/inx/icdefault1.htm
• Worldskip.com: http://www.worldskip.com -- choose "Europe," then "Russia." The site is divided into 3 areas: "News, Information and Radio," "Business, Economy, and Government," "Travel, People, and Culture." If you are looking for information about cities, there are useful links under "Travel, People, and Culture."
• Russian Cities on the Web: http://www.city.ru
• Looksmart Travel Destinations: http://www.looksmart.com/eus1/ eus62920/eus328057/eus13512/eus76116/r?1&iaci& -- choose "Europe" then "Russia."
• NIS City and Regional Sites: http://users.aimnet.com/~ksyrah/ekskurs/ruscity.html

There are also specialized Russian Search Engines:

• http://www.weblist.ru &endash; search in English or in Russian
• http://www.rambler.ru &endash; search in English or in Russian
  • If you want to search in Cyrillic, you will have to download or enable Russian fonts on your computer. Go to Sher's Computer Index (http://www.websher.net/inx/icdefault1.htm) and look for the heading "Computers -- Software -- Russify" for help.

General search engines will work as well:

• http://www.google.com -- the most effective search engine in my opinion. Includes an option to search only for sites in Russian. Click on "Preferences," then select Russian.
• http://www.altavista.com -- Includes and option to search exclusively for images. Click on "Media/Topic Search" and select Images.
• http://www.hotbot.lycos.com -- Includes and option to search exclusively for images. Select "Image" on the left hand side of the screen.

Things to look for:

• Each search engine works slightly differently, so look for "Search Tips" to find out the best way to search.
• Instead of web addresses that end in ".com" or ".org," look for ones that end in ".ru."
• If you are looking for sites with permanence, look for web addresses that don't have a ~ in them. Sites with ~ are personal sites, and are less likely to remain on the web for a long time.
• University sites often have useful pages of links
• English dominates on the Internet, and many webmasters will make a Russian and an English version of their sites. Different language options are often indicated by flags (a Union Jack or the Stars and Stripes for English; a Russian flag for Russian; a Ukrainian flag for Ukrainian, etc.)
• Evaluate the sites you choose!! Look for:
  • AUTHORITY -- who is responsible for the site? Look for logos and/or contact information.
  • CURRENCY -- how old is the site?
  • ACCURACY -- compare the information given in the site to authoritative publications
  • USEABILITY -- Is the site well organized and easy to use? Does it download relatively quickly? (Images may take some time to download)

Viewing Cyrillic Fonts on the Web:

Sometimes your browser will adapt immediately and properly display Cyrillic. However, sometimes the writing on the screen will look like gibberish. If that is the case, go to "View" and select "Encoding", then select one of the Cyrillic encodings. Some pages will tell you what encoding you need to select. If it isn't indicated, guess until you get it right. For Russian, the standard fonts are:

• Cyrillic (Windows)
• Cyrillic (KOI8-R)
• Cyrillic (ISO)
• Cyrillic (DOS)

Schastlivogo puti!

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