I did several more or less formal interviews. I found out that the most important names in Kazakh IT development seem to range from mentions of the association of information and communication of Kazakhstan (which is oddly pretty much a ministry in Astana and has an interesting history of being disbanded and then put back together at various times in the last few years) to award.kz, to the association of IT companies of Kazakhstan to Kazakh language bloggers. There was a lot of discussion of wanting to create resources and put them out there, so that the kids that are just now growing up and realizing the potential of the Internet would be able to find the things they need for the future with just a click of a mouse.
Language was a particularly thorny issue - as an additional (though by no means primary) source of state identity and an important aspect of ethnic identity as well. The phrase - language is a very painful and thorny question was uttered a number of times. I found out that many Kazakh youth in the big cities do blog and many blog in kazakh as an expression of their political position and national identity (some are more radical than others, but "this is the nature of the internet"). The notion of many was somewhat limited and I will find out what that "many" means at the local Kazakh BarCamp in a couple of weeks. On the one hand, there was much hopeful rhetoric about the value of the Internet and the potential that the technology might hold if it were to be combined with peace corps volunteer efforts and the right amount of charity in the right places... On the other hand, there was a lot of depressing cynicism.
I also learned about LJ and the role it plays (or doesn't play, depending on whom you ask) in Kazakh political and everyday discussions by virtue of it being officially blocked from Kazakhstan. This does not stop LJ from being one of the most popular sites accessed from Kazakhstan at least according to Yandex.ru statistics. As far as I understand at this point, blogging here is a complex process of both self-expression and a conscious attempt to influence the country in some way. Some of the blogs do matter and as commentary on blogs (LJ and others) sometimes filters into national media and sometimes they even attribute the quotes to some of the bloggers themselves by name. It seems that LJ was attractive because there was already an intellectual community there, a conversation many thought was worth joining and listening to... The intellectual part... that at times got really tricky in conversations that I have had so far. In an interesting way, the value of intellect and what it meant to be intelligent vs. what "education" meant for some became important underlying reasons for blogging and reading internet-based conversations.
In Kazakhstan, too much education is simply bought, where it does not make sense to go do a phd, if 99 of every 100 dissertations are simply purchased. There is no longer a cachet to the traditional, institutionally sanctioned markers of intellect and particular academic interest. Could it be that the markers for some are now in the blogs he read and in the comments people posted. These stories and comments became important for reminding that intellect is present and available in Kazakhstan.
I asked about politics and blocking content although the technical elite seems to disregard blocking as an actual barrier - those that want to read will find a way and the rest really simply just don't want to read - I am having a hard time buying that. Besides, blocking here is tricky, where some things are blocked only partially and only by some providers so it is hard to actually fight the blocking because it is hard to argue that it is a real policy. As far as I can tell, even if there are about 6000 or so bloggers in the country that are primarily divided by language plus demographics. The russian-language blogosphere in Kazakhstan are mainly middle class to upper middle class men and women older than 30, sick of the consumerist drive of the everyday and wanting to at least talk if not actually change things. The middle-classness of it was evident in the kinds of topics discussed and the kinds of topics ignored. Yes there were horrible floods in the south of Kazakhstan this year and the government did nothing, it showed up on the blog of one of the other prominent bloggers and only 5 or so people commented... half-heartedly.
The kazakh-language bloggers are primarily female, in their early to mid-20s and they write primarily about rediscovery and discussions of particular aspects of kazakh culture like poetry and arts, the young men of the same age are fewer in blogging and they primarily talk about IT issues, a little bit of religion and a little bit of everyday discussions. There are a couple of fairly intense political commentaries written in Kazakh, but neither of these bloggers live in the two largest cities and their readership seems somewhat small.
The issue of language is incredibly thorny and divisive. The russian language bloggers as well as primarily russian language speakers seem to discard any discussion of kazakh-language discussions. Often I get a scoff at the notion - nobody cares about kazakh, he said, nobody cares to read in it, the books and newspapers in kazakh are struggling and not being bought. There is no conversation worth listening to in kazakh in the blogosphere. Let the nationalists try to make an issue of the language, we all know it's not working.
The interview content ranges and at times becomes entirely contradictory to prior interviews. There are two issues, however, where everyone things to agree with unexpected clarity. Kaznet, everyone emphatically said... kaznet is empty, there is nothing there except for torrents, some government websites and classifieds. There is ct.kz and a couple of weaker forums elsewhere and there are several portals that are opening up as new businesses heavily venture capitalized right now, but the business models are weak. In each case I pressed for why, why was kaznet empty and why was it that I got the sense that many think it would remain so... They answered in very similar terms - the reason is fear. Fear of being heard beyond the customary private kitchen where important issues were always discussed and governments criticised. Fear of saying something good and having it stolen... fear essentially of saying something that someone else might turn into money. Yes Kazakh wikipedia is growing, but slowly... and there are few other such resources. People do not say anything because they are afraid both the right and the wrong people will hear... and who knows what the wrong people might do... I asked why some are not scared then... Because someone has to start it and in the end, blogging and talking and putting things out there... it is no more dangerous than crossing a busy street here in Almaty (where drivers accelerate when they see a person walking across... just for sport)... besides, putting things out there is more important than getting a pittance for small ideas... although they have some idea of who the Internet audience reads, there is little knowledge of the details...
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