ARMENIAN INTERNET HAS LONG WAY TO GO

[MosJan]

ARMENIAN INTERNET HAS LONG WAY TO GO

In 1999, on the first day of NATO strikes on Kosovo, the Serbs attacked the NATO Internet web server by thousands of e-mails and the latter, being unable to withstand their inrush, broke down. Earlier, in 1998 a student from Israel penetrated into the Pentagon Internet network. Interestingly, it was the Pentagon that was funding the building of the first computerized networks.

 

 

Examples can be continued, and thus, the network that was viewed some thirty years ago as worldwide information means, has turned today into a unique virtual world, able to collapse the real one.

 

 

Now let us see what is the situation with Armenian on-line editions. All in all, there are one radio station, seven dailies and four information agencies in addition to two portals and minor information sources, available in Internet.

 

 

Out of newspapers the semi-weekly Golos Armenii has Russian language online edition with a daily 250 visitors, who read a total of 750 stories. The daily Haykakan Zhamanak has some 150 visitors a day, who read 700 stories. The daily Aravot, which posts stories in Armenian and Russian, has about 370 visitors a day who read 600 stories.

 

 

Also weeklies Chorrord Ishkhanutyun and Eter post their materials in the Internet, the first in Armenian, the latter in Armenian, Russian and English. The daily Azg posts stories in four languages: Armenian, Russian, English and Turkish. The Russian page has most visitors, then come the Armenian, English and Turkish pages. About 1,000 people visit it a day reading some 6,000 stories. According to a Russian rumbler.ru rating program, from 2000 January 27 up to now some 137,000 people visited the daily Azg reading a total of 610,000 stories.

 

 

Regarding radio stations, Radio Hay is so far the only Armenian radio stations, available in the Internet. The radio station’s director says that they are trying to create a live Armenian environment. These are purely figures. What are the assessments? Hrach Badalian, chairman of a public organization, called Fund of Information Technologies, says the role of Armenian web sites, which contain information in Armenian and other languages, does not play a tangible role in the social or cultural life. Badalian says the national www resources are not politicized and as an information means they do not have any impact on the inner-political developments. He also says that Armenian Internet is not yet commercialized, describing the current stage as “a continued process of assimilation of new information technologies, which has not yet brought in any tangible outcome.”

 

 

Valery Makarian, the webmaster of the daily Azg disagrees, maintaining that what ha been achieved is already a great progress, having in mind that the value and weight of Internet is not appropriately comprehended by people able to take crucial decisions in this sector. “Development of the Armenian Internet is a political issue,” Mr. Makarian claimed, and added that the daily Azg would soon its own search engine.

 

 

We can agree with Mr. Makarian that this is really a political issue, as it demands regulation of issues arising from the monopoly the sole company Armentel enjoys in this sector.

 

 

By Lilit Grigorian

 

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