Comments for Cultural Misunderstandings on the Web

Cultural Misunderstandings on the Web

2006-08-14T01:16:14Z

I'm really enjoying writing my series on international Web apps and I've gotten some great feedback that others are enjoying it too. The previous post about Russian Web apps has gotten the most interest so far, including from some people in Russia who took issue with it. The comments on my post are informative, but also Alexey Andreyev wrote an open letter to me on the webplanet.ru website. In it he appeared to take offense at my use of the word "market", explaining:

"This is quite an ethic problem for me, Richard. Should I help the foreign market sharks to swallow our poor country the most effective way? Or it would be better to support some bubble story and steal their green paper before it burns in some other Russian's red right hand?"

I have to admit, I think there is a cultural gap here and I don't fully understand some of the objections. I appreciate the feedback though, especially the corrections and suggestions on my post about Russian web apps. So I left a comment on webplanent.ru to say that my main interest is what kind of web apps people are building in Russia, rather than the financial market implications. I also noted that I am a New Zealander, not an American as Alexey's post implied (although I don't think it matters much, as a lot of my readers are American and so I identify strongly with them). My comment did provoke one amusing reply from a person called JP, who called me "an American cyborg pretending to be a hobbit" :-) I hope it's not out of line of me to say, but I do think Russians have a great way with words - as their rich tradition in literature proves.

So I have learned a lesson from all this - even though Web apps across the world are similar and each country has a lot of their own unique apps too, there are still cultural issues to work through when making such comparisons. Thanks to all the Russian readers who left comments on my post and on webplanet.ru, because it certainly helps to have conversations about these matters.

Comment from L e x a on 2006-08-14

2006-08-14T17:05:37Z

Richard, it's great you noticed word games in our comments on Webplanet. I suppose it's one of the keys to solve some cultural misundestandings you point out.

Yes we Russians are very "literatured" (well, some of us, still) and this feature shapes Russian Internet culture a big way. Sometimes, long discussions would run on for a mere joy of language tricks. Now, for example, there are several threds in Russian blogs where people disassemble my "slaves of Microsoft" phrase, with its allusions to Slavic roots of "slave" as well as to "Microserfs" by Douglas Coupland.

I should confess I knew this effect might take place after my publication. So I beg your pardon for using your blog to start the game. Hope you got some fun, too.

Anyway, this cultural stuff in strongly connected to Web 2.0 future in different countries, I think. Remember what I wrote about crazy "tag clouds" and cyborgs? These are some things robots cannot do, even though some people create very impressive imitation of "artellect" for their marketing tricks. For me, this was a reason to quit my career in AI science.

Comment from ideali on 2006-08-17

2006-08-17T15:22:20Z

I am living in Russia, but i'm not a slave, nor russian citizen. So, the list was a mistake, you believe two guys, they did own pr and express own viewpoint. You and them doing some buzz in the air. People in Russia (so different), using a lot of applications, and I don't see anything about "office plankton" users (russians know what I am talking about), and for example other type of users... If you using Myspace - that's not the rule for them, if you using gmail, there are a lot of mail services and your list is just a shame... Because you making people believe, trying to cover it with words like "cultural misunderstanding" and etc. You are making one thing, and want to be good? Write on New Zeland, and don't make all people laugh on your "unexperienced-not real" posts. There is no information I could gain from your list, really. It's a pitty, that these kind of information is turning arround the web, and bloggers believe and just copy-paste the links...
You are talking about observing and etc... Where is observation and where is the result? Hiding behind two guys, who just write own view without any numbers, if it's your observation, then I'm just laughing, Sylicon Valley reading you, huh?

I don't like to comment, but your unreal information making noise around.

Comment from Richard MacManus on 2006-08-17

2006-08-17T20:39:47Z

Thanks Lexa for your comment here, it helped a lot in understanding where you're coming from ;-)

ideali, I can't say I feel the same about your comment. It's all very well being critical, but you haven't said anything constuctive or suggested any info about Russian Web apps that I'm missing. Why not provide new info instead of trying to dismiss my post entirely?

"There is no information I could gain from your list, really." --> so tell me some NEW information!

"Where is observation and where is the result?" --> how can I do that when the sites are in the Russian language?! I'm reliant on people like Alexander and Anton to tell me what's happening, so I can try and inform some of the western world.

Frankly I find your comments offensive, no matter where you come from...

Comment from edvins on 2006-08-31

2006-08-31T21:55:59Z

I liked the remark:
"Thanks Lexa for your comment here, it helped a lot in understanding where you're coming from ;-)"
He, he :)
Russians sometimes are quite bitter, indeed. Climate, history, communism - all these things have left impact, I believe.

Changing the subject.
I am looking forward to read the review about Latvian Web 2.0. I recall I red it somewhere in this blog, that you are going to review Latvia, as well.
The site which, clearly, stands out of the crowd here in Latvia is social network www.draugiem.lv (forfriends - direct translation).

I will go so far as to say that draugiem.lv might be the most popular social network in the world (per capita).
There are 1,5 million Latvians in Latvia. And 700 000 of them are registered in www.draugiem.lv (me too). 50% of the whole Latvian nation are registred in that portal.