From Russia with Code: Programming Migrations in Post-Soviet Times

Description

While Russian computer scientists are notorious for their interference in the 2016 US presidential election, they are ubiquitous on Wall Street and coveted by international IT firms and often perceive themselves as the present manifestation of the past glory of Soviet scientific prowess. Drawing on over three hundred in-depth interviews, the contributors to From Russia with Code trace the practices, education, careers, networks, migrations, and lives of Russian IT professionals at home and abroad, showing how they function as key figures in the tense political and ideological environment of technological innovation in post-Soviet Russia. Among other topics, they analyze coders' creation of both transnational communities and local networks of political activists; Moscow's use of IT funding to control peripheral regions; brain drain and the experiences of coders living abroad in the United Kingdom, United States, Israel, and Finland; and the possible meanings of Russian computing systems in a heterogeneous nation and industry. Highlighting the centrality of computer scientists to post-Soviet economic mobilization in Russia, the contributors offer new insights into the difficulties through which a new entrepreneurial culture emerges in a rapidly changing world. Contributors. Irina Antoschyuk, Mario Biagioli, Ksenia Ermoshina, Marina Fedorova, Andrey Indukaev, Alina Kontareva, Diana Kurkovsky, Vincent Lépinay, Alexandra Masalskaya, Daria Savchenko, Liubava Shatokhina, Alexandra Simonova, Ksenia Tatarchenko, Zinaida Vasilyeva, Dimitrii Zhikharevich Cover Contents List of Abbreviations Acknowledgments Introduction: Russian Economies of Codes I. Coding Collectives One. Before the Collapse: Programming Cultures in the Soviet Union Two. From Lurker to Ninja: Creating an it Community at Yandex Three. For Code and Country: Civic Hackers in Contemporary Russia II. Outward-Looking Enclaves Four. At the Periphery of the Empire: Recycling Japanese Cars into Vladivostok’s it Community Five. Kazan Connected: “it-ing Up” a Province Six. Hackerspaces and Technoparks in Moscow Seven. Siberian Software Developers Eight. E-Estonia Reprogrammed: Nation Branding and Children Coding III. Interlude: Russian Maps Nine. Post-Soviet Ecosystems of it IV. Bridges and Mismatches Ten. Migrating Step by Step: Russian Computer Scientists in the UK Eleven. Brain Drain and Boston’s “Upper-Middle Tech" Twelve. Jews in Russia and Russians in Israel Thirteen. Russian Programmers in Finland: Self-Presentation in Migration Narratives Contributors Index A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P R S T U V W Y