Russia Ethnic Groups’ Websites as a Reflection of Lin- guistic and Cultural Pluralism in the Web

Section: New Media

This article presents the results of the analysis of 124 websites in the Tatar, Bashkir, Chuvash and Chechen languages and/or focusing on various aspects of these ethnic groups’ life (their culture, mass media, governmental and non­governmental organizations). All websites were analyzed according to the following criteria: originality of content, acuteness, mono-, bi- or multi-lingual nature of websites, degree of their interactivity with Internet users. The study revealed main quantitative and qualitative characteristics of the websites under analysis. It also helped to determine factors influencing both the demand for such websites, and the degree of linguistic and cultural pluralism in Runet in general. Among such factors the author names the digital skills of users and their motivation to create original content in native languages.