Launch of the Nizhny Novgorod Encyclopedia, press release.
Nizhny Novgorod, April 30, 2010.
During a discussion hosted by the "Nizhny Novgorod Press Club" entitled "Mass Media. Images of the Future," held from 2:30 to 6:00 p.m. aboard the river boat Georgy Zhukov, the editorial team of the autonomous non-profit organization "Open Nizhny Novgorod Encyclopedia" announced the launch of the internet project "Nizhny Novgorod Encyclopedia" (short name — "Nizhny Novgorod Encyclopedia") and invited the regional expert community to participate in this new and, for Nizhny Novgorod, unusual information format.
"The articles of the local wiki are meant to be of practical use" — declare the founders of the project, journalists Sergey Dresvyannikov and Petr Kuznetsov — authors of the cultural project "Nizhny Novgorod Chronicles" — and Ilya Osipov.
According to Ilya Osipov, director of the internet company "NNOV," which handles the technical support of the project and the development of its user services, the "Encyclopedia" is a repository for any information about the Nizhny Novgorod region and current processes taking place there, at whatever level of detail is required. The project's goal is to combine the expertise of professional and expert communities in a single information space — the "main website of the region" — helping Nizhny Novgorod residents make effective use of the urban environment.
The Nizhny Novgorod Encyclopedia is built on the technology of the well-known internet encyclopedia Wikipedia — it is similarly edited and created by its readers, and its content is intended for free non-commercial distribution. However, unlike Wikipedia, the Nizhny Novgorod Encyclopedia can include entries on subjects of purely regional significance (such information is typically deleted by Wikipedia's administrators as lacking global notability). In addition, users are not required to write in an academic style.
"Humor, plain language, and a living human voice are all welcome, when they help convey the truth" — says Osipov of the project's editorial policy — "If you feel your 'moment in the spotlight' has come — whether to make yourself known or to exert your influence while remaining anonymous — we invite you to join us."
"Every person has a creative domain — a field in which everything comes naturally. We believe there are no unsuccessful people, only unsuitable circumstances" — explains cultural scholar Sergey Dresvyannikov — "The Nizhny Novgorod Encyclopedia is not merely an interactive reference guide, but a living, evolving community that helps people discover their talents: quickly find experts and like-minded individuals, locate business addresses, government offices, and educational centers — and find all the information needed to improve their lives."
"When we held preliminary previews of the Nizhny Novgorod Encyclopedia for various audience reference groups, we were surprised to find that the site attracted not only young people and niche specialists drawn to everything new, but also pragmatically minded entrepreneurs" — says historian Petr Kuznetsov.
"It turned out that many people want to register the address www.nnov.ru/company_name by writing about their company in the encyclopedia. Links of this format carry significant weight with search engines."
Among the project developers' plans: holding regular thematic roundtables with the participation of the regional Nizhny Novgorod elite and the most active users of the site; developing partnership programs aimed at bringing together regional and federal expert communities; and providing targeted promotional support for socially significant innovative and cultural work by local specialists in advertising, PR, and personal branding.
BACKGROUND
- The technical development of the Nizhny Novgorod Encyclopedia took seven months. Specialists at NNOV.RU integrated the WikiMedia software with internet services popular in the region: forums, corporate blogs, image galleries, file hosting, and a private messaging system already used on the popular city portals www.nnov.ru, www.nn.ru, and nnover.ru. Also available on the encyclopedia's pages is a service that currently has no equivalent among Nizhny Novgorod's city portals — an interactive high-resolution panorama of Nizhny Novgorod's streets and squares, allowing users to get their bearings and take a virtual walk through summertime Nizhny Novgorod. The ongoing improvements to the services carried out by NNOV.RU specialists are aimed at making the introduction to the region as vivid and comprehensive as possible.
- To become an Encyclopedia expert at present, it is sufficient to register at WWW.NNOV.RU and create 5–7 articles.
- NNOV.RU (www.nnov.ru) — an internet project founded in 1997. The oldest portal on the Nizhny Novgorod geographic domain. Tagline: "A site for Nizhny Novgorod residents." The company currently brings together around 20 software developers, designers, managers, and marketing specialists.