Thanks
This website emerges from a desire to convey to a broad audience some of the fascination I felt for the last few years of the Soviet Union’s existence and the early years of the “new” Russia. Only in the last five years, though, has the software existed that made possible not a simple online archive, but a polished and interactive exhibition.
Crucial, of course, is not just the technology, but the people who know how to use it. I have been fortunate to find at the University of Minnesota a number of colleagues and collaborators who have wanted to help me make this site a reality. Nathan Weaver-Olson got the project off the ground by doing the first scans, but equally important was his enthusiasm for the project. Our early conversations were invaluable in spurring me on to thinking what the site’s larger goals should be.
The LATIS (Liberal Arts Technology and Innovation Services) group at the university (Cris Lopez, Andrea Simenstad) have provided much support; at a crucial step in the process Cris took the project in hand and asked what do we need to move this project to completion, a question unnerving in its directness! Nancy Ching has provided detailed coding knowledge that has been necessary at several key points.
Thanks, too, to Anya Udovik and Nina Afremov, who did many of the translations. A research grant from the University of Minnesota helped move the project to the next level.
Patrick Wilz has done most of the design work on the site, bringing both his extensive knowledge of the history of journalism and his creative instincts for color, layout, and fonts. He has made the site both attractive and compelling. I have benefitted from his advice at numerous points along the way.
Finally, thanks to Sal, Julia, and Madeleine, fellow-travelers.
Mistakes and flaws in conceptualization are all mine.
