Paul Goble
Staunton, May 15 – From Soviet times on, Russians have been proud of just how many time zones their country includes, but now, with the spread of online conferencing, the multiplicity of those time zones is becoming a problem as Moscow scholars organize conferences at times convenient for them but not for their counterparts in Russian far east.
Diana Vasilyeva, a journalist from that region, surveyed 40 scholars east of Lake Baikal about how they feel about having to stay awake in the middle of the night when they want to take part on online conferences organized in Moscow (mostmedia.org/ru/posts/hozjain-barin-pochemu-dalnevostochnye-uchenye-rabotajut-po-nocham-radi-moskovskih-konferency).
Some of the respondents said they had no choice but to go along despite the harm it was inflicting on their health and lives given that the Muscovites could hardly be expected to change something they were used to. But others said this pattern was harming their work and even prompting them to think about leaving the country.
According to Vasilyeva, for her colleagues in the Far East, the problem Moscow organizers present is larger than that caused by conference organizers elsewhere because the center is behind more such meetings than anyone else. But elsewhere, it is also a problem, although organizers there are generally more sensitive to the issue and adapt.
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