N-1-2-020.10.2 Cultivation of E-Mail Use Among Social Science and Humanities Institutes of The Russian Academy of Sciences by Alexandra V. Belyaeva*, , and Michael Cole** Our research on the development of joint activity between Russian and American scientists began in the fall of 1985. For the first few years of our work, we focused on issues of learning and development mediated by computer networks linked through satellites. (For a preliminary report of this work see Belyaeva & Cole, 1989, referenced below.) With the opening of Relcom and the prospect of Russian participation in EARN, we moved our activities to the internet. Until the events of August, 1991 our efforts were necessarily limited in active discussion with the remaining social science and humanities institutes in an attempt to help them enter the era of computer-network mediated, international, and scientific activity. In tracking and facilitating the growth of e-mail mediated activity, we have combined interview methods with the writing of detailed fieldnotes of discussions with administrators and everyday scientific users, in addition to simple measures of traffic. We have found that initial responses to the possibility of using e-mail as a medium of scientific exchange share certain similar features, regardless of the institutional role of the person in question. At the same time, there are very marked differences associated with the position of the individual within his/her institute's bureaucratic hierarchy and the subject matter addressed by the institute. By and large, people have had a very difficult time grasping the basic properties of e-mail. When first contacted and asked about their interest in using this mode of communication, most people's initial response was something like, "Why do I need such a thing? We have telex facilities (or fax machines) at our institute." Verbal descriptions of the nature of e-mail mediated work did not suffice; people needed demonstrations and explanations that included successful attempts to contact someone abroad and reception of an answer within 24 hours. Once they grasped the main idea, next reactions were sharply differentiated by status. High ranking officials were generally negative about the possibility of e-mail; everyday scientists and graduate students were much more enthusiastic. Several reasons may be deduced for this difference in orientations, but the fact that productive e-mail use is decentralized and radically heterochronous makes it anathema to top-down systems of controlled communication (the traditional Russian model). The work is ongoing. We welcome comments, inquiries, and suggestions for our work. References: Belyaeva, A.V., & Cole, M. (1989). Computer-mediated joint activity in the service of human development: An overview. Quarterly Newsletter of the Laboratory of Comparative Human Cognition, 11, (Whole #3). * Vega International Laboratory, Moscow ** Communication Department, U.C. San Diego, California, USA