Gorbachev's Information Revolution by Wilson P. Dizard S. Blake Swensrud

Author:Wilson P. Dizard, S. Blake Swensrud [Wilson P. Dizard, S. Blake Swensrud]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: History, General
ISBN: 9780429713156
Google: h96iDwAAQBAJ
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 2019-04-11T03:40:51+00:00

Database Expansion

The collection, storage, and distribution of computerized data is a critical element in Gorbachev's high-tech expansion plans. Although the emphasis is on data supporting the economic sector, the USSR is quite advanced in setting up a full range of data banks across all disciplines.

As with other information resources, administration of Soviet data banks is strongly centralized. A State System for Science and Technology Information (SSSTI) operates under the general management of the State Committee for Science and Technology. (See appendix 2 for a description of the SSSTI organization.) This structure assures control over the acquisition of information in all forms—print, graphics, and computer data—as well as control over its dissemination. The largest center in the system for processing such information is VINITI, the All-Union Institute for Science and Technology Information. According to Soviet statistics, VINITI annually processes 19,000 periodicals and serial publications, 200 invention descriptions, and 10,000 books. Authorized users can subscribe to more than 80 VINITI data base files, which include bibliographic descriptions, key words, and abstracts.45

In April 1987, Soviet media reported the existence of a semiindependent data bank in Moscow that uses computers to sell information to state organizations and private customers. Headed by a professional programmer, a staff of nine people provides customers with access to what Izvestia called a "bank of ideas and people." The newspaper noted that the center, called "Ornament," is an "intermediary office," the only one of its kind in the Soviet Union. The center appears to represent an experiment based on a Hungarian model of scientific-technological cooperatives. Potentially the center may signal further attempts to combine more flexible mechanisms with high technology sectors in ways that improve creativity, productivity, and overall quality. This early experiment is a far cry, however from providing uncontrolled access to information and computer technology. Ornament is dependent on the state for credits, office space, and the booking of orders; apparently the data bank is located on a state-controlled computer. Moreover, the Ornament center operates under the guardianship of one of the district committees of the Moscow Komsomol.46

As noted earlier, networking in the Soviet Union is hampered by the poor quality of telephone lines. Transmission speed capabilities in particular are severely limited. This contributes to the relative lack of remotely accessible data banks in the USSR. Without reasonably sophisticated telecommunications networking, Soviet planners will be constrained in establishing more efficient national data bases.

Nevertheless, efficient networks have been established in the Soviet Union. The Moscow savings bank is said to have a network linking as many as 3,000 remote computer terminals. Networks have also been established to handle theater and ballet tickets and hotel and train reservations. There are extensive networks servicing the police, armed forces, and KGB (including its customs and border control branches). Each of these internal security networks exchange information via high-quality dedicated telephone lines (not unlike the Ve Che described in Chapter 2) and are inaccessible to the public.

ACADEMNET, a computer network linking remote branches of the Soviet Academy of Sciences, is a new but potentially important addition to the Soviet networking pattern.

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