Please meet the second issue of the scientific and analytical journal “Information Society” for 2026. The main theme of the issue is Digital transformation at a turning point: economics, ethics, and human experience.
The articles in this issue cover, among others, the following topics:
Platform employment: convenient freelancing or a “Gray Zone” for IT professionals?
Quantum computing for oil and gas: economic benefits of up to 500% – fiction or reality?
AI through students’ eyes of: smart assistant, future competitor, or danger?
Large Language Models: will humanities disappear or expand their role?
Terminator and the Matrix: how does science fiction shape our perception of time and technology?
Ethics and law: can algorithms be “forced” to be transparent?
Sanctions as a growth driver: why do most Russian IT companies see new opportunities in challenges?
Developing the Information Society in Moscow: how did the Russian capital move from piecemeal measures to systemic policy?
In her address to readers “2025: Summa summarum”, the journal’s editor-in-chief Tatiana Ershova wrote:
Back in 1997, the Bulletin of the Russian Society for Informatics and Computer Engineering, which by then was in its eighth year of publication, was renamed “Information Society.” And there was a reason for this: in 1994, the world learned of the famous “Bangemann Report”—a political manifesto that emphasized the transformative role of information and communication technologies and had a clear socioeconomic focus. This document proved to be truly momentous: it inspired not only politicians but also countless enthusiasts in many countries, including Russia. Many believed in the positive potential and power of ICT, which could and should be harnessed for the benefit of people.
Before this, in the 1950s–1980s, people mostly talked about “mechanization and automation.”
Since the 1980s, they had shifted to “informatization.” Since the 1990s, the term “digitalization” has been widely used. But at the turn of the millennium, the “information society” emerged on the global political agenda, with a dedicated summit held in two stages in 2003 and 2005. Even before this event, a concept for the development of the information society was approved in Moscow, and in 2008, we received the Strategy for the Development of the Information Society. In 2011, a state program, “Information Society,” was developed to implement it, covering the period up to 2030. However, it evolved into a departmental program of the Ministry of Communications/Ministry of Digital Development, and the lion’s share of budget funds went toward creating state information systems that address the needs of government officials and, only indirectly, citizens and businesses.
Since the early 2010s, amid the rapid development of cloud services, artificial intelligence, big data, and the Internet of Things, “digital transformation” has come to the forefront. This implies a profound rethinking of strategies, processes, business models, and organizational cultures under the influence of digital technologies. In our country, this term was formally enshrined in the national program “Digital Economy of the Russian Federation” in 2017. The activities surrounding this program were more focused on economics, perhaps even corporate development, so it all had a strong capitalist feel.
At the same time, objective processes have radically changed the nature of work, trust and security models, forms of education, and even ethics. We are not simply witnessing the introduction of new tools—digital platforms, large language models, and quantum algorithms are beginning to reshape the very fabric of society. What happens to individuals and society when algorithms begin to generate content, platforms begin to manage employment, legal imperatives begin to catch up with technology, and the Industrial Internet of Things begins to connect millions of devices? The answer is paradoxical. The smarter machines become, the more clearly unique human qualities emerge. This is precisely the theme of our authors’ articles, which demonstrate that digital transformation can only succeed to the extent that we learn to ask the right questions. And the most important of these is: how can we preserve humanity at the center of a world that is becoming increasingly artificial? The answers are in our hands.
The full text of the issue can be found on the journal’s website.