Amina - Chechen Republic Online
Encyclopedia
Amina – Chechen Republic Online, popularly known as Amina.com, is a social networking website
that includes information on the Chechen language
and culture and photos
of the First
and Second Chechen War
s. It was founded on March 13, 1997 by Albert Digaev, a Chechen refugee
living in the United States
, as a means of communication for the disparate global Chechen
diaspora
community.
At its inception, it was the first website about Chechnya
on the Internet
, and for a while the only one. Taking its name after a well-liked Chechen girl's name, the website initially provided information, links and images about and from Chechnya, its history
, people, culture and the conflict. After numerous website layout updates, the site has expanded to include online discussion boards, chatroom, photo gallery
, and private email service
.http://www.chechnyaadvocacy.org/indexamina.html
Amina – Chechen Republic Online now ranks in the top 25,000 sites based on web traffic
on the Internet according to the website Alexa
.http://www.alexa.com/data/details?url=amina.com/ The website's popularity grew to such an extent that it was once closely monitored by the pro-Russian Chechen government.http://www.pbs.org/wnet/wideangle/printable/resources_chechnya_print.html
, Russian
, and English
, is free to users and generates revenue from advertising
including banner ads
. Features of the website include Chechen Forum, Articles related to Chechnya, Chechen Photo Gallery, Chechen Chat, and Chechen Mail.
, only visitors who have created a free subscription
account may be able to make forum posts, receive email notifications of replies to posts, and send and receive private messages.http://www.amina.com/kamina/faq.php?faq=vb_user_maintain#faq_vb_why_register In late April 2007, Albert Digaev added English language
registration to the Chechen Forum, to allow English speakers access and an English language thread to allow English speakers to communicate with Chechens.
, Chechen Ambassador to the United States
Lyoma Usmanov, and U.S. Under Secretary for Political Affairs
R. Nicholas Burns
. The list of articles has not been updated since February 2005.
The Chechen Photo Gallery enables users with a free subscription account to upload photos of themselves and their friends, as well as rate or comment on others' photos. Although individuals are primarily Chechens, Russians and Caucasians are well-represented in the gallery as well. Sections of the gallery include Individuals, Girls, Boys, Chechen Television, Our Neighbors, People of the Arts, Children, Historical Photos
, My Chechnya, and New Photos.
The Chechen Photo Gallery became the course of major controversy in October 2005 when Islamic fundamentalist
offshoots of the Chechen independence movement
alleged that Amina.com had led efforts to corrupt Chechen society, and they called on Digaev to be "taken care of" by members of the Chechen diaspora
living in the West
.http://www.chechenpress.info/events/2005/07/26/09.shtml
service powered by the ASP.NET
web application framework
. Users can private message directly with other Amina.com users. This feature was recently reinstated in 2007 after going offline for several months.
Chechen Mail is a Gmail
-powered service which enables users to gain access to a private email account with an amina.com domain name
. When Google Apps
enabled Gmail users to check their email accounts using the BlackBerry
wireless
handheld device
, Chechen Mail users by extension gained access to this new feature. Currently, email signup requires permission from the Amina – Chechen Republic Online domain administrator
.
Social network service
A social networking service is an online service, platform, or site that focuses on building and reflecting of social networks or social relations among people, who, for example, share interests and/or activities. A social network service consists of a representation of each user , his/her social...
that includes information on the Chechen language
Chechen language
The Chechen language is spoken by more than 1.5 million people, mostly in Chechnya and by Chechen people elsewhere. It is a member of the Northeast Caucasian languages.-Classification:...
and culture and photos
Photography
Photography is the art, science and practice of creating durable images by recording light or other electromagnetic radiation, either electronically by means of an image sensor or chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic film...
of the First
First Chechen War
The First Chechen War, also known as the War in Chechnya, was a conflict between the Russian Federation and the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria, fought from December 1994 to August 1996...
and Second Chechen War
Second Chechen War
The Second Chechen War, in a later phase better known as the War in the North Caucasus, was launched by the Russian Federation starting 26 August 1999, in response to the Invasion of Dagestan by the Islamic International Peacekeeping Brigade ....
s. It was founded on March 13, 1997 by Albert Digaev, a Chechen refugee
Chechen refugees
During the inter-ethnic strife in Chechnya and the two separatist First and Second Chechen Wars, hundreds of thousands of Chechen refugees have left their homes and left the republic for elsewhere in Russia and abroad.-In Russia:...
living in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, as a means of communication for the disparate global Chechen
Chechen people
Chechens constitute the largest native ethnic group originating in the North Caucasus region. They refer to themselves as Noxçi . Also known as Sadiks , Gargareans, Malkhs...
diaspora
Chechen diaspora
The Chechen diaspora is a term used to collectively describe the communities of Chechen people who live outside of Chechnya; this includes Chechens who live in other parts of Russia.-Geography:...
community.
At its inception, it was the first website about Chechnya
Chechnya
The Chechen Republic , commonly referred to as Chechnya , also spelled Chechnia or Chechenia, sometimes referred to as Ichkeria , is a federal subject of Russia . It is located in the southeastern part of Europe in the Northern Caucasus mountains. The capital of the republic is the city of Grozny...
on the Internet
Internet
The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...
, and for a while the only one. Taking its name after a well-liked Chechen girl's name, the website initially provided information, links and images about and from Chechnya, its history
History of Chechnya
The History of Chechnya refers to the history of Chechens, Chechnya, and the land of Ichkeria.Chechen society has traditionally been organized around many autonomous local clans, called taips...
, people, culture and the conflict. After numerous website layout updates, the site has expanded to include online discussion boards, chatroom, photo gallery
Photo sharing
Photo sharing is the publishing or transfer of a user's digital photos online, thus enabling the user to share them with others . This function is provided through both websites and applications that facilitate the upload and display of images...
, and private email service
Email
Electronic mail, commonly known as email or e-mail, is a method of exchanging digital messages from an author to one or more recipients. Modern email operates across the Internet or other computer networks. Some early email systems required that the author and the recipient both be online at the...
.http://www.chechnyaadvocacy.org/indexamina.html
Amina – Chechen Republic Online now ranks in the top 25,000 sites based on web traffic
Internet traffic
-Historical Internet Traffic Growth:Because of the distributed nature of the Internet, there is no single point of measurement for total Internet traffic...
on the Internet according to the website Alexa
Alexa Internet
Alexa Internet, Inc. is a California-based subsidiary company of Amazon.com that is known for its toolbar and Web site. Once installed, the toolbar collects data on browsing behavior which is transmitted to the Web site where it is stored and analyzed and is the basis for the company's Web traffic...
.http://www.alexa.com/data/details?url=amina.com/ The website's popularity grew to such an extent that it was once closely monitored by the pro-Russian Chechen government.http://www.pbs.org/wnet/wideangle/printable/resources_chechnya_print.html
Features
The site, which allows users to write in ChechenChechen language
The Chechen language is spoken by more than 1.5 million people, mostly in Chechnya and by Chechen people elsewhere. It is a member of the Northeast Caucasian languages.-Classification:...
, Russian
Russian language
Russian is a Slavic language used primarily in Russia, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. It is an unofficial but widely spoken language in Ukraine, Moldova, Latvia, Turkmenistan and Estonia and, to a lesser extent, the other countries that were once constituent republics...
, and English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
, is free to users and generates revenue from advertising
Advertising
Advertising is a form of communication used to persuade an audience to take some action with respect to products, ideas, or services. Most commonly, the desired result is to drive consumer behavior with respect to a commercial offering, although political and ideological advertising is also common...
including banner ads
Web banner
A web banner or banner ad is a form of advertising on the World Wide Web delivered by an ad server. This form of online advertising entails embedding an advertisement into a web page. It is intended to attract traffic to a website by linking to the website of the advertiser...
. Features of the website include Chechen Forum, Articles related to Chechnya, Chechen Photo Gallery, Chechen Chat, and Chechen Mail.
Chechen Forum
As of May 17, 2007, the Chechen Forum hosted more than 3,500 members and more than 300,000 posts.http://www.amina.com/kamina/ Although all forum visitors may browse among the various threadsThread (computer science)
In computer science, a thread of execution is the smallest unit of processing that can be scheduled by an operating system. The implementation of threads and processes differs from one operating system to another, but in most cases, a thread is contained inside a process...
, only visitors who have created a free subscription
Subscription business model
The subscription business model is a business model where a customer must pay a subscription price to have access to the product/service. The model was pioneered by magazines and newspapers, but is now used by many businesses and websites....
account may be able to make forum posts, receive email notifications of replies to posts, and send and receive private messages.http://www.amina.com/kamina/faq.php?faq=vb_user_maintain#faq_vb_why_register In late April 2007, Albert Digaev added English language
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
registration to the Chechen Forum, to allow English speakers access and an English language thread to allow English speakers to communicate with Chechens.
Articles related to Chechnya
The articles section includes various essays on the Chechen conflict, resources on the Chechen language, and appeals to end the war in Chechnya. Some of the articles' authors include famed Russian journalist Andrei BabitskyAndrei Babitsky
Andrei Babitsky is a Russian journalist and war reporter, who has worked for Radio Liberty since 1989, covering the 1991 August Coup, Civil War in Tajikistan and, most notably, both Chechen Wars from behind Chechen lines...
, Chechen Ambassador to the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
Lyoma Usmanov, and U.S. Under Secretary for Political Affairs
Under Secretary for Political Affairs
The Under Secretary for Political Affairs is the third ranking position in the United States Department of State, after the Secretary and the Deputy Secretaries...
R. Nicholas Burns
R. Nicholas Burns
R. Nicholas Burns is a retired American diplomat. He is currently Professor of the Practice of Diplomacy and International Politics at Harvard's John F. Kennedy School of Government and a member of the Board of Directors of the school's Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs...
. The list of articles has not been updated since February 2005.
Chechen Photo Gallery
History of Chechnya
The History of Chechnya refers to the history of Chechens, Chechnya, and the land of Ichkeria.Chechen society has traditionally been organized around many autonomous local clans, called taips...
, My Chechnya, and New Photos.
The Chechen Photo Gallery became the course of major controversy in October 2005 when Islamic fundamentalist
Islamic fundamentalism
Islamic fundamentalism is a term used to describe religious ideologies seen as advocating a return to the "fundamentals" of Islam: the Quran and the Sunnah. Definitions of the term vary. According to Christine L...
offshoots of the Chechen independence movement
Chechen Republic of Ichkeria
The Chechen Republic of Ichkeria is the unrecognized secessionist government of Chechnya. The republic was proclaimed in late 1991 by Dzokhar Dudayev, and fought two devastating wars between separatists and the Russian Federation which denounced secession...
alleged that Amina.com had led efforts to corrupt Chechen society, and they called on Digaev to be "taken care of" by members of the Chechen diaspora
Chechen diaspora
The Chechen diaspora is a term used to collectively describe the communities of Chechen people who live outside of Chechnya; this includes Chechens who live in other parts of Russia.-Geography:...
living in the West
Western world
The Western world, also known as the West and the Occident , is a term referring to the countries of Western Europe , the countries of the Americas, as well all countries of Northern and Central Europe, Australia and New Zealand...
.http://www.chechenpress.info/events/2005/07/26/09.shtml
Chechen Chat
Chechen Chat is a free IRCInternet Relay Chat
Internet Relay Chat is a protocol for real-time Internet text messaging or synchronous conferencing. It is mainly designed for group communication in discussion forums, called channels, but also allows one-to-one communication via private message as well as chat and data transfer, including file...
service powered by the ASP.NET
ASP.NET
ASP.NET is a Web application framework developed and marketed by Microsoft to allow programmers to build dynamic Web sites, Web applications and Web services. It was first released in January 2002 with version 1.0 of the .NET Framework, and is the successor to Microsoft's Active Server Pages ...
web application framework
Web application framework
A web application framework is a software framework that is designed to support the development of dynamic websites, web applications and web services. The framework aims to alleviate the overhead associated with common activities performed in Web development...
. Users can private message directly with other Amina.com users. This feature was recently reinstated in 2007 after going offline for several months.
Chechen Mail
Gmail
Gmail is a free, advertising-supported email service provided by Google. Users may access Gmail as secure webmail, as well via POP3 or IMAP protocols. Gmail was launched as an invitation-only beta release on April 1, 2004 and it became available to the general public on February 7, 2007, though...
-powered service which enables users to gain access to a private email account with an amina.com domain name
Domain name system
The Domain Name System is a hierarchical distributed naming system for computers, services, or any resource connected to the Internet or a private network. It associates various information with domain names assigned to each of the participating entities...
. When Google Apps
Google Apps
Google Apps is a service from Google providing independently customizable versions of several Google products under a custom domain name. It features several Web applications with similar functionality to traditional office suites, including: Gmail, Google Groups, Google Calendar, Talk, Docs and...
enabled Gmail users to check their email accounts using the BlackBerry
BlackBerry
BlackBerry is a line of mobile email and smartphone devices developed and designed by Canadian company Research In Motion since 1999.BlackBerry devices are smartphones, designed to function as personal digital assistants, portable media players, internet browsers, gaming devices, and much more...
wireless
Wireless
Wireless telecommunications is the transfer of information between two or more points that are not physically connected. Distances can be short, such as a few meters for television remote control, or as far as thousands or even millions of kilometers for deep-space radio communications...
handheld device
Handheld device
A mobile device is a small, hand-held computing device, typically having a display screen with touch input and/or a miniature keyboard and less than . Early pocket sized ones were joined in the late 2000s by larger but otherwise similar tablet computers...
, Chechen Mail users by extension gained access to this new feature. Currently, email signup requires permission from the Amina – Chechen Republic Online domain administrator
Network administrator
A network administrator, network analyst or network engineer is a person responsible for the maintenance of computer hardware and software that comprises a computer network...
.