THE MASS MEDIA (09/21/97)

THE MASS MEDIA

Website features Ukraine's newspapers

by Bohdan Hodiak

MIAMI - How would you like to read articles from Ukrainian newspapers only moments after they have appeared in Kyiv or chat with people in Ukraine on the Internet?

Then turn on your computer and go to: http://www.ukrainet.org.

It is a new website that began operating last year and now draws some 33,000 "hits" monthly from people all over the world, according to its creator, Walter Kondziola.

The success of his business, Miamidi Computers in North Miami, has permitted Mr. Kondziola to spend literally thousands of hours to launch the web site project.

The project required financial and labor contributions from scores of people and has so far cost a great deal of money, according to Mr. Kondziola. Providing some of the intellectual labor were people from the National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy and Lviv Polytechnic Institute, as well as dozens of people throughout Ukraine who submit information.

The site is directly connected to the Internet hub in Atlanta, and that line alone costs about $1,500 a month.

So why did Mr. Kondziola do this?

"I wanted to create a resource directory for Ukrainian information," he said. His wife, Maria, who is a recent immigrant from Ukraine, encouraged him and provided some contacts in Ukraine.

The site is still under revision and construction with new areas constantly being added. There already are departments on travel, Ukrainian history, periodicals, organizations, import-export and articles from English-language newspapers as well as articles in Cyrillic.

Work to create the site began three years ago. "We worked in shifts. Sometimes we were in here until 3 to 5 in the morning," Mr. Kondziola said. The system also had to connect to some 300 search engines in the world so it could gather information from everywhere and also have a presence around the world. "We've found things in Japan, New Zealand, Australia," Mr. Kondziola added.

Every day a stack of e-mail comes to the site from businesspeople, teachers, students, government organizations and individuals from around the world. One student wrote in asking about schools in Kyiv because his father had just been named ambassador to Ukraine.

The beauty of the Internet, said Mr. Kondziola, is that it can bypass official channels and censorship. "We get news from the villages that tells us what's really happening in Ukraine," he said.

He would like to supply computer systems to individuals in approximately 250 Ukrainian villages but, as of now, this effort would depend on finding some generous patrons. Since these people could report from the villages, "it would increase our eyes and ears in Ukraine tenfold," he added.

The UkraineT Foundation that he created to start the site has been able to cover the expenses so far. Mr. Kondziola wants UkraineT to serve everyone in the Ukrainian community around the world, and not be the mouthpiece of any particular political faction. About 70 people currently contribute their labor and relay information to Ukraine T.

"The response to UkraineT has been very good from Ukraine and Eastern Europe. It's a big deal over there," he said. "The youth in Ukraine are very interested in the Internet."

Mr. Kondziola, 53, grew up in New York City. "I had the usual upbringing, Plast, SUM, Soyuzivka," he said. He went to New York University, where he got involved in computers, and that led to a job with IBM. He later worked in research and development at CBS and then at a music company, where he became skillful in developing computerized music systems. This eventually brought Mr. Kondziola to Hollywood, where he worked for Universal, Disney and other studios.

Mr. Kondziola created a library of computerized music, accumulating about 3,000 titles to the most popular songs of the world. When he left his employers, he kept the mechanical computer copyrights. Many musicians now visit his store in North Miami to buy various songs.

To access UkraineT in Cyrillic, a computer needs to have Windows 95 or the newer Macintosh software and Cyrillic fonts. Access via the Internet is possible through major providers, but people who use the site a lot should sign up for a monthly fee with no time limits.

Mr. Kondziola's team is now working on one of the most exciting aspects of the Internet: computer translations. Mr. Kondziola claims that by next year a viewer in Germany, France or Spain should be able to install a plug-in module that will translate English text into those languages. Computer translations are currently about 80 percent accurate, he said, and have to be corrected by humans. A preview of the future can be seen on UkraineT's home page by clicking on the flags.

For Mr. Kondziola and his wife, UkraineT has been a labor of love. They hope they can support it for a very long time. But they also plan to look at putting it on a more solid financial basis through public support and fund raising.

"Kontakt" moves to Toronto Channel 47

by Nestor Gula

TORONTO - As of September 13 the Ukrainian television show "Kontakt" is being shown on CFMT TV Multilingual Television (Channel 47), where another Ukrainian television show, "Svitohliad," resides.

The official announcement of the move was made during the first annual Bloor West Village Ukrainian Festival on August 23, startling the Ukrainian audience gathered by the stage as the two shows are often perceived by the general Ukrainian public as bitter rivals.

In Toronto and southern Ontario, "Kontakt's" new slot on CFMT will be Saturdays at 1 p.m. "Svitohliad" will continue to be seen Saturdays at 7:30 p.m. on the same station.

"Svitohliad" is owned by CFMT, while "Kontakt" (formerly seen on Toronto's CITY TV channel) is owned by Kontakt Entertainment Communications Corp. and, as executive producer Jurij Klufas underscored, is independent.

"We got an opportunity to air 'Kontakt' on a multilingual station and conceivably expand throughout Canada," Mr. Klufas said. "Since we are already expanding throughout Canada, going in with somebody that is moving in the same direction (CFMT is expanding its services across the country) makes a lot of sense. We are tying ourselves in, in terms of the broadcast signals," the veteran broadcaster added.

A host of "Svitohliad," Renata Duma-Jaciw, said, "I'm happy to welcome 'Kontakt' to the CFMT family." She said she does not believe that having "Kontakt" on CFMT will have any negative impact on her program.

Mr. Klufas said "Kontakt" is expanding its service in other localities - adding Philadelphia (on WYBE, Channel 35, Sundays at 2 p.m.) and Val D'Or in Northern Québec (TVC-9, Sundays at 2 p.m.) - this fall. In western Canada the program will now be broadcast to the entire provinces of Alberta (Access TV, Saturdays at 2 p.m.) and Manitoba (CKY, Saturdays at 11 a.m.). Formerly it could be seen in the immediate Edmonton and Winnipeg areas.

Mr. Klufas said "Kontakt" is planning to expand into Florida, San Francisco, Portland, Oregon, Detroit and Montreal, and might try to reappear in Saskatchewan, where technicalities forced it off the air.

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