Time Zones and Synchronous Telecommunications: The Hidden Work on Temporal Coordination among Citizens of the Far East of Russia

Abstract

The article describes the hidden work on coordination in time, performed by residents of two Russian cities – Vladivostok (UTC+10) and Magadan (UTC+11) – to communicate with inhabitants of the western regions of the country, mostly located in the Moscow time zone (UTC+3), in conditions of a narrow “communication window” due to the time difference. We analyze communication-related time practices of the Far-Easterners such as planning of daily routines, managing availability for communication, occasional adjustment and counting of time of another time zone. We consider these practices to be a hidden work on coordination in time produced by the development of telecommunications. We conclude with the hypothesis of unequal distribution of this hidden work between easterners and westerners occurring due to spatiotemporal inequality of regions within the context of high centralization of institutions and extensive geography of Russia.