Imagine a Moscow metro commuter "flipping through" Pravda on his personal digital assistant. Or a Karelian housewife eschewing the local department store to do her home shopping via modem.


Such visions are not as distant as they seem, despite the fact that most Russians have never heard of electronic mail and still yell down turn-of-the-century phone lines, according to a group of Russian and U.S. experts who addressed a conference on electronic media at the Ostankino Television Center this week.


"You may smile skeptically, but these ideas are not so far-fetched," said Anatoly Voronov, director of Glasnet, a non-profit computer network providing electronic mail and other services across Russia. "Networks are already changing the face of the world."


The three major Russian computer networks, Relcom, Sovam Teleport and Glasnet, have already established E-mail links in over 300 cities in the former Soviet Union, serving a combined total of nearly 500,000 people. Russia's computer networks have grown by 300 percent since December 1992, according to the July 1994 Cook Report, a study of Russian network usage.


The Russian daily newspaper Segodnya has been publishing an on-line edition for nearly a year, following the model of some 40 U.S. newspapers and others around the world that already make their editorial content available via modem.


The question of the new technologies' social impact has already arisen. According to Deborah Kaplan, a member of U.S. President Bill Clinton's advisory council on the national information infrastructure, critics worry that the high cost of many new modes of communication could divide society into information "haves" and "have-nots."


For example, while the Segodnya on-line edition runs at approximately $6 for a three-month subscription, it is only available via Sprintmail, a service that costs $150 in start-up fees, plus an additional $16 per hour on-line and a $50 monthly fee. The average Russia monthly wage is less than $100.


"It's not the most accessible service, but it is an important step for Russia," said Voronov.


Expensive computers, modems, video cameras and translation equipment filled the conference hall at Ostankino. At one point, Igor Semenyuk of Sovam took participants exploring via computer, accessing Soviet archives from Stalinist times. "Virtual conferences" every evening linked participants in Moscow with those in the United States for interactive discussion.


U.S. Vice President Al Gore, in keynote remarks sent via E-mail, touted the importance of setting up an "information highway," which would link people worldwide through a network of computers, satellites and telephone lines. "A global information infrastructure will increase economic opportunity and development, open lines of communication and strengthen the bonds of liberty and democracy around the world," wrote Gore, who has a personal account on Glasnet.


But Russia's path to the information highway has not been smooth.


"It's much easier for you in the West to talk of the infrastructure which Gore mentions," said Alexei Soldatov, president of Relcom, pointing out that a slow-acting parliament, an entrenched national telephone monopoly and a population unaccustomed to new technologies will make progress difficult.


Nonetheless, said Voronov of Glasnet, investments in communications networks will be money well spent over the long term."Building an information highway will not only prove to be cheaper than building real roads," said Voronov. "It will also prove more useful, to everyone."