ИСТИНА

Our research team of five people (me and four of my undergraduate students of Lomonosov Moscow State University)joined a multinational group organized by Professor Martin Barker, Professor Matt Hills (Aberystwyth University, UK), and Dr Ernest Mathijs (University of British Columbia, Canada). The Hobbit Project includes researchers from 45 countries and is going to produce materials in a form of a searchable database. Collectively discused Survey of 28 questions (both quantitative and qualitative) covers a broad spectrum of data on the viewers age, sex, occupation, education, reading experiences, participation in interpretive communities. Though full analysis of the survey will take a number of months after it is closed in May 2014, the paper dwells on initial observations, already allowing to make meaningful statements.