Han-Teng Liao will be focusing on theories of user-generated content, and specifically two major cases of user-generated content: (1) Baidu, and (2) Wikipedia. William Chang, chief scientist of Baidu, has stated in the WWW2008 conference in Beijing that there is “no reason for China to use Wikipedia.”
He first argues that the debate over freedom v. control (“zhi” v. “luan”) has been neutralized by the government to some extent. Beijing has successfully replaced control with freedom. According to a 2007 survey, over 80% of the Chinese people prefer government control, based on the idea that freedom leads to chaos or “luna” (e.g. Tiananmen Square protests; Taiwan’s democracy and freedom that is perceived as chaotic).
So we have reached a deadlock of sorts about these theories; Liao is therefore trying to modify the conceptual framework of control and freedom–looking at it instead as “zoning tech” v. “dynamic order.” Free speech zones actual walls (e.g. in property zoning cases), and the government treats freedoms as exceptions. In “zoning technologies,” some free actions are allowed, but the mutual adjustment is among states, market players, and individuals. In contrast, a dynamic order emerges from individual free actions and mutual adjustments to one another based on diverse set of principles. Order can thus emerge from a free mutual adjustment online. Instead of the “great firewall,” perhaps we can modify the metaphor to be a “great canal + a great dam.”
Reframing the question: How do we read the order online? Beijing’s involvement has an impact on the dynamic order; perhaps the question is less about the dynamic order and more about the market order. Perhaps the relationship is more divisive and less integrative.
Why Baidu Baike and Chinese Wikipedia? Baidu is a rare and favoured-by-Beijing competitor to Wikipedia.