HU Yong, 眾生喧嘩 (The Rising Cacophony: Personal Expression and Public Discussion in the Internet Age), Peking University
the book is written in chinese. about the book title, he thought for a long time for the translation. he used the term, Cacophony, in a positive way. three meanings of this word. in china, internet emabled informed citizens. but in a lot of circumstances, you dont know there is a society. e.g., tangshan earthquake and sars. the appearance of informed citizens is thus a big breakthrough. mass media as the first channel, neican from xinhua news agency as the third channel, letters and visits as the forth channel. internet ecourages the formation of public opinion. internet makes freedom of assembly and association possilbe in china (they are extremely rare in china). such as fans groups and gathering of signitures. internet is not an expressing medium but also an organizing medium. there are two chinas, online and offline, real and virtual. online china is not exactly representation of offline china but it is more true. the true dimensions of china is only reviewed in virtual china. internet becomes a public opinion tool subject to control by various interest groups who have different agendas. a garden becomes a jungle. a war of public opinion is seen online. public opinion in cyberspace is officialy incorporated into the party system, which is good news. e.g., President Hu visited renming net and made a speech. internet breaks down the barrier bt citizens and officials.
four mechanisms – posts replicated on the net, snowball effect; controversial topics and heartbreaking stories catch attention; langauge itself, net speak; …
conclusion – china’s public sphere is established onlne. internet is less regulated than the traditional media. it will certainly help to develop civil society.
YANG Guobin, The Power of the Internet in China: Citizen Activism Online, Columbia University
the book is scheduled to officially publish in 2 weeks. inspiration goes to many of the colleagues. yang will read a few passages in the book.
introduction chapter: two misleading images of china internet – control and entertainment. internet-related struggles that is called online activism. a world of carnival, community and contentions. this book is about ppl’s power in the internet age. why is popular contention growing under increased internet control? what cultural forms does online acitivity take? what is the power of online activism as a force of social change?
chapter 7 on online community: utopian realism from anthony giddens. how to understand modernity in an dystopian age. 3 popular images with online communities – image of square, openness; image of home, solidarity; image of martial arts. rivers and lakes refer to a world away from the established social and political world. the heros in this world seek for justice. xia, knight warrior, has been an important part of pop culture. this chapter argues that chinese ppl impose their imagination to the online communities. this imagination has been long embedded in the history. it serves as a critique to the reality.
Jack QIU, Working-class network society: Communication technology and the information have-less in urban China, Chinese University of Hong Kong
first book panel in the circ series. a forth book on chinese telecomm and revolution came up this year too. worked since 2002. 2003 was the first circ. many of the content in the book was presented in circ series. this book grew up along circ.
will show pictures coz internet means dif things for dif ppl. lots of working class, or the info-have-less, are very dif from maoist proletarians and those british working class. the new working class in 21st century. working class is silent online but they are making the tech equipments, they are pursuing a more democratic society.
structure of the book – part i networks materialized, tech diffusion, internet cafe, wireless tech; part ii have-less ppl, not fully class-conscious, most of whom are migrants, the young and the old working class, child labor; part iii class formation, space clustering, classic events.
demonstates a map of this book.
Monroe Price’s comments - market for loyalty. gov plays as a manopoly in the market. we have seen here the efforts to enter the market. altering the structure of the market is what we have seen here. carnation, contest and conquest in katz and dynan’s book media events. geopolitical interaction and china’s intervention in other spaces such as africa.
Q&A
Q1 – how about cultures? Jack – entertainment is among the most important things. working class chinese are so bored that they spend tons of time on online activity such as qq. but the entertainment need is not fulfilled by mainstream media such as cctv. entertainment can serve as a gateway or the alternative tool for creativity. e.g., qq as entertainment and later turned into a social and political mobilization tool later. Yang – much of the internet culture is entertainment. but the social aspect about entertainment is oftne ignored. game communities are also about society. he tries to link the political to other aspects including culture. gamers also have to face censorship.
Q2 – connection bt gamine and other online communities. pseudo real china? Yang – the formation of new identity. Li Yonggang mentioned after sichuan earthquake, games use games to operate relief efforts.
Q3 – rivers and lakes are all about repurtation. Yang – yes, about honor and bravery. online comunity members use langauge to construct certain events. e.g., tianya event of a young girl seeking to save her mother via selling herself. netizens went to her city to verify this case. as soon as one is recognized as xia, he has to follow the rules of containing the honor.
Done!
