New media course work - 6511357 Shunyi Zhai Blog 5
Media use in developing countries
The distinct ecology and the different use of Internet in developing countries has become an important topic in the field of digital media study. As Graham & Dutton (2014) mentions that the online users of developing countries including China has already surpassed that of western countries, despite the large amount of Chinese population still offline. Instead of focusing on the offline population as excluded and marginalized due to the poverty and inequality in developing countries, more focus has been directed to the special character of media use in these regions. As Herold (2009) concludes that “The internet is not merely changing Asian societies, but is interacting with local cultures and societal structures across Asia to create new practices and communities of people sharing facets of their on-and off-line lives (p.2).”
In addition, the definition and conceptualization of the digital divide until now tend to be “strictly dichotomous (Selwyn, 2004 p.345).”which means that the delineation is simplified to standard of whether a individual has the “access” to internet or not. However, Selwyn in contrast argues that the judgment of “access” has to be defined through individual perception. Such as in the context of China, if the individual is aware of his limited online space after the great fire wall, will he still perceive he has an access to the Internet? Or will he perceive himself as no different from western netizens? Different perceptions might lead to different actions, such as the “cross” wall practice using VPN, as a self made effort to cover the digital gap, or simply being satisfied with the contents behind the wall. As Kling (2000) mentions that computer mediated communication cannot be analyzed out of its specific cultural context and social settings, because it is embedded with local norms, conventions and characteristics.
Chinas netizens even have unique Internet behaviors and needs compare to other developing countries due to the specific social settings. One major trait is the need for entertainment and the popularity of e-commerce (Michael & Zhou, 2010). Clark (2012) mentions a similar trend of a-political attitude popular among Chinese youth netizens. The major purpose of consuming entertainment has leads to the image of Chinese youth as lack of interest in politics. However, she continues that Chinese youth are trying to engage with politics through other strategies such as irony or satire instead of involving in direct argument or conflict. This is not a-political, but these youth are creating their own online cultural terrain as a response to the censorship mechanism.
Although the Chinese netizens’s direct political engagement is monitored and constrained, it does not prevent their action from having political impact. As Cheong & Gong (2010) argue that information sharing media platforms provide a chance for Chinese citizens to collectively involve and participate in political discourses through grass root movements like human flesh searching. However, there are also negative stances regarding to this kind of grass root practices. Such as the study of the government’s ambivalence tolerant of different kind of collective behavior and the definite prevention of actual collective movements off-line(King, Pan, & Roberts, 2012). It has also been mentioned that government will only permit certain kinds of online grass root surveillance in order to restore its authority and as a chance to resolve the conflict between local and central government(Perry, 2001). Thus the online space in developing countries like China is still a new undetermined place under the influence of many social agents. It is possible that in the future the online space in China will be completely penetrated by the commercialization force and the erosion of another public sphere for civic engagement.
Cheong, P. H., & Gong, J. (2010). Cyber vigilantism, transmedia collective
intelligence, and civic participation. Chinese Journal of Communication, 3(4),
471–487.
Clark, P. (2012). Youth culture in China: From red guards to netizens. Cambridge University Press.
Graham, M., & Dutton, W. H. (2014). Society and the internet: How networks of information and communication are changing our lives. OUP Oxford.
Herold, D. K. (2009). Cultural politics and political culture of Web 2.0 in Asia. Knowledge, Technology & Policy, 22(2), 89–94.
King, G., Pan, J., & Roberts, M. (2012). How Censorship in China Allows Government Criticism but Silences Collective Expression. APSA 2012 Annual Meeting Paper, 107(917), 326–343. http://doi.org/10.1017/S0003055413000014
Kling, R. (2000). Learning about information technologies and social change: The contribution of social informatics. The Information Society, 16(3), 217–232.
Michael, D. C., & Zhou, Y. (2010). China’s digital generations 2.0: Digital media and commerce go mainstream. Boston Consulting Group.
Perry, E. J. (2001). Challenging the mandate of heaven: popular protest in modern China. Critical Asian Studies, 33(2), 163–180.
Selwyn, N. (2004). Reconsidering political and popular understandings of the digital divide. New Media & Society, 6(3), 341–362.
The distinct ecology and the different use of Internet in developing countries has become an important topic in the field of digital media study. As Graham & Dutton (2014) mentions that the online users of developing countries including China has already surpassed that of western countries, despite the large amount of Chinese population still offline. Instead of focusing on the offline population as excluded and marginalized due to the poverty and inequality in developing countries, more focus has been directed to the special character of media use in these regions. As Herold (2009) concludes that “The internet is not merely changing Asian societies, but is interacting with local cultures and societal structures across Asia to create new practices and communities of people sharing facets of their on-and off-line lives (p.2).”
In addition, the definition and conceptualization of the digital divide until now tend to be “strictly dichotomous (Selwyn, 2004 p.345).”which means that the delineation is simplified to standard of whether a individual has the “access” to internet or not. However, Selwyn in contrast argues that the judgment of “access” has to be defined through individual perception. Such as in the context of China, if the individual is aware of his limited online space after the great fire wall, will he still perceive he has an access to the Internet? Or will he perceive himself as no different from western netizens? Different perceptions might lead to different actions, such as the “cross” wall practice using VPN, as a self made effort to cover the digital gap, or simply being satisfied with the contents behind the wall. As Kling (2000) mentions that computer mediated communication cannot be analyzed out of its specific cultural context and social settings, because it is embedded with local norms, conventions and characteristics.
Chinas netizens even have unique Internet behaviors and needs compare to other developing countries due to the specific social settings. One major trait is the need for entertainment and the popularity of e-commerce (Michael & Zhou, 2010). Clark (2012) mentions a similar trend of a-political attitude popular among Chinese youth netizens. The major purpose of consuming entertainment has leads to the image of Chinese youth as lack of interest in politics. However, she continues that Chinese youth are trying to engage with politics through other strategies such as irony or satire instead of involving in direct argument or conflict. This is not a-political, but these youth are creating their own online cultural terrain as a response to the censorship mechanism.
Although the Chinese netizens’s direct political engagement is monitored and constrained, it does not prevent their action from having political impact. As Cheong & Gong (2010) argue that information sharing media platforms provide a chance for Chinese citizens to collectively involve and participate in political discourses through grass root movements like human flesh searching. However, there are also negative stances regarding to this kind of grass root practices. Such as the study of the government’s ambivalence tolerant of different kind of collective behavior and the definite prevention of actual collective movements off-line(King, Pan, & Roberts, 2012). It has also been mentioned that government will only permit certain kinds of online grass root surveillance in order to restore its authority and as a chance to resolve the conflict between local and central government(Perry, 2001). Thus the online space in developing countries like China is still a new undetermined place under the influence of many social agents. It is possible that in the future the online space in China will be completely penetrated by the commercialization force and the erosion of another public sphere for civic engagement.
Cheong, P. H., & Gong, J. (2010). Cyber vigilantism, transmedia collective
intelligence, and civic participation. Chinese Journal of Communication, 3(4),
471–487.
Clark, P. (2012). Youth culture in China: From red guards to netizens. Cambridge University Press.
Graham, M., & Dutton, W. H. (2014). Society and the internet: How networks of information and communication are changing our lives. OUP Oxford.
Herold, D. K. (2009). Cultural politics and political culture of Web 2.0 in Asia. Knowledge, Technology & Policy, 22(2), 89–94.
King, G., Pan, J., & Roberts, M. (2012). How Censorship in China Allows Government Criticism but Silences Collective Expression. APSA 2012 Annual Meeting Paper, 107(917), 326–343. http://doi.org/10.1017/S0003055413000014
Kling, R. (2000). Learning about information technologies and social change: The contribution of social informatics. The Information Society, 16(3), 217–232.
Michael, D. C., & Zhou, Y. (2010). China’s digital generations 2.0: Digital media and commerce go mainstream. Boston Consulting Group.
Perry, E. J. (2001). Challenging the mandate of heaven: popular protest in modern China. Critical Asian Studies, 33(2), 163–180.
Selwyn, N. (2004). Reconsidering political and popular understandings of the digital divide. New Media & Society, 6(3), 341–362.
