Assessing Censorship on Microblogs in China: Discriminatory Keyword Analysis and the Real-Name Registration Policy

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Microbloggers’ motivations in participatory journalism: A cross-cultural study of America and China

This phenomenological study focuses on the motivations of participatory journalists contributing on microblogs such as Twitter and Weibo. Although online user behavior and motivations have been studied before, few studies have examined motivations of participatory journalists from their own perspective. Moreover, this study is one of the few to explore participatory journalists across different cultures (U.S. and China). The author conducted a total of 13 in-depth interviews with participatory journalists on microblogs from both countries and used a qualitative analysis method to identify the themes and patterns that emerged. Motivations such as earning respect, technology early adoption, self-expression, relationship building, self-enhancement, branding and image building, and financial gain were discussed. De-motivational factors such as time constraints and self-censorship were presented. Motivational differences between the two groups of participants, including what the microblog account represents and the role of participatory journalists, were explained by cultural differences collectivism versus individualism and power distance. Limitations and future research were also discussed

Participatory Democracy in the Chinese Cyber World: Case Studies from Weibo

This thesis discusses features of citizen communication on Weibo, the Chinese social media platform, and its relationship to participatory democracy in China. Weibo is a complex social space due to the interplay of different forces and social actors. On the one hand, Weibo provides the space for bottom-up political participation: it expands the horizontal discursive space where plural discourses coexist and interact; provides a social sphere where counter-discourses are created; a space where the culture of resistance is formed; and serves as an alternative source for information. On the other hand, the vertical political control of the state, and the digital divide produced by capitalist power, are forces that constrain citizen participation. The thesis examines the interplay of these dynamics in three online ethnographic case studies: the response to street vendor Xia Junfeng’s death sentence, the sanitation workers’ strike in Guangzhou, and the anti-trash incineration protest in Yuhang, and triangulates the results with an online survey and examination of the extant literature

Deception Detection and Rumor Debunking for Social Media

Abstract The main premise of this chapter is that the time is ripe for more extensive research and development of social media tools that filter out intentionally deceptive information such as deceptive memes, rumors and hoaxes, fake news or other fake posts, tweets and fraudulent profiles. Social media users’ awareness of intentional manipulation of online content appears to be relatively low, while the reliance on unverified information (often obtained from strangers) is at an all-time high. I argue there is need for content verification, systematic fact-checking and filtering of social media streams. This literature survey provides a background for understanding current automated deception detection research, rumor debunking, and broader content verification methodologies, suggests a path towards hybrid technologies, and explains why the development and adoption of such tools might still be a significant challenge

Micro-blogging Contesting Modernities: Producing and Remembering Public Events in Contemporary Chinese Social Media Platforms

How does journalism empower citizens through reporting and remembering news events, as they take shape in the era of social media in a society where the state power penetrates every aspect of social life and freedom of expression is not legally guaranteed? This inquiry is implemented through looking at the contemporary Chinese context, examining three sets of tensions that capture the characteristics of social media platforms: control/resistance, past/present, and global/local. It analyzes journalism and its reliance on collective memory in social media, by considering social media as an important venue where journalism interacts with other sets of discourses in a tradition of absolute state power. My study shows that in China, a society that enjoys a limited free flow of information, journalism uses social media platforms to mobilize symbolic resources for online activism targeting the Party-state system. These symbolic resources mainly derive from the past, both inside and beyond the Chinese context, leading to a debate of different versions of modernity in China. This is a study that spans three years along with the development of Sina Weibo (now Weibo), a micro-blogging service provided by Sina.com, one of the major Chinese portal websites. I argue that social media complicate the landscape of journalism, by taking a balancing position between market interests and political safety. In particular, micro-blogging has blurred the conventional distinction between professional and citizen journalism. Instead, the institutional and personal journalistic practices are working together contest censorship via social media platforms. Social media opens up spaces for journalists and ordinary citizens to rewrite history, and to use various resources provided by the past to criticize the present Party-state system and struggle for journalistic freedom. The global-local exchange of news and memory via social media platforms brings about a new version of Chinese identity, competing with the version promoted by the Party-state in contemporary social transition, and urging a thorough political reform to reach the goal of a civilized nation. Social media, as shown in the case of Weibo, reflect the conflicting views of China\u27s route to modernity--the debate between Chinese characteristics and universal values, which produces the meanings of a modern Chinese nation and raises the relevance of citizenship. This conflict is situated in the complexities of historical and contemporary social transitions and China\u27s dilemma in the embracing of a global world

Generations Apart: Cultural Revolution Memory and China\u27s Post-80\u27s Generation on the Chinese Internet

This thesis examines how the memory of the Cultural Revolution is used on the Chinese internet by China\u27s post-80\u27s generation and the Chinese Communist Party to describe and highlight examples of social instability. These comparisons are representative of the broad historical narrative written by the Party which forms the basis of how China\u27s younger generations learn about and internalize the Cultural Revolution. This study analyzes how the memory of the Cultural Revolution is held by China\u27s post-80\u27s generation as viewed through the lens of the Chinese Internet. Specifically, this research engages with the intended purposes of the post-80\u27s generation for invoking memories of the Cultural Revolution on the Chinese Internet. This revival and re-characterization of the Cultural Revolution\u27s social memory holds complex meanings for how China\u27s post-1980\u27s generation defines the Cultural Revolution

The Shapes of Cultures: A Case Study of Social Network Sites/Services Design in the U.S. and China

With growing popularity of the use of social network sites/services (SNSs) throughout the world, the global dominance of SNSs designed in the western industrialized countries, especially in the United Sates, seems to have become an inevitable trend. As internationalization has become a common practice in designing SNSs in the United States, is localization still a viable practice? Does culture still matter in designing SNSs? This dissertation aims to answer these questions by comparing the user interface (UI) designs of a U.S.-based SNS, Twitter, and a China-based SNS, Sina Weibo, both of which have assumed an identity of a “microblogging” service, a sub category of SNSs. This study employs the theoretical lens of the theory of technical identity, user-centered website cultural usability studies, and communication and media studies. By comparing the UI designs, or the “form,” of the two microblogging sites/services, I illustrate how the social functions of a technological object as embedded and expressed in the interface designs are preserved or changed as the technological object that has developed a relatively stable identity (as a microblogging site/service) in one culture is transferred between the “home” culture and another. The analysis in this study focuses on design elements relevant to users as members of networks, members of audience, and publishers/broadcasters. The results suggest that the designs carry disparate biases towards modes of communication and social affordances, which indicate a shift of the identity of microblogging service/site across cultures

The sources young people trust: The credibility ratings of sources of national political news in China

This study sought to determine Chinese young people\u27s perceptions of the credibility of traditional and online news media as conveyors of national political information. It also examined whether urban and rural residents as well as members and non-members of the Communist Party and/or the Communist Youth League differ in their assessments of the credibility of these two types of information sources. The study also assessed the impact of media platform, place of residence, and Party/League membership on perceptions of source credibility given the intervening influence of exposure and attention to news, political involvement, and attitude toward politics. Data were gathered from an online survey of a non-probability sample of college students in China. The results show that students relied on micro-blogs the most, followed by non-social networking sites, social networking sites, and television. The respondents also rated the online media more credible than their traditional counterparts. Students from rural areas did not differ from urban residents in how they assessed the credibility of both platforms. However, a significant difference was found between Youth League members and non-members and between Party members and non-members in how they rated online media credibility. The preferred media platform, place of residence, and Party/League membership did not significantly influence credibility perceptions after controlling for the influence of exposure and attention to political news, political involvement, and attitude toward politics. Only individual characteristics related to politics, namely political involvement and attitude toward politics, were found to be significant antecedents of online credibility ratings

Fostering Freedom Online: The Role of Internet Intermediaries

“Fostering Freedom Online: the Role of Internet Intermediaries” is the title of a new title in the UNESCO Internet freedom series. With the rise of Internet intermediaries that play a mediating role on the internet between authors of content and audiences, UNESCO took a joint initiative, with the Open Society Foundations, the Internet Society, and Center for Global Communication Studies at the University of Pennsylvania’s Annenberg School for Communication, to examine this recent historical phenomenon and how it impacts on freedom of expression and associated fundamental rights such as privacy. The case study research, collaboratively delivered by 16 international researchers led by Ms Rebecca MacKinnon and Mr Allon Bar, as well as 14 members of International Advisory Committee, covers of three categories of intermediaries: Internet Service Providers (fixed line and mobile) such as Vodafone (UK, Germany, Egypt), Vivo/Telefônica Brasil (Brazil), Bharti Airtel (India, Kenya), Safaricom (Kenya), Search Engines such as Google (USA, EU, India, China, Russia), Baidu (China), Yandex (Russia) and Social Networking Platforms such as Facebook (USA, Germany, India, Brazil, Egypt), Twitter (USA, Kenya), Weibo (China), iWiW (Hungary). The research showed that internet intermediaries are heavily influenced by the legal and policy environments of states, but they do have leeway over many areas of policy and practice affecting online expression and privacy. The findings also highlighted the challenge where many state policies, laws, and regulations are – to varying degrees – poorly aligned with the duty to promote and protect intermediaries’ respect for freedom of expression. It is a resource which enables the assessment of Internet intermediaries’ decisions on freedom of expression, by ensuring that any limitations are consistent with international standards

THE SURVIVAL AND DEVELOPMENT OF CHINESE NEW MEDIA BUSINESS: AMONG STATE, MARKET, AND PUBLIC

Master'sMASTER OF ART