The IASTED International Conference on
Information Technology, Democracy and Economic Development
ITDED 2011
July 11 – 11, 2011
Cambridge, United Kingdom
INVITED SPEAKER
Collective Agency in the Internet Era: Towards a Civil Sphere in China
Abstract
In contrast to China’s remarkable achievement in economic development, the country has made relatively slow democratic progress. In recent years the role of the Internet in China’s civil space attracted increasing scholarly attention, including the rate of Internet uptake among the Chinese population, and on governmental censorship, control and suppression on Internet activism. There are split views about the role of the Internet in relation to democratic movements in China. Some argue that the usage and content of the Chinese Internet are dominated by consumerism and lifestyle rather than political issues (Damm 2007), while some are positive about the effect of ICTs such as the Internet and mobile phones in energizing alternative communication practices in the Chinese society (Yang 2003; Zheng & Wu 2005), which may not lead to participant democracy in the short term, but serve to alter the power dynamics between citizenry and the state.The dichotomy between state control and free market cannot be more pronounced anywhere else than on the Internet and mobile telephony. The Internet is considered “a double-edged sword, indispensable to economic modernization but also confronting the authorities with unprecedented challenges” (Dai 2000). On the one hand, the government still imposes substantial control and censorship over the Internet in China, from blocking foreign websites such as news pages, Youtube and Facebook, shutting down Internet Service Providers, websites and online forums, to arresting political activists voicing their criticism on the government on the Internet. On the other hand, the state is aware that in this age of globalization, free flow of information is pivotal to China’s rapidly growing market economy. As a result, instead of establishing Orweillian surveillance on Netizens, the Chinese government focuses on setting up boundaries on the virtual space and penalizes transgression of those boundaries (Zheng & Wu 2005). In other words, free flow of information is allowed to a certain extent as long as it does not cross the boundary. It should be noted that the boundaries are often blurry and penalty is often selective. There is therefore significant space within those boundaries to allow debates, civic engagement and mobilization of collective action (ibid.).
Despite state control and regulation on the Internet which to some extent has a panoptical effect on cyber-activities, the Internet has opened up space for expression of public opinion, public debates, and criticism on the government (Yang 2003). Various forms of internet activism have emerged, exerting widespread influence and social pressure on the government, and in some cases, result in changes in governmental behaviour or even institutional and regulatory improvement (Yang 2006). The Internet is considered a tool for communication, as public space and as a means of collective action (Zheng & Wu 2005). Other forms of communication technology, such as short messaging services (SMS) have also been studied. SMS, as “disorderly media practices”, are shown to carry a different social and political discourse in China, contributing to the complexity of Chinese citizenship (Latham 2007).
Objectives
In this talk I will discuss the development of Internet activism in China since late 1990s, conceptualized as decentred, emergent, and fluid forms of collection action. It will be argued that Internet activism gives rise to new shape of individual and collective agency that is core to an emerging civil sphere in China. The relationship between this phenomenon and China’s economic development will also be explored.Biography of the Invited Speaker
Dr. Yingqin Zheng is Senior Lecturer at the Centre of Computing and Social Responsibility (CCSR) at De Montfort University in the UK and Research Associate at the London School of Economics (LSE). Trained in both Development Studies and Information Systems, she conducted doctoral research at the University of Cambridge as a Gates scholar, and postdoctoral research at the London School of Economics. Her research interests encompass the implications of information and communication technology in society, particularly in relation to economic and social development. Her publications have won awards like Best Conference paper at the American Conference of Information Systems 2010 and Highly Commended Award at the Literati Network Awards for Excellence 2009.
