Internet & Society

Contesting Internet Governance: Global Dissent and Disparities in the Management of Cyberspace Resources

by David Drissel

Uyghur diaspora and the Internet

by Dilnur Reyhan

E-Diasporas Atlas Project

While some do not hesitate to call the dispersed Uyghur community a diaspora, other researchers are still skeptical as... more While some do not hesitate to call the dispersed Uyghur community a diaspora, other researchers are still skeptical as to the relevance of this denomination. Since the 90s, Uyghurs have not only managed to create interconnected international organizations in countries where they are installed, but have also re-connected with their country of origin thanks especially to the Internet. The Uyghur diaspora is still under construction, and the Web is an integral part of this process. Their Web diaspora contains more Web sites than blogs, while the case is reversed in the Uyghur region. The content of Web sites in the Uyghur region and in the diaspora is very diverse, but a clear difference emerges: those in the diaspora are highly political, while sites in the region are more self-censuring than ever before. Religious sites have their place in the diaspora while they are poorly tolerated in China. Countries where there is a strong Uyghur population do not necessarily offer the most developed digital spaces, but more depends on migrants’ socio-professional category. As a young population sensitive to ICT, Uyghurs are putting together a classical diaspora as well as a digital diaspora.

Diaspora ouïghoure et identité diasporique

by Dilnur Reyhan

La migration ouïghoure contemporaine commence à la fin de 19ème siècle lorsque l’Empire Chinois de la dynastie Qing... more La migration ouïghoure contemporaine commence à la fin de 19ème siècle lorsque l’Empire Chinois de la dynastie Qing envahit la province jusque-là autonome. Mais la migration vers l’occident commence dans les années 50 après la main mise de la Chine communiste sur le Turkestan. Aujourd’hui, il n’y a pas un chiffre officiel du nombre des Ouïghours à l’extérieur. Les pays turcophones de l’Asie centrale comprennent le plus grand nombre de migrants ouïghours par la proximité géographique, linguistique et culturelle. La Turquie, l’Australie, le Canada accueillent un nombre assez important de cette population grâce à la politique migratoire de ces pays. Un autre pôle américano-nippon comprend essentiellement les intellectuels et scientifiques ouïghours qui y sont installés souvent pour des raisons professionnelles. Un dernier pôle migratoire est les pays d’Europe occidental et scandinaves, dont la particularité se trouve sur la migration politique.

Depuis ces quelques dernières années, si certains, que ce soit les médias ou les chercheurs, n’hésitent pas à dénommer la communauté ouïghoure dispersée comme diaspora, d’autres chercheurs de la diaspora restent sceptiques sur la pertinence de cette nomination en raison de la montée récente des réseaux ouïghours. Depuis les années 90, les Ouïghours à l’étranger ont non seulement réussi à se regrouper en institution internationale en créant dans chaque pays d’installation des organisations interconnectées, mais ont également retrouvé la connexion avec leur pays d’origine. Le rôle des nouvelles technologies dans ce développement est primordial, notamment l’arrivée de l’Internet qui a très largement contribué à la mondialisation des réseaux ouïghours.

Search Engines Matter: From Educating Users Towards Engaging with Online Health Information Practices

by Astrid Mager

Mager, A. (2012) Search Engines Matter: From educating users towards engaging with online health information practices, Policy & Internet 4(2), special issue on eHealth. (free download with guest account)

While the internet is often discussed as empowering or endangering patients due to broadening access to medical and... more While the internet is often discussed as empowering or endangering patients due to broadening access to medical and health-related information, little is known about the way patients actually get informed about medical conditions and how the technology shapes their practices. This article draws on 40 user observations and 40 qualitative interviews to explore how users employ the web to obtain knowledge about a chronic disease in the Austrian context. Following concepts from the field of Science and Technology Studies (STS) it elaborates how users’ individual medical preferences and search engines’ mechanisms of pre-filtering information co-shape online health information practices. This analysis exemplifies that search engines are no passive intermediaries, but rather actively shape how users browse through, select and evaluate health information in the context of their own bodies of knowledge. Accordingly, new skills are required on the part of users, but also on the part of medical professionals and policy makers. Both policy makers and doctors are invited to engage with users’ highly individual search practices and establish more dialogue-oriented and technology-focused health policy measures, rather than trying to educate users with standardized quality criteria for websites not responding to users’ online routines and needs, as will be finally concluded.

Power and Resistance: A Case Study of Satire on the Internet

by Lijun Tang

Tang, L., Bhattacharya, S. Sociological Research Online 16(2)

Past studies on print and TV satire have revealed that satire can be seen as a site of resistance to power. In light... more Past studies on print and TV satire have revealed that satire can be seen as a site of resistance to power. In light of this, interesting questions can be raised regarding Internet satire: what does the Internet contribute to the resistance and what kind of power relation is played out on this site? Using an example from China, this paper reveals that like its print and TV counterparts, Internet satire reflects a widespread feeling of powerlessness, rather than offering the general public any political power. However, the Internet helps to push the symbolic power of satire to a higher level. This is because it makes satire a tool for the grassroots which facilitates the creation and spread of satirical ideas, and also helps to release and stimulate the enormous reserve of public wit and wisdom. As a result, satire on the Internet has the potential to generate a chain of related satirical work, which can create a satire movement and subject power to sustained shame and ridicule.


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Symbolic Power and the Internet: the Power of a ‘Horse’

by Lijun Tang

Tang, L & Yang, P. in Media, Culture & Society 33(5): 675-692

It is a common perception that as long as people have the resources to access the internet, they are in a position to... more It is a common perception that as long as people have the resources to access the internet, they are in a position to make their voice heard. In reality, however, it is obvious that the vast majority of internet users are not really able to make themselves ‘visible’ and that their concerns receive little attention. Thus, it is more accurate to suggest that the internet offers ordinary people the potential of this power. Under what conditions can this potential be realized and what are the associated implications? Drawing upon the concept of symbolic power, and utilizing a recent example from China, this article addresses these often overlooked questions. It shows that it is not easy to materialize the potential of symbolic power on the internet. What the internet makes easy is to produce follow-up discourse once a powerful symbol has appeared. With the aid of supporters and their follow-up discourses, the symbol creates a symbolic network and takes roots in the society quickly and deeply. Finally, some thoughts on symbolic power in the context of China are also provided in the framework of discourse and social change.

The interaction between mass media and the internet in non-democratic states: The case of China

by Lijun Tang

Tang, L & Sampson, H. in Media Culture & Society 34(4)

The internet is widely seen to have facilitated social movement organizations (SMOs) by providing them with... more The internet is widely seen to have facilitated social movement organizations (SMOs) by providing them with alternative media. In the western context, some authors suggest that additionally SMOs use the internet tactically as a tool to gain access to traditional news media. This usage is seen to reaffirm and reinforce the centrality of print and electronic news media. This article shifts the focus to China and examines the interaction between the internet and the traditional mass media in the unfolding of three internet incidents. It reveals that via the expression of public opinion on the internet ordinary people are able to collectively shape and even direct conventional news agendas. In China, where the role of the media is to ‘direct’ public opinion rather than to reflect it, this suggests that the interaction between the two forms of communication serves to challenge state control over the traditional media.

Postdemokratie: Zu Genealogie und Poetologie des Postings

by Lino Wirag

Taking the Copyfight Online: Comparing the Copyright Debate in Congressional Hearings, in Newspapers, and on the Web

by Bill Herman

Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication
Volume 17, Issue 3, pages 354–368, April 2012

This article examines the rhetoric around copyright and the regulation of digital rights management (DRM) from 2003 to... more This article examines the rhetoric around copyright and the regulation of digital rights management (DRM) from 2003 to 2006 in congressional hearings, in major newspapers, and on the most prominent relevant websites. The article describes a new combination of methods for identifying a set of online documents to compare with offline documents via content analysis. These three media present very different views of the copyright debate. Hearings present a rough balance of both coalitions' messages. Newspapers lean slightly toward stronger fair use but have little coverage. The online debate features a deluge of strong fair use arguments. These findings highlight different communication strategies and suggest broader lessons about the changing nature of policy advocacy and the policymaking process.

Technologizing Pedagogy: For better or Worse

by Cassie Earl

The Zeitgeist Movement UK (TZMUK) are a relatively new movement in the political spectrum (although the global... more The Zeitgeist Movement UK (TZMUK) are a relatively new movement in the political spectrum (although the global movement has been around longer), unlike a great number of emerging social movements they apparently offer as much a vision of the future , in the form of a resource based economy (RBE), as a critique of current practice. In a time when individuals are looking for answers concerning how to get out of the current socio-economic crisis, it is important to understand how these new social movements are articulating their message to the public. Drawing from a background in critical pedagogy, that is what this paper will examine.
The pedagogy from this movement is heavily technologized and is finding its way onto the scene through the use of social media and openly available film predominately.

Utilising interviews with individuals involved in the movement, this paper will discuss the

implications of the highly technologized and media reliant movement and how they are negotiating the becoming into being as a movement at a time when offering alternatives is a pertinent methodology and the use of social media is creating social action and informal networks.

How does TZMUK understand its own use of virtual presence and media led mobilisation as a tool for social change and pedagogy?

In addition, how is it learning to create a counter-capitalist voice in the plethora of media savvy movements emerging in the current context?

Discourses of Women Scientists in Online Media: Towards New Gender Regimes

by Heather Mendick

Co-authored with Marie-Pierre Moreau and drawing on work funded by the UKRC

The under-representation of girls and women among those studying and working in science, engineering and technology... more The under-representation of girls and women among those studying and working in science, engineering and technology (SET) is a well-documented phenomenon. However, despite the widespread use of the internet in most Western societies, there is a dearth of research examining discourses of women scientists in online media. In this paper, we explore how the ‘gender regimes’ of online SET can be deemed transformative or, on the contrary, reproduce some of the most common clichés about men and women found in the wider ‘gender order’ (Connell, 1987). To do this, we explore in a systematic manner the construction of women and men in SET within 16 websites, with a particular focus on discourses of women in SET. We argue that the ‘gender regimes’ of these online SET spaces have failed to generate a more gender equal view of scientists. Yet, we also identify a variety of gender regimes across websites, both in terms of the numerical presence of women scientists and of the way they are represented, something which highlights the egalitarian potential of online media.

Sosyal Medyaya Panaromik Bir Yaklaşım - Bayram Karakullukcu

by Bayram Karakullukcu

The effects of Facebook use on civic participation attitudes and behaviour: A social network study (DPhil research proposal)

by Mark Dix

Unpublished DPhil research proposal

This research proposal suggests a network analysis approach to study the effects of web communication on civic... more This research proposal suggests a network analysis approach to study the effects of web communication on civic participation.

A three-phase mixed methods research design is proposed to examine the effect of supplementary communication via the social networking site Facebook, on the structure (quantity) and content (quality) of social ties within a network of citizens engaged in health and social care policymaking.

Subsequently, it is proposed that the network variables of tie structure and content are tested in an affective capacity against the participatory attitudes and behaviour of networked individuals.

By reframing the study of web use and civic participation under a network theoretical framework, when executed, the proposed study will add to the existing literature in the field through recognition of the mediative capacity of relational ties in the formation of participatory capital.

It is suggested that it is through their effect on relational tie structure and content within citizen participation networks, that social networking sites such as Facebook affect participatory attitudes and behaviour.

To set a critical context for the proposed study, a final qualitative phase of research is suggested to examine the professional power structures impacting upon participatory agency.

Internet social support groups as moral agents: the ethical dynamics of HIV+ status disclosure: The ethical dynamics of HIV+ status disclosure

by David Rier

Sociology of Health and Illness 29(7):1043-58; 2007

This paper examines how, on Internet HIV/AIDS support groups, participants discuss the ethics of disclosing HIV... more This paper examines how, on Internet HIV/AIDS support groups, participants discuss the ethics of disclosing HIV seropositivity to partners. The data consist of all mentions of disclosure culled from over 16,000 pages overall of posts from 16 different groups, hosted on seven separate sites. The paper focuses on two main
questions. First, apart from providing support and information, did the groups also debate moral dilemmas (and, despite groups’ common perception as ‘safe spaces’ for non-judgmental exchanges, did these discussions include moral judgments and conflicts)? Secondly, did use of this new medium generate a new, alternative ethical discourse, or merely replicate existing discourses? The data demonstrate that online support groups did engage in debating, and trying verbally to enforce, certain views of the ethics of seropositivity disclosure. The most common view advocated full disclosure, though a range of positions existed.
Unlike with most online support groups described elsewhere, these discussions often included harshly-expressed moral judgments. The groups did not generate a truly new, alternative discourse, but served as clearinghouses for and transmitters of existing ‘off-line’ discourses, both mainstream and alternative.
Implications and limitations of the present study, and areas for further research, are discussed.

Keywords: Internet, support group, ethics, HIV

Long Tail Tourism: New geographies for marketing niche tourism products

by Alan A. Lew

Published (2009) Journal of Travel and Tourism Marketing 25(3/4): 409-419.

The Long Tail concept refers to the Internet-based economy that has enabled company success through a focus on highly... more The Long Tail concept refers to the Internet-based economy that has enabled company success through a focus on highly specialized services and products that are not in high volume demand, but maybe in high-value demand. The concept of the post-tourist, for example, is a Long Tail phenomenon. Long Tail marketing approaches are proving success due to advances in communication technology and social networking that have given more people access to a broader range of goods and services and information. The Long Tail is not without its challenges, including increased global competition, and it has not abandoned geographic considerations. Geography, in fact, can help to differentiate niche products and must still be overcome to consummate the tourist experience.

KEYWORDS. The Long Tail, social software, marketing, geography, the Internet

Elected Representatives, Online Self-Presentation and the Personal Vote: Party, Personality and Webstyles in the United States and United Kingdom

by James Stanyer

History in the making: The NBN roll-out in Willunga, South Australia

by Melissa Gregg

Forthcoming in Jock Given and Gerard Goggin (eds) ‘Australian and New Zealand Internet Histories’ Special Issue of Media International Australia, May 2012.

The 2010 press release announcing the first-release sites for Australia’s National Broadband Network (NBN) identified... more The 2010 press release announcing the first-release sites for Australia’s National Broadband Network (NBN) identified five locations chosen for their contrasting ‘housing density, housing type, geography, climate and local infrastructure’ (nbnco.com.au). On these measures, the South Australian town of Willunga was described as a ‘small rural town’ with ‘dispersed housing’. It thus served as a model for the country constituencies crucial to securing support for the Federal Government’s large-scale infrastructure investment. But what else is there to know about Willunga that made it an ideal first-release site? Are there local histories that shed light on the decision to grant its residents access to high-speed broadband before the rest of the country? This paper shares findings from ethnographic research conducted in Willunga during the 2011 NBN roll-out to answer these questions.

The Rhetoric of the Web: The Rhetoric of the Streets Revisited Again

by Brett Lunceford

Lunceford, Brett. “The Rhetoric of the Web: The Rhetoric of the Streets Revisited Again.” Communication Law Review, 12, no. 1 (2012): 40-55.

Protest rhetoric has always provided a prime example of how communication can work to change the human condition, but... more Protest rhetoric has always provided a prime example of how communication can work to change the human condition, but strategies of protest have evolved as the United States has transformed into an information economy. Although protest remains “on the streets,” it has also moved into the digital realm. This essay builds on the work of Franklyn Haiman by considering the ethical and rhetorical dimensions of hacktivism (politically motivated computer hacking). After briefly tracing the historical development of hacktivism, I discuss several recent politically motivated website defacements and denial of service attacks, concluding that Haiman’s argument that the rhetoric of the streets should be held to different rhetorical and ethical standards still holds true in the online world.

Holding the line online: Exploring wired relationships for people with disabilities.

by Deborah Lupton

M-health and health promotion: the digital cyborg and surveillance society

by Deborah Lupton

This is a preprint of an article that has been submitted for publication. It may be cited.