Deborah Fallows: What has China’s earthquake done to its internet?
What have we seen and what should we look for? ——Deborah Fallows
“I am the Yin to Roland’s Yang in this presentation. My survey was done by me. Roland’s research is based on 140 million users, mine was based on me.” Fallows survey findings are discussed here.
Speaking ofher experience during the quake. Getting online was actually just the third thing she did: first was phoning up a friend, second was getting on the TV to see if there was any news.
Then I went to the internet, and Googled. Toggling between the internet and TV.
China’s internet: two old myths and a reality
Myth: China’s internet is all about entertainment
New Reality: China’s internet is about much, much more, as revealed by the earthquake. The earthquake, at this point in time, gives a particularly clear moment to focus on what the internet is all about in China.
Myth #2: China’s interent users chafe under internet control and managment. Could this old myth finally be coming true?
New Reality: Could the old myth become true, in a new online world triggered by the earthquake?
Pew has done extensive research into 9/11’s effect on the internet.
Fallows: this is what I saw in the time after the interent
-Immediate and first response: with news, infromation and comments
-Unique aggregator of content: photos, info, comments
-New applications: built-to-order for this even (searching, locating, connecting, donating)
-Humanizer: People-to-people, people-to-places, people-to-helping
-It’s a very active, organic internet. Not the Chinese internet you tend to hear about.
What were the voice and tone of the post-earthquake internet?
-more unified tone (of shock)
-more humane tone, more tempered, less strident and cynical
-more spiritual/religious
-powerfully shocking through images and videos
-unedited, less censored?
I don’t know the answer to that, but it’s something we can spend more time thinking about.
Other internet moments
-3 minutes of internet silence (Google search goes dark)
-Reported arrests of bloggers
-Twitterific! (feng37: See Kaiser Kuo for perspective on this…)
WHa tdoes this say about the Chinese internet?
-Energy spent on value, and not on bickering
-Displayed maturity; in response, and users did all these things spontaenously
-Moment of validation (for the contribution the blogosphere can make?)
American internet immediately after Sept. 11
-A supplement, not a subsittute, most went to TV (usership down 10% on Sept. 11, 17% in first week
-Use: Pushing out the tragedy experience. Use up in looking for news, IM, gov websites, charities and donations
-Charities
Will there be lasting effects of the earthquake on China’s internet?
-did it trigger a ‘breakthrough moment’?
-will it change users’ online habits?
-will it change attitudes of the internet?
-what will the government’s response be?
China’s internet controls. What do users think?
Data points:
-80% of China’s internet users think the internet should be managed or controlled, and 85% think the gov should be responsible for controls
-26% trust the reliability of online content, down from 33% five years earlier
How to look for lasting effectis (and revisit the old myths)
-look for differences in online behaviour and voices (more people trying to push more)
-look for gov reactions (online control, offline regulations)
-watch media reporting about the internet
-ask the survey questions again*
*and I will, Deb adds, so look for the answers this time next year.
——————————-
Deborah Fallows
dfallows@pewinternet.org
www.pewinternet.org
Discussion:
In response, Roland says in particular with the collapsed houses in the earthquake, the blogosphere is unable to provide the answers as to why/how that happened. There are media in China (ie. Southern Weekly) who have the ability and resources and are in the position to ask those questions and find the answers.
China media goddess Ying Chan asks:
How have you observed [Chinese?] mainstream media have used the internet in gathering information on the earthquake?
Roland says:
There is a flow between mainstream media and the internet.
Picture their editors: sitting in the newspaper office, confused: ‘where do I start, send these guys?’
The internet sends out tips,lets them know what’s going on.
Q: One man saying he works for a major Chinese-language website for an international media company
Shares a story about a [unnamed] Chinese web portal fined 50K RMB because above international MSM company put its logo on their page
Q: When people turn to the internet for answers/information, is that representative of an inadequacy of the government, inadequacy of the information out there? I think that in the internet age, with this generation more adept with the internet, there’s more desire for more in-depth information.
June 13th, 2008 at 3:18 pm
I am intrigued by the observation of the “more unified tone (of shock).” I guess that is why the earthquake in China seems to be more like 9-11 than like Katrina. I did not intend to downplay the real suffering of the people involved, but I still want to point out the political and media aspect of these “shock events”.
Naomi Klein’s thesis and documentary about the “shock doctrine” tell a story how the shock from natural or human-made disasters is exploited to unify public discourse and silence dissidents and alternatives. Klein propose we should arm ourselves with more information to be “shock-resistant” otherwise we might miss the political agenda and appropriation. Her recent article on “Regime-Quakes in Burma and China” continues to address this concern.
http://www.thenation.com/doc/20080602/klein
http://www.naomiklein.org/shock-doctrine
I agree for the next year Internet research in China should somehow manage this particular year. I suggest we should also keep in mind about the global economy and China’s stock and real estate markets, and the possibility of using “shock” for political purposes.
June 13th, 2008 at 3:23 pm
@Hanteng: in my experience of Katrina (I was in the U.S. at the time), there was definitely some shock. Television correspondents were losing their temper live from New Orleans, Kanye West went off script during a live television fundraiser saying George Bush doesn’t care about black people, and there was widespread condemnation of FEMA and Americans asking how this could happen “in America”. There was alot of shock.
I agree that 9-11 is perhaps a better example of how the shock of a disaster can be used to “manufacture consent”, if that is your argument. I’m not so certain, however, that was the argument Deborah Fallows was making.
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