Panel 2: Discussion
Discussant: Jack Qiu, Assistant Professor at City University of Hong Kong
Qiu sees this very much as a “Chinese” Internet Research Conference, not a “China” one, as Liao’s paper distinguishes the two. He sees the group of papers as using three disciplinary approaches to examine the cultural, linguistic and psychological development of the Internet.
1st paper: With looking at linguistic or cultural links across Asia, how would this kind of development compare with the same kinds of development happening within China? Which is happening at greater speed? What are the outcomes? Emphasis on the cultural diversity within China.
A: Liao agrees there is further room to examine these questions, as well as the impact of spoken language, arguments over “what is the right word” between users of different dialects. There’s alot more work to do.
2nd paper: Fascinating, and good to hear some examination of minorities in the Chinese Internet. To what extent are the experiences of Jingpo/Kachin in Burma and China the same and different? Are the issues of suppression and state organized representation not issues found in all nation-states to varying degrees? Qiu sees two different groups of minorities in China: those whose ethnic identity has a homeland associated with it (Koreans, Kazakhs) and those who don’t (Uighurs, Manchus).
A: There’s alot more work to do.
3rd paper: Cell phones and SMS are also an interesting area to examine, and there are existing theories (a particular Italian scholar whose name I missed) to examine some of the ways it is affecting language. What about examining the social settings?
A: I used Wikipedia which has both pros and cons, since it is completely open and people write based on their own understanding. It’s hard also to know who the actual writers are, and what background they have. I wonder just how porous then the netspeak distinctions between regions are.
4th paper: What effect can the Internet have on improving tax collection, and eliminating tax evasion? What motivations lie behind the project?
A: It won’t be until at least 2009 that the Golden Tax Project can really be brought online and we can see the implications and its effects.
June 13th, 2008 at 5:44 pm
For paper 3, the Italian scholar is Leopoldina Fortunati and the paper is (2003). “The mobile phone between orality and writing.” Paper presented to the COST 269 Conference “The Good, the Bad and the Irrelevant: The User and the Future of ICTs.” Helsinki, Finland. September 3-5, 2003.
This one may also help:
Fortunati, L. (2005). Mobile Telephone and the Presentation of Self. In Ling, R. & Pedersen, P. E. (Eds.). Mobile communications: re-negotiation of the social sphere. London: Springer-Verlag, 203-218.