Blogging in China and Online Public Sphere

Chinese Blogosphere Blogging and Online Public Sphere

Ying Jiang-- University of Adelaide

What is a blog? A user-generated website Entries are made in journal style Displayed in a reverse

chronological order Combines text, images, and links

to other blogs, web pages, and other media related to its topic

Chinese BlogosphereBlog--the most popular online publishing

form in China 33.36 million Chinese bloggers Cover various issues from daily diaries to

politics

Key features of Habermas’s theory

Participation is open to all Any issue can be raised for rational

debate All participants are considered

equal

Blog and Online Public Sphere

Four distinct and important issues of access :

1. Mass of the population involved

2. The formation of very small numbers of highly visible voices

3. The disproportionally low visibility for under-represented groups

4. The remaining socio-economic and cultural barriers to electronically mediated debate.

1. Participation is open to all

Easy to use– You can email? You can Blog!

Open contents

2. Any issue can be raised for rational debate?

Impractical to illustrate in blogosphere

The real democratic power of blog

3.All participants are considered

equal??

Influential factors in the blogosphere:The pre-existing personal networks

The real world relationship

Individual Subjectivity

Questions to discuss:

1. Is the blogosphere truly an online public sphere?

1.  Do you think blog can improve people’s lives through better information sharing?

2. What do you think about blogging’s future in China under the Great firewall?