• Title/Summary/Keyword: networked Asia

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Networked Creativity on the Censored Web 2.0: Chinese Users' Twitter-based Activities on the Issue of Internet Censorship

  • Xu, Weiai Wayne;Feng, Miao
    • Journal of Contemporary Eastern Asia
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    • v.14 no.1
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    • pp.23-43
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    • 2015
  • In most of the world, the current trend in information technology is for open data movement that promotes transparency and equal access. An opposite trend is observed in China, which has the world's largest Internet population. The country has implemented sophisticated cyber-infrastructure and practices under the name of The Golden Shield Project (commonly referred to as the Great Firewall) to limit access to popular international web services and to filter traffic containing 'undesirable' political content. Increasingly, tech-savvy Chinese bypass this firewall and use Twitter to share knowledge on censorship circumvention and encryption to collectively troubleshoot firewall evasion methods, and even mobilize actions that border on activism. Using a mixed mythological approach, the current study addresses such networked knowledge sharing among citizens in a restricted web ecosystem. On the theoretical front, this study uses webometric approaches to understand change agents and positive deviant in the diffusion of censorship circumvention technology. On policy-level, the study provides insights for Internet regulators and digital rights groups to help best utilize communication networks of positive deviants to counter Internet control.

A Study on the necessity and Effect of constructive minilateralism and subregionalism in Northeast Asia: Focused on Korean perspective (关于东北亚地区内 "建设性的微边主义, 小区域主义" 制度 建设的必要性和效果的研究 -以韩国的视角为中心 -)

  • Kim, Jaekwan
    • Anayses & Alternatives
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    • v.4 no.1
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    • pp.63-87
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    • 2020
  • This article not only theoretically explores the necessity and effect of constructive minilateralism and subregionalism in Northeast Asia, but also delves into a series of practical solutions from viewpoint of seeking common ground while reserving differences in this region. The main contents are as follows: First, the various obstacles that hinder the formation of regionalism, subregionalism and minilateralism in the Northeast Asia are discussed. That is to say, geopolitical realism, My Country First ideology, exclusive nationalism in the socio-historical context, and North Korea's latest provocations, etc. Second, this article explores the philosophy and basic principles of realizing Northeast Asia regionalism and minilateralism. Third, in the 21st century, Northeast Asia becomes the center of the world. It examines the core points, controversial focus and platform for building sub regionalism in the region. Finally, based on the institutional platform such as minilateralism and sub regionalism, the various ideas and practical plans of cross-border cooperation among major countries in Northeast Asia were discussed. Because there are a lot of obstacles, so first of all it is more appropriate to promote economic or functional minilateralism or sub regionalism than multilateral cooperation. In order to promote the formation of regionalism and minilateralism in Northeast Asia, the issues to be considered are as follows: First, for the sake of leading regional solidarity and minilateral economic cooperation, it is advisable for China, as a regional economic power, to implement a stable and responsible diplomacy. Secondly, regional solidarity based on credible politics and security should be promoted for a long time beyond the level of economic cooperation. Third, the primary prerequisite for the realization of Northeast Asian regionalism is that in the process of denuclearization of North Korea, the stability and peace mechanism of the Korean Peninsula should be established. Fourth, with the continued hegemonic competition between the United States and China in Northeast Asia, under the circumstance that countries in the region are pushed into so-called "East Asian Paradox", it is profoundly important for them to consider transition from the hostile relationship as the "Thucydides trap" to the order of "coexistence" in which competition and cooperation run side by side, and the two countries should explore a conversion plan for the foreign policy line. This mutual cooperation and peaceful coexistence of the US-China relationship will create a friendly atmosphere for the formation of regionalism in Northeast Asia. In the future, the cooperation of minilateralism in Northeast Asia will break the existing conflict between the maritime forces and the continental forces in order to promote peace. And along with the philosophy that "peace is economy", recent policies of common prosperity as the framework, such as China's "Belt and Road Initiative", North Korea's "Special Zone and Development Zone Policy", Russia's "New Eastern Policy", Japan's participation in the Belt and Road Initiative and South Korea's The "Korean Peninsula New Economy Map" are organically linked and it should promote the so-called "networked regionalism".

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Global Civil Society from Hyperlink Perspective: Exploring the Website Networks of International NGOs

  • Meier, Harald
    • Journal of Contemporary Eastern Asia
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    • v.15 no.1
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    • pp.64-77
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    • 2016
  • This case study takes a look at the hyperlink networks extracted from the websites of 367 international non-governmental organizations (NGOs) with datasets from 2010, 2012 and 2014. The first level of evaluation focuses on connections between the NGOs, identifying important nodes, groups and their relations. The second level takes into account the broad range of networked websites from the World Wide Web delivering insights into general networking patterns. The third level explores the underlying spatial configurations of the network which offers a great variety of geographic insights on information flows between and within continents, countries and cities. The most interesting findings of this study are a low level of interconnectedness between the NGOs and at the same time a strong spatial concentration of all embedded network actors.

Reconceptualizing Online Free Spaces: A Case Study of the Sunflower Movement

  • Au, Anson
    • Journal of Contemporary Eastern Asia
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    • v.15 no.2
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    • pp.145-161
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    • 2016
  • Using the Sunflower movement as a case study, this article seeks to articulate a theoretical framework to evaluate online "free spaces" as tools for political mobilization. To this end, this article conducts a thematic and content analysis of 151 posts on the official Facebook page of the Sunflower movement. Key results uncover four thematic functions among posts - expressive, informative, informative-support, and promotional - that overlap, in which the expressive theme prevails, and two thematic topics discussed by posts - damages by protesters and their ideology of freedom. I conclude that: (1) combining the logistic and thematic dimensions of posts enables a specific understanding of an online free space's political viability and anticipates the campaigns it will connect itself to; (2) the networked nature of the Sunflower movement page prompts the reconceptualization of (i) online free spaces as nodes through which various political campaigns and struggles are thematically connected by a political ideology; (ii) inactivity as a strategy where protest capital and followers accumulate to prepare and empower future mobilizations.

A Comparative Study on the Precedents of E-learning Use of the Internet among S. Korea, Vietnam, and Singapore (e-러닝 사용 선행요인에 대한 3개국 비교연구-한국, 베트남, 싱가폴)

  • John, Yongjean
    • Journal of Digital Convergence
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    • v.16 no.6
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    • pp.1-8
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    • 2018
  • This study examined the major precedent variables that could affect e-learning users' attitudes in two highly-networked countries and a sharply-spreading country in East Asia, namely South Korea, Vietnam, and Singapore. This research also reviewed why e-learners were using the Internet for their study and unveiled cross-national differences in antecedents of online activities, motivations, intention to use, and enhancement in performance among three countries. This paper could see if there were any differences in precedents of e-learning among the countries by ANOVA. Plus, the study uncovered that what precedents impacted the follow-ups of e-learning by regression analysis in each country. The paper found out that differences in social and cultural aspect influenced on the precedents and the follow-ups of e-learning among the countries. For example, Korean learners had stronger utilitarian motivations for e-learning while the Vietnamese and the Singaporean did not. Korean and Singaporean learners were more strongly influenced to visit e-learning sites by their friends and lecturers than the Vietnamese.

Motivation Versus Intention of Sharing Fake News Among Social Media Users during the Pandemic - A SEM Model

  • Alvi, Irum;Saraswat, Niraja
    • Journal of Contemporary Eastern Asia
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    • v.20 no.2
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    • pp.40-62
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    • 2021
  • Are intentions important in deciding the outcome of an action such as sharing misinformation among social media users during the pandemic? What is their role and how far they are important for the very act of fake sharing news? The social media users' actions on the social platform are determined by what they plan to do themselves; however, their motivation has an immense role to play in the dissemination of fake news on social media. The study proposes a conceptual model for understanding how select factors affect fake news sharing motivation and intentions of social media users. The study scrutinizes the relationship between content and context, fear of missing out (FoMO), news verification and news sharing gratification on the motivation and intention of social media users of networked Asian society. Empirical Data were drawn from social media users (N = 243) from India, using an online questionnaire based on prior studies and structural equation modeling (SEM) approach was used to analyze the data collected. Results indicate that news content, news verification, and news sharing gratification have a direct and positive relationship with sharing motivation. On the other hand, news context and content, FoMO and news sharing gratification have a positive significant relationship with sharing intention. Likewise, it was discovered that news verification will decrease sharing intention of the social media users. However, news context, that is the pandemic in the case of the present study and FoMO were not identified as determinant variables for sharing motivation among social media users. The research limitations and further scope were discussed.

Dynamics of Technology Adoption in Markets Exhibiting Network Effects

  • Hur, Won-Chang
    • Asia pacific journal of information systems
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    • v.20 no.1
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    • pp.127-140
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    • 2010
  • The benefit that a consumer derives from the use of a good often depends on the number of other consumers purchasing the same goods or other compatible items. This property, which is known as network externality, is significant in many IT related industries. Over the past few decades, network externalities have been recognized in the context of physical networks such as the telephone and railroad industries. Today, as many products are provided as a form of system that consists of compatible components, the appreciation of network externality is becoming increasingly important. Network externalities have been extensively studied among economists who have been seeking to explain new phenomena resulting from rapid advancements in ICT (Information and Communication Technology). As a result of these efforts, a new body of theories for 'New Economy' has been proposed. The theoretical bottom-line argument of such theories is that technologies subject to network effects exhibit multiple equilibriums and will finally lock into a monopoly with one standard cornering the entire market. They emphasize that such "tippiness" is a typical characteristic in such networked markets, describing that multiple incompatible technologies rarely coexist and that the switch to a single, leading standard occurs suddenly. Moreover, it is argued that this standardization process is path dependent, and the ultimate outcome is unpredictable. With incomplete information about other actors' preferences, there can be excess inertia, as consumers only moderately favor the change, and hence are themselves insufficiently motivated to start the bandwagon rolling, but would get on it once it did start to roll. This startup problem can prevent the adoption of any standard at all, even if it is preferred by everyone. Conversely, excess momentum is another possible outcome, for example, if a sponsoring firm uses low prices during early periods of diffusion. The aim of this paper is to analyze the dynamics of the adoption process in markets exhibiting network effects by focusing on two factors; switching and agent heterogeneity. Switching is an important factor that should be considered in analyzing the adoption process. An agent's switching invokes switching by other adopters, which brings about a positive feedback process that can significantly complicate the adoption process. Agent heterogeneity also plays a important role in shaping the early development of the adoption process, which has a significant impact on the later development of the process. The effects of these two factors are analyzed by developing an agent-based simulation model. ABM is a computer-based simulation methodology that can offer many advantages over traditional analytical approaches. The model is designed such that agents have diverse preferences regarding technology and are allowed to switch their previous choice. The simulation results showed that the adoption processes in a market exhibiting networks effects are significantly affected by the distribution of agents and the occurrence of switching. In particular, it is found that both weak heterogeneity and strong network effects cause agents to start to switch early and this plays a role of expediting the emergence of 'lock-in.' When network effects are strong, agents are easily affected by changes in early market shares. This causes agents to switch earlier and in turn speeds up the market's tipping. The same effect is found in the case of highly homogeneous agents. When agents are highly homogeneous, the market starts to tip toward one technology rapidly, and its choice is not always consistent with the populations' initial inclination. Increased volatility and faster lock-in increase the possibility that the market will reach an unexpected outcome. The primary contribution of this study is the elucidation of the role of parameters characterizing the market in the development of the lock-in process, and identification of conditions where such unexpected outcomes happen.