Page 216 - Feasibility Study of New Media Technology on Constructing Online Public Sphere

Feasibility Study of New Media Technology
on Constructing Online Public Sphere

on blogs have been attracted to Weibo in search of a freer, less restricted and larger plat-

form to gain more recognition and a stronger sense of self-achievement. In the meantime,
statistics on traditional media as an information source for the Yihuang case [newspaper
(10.90%), TV and radio (9.10%), and government reports (3.60%)] indicate that the tradi-
tional media has lagged far behind new media in information distribution.

7.4.2 Dynamics and forms of online public participation in the Yihuang
Case

In public events, online public participation refers to:
‘[u]sing the internet or other new media technologies to carry out the public col-

lective action. There are many ways of using new media, one is to organise and
mobilise public movement through the internet; or take cyberspace as the main
positions and expand various forms of protest or action’ (Bian, 2012, p.122).
This new type of online public participation includes public action which only

take place in the virtual world of the internet. The network collective protest, such as
a so-called human flesh search, hackers, and network pranks can all be seen as broad
network operations. Yang and Zhang (2010) defined a human flesh search as a search
approach bringing together the power of internet users to know answers, wherein

looking for answers is shifted from the search engines to internet users. In fact, human
flesh search refers more to a search mechanism, purifying the information provided
by search engines through the use of artificial participation to obtain accurate answers.
This new type public participation also includes the off-line action (participation in the

physical world) using the network as a medium or intermediary place from the online
to the offline, and eventually expand operations in the physical world; for example, the
2007 Xiamen ‘PX’ plant protests.
Zhang and Stening (2010) identified the positive influence of the internet on pub-

lic participation, as the free flow of information and mobilisation of public opinion en-
abled by the internet helps to break the long-existing ‘Chinese walls’ which defined the
boundaries between social groups, communities, organisations and individuals. It also
reduces the cost of the organisation and mobilisation of potential supporters.

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