Page 22 - Feasibility Study of New Media Technology on Constructing Online Public Sphere

Feasibility Study of New Media Technology
on Constructing Online Public Sphere

How does ICT-mediated public participation influence China’s social develop-

ment?
It focuses on the following sub-questions in particular:
How far has social media contributed to public participation in China?
What are the dynamics and forms of public participation in China’s cyberspace?
In the highly developed information age, what kind of public events can draw

long-term attention in China’s cyberspace, and what consequences do these public
events have?
How do Chinese government departments react to the controversial impacts of the

ICT-mediated public participation?
In modern China, ICT-mediated public participation plays a vital and irreplacea-
ble role in its social changes. In this network ‘revolution’, many offline and online cas-
es have taken place. Despite the success or failure of these cases, their impact on social
development is worth studying. The first question considered in this research focuses

on discussing how social media contributes to public participation in various stages of
technological development. It attempts to investigate a combination between social me-
dia and public participation, instead of just discussing the technology itself as in other

studies.
Moreover, the originality of my second research question looks at the dynamics
and forms of public participation in China’s cyberspace separately. A finding of corre-
sponding dynamics and forms at different levels is drawn. Furthermore, the third re-
search question explores what kinds of online public events can gain the sustained and

long-term concern of Chinese netizens, especially in today’s online environment that
public events take place frequently. It also examines the final results can be obtained
from these events. These two aspects contribute to the originality in my book as they

received little attention in other studies so far.
Finally, as government’s role is a vital stakeholder in public events, their coping
mechanism under the influence of ICT development in every public event deserves
an in-depth investigation for all researchers who are interested in the social change in
modern China. The originality in my book is that I focus on the patterns of govern-

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