Page 65 - Feasibility Study of New Media Technology on Constructing Online Public Sphere

Chapter 2. Literature review

In light of Yang’s (2009) multi-interactionism theory and previous studies, this

literature review has made the assumption that the interaction between the government
and the public is not always a zero-sum game in the modern age, which implies nego-
tiation and cooperation between the two. The assumption is examined in this research
through case studies. Previous research has demonstrated that the challenges proposed
by the public and the control mechanisms implemented by the government undergo a

compromise stage. Censorship, as a particular governance approach in China, was dealt
with through an analysis of the government’s changing rules in information control,
which addresses the research question of how Chinese government sectors react to the

controversial effects of ICT-mediated public participation. The research will explore the
actual negotiating and compromising process during government-public interaction. It
will conduct a comparison of the features of social movements and online activism in
China, which addresses the third research question, of what kind of public events can
draw long-term attention in China’s cyberspace and what consequences these public

events may have.

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