An End and a New Start

I was really excited to see the final assessment of this subject is the blog project when I was choosing courses. A blog is far more interesting than a long essay, and easier than an essay, I thought. When I told my friends, they all had an expression of you-are-so-lucky.

Well, we are all wrong. A blog is not that easier as I thought. The six core posts can be regarded as short essays with free style. Though I had a hard time with them, I am glad that it’s all gone. I am really satisfied with my blog.

I mentioned Chinternet, more or less, in every assessment post and make the content relevant to my blog topic. Actually, it is not difficult, as I apply the theory into China’s internet. Besides academic posts, I have got several posts covering various aspect of my blog. The topics are carefully chosen, as I don’t want my blog to be tabloid as ChinaSMACK, which is the profile blog of my niche analysis. Thus, I avoid those violent on my blog. For example, I didn’t post the video of the kitten-killer on my blog. Instead, I give the link.

Yes, I pay much attention to the links of my blog. I think link is an important signal of Web 2.0. It encourages people to share and provides more information through an easy way. So I listed a lot of links on my side, and try to find relevant articles of my post and link them (well, this one is an exception). Sometimes it can be hard, as English articles about Chinternet are limited. Also, I made every link open in a new target or a new window, because I don’t want people leave my website when visiting others.

I remember the time when I faced the computer and kept my Word empty for hours, as I typed down and deleted them, again and again. I also remember the time when I had some inspiration and wrote very quickly, listening to the rhythm of typing the keyboard, and later found my word account exceeding 1000. Every time I visit my blog, I still feel very satisfied and happy with my header. I enjoy the time when I surfed on the internet during busy work and told myself, I am not relaxing; it’s for the blog. There are certainly lots of memories about the blog, though drive me crazy at some time, but had a happy ending.

The lecture covered a lot about user-generate content, the blog, videos. Personally, I am quite interested in forum and think it may be a better place to foster public debate. Hope it will be discussed. Forums are very popular in China, but I am not sure if it’s popular in Australia or other western countries.

As to tutorials, I like the computer lab and to be honest, it is the first time I use Mac computer. It helps me to become familiar with the Mac system. However, when I see the line of software on the bottom of screen, I hope I could learn how to use them. I guess the software will be useful in media field. The tute now has little relation with the awesome computers. It seems that about 60 to 70 percent of work can be done without computers. As we had good facilities, why don’t we take better use of it? I like the second tute when we learn some basic HTML language and practise adding pictures and videos to website. So I’d like to suggest that we do more technical work in tutes and learn how to use some helpful software.

The origin title of this article was “Time to say goodbye”. Yes, It comes to the end of this subject, the end of this semester. I will go back to China soon. However, it won’t be an end to this blog.

The more I blog, the more I find what can be blogged. Chinternet is huge topic, and I have a lot to say. Blogging greatly improved my written English. I will continue this blog, expressing what I want to say, as well as practicing my English.

You’ve Got a Comment !

Everytime I see a comment on my blog, I will be really happy and excited. As there are very few visits to my blog, each comment conveys a message to me, “I’m reading your blog. It’s good. Keep going!” They make me feel that I’m not writing to myself. At least, I have audience.

However, comments should not only serve as a message that “I have been here”. They also provide feedback of the readers, do they agree or disagree? They are an important bridge to connect the bloggers and their audience. The latter express their opinions free and discuss them with the bloggers, which may lead to better ideas. It is so close to Jürgen Habermas’s theory of “public sphere”!

Sorry, I have to break into your dream. This is not the fact. There are three things to doubt about this ideal situation.

First, do readers have different opinions or dissent to the blog?

To read or not to read a blog is a personal choice. People read it mainly because they like the content, the writing style, or simply because of the blogger. People tend to read blogs that have similar ideas with them. Geert Lovink pointed out in Blogging, the nihilist impulse that “blogs creates communities of like-minded people”.  This trend becomes more obvious in niche blogging, as the blog’s target audience is only those who are interest in this topic. If a blog always have different opinions with yours, it’s very likely that you don’t read it any more. Under such circumstance, the appearance of dissent will be limited.

Second, if readers do have different opinions, do they express them through comments?

Lovink argued taht it is “unwise to write a comment”. What you should do is to “post the remark on your own blog”. It is more powerful and clear to express your opinion than a small disagree comment among lots of “I agree with you”. Also, a blog is like a person’s home. It is kind of impolite to go to others’ homes and represent what is against the hosts. As for me, I avoid express my opposite opinions on others’ blog, as I do not want to discourage them.

Third, if the answer to the above two questions is yes, will it lead to further discussion and a better idea?

The fact is comments may be deleted by the bloggers who don’t want to see negative comments on their blog. According to Lovink, most bloggers don’t regard “foster public debate” as their aim or duty. Blogs are their private territory that forbids any potential criticism. Some bloggers will be kind enough to leave the comment. However, they don’t bother to reply it. They may think that a blog is a personal voice. No matter other people agree with it or not, the blogger express his idea. That’s all they want. And there are also chances that the comment is not even noticed by the blogger. After all, it is hard for bloggers to read every single comment if there are hundreds of comments.

These three questions make the future of public sphere on blogs so miserable. Don’t be so sad. Of course, the changes that blogs brought to the world are self-evident. It is just that they are not a good place to practice the idea of interactivity.

In my opinion, online forums do a better job than blogs in terms of interactivity. Not like blogs that are always labeled as “personal”, forums are open and public to everyone. Different opinions can be posted in the same forum. You can reply to the post or simply start a new post to express your attitude.

Personally, I like to visit forums rather than personal blogs, because I feel very free to reply others as well as write a new post to discuss something, and I will get the feedback by others very quickly. Baidu Post Bar (百度贴吧) is my favorite. I feel I am a little bit addicted to it… I am always pressing the “F5” on my computer to refresh it, as I am so eager to see what others reply to me.

Well, I have to stop here. Maybe forum can be the topic of my next article. Let’s come back to the comments on blogs. I welcome all your comments and will not delete them, so be free to leave a comment.

“You’ve got a comment.” It really makes me feel good. O(∩_∩)O

Human Flesh Search

In February 2006, a video was widely spread on Chinternet. It recorded that a fashioned woman used her high heel to stomp a kitten to death cruelly.

“That’s inhuman!” Netizens expressed their wrath across Chinternet. “Find out who this cruel woman is!” Someone’s proposal triggered a vast search by netizens.

Six days later, the woman was found. Her name, her hometown, and her work place, even her phone number was revealed public. The person who filmed the video was also identified.

This is the first significant case of Human Flesh Search (人肉搜索) on Chinternet.

What is Human Flesh Search?

Human Flesh Search (HFS) is a popular and common phenomenon on Chinternet. (Still remember the video of “Sister Zhu“? The judge said she want netizens to HFS Zhu to prove his gender.) The term originally refers to the search that is not made by computer, but made by people and thus provides more accurate results. Recently, HFS refers particularly to the behavior that netizens cooperate together and try to find information about an online person in the real world, and exposes his identity to the public, usually because the person did something immoral.

How can they do that?

Identify a person in merely six days! Sounds like detectives. Well, actually, six days is quite long in HFS. In some cases later, one or two days are enough. HFS represents the collective intelligence of netizens. They will share any information they know online, usually on some popular forums, and discuss together. Every detail, like the shop in the background of the video, will never escape the eyes of netizens. There are also people, proficient in computer technology, tracing the IP address and find the location. To some extent, HFS is a collective detective work. Also, the widespread of the target person on internet, increase the chances of being recognized by someone who knows him. It is always a key point in HFS, as people with pictures or videos are easier to find.

Who will be the target of HFS?

The target can be divided into two categories. One is ordinary person who committed a moral crime and can’t be judged by law, such as the kitten-killer, a man who had extramarital affairs, a girl who had radical words and showed no sympathy towards the 512 Wenchuan earthquakes. The second target is officials in China’s government. For example, Jiugeng Zhou, a senior official in Nanjing, was found on a photo (see below) smoking extremely expensive cigarettes. Later his luxury watch and cars were revealed by netizens. As a result of the strong public opinion on Chinternet, Zhou was investigated and found corrupted for a huge amount of money.

The Chinese on the photo says that the cigarettes are top cigarettes and cost 1500 RMB each pocket (which is about 250 Australian dollar).

The aim of HFS

HFS is often regarded as net vigilantism. Netizens hope to use their own efforts and ways to bring those people to justice. The aim of HFS is to punish those against popular and strongly-held sentiments, and expose corruption of officials.

To achieve the goals, one method is to create public opinions to condemn the behaviour. Thus, netizens will reveal the phone number of the target person as well as the school or work place, and encourage people to phone him and go to his school or company to protest, harassing his everyday life.

A lot of people gathered together and protested at the school gate of a target girl. She was found in a video violently beating another girl for stealing her boyfriend.

The result of HFS

Without doubt, HFS has a positive influence on China’s corruption. Several corrupted officials were dismissed and investigated, always leading to prison. It created an atmosphere of fear to Chinese officials.

Other targets received punishments. Almost every target person was fired by the company because of great pressure by the society. And for a long time, they couldn’t find a job. Sometimes the punishment was beyond the expectation and severely interfering in their life, even their families, having a very painful impact on them.

Yes, they had made a mistake. But is the punishment so harsh to them? Personally, I feel they are the victims of HFS, which goes to an extreme.

Is it … legal?

Uh…a good question. It’s quite hard to answer it. As the law in China is far from perfect, it hasn’t been defined legal or illegal.

Xuzhou government made a “Computer Information System Security Protection Ordinance”, which forbids the releasing others’ information online. However, there was a wide objection on the internet and people thought it showed officials were afraid of HFS. According to an online survey, about 90% netizens opposed it. At last, under great pressure of public opinion, the regulation made exposing the corruption an exception.

Human Flesh Search is a double-edged sword. Handled properly, it can play an important role in supervising the corrupted officials. On the other hand, it may destroy ordinary people’s life.

Be careful! Behave yourself well, as you will never know if you will be the target of Human Flesh Search.

Web Design

The design of your blog is just like your appearance, giving the first impression to your audience before they read your texts. It is important for every blogger to represent a carefully-chosen layout to make the website attractive.

If you visit a few blogs on Baidu Space (百度空间), you will soon have a rough idea about the trend of web design of personal spaces in Chinternet. To be short, it is gaudy. To be more specific, there is usually a BIG picture, beautiful and glitzy, as the header, sometimes occupying your full screen. Various widgets and applets are used, such as a lovely clock or calendar. You will find your cursor change into another style. Also, raining, snowing or the flow of petals, makes the blog look more moveable. Don’t forget to turn on the sound volume, as there is always background music.

web design 1

web design 2

Sound so familiar? Yes, that’s what Olia Lialina discussed in A Vernacular Web 2, the features of vernacular web design. When reading the article, I can’t help comparing websites in Chinternet with what she mentioned. Lialina talked about the difference between Facebook and Myspace. It’s just like Baidu Space and Renren (人人), a popular social website among young people. Though there is no research to show that “good kids go to Renren, bad kids go to Baidu Space”, but I guess what is conveyed by the design of these two websites are something same. Baidu Space, as I described above, has a gaudy layout, which doesn’t appeal to “hegemonic teens”. In contrast, Renren has a very clean and neat design just as Facebook.

Similarly, there is also a BaiduSpacisation in Renren. The website allows users to decorate their own page with Baidu Space style, such as BIG header, background music. From my personal observation, only a few people have made their home page gaudy. Some of my friends expressed their hate about hearing music when visiting one’s page.

I have my home on Baidu Space, but leave it empty and clean for a long time. When I visit others’ space, I am really amazed by their glitzy design. How can they do that! Soon, I find that it is not they who did it. Baidu Space provides a wide range of templates for their users, more than 700, and the number is still increasing. They are all designed and uploaded by netizens themselves (well, of course, without CC license or any copyright, only with a logo or name on the bottom). There are also more than 20 moveable effects (such as raining, snowing or the flow of petals) that you can add to your own website if you want. What you need to do, is just select and preview, then choose one. Within several seconds, you can get an awesome layout while other people take a long time to design and make through some complex software, say Flash or Ulead. Not resisting the temptation of those bling effects, I add a raining effects to my space. Yes, it looks so nice and I like it!

Well, when it is so easy to change your layout and turn it into a brilliant one from your own aesthetic, and make it personalized and distinguish with others, do you still stick on your clean and plain design?

Who knows!

Though you may be still absorbed in my Baidu Space, let’s come back to this blog now. In contrast, WordPress.com doesn’t offer so many choices as Baidu Space does. Only 95 themes can be chosen free. However, Chinternet is totally different from my personal space. It is a serious blog and I want to make it look professional. Thus, I don’t need those gaudy templates. What I need is a plain and clean layout.

As it’s very likely that I have the same aesthetic taste with others and we choose the same the theme, I want to make my blog distinguish from others. It’s good that wordpress.com provides flexibilities that we users can make some changes. So I decide I want my own header. Thus, my first round of choosing theme is “custom-header”, which allows me to change it.

The design of a blog has to go with its content, with my niche. My blog is about internet, something related to technology. From my view of aesthetic, I think black and white are good colours to present it. Also, there are some entertainment elements in my blog – What’s HOT, introducing the hot topic on Chinternet. Black background may make my blog so dark and heavy, I think white background is the right one. After considering all these facts, MistyLook becomes my final choice.

I hope you will like my header now – a computer keyboard with the word “Chinternet” on it. I am really satisfied with my idea of this picuture. I also changed the blog icon. It is a keyboard of letter “C” on it, meaning Chinternet. Hope it is not too small and you can recognize it.

“Sister Zhu” said goodbye to Super Boy

In the talent show Super Boy (快乐男声) yesterday, “Sister Zhu”(著姐) was eliminated in the last round. He smiled and said goodbye to the stage.

Zhu LIU (刘著), through his cross-dressing behaviour and beatiful voice just like women, became famous at the first time her appeared in Super Boy, a popular singing competition in China. He has created a media frenzy, leading to unlimited discussion about him. He has fans who love him so much, as well as people who hate him so much.

In the competition yesterday, Zhu sang the song “A Legend”(传奇) by the famous singer Fei Wang(王菲). Though praised by judges, he was still pending for the first round. In the second round, he sang a song “Flow”（漂) which was composed by himself( he is now a student of Sichuan Conservatory of Music, majoring composing ).At the end of the competition, Zhu was announced eliminated. He showed no surprise and smiled leaving the stage.

Rumours say that Zhu’s elimination was already decided by the authoritities eariler this week. As the State Administration of Radio Film and Television(国家广播电影电视总局) pressed the organizers to eliminate him for the reason that his cross-dressing behaviour sent a wrong message to the public and he didn’t represent what a man should be.

Zhu left the talent show, but this topic won’t end. As for me, I appreciate Zhu’s confidence to stand on the stage to show himself without affectation and concealment. It is not his fault to become like a girl.

However, his appearence in the competition of Super Boy is unfair. Unfair to other contesters and also unfair to himself. It is  really difficult for judges to compare his performance with others as their voice, their songs are totally different.

Although Zhu is eliminated, I believe that he will not leave the stage of singing.

Baidu – the most popular website in China

In my blog, I will introduce some popular websites in China to you.

Let’s begin with the most popular one – Baidu (百度).

Baidu (www.baidu.com) was established in January 2000 and aims at providing simple and reliable searching service. It ranks 7^th in Alexa’s Top 500 Globe Websites (in May 2010) and it ranks 1^st in all Chinese websites.

As to searching engines, Google is the top1 in the world. However, when it comes to China’s market, it is not necessarily so. Baidu is the largest Chinese language searching engine in the world. According to CNNIC, in 2009, the penetration rate (the percentage of netizens who use a certain search engine) of Baidu was 92.9% while Google was only 32.7%. After 6 years since Google enter China in 2004, the tycoon still can’t compete with Baidu in the field of Chinese searching service. Some people said that it can be a potential reason why Google stopped its service in mainland China.

From my own experience, Baidu provides better Chinese searching results than Google. So I always use Baidu. However, as to English information, Google is the best without doubt.

Baidu not only provides searching service, but also offers a wide range of service, such as Baidu News, Baidu Post Bar, Baidu Knows, Baidu MP3, Baidu Encyclopedia, Baidu Video, Baidu Space, Baidu Map.

Well, there is certainly a lot to say about Baidu. But I guess you will be interested in this.

On January 12th this year, Baidu was hacked. The above picture was the homepage of Baidu. After that, Baidu stopped part of its service and until late afternoon, everything went back to normal.

Netizens had various response. At that time, I felt uncomfortable as I couldn’t visit Baidu. Many people, including me, came to realize how important Baidu was in their everyday life.

Video: He or She ?

This is Super Boy（快乐男声）, a very famous and popular talent show on singing in China. From the name, you can tell that it is only for men. (The previous year is Super Girl only for women).

In the following video clip, when a “girl” appears on the stage, there is definitely really great shock. The judge interrupts the singing several times and keeps questioning about the gender.

The truth is, he is a real man.

His name is Zhu Liu（刘著）, who is now studying in Sichuan Conservatory of Music, majoring composing. Zhu always dresses like a girl and one can’t deny that it is a beautiful girl. His voice, which is just like a girl, is totally natural without any surgery or medical treatment.

Zhu is in every aspect a girl, except his real gender.

After shown on Super Boy, Zhu becomes famous.Netizens call him “Sister Zhu”(著姐). This video clip ranked first that week. Zhu has already got lots of fans. It is a quite controversial topic. Some people, mostly young people, accept and understand his behavior. There is still lots of people think he is ridiculous.

What Zhu will get in the talent show is no more important. He raises the social issue that some men tend to act like women. He is regarded as a typical and extreme representative.

Zhu is singing in the talent show.