Rumor, Mobile Phone, and Resistance in contemporary China
(2013) Media in Transition 8- Abstract
- This study examines the characteristics and nature of rumor via mobile communication in contemporary China. By focusing on six concrete case studies with 50+ in-depth interviews, this study observes that mobile phone-mediated rumor has evolved into a special form of popular resistance at the grassroots level. The low-cost and user-friendly mobile device lowers the average protest threshold, creating an unprecedented op-portunity for people, especially those without complicated communication skills, to organize, coordinate, or participate in resistance. The mutual visibility of meta-communication through mobile network greatly increases both credibility of information and sense of security for participation. Additionally, the synchronous... (More)
- This study examines the characteristics and nature of rumor via mobile communication in contemporary China. By focusing on six concrete case studies with 50+ in-depth interviews, this study observes that mobile phone-mediated rumor has evolved into a special form of popular resistance at the grassroots level. The low-cost and user-friendly mobile device lowers the average protest threshold, creating an unprecedented op-portunity for people, especially those without complicated communication skills, to organize, coordinate, or participate in resistance. The mutual visibility of meta-communication through mobile network greatly increases both credibility of information and sense of security for participation. Additionally, the synchronous mobile communication accumulates rumor dis-course into resistance in a very short time. As a new kind of contentious politics, rumor dissemination via mobile phones show the opposition to government censorship and control of communications, and most im-portant, the resistance against the use of the accusation of “rumor” by authorities to stifle any different voices. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/3768446
- author
- Liu, Jun LU
- organization
- publishing date
- 2013
- type
- Contribution to conference
- publication status
- published
- subject
- conference name
- Media in Transition 8
- conference location
- MIT, United States
- conference dates
- 2013-05-03
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- id
- 49b52fae-1d45-4c84-a776-e240e07a1b40 (old id 3768446)
- alternative location
- http://web.mit.edu/comm-forum/mit8/papers/Jun_Liu_full_paper.pdf
- date added to LUP
- 2016-04-04 13:59:28
- date last changed
- 2018-11-21 21:17:36
@misc{49b52fae-1d45-4c84-a776-e240e07a1b40,
abstract = {{This study examines the characteristics and nature of rumor via mobile communication in contemporary China. By focusing on six concrete case studies with 50+ in-depth interviews, this study observes that mobile phone-mediated rumor has evolved into a special form of popular resistance at the grassroots level. The low-cost and user-friendly mobile device lowers the average protest threshold, creating an unprecedented op-portunity for people, especially those without complicated communication skills, to organize, coordinate, or participate in resistance. The mutual visibility of meta-communication through mobile network greatly increases both credibility of information and sense of security for participation. Additionally, the synchronous mobile communication accumulates rumor dis-course into resistance in a very short time. As a new kind of contentious politics, rumor dissemination via mobile phones show the opposition to government censorship and control of communications, and most im-portant, the resistance against the use of the accusation of “rumor” by authorities to stifle any different voices.}},
author = {{Liu, Jun}},
language = {{eng}},
title = {{Rumor, Mobile Phone, and Resistance in contemporary China}},
url = {{https://lup.lub.lu.se/search/files/6254076/3814335}},
year = {{2013}},
}