Nisar Keshvani

Call for Papers
The 8th Chinese Internet Research Conference
School of Journalism and Communication, Peking University, China
June 29-30, 2010

Internet and Modernity with Chinese Characteristics: Institutions, Cultures and Social Formations

By June 30 2009, the number of netizens in China has reached 338 million, surpassing the total population of the United States. Already the country with the largest number of Internet users since 2008, Chinese Internet now boasts of 2.1million websites and more than 100 million blogs. The fast changing landscape of Internet usage in China has seen both quantitative and qualitative developments. In fact, the visions and thrills of getting online parallel China’s ambition to build a modern society with Chinese characteristics. The Internet has penetrated into social institutions, political processes, cultural activities and people’s everyday life. It is time we look beyond numbers and events and delve deeper into the fabric of China’s social life in order to understand how the Internet integrates, counteracts or cooperates with institutional, cultural and social forces in seeking and creating a modern form of existence. The theme of the 8th Chinese
Internet Research Conference, “Internet and Modernity with Chinese Characteristics: Institutions, Cultures and Social Formations,” is designed to bring together scholars, experts and leaders in the field to explore these fascinating developments and trends.

This will be the very first time this conference is held in mainland China. We aim to open a forum where different perspectives and expectations meet, communicate and interact, and where the agendas and hopes of the Chinese population are heard, discussed and analyzed on an international scale. The working languages of the conference will be both English and Chinese, and we will provide translation service if necessary. The forms and contradictions in which China tries to conceptualize and materialize modernity, and how the Internet is helping out in this process are the main focus of this conference. Specific topics include but are not limited to:

Mediations between the global and the local
The political economy of the Internet and information industry in China
Internet as alternative media
Virtual communities and identity formation
Social relations on the Internet

With these topics, we hope to explore the following questions: How global influences and local initiatives meet, interact and converge through and about the Internet? Is Internet the agent of globalization and homogeneity or that of local independence and particularity? With increasing capitalization and commercialization of the Internet in China, what is the dynamic relationship among state, market and civil society? What creative uses of the Internet are made by Chinese netizens? Does the Internet serve as an alternative media that meets new challenges of a society in transformation? What are the different relationships that exist between the Internet and the so-called traditional media? How do people interact and form groups through the Internet and other information technologies? How do various virtual communities operate? What is the significance of virtual communities in the formation of identities and values for different social groups in China?
What power relations are maintained, challenged or undermined by the Internet? What institutional, social and cultural experiments are being conducted on the Internet that can enlighten our imagination of a just form of social organization?

Paper Submission
We welcome proposals of quantitative, qualitative and critical studies from all disciplines. Panel proposals are welcome too. Both English and Chinese proposals will be considered. We assume that the language of proposal will also be the language of presentation.
Preference will be given to papers and panels that significantly advance understanding of the role and impact of the Internet and associated technologies in China, including advancing theoretical understandings, methodological approaches, and sophistication of analysis.
A proposal of approximately 1000 English words or Chinese characters is due by Jan. 15, 2010. Submissions should be sent to Dr. Wang Weijia atwwj@pku.edu.cn and Dr. Wang Xiuli at xiuli.wang@pku.edu.cn. Accepted papers will be announced on February 15, 2010. Completed papers should be submitted by April 24, 2010.