Focus: Internet as Body

Internet as Body

Conor Stuart

2011 October 28

Last Updated on Wed, 02 Nov 2011 19:36

The Internet has been lauded and criticized from all sectors of society in recent years, especially in light of the role of social networking and the internet in the Jasmine Revolution and the 'Occupy Wall Street' movement but also in in areas as diverse as anthropology, the music industry and documentary film-making . Recently, in an interview...

Microblogs with Macro Reach: Spirituality Online In China

Focus: Internet as Body

Paul Farrelly

2011 October 31

Last Updated on Thu, 10 Nov 2011 08:26

Sina Weibo is big in China right now. Essentially a microblogging service, it has elements of Facebook and Twitter, both of which (along with YouTube) are banned on the Mainland. With over 400 million users1, Sina Weibo is definitely a hit, and is likely to remain so as long as it does not become a vehicle for dissent and upset or threaten the...

Internet and Civil Society in China

Focus: Internet as Body

Benoit Vermander

2011 October 24

Last Updated on Wed, 02 Nov 2011 10:57

Is there a “civil society 公民社会”in China? For more than two decades, Chinese intellectuals have been hotly debating the topic. Some of them stress that the basic differences in political system and traditions between China and the west make the use of such term inadequate, Other try to discern a “Chinese model”, according to...

India, China and Their Digital Natives

Focus: Internet as Body

Alice Lin

2011 October 28

Last Updated on Tue, 01 Nov 2011 10:39

We've been digging through our archives, and found this gem of an interview from 2009 in which Nishant Shah, the Director of Research of the Bangalore Centre for Internet and Society, discusses the changing definitions of the term "Digital Native", the effect that the internet age has had on India, and provides a more balanced viewpoint on...

Opening Windows to the World

Focus: Internet as Body

Maxine Chang

2011 October 26

Last Updated on Mon, 31 Oct 2011 16:13

By Mr Qiu (62/Male/Completely Paralysed), edited by Zhang Xingwen and translated from the original Chinese by Conor Stuart

I've lain in this bed for 36 years now. When I was 26 years old I had a car accident, which lead to my whole body becoming paralyzed; I went from being the boss of a steelworks to a bedridden patient. It was if my life...

A Virtual Game that I Play for Real!

Focus: Internet as Body

raining

2011 October 19

Last Updated on Mon, 31 Oct 2011 16:08

By Ni Ming, edited by Chen Yujun(Raining), translated from the Chinese original by Conor Stuart, artwork by Arvid Torres

I don't think I would survive without online games. I've enjoyed playing all kinds of computer games since I was little. In first year of university, all the guys in my class were playing ‘World of Warcraft’, so I...

The Internet as Continuity of Human Existence

Focus: Internet as Body

Efe Levent

2011 October 31

Last Updated on Tue, 01 Nov 2011 12:42

Between the years of 2006-2007 I engaged in an ethnographic research about players of the Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game (MMORPG), World of Warcraft (WoW). Ever since then, I have had the impression that a lot of what has been said and written about the internet is in fact, hot air. Let us have a quick look at the two sides of...

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Would Like to Meet Online

Focus: Internet as Body

raining

2011 October 21

Last Updated on Mon, 31 Oct 2011 16:13

By Yoshi (34 / Male / Vagrant), edited by Raining Be, translated from the original Chinese by Conor Stuart, artwork by Arvid Torres

I have had two experiences of love online. The first was in 2001, just before I graduated from university, I met a girl online. I saw a message she had left on a BBS forum, and thought she seemed interesting, so...