1. What are the implications of the emergence of internet citizen media to the development of democracy of a society? please elaborate your answer with an example.

- credits would be given to those who address the different between internet citizen media and mass media, the distinctive character of internet citizen media.

- when discussing about democracy, credits would be given to those who specify what kind of what aspect of democracy they are talking about, such as voting in formal democracy, public sphere in deliberative democracy. discussion about social movement and civil society would also be taken into account.

- example can be a website or an event.

2. What is the meaning of “free” in free culture? How do Lawrence Lessig and Richard Stallmans’ understandings of knowledge affect their opinios in copyright?

- free means freedom, free exchange in a market, as defined by Lawrence Lessig.

- Both Lawrence Lessig and Richard Stallman see knowledge as accumulative, common goods, copying of previous knowledge, etc. Both against the monopoly of knowledge and see the need for a balance between commons and property.

- Lawrence copyright model based on Law, architecture / technology and norms.

- Lawrence Lessig promotes creative commons, while Richard Stallmans promotes copyleft and GNU. Special credits would be given to those who talk about their background: Lessig as a lawyer and Stallmans as a programmer.

3. “Internet Media is an extension and transgression of the Self.” What are the theoretical debates around this statement? and to what extent do you agree with the statement?

- can discuss the issues with any one of the following theoretical trajectories. the point is to discuss about the relation between individual and virtual space.

- Castell’s discussion about convergent and divergent, liberation as ideology

- Barlow’s declaration of independence of cyberspace and cyberfeminism – Clay Shirky’s power law, etc.

- Baudrillard, Virilio’s critique of cyberspace, Marcuse’s discussion about technology

- Discussion concerning cyberpower

4. How does internet complicate the debate on censorship? How do you evaluate the censorship practice in Mainland China?

- nature of the internet, its development as a non-governed space (history of ICANN), its technical characters, e.g web 2.0 features, etc.

- you are expect to specify the censorship practice in china before you evaluate it. Which government body is in responsible? How?

- evaluation can be in terms of the struggle for free space and the effectiveness, or it can be comments on its impact to the freedom of speech, etc. anything that makes sense.

Mid-term: Cyberpolitics

Part One: Multiple choices (50%)

1. Which of the following statements is TRUE about flexible production?

a. Flexible production is a characteristic of Fordism
b. Multi-national corporate can control the workers directly and therefore have better quality control
c. Suppliers are more powerful in negotiating their terms in a production contract
d. Flexible production results in a global division of labour
e. none of the above

Ans: D
Flexible production is a most significant feature in information society. Multi-national corporate would contract out their product to another country for production. Suppliers cannot control the market and depend on order from multi-national. Fordism is modern production line established after industrial revolution.

2. Which one of the organizations below has invented the World Wide Web?

a. Advanced Research project Agency (ARPA)
b. U.S Defense Department
c. Bell Lab
d. European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN)
e. Microsoft Corp

Ans: D
ARPA is under U.S Defense Department and has invented ARPA-net, the origin of internet (computer network for data sharing). Bell Lab invented the Usenet, a communicative system for UNIX. CERN has invented WWW, which is a protocol for website registration.

3. Which one of the statements below is FALSE about the implication of the Internet development history according to Manuel Castells?

a. The importance of public institutions is increasing
b. The self is liberated from the Net
c. It is motivated by a culture of liberty
d. It shows the convergence and divergence of the self and the net.
e. none of the above

Ans: B
The driving force of the development of internet is public institutions, such as defense department. The self is caught in the Net rather than liberated from the net. The relation of the self and the net is described as convergence and divergence, convergence means that they depend on and work within the net, while divergence is making alternative use of the network.

4. Which of the followings is NOT a condition for ideal public debate in Habermas’s discussion of public sphere.

a. All members are treated as equal
b. All members are well-educated
c. The social and family background of each participant is bracketed temporarily
d. Topics are public issues
e. none of the above

Ans: B or E
Habermas did not put “all members are well-educated” in his public sphere theory, however, some criticize that his theory assumes a bourgeois communication environment.

5. Which of the followings is NOT a factor that leads to the decline of public sphere according to Habermas?

a. The rise of mass media
b. The rise of mass democracy
c. The rise of information society
d. Public relations has replaced public sphere
e. none of the above

Ans: C
Many have answered “B”. However, Habermas’ theory is a criticism of mass democracy in a formal political system where individuals have given up their role in politics by appointing representative via voting. Mass media and public relation are consider as manipulation by elites and government on public issues.

6. Which of the follows is NOT a feature of mass society according to C. Wright Mills

a. Opinion making is controlled by power elite
b. Formal democracy
c. People in the masses are gripped by personal troubles but not aware of their true meaning and source
d. Individuals control equal share of power in decision making
e. None of the above

Ans: D
C. Wright Mills major critique is about power elite controlling major institutions in the U.S society. Individuals do not have equal share of power in decision making.

7. Which of the followings is NOT a feature of Internet grassroots journalism?

a. the role of producers and consumers blurs
b. challenges information monopoly
c. competes with the mainstream in their audiences as it is free of charge
d. expressive individualism
e. user-generated ethics

Ans: C
The mainstream can also be free of charge, like T.V. Therefore, free is not a criterion in grassroots journalism.

8. What is the implication of Wright brothers’ story in Lawrence Lessig’s free culture?

a. Innovation is impossible without copyright protection
b. Common sense changes according to new technological environment
c. Law should be in favor of property holder
d. Farmers are against innovation because they are ignorant
e. none of the above

Ans: B

9. Which of the followings is NOT Paul Virilio’s criticism of new media technology?

a. New media technology cannot help us to reflect but reflex
b. New media technology cannot help us to extend our power
c. New media technology cannot bring automatic democracy
d. New media technology will result in sectorization
e. New media technology will result in inertia

Ans: B
Paul Virilio did not question the fact that new media technology can extend our power, but such extension would have side effects, such as sectorization and inertia.

10. Which of the followings is NOT Baudrillard’s criticism of new technology?

a. New technology has virtualized politics
b. The cyber world has brought an end to communication
c. Technology has become a mean and an end
d. The self can transgress between the real and the virtual world.
e. People are networking for network’s sake

Ans: D
Baudrillard said that the self is submerged in the virtual reality. Virtuality has invaded reality. So there is no transgression.

11. Which of the followings is NOT a feature of culture industry according to Adorno and Horkheimer?

a. freedom to choose is ideological
b. capital investment turns culture into business
c. technically organized feelings and responses
d. represses sublimation
e. the audience are active consumer

Ans: E
The audience are PASSIVE consumer in the cultural industry.

12. The civic radio (民間電台) is an attempt to

a. challenge censorship
b. challenge corporate monopoly
c. figure out mainstream media strategy for social transformation
d. challenge the mainstream media
e. all of the above

Ans: B
民間電台 is an illegal radio frequency that challenge the licensing system in Hong Kong, which enforces corporate monopoly. In their operation, they jammed the Metro station. They don’t intend to challenge mainstream media per se as their frequency can only affect a small district.

13. Which of the followings is FALSE about individualistic liberalism and its relation to the internet?

a. Democracy is a mechanism for aggregating individual choices
b. Internet is helping citizen get access to more information and make choice
c. Individual makes their choice according to the virtual community’s value
d. information technology helps collect public opinion and votes
e. none of the above

Ans: C
“Individual makes their choice according to the virtual community’s value” is a communitarian value.

14. Which of the followings is FALSE to describe communitarianism and its relation to the internet?

a. democracy is based on a wide variety of communities
b. internet functions as a pool of information for people to make choice
c. sustainable democracy is based upon the shared values and “the good”
d. internet helps people to form their communities and express their values and interests
e. none of the above

Ans: B
For communitarianism, internet function as a network of information rather than a pool.

15. Which of the followings is NOT ethics of new media journalism?

a. factual
b. objective
c. transparent
d. conversational
e. user-generated

Ans: B
Some have answered A, however, new media journalism also stress accuracy.

16. Which of the followings is FALSE about new social movement theory?

a. identity as resource for mobilization
b. stresses consciousness raising
c. participants can easily become free rider
d. focus on discursive struggle
e. value based movement

Ans: C
Free rider is a concept from resource mobilization. For example, a union worker’s membership is a token, and he can share the interest of his fellow’s battle. New social movement is based on identification and value, usually don’t have the problem of free riders.

17. Which one of the followings is FALSE about resource mobilization theory?

a. it stresses the presence of social movement organization
b. incentive is crucial for mobilization
c. interest based movement
d. its constituents are not very clear
e. none of the above

Ans: D
The constituents are clear as they are members of an organization. Resource mobilization theory stresses the role of organization in social movement.

18. According to Manuel Castells which of the followings is not agents of the Internet culture?

a. Hackers
b. Policy makers
c. Techno-elites
d. Internet businessmen
e. Virtual communitarians

Ans: B

19 Which of the followings is FALSE about “free culture movement” according to Lawrence Lessig?

a. It promotes Digital Rights Management
b. It promotes free software
c. It promotes open-source
d. It promotes copyleft
e. None of the above

Ans: A
DRM is to limit the transferring of digital info from one device to another one.

20. Which of the followings is FALSE about Lawrence Lessig’s view on piracy?

a. Most of the creative works are derivative and can be understood as pirate activities
b. The rise of popular culture is related with technology of copying and can be viewed as piracy
c. We shouldn’t oppose pirating activities
d. Many major industries, such as Hollywood, recording industry, radio and cable TV are making use of copying technology and to some extend are all pirates.
e. none of the above

Ans: C
Lawrence Lessig never said that we shouldn’t oppose pirating activities. He introduces the issue of harm on piracy.

21. Which of the followings is NOT feature of information technology paradigm?

a. technologies and information are acting on each other
b. flexibility
c. network organization
d. information technology become a single driving force in economic development
e. none of the above

Ans: D
In an information technology paradigm, information has pervasive effects on every aspect of life, which means, it penetrates into all forms of development, including banking, production, education, etc. It is not a driving force in-itself.

22. Which of the followings is FALSE about Web 2.0 according to Tim O’Reilly?

a. The web as service
b. The development of infoware
c. Lightweight Program
d. Wisdom of the crowds
e. none of the above

Ans: E

23. Which of the followings is NOT feature of mass society?

a. mass production
b. atomization
c. religious community
d. alienation
e. banality

Ans: C
The background of mass society is factory style mass production. In a factory, individual are atomized (work as individual in a production line) and alienated (work and life split). Apart from mass production, mass culture is a part of the mass society, and banality (庸俗) in opposite to noble / aristocratic culture, is a feature in mass society. Even though Max Weber has discussed Protestant ethics, protestant i.e. Calvinism is a highly individualized religious practice.

24. Which of the followings is FALSE about the validity claims proposed by Habermas?

a. When a person claim what they say is true
b. When the claim is normatively right
c. When the claim is authorized by an authority
d. When the claim is made with honesty and sincerity
e. none of the above

Ans: C

25. What is the implication of the story about Armstrong in Lawrence Lessig’s Free Culture?

a. It is a pity that Armstrong did not claim his intellectual property right on time
b. It takes time for an innovation to get accepted by the community
c. Business protectionism is against innovation
d. Thanks to the court’s ruling, Armstrong gains his credit as the innovator of FM.

Ans: C

Part II: Short questions 50% (Please answer 5 of the following questions)

0-2 wrong
3-5 common sense answer but out of focus
6-7 common sense answer but able to address the question
8-10 able to apply conceptual understanding

1. Please explain the relation between the self and the net in a network society by providing a concrete example.

- convergence and divergence
- e.g. wal-mart and other flexible production example, the history of internet development

2. How does Ohmynews manifest the idea of deliberative democracy?

- what is deliberative democracy? A deliberate setting for discussion on public issue vs. formal democracy
- Ohmynews citizen reporter practice: expression on public issue

3. What are the potentials of Web 2.0 in creating a good public sphere environment for citizens?

- What is a good public sphere environment? – equal, background bracketed, public issues (Habermas) – deliberated setting – info, interaction, etc.
- Web 2.0: interactive, dialogical, anonymous, etc.

4. Why and how do new media enable miscible mobilization?

- miscible mobilization: mixing of elements (resource mobilization has organization boundary, new social movement is based on identity and a certain value)
- new media: based on discourse on event which addresses and cut across different values and sectors

5. Why does Lawrence Lessig refer to copy-right as DDT (poisonous pesticide)?

- Law, market, norm and architect in relation to knowledge and property
- DDT is a set of copyright law that kills the market (monopoly), norm (daily life sharing) and architect (technology advancement)

6. How do you evaluate the conflict between individual property and common goods in the issue of copyright?

- what are the conflicts?
- your opinion

7. To what extend do you agree with J.P Barlow’s Declaration of the independence of Cyberspance? Why?

- what are J.P Barlow’s idea? Independence, equality, no border
- your opinion

Revisiting our framework