New Media Spectacles and Multimodal Creativity in a Globalised Asia : Art, Design and Activism in the Digital Humanities Landscape [1st ed.] 9789811573408, 9789811573415

Table of contents :
Front Matter ....Pages i-xviii
Front Matter ....Pages 1-1
Ethnic Minority Youth as Digital Cultural Participants: Toward a Critical Indicator Study (John Nguyet Erni, Nick Yin Zhang)....Pages 3-24
Decoding Internet Rumours in the Twenty-First Century: An Interdisciplinary Examination of Social Media (Stephanie S. S. Szeto, Carol M. W. Poon, Andrew C. W. Tang)....Pages 25-49
Untouchable, or Merely Untouched? Satirical News Websites and Freedom of Expression Limitations in Southeast Asia in the Age of Online “Fake News” (Miguel Paolo P. Reyes)....Pages 51-76
Intersections of Protest, Art and Networked Space: Analysis of the Artistic Protest Post Carnival (J. C. Thejaswini, M. Shuaib Mohamed Haneef)....Pages 77-93
Creativity and Education: Facilitating Transfer of Learning Through Digital Creativity Multimodal Analysis (DCMA) of Social Media Posts (Locky Law)....Pages 95-119
Front Matter ....Pages 121-121
The Two Logics of the “Lion Rock Spirit” Re-Represented by FortunePharmHK’s Branding Television Commercial (Sunny Sui-kwong Lam)....Pages 123-139
Exploring Cultural Recognition: Enhancing Creativity in Interactive Communications (Amic G. Ho)....Pages 141-158
Brand Design Directionality in Korea in the Digital Age (Kyurag Lee)....Pages 159-170
Creative Base Design: A New Form of Self-Expression in Competitive Games (David Kei-man Yip)....Pages 171-189
Digital Materiality of Chinese Characters in Text-Based Interactive Art (Yue-Jin Ho)....Pages 191-206
WeChat Marketing Case Study: How to Use Social Media to Communicate with Virtual Audiences in China (Fei Fan)....Pages 207-225
What Are You Looking for? Understanding the Uses and Gratifications of Blued in Mainland China (Yunbo Chen, Runze Ding)....Pages 227-249

Citation preview

Digital Culture and Humanities 3

Sunny Sui-kwong Lam Editor

New Media Spectacles and Multimodal Creativity in a Globalised Asia Art, Design and Activism in the Digital Humanities Landscape

Digital Culture and Humanities Challenges and Developments in a Globalized Asia Volume 3

Editor-in-Chief Kwok-kan Tam, The Hang Seng University of Hong Kong, Shatin, Hong Kong Associate Editors David Barton, Lancaster University, Lancaster, UK Joanne Tompkins, Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Queensland, St Lucia, Australia Anthony Ying-him Fung, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, Hong Kong Lang Kao, The Hang Seng University of Hong Kong, Shatin, Hong Kong Sunny Sui-kwong Lam, The Open University of Hong Kong, Ho Man Tin, Hong Kong Anna Wing-Bo Tso, The Hang Seng University of Hong Kong, Ho Man Tin, Hong Kong

This book series on digital culture and humanities examines how digitization changes current cultural practices as well as the modes of thought in humanities subjects, such as art, literature, drama, music and popular culture (which includes comics, films, pop songs, television, animation, games, and mobile apps). It also addresses the opportunities and challenges for scholarly research, industrial practices and education arising from the wide application of digital technologies in cultural production and consumption. The series publishes books that seek to explore how knowledge is (re/)produced and disseminated, as well as how research in humanities is expanded in the digital age. It encourages publication projects that align scholars, artists and industrial practitioners in collaborative research that has international implications. With this as an aim, the book series fills a gap in research that is needed between theory and practice, between Asian and the global, and between production and consumption. Furthermore, the multidisciplinary nature of the book series enhances understanding of the rising Asian digital culture, particularly in entertainment production and consumption, cultural/artistic revisioning, and educational use. For instance, a study of digital animated Chinese paintings will elucidate the reinterpreted Chineseness in artistic representation.

More information about this series at http://www.springer.com/series/15727

Sunny Sui-kwong Lam Editor

New Media Spectacles and Multimodal Creativity in a Globalised Asia Art, Design and Activism in the Digital Humanities Landscape

123

Editor Sunny Sui-kwong Lam The Open University of Hong Kong Ho Man Tin, Hong Kong

ISSN 2520-8640 ISSN 2520-8659 (electronic) Digital Culture and Humanities ISBN 978-981-15-7340-8 ISBN 978-981-15-7341-5 (eBook) https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-7341-5 © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2020 This work is subject to copyright. All rights are solely and exclusively licensed by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, expressed or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. The publisher remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. This Springer imprint is published by the registered company Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. The registered company address is: 152 Beach Road, #21-01/04 Gateway East, Singapore 189721, Singapore

Series Editor’s Preface

“Traditional” humanities disciplines have undergone significant transformations in the twenty-first century, particularly the process of digitization. New perspectives and methods are essential to comprehending these changes. This book series explores how digital culture has revolutionized the humanities in terms of production, presentation, interpretation, and research. By addressing questions about knowledge, scholarship, and practices, this book series aims to revitalize the humanities disciplines and explore new possible modes of critical thinking. This book series also seeks to address the rapid changes of contemporary culture. The rise of digital media is constantly changing our perception of the world in terms of politics, economies, social lives, and culture. In the realm of culture, traditional cultural texts, forms, and scholarly works are transformed even as new cultural practices are created. The emergence of virtual/augmented reality and digital communities has generated new cultural forms and interactions, which in turn intervene and reshape the non-virtual reality. By examining digital technology, this book series explores the social aspects of the emergence of digital culture, especially how changes in the form of cultural production affect expressions in art and communication. It seeks to provide a wide array of new thoughts, particularly from Asian perspectives, on various facets of digital culture in the globalizing world. With the development of new media forms, our personal and social lives have come under the mediation of digital representation. The advent of digital technologies has greatly influenced how society functions, and how culture is (re-)mediated, (re-) produced, consumed, interpreted, and manipulated. This series features books that seek to explore how knowledge is (re-)produced and disseminated, as well as how research in humanities has been expanded in the digital age. With all of this in mind, this book series will make connections between theory and practice, between Asian and the global, and between production and consumption. Furthermore, the

v

vi

Series Editor’s Preface

multidisciplinary nature of this book series will enhance understanding of the rising Asian digital culture, particularly in entertainment production and consumption, cultural/artistic revisioning, and educational use. Shatin, Hong Kong April 2018

Kwok-kan Tam Series Editor

Acknowledgements

This volume is a collaboration of many individuals from different institutions in Asia and the world who have shared their unique insights on globalized Asian cultures and humanities in a digital age and who have wholeheartedly contributed to the preparation and completion of this collection of multidisciplinary articles. The diverse and cohesive research fields, topics, and methods and methodologies concerning digital culture and humanities in a globalized Asia provide useful resources and insights for teaching and learning, and for further studies in the digital humanities landscape, as the vision and mission of the book series. I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to Prof. Kwok-kan Tam, the chief editor of the Digital Culture and Humanities: Challenges and Developments in a Globalized Asia book series for introducing me to the insights of scholarship on digital culture and humanities and guiding me to complete the editing of this volume in collaboration with the publisher, the editors, the reviewers, and the contributors. Without his visionary insight and tremendous support, this collection would not have been possible. I would also like to extend my sincere appreciation to Dr. Cindy Chopoidalo for taking care of the language and copy editing of the volume. My wholehearted thanks also to the peer reviewers, the associate editors of the series, and the contributors, for their invaluable contributions. I am also indebted to my colleagues, including Anna Tso, Kaby Kung, Josephine Chiu, Agnes Lam, Jae Cheung, Patricia Ng, Calvin Wong, Louis Lu, Amic Ho, David Yip, and Yue-jin Ho. This volume would not have taken shape without their assistance and understanding throughout the publication process. Sunny Sui-kwong Lam Volume Editor

vii

Introduction: New Art Forms and New Media Spectacles in the Age of Digitization

Digital culture and humanities are deeply entangled with the advent and advance of digital technologies. The wide use of digital technology facilitates the birth of new art forms and new media, which in turn have produced far-reaching implications for changing media ownership and its role in social, cultural, economic, and political activities. This volume aims to investigate the digitization of art and media within the dynamics of participatory culture, and how these changes affect the power relations between production and consumption of the new forms in the digital humanities landscape. New media and technologies ecologically reconfigure our everyday lives in different ways with an increasing recognition of the digital materiality and the applications of “big data” to control and structure users and user activities through digital connectivity. These concerns with materiality and datafication in the digital humanities explore new reflections on users’ immersions within digital media and culture. Mobile and social media of participatory culture especially “enable users to co-opt and occupy the power structures from within,” providing challenges and opportunities for reassertion of local and global identities and cultural practices by new and interactive communications (Mandal, 2017, p. 380). Digital media and technologies embody “literary narratives, visual media, scientific research, engineered machines, and human–computer interfaces” to generate the new materiality of digital art, design, and activism (Carruth, 2016, p. 368). These new art forms and new media spectacles produced and consumed by multimodal media practices and interactive communications demonstrate “the fusion of text-based humanities with film, sound, animation, graphics,” and other media culture by digitization (Hayles, 2012, p. 25). Digital computing and mediatization with “playful media practices” and participatory culture in mobile and social media influence social practices and cultural lives and facilitate “art and activism” in the digital age (Carruth, 2016, p. 364; Döveling, Harju, & Sommer, 2018), whereupon our contributors investigate new spectacles and multimodal practices by digital art and social media in a global-local nexus. The monopolistic power of traditional media to create and shape media events and spectacles is challenged by social media and mobile communication that “allows for collective and individual agency” in the construction and reconstruction of ix

x

Introduction: New Art Forms and New Media Spectacles in the Age of Digitization

media events and spectacles in the digital age (Seeck & Rantanen, 2014, p. 174; see also van Dijck, 2009). Debord’s (1999) original concept of spectacle observed that social life had been replaced by media representations. The spectacle represents “a social relation among people that is mediated by images” under the control by regnant authority and media conglomerate (Debord, 1999; Seeck & Rantanen, 2014, p. 169). Kellner differentiates media spectacles into “megaspectacles” determined by mainstream traditional media and “interactive spectacles” of a relatively higher level of unpredictability, characterized by audience participation and interaction (Kellner, 2005; Seeck & Rantanen, 2014). Obviously, the unpredictability of interactive spectacles plays a critical role in the democratization process, with social media and interactive communication leading to the advent of the online public sphere and activism. The growing interdisciplinary scholarship of digital culture and humanities sheds light on the production and consumption, both in Asia and in the global environment, of new media spectacles involving digital art, design, and activism. New spectacles arise in everyday lives thanks to digital art and design practices, social media communications, and identity politics, in terms of digital culture and humanities in a global context. The articles in this volume are diverse examples of the interdisciplinary studies of the changes and challenges of digital media and technologies in a globalized Asia. The case studies encompass a broad range, from China, Hong Kong, and Southeast Asia, to India and Korea, and the topics range from organizational digital marketing, brand advertising and design, mobile games, and interactive art, to social and cultural activities of ethnic and sexual-minority communities. The volume is divided into two parts. Part I: New Spectacles and Multimodal Creativity in Social Media focuses on the digitization of art, media, and activism within the dynamics of participatory culture, and how these changes affect the power relations between production and consumption of the new forms of art and social media and the corresponding social and cultural practices, ranging from social movement and cultural activity to teaching and learning with digital creativity and multimodality. Digital media and new art forms have changed popular imagination and challenged traditional modes of seeing and thinking. The essays in this section investigate digital cultural participation, social-media-enabled movement, and user-generated content of multimodal creativity to demonstrate the democratization processes of art and activism among digital media users in Asia. Part II: Art, Design, and Media Communication in the Digital Age examines changes and challenges that contemporary art and design face in adopting digital technology for communication and media practices. Both theoretical and empirical issues in relation to digital art, games, advertising, design, and media communication are explored and discussed to discern the growing digital humanities landscape in a globalized Asia. The studies of digital culture and humanities in contemporary design and cultural practices provide new frameworks to understand the discourses of creativity through multimodal media practices and interactive communications, with a focus on cultural practices and identity politics such as

Introduction: New Art Forms and New Media Spectacles in the Age of Digitization

xi

local discourses of Hong Kong identity, the development of Chinese characters of digital materiality in interactive arts, the self-expression of fans and players in game base design, the development of digital branding design in Korea, and the use and preferences of mobile applications among communities in China.

Part I: New Spectacles and Multimodal Creativity in Social Media In Chap. 1, John Nguyet Erni and Nick Yin Zhang discuss the right to culture in the digital age among ethnic minority youths in Hong Kong, from the perspective of cultural planning and sustainability alongside social, economic, and environmental integration. Based upon a survey of online cultural activities, Erni and Zhang investigate the dynamics of digital cultural participation among ethnic minority youth, such as levels and modes of participation and overall sense of access to culture via digital media and environments. Digitization and the growing Information Communication Technologies (ICTs) rearticulate the power relations between cultural infrastructures and cultural access and participation among ethnic minority youth, including Indonesians, Filipinos, Indians, Pakistanis, Nepalese, and others, in Hong Kong. Erni and Zhang evaluate these groups’ online cultural participation in Hong Kong in terms of their social capital, social distance, and cultural identity. Their study provides insights into the social inequality and barriers to participation in online cultural activities and intercultural integration that ethnic minority youth in Hong Kong face. In Chap. 2, Stephanie Szeto, Carol Poon, and Andrew Tang demonstrate a theoretical framework of the spread of Internet rumours, using messages about the Umbrella Movement/Revolution in 2014 as a case study, to examine the effects of rumours spread via social media and interactive communication on people and society. The chapter examines the models of rumour formation, the means of dissemination, and the types of rumours being spread. The new social networking landscape enables the development of more complex, participatory media that use digital and mobile technologies, and facilitates the generation and sharing of social media contents outside of the systematic censorship of traditional mass media. Rumours that significantly affect public responses during social crises and movements are transmitted more quickly and more widely via the Internet and social media. This new model of interactive communication demonstrates the integrative affordances of social media communication for rumour formation and transmission in contemporary social movements. The chapter also identifies and examines two other types of rumours in the Hong Kong Chinese context: empathy and condemnation.

xii

Introduction: New Art Forms and New Media Spectacles in the Age of Digitization

In Chap. 3, Miguel Paolo Reyes illustrates the implications and functions of satirical news websites in Southeast Asia that use online fake news to foster freedom of expression in the face of undemocratic laws and repressive regimes. These sites are not merely imitations of Western satirical news sites, as their authors and publishers must consider the legal challenges to and restrictions on online expression in their own countries, as well as the influences of the globalization and glocalization processes. Reyes examines the production of fictional news reports on five satirical websites—So, What’s News in the Philippines, New Nation in Singapore, Not the Nation in Thailand, The Tapir Times in Malaysia, and Pos Ronda in Indonesia—and the legal challenges they face, such as defamation laws, cybercrime laws, and Thailand’s specific and strict lèse-majesté law. Nevertheless, the subversiveness of their online publications witnesses the rise of a new form of popular culture that turns politics into popular cultural experiences in terms of satirical infotainment in the Southeast Asian context. In Chap. 4, J. C. Thejaswini and M. Shuaib Mohamed Haneef discuss an artistic protest, Post Carnival in Kochi, India, to demonstrate the new trends of transmutation and transmediation of protest art from the physical space to the digital space. This project transmediates artworks, such as paintings and sculptures, created in physical space into the digital space of the Facebook page Kalakakshi. The intersection of protest, art, and new media expands the network of participants and makes the protest visible to authority figures. The protest activities of new media materialism transform media spectacle into digital media spectacle using new methods of participation and communication. Thejaswini and Haneef argue that participatory culture and the reprogramming of networks by social media facilitate the dissemination of messages of art and activism, thus promoting new values and hope for democratic and political changes from the physical space to the digital space, that is, a pseudo-interactive spectacle. In Chap. 5, Locky Law demonstrates the transfer of learning and creativity education through a digital creativity multimodal analysis of certain viral social media posts. The chapter uses the Analytical Framework for Creativity in Multimodal Texts and the Cline of Creativity Complexity to examine pattern-reforming creativity and pattern-forming creativity in creative and derivative works on social media. The study emphasizes instructional design, content relevance, and transfer specificity. These factors can be applied to recognize and analyze creativity in songs, music, television drama, film, emoji, and other forms, for the context of digital creativity and multimodality in teaching and learning. Law demonstrates the digital creativity multimodal analytical framework using three social media examples of homemade creativity and “re-creativity” in the Hong Kong context: the pattern-forming, politico-satirical neologism “grapes crossover Regina” during the 2017 Hong Kong Chief Executive election, a parody of Hong Kong workplace culture that juxtaposes Dragon Ball Z comic strips and traditional Chinese captions on the Facebook page “10 Billion Negative Power Fighter,” and a faux-movie poster, “Working after Hurricane,” produced in the wake of the severe damages and roadblocks caused by the super-typhoon Mangkhut in 2018.

Introduction: New Art Forms and New Media Spectacles in the Age of Digitization

xiii

Part II: Art, Design, and Media Communication in the Digital Age Branding and advertising design practices use locality and local identity to persuade local audiences and generate brand loyalty according to the mythology of identity discourses. With regard to the rise of localism and identity politics after the Umbrella Movement in 2014, in Chap. 6 Sunny Lam reviews the complexity of Hong Kong’s identity and core values based upon discourses of the Lion Rock spirit among different generations of Hongkongers. The chapter focuses on a 2015 television commercial for FortunePharmHK, which was widely disseminated on digital media platforms among young people, to illustrate how different local identity discourses are rearticulated to create a mythology for the brand and for Hong Kong, by resemiotizing the two logics of the Lion Rock spirit. The commercial rearticulates both the older and younger generations’ discourses of the Lion Rock spirit in the 1970s and 1980s and after the Umbrella Movement in order to harmonize Hong Kong spirit and values using multimodal semantics, including visual design, characterization, copywriting, and storytelling. Lam’s sequence-shot and semiotic analysis reveals how this local pharmacy brand re-presents the Lion Rock spirit to create a brand identity myth that resonates with different generations of Hongkongers, while paying special attention to young people’s new local identity and core values of autonomy and self-determination. In Chap. 7, Amic Ho explores the use of emotional concerns and cultural recognition to enhance creativity in interactive communications. Because emotion recognition and cultural recognition are important parts of the design process, educators examine how design students use and manipulate these elements in order to generate design concepts and problem-solving ideas. In addition to providing a literature review, Ho designs an interactive communication project to investigate the effects of emotion and cultural recognition on design students’ creativity and thinking processes, with special attention to users’ experiences. By adopting a customer decision-making record and consumer journey map, design learners are guided to discern the relationships between design, emotion recognition, and cultural recognition in interactive web design planning, in order to foresee the appropriateness and innovations of interactive communication design solutions to satisfy users’ needs and wants. These design thinking communication tools help designers identify and bridge the gaps between design experts and customers. In Chap. 8, Kyurag Lee discusses the changing direction of brand design in Korea in the digital age. The rise of online and mobile-based digital media and technologies requires Korean brands, especially mobile brands, to switch communication methods in order to allow customers to express brand values, loyalties, and experiences. Three vivid case studies demonstrate the digitization phenomenon of branding, the reflection of locality and the digital lifestyle, and the repetition of on-offline branding. The new identity of Hankook Ilbo uses various icons and pictograms for brand visualization, revealing a shift from one-way digitization to interactive communication and the importance of expanded media for complex and

xiv

Introduction: New Art Forms and New Media Spectacles in the Age of Digitization

sustainable branding strategies. The mobile TV Oksusu, whose name means corn in Korean, demonstrates a new trend of digital branding as naming to reflect customers’ digital lifestyle. Meanwhile, the mobile instant messenger KakaoTalk incorporates on-offline branding by developing the character-type emoji to enhance and expand customers’ brand experience. New approaches and development methods of brand design are indispensable for enhancing brand values and interactive communication with customers by multimedia strategies. In Chap. 9, David Yip examines a potential new art form: creative base design in mobile games. With the aid of social media networks, gamers’ participatory culture and fan creativity engages with a new form of self-expression, thus creating an unprecedented participatory phenomenon of personal digital art. Each gamer’s individual creative expression and visual statement contribute to game base design and generate a new art form that involves fan-based participatory practice on social media. The chapter investigates the creative form and content of players’ base designs to discern various categories of visual style in the real-time Player vs. Player (PvP) game Clash of Clans. Some of these creative works are specifically designed to celebrate Chinese culture. The participatory design culture among fans is explored via discussion of various game design elements, including Gestalt visual principles and color depth. Yue-jin Ho examines the double life of Chinese text-based arts from the perspectives of digital humanities and digital materiality in Chap. 10. This chapter examines digital materiality using literature reviews from digital art, literature, and design, and case studies of both Western and Chinese artworks of postalphabetic metaphors. Chinese pictograms and ideograms are particularly significant as these creative works strip away the meanings of the strokes and characters, thus identifying a unique direction for the development of Chinese text-based interactive arts involving interactive communication between the contributors and the audience. Ho deconstructs several global and local digital artworks to illustrate the simultaneously unstable and transfigurable nature of digital materiality, which provides an opportunity to create the aesthetics of both literature and visual installation in Chinese text-based digital artworks beyond the daily uses of Chinese characters. The trajectory of digital media and technology development in China is very different from the global-digital environment, but the influence of China’s social media vehicles, such as WeChat, on the largest group of Internet users worldwide in a single country cannot be neglected. In Chap. 11, Fei Fan uses the case of the Hong Kong Trade Development Council (HKTDC) as an example of WeChat marketing communication as a tool to grow brand awareness and to improve brand loyalty in China. Fan discusses four types of WeChat content used by HKTDC to communicate and engage with virtual audience and to reward the loyal target audience: event information, industry sharing and research reports, content based on holidays and hot issues, and WeChat campaigns and engagement activities. Two WeChat marketing message strategies, content variety and visual aids, are also explored as means of enhancing communication effectiveness that is heavily reliant upon WeChat users’ electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM). In Chap. 12, Yunbo Chen and Runze Ding study a new approach to social connectivity, focusing on the use of Blued, a location-based real-time dating

Introduction: New Art Forms and New Media Spectacles in the Age of Digitization

xv

(LBRTD) application, among sexual-minority communities in China. Digital materiality and datafication on mobile devices facilitated by global positioning system technology and social media networking significantly transform interactive communications among gay and bisexual communities, allowing them to achieve social connectivity, develop relationships, and access social information in contemporary digitally connected societies. The digital culture and humanities landscape of LBRTD platforms in China is different from those of its Western counterparts such as Grindr, Jack’d, or Scruff. Chen and Ding investigate different motives for the use of Blued, according to the Uses and Gratifications framework, based on online survey results and ethnographic study of the benefits gay users derive from the application. Chen and Ding’s investigation includes eight “Chinese characteristics” of Blued use, such as networking/community, killing time, seeking health information, social inclusion, sex, romantic encounters, location-based searching, and visual/interactive fantasy. The case study of Blued reveals a unique digital situation of mobile communication for government ruling and regulation, public services, and a sense of “imagined community” among Chinese gay and bisexual people in a digital landscape.

Final Remarks Digital humanities in a plural sense reflect the multidisciplinary fields and hybrid, practice-based methods and methodologies for researching and designing social practices and cultural responses to everyday lives and media communications (Carruth, 2016). New media spectacles reveal the unrest in and the democratization of social movements by participatory media and digital culture. New digital art forms allow new production and consumption practices that are facilitated by interactive communication. The theoretical and empirical studies of digital culture and humanities envisage the possibility of a practice-based and applied humanities leading to productive and critical theories and approaches “combining political, rhetorical, and cultural critique with the indigenous practices of digital media” (Hayles, 2012, p. 32). This volume’s contributors demonstrate diverse research interests and topics from the practices of art, design, and activism through new media spectacles and multimodal creativity. They reveal a different digital humanities landscape from that in the West in terms of social, cultural, economic, and political contexts. These multidisciplinary case studies help to enrich the frameworks of productive-critical theory in the digital culture and humanities from a globalized Asian perspective. In the meantime, our series will continue to gather international scholars and research communities to enhance this area of study. January 2020

Sunny Sui-kwong Lam Volume Editor

xvi

Introduction: New Art Forms and New Media Spectacles in the Age of Digitization

References Carruth, A. (2016). Ecological media studies and the matter of digital technologies. PMLA, 131(2), 364–372. https://doi.org/10.1632/pmla.2016.131.2.364 Debord, G. (1999). The society of the spectacle (trans. D. Nicholson-Smith). New York: Zone Books. Döveling, K., Harju, A. A., & Sommer, D. (2018). From mediatized emotion to digital affect cultures: New technologies and global flows of emotion. Social Media + Society, 4(1). https:// doi.org/10.1177/2056305117743141 Hayles, N. K. (2012). How we think: Digital media and contemporary technogenesis. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Kellner, D. (2005). Media spectacle and the crisis of democracy: Terrorism, war, and election battles. Boulder, CO: Paradigm. Mandal, A. (2017). Digital humanities. The Year’s Work in Critical and Cultural Theory, 25(1), 374–397. https://doi.org/10.1093/ywcct/mbx020 Seeck, H., & Rantanen, T. (2014). Media events, spectacles and risky globalization: A critical review and possible avenues for future research. Media, Culture & Society, 37(2), 163–179. https://doi.org/10.1177/0163443714553493 van Dijck, J. (2009). Users like you? Theorizing agency in user-generated content. Media, Culture & Society, 31(1), 41–58. https://doi.org/10.1177/0163443708098245

Contents

Part I 1

2

3

4

5

New Spectacles and Multimodal Creativity in Social Media

Ethnic Minority Youth as Digital Cultural Participants: Toward a Critical Indicator Study . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . John Nguyet Erni and Nick Yin Zhang

3

Decoding Internet Rumours in the Twenty-First Century: An Interdisciplinary Examination of Social Media . . . . . . . . . . . . . Stephanie S. S. Szeto, Carol M. W. Poon, and Andrew C. W. Tang

25

Untouchable, or Merely Untouched? Satirical News Websites and Freedom of Expression Limitations in Southeast Asia in the Age of Online “Fake News” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Miguel Paolo P. Reyes Intersections of Protest, Art and Networked Space: Analysis of the Artistic Protest Post Carnival . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . J. C. Thejaswini and M. Shuaib Mohamed Haneef Creativity and Education: Facilitating Transfer of Learning Through Digital Creativity Multimodal Analysis (DCMA) of Social Media Posts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Locky Law

Part II

51

77

95

Art, Design, and Media Communication in the Digital Age

6

The Two Logics of the “Lion Rock Spirit” Re-Represented by FortunePharmHK’s Branding Television Commercial . . . . . . . . 123 Sunny Sui-kwong Lam

7

Exploring Cultural Recognition: Enhancing Creativity in Interactive Communications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141 Amic G. Ho

xvii

xviii

Contents

8

Brand Design Directionality in Korea in the Digital Age . . . . . . . . 159 Kyurag Lee

9

Creative Base Design: A New Form of Self-Expression in Competitive Games . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171 David Kei-man Yip

10 Digital Materiality of Chinese Characters in Text-Based Interactive Art . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191 Yue-Jin Ho 11 WeChat Marketing Case Study: How to Use Social Media to Communicate with Virtual Audiences in China . . . . . . . . . . . . . 207 Fei Fan 12 What Are You Looking for? Understanding the Uses and Gratifications of Blued in Mainland China . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 227 Yunbo Chen and Runze Ding

Part I

New Spectacles and Multimodal Creativity in Social Media

Chapter 1

Ethnic Minority Youth as Digital Cultural Participants: Toward a Critical Indicator Study John Nguyet Erni and Nick Yin Zhang

Abstract Theories of cultural planning and sustainability highlight cultural capacity building as the fourth pillar of sustainability, alongside social, economic, and environmental aims, and integration as a new framework for combining these four pillars. Seeing cultural participation as the core of the complex puzzle, we regard the digitization of art and media as an engine for changing the dynamics of participatory culture. Further, digitization rearticulates the power relations between cultural infrastructures (production) and cultural access and participation (consumption). This chapter examines the dynamics of online digital cultural participation by ethnic minority (EM) youth in Hong Kong. By analyzing a questionnaire survey data set of EM youth in Hong Kong (N = 561), we demonstrate the various capacities and aspirations of cultural activities online among ethnic minority youth. The data were collected via local community networks of social workers and social enterprises. The sample covers diverse ethnic minority groups in Hong Kong, such as Indonesians, Filipinos, Indians, Pakistanis, Nepalese, and others. A typology of digital cultural capacity will be attempted using a descriptive analysis to show the EM youth’s access and participation in cultural, arts, and leisure activities on the Internet, controlled by demographic background variables such as gender, age, and class. Our core argument is that baseline digital capacity established above is complicated by EM youth’s Community Capacity, i.e. education/information attainment; capacity of engaging social agencies that hold power; Social Capital, i.e. resources and networks embodied in life domains such as school, family, friendship, work, and ethnic community cohesion; and Cultural Identity, i.e. self-recognition/respect and intra- and inter-ethnic identity negotiation and development. Our discussion, with these tiers of indicators, provides critical insights into EM youth’s participation in online cultural activities and the barriers to their inter-cultural integration. J. N. Erni (B) Department of Humanities and Creative Writing, Hong Kong Baptist University, Kowloon Tong, Hong Kong e-mail: [email protected] N. Y. Zhang Department of Journalism, Hong Kong Baptist University, Kowloon Tong, Hong Kong e-mail: [email protected] © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2020 S. S. Lam (ed.), New Media Spectacles and Multimodal Creativity in a Globalised Asia, Digital Culture and Humanities 3, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-7341-5_1

3

4

J. N. Erni and N. Y. Zhang

Keywords Ethnic minority youth · Cultural participation · Digital capacity · Community capacity · Social capital · Cultural identity

Introduction Article 27 of the UN’s Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948) states “Everyone has the right freely to participate in the cultural life of the community, to enjoy the arts and to share in scientific advancement and its benefits.” The notion of cultural rights as enshrined in international human-rights frameworks concerning indigenous and minority cultures has spawned robust cultural participation research in many places around the world. In Asia, similar studies have been conducted in Singapore (National Arts Council, 2009), Japan (Statistical Research, 2011), and Hong Kong (Hong Kong Arts Development Council, 2000, 2005). Research prompted by international standards coalesces around a broad argument that “the right to culture” goes beyond the mere availability of culture to encompass vital concerns regarding education, language, social service provision, geography and territory, and the arts (Couldry, 2006; Novak-Leonard & Brown, 2011). In addition, cultural participation can be a research and policy nexus that inspires cooperation among nations, as exemplified in the Culture Watch Europe think-tank event of 2012 in Finland, at which high-ranking policy makers, members of Parliament, leading researchers, and practitioners of the cultural sector discussed the Council of Europe’s agenda on democratic “cultural governance” and, in doing so, elevated research on cultural participation as one of key areas of strategic importance for developing democratic citizenship (see Laitio, 2012). Along with fast growing information and communication technologies (ICTs), people tend to see the digitization of art and media as an engine for changing the dynamics of participatory culture in terms of new technology-based access, production and dissemination, knowledge learning and creation, and civic engagement. Furthermore, digitization rearticulates the power relations between cultural infrastructures (production) and cultural access and participation (consumption). Nevertheless, in today’s changing society, whether and how digitization can facilitate the development of diversified cultures remains to be carefully examined, especially in Asia. Against this background, this chapter focuses on online cultural activities in Hong Kong, with a special focus on ethnic minority youth. The international city provides a good case for empirical examination. Although ethnic minority groups constitute approximately 8% of the total population of Hong Kong, they build distinctive communities, practice unique customs, and make considerable contributions to society. In recent years, South Asians and other migrant settlers have achieved heightened visibility in Hong Kong. This study looks into the dynamics of online digital cultural participation by members of ethnic minorities, with the aim of examining their level of participation, modes of participation, and overall sense of their access to culture.

1 Ethnic Minority Youth as Digital Cultural Participants …

5

Studies of the cultural participation of ethnic minorities are instrumental in determining how discourses of cultural diversity are integrated into political economic frameworks. For instance, in the UK, public value frameworks look to cultural participation to advance the social cohesion agenda (Jowell, 2004). In New Zealand, where biculturalism is an established policy, the politics of biculturalism have underpinned the country’s development in community participation, education, media, and creative industries (Ministry for Culture and Heritage, 2009). In Australia, cultural indicators of the cultural participation of minorities are being produced (Yue & Khan, 2015). Cultural participation has also been used by governments as a measure of economic consumption and an indicator of well-being, such as in national surveys conducted in the US (Balfe, 2003; National Endowment, 1995), the UK (Bridgwood & Skelton, 2000), and Australia (ABS, 2008; Australia Council, 2000). Much more work needs to be done in the Asian context. This study intends to evaluate minority youth’s cultural participation in Hong Kong through a baseline assessment, with a discussion of their social capital, social distance, and cultural identity. In this way, we hope to expand scholarship on the cultural participation of minorities to the Asian region. Questionnaire survey data (N = 561) were collected to reveal the minority youth’s community capacity and aspirations of cultural activities online. A typology of digital cultural capacity will be attempted using a descriptive analysis of ethnic minority youth participation in cultural, arts, and leisure activities on the Internet. Two key questions are asked in this survey: first, how do we measure the wide range of cultural practices online? Second, how has the digital age impacted cultural participation? Our discussion, with tiers of indicators, can provide critical insights on the participation of ethnic minority youth in online cultural activities and the barriers against social and intercultural integration. The chapter begins with a theoretical background and a further discussion of the important notion of cultural participation, particularly its significance for local development. A literature review on the association of cultural participation with social capital, social distance, and cultural identity is also provided. This is followed by a description of the methodology of data collection and the measures of the analyses. The research findings are then presented, and in the end, based on these findings, relevant discussion is made and future research questions are drawn.

Understanding Cultural Participation Clarifying the meaning of cultural participation is necessary before any form of measurement and planning can be considered, especially in today’s rapidly-changing and mediated environment. The 2009 UNESCO framework for cultural statistics defines cultural participation as including “cultural practices that may involve consumption as well as activities that are undertaken within the community, reflecting quality of life, traditions and beliefs”. Following this framework, many nations have developed their own cultural-experience research agendas. For instance, the National

6

J. N. Erni and N. Y. Zhang

Endowment for the Arts in the U.S. (2009) defined arts and cultural participation as including: attending arts events, experiencing recorded or broadcast live performances, exploring arts through the Internet, or personally performing or creating art. In Chile, researchers take a more inclusive view: “In every case we are talking about practices where the individuals make use of their cultural repertoires and resources, their ways to organize the reality and capacity to communicate and signify” (Consejo Nacional, 2007). In Uganda, cultural participation is defined as including informal community and family events not subject to monetary transactions (Uganda Bureau of Statistics, 2010). These definitions rarely mention indicators that directly address the needs of ethnic and linguistic minorities. In fact, sub-sector participation in the arts and culture has been ignored in previous studies. The unique experiences of arts and cultural participation among minorities are therefore lost, even as national and city-based cultural surveys claim the goals of enhancing creativity, quality of life, and even cultural democracy. Scholars generally agree that cultural participation is part of everyday life, and is not only related to attendance at cultural venues or events, but is integral to the enjoyment of a fulfilling life experience (UNESCO, 2009). Hence, the conventional and activities-based assessment of cultural participation has its own limitations, though such means have been widely adopted because they can effectively capture the frequency or participation rate of cultural activities and enable correlation analysis with other quantifiable variables. Nevertheless, single-dimensional measures cannot always satisfy the needs of a particular study, such as those that require interpretation of the sociocultural contexts of special groups of people. Today, the recognition and promotion of cultural diversity has been a key marker of dynamic cosmopolitanism in any advanced city. As ethnic minorities have gained more visibility in recent years, the nature and caliber of research on ethnic minority cultures in Hong Kong should be elevated, so as to open up more innovative inquiries seeking to understand the diversity and complexity of minorities’ lived experiences in the context of a “world city” (Erni, 2012). Indeed, Hong Kong’s non-Chinese ethnic minorities consist both of new immigrants and those who have lived in the city for generations. The differences of lived experiences widen gaps not only in local knowledge about Hong Kong, but social connections, sense of belonging, community building, and other factors (see Erni & Leung, 2014). The complex backgrounds and scattered locations of residence across the city further increase the difficulty of valid examination of Hong Kong ethnic minorities and precise interpretation of data gathered, if conventional operationalization of cultural participation is adopted. Moreover, the rise of ICTs has brought in new features to various cultural activities. From the virtualization of social networks and group identities to the digital convergence of multimedia, from Wikipedia and YouTube to Open Source and Creative Commons, Internet users can distribute their own cultural content via digital media. In addition to creating or producing art, whether in traditional or more contemporary formats, people participate in culture by, for example, volunteering as board members, as guides or in other capacities for organizations engaged in cultural activities. Interaction on social networking services (SNS) lets users convert and activate latent social ties and visualize their cultural/political orientations by providing

1 Ethnic Minority Youth as Digital Cultural Participants …

7

networking information about one another (Ellison, Steinfield, & Lampe, 2007; Zhang & Leung, 2015). Networking features enable users to identify individuals with things in common. Changes run deeper and wider than those observable novel forms. Participation in social networks and user-generated content creations go beyond traditional forms to include creative expressions, which are notoriously difficult to classify, measure, evaluate, and compare. Under new conditions, relying on a few indicators or on a limited set of data to build a model of cultural behavior and participation is not viable. Investigations of the use of ICTs, time spent, exposure to cultural content, and the effects of multiple tools/platforms have become popular in media studies (Oustinoff, 2012). Against this background, cultural-indicators studies must also engage with online modes of cultural creation, circulation, and consumption (Bawa, Williams, & Dong, 2010; Novak-Leonard & Brown, 2011). Cultural-mapping assessments must account for different stakeholders, such as web designers, bloggers, apps developers, content producers primarily for electronic distribution, and others. This study focuses on the dynamics of participation in online digital culture by ethnic minority youth in the international city of Hong Kong. To advance our theoretical discussion, we propose a joint discussion of the subjects’ online cultural activities participation with the social capital, social distance and cultural identities of the ethnic minority groups to which the subjects belong.

Social Capital and Social Distance Mercer (2002, 2003) suggested that quantitative baseline statistics, such as data on cultural sectors and participation rates, are “necessary but not sufficient” for the task of cultural participation research. He argued that such statistics must be greatly enhanced by attention to the qualitative baseline of what these activities, participation rates, expenditure patterns, or other factors actually mean to the stakeholder communities and how they might contribute to human and social capital and capacity building, to identity and sense of place, and to other social effects in a broader sense. More pertinent to this study, we suggest that the mode and scale of cultural participation by ethnic minority youth is further influenced by their social capital. The term social capital refers to the influences of relationships and connections on outcomes at the individual, family, and community levels (Woolcock, 1980). It also refers to the combined resources (actual and potential) that are connected to the possession of a durable network of institutionalized relationships of mutual acquaintance and recognition (Bourdieu, 1986). Social capital is widely regarded as a necessary condition of social integration, economic efficiency, and democratic stability (Arrow, 1972; Coleman, 1988; Fukuyama, 1995; Ostrom, 1990; Putnam, 1995, 2000). Many theorists also emphasize the importance of social trust and community bonding (reciprocity). Communities with strong social capital can provide benefits such as social cohesion, active civic engagement, and diversified culture.

8

J. N. Erni and N. Y. Zhang

Empirical studies tend to examine social capital by measuring the capacity of different social connections or layers of social networks. Findings of these studies show that resources and social connections embodied in life domains such as family, neighborhood, school, friendship, and workplace are influential to children’s and youth’s attainment (e.g. Ashtiani & Feliciano, 2015; Behtoui & Neergaard, 2012), well-being (e.g. Ferguson, 2006; Morrow, 2008), and engagements in various cultural lives. For example, the cultural interests of family members exert strong influences on children (Van Wel, Couwenbergh-Soeterboek, Couwenbergh, ter Bogt, & Raaijmakers, 2006). Chan and Goldthorpe (2007) argued that social status and education are both good predictors of cultural participation in complex contemporary cultural relations (p. 523), which can also be explained by social capital. In daily lived experiences, people with higher social status, education attainment, and richer network resources are more capable to afford the costs, in both time and money, of cultural activities; and they usually gain more timely information to obtain necessary resources for self-development and to facilitate learning and practices. Moreover, individuals with a higher level of social capital are usually closer to different social agencies who hold power. Therefore, cultural participation and cultural development of youth are associated with the capacity of social networks. In terms of different social connections, network capacity is important for ethnic minority youth cultural participation because culturally active connections such as neighborhood, school, and social workers have compensatory effects, especially on youth from immigrant families who may not be able to make sizeable cultural contributions. For example, Gaddis (2018) has suggested that access to college-educated mentors can have positive effects on adolescents’ cultural capital, habitus, and academic achievement if the mentor’s educational resources are mobilized by educational discussions and activities. For ethnic minorities in Hong Kong, opportunities available in their social networks are beneficial to their skills training, self-organization, development of cultural initiatives, and in the long run, their civic engagement and cosmopolitan/liberal capacities (Erni, 2018). Participation in culture can help build inclusive societies. Previous studies have found that people who engage in and with culture and the arts tend to be more engaged in community and other civic activities, such as belonging to neighborhood associations (LeRoux & Bernadska, 2014); those who hold memberships, and actively participate, in cultural organizations are more likely to be politically active, whether by voting or signing petitions (Delaney & Keaney, 2006); and that students who had engaged in intensive arts experiences at school were more likely later to exhibit “civic-minded” behaviors such as volunteering, voting and engagement with local or school politics (Catterall, Dumais, & Hampden-Thompson, 2012). Although some caution is advised in assessing these results because it is not clear whether participation leads to more civic-mindedness or whether those who are civic minded tend to participate more, these studies do at least identify an association between these factors. Despite the uncertainty of causality, we argue that if cultural participation is means for forming a more inclusive society, we need to know what possible forms such participation might take.

1 Ethnic Minority Youth as Digital Cultural Participants …

9

In addition, we argue that the perception of social distance is another important factor in the cultural participation of ethnic minorities. Social distance refers to the level of acceptance of others outside of one’s own social group or class. Unlike social capital, which focuses more on network capacity, social distance is perceived according to the general feelings of members of a group towards others, or the amount of social interaction with people whose characteristics are outside their social norm. Putnam (2007) describes a situation in the US context, in which a lack of ethnic diversity produces social isolation within communities by reducing various elements of social capital, particularly generalized trust, social relations, and civic involvement. The implications of these studies of social capital and social distance for this project are clear. As Pettigrew and Tropp (2006) have indicated, greater opportunities for interacting with different people may increase individuals’ positive attitudes towards others. Furthermore, individuals living in communities with “bridging” ties to diverse groups tend to be more tolerant than those who do not (Laurence, 2011).

Cultural Identity Although some studies argue that diverse societies in which individuals maintain their own identities are not necessarily less inclusive or less cohesive (Gesthuizen, van der Meer, & Scheepers, 2009; Uslaner, 2012), it is still reasonable to believe that one’s cultural identity influences his/her cultural participation. Earlier studies have established that cultural identity is an integral part of an individual’s self that may affect his/her social and individual functioning, but may even potentially lead to mental distress (Bhugra et al., 1999). Identity is intangible, but can be embodied by heritage, struggle for self-recognition/respect, paths of maturation, and intra- and inter-group position negotiations and development. The multidimensional construct involves elements such as religion, attitudes to the family, leisure activities, rites of passages, language, and food, among others. Cultural identity is empirically difficult to measure. Critics challenge that the individual perceptions on which quantitative measurements usually rely are fluid, and that cross-cultural measurements may suggest a discrepancy if appropriate questions are not included. More pertinent to this study, the goal of the inquiry of cultural identity is to understand ethnic minority youth’s self-recognition, respect, and intra- and inter-ethnic identity negotiation and development in a cultural environment that is dominated by ethnic Chinese. It is believed that if ethnic minority youth see cultural activities (offline or online) that are more familiar to their own selves, they would be more willing to become involved in various activities. Most studies of cultural participation, such as city creativity indices, livability indices, or quality of life barometers, tend to create general and homogeneous pictures of cultural participation. Among the variables examined, ethnic minority status and its variants according to immigration status, refugee status, ethnic neighborhoods, or other factors have not received sufficient attention, although some initiatives and

10

J. N. Erni and N. Y. Zhang

studies have been conducted (e.g. Carr & Williams, 1993; Floyd & Gramann, 1993; Hutchison, 1988; Van Wel et al., 2006). Scholars in Western Europe and Australia, for instance, have argued for the development of a localized or contextualized culturalindicator framework with robust tools of measurement to account for thick narratives of multicultural participation (see Yue, Khan, & Brook, 2011). However, for studies of cultural participation among the majority population, involvement of cultural identity and social distance may not be as significant as they are for cultural-indicators studies that must navigate between the needs of ethnic minorities in their specific local contexts. In these studies, broad measurable progress targets and the critical priority of consulting specific narratives, experiences, and aspirations of local stakeholders become important.

Method Sample The main research method for this study was a questionnaire survey. The data were collected via local community networks of social workers and social enterprises in Hong Kong. A total number of 561 ethnic minority youths aged between 15 and 24 who currently reside in Hong Kong participated in the survey field work. Due to the small size of the subject population and the lack of available comprehensive sampling frames, a snowball and quota sampling method was used. Recruitment emails were sent to 27 secondary schools and 24 service agencies/organizations serving ethnic minority youths in Hong Kong, with nine secondary schools and eight service agencies/organizations responding to and assisting in the recruitment. Participants’ friends or family members who were eligible were also invited to take part in the survey. Though the largest ethnic minority populations in Hong Kong by ethnic group were Pakistanis, Indians, Filipinos, and Nepalese (Census and Statistics Department, 2016), the sampling procedures placed a minimum quota for each ethnicity group, in order to ensure at least 30 cases were recruited. Other ethnicities covered include Bangladeshi, Indonesians, Thais, Sri Lankans, and mixed ethnicities. Table 1.1 presents the demographics distribution of the sample. Data were collected from 28 April 2018 to 4 June 2018 in community centers, nongovernmental organizations, schools, and public areas in different districts. Participants completed a structured English online questionnaire, and were interviewed face-to-face by trained local and South East Asian interviewers. Each survey took approximately 25 min. Informed consent was obtained from each participant before the interview.

1 Ethnic Minority Youth as Digital Cultural Participants …

11

Table 1.1 Demographics of sample Ethnicities Bangladeshi

3%

Indian

13.8%

Indonesian Nepalese

5%

Filipino

12.8%

11.5%

Pakistani

48.9%

Vietnamese

0.4%

Thai

0.2%

Mixed

3.9%

Others

3.2%

Female

46.5%

Male

47.9%

15–17

53.9%

Gender

Age 18–20

28.7%

21 or above

12.1%

Measures Based on the above discussion, the questionnaire contains four major measures, which are listed below.

Online Cultural Activities Intensity Recent international reports on cultural participation point out that enjoying cultural content, or simply consuming cultural products, is generally considered to be cultural participation. Reading a book, visiting a museum, heritage site, or library, attending a concert, theatre, or dance performance, and even watching a cultural program on television are just some of the ways people engage with cultural creations and institutions. Like active participation, forms of passive participation can also take place via online channels and include reading newspaper articles, seeking information on cultural events or products (the second most common use), visiting museum websites, reading cultural blogs, purchasing cultural products, playing games, and listening to music (see Council of Europe, 2017). Based on the previous framework, respondents in this study were asked to indicate their online participation rate in 25 cultural, artistic, and leisure activities. These activities cover a wide range of online interactions, content consumption, and program engagements. The activities were rated on a 5-point Likert scale from 1, meaning seldom (once or twice per month) to 5, meaning often (several times per week). Higher scores denote higher levels of participation rates in corresponding online activities.

12

J. N. Erni and N. Y. Zhang

Social Capital The social capital of ethnic minority youth was measured in this study according to social trust and reciprocity of help received and offered. Respondents were asked to indicate the roles of different kinds of social connections or social agencies that hold power in their daily lives, such as family, neighbour, social workers, lawmakers, or others. For the social trust indictors, the social connections or agencies were rated on a 5-point Likert scale from 1, meaning strongly not trusted, to 5, meaning strongly trusted. Higher scores denote higher levels of trust in the corresponding object. For the reciprocity indicators, respondents were asked to recall their frequencies of receiving help from, or offering help to, corresponding objects. A 4-point Likert scale was used, from 1, meaning never, to 4, meaning always.

Social Distance Social distance was measured according to perceived closeness to people in the social connections and environment. Respondents were asked to indicate their perceived closeness towards 12 kinds of people or places in their daily lives. They were rated on a 7-point Likert scale from 1, meaning very far, to 7, meaning very close. Higher scores reflect higher levels of cognition of enduring closeness with the social environment.

Cultural Identity Respondents were asked to indicate the perceived importance of 15 items or issues in their daily lives, including political belief, education, ethnic background, gender, sexual orientation, occupation, profession, identity as local, marital status or partnership, age, parents’ ethnic group, family, religion, and food. They were rated on a 4-point Likert scale from 1, meaning not important at all, to 4, meaning very important. Higher scores denote higher levels of cultural identity for the corresponding item.

Demographics The study collected basic demographic information, including gender, ethnicity, age, educational attainment, and occupation, for each participant.

1 Ethnic Minority Youth as Digital Cultural Participants …

13

Findings The following descriptive findings will serve as a baseline reference of digital participation among ethnic minority youth in Hong Kong, upon which we may proceed with a discussion of the particular group’s level of activity in cultural participation.

Patterns of Online Cultural Activities Hong Kong society has been criticized for its lack of space and imagination for cultural development and diversification. The data of this study seems to confirm these perceptions. The frequencies of various online cultural activities presented in Table 1.2 suggest that, like many local youngsters, ethnic minority youth in Hong Kong were passive or reluctant to participate in most cultural activities. 18 of 25 types of online cultural activities were rated as “seldom participated in (less than twice a month)” by the young respondents. Performances of classical (western) music or high culture such as ballet, dance, or opera barely engaged the ethnic minority participants in this study. This result echoes the tendency of today’s youth to show relatively little interest in more formal types of art and culture and instead reserve their enthusiasm for manifestations of youth or popular culture (see Van Wel et al., 2006). It is noteworthy that cultural activities that require creativity and active input were not significantly popular, such as providing cultural content on blogs/websites (67.4%) or social media (59.4%), creative writing of poems, essays, or novels (82.4%), photography or video/film making (82.1%), or other artistic activities such as sculpture, painting, handicrafts or drawing (79.8%); not to mention those more demanding roles as a participant in talent competition (83.8%) or as an organizer of cultural activities online (90.7%). Moreover, we found that the Internet did not actually serve as a platform for learning and self-improvement among ethnic minority youth. More than seventy percent of the respondents indicated that they seldom participated in online language courses or art workshop (88.5%); more than half rarely read online (51.6%). Cultural participation is not just limited to the content that belongs to the so-called “elite” culture, but is part of daily life and contributes strongly to the quality of life of a given community (Morrone, 2006). The ethnic minority youth participants in this study actively participated in two types of online activities, one of which were online games. More than half of the young respondents indicated that they often used the Internet to play video/mobile games, on an individual (56.4%) or team (50.4%) basis. The second type was enjoying available entertaining content. Many ethnic minority youth often listened to music (70.9%) and watched streamed programs (56.4%), and more than half of the respondents would download music online several times a week.

14

J. N. Erni and N. Y. Zhang

Table 1.2 Summary of participation rates of cultural activities online How often do you use the Internet for …

Participation rate (by %) Seldom

Sometimes

Often

55.5

14.7

29.8

Watching or listening to cultural programs 80.0

10.0

10.0

Reading or looking at cultural blogs/pages 48.4

19.2

32.4

Reading books

51.6

14.8

33.6

Searching for information about cultural products or events

60.7

16.6

22.7

Visiting museum or library websites, or other specialized websites to improve knowledge

News reading

42.6

19.4

38.0

Downloading music

33.6

16.1

50.3

Listening to radio or music

19.5

9.6

70.9

Watching streamed or on-demand movies 27.8 or broadcast programs

15.8

56.4

Watching performances such as ballet, dance, opera, etc.

62.7

26.0

11.2

Buying cultural products such as books, CDs, or theatre tickets

72.6

12.8

14.6

Playing video/mobile games (alone)

31.2

12.4

56.4

Playing video/mobile games (socially connected with friends)

38.5

11.0

50.4

Creating websites or blogs with cultural content

67.4

13.6

18.9

Putting cultural content online, e.g. on an online social network or on a sharing site

59.4

17.9

22.7

Other artistic activities such as sculpture, painting, handicrafts or drawing

79.8

4.8

15.5

Courses for learning Chinese

77.3

10.7

12.0

Courses for learning non-Chinese languages

83.2

9.3

7.5

Courses for learning mother tongue

86.6

7.8

5.7

Art workshop

88.5

5.2

6.3

Creative writing (e.g. poem, essay, novel, etc.)

82.4

10.3

7.3

Photography or video/film making

82.1

7.7

10.2

Talent competitions

83.8

7.6

8.6

Online teaching

88.1

3.7

8.3 (continued)

1 Ethnic Minority Youth as Digital Cultural Participants …

15

Table 1.2 (continued) How often do you use the Internet for …

Participation rate (by %) Seldom

Organizing workshops or programs

Sometimes

90.7

2.8

Often 6.6

Note Entries are the percentage of participants who indicated the captioned frequency of corresponding online cultural activities. Seldom refers to a low frequency of less than once per week. Sometimes refers to a frequency of at least once per week. Often refers to a high frequency of (almost) every day

Based on the criteria of conceptual relevance and internal consistency, the various types of activities can be grouped into several categories for further investigation: high culture, entertainment, games, program tours, creative content, active learning, information seeking, and leadership. We further compared the combined mean frequency scores of each category, while no cross-ethnic group difference was found.

Patterns in Social Capital Table 1.3 presents the means and standard deviations of social capital indicators. Various scholars working under different definitions of social capital (e.g. Coleman, 1988; Putnam, 1995) have concluded that the basic prerequisite of social capital is the concept of trust, and that social capital corresponds with a high prevalence of trustworthiness. Therefore, our investigation of social capital among ethnic minority Table 1.3 Summary of social capital indicators Trust Meana

Help received S.D.

Meanb

Help offered S.D.

Meanb

S.D.

Family

4.62

0.71

3.41

0.80

3.51

0.76

Non-Chinese friends

3.88

0.94

3.14

0.82

3.36

0.74

Chinese friends

3.63

1.01

2.66

0.87

3.03

0.84

Neighbours

3.21

1.07

2.28

0.95

2.70

0.97

Religious groups

3.69

1.11

2.62

0.95

2.79

0.97

Schoolmates

3.74

1.01

2.85

0.87

3.16

0.84

Social workers

3.73

1.03

2.65

0.89

2.55

0.89

Community centers, NGOs

3.51

1.09

2.48

0.94

2.48

0.94

Lawmakers/councilors

3.11

1.15

2.39

0.91

2.31

0.89

Media

2.91

1.13

2.43

0.96

2.33

0.91

Note used: 1 = strongly not trusted, and 5 = strongly trusted b Scale used: 1 = never, and 4 = often a Scale

16

J. N. Erni and N. Y. Zhang

youth first examined their trust in different social connections. The results indicate that Hong Kong ethnic minority youth found their family (Mean = 4.62, S.D. = 0.71) and non-Chinese friends (Mean = 3.88, S.D. = 0.94) the most trustworthy. The least trusted were the local media (Mean = 2.91, S.D. = 1.13) and lawmakers (Mean = 3.11, S.D. = 1.15), followed by neighbour (Mean = 3.21, S.D. = 1.07). We also observed cross-group differences between certain ethnic groups. One-way ANOVA and post-hoc tests showed that Pakistanis yielded even lower social trust scores than other ethnic groups (at p < 0.05 significant level) in their trust of neighbours, religious groups, schoolmates, social workers, and community centers or NGOs. In the category of reciprocity, we measured the frequency of help offered and received by the participants. These results showed that Hong Kong ethnic minority youth tended most to rely on family, schoolmates, and non-Chinese friends. They received the least help from neighbours (Mean = 2.28, S.D. = 0.95), lawmakers (Mean = 2.39, S.D. = 0.91), and media (Mean = 2.43, S.D. = 0.96); and were least engaged in any activities organized by lawmakers (Mean = 2.31, S.D. = 0.89), media (Mean = 2.33, S.D. = 0.91), and community centers or NGOs (Mean = 2.48, S.D. = 0.94). In a paired t-test, only the frequency of help offered to non-Chinese friends was found significantly higher than that received from them (at p < 0.001 significant level). Table 1.4 shows the perceptions of social distance among Hong Kong ethnic minority youth. From their own perspective, they regarded people who speak the same language (mostly people from the same ethnic group) as most close (Mean = 5.97, S.D. = 1.35), and felt most distanced from the overwhelming majority of Hong Kong-Chinese (Mean = 4.93, S.D. = 1.53). These results demonstrate that ethnic minorities remain largely segregated from “mainstream” Hong Kong society. Table 1.4 Summary of social distance indicators Mean

S.D.

People who speak Chinese

5.08

1.51

People who speak the same language

5.97

1.35

People with the same religion

5.65

1.44

People who live in the same city

5.56

1.36

Country where you were born

5.48

1.59

Country where you were brought up

5.60

1.54

Country where your father was born

5.15

1.80

Country where your mother was born

5.29

1.73

Country where your family comes from

5.36

1.69

Those who call themselves “ethnic minority” in Hong Kong

5.36

1.39

Hong Kong-Chinese people

4.93

1.53

Those who have the same skin color or other physical features as you do

5.28

1.46

Note Scale used (presented by item means and standard deviation): 1 = very much far, and 7 = very much close

1 Ethnic Minority Youth as Digital Cultural Participants …

17

Hong Kong people have long been aware that ethnic minorities in the city have different life experiences from the rest of the population. Children and adolescents have had limited choices for schooling, housing, leisure, and opportunities for selfdevelopment. Although the situation has improved a little in recent years, much progress remains to be made (Wu, 2018).

Cultural Identity We used the perceived importance of multiple culture-related items as indicators of the respondent’s cultural identity. Table 1.5 presents the descriptive results. Among all the elements listed, ethnic minority youth believed that family (Mean = 3.55, S.D. = 0.76) and education (Mean = 3.51, S.D. = 0.72) were most important to them. Ethnic and racial background were not as significant as expected, as this factor was rated at a moderate level (Mean = 3.23, S.D. = 0.85), along with other elements such as gender, parents’ ethnic group(s), and religion. The results suggest that the lived experiences of Hong Kong ethnic minority youth have led them to keep strong but narrow (family-based) cultural identities. They have not yet cultivated clear cultural awareness of issues related to local society, religion, or even their own ethnic cultural history. Table 1.5 Summary of perceived importance

Mean

S.D.

Political beliefs

2.73

0.89

Level of education

3.51

0.72

Ethnic or racial background

3.23

0.85

Gender

3.28

0.88

Sexual orientation

3.16

0.93

Occupation

3.36

0.79

Profession

3.37

0.80

Identity as Hong Konger

3.32

0.83

Marital status or partnership

3.02

0.95

Age and life stage

3.32

0.81

Mother’s ethnic group

3.19

0.91

Father’s ethnic group

3.19

0.90

Family

3.55

0.76

Religion

3.29

0.91

Food

3.33

0.89

Note Scale used (presented by item means and standard deviation): 1 = not important at all, and 4 = extremely important

18

J. N. Erni and N. Y. Zhang

Discussion Cultural indicators are statistics that can be used to make sense of cultural phenomena such as arts, programs, and activities, and monitor the success of cultural planning for cultural rights (Madden, 2005). Although indicators do not change social reality, they can frame how we perceive it, endorsing a meaningful and verifiable way of cultural development (Badham, 2009). Theorizations of cultural planning and sustainability highlight cultural capacity building. The enhancement of a society’s cultural capacity is becoming increasingly important, alongside social, economic, and environmental aims, as part of a new framework for stability and social recognition. However, cultural participation as the core of the complex puzzle is difficult for stakeholders to measure. Therefore, we argue for a more comprehensive understanding of cultural participation, especially for special target groups such as ethnic minority youth. It is crucial to link information on youth participation in various activities with their complex social context and lived experiences. More specifically, we need to explain the frequency or numerical description according to multiple tiers of social indicators. The baseline data shown in this chapter illustrate several patterns of online cultural participation among Hong Kong ethnic minority youth, as well as several underlying factors such as social capital, social distance, and cultural identity. The participation figures show that ethnic minority youth in Hong Kong have not been engaging in a broad range of cultural activities. By far, digitization has not yet brought in many new changes to these trends. The most popular online activity was playing games, which has become a daily routine for many young people. Although online games are not culturally specific to players, participation does require a high level of engagement and creativity. Ethnic minority youth found online entertainment and mass culture attractive and enjoyable, with listening to music and watching streamed programs online as common practices. Similar patterns can be observed among European youth, whose participation in many cultural activities, such as watching cultural programs or reading books, is on the decline (TNS Opinion & Social, 2013). In digital culture, people can be content consumers and content creators at the same time, within a vast and growing reservoir of media, data, computing power, and communicative possibilities (Karaganis, 2007). One insight from the data analysis is the development of a self-narration of a “participation continuum” for cultural participation on the Internet. Here we propose to divide those cultural activities online as passive and active as one cluster dimension, and interpretive, critical, and creative as the other accompanying cluster dimension. Passive cultural participation refers to the consumption of centralized products/content, and active participation refers primarily to artistic expression and creation, which, as Farida Shaheed noted in 2013, are “an integral part of cultural life.” In addition, the idea of the “interpretive-criticalcreative” tier structure is inspired by studies (e.g. Yue & Khan, 2015) that emphasize creativity in cultural practices. Artistic expression and creativity contribute to the development of vibrant cultures and the production of provocative viewpoints that help democratic societies to function. Gl˘aveanu (2011) argued that creative

1 Ethnic Minority Youth as Digital Cultural Participants …

19

expression is a form of cultural expression and one of the most illustrative forms of cultural participation. Creative cultural participation engages with cultural artefacts to produce new cultural artefacts, using culture to create culture. The data generally support the above typology. Cultural participation, whether it be artistic expression, online creativity or passive participation, are strongly associated with trust, tolerance, and related dimensions of an inclusive society. This study’s discussion of social capital, social distance, and cultural identity among ethnic minority youth can provide us with more insight about the capacity of their cultural lives. The results of this study suggest that the social capital of ethnic minorities in Hong Kong is largely confined to their own family resources and networks. Social trust obtained and help received by ethnic minority youth were low within their neighborhoods; in return, they offered less help to most of their social connections, except to their families and other minority friends. The comparative figures of this study indicate weak community bonding between the Chinese and non-Chinese groups in Hong Kong. From their personal experiences, many ethnic minorities, especially South Asians, find it difficult to fit into Hong Kong society due to a combination of cultural differences, language barriers, and old-fashioned prejudice. This is an issue that society cannot ignore. The Hong Kong government has pledged to improve support in education, work, and social welfare for members of ethnic minority groups who often suffer from prejudice. However, such campaigns would not be necessary if racial prejudice were not an everyday problem in society (South China Morning Post, 2018). Moreover, highcompact urban fabrics and living environment also significantly affect neighborhood and community building (Ng, Zhang, Ng, Wong, & Lee, 2018), especially for the low-income or working-poor population. If the community and living environment is not inclusive and reciprocal in daily life, cultural development and promotion of cultural activeness will receive a low priority. Furthermore, the passivity embodied by the low participation rates in this study can be seen as a reflection of socioeconomic reality. The passive cultural participation can be explained from the angle of social inequality. Today, social divisions such as gender and ethnicity remain important mechanisms of inequality worldwide. As Silva and Warde (2010) have pointed out, cultural processes are strongly connected with forms of social inequality. Many ethnic minorities in Hong Kong have had difficulty integrating into “mainstream” society (see Erni, 2019). Due to the lack of financial support, ethnic minority youth can barely afford the costs of many arts and cultural activities in Hong Kong, and are thus denied opportunities for self-development. Income inequality results in poorer health, well-being, and cultural development, as compared to local Chinese youth, especially those from middle class families, who are more likely to act as effective strategic and reflexive agents by making good use of their economic, social, and cultural resources. Digitization and development of ICTs might provide technological possibilities for cultural development among ethnic minorities, though the question of how to popularize and facilitate creativity and diversity remains a significant sociopolitical issue.

20

J. N. Erni and N. Y. Zhang

Limitations and Future Research This article is intended to contribute to the ongoing debate on cultural planning and sustainable development in today’s digital era. Due to the resource constraints on data collection, the results of this pilot study do not account for all the subtle details and self-narratives in the daily lives of ethnic minority youth. The descriptive results of this study might not provide causal interpretation, although insights from the cultural phenomena and baseline data may critically raise questions and critiques for future investigation. A localized cultural indicator framework should be developed for future studies. Such a framework will enable robust tools of measurement to account for thick narratives of multicultural participation that can continue to enhance well-being, place making, and belonging (Yue et al., 2011). Narratives obtained by stakeholder interviews that address local specificity and quality data that respond directly to specific policy objectives are also encouraged. By following a critical policy review and evaluation of cultural events, future studies can combine empirical data and theoretical research to produce a working model for developing local cultural indicators online and offline to assess the community engagements of minority groups in Hong Kong. Acknowledgements The work described in this paper was fully supported by a General Research Grant from the Research Grants Council of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, China (Project No. HKBU12660516).

References Arrow, K. (1972). Gifts and exchanges. Philosophy and Public Affairs, 1(4), 343–362. Ashtiani, M., & Feliciano, C. (2015). Access and mobilization: How social capital relates to lowincome youth’s postsecondary educational (PSE) attainment. Youth & Society, 50(4), 439–461. Australia Council for the Arts. (2000). Arts in a multicultural Australia. Sydney: Australia Council. Australian Bureau of Statistics. (2008). Arts and culture in Australia: A statistical overview. Canberra: Australian Bureau of Statistics. Badham, M. (2009). Cultural indicators: Tools for community engagement? The International Journal of the Arts in Society, 3(5), 67–75. Balfe, J. (2003). Public participation in the arts and culture. In V. Morris & D. Pankratz (Eds.), The arts in a new millennium: Research and the arts sector (pp.51–63). Westport: Praeger. Bawa, S., Williams, K., & Dong, W. (2010). Audience 2.0: How technology influences arts participation (Research Report #50). Washington, DC: National Endowment for the Arts. Retrieved from https://arts.gov/publications/audience-20-how-technology-influences-arts-participation Behtoui, A., & Neergaard, A. (2012). Social capital, status and income attainment in the workplace. International Journal of Sociology and Social Policy, 32(1/2), 42–55. Bhugra, D., Bhui, K., Mallett, R., Desal, M., Singh, J., & Leff, J. (1999). Cultural identity and its measurement: A questionnaire for Asians. International Review of Psychiatry, 11, 244–249. Bourdieu, P. (1986). The forms of capital. In J. G. Richardson (Ed.), Handbook of theory and research for sociology of education (pp. 241–260). New York: Greenwood.

1 Ethnic Minority Youth as Digital Cultural Participants …

21

Bridgwood, A., & Skelton, A. (2000). The arts in England: Developing a survey of attendance, participation and attitudes. Cultural Trends, 10(40), 47–76. Carr, D. S., & Williams, D. R. (1993). Understanding the role of ethnicity in outdoor recreation experiences. Journal of Leisure Research, 25, 22–38. Catterall, J. S., Dumais, S. A., & Hampden-Thompson, G. (2012). The arts and achievement in atrisk youth: Findings from four longitudinal studies (Research Report 55). National Endowment for the Arts. Retrieved from https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED530822.pdf Census and Statistics Department. (2016). Population by-census – Thematic report: Ethnic minorities. Hong Kong: Census and Statistics Department, Hong Kong S.A.R. Government. Chan, T. W., & Goldthorpe, J. H. (2007). Class and status: The conceptual distinction and its empirical relevance. American Sociological Review, 72, 512–532. Coleman, J. S. (1988). Social capital in the creation of human capital. American Journal of Sociology, 94, 95–120. Consejo Nacional de la Cultura y las Artes. (2007). Encuesta de Consumo Cultural 2004–2005. Retrieved from https://www.mcu.es/libro/docs/MC/CD/ENCUESTA_CULTURA_CHILE.pdf Couldry, N. (2006). Culture and citizenship: The missing link. European Journal of Cultural Studies, 9(3), 321–339. Council of Europe. (2017, May). Cultural participation and inclusive societies. A thematic report based on the Indicator Framework on Culture and Democracy. Retrieved from https://rm.coe. int/cultural-participation-and-inclusive-societies-a-thematic-report-based/1680711283 Delaney, L., & Keaney, E. (2006). Cultural participation, social capital and civil renewal in the United Kingdom: Statistical evidence from national and international survey data. Dublin and London: Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI), and Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR). Ellison, N. B., Steinfield, C., & Lampe, C. (2007). The benefits of Facebook “friends”: Social capital and college students’ use of online social network sites. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 12(4), 1143–1168. Erni, J. N. (2012). Who needs strangers? Un-imagining Hong Kong Chineseness. Chinese Journal of Communication, 5(1), 1–10. Erni, J. N. (2018). “用文化研究跟少數族裔同行.”《行出一小步——從我到我們的社區實驗》 (作者:一小步). 香港: 突破出版社 (pp. 86–93). Erni, J. N. (2019). Racialism. In S. Chu (Ed.), Hong Kong keywords (pp. 233–244). Hong Kong: Chinese University Press. Erni, J. N., & Leung, L. (2014). Understanding South Asian minorities in Hong Kong. Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press. Ferguson, K. M. (2006). Social capital and children’s wellbeing: A critical synthesis of the international social capital literature. International Journal of Social Welfare, 15(1), 2–18. Floyd, M. F., & Gramann, J. H. (1993). Effects of acculturation and structural assimilation in resource-based recreation: The case of Mexican Americans. Journal of Leisure Research, 25, 6–21. Fukuyama, F. (1995). Trust: The social virtues and the creation of prosperity. New York: Free Press. Gaddis, S. M. (2018). Social capital in the creation of cultural capital, habitus, and achievement: Access vs. mobilization for low-income and racial minority adolescents. https://doi.org/10.2139/ ssrn.3161606 Gesthuizen, M., Van der Meer, T., & Scheepers, P. (2009). Ethnic diversity and social capital in Europe: Tests of Putnam’s thesis in European countries. Scandinavian Political Studies, 32(2), 121–42. Gl˘aveanu, V. P. (2011). Creativity as cultural participation. Journal for the Theory of Social Behaviour, 41(1), 48–67. Hong Kong Arts Development Council. (2000). Public attitude on art (Arts poll 2000). Hong Kong: Arts Development Council. Retrieved from https://www.hkadc.org.hk/en/content/web.do?id=ff8 0818123dbba560123dbfd53e9001b

22

J. N. Erni and N. Y. Zhang

Hong Kong Arts Development Council. (2005). Hong Kong arts and cultural indicator. Hong Kong: Arts Development Council, International Intelligence on Culture, Cultural Capital. Hutchison, R. (1988). A critique of race, ethnicity, and social class in recent leisure-recreation research. Journal of Leisure Research, 20, 10–30. Jowell, T. (2004). Government and the value of culture. London: Department for Culture, Media and Sport. Karaganis, J. (2007). Structures of participation in digital culture. New York: Social Science Research Council. Laitio, T. (2012). Counting what counts: Report on the Culture Watch Europe conference on cultural access and participation—From indicators to policies for democracy, Helsinki, June 30, 2012. Council of Europe. Retrieved from https://www.coe.int/t/dg4/cultureheritage/cwe/Hel sinkiReport_en.pdf Laurence, J. (2011). The effect of ethnic diversity and community disadvantage on social cohesion: A multilevel analysis of social capital and interethnic relations in UK communities. European Sociological Review, 27, 70–89. LeRoux, K., & Bernadska, A. (2014). Impact of the arts on individual contributions to US civil society. Journal of Civil Society, 10(2), 144–164. Madden, C. (2005). Indicators for arts and cultural policy: A global perspective. Cultural Trends, 14(3), 217–247. Mercer, C. (2002). Towards cultural citizenship: Tools for cultural policy and development. Stockholm: Bank of Sweden Tercentenary Foundation and Gidlunds Forlag, Hedemora. Mercer, C. (2003). From indicators to governance to the mainstream: Tools for cultural policy and citizenship. Retrieved from https://www.researchgate.net/publication/200717403_From_Indicat ors_to_Governance_to_the_Mainstream_Tools_for_Cultural_Policy_and_Citizenship Ministry for Culture and Heritage. (2009). Cultural indicators for New Zealand. Wellington: Ministry for Culture and Heritage. Morrone, A. (2006). Guidelines for measuring cultural participation. Montreal, Canada: UNESCOUIS. Morrow, V. (2008). Conceptualizing social capital in relation to the well-being of children and young people: A critical review. Sociological Review, 47(4), 744–765. National Arts Council. (2009). Population survey on the arts 2009. Singapore: National Arts Council. Retrieved from https://www.nac.gov.sg/static/doc/population_survey_of_the_arts_2 009.pdf National Endowment for the Arts. (1995). A practical guide to arts participation research. Available at: https://www.arts.gov/publications/practical-guide-arts-participation-research. National Endowment for the Arts. (2009). 2008 survey of public participation in the arts. Washington, DC: National Endowment for the Arts. Retrieved from https://arts.gov/publications/2008survey-public-participation-arts Ng, S. L., Zhang, Y., Ng, K. H., Wong, H., & Lee, J. W. Y. (2018). Living environments and quality of life in Hong Kong. Asian Geographer, 35, 35–51. Novak-Leonard, J. L., & Brown, A. S. (2011). Beyond attendance: A multi-modal understanding of arts participation. Washington, DC: National Endowment for the Arts. Retrieved from https://www.giarts.org/sites/default/files/beyond-attendance-multi-modal-unders tanding-of-arts-participation%20.pdf Ostrom, E. (1990). Governing the commons: The evolution of institutions for collective action. New York: Cambridge University Press. Oustinoff, M. (2012). Les langues sur internet: De l’hégémonie de l’Anglais au règne de la traduction.Le Temps des médias 18(1), 124. Pettigrew, T. F., & Tropp, L. R. (2006). A meta-analytic test of intergroup contact theory. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 90(5), 751–783. Putnam, R. D. (1995). Bowling alone: America’s declining social capital. Journal of Democracy, 6, 65–78.

1 Ethnic Minority Youth as Digital Cultural Participants …

23

Putnam, R. D. (2000). Bowling alone: The collapse and revival of American community. New York: Simon and Schuster. Putnam, R. D. (2007). E pluribus unum: Diversity and community in the twenty-first century: The 2006 Johan Skytte prize lecture. Scandinavian Political Studies, 30(2), 137–174. Silva, E., & Warde, A. (Eds.). (2010). Cultural analysis and Bourdieu’s legacy: Settling accounts and developing alternatives. Culture, economy and the social. London: Routledge. South China Morning Post. (2018, October 31). Hong Kong must show it is home to all races. Editorial. South China Morning Post. Statistical Research and Training Institute. (2011). Survey on time use and leisure activities 2001– 2008. Japan: Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications. Retrieved from https://www. yumpu.com/en/document/view/7657753/gbdki/97 TNS Opinion & Social. (2013). Cultural access and participation (Special eurobarometer 399). Brussels: European Commission. Uganda Bureau of Statistics. (2010). Uganda national household survey 2009/2010. Kampala: Uganda Bureau of Statistics. Retrieved from https://www.ubos.org/UNHS0910/Appendix% 20III-%20Questionnaire.pdf Uslaner, E. M. (2012). Segregation and mistrust: Diversity, isolation, and social cohesion. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press Van Wel, F., Couwenbergh-Soeterboek, N., Couwenbergh, C., ter Bogt, T., & Raaijmakers, Q. (2006). Ethnicity, youth cultural participation and cultural reproduction in the Netherlands. Poetics, 34(1), 65–82. Woolcock, M. (1980). Social capital and economic development: Toward a theoretical synthesis and policy framework. Theory and Society, 27(2), 151–208. Wu, A. (2018, May 20). Ethnic minorities are Hong Kongers too, and should be treated as such. South China Morning Post. Yue, A., & Khan, R. (2015). New approaches to cultural measurement: On cultural value, cultural participation and cultural diversity. In L. MacDowall, M. Bardham, & E. Blomkamp (Eds.), Making culture count: The politics of cultural measurement. London: Palgrave. Yue, A., Khan, R., & Brook, S. (2011). Developing a local cultural indicator framework in Australia: A case study of the city of Whittlesea. Journal of Culture and Local Governance, 3(1–2), 133–149. Zhang, Y., & Leung, L. (2015). A review of social networking service (SNS) research in communication from 2006 to 2011. New Media & Society, 17(7), 1007–1024.

Prof. John Nguyet Erni is Fung Hon Chu Endowed Professor in Humanics and Chair Professor in Humanities, Department of Humanities and Creative Writing at Hong Kong Baptist University. He is also former President of the Hong Kong Academy of the Humanities (2017–18). A recipient of the Gustafson, Rockefeller, Lincoln, and Annenberg research fellowships, and many other awards and grants, Erni’s wide-ranging work traverses international and Asia-based cultural studies, human rights legal criticism, Chinese consumption of transnational culture, gender and sexuality in media culture, youth consumption culture in Hong Kong and Asia, and critical public health. He is the author or editor of nine academic titles, including Law and Cultural Studies:A Critical Rearticulation of Human Rights (2019); Visuality, Emotions, and Minority Culture: Feeling Ethnic (2017); (In)visible Colors: Images of Non-Chinese in Hong Kong Cinema—A Filmography, 1970s–2010s (with Louis Ho, 2016); and Understanding South Asian Minorities in Hong Kong (with Lisa Leung, 2014). Dr. Nick Yin Zhang is an Assistant Professor in the School of Communication at Hong Kong Baptist University. He also serves as an associate editor for the scholarly journal Media Asia. Trained in communication and computer science, his research focuses on computer-mediated communication, social network and social capital, quality of life and social indicators research, with specialization in quantitative research methods. His research has appeared in several international peer-reviewed journals and edited volumes, such as New Media & Society, Journalism

24

J. N. Erni and N. Y. Zhang

& Mass Communication Quarterly, Applied Research in Quality of Life, International Journal of Communication, American Journal of Community Psychology, Social Policy & Administration, Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking.

Chapter 2

Decoding Internet Rumours in the Twenty-First Century: An Interdisciplinary Examination of Social Media Stephanie S. S. Szeto, Carol M. W. Poon, and Andrew C. W. Tang Abstract Since the development of Web 2.0 enabled interactive experience on the Internet, the media ecology of social networking in humanities is becoming more complex. During times of critical social change, the role of social media in provoking and organizing social movements is demonstrated around the world. In Hong Kong, during the Umbrella Revolution, social media provided a channel for individuals to disseminate their first-hand experiences more rapidly than they could via traditional media. Breaking news could be transmitted via digital media, and rumours would spread more quickly and broadly on social media than by word of mouth. For instance, a photo of a People’s Liberation Army tank posted on Facebook triggered mass panic, but other netizens disproved the rumour on finding that the photo had been taken at a different event. A number of studies have found that public concern over an ambiguous event can induce anxiety and inspire the formation of rumours to relieve the tension that comes from uncertainty. Based on the theoretical framework of rumour development and transmission, this study uses a mixed-method content analysis, with quantitative examination of prominent words and in-depth thematic discussion of webpage contents searched via Yahoo Hong Kong. Nine of 17 sites were examined, and 22 incidents of rumour formation were investigated in terms of models of formation, means of communication, and types of rumours. The results of this study were inconsistent as to whether social media were more prominent than traditional media. Moreover, the motivation to spread rumours may be conscious rather than unconscious, and individuals’ need for cognition played a role in dispelling rumours. Two additional types of rumours, based on empathy and condemnation, were also identified in the Hong Kong Chinese context. Effective information transfer and spread of rumours are two sides of the same coin in the era of contemporary digital media. The chapter also discusses ideas and implications for further research. S. S. S. Szeto (B) University of Salford, Salford, UK e-mail: [email protected] C. M. W. Poon · A. C. W. Tang Li Ka Shing Institute of Professional and Continuing Education, The Open University of Hong Kong, Ho Man Tin, Hong Kong © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2020 S. S. Lam (ed.), New Media Spectacles and Multimodal Creativity in a Globalised Asia, Digital Culture and Humanities 3, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-7341-5_2

25

26

S. S. S. Szeto et al.

Keywords Internet rumour · Media psychology · Social media · Social movement · Rumour formation · Media study

Introduction Since the development of Web 2.0 enabled interactive experiences on the Internet, individuals can now express personal opinions spontaneously, as on Twitter, and create content freely, as on Wikipedia, rather than being limited to read-only material. As a result, the landscape of social networking is becoming denser, more complex, and more participatory (Whittaker, Howarth, & Lymn, 2014). New mobile technology especially enables people who do not have much prior knowledge of computers to easily access the Internet and join in social networking. Unlike those of traditional media, the contents generated on social media are not covered by the expanded censorship of mass media (Bai, 2012); moreover, different accounts on social media sites can be created under alternative names, so that the sources are difficult to trace and the reliability of the material can be hard to determine. Although new media facilitate mass communication, they also allow rumours to be transmitted more rapidly and more broadly than by word of mouth (Zhao et al., 2012). Especially in times of critical social change, social media influence public responses (Iyer, Webster, Hornsey, & Vanman, 2014; Jin, Liu, & Austin, 2014; Liu, Fraustino, & Jin, 2015). Some examples include the Go 2 EDSA in the Philippines in 2001, the quick ouster of the Spanish Prime Minister in 2004, the protest against fraudulent elections in Moldova in 2009, the Green Movement in Iran in 2009, the Red Shirt movement in Thailand in 2011, and the Umbrella Revolution in Hong Kong in 2014, all of which have demonstrated the role(s) of social media in advocating and organizing protests or social movements (Shirky, 2011).

The Role(s) of Social Media in Social Movements Social movements are often significantly influenced by social media, especially with respect to organization and communication. The Umbrella Revolution, which began with class boycotts by over 3000 secondary and post-secondary students on 22 September 2014 and ended with a police clearance on 15 December (Leung, Conant, & Pang, 2014), was the most influential social movement in Hong Kong since the anti-British riot of 1967 (Kaiman, 2014). Hong Kong people, who kept umbrellas in their bags at all times to prepare for constantly changing weather with sunny and rain shower intervals, invented a new use for them, as pro-democracy symbols. As photos of pro-democracy protesters being detained by Hong Kong police outside the government headquarters at Civil Square circulated on social media, many people flocked to the site to support the protesters. Although the crowd was well-behaved, the police fired tear gas 87 times to break it up. The events were captured on multimedia and

2 Decoding Internet Rumours in the Twenty-First Century …

27

uploaded to social media accounts to serve as first-person real-time reports. These posts were widely shared across social media, and eventually led to tens of thousands of Hong Kong people of all ages to come to the protest site (Cheung & Lam, 2014). Because the protesters used their umbrellas to shield themselves from pepper spray and tear gas, the Western media accordingly dubbed the movement “the Umbrella Revolution.” Since then, the seemingly insignificant umbrella came to symbolize non-violent protest and stimulated various social-media images (Munro, 2015) as well as the spread of rumours. Since the progress of this social movement was widely transmitted across the Internet, it attracted attention throughout the world; however, scholarship on this topic is still relatively rare. For instance, the questions of which rumours have been spread, and how, have yet to be answered. As the ecological validity of the research method Allport and Postman (1947) used in their study of a serial reproduction paradigm of rumours in laboratory settings with artificial rumour content was a concern, Bordia and Rosnow (1998) believed that studying rumours on online platforms could naturalistically reflect how rumours developed and spread in real life. Therefore, this study uses online data to conduct a mixed-method content analysis with quantitative examination of prominent words and in-depth thematic investigation, commonly used in media studies (Green, 2014), to decode Internet rumours in the twenty-first century.

Theoretical Framework of Internet Rumour Spread Rumors always trigger public panic in society, and the advancement of Internet technology has tremendously influenced people’s daily lives. Therefore, the dynamics of the spread of rumours via social media are worthy of discussion. According to Lee (2014), the progress of the Umbrella Revolution on social media induced 1.3 million messages during the early days of the protest. The prominent use of social media in the movement may be attributed to the instant multimedia uploads made by protesters, which were perceived as more timely reports than those on traditional media (Liu et al., 2015) and as more credible due to their nature as first-person experiences (Jin et al., 2014). This phenomenon may be explained by Self Communication, one of the four means of communication discussed in Shao and Shao’s (2010) Media Panic Theory, shown in Fig. 2.1. Self Communication refers to individuals’ experience Self Communication Organizational Communication

Mass Communication Interpersonal Communication

Fig. 2.1 Media panic theory, introduced by Shao and Shao (2010)

28

S. S. S. Szeto et al.

of an incident and the message they disseminate based on their perception of that incident. Shao and Shao identify three other means of communication: Interpersonal Communication, which refers to word-of-mouth communication within a group of people; Organizational Communication, which includes press conferences held by organizations and which can either reduce or elevate panic; and Mass Communication, which refers to traditional mass media broadcasting panic reduction messages for organizations, though such messages may have the opposite effect. However, Shao and Shao (2010) assume that Self Communication messages may not be widely believed because of individual differences in encoding, perception, and decoding. This may be because their study emphasizes Mass Communication, which occupies a leading and core position in comparison to other means of communication. Nonetheless, traditional mass media may not play as major a role in the era of advanced technology as they had in the past. This argument is supported by research suggesting that the public does not perceive traditional media reports as timely as they do social media (Liu et al., 2015). Thus, individuals may be more likely to trust information shared on social media, or Self Communication, than they do traditional media, or Mass Communication. Moreover, Shao and Shao may underestimate the interactive function of Web 2.0, allowing all users to share their personal experiences on social media. Therefore, Self Communication may be perceived as the most credible means of communication (Jin et al., 2014). Our argument can also be supported by Ma’s (2008) model of the three stages of rumour formation, shown in Fig. 2.2. The first stage, emergence, refers to public concerns about an ambiguous event. The second, motivation and cognitive processing, is based on the notion from psychoanalysis that rumours are defence mechanisms produced by an individual’s unconscious. The third, spread, is based on the individual’s trust in the content of the rumour and on his/her desire to maintain network connections by exchanging information. Evaluating the trustworthiness of rumour content relies on the individual’s need for cognition (NFC), which refers to the tendency to engage in effortful thinking (Zhong, Hardin, & Sun, 2011). Kaynar and Amichai-Hamburger (2008) found that individuals with low NFC preferred to obtain information from people around them, or heuristic clues from their environment, instead of analysing materials and acquiring more knowledge. Their study suggests that individuals who are low in NFC are more vulnerable to Internet rumours. However, scholarship on Internet rumours and NFC remains scarce.

Stage 1: Emergence stage

Stage 2: Motivation and Cognitive Processing

Halt rumour Stage 3: Spread stage

Fig. 2.2 Three stages of formation of rumours, by Ma (2008)

Spread rumour to maintain connection

2 Decoding Internet Rumours in the Twenty-First Century …

29

Rumours

Type 1 Pipe dream rumours reflect public desires and wished-for-outcome

Type 2 Fear rumours reflect public fears and anxieties

Type 3 Wedge-driving rumours lead to disagreement between alliances

Fig. 2.3 Three types of rumours, by Knapp (1944)

To apply these three stages to the Umbrella Revolution, the emergence stage involves ambiguous events during the movement that may inspire rumours among the participants. The individuals are then motivated to pass along these rumours on their social networks and cognitively process the content. They may then spread the rumours on social media. Although connections in the virtual world are different from those in the real world (Lin, Tov, & Qiu, 2014), virtual connections on social media are likely to start with real-life connections. For instance, Facebook, which was first created for intra-campus socialising, has widely expanded beyond its original school context (Zhao, Grasmuck, & Martin, 2008). The relationship between Facebook users and their Facebook friends has extended from schoolmates to colleagues, clients, family members, and relatives who have connections with the users in real life. As individuals are more prone to believe members of their in-group (Gold, 2002), they may tend to trust what their friends share on social media, especially first-person accounts. However, at the motivation and cognitive processing stage of rumour formation, rumours are not always formed unconsciously. According to Knapp (1944), rumours can be divided into three types, shown in Fig. 2.3. Wedge-driving rumours may lead to disagreement if the rumour-monger intends to undermine relationships and alliances among his/her enemies. Therefore, in the case of the Umbrella Revolution, rumours may be consciously and cognitively developed in order to break the affiliations of the protesters’ opponents.

Decoding Internet Rumours The evolution of social media has particularly influenced social movements by providing easily-accessed platform on which users can promote activities, organise protests, share information, and spread rumours. Although social media has played a significant role in the Umbrella Revolution, a systematic study of the influence of social media on the Umbrella Revolution has not yet been performed. To understand rumour formation and spread during the Umbrella Revolution, this study examines the latent roles of means of communication (Shao & Shao, 2010) in the spread of

30

S. S. S. Szeto et al.

rumours. The three stages of rumour formation (Ma, 2008) are used as a framework in the discussion of rumours arising from the Umbrella Revolution. Finally, the three types of rumours (Knapp, 1944) are investigated to determine whether the types of rumours spread in collectivistic contexts such as Hong Kong are different from those originating in a more individualist society.

Method This study uses content analysis, a commonly-used research tool in the discussion of written, verbal, or visual communication that allows scholars to make inferences about the meanings of these messages and to understand the culture and time in which they were produced (Russell, 2013). The study uses a mixed-method content analysis with quantitative examination of prominent words and thematic insight into the spread of Internet rumours during the Umbrella Revolution. The Chinese words for “rumour” and “Umbrella Revolution” were searched on Yahoo Hong Kong. Nine webpages originating in Hong Kong that specifically addressed, listed and depicted rumours between 22 September 2014 and 15 December 2014, were consulted.

Analysis of Word Frequency We performed a systematic quantitative analysis of prominent words that appeared on the nine webpages examined in this study, which provided information about how rumours were spread during the Umbrella Revolution and what features of this social movement were emphasized. Using NVivo 10 software, we identified the 20 most frequent words that appeared. A list of stop words, which appeared frequently but did not carry relevance or a specific meaning, was also compiled.

Analysis of Themes This study focused on more than merely the frequency of words appearing on the nine websites examined; it also investigated the meanings behind the texts. Three scholars used NVivo 10 software, coded independently of each other, to identify themes. The predetermined coding scheme was based on the compilation of reviewed literature on rumour development, types, and spread. Those texts that could not be categorized into the coding scheme were coded in new categories. Ambiguities or discrepancies were discussed in order to re-code or develop new themes based on compromises between the three scholars’ interpretations.

2 Decoding Internet Rumours in the Twenty-First Century …

31

Results We used the search engine Yahoo Hong Kong to search for the Chinese words for ‘rumour’ and ‘Umbrella Revolution’ on Hong Kong-specified Chinese-content websites. Seventeen webpages were generated and nine of those, which specifically addressed, listed, and depicted rumours that were posted between 22 September 2014 and 15 December 2014, were compiled for this study. A total of 22 incidents were found, and the list of rumours appears in Table 2.1 in Appendix 1.

Prominent Words Appeared A list of the 20 most frequently used words based on this study’s search criteria was compiled. The most frequently used word, police, appeared 933 times and 100% more than the second most frequently used word, people, which appeared 469 times and was mostly related to Hong Kong people and protesters. The word umbrella, appeared 294 times, the third most frequently used word in the study, and was mostly related to the Umbrella Revolution or Umbrella Movement. The fourth most frequently used word, demonstrators, appeared 249 times, mostly related to pro-democracy protesters. The fifth most frequently used word, news, appeared 230 times and was mostly related to false news and news from online, independent press, and traditional mass media. The 20 most frequently used words are listed in Table 2.2, Appendix 2, which outlines the frequencies of the words appeared and the weighted percentage among all words. The cluster analysis in Appendix 3 demonstrates the similarities and differences across the 20 most frequently used words.

Thematic Analysis A content analysis of the themes of rumours spread during the Umbrella Revolution was performed, in order to examine the roles of different means of communication, the three stages of rumour formation, and the three types of rumours. New model of means of interactive communication. As shown in Table 2.1, Appendix 1, five rumour events were classified as Self Communication, three as Organization Communication, three as Mass Communication, and two as Interpersonal Communication. Nine other incidents were grouped under a new category, Social Media Communication. This category was placed at the centre of the diagram in Fig. 2.4 because all four of Shao and Shao’s original categories of means of communication interact with social media. New model of stages of rumour formation. The examination of the three stages of rumour formation outlined in Table 2.1, Appendix 1, demonstrated that, as Ma (2008) has explained, ambiguous events may lead to the emergence of rumours.

32

S. S. S. Szeto et al.

Self Communication

Mass Communication

Social Media Communication

Interpersonal Communication

Organisational Communication Fig. 2.4 Interactive model of means of communication

For instance, during the Umbrella Revolution, rumours of a counterfeit recording of Joshua Wong shooting pro-democracy protesters with real guns and bullets and shutting down mobile networks emerged on the first day after police fired tear gas into the crowd 87 times. However, the findings of this study indicated that in the second stage, the two factors of motivation and cognitive processing may need to be separated rather than grouped together. The rumours gathered in this project could be categorized as Unfavourable to Pro-democracy Protest, such as Rumour Item 2 in Table 2.1, Appendix 1, in which a pregnant woman was delayed for delivery; or as Unfavourable to Anti-protest, such as Rumour Item 22 in Table 2.1, Appendix 1, in which a reporter asked the public to send him photos of conflicts started by antiprotesters during the social movement. The results suggested that the motivation may be influenced by political perspectives and desires to intentionally spread or halt rumours that are unfavourable to opponents; therefore, we argue that motivation for rumour spread is more likely to be conscious rather than what Ma (2008) assumed as unconscious. Our findings also support the notion that cognitive processing plays a role in the spread or halting of rumours. The results showed that individuals would search reliable information to verify the rumours, suggesting that individuals’ NFC may affect their cognitive processing to spread or halt rumours. For example, in Rumour Item 4, Item 7 and Item 11 in Table 2.1, Appendix 1, netizens tended to search information to verify the message that was being transmitted, and ended up scotching the rumours in the end. Therefore, a new model of stages of rumour formation was suggested, as shown in Fig. 2.5. New structure of rumour types. Knapp (1944) divided rumours into three types; however, the findings of this study identified two other types of rumours that were spread during the Umbrella Revolution: Empathy and Condemnation. Empathy refers to rumours that played upon people’s feelings in order to present the opponent unfavourably. For example, Rumour Item 2, Item 4, and Item 5 in Table 2.1,

2 Decoding Internet Rumours in the Twenty-First Century …

33

Motivation Emergence stage

Halt rumour Spread stage

Cognitive Processing

Spread rumour to maintain connection

Fig. 2.5 Suggested model of rumour formation

Pipe dream type

Fear type

Rumour Types

Wedge-driving type

Condemnation type

Empathy type

Fig. 2.6 New structure of rumour types

Appendix 1, involve tragic stories meant to provoke empathetic feelings. Condemnation refers to rumours that would inspire universal condemnation of the opponent. For example, Rumour Item 7, Item 8, Item 11, Item 12, Item 14, Item 15, Item 16, and Item 21 in Table 2.1, Appendix 1, involve stories about assaults against police and children, which were perceived as morally wrong, intended to trigger public anger and criticism. Therefore, a new structure of rumours types was suggested as shown in Fig. 2.6.

Discussion The development of Web 2.0 and advanced mobile technology have enabled a high penetration of social media use. During the Umbrella Revolution, Hong Kong people used social media to disseminate their first-hand experiences of rapidly changing situations, which may lead to an increased trust in the credibility of social media as compared to traditional news that is subject to press censorship. However, the enjoyable interactive experience has motivated both mass communication and rumour transmission. In the case of ambiguous events, rumours emerge as means of easing individuals’ anxiety, but the intense emotion generated by the event may also lead to the spread of rumours in a vicious cycle (Bordia & Difonzo, 2004). To address the concern over the ecological validity of studying rumours, this project conducted a content analysis of online materials to decode Internet rumours in the twenty-first century.

34

S. S. S. Szeto et al.

To understand how rumours spread during the Umbrella Revolution, this project used a mixed-method content analysis with quantitative and thematic examinations of prominent words. This study’s findings in terms of word frequency was consistent with Coen and Jones’s (2014) study of the Salford riots on local news webpages; both studies showed that police was the most frequently used word, followed by people. Moreover, the cluster analysis showed that police was often grouped together with action or with anti. These results indicated that the new media interpreted police action as anti-protest. However, in this study, people was grouped together with Admiralty and clustered with government. This could be understood as the new media featuring Hong Kong people in Admiralty, outside the government headquarters. According to Coen and Jones (2014), police taking action are a critical factor in protests because police deal directly with people during any protest event. The findings of this study further suggest that the historic tension between the police and Hong Kong people, as illustrated in the adage that a good person would not apply for the job of a policeman, may have escalated the conflict of the Umbrella Revolution (Wong, Curran, & Yung, 2014). Another finding from the cluster analysis showed that where the more traditional news media referred to the event as a movement, the public preferred to call it the Umbrella Revolution. According to Loftus, Miller, and Burns (1978), exposure to subsequent misleading information after an important event may influence participants’ memories of the original event, and thus that the media reporting misleading information of an event would influence how the public perceives the event. The discrepancy between the terminology used by the mass media and the independent press for the Umbrella Revolution suggests that the mass media may have been urged to moderate its importance by referring to it as a movement, or as Occupy Central, instead of as a revolution. However, how this choice of naming has influenced the public’s perception has yet to be answered. A thematic analysis of the means of communication in this study revealed that Social Media Communication interacted with the other four means, which is inconsistent with Shao and Shao’s (2010) Media Panic Theory. This finding supported the argument that the role of traditional mass media was less important than that of Social Media Communication in an era of advanced technology. Previous studies have found that the prevalence of using Facebook among Internet surfers increased from 56% in 2007 to 75% in 2008 (Kaplan & Haenlein, 2010) and it logged its 500 millionth user in 2010 (Zhong et al., 2011). The use of Facebook seems ubiquitous in Hong Kong as well. A marketing survey found that Facebook was the most popular social networking platform used by Hong Kong people: 91% of the respondents used mainly Facebook, and the largest age group of Facebook users was between 25 and 34, of whom 55% were female. The survey also found that many Hong Kong people did not favour traditional media, and 44% of the respondents read Facebook for breaking news (Lam, 2014). These findings suggest that Hong Kong people perceived information spread through Self Communication on social media as trustworthy. This study’s findings also supported the notion that Motivation and Cognitive Processing had two different constructs. This is inconsistent with Ma (2008), who assumed that the motivation to spread rumours was unconscious. However,

2 Decoding Internet Rumours in the Twenty-First Century …

35

as mentioned in the previous section, people may purposefully spread favourable rumours but halt unfavourable rumours based on their political perspective. Therefore, the findings supported the notion that rumours can be consciously spread. This study also found that netizens tended to search further information to verify rumours. As need for cognition (NFC) refers to the tendency to engage in effortful thinking (Zhong et al., 2011), Kaynar and Amichai-Hamburger (2008) found that individuals with low NFC preferred to obtain information from people around them or heuristic clues from their environment instead of analysing material and acquiring more knowledge. This study’s findings supported the idea that individuals’ NFC may influence their cognitive processing to judge whether they should perceive the received information as rumours. Therefore, Motivation and Cognitive Processing were considered two different factors rather than one. Finally, the results of this study identified two additional rumour types, Empathy and Condemnation, that were not present in the original model proposed by Knapp (1944). This finding can be explained by the Chinese culture, rooted in Confucianism, Taoism and Buddhism, that focuses on kindness and interdependence. For example, Chinese people believe that individuals should be kind to those who have been kind them in order to maintain good interpersonal relationships. To apply the concept to this study, rumour-mongers may make up tragic stories to invoke Hong Kong people’s feelings of empathy. Then, people may show their internalised kindness to help others who have experienced hardships. Moreover, according to the collectivist view of the self, Chinese people tend to use relational aggression to punish those whose behaviours are perceived as morally wrong. Rumour-mongers may also apply this concept to invent stories meant to provoke anger and call for public condemnation. All of these factors may account for the two additional rumour types identified in the data collected for this study in a Chinese context (Bond, 2010). The implications of the findings are that, as this study showed that Social Media Communication was considered more important to social media users than Traditional Mass Communication, the government may use social media to scotch Internet rumours, including such moves as broadcasting a police report via YouTube instead of on TV, or creating an official social media account to deliver verified information. However, those promotions may be considered government propaganda to influence selection by YouTube Recommendations (Oboler, Welsh, & Cruz, 2012). Furthermore, as Internet and mobile phone use are virtually ubiquitous in the twenty-first century, educators can understand students more by being friends with them on social media such as Facebook, in order to spread educational information, promote positive messages, and monitor students who are at high risk of emotional problems and self-harm behaviours such as displaying depressive moods or leaving suicidal messages.

36

S. S. S. Szeto et al.

Limitations and Suggestions for Further Research Despite the contributions of this project to the study of Internet rumours in the twenty-first century, there are limitations that must be acknowledged and discussed. To address the concern of ecological validity, this study uses content analysis to study webpage material. However, the credibility of webpage content can be questioned because Web 2.0 enables netizens to edit webpages such as Wikipedia easily. Such ease of editing and revision may compromise the reliability of studies such as this one. Furthermore, the interpretation of web content can also be influenced by the scholar’s personal biases. To address the concern of scholar bias, further research on netizens’ comments and emotional responses on social media is recommended as part of the study of the effects of Internet rumours on human and media psychology. Also, the new models proposed in the current study need to be examined further, as do the roles of NFC in scotching rumours. A comparison of the congruence of political affiliations and the tendency to spread Internet rumours would also be informative in this field.

Conclusion Effective information transfer and spread of rumours are two sides of the same coin in the era of contemporary digital media. This study, meant to decode Internet rumours in the twenty-first century, observed that policing is important during protests, and that the choice of names for the Umbrella Revolution may influence how the public perceives the movement. It also observed cultural differences in the models of rumour formation and dissemination, and identified types of rumours that had not been outlined in previous work on the subject, prompting a need for further investigation.

Appendix 1 See Table 2.1.

Appendix 2 See Table 2.2.

Incident

Counterfeit recording of Joshua Wong

Pregnant woman was delayed for delivery

Item

1

2

Self communication

Means of communication

A user posted on Self Facebook that his friend’s communication wife was delayed by traffic, due to protester occupation, en route to Ruttonjee Hospital to deliver her baby, so the baby was suffering from severe cerebral anoxia

Joshua Wong’s voice recording claiming that certain areas have fallen and are flooded with tear gas. He asked pro-democracy protesters to retreat, and advised those who did not set off to stay at home. He requested people to spread the message and arrange a class boycott instead of occupying these areas

Description

Table 2.1 Summary of rumours spread during the Umbrella Revolution

Unfavourable to pro-democracy protesters

Unfavourable to pro-democracy protesters

Motivation to spread

Netizens found that Empathy Ruttonjee Hospital did not have a delivery ward. The Hospital Authority clarified that no such case was reported

(continued)

Types of rumours

Joshua Wong clarified on Fear his Facebook page that he did not record the message, as his phone was confiscated by the police

Clarification

2 Decoding Internet Rumours in the Twenty-First Century … 37

Incident

Message of clearance

Could not meet daughter-in-law before she died of cancer

Driver died of a heart attack

Youths were called on to make trouble

Item

3

4

5

6

Table 2.1 (continued)

Organization communication

Means of communication

Mass communication

A social worker spread Self the message that gangs of communication youths were being called on to make trouble at the protest site

Oriental Daily reported a driver died of a heart attack while stuck in traffic caused by occupation

An old woman phoned in Self to RTHK Radio 5 to communication complain about a four-hour jam in Cross-Harbour Tunnel, so she could not arrive at the hospital in time to see her daughter-in-law who died of cancer

A message of clearance was spread several times to advise pro-democracy protesters to leave the protest sites

Description

Unfavourable to pro-democracy protesters

Unfavourable to pro-democracy protesters

Unfavourable to pro-democracy protesters

Unfavourable to pro-democracy protesters

Motivation to spread

The Lutheran Church fired the social worker for spreading the message without verification

The son clarified that his father’s death was not associated with protest occupation

No traffic jam in the Cross-Harbour Tunnel was reported in the daily traffic news on that day

Fear type

Empathy

Empathy

(continued)

Types of rumours

Clearance was employed Fear type in December

Clarification

38 S. S. S. Szeto et al.

Police being assaulted on An anti-protest newspaper Mass street reported that a police communication officer was assaulted on the street

Police would shoot A message was spread Organization pro-democracy protesters claiming that police communication would shoot pro-democracy protesters’ hands and feet with real guns and bullets

Mobile networks shut down

8

9

10

Mobile networks would be shut down by the Authority

Organization communication

Photos featured a man in Social media police uniform with blood communication on his face and hand. Anti-protest people blamed protesters for assaulting the police

Bleeding police photos

Means of communication

7

Description

Incident

Item

Table 2.1 (continued)

Unfavourable to pro-democracy protesters

Unfavourable to pro-democracy protesters

Unfavourable to pro-democracy protesters

Unfavourable to pro-democracy protesters

Motivation to spread

It has not happened

It has not happened

No evidence was found and police did not report or follow up the incident

Netizens found out that those photos were taken by a makeup artist to promote a TV drama instead

Clarification

Fear type

Fear type

(continued)

Condemnation type

Condemnation type

Types of rumours

2 Decoding Internet Rumours in the Twenty-First Century … 39

Incident

Mixed trap photos

Iron Lotus

Item

11

12

Table 2.1 (continued) Means of communication

An anti-protest politician Social media posted a photo on communication Facebook depicting a man in police uniform with blood on his head, alongside a photo of a metal umbrella, and stated that pro-democracy protesters were hurting policemen with a metal umbrella with a blade called Iron Lotus

While sharing photos Social media about how pro-democracy communication protesters were setting up scaffolding on protest site on Facebook, an anti-protest politician mixed these photos with another photo featuring spikes buried in a trap, complaining that pro-democracy protesters were setting up dangerous traps

Description

Unfavourable to pro-democracy protesters

Unfavourable to pro-democracy protesters

Motivation to spread

Types of rumours

A design company clarified that the so-called Iron Lotus was an artwork exhibited in Turkey and Nanjing

(continued)

Condemnation type

Netizens found the exact Condemnation type spike trap photos on Google. The trap was actually used during the Vietnam War, and was not set up by pro-democracy protesters

Clarification

40 S. S. S. Szeto et al.

Arranged children on front line

15

An anti-protest film Social media director posted a photo of communication a child on Facebook and stated that pro-democracy protesters allowed children on the front line so that the police would hit them by mistake; the police would then be condemned as barbaric

Social media communication

Steel-toed shoes

14

Anti-protest online news shared a photo featured a group of pro-democracy protesters buying steel-toed shoes for assaulting police

People’s Liberation Army A photo of a tank of Social media People’s Liberation Army communication was spread on Facebook, with the claim that the Army would intervene in the protest

Means of communication

13

Description

Incident

Item

Table 2.1 (continued)

Unfavourable to pro-democracy protesters

Unfavourable to pro-democracy protesters

Unfavourable to pro-democracy protesters

Motivation to spread

Types of rumours

The anti-protest film director posted so-called evidence, but netizens could see that this was not what the director claimed

(continued)

Condemnation type

One of the students at the Condemnation type Maritime Services Training Institute clarified on Facebook that they bought steel-toed shoes due to school requirements, but not for assaulting police, and left the school’s number for further enquiry

Netizens pointed out that Fear type the photo had been taken at a previous event

Clarification

2 Decoding Internet Rumours in the Twenty-First Century … 41

Incident

Slogan painted on a monument

Eating during hunger strike

Item

16

17

Table 2.1 (continued) Means of communication

A photo was posted on Facebook showing protesters who were eating while going on a hunger strike

Social media communication

An anti-protest Facebook Social media page posted a photo of a communication pro-democracy slogan painted on a monument to Government Flying Service Officers who had died while on duty, and accused pro-democracy protesters of being disrespectful to the dead. An anti-protest newspaper reported

Description

Unfavourable to pro-democracy protesters

Unfavourable to pro-democracy protesters

Motivation to spread

Types of rumours

(continued)

The photo owner Wedge-driving type clarified that the photos were taken at another event in 2009 and spread without her permission

After checking the Condemnation type monument, Government Flying Service servant and Apple Daily reporter did not see the painted slogan. Netizen questioned the slogan were derivative work

Clarification

42 S. S. S. Szeto et al.

Misunderstanding RTHK An RTHK female reporter Social media reporter was assaulted while communication interviewing anti-protest protesters, and derivative works were spread that depicted her as a pro-democracy protester

Being paid for pro-democracy protest

Apple Daily incited An anti-protest newspaper Interpersonal students to join in protest claimed that Apple Daily, communication a pro-democracy newspaper, incited students to join in the protest

19

20

21

People who joined in the pro-democracy protest would be paid by foreign countries

Interpersonal communication

An anti-protest newspaper Mass reposted Cheng Chung communication Tai’s article in a pro-democracy newspaper which supposedly labelled Hong Kong parents as pigs if they did not support democracy and suggested that their children oppose them

Tampering with Cheng Chung Tai’s article

Means of communication

18

Description

Incident

Item

Table 2.1 (continued)

Unfavourable to pro-democracy protesters

Unfavourable to pro-democracy protesters

Unfavourable to pro-democracy protesters

Unfavourable to pro-democracy protesters

Motivation to spread

Wedge-driving type

Wedge-driving type

Types of rumours

Pro-democracy protesters clarified that their participation in the protest was spontaneous and voluntary

(continued)

Condemnation type

Pro-democracy Wedge-driving type protesters and volunteers clarified that they were not paid for their actions

The RTHK clarified that the female reporter was not a protester

The pro-democracy newspaper clarified that Cheng Chung Tai’s article had been tampered with

Clarification

2 Decoding Internet Rumours in the Twenty-First Century … 43

Tom Grundy asked public Facebook and WhatsApp to send him photos of posts claimed that Tom conflicts Grundy, an independent reporter from the BBC, asked the public to send him photos of conflicts raised by anti-protest protesters

22

Description

Incident

Item

Table 2.1 (continued)

Organization communication

Means of communication Unfavourable to anti-protest protesters

Motivation to spread

Types of rumours

Tom Grundy clarified by Pipe dream type email automatic reply that he did not ask for the photos

Clarification

44 S. S. S. Szeto et al.

2 Decoding Internet Rumours in the Twenty-First Century …

45

Table 2.2 Summary of 20 most frequently appearing words Word

Count

Weighted percentage (%)

Related to

Police

933

2.33

Hong Kong police

People

469

1.17

Hong Kong people, protesters

Umbrella

294

0.73

Umbrella Revolution, Umbrella Movement

Demonstrators

249

0.62

Pro-democracy protesters

News

230

0.57

False news and news from online, independent press and traditional mass media

Occupied

219

0.55

Protest sites, roads and territories have been occupied

Public

206

0.51

Public opinion, concern, discussion, dissatisfaction and most of the Hong Kong people

Government

170

0.42

Hong Kong government

Internet

163

0.41

Internet use

Revolution

160

0.40

Umbrella Revolution

Students

155

0.39

Student protesters

Facebook

150

0.37

Facebook

Occupation

150

0.37

The progress of the Umbrella Revolution

Media

148

0.37

Including independent media, official media, mainstream media, online media, mass media, mainland media, western media

Movement

126

0.31

Umbrella Movement, social movement

Action

123

0.31

Police action

Anti

123

0.31

Anti-occupation, anti-demonstrators

Admiralty

111

0.28

One of the protest sites closing to government headquarters

Arrested

110

0.27

Police arrested protestors

Chief

106

0.26

Hong Kong’s Chief Executive Officer, its election

Appendix 3 Diagram of cluster analysis of 20 most frequently used words

46

S. S. S. Szeto et al.

2 Decoding Internet Rumours in the Twenty-First Century …

47

References Allport, G., & Postman, L. (1947). The psychology of rumor. New York: Henry Holt. Bai, M. (2012). Exploring the dynamics of rumors on social media in the Chinese context (Unpublished master’s thesis). Uppsala University, Sweden. Bond, M. H. (2010). The Oxford handbook of Chinese psychology. New York: Oxford University Press. Bordia, P., & Difonzo, N. (2004). Problem solving in social interactions on the Internet: Rumor as social cognition. Social Psychology Quarterly, 67(1), 33–49. Bordia, P., & Rosnow, R. L. (1998). Rumor rest stops on the information highway: Transmission patterns in a computer-mediated rumor chain. Human Communication Research, 25, 163–179. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-2958.1998.tb00441.x Cheung, T., & Lam, J. (2014, September 23). Thousands join Hong Kong students’ democracy protest as classroom boycott begins. South China Morning Post. Retrieved October 1, 2015, from https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1598337/thousands-take-part-ref orm-protest-student-class-boycott-starts?page=all Coen, S., & Jones, C. (2014). A matter of law and order: Reporting the Salford riots in local news webpages. Contemporary Social Science, 9(1), 63–78. Gold, T. (2002). Social connections in China: Institutions, culture, and the changing nature of Guanxi. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Green, J. (2014). Qualitative methods for health research. London: Sage. Iyer, A., Webster, J., Hornsey, M. J., & Vanman, E. J. (2014). Understanding the power of the picture: The effect of image content on emotional and political responses to terrorism. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 44, 511–521. Jin, Y., Liu, B. F., & Austin, L. L. (2014). Examining the role of social media in effective crisis management: The effects of crisis origin, information form, and source on publics’ crisis responses. Communication Research, 41(1), 74–94. Kaiman, J. (2014, September 30). Hong Kong’s umbrella revolution—The Guardian briefing. The Guardian. Retrieved May 3, 2015, from https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/sep/30/-sphong-kong-umbrella-revolution-pro-democracy-protests Kaplan, A. M., & Haenlein, M. (2010). Users of the world, unite! The challenges and opportunities of social media. Business Horizons, 53, 59–68. Kaynar, O., & Amichai-Hamburger, Y. (2008). The effects of need for cognition on Internet use revisited. Computers in Human Behavior, 24(2), 361–371. Knapp, R. (1944). A psychology of rumor. The Public Opinion Quarterly, 8(1), 22–37. Lam, L. (2014, August 22). Facebook is Hong Kong’s top digital platform in survey commissioned by company. South China Morning Post. Retrieved May 2, 2015, from https://www.scmp.com/ news/hong-kong/article/1578755/facebook-citys-top-digital-platform-survey-commissionedcompany Lee, D. (2014, October 30). The role of social media in Occupy protests, on the ground and around the world. South China Morning Post. Retrieved May 3, 2015, from https://www.scmp.com.ezproxy.lb.polyu.edu.hk/news/hong-kong/article/1628305/role-soc ial-media-occupy-protests-ground-and-around-world Leung, M., Conant, A., & Pang, J. (2014, September 27). An estimated 50,000 people at student strike, organisers say. Youngpost. Retrieved October 1, 2015, from https://yp.scmp.com/news/ hong-kong/article/91135/estimated-50000-people-student-strike-organisers-say Lin, H., Tov, W., & Qiu, L. (2014). Emotional disclosure on social networking sites: The role of network structure and psychological needs. Computers in Human Behavior, 41, 342–350. Liu, B. F., Fraustino, J. D., & Jin, Y. (2015). Social media use during disasters: How information form and source influence intended behavioral responses. Communication Research, 1–21. Loftus, E. F., Miller, D. G., & Burns, H. J. (1978). Semantic integration of verbal information into a visual memory. Journal of Experimental Psychoogy: Human Learning and Memory, 4(1), 19–31.

48

S. S. S. Szeto et al.

Ma, R. (2008). Spread of SARS and war-related rumors through new media in China. Communication Quarterly, 54(4), 376–391. Munro, C. (2015, November 15). The best and worst of the art world: This week in one minute. Artnet News. Retrieved November 16, 2015, from https://news.artnet.com/art-world/artists-des ign-logos-for-hong-kongs-umbrella-revolution-121249 Oboler, A., Welsh, K., & Cruz, L. (2012). The danger of big data: Social media as computational social science. First Monday, 17(7). https://doi.org/10.5210/fm.v17i7.3993. Russell, B. H. (2013). Social research method: Qualitative and quantitative approaches (2nd ed.). California: Sage. Shao, P., & Shao, J. (2010). Media panic theory: The media mechanism of panic psychology’s forming and terminating. China Media Report Overseas, 8(3), 4–12. Shirky, C. (2011, January/February). The political power of social media: Technology, the public sphere, and political change. Retrieved May 2, 2015, from Foreign Affairs: https://www.foreig naffairs.com/articles/2010-12-20/political-power-social-media Whittaker, A. L., Howarth, G. S., & Lymn, K. A. (2014). Evaluation of Facebook to create an online learning community in an undergraduate animal science class. Educational Media International, 51(2), 135–145. Wong, J., Curran, E., & Yung, C. (2014, October 15). World news: Hong Kong police crackdown escalates. Wall Street Journal. Retrieved from https://search.proquest.com.ezproxy.lib.ouhk.edu. hk/docview/1611403220?accountid=16720 Zhao, L., Wang, J., Chen, Y., Wang, Q., Cheng, J., & Chi, H. (2012). SIHR rumor spreading model in social networks. Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and Its Applications, 391(7), 2444–2453. Zhao, S., Grasmuck, S., & Martin, J. (2008). Identity construction on Facebook: Digital empowerment in anchored relationships. Computers in Human Behavior, 24, 1816–1836. Zhong, B., Hardin, M., & Sun, T. (2011). Less effortful thinking leads to more social networking? The associations between the use of social network sites and personality traits. Computers in Human Behavior, 27, 1265–1271.

Ms. Stephanie Szeto is a PhD student in psychology at the University of Salford. Her doctoral research investigates motivational influences on cognitive processes and behavioral outcomes of online identity construction. Guided by her intense interest in information technology, she also studied a machine learning course at the University of Hong Kong. She takes a multidisciplinary approach that encompasses the fields of psychology, media, and information technology. She realizes that Internet use has greatly incorporated in everyday life and the extent of technology influence on social cognition is expected to climb. She calls on synthesis of multidisciplinary research to answer the unknown. She is passionate in pursuing her career to examine psychology in the Internet world. Dr. Carol Man-wai Poon is a Senior Lecturer of Li Ka Shing School of Professional and Continuing Education, the Open University of Hong Kong. She received her PhD (International Cultural Studies) at Tohoku University funded by Japanese Government (Monbukagakusho-MEXT) Scholarship. She is an active researcher in Japanese Studies. Her research is highly interdisciplinary, drawing on culture studies, gender studies, and globalization theory. She is the chair of 11th International Symposium on Japanese Language Education and Japanese Studies. She is also the president of society of intra-cultural studies and editors for a number of international journals. Dr. Andrew Tang is a BPS Chartered Psychologist, registered as Health Psychologist in the HCPC, UK. He is also a Certified Counselor and Approved Supervisor of the HKPCA. His piloted research in community mental health interventions such as school health promotion, family, community based and online counseling. Areas of research and psychological consultations include holistic health, wellness promotion, life and death education and psychological care

2 Decoding Internet Rumours in the Twenty-First Century …

49

to patients. He taught for more than 20 years to students of health care, psychology, counseling and health professionals. He has contributed to develop new programs in STEAM education, psychology, family education, health counseling, creative therapy and animal-assisted therapy for full time university students and working adults for their professional development.

Chapter 3

Untouchable, or Merely Untouched? Satirical News Websites and Freedom of Expression Limitations in Southeast Asia in the Age of Online “Fake News” Miguel Paolo P. Reyes Abstract The Philippines had, among others, So, What’s News? Thailand had, until recently, Not the Nation. Singapore has New Nation. Malaysia has The Tapir Times, previously known as Fake Malaysia News. Indonesia has Pos Ronda (Guard Post). All of these were created when virtually anyone with access to the Internet can publicly share content online. These satirical news websites—all, save for Pos Ronda, in English—may appear to be little more than derivative reproductions of American satirical news outfits such as The Onion. They seem to be worthy of about as much scholarly scrutiny as their American counterparts—hardly any, being mere “infotainment,” as some scholars say. However, their peculiar contexts make it difficult to trivialize them. Philippine satirists have long seemed vulnerable to prosecution under the country’s defamation laws, including a recently-enacted cybercrime law. Thailand has a strict lèse majesté law and has been under martial rule twice in the past two decades. Singapore is one of the world’s “authoritarian democracies.” Malaysia, sharing the colonial British legal heritage of Singapore, also has various legal restrictions on online expression. Indonesia’s Internet law makes online defamation and blasphemy a punishable offense. Yet the writers behind these websites seem to have been able to flout undemocratic laws and/or bypass the restrictions of repressive regimes without punishment. Is their largely unimpeded functionality under their respective regimes evidence that online satirical news is capable of pushing the boundaries of freedom of expression even in “illiberal” democratic states? Or are they tolerated annoyances by often anonymous authors? This chapter attempts to derive preliminary answers to these questions by determining how aware the writers are of the subversive potential of their work, first by focusing on whether the challenges to state policies in selected articles from these websites can be considered legally fair, then by examining the textual and non-textual responses of these websites to events affecting free speech within their particular contexts. The articles in these websites are considered a distinct genre, not simply a digitized form of preexisting printed satirical news—especially in an age of online “fake news”—distinguished by not being intentionally deceptive, but still similarly parodic of the news (following M. P. P. Reyes (B) University of the Philippines Diliman, Quezon City, The Philippines e-mail: [email protected] © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2020 S. S. Lam (ed.), New Media Spectacles and Multimodal Creativity in a Globalised Asia, Digital Culture and Humanities 3, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-7341-5_3

51

52

M. P. P. Reyes

Pierre Macherey’s definition of parody)—a genre that, given its easily “shareable” nature and the ability of readers to participate in its world-building, is peculiar to the Web 2.0 era. Keywords Online satire · Satirical news · Southeast Asia · Freedom of expression · Legal restrictions

Introduction “Clone Army of Francis Tolentino to Help Ease EDSA Traffic”; “Increasing Number of Otters Applying to Become S’pore Permanent Residents”; “Prayuth Orders Deployment of Concerned Facial Expressions”; “Police: Extraterrestrials Infiltrating Opposition”; “Salt Prices Soar, Citizens Turn to Tears and Sweat as Substitutes.” These are among the more ridiculous headlines in So, What’s News? (SWN),1 New Nation (NN),2 Not the Nation (NTN),3 The Tapir Times (TT, formerly Fake Malaysia News [FMN]),4 and Pos Ronda (Guard Post, PR),5 respectively, which are (or were) perhaps the best-known satirical news websites in Southeast Asia, at least within their countries of origin. There is little indication that the readers of one are also readers of the others; content-wise, each site relies heavily on prior knowledge of news in its country of origin, likely making each site’s readership largely domestic. Dismissing these as national curiosities, however, would be ignoring the non-coincidental similarities of these websites, which, I contend here, are telling of a common humor that is meant to test, directly or indirectly, the limitations of or counter-restrictions on freedom of expression in Southeast Asia. This chapter discusses how these websites, given where their authors are based and what subjects they tackle, are more than mere imitations of Western (AngloAmerican) satirical news outfits such as The Onion. Like their Western counterparts, all five publish, or published, satirical news items that are often critical of public officials and/or other known local personalities. However, these five exist—or until recently, existed—in countries with laws that are (potentially) hostile to their primary content. This research investigates how the authors of the satirical news articles in the aforementioned websites have circumvented or otherwise reacted to these restrictions, through both legal-literary content analysis and discussion of pertinent contextual and/or paratextual information. As a preliminary study, it seeks to reveal similarities in each site’s content to determine comparativity. In addition to detailing a common, 1 https://sowhatsnews.wordpress.com/;

currently a protected blog.

2 https://newnation.sg/. 3 Formerly

accessible at https://notthenation.com/.

4 https://thetapirtimes.com/. 5 https://posronda.net/.

All the content on this website discussed here was translated from Bahasa Indonesia into English with the help of machine-translation software and the author’s own elementary knowledge of the source language.

3 Untouchable, or Merely Untouched? Satirical News Websites …

53

if nationally tailor-fitted “subversiveness” among these sites, this study also proposes that these sites encourage further world-building by their readers through comments on the websites themselves or their social media pages, particularly when the authorship of their articles is obscured or de-emphasized. All of this allows for the possibility of studying online satirical news as a distinct literary genre—an increasingly valuable one for demarcating (non-“alternative”) fact from (absurd) fiction in a global context in which intentionally deceptive “fake news” proliferates online.

Satirical News: Toward a Definition from Existing Scholarship A crucial matter of definition remains unanswered above: what exactly is satirical news? Satirical news is viewed here as a parodic genre. Dentith defines parody as “any cultural practice which provides a relatively polemical allusive imitation of another cultural production or practice” (2000, p. 9). Satire may be parodic, but “satire need not imitate the structure of its object while parody must do so, and satire presumes a more stable commitment as opposed to the greater ambivalence of parody” (Hariman, 2008, p. 268). Formally, satirical news articles parody journalistic news articles; often, in the case of the sites discussed here, the former builds upon preceding factual news articles, and they invariably have a target or targets that they wish to criticize through mockery or ridicule. Viewing (online) satirical news as parodic also allows analysis of such articles in line with Pierre Macherey’s notion that literary production is a parodic/distortive activity, or a “mingling [of] the [everyday] uses of language in an endless confrontation, [a process which involves] experimenting with language rather than inventing it, [producing a] literary work [that] is both the analogy of a knowledge and a caricature of customary ideology” (2006, p. 68). Macherey adds that “literary discourse [is] parody, a contestation of language rather than a representation of [reality; it] distorts rather than imitates” (2006, p. 68). This conceptualization of literary production allows for analysis with the focus on how a text tacitly critiques itself through silences and contradictions. Such a reading refuses to distance texts from the historical exigencies that molded them, nor does it divorce the authors from their written work, without descending into biographical readings. Drawing from this, this chapter discusses satirical articles as works that parody the language of journalistic objectivity/straight reportage but often mock authorities—being informed by a broadly liberal democratic foundation; however, these works are constrained from fully inhabiting a more subversive role in (quasi-)authoritarian contexts by a self-enforced legal liability-avoiding limitation that the websites on which they appear are meant for entertainment purposes. Holbert and Tchernev define “satire news” as “a type of political media content that combines elements of both entertainment and public affairs” (2014, p. 665). They

54

M. P. P. Reyes

identify two television-based (sub)genres of satire news: “nightly television news broadcast (e.g., The Daily Show with Jon Stewart [now Trevor Noah], Saturday Night Live’s “Weekend Update”),” and “news commentary and punditry programming ([the now-defunct] The Colbert Report)” (Holbert & Tchernev, 2014, p. 665). Consistent with the preceding description of satirical news as parodic, Holbert and Tchernev note that “satire news can reflect the basic formatting of other media outlets such as the daily newspaper (The Onion)” (2014, p. 665). Holbert and Tchernev point out that the study of “news satire” was still, in 2014, “a very young area of research” that has focused on “descriptions and predictions,” lacking in publications that explain or theorize the emergence/effects of satire news. What is specifically stated in this body of literature, which has grown significantly in recent years? Even today, most of the articles written specifically about satire/satirical news discuss television programs, with many of them focusing particularly on American programs. Feldman, for example, notes that “[for] many journalists […] The Daily Show seems to resist classification as information or entertainment and in doing so, renders the journalistically ingrained impulse to distinguish between the two largely ineffectual” (2007, p. 414). He further expounds: “The Daily Show offers the challenging proposition that journalism itself is an arbitrary cultural form that, by definition, is amenable to reconsideration” (2007, p. 423). Baumgartner and Morris classify The Daily Show as “soft news,” or news programs that seek mainly to entertain rather than to tackle public affairs information (2006, pp. 341–342). They contend that young Americans who learned about presidential candidates from Jon Stewart’s program had a diminished opinion of those candidates, also noting a connected finding that “exposure to The Daily Show increased internal efficacy by raising viewers’ perception that the complex world of politics was understandable [in] presenting politics as the theater of the absurd, Stewart seemingly simplifies it” (pp. 361–363). Grondin uses the term “televised entertainment news” or “infotainment TV” to describe Stewart’s program, explaining that Stewart was plainly aware at least in one broadcast that “he could be blurring the lines between the comedian, the media pundit, and the activist, but he did not care” (2012, p. 364). Distilling Jenkins, Grondin states that “with forms of popular culture such as parody news, we may be witnessing the rise of a ‘new form of popular expertise,’ in which politics is turned into popular culture but citizens may be taught to act politically by getting their news information through The Daily Show instead of mainstream news outlets” (2012, p. 354). Grondin explains that his views on The Daily Show are “predicated on the belief that satirical/political infotainment TV is an important locus of the [American conservative-liberal] culture wars and must be studied carefully because it plays a political role” (2012, p. 356). Glazier (2014) focuses on a very particular role of The Daily Show and The Colbert Report in politics: the potential pedagogical role such programs play in the political science classroom, particularly their view of their political agency or efficacy. Her main finding was that there are “consistent—although statistically insignificant— gains in political efficacy with the use of satire,” in contrast to findings such as Baumgartner and Morris’s that satirical news generally increases political cynicism

3 Untouchable, or Merely Untouched? Satirical News Websites …

55

(Glazier, 2014, p. 870); both are, as discussed by Holbert and Tchernev, behaviorist in either case. Even within the latter half of the 2010s, most satirical news studies still focus on how such works are received or understood by readers/viewers, or otherwise deviate little from preexisting scholarship. Nevertheless, some articles (e.g., Bardan, 2012; Cosentino, 2012; Doyle, 2012; Kleinen-von Königslöw & Keel, 2012; Meikle, 2012) do discuss satirical news in mostly Western/American/European contexts, largely focusing on the genre’s televised variety, but actually accomplish something that previously detailed articles hardly do, if at all: most of them use textual analysis or attempt a contextualization of satirical news. Kleinen-von Königslöw & Keel (2012), for example, focus on heute show, a “localization” of The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, comparing and contrasting it with its American counterpart, showing how the former diverged from the latter due to particularities in Germany’s political climate. Meikle (2012), meanwhile, analyzes the journalistic elements that the British program Brass Eye used to “highlight and sabotage the cultural authority of public figures who appeared in it” (2012, p. 15). In light of “fake news” becoming more closely associated with intentionally deceptive works that parody (in the Machereyan sense) journalistic forms and conventions rather than satirical news, particularly after the deception-suffused 2016 United States elections (Baek, Kang, & Kim, 2019, pp. 309–310), various scholars have put forward typologies of news-like productions (e.g., Fallis & Mathiesen, 2019, who, like many others, agree that satirical news does not deliberately make falsehoods appear true) and, proceeding from these, have developed ways to distinguish among various types of (online) misinformation, at times automatically, such as the work of Rubin et al. (2019). Although these studies also examine content, their thrust is counter-disinformation; implicitly or explicitly (e.g., Molina, Sundar, Le, & Lee, 2019), they identify satirical news as harmful to discourses that should be informed by truth. Among later studies, Basu’s (2018) stands out in extensively theorizing a function of satirical news as both a retaliation against highly politicized and corporatized news media and a means of making sense of today’s barrage of cross-platform news through “memory work,” in other words, by directly countering revisionism by persons in power or pundits, historicizing or establishing “news genealogies” to interconnect what would otherwise be largely disparate and quickly disposable reportage. This chapter attempts to describe another possible social function of satirical news, while at the same time reaching back to the historical, pedagogical, and response-focused thrusts of previous scholarship. In so doing it hopes to encourage further inquiry into the relatively unexplored subject of satirical news in Southeast Asia. Indeed, the review of literature conducted for this chapter did not yield any published scholarship focusing on Southeast Asian satirical news websites. Perhaps this lack is due to the relative novelty of online satirical news in Southeast Asia, as will be discussed in the next section.

56

M. P. P. Reyes

Online Satirical News: From the US to Southeast Asia Having discussed what this study focuses on and where it is positioned in the existing literature, two more important concerns must be dealt with prior to any analytical discussion: When did satirical news articles find a platform on the World Wide Web? When did such sites emerge in Southeast Asia? Discounting prototypical satirical news, outright media hoaxes with a satirical intent such as Richard A. Locke’s nineteenth-century “Great Moon Hoax” articles in The New York Sun (Vida, 2012), currently existing satirical news, especially of the printed variety—texts that imitate the news but are never intended to deceive, as indicated by, say, a clear disclaimer—can probably claim a common ancestor in the “one-off” known as Not the New York Times (1978), which featured articles such as “An Exotic Drug, ‘Cocaine,’ Appears Popular” (Dwyer, 2008). This was the first of many Nots, including the British sketch comedy/satirical news television program, Not the Nine O’Clock News, first broadcast in 1979 (Roberts, 2012, p. 46). Leaping to the Internet age, a candidate for the basis of all online satirical news websites is the online version of The Onion. The Onion started in 1988 as “material to surround pizza ads,” according to a former editor-in-chief, Robert Siegel (Derby, 2005); the first issue, published by founder Tim Keck, was primarily made up of “beer and pizza coupons,” with one story about “a monster running amok at a local lake” (Beato, 2007). The Onion’s website was launched in 1996. Supposedly, it was so popular for a time that when one searches “onion” on Google, “The Onion pops up first”; allegedly, it was even the first search result when Googling “the” (Beato, 2007). The Onion is implicitly or explicitly cited by Southeast Asian online satirical news writers as the model for their work. In several interviews—including one I conducted via email—the person behind SWN, known only as Stewart, stated that he launched his website in 2011 because he wanted a Philippine version of The Onion (personal communication, September 30, 2015).6 Specifically, he decided to create SWN after viewing a video story on The Onion about the Canadian singer Justin Bieber being a cleverly disguised pedophile (SABAT, 2011). One of the founders of NN, Terence Lee, stated that after “[struggling] to find [their] identity for a while,” he and the co-founders of NN, Belmont Lay and Fang Shihan, “settled on becoming a satirical news blog—sort of like The Onion of Singapore” (2013). They launched NN in 2010 (Lukman, 2014). Although the NTN website made no explicit acknowledgement anywhere that it is based on The Onion, it does contain indicators that the anonymous author behind the former was indebted to the latter. There is no easy way to contact the person(s) behind it—there were never any actual contact email addresses, 6 Stewart was definitely not the first to come up with a satirical news website in the Philippines. The

long-dormant Mosquito Press (https://mosquitopress.tumblr.com/) was launched in February 2011 by an unknown author. Before that was Good Times Manila (https://goodtimesmanila.com/), which, like SWN, can now only be accessed via the Internet Archive’s Wayback Machine (e.g. https://web. archive.org/web/20090316211853/https://goodtimesmanila.com/about/). Good Times Manila was live from about March 2009 until some time in 2010. SWN has published more articles than these two other sites combined.

3 Untouchable, or Merely Untouched? Satirical News Websites …

57

Facebook pages, or Twitter accounts featured in or linked to NTN’s website, which, through the Internet Archive, has accessible archives dating as far back as March 2007. When asked during informal conversations, none of my associates from Thailand have any clue who is producing the content for it.7 However, in addition to the Onion-style satirical news articles, NTN has a “Hearing Voices” section (https://not thenation.com/category/hearing-voices/), in which a trio of “persons-on-the-street” give inane/insane one-line opinions on a public affairs issue, reminiscent of the “American Voices” section in The Onion website (https://www.theonion.com/fea tures/american-voices). Thus, even as the title Not the Nation is meant to parody Thailand’s major English-language daily, The Nation—as well as intentionally or unintentionally alluding to other Nots—it clearly wants to pay tribute to the world’s best-known satirical news outlet. Finally, TT’s anonymous author(s), back when it was FMN (which went online in 2012), and Shaka Mahottama, credited in one interview as the founder and editor of PR (established in 2014), have both acknowledged the influence of The Onion in their work (Chan, 2016; Jakarta Globe, 2014). It is not coincidental that these websites were born when content from The Onion became easily shareable thanks to Web 2.0 and social media sites.

(Possible) Legal Challenges Faced by Satirical News Websites Although the people behind The Onion have claimed that the singer Janet Jackson almost filed a lawsuit against them in the 1990s for publishing an article that stated that she had acceded to a dying boy’s wish to have coitus with her (Derby, 2005), it was highly unlikely that such a case would have prospered in light of Hustler v. Falwell (1988). The case establishes a “loophole” in American libel law that may be made applicable to a criminal case in jurisdictions with similar laws. In this case, a parody advertisement in the magazine Hustler depicted the public figure Reverend Jerry Falwell as having had drunken incestuous sexual relations with his mother in an outhouse. Falwell filed a lawsuit for libel and intentional infliction of emotional distress (Hustler v. Falwell, 1988). According to the Federal Supreme Court decision on the case, Falwell had to prove actual malice in order to recover damages (Hustler v. Falwell, 1988). Since the advertisement was “such that a reasonable man would not think that its contents were true,” the Court believed that actual malice could not be proven; therefore, Falwell could not recover damages (Hustler v. Falwell, 1988). According to the Federal Supreme Court, “the State’s interest in protecting public figures from emotional distress is not sufficient to deny First Amendment protection

7 The author of one NTN article mentions the claim that he is actually the expatriate journalist Craig

Knowles; since the NTN post was written on the occasion of Knowles’s death, he/she debunked this claim (see https://notthenation.com/2015/10/notthenation-writer-surprised-to-learn-he-is-actuallysome-dead-guy-named-craig/).

58

M. P. P. Reyes

to speech8 that is patently offensive and is intended to inflict emotional injury when that speech could not reasonably have been interpreted as stating actual facts about the public figure involved” (Hustler v. Falwell, 1988). The following sections detail other legal precedents and/or legislation pertinent to the five satirical news websites given focus here. That the five sites exist or existed under regimes without jurisprudence similar to Hustler v. Falwell emphasizes how legally tenuous their existence has or had been.

So, What’s News? The elements of the crime of libel in the Philippines are: (1) a defamatory statement; (2) made with malice; (3) that is given publicity; (4) and has an identifiable victim (cf. Revised Penal Code, Art. 355; Defensor Santiago, 1999, p. 803). There is always a presumption of malice, save for certain cases. The truthfulness of the defamatory statement is immaterial if “the defendant [is unable] to show good intention and justifiable motive [to] overcome the legal inference of malice” (Defensor Santiago, 1999, p. 804). Meanwhile, section 4(c)(4) of the Cybercrime Prevention Act defines online or cyber-libel as libel, as defined in the Revised Penal Code, that is “committed through a computer system or any other similar means which may be devised in the future” (Heffron, 2014, p. 100). Hustler v. Falwell has been referenced in Philippine jurisprudence, but not in tackling a libel-and-satire case. However, given that the Philippines has adopted the New York v. Sullivan test that “honest criticisms on the conduct of public officials and public figures are insulated from libel judgements” (cf. Borjal v. Court of Appeals, 1999), SWN’s author has jurisprudence to cite should a libel case be filed against him/her for mocking public personalities. Nevertheless, SWN’s author thought it prudent to “lie low” after the Cybercrime Prevention Act was affirmed as (largely) constitutional by the Philippine Supreme Court in February 2014. The author, via email, told me that he went on hiatus after that decision was promulgated because he was frightened by the possibility of the law coming down on him due to SWN (personal communication, September 30, 2015). The hiatus of SWN lasted only a few days. Indeed, looking at the responses before and after the Cybercrime Prevention Act was declared constitutional, Stewart need not have worried, at least under the previous administration. Among the most viewed stories in SWN is one on Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s alleged declaration that Korina Sanchez, Philippine news/public affairs broadcaster and wife of career politician/bureaucrat Manuel Roxas II, is a persona non grata in Japan. The fictionalized Abe stated this in reaction to Sanchez’s real-life statement on national 8 “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise

thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or the press, or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances” (https://www.law.cornell.edu/ constitution/first_amendment).

3 Untouchable, or Merely Untouched? Satirical News Websites …

59

television that she wanted an incoming typhoon to hit Japan instead of the Philippines because Japan can “handle it better” (SWN, 2014). The article was quickly shared on Facebook over 2000 times; unsurprisingly, due to its popularity, or notoriety, it caught the non-satirical news media’s attention. International Business Times, for instance, decided to “debunk” what it called a hoax two days after the latter was published (Varghese, 2014). The publication of the article has not been met with any protest from Sanchez, Roxas, or his powerful party-mate, former President Benigno Aquino III. In fact, this silence of the satirized is a common response to such articles in the Philippines. Probably the most “retaliatory” response one can find to an SWN article in the Philippines came from legislator Jack Enrile. After a fiasco involving his father, then-Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile, exposing certain secrets of the father of his fellow senators the Cayetano siblings, SWN bannered Jack Enrile’s “withdrawal” of his candidacy for senator in the 2013 elections, allegedly because he was afraid of the possible secrets his father would reveal should they ever become estranged (SWN, 2013). Enrile denied this withdrawal, calling SWN’s article the “product of misguided minds” (Calonzo, 2013). This is a noteworthy choice of words, as he could have said that the SWN article was written by “malicious minds,” which would be imputing malice on Stewart’s act of writing the article. However, it seems that Enrile’s response was that of a candidate for a national position capitalizing on an opportunity to increase his visibility for campaigning purposes. According to Stewart, as of 2015 no one had seriously tried to make him withdraw any article from SWN, the closest attempt being “a mother who called me different things on Twitter and told me to take down an article […] after she mistook it as real after her daughter shared it to her” (personal communication, September 30, 2015). He did practice self-censorship, admitting that “[there] are a few tweets [in SWN’s Twitter account] that were deemed inappropriate or have gone overboard that, upon further reflection on my part, I decided to delete” (personal communication, September 30, 2015). This is probably a prudent policy; as online satirical news articles remain undiscussed in a courtroom in the Philippines, Stewart and others like him may still potentially face harassment libel lawsuits,9 especially under the administration of Rodrigo Duterte, who is known worldwide for his authoritarian tendencies. The seeming normalization of attacks and threats against journalists under Duterte (Cariño, 2018) may be why SWN’s website has not been publicly accessible since about the middle of 2018. If it was still active and posting about the Duterte administration’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic, SWN may have fallen prey to the “creative” interpretation 9 In fact, a headline-only satirical news twitter account, Barurot News, was sued for libel in October

2019 by the spokesperson of the Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA), because the nowdeactivated account tweeted a picture of the spokesperson accompanied by the parody headline (originally in Filipino), “MMDA to commuters: If you can’t catch a ride, just don’t go to work.” However, as pointed out by Barurot News, a 2015 Supreme Court decision affirmed that satire is protected speech in the Philippines (Maclarang, 2019). As of this writing, there are no updates on the case; it has not been revealed publicly if the person behind Barurot News has been identified by the complainant or the authorities.

60

M. P. P. Reyes

by the police of two laws. One is Article 154 of the Revised Penal Code, which punishes persons who publish “any false news which may endanger the public order, or cause damage to the interest or credit of the state” (Seares, 2020). Another law, the now lapsed Bayanihan To Heal As One Act, contains various provisions related to addressing the pandemic, including a provision punishing the spread of false information specifically on COVID-19 that is “clearly geared to promote chaos, panic, anarchy, fear, or confusion” (Lardizabal-Dado, 2020). Both have been cited in the arrest of an artist who posted supposedly “fake news” that may also be construed as a satirical expression of opinion—thus protected speech—based on false information (Seares, 2020).

New Nation In Singapore, Article 499 of the Penal Code defines defamation as an act whereby a person, by “words either spoken or intended to be read, or by signs, or by visible representations, makes or publishes any imputation concerning any person, intending to harm, or knowing or having reason to believe that such imputation will harm, the reputation of such person, is said, except in the cases hereinafter excepted, to defame that person.”10 The Singaporean Defamation Act (Chapter 75), originally enacted as M. Ordinance 20 of 1957 and most recently revised on 28 February 2014, considers slander and “unintentional defamation” actionable offenses.11 It also outlines limitations to newspaper press privilege: under Section 12 of the Defamation Act, if a newspaper publication is proved to be “made with malice” or if it is “blasphemous, seditious or indecent matter or of any matter the publication of which is prohibited by law, or of any matter which is not of public concern and the publication of which is not for the public benefit,” then it can be considered defamatory. Conditions for publishers are also distinct during elections: “[a] defamatory statement published by or on behalf of a candidate in any election to the office of President or to Parliament or other elected or partially elected body shall not be deemed to be published on a privileged occasion on the ground that it is material to a question in issue in the election, whether or not the person by whom it is published is qualified to vote at the election” (Section 14 of the Defamation Act). The Act gives an exhaustive list of privileged statements for newspapers, which are prefaced with the qualifier “fair and accurate.” Moreover, regarding journalism, “it is not only the author of an allegedly libelous article, or the editor, who can be sued; those who are indirectly involved, such as printers and news vendors, may also be sued” (Kelly/Warner Law, n.d.a) under Article 501 & 502 of the Penal Code. Also, in Singapore, “persons holding public office or

10 The

text of the law may be viewed at https://sso.agc.gov.sg/Act/PC1871?ProvIds=pr499-. Note that it is based on British-era Indian Penal Code provisions. 11 The full text of the Defamation Act can be viewed at https://sso.agc.gov.sg/Act/DA1957.

3 Untouchable, or Merely Untouched? Satirical News Websites …

61

politicians are equally entitled to have their reputations protected as those of any other persons” (Kelly/Warner Law, n.d.a). With this in mind, how had the New Nation team been able to avoid going to court over their content, much of which makes fun of politicians or the ruling People’s Action Party, including the revered “founding father of Singapore,” Lee Kuan Yew? Besides the disclaimer that NN is a satire site—the “50% real news” tagline, the description of NN in the site’s “About us” page: “NewNation.sg is quite obviously, the most dysfunctional, satire site in Singapore” (NN, n.d.)—most of the articles are fairly harmless when juxtaposed with SWN’s or NTN’s content. One article “accuses” Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong of “stealing” the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender Pink Dot SG movement’s “idea of standing [as a group] in a grass field and forming a circle [holding single-colored umbrellas above them]” by doing precisely that—forming a crimson circle—for Singapore’s fiftieth anniversary in January 2015. The article described what Prime Minister Lee did as a “coup” against the Pink Dot SG movement (NN, 2015a). Aside from what amounts to a veiled accusation of plagiarism, as well as calling such anniversary activities “superficial” (NN, 2015a), the article makes no clear negative imputation on the character of Prime Minister Lee. In a 2013 article “S’poreans Agree PAP Doing Well Upholding Democratic Socialist Ideals,” posted with tongue firmly in cheek, (one of) NN’s writers describes one Singaporean, Li Guan Yao, as thinking that “one way of living up to the democratic ideal is having a one-party system after 50 years of nationhood” (NN, 2013). Generally, NN does not “attack” people in power; if it does make fun of powerful individuals, it does so in a benign manner or with a level of ambiguity. For instance, in another article “criticizing” Lee Hsien Loong, NN reported that Singaporeans “from all walks of life” will remember the current Prime Minister Lee’s father fifty years from now, but not the son (NN, 2015b), which can be seen both as critical of the Prime Minister and as a constructive challenge for him to match the achievements of Lee Kuan Yew. Furthermore, authors of NN articles often attribute opinions from “Singaporeans from all walks of life,” likely to disperse (imagined) liability to an aggregate, even national mass. In any case, the material in NN is largely in line with critical writings that point out that democracy in the liberal sense remains non-existent in Singapore (e.g., Margolin, 2005; Thompson, 2015). However, it should be noted that from April 5, 2019 up to June 25, 2020—a few days before the start of campaigning for the 2020 Singaporean general election—no new content was uploaded on NN’s website. Perhaps not coincidentally, the Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act, or POFMA,12 was passed by the Singaporean parliament on May 8, 2019, assented to by the president on June 3, 2019, and came into effect on October 2, 2019. Although the act does not explicitly say so, satire is supposedly not penalized by the law, which criminalizes making “false statements of fact” that are seen as detrimental to the public interest in Singapore. However, the state’s Media Literacy Council included satire among the forms of “fake 12 The full text of the law can be accessed at https://sso.agc.gov.sg/Acts-Supp/18-2019/Published/ 20190625?DocDate=20190625.

62

M. P. P. Reyes

news” both in a Facebook post and a printed booklet distributed to schools (Zhuo, 2019) before POFMA was implemented. The Law and Home Affairs minister, K. Shanmugam, has stated that the council committed an error (Zhuo, 2019), but time will tell whether POFMA—which has thus far seemingly only targeted members of the opposition (Aravindan, 2019)—can be used to at least harass satirists.

Not the Nation NTN can be considered the most subversive of the websites discussed here, given how far it was willing to go in terms of targets for satire. Among its frequent subjects of ridicule between 2008 and 2014 were the country’s elected prime ministers, Abhisit Vejjajiva and Yingluck Shinawatra. Later articles that were published in NTN are about the then-ruling military junta, the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO), which came into power in May 2014. Many of these articles were blatantly anti-junta or critical of junta-appointed Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-o-cha. Some of these included the aforementioned article on his “concerned facial expressions” as his main response to terrorist bombings (NTN, 2015b), and an earlier article that “praised” Prayuth’s masculinity, describing him as wrestling a monitor lizard to the death and crying out, “This is your democracy!” while shirtless (NTN, 2015a). If one had a dictatorial mindset, one might say that the above may be punishable according to Thailand’s sedition law (Article 116, which penalizes “[making] an appearance to the public by words, writings or any other means […] which is not an act within the purpose of the Constitution or for expressing honest opinion or criticism in order [among others] to raise unrest and disaffection amongst the people in a manner likely to cause disturbance in the country” (iLaw, 2017). Indeed, after NCPO took power, at least 20 cases of violation of the sedition law by criticizing the junta have been filed (iLaw, 2017). Another relevant law, the Computer-Related Crime Act B.E. 2550 (2007), was amended by the Computer-Related Crime Act (No. 2) B.E. 2560 (2017).13 Among the amended sections is Section 14, which lists “ill or fraudulent intent” as an element in “putting into a computer system distorted or forged computer data, partially or entirely, or false computer data” that “is likely to cause damage” to the public or individuals, and that crime is now distinct from the “defamation offense under the Criminal Code.” Before the amendment, the law could be understood to criminalize the uploading of potentially defamatory false information online, regardless of intent (iLaw, 2014). Aside from the aforementioned laws, Thailand also has an infamous lèse majesté law that has also been used to silence critics of governing powers. Such laws “prohibit insults, defamation, and criticism towards royal sovereigns of States” (Baber, 2014, p. 693). Thailand’s lèse majesté law, stated in Section 112 of the Thai Criminal Code, 13 The full text of both laws, in Thai and in English translation, can be viewed at https://thainetizen.

org/docs/cybercrime-act-2017/

3 Untouchable, or Merely Untouched? Satirical News Websites …

63

is worded as follows: “‘Whoever, defames, insults or threatens the King, the Queen, the Heir-apparent or the Regent, shall be punished with [a prison sentence] of three to fifteen years’” (in Baber, 2014, p. 693). Lèse majesté has been described as a paradoxical feature of a modern nationstate (Streckfuss, 1995). Prayuth believes that strict enforcement of lèse majesté is necessary to save the country from destruction by “‘unlimited democracy’” (Post Reporters, 2015). It should be noted that as per Wikileaks, every website blocked by Thailand’s Ministry of Information and Communication Technology, at least as of 2008, was supposedly blocked for violation of the lèse majesté law (Wikileaks, 2008). One can be charged with violating lèse majesté for comparing oneself to Thai royalty during a political campaign (Streckfuss, 1995, pp. 449–452) or for stating that the king is out of touch with Thai realities or can be “bullied” by the military (Streckfuss, 1995, pp. 463–465). In 1976, one group even attempted to have the authorities punish the newspaper Thai Rat for daring to “juxtapose” a picture of the Crown Prince’s fiancé alongside musicians with that of a picture of a dog in the company of musicians, even if the latter picture was published in the newspaper a day after the former (Baber, 2014, p. 697). Fortunately for Thai Rat, the police at the time found the claim ridiculous, though the incident “gained much attention and was a concerning indication of how easily Thai lèse-majesté law can be provoked” (Baber, 2014, p. 697). Has NTN’s author published anything that might make him/her liable under Thailand’s lèse majesté law? It once published an article titled “Palace Censors Naked Photos of Prince,” which is about naked photographs of Prince Harry of the United Kingdom and the newly enacted British law “Penal Code 112” (NTN, 2012). It also published an article (NTN, 2013) on then-King Bhumibol Adulyadej’s dog, Thongdaeng, abdicating in favor of Air Chief Marshal Foo Foo, the then-recently deceased poodle of Crown Prince Vajiralongkorn. Such articles show the knack for comedic allegory of NTN’s author, who may have banked on the dismissal of the 1976 Thai Rat case at the time of publication of these articles. That last version of NTN, which can still be viewed via the Internet Archive’s Wayback Machine,14 appears to have been an attempt to relaunch itself (apparently after a brief domain name expiry) from a satirical news website to another form of satirical attack against the NCPO-led state, while still offering readers the content they expected from NTN. A banner stated that the site is “STILL NOT THE NATION,” and that “EVERYTHING IS THE SAME AS BEFORE,” followed by a photograph of Prayuth gesturing as though to listen intently. Visitors are requested to give their email address under a form with the heading “WE ALREADY KNOW YOU ARE [sic], SO GIVE US YOUR ADDRESS.” Entering one’s email address apparently initiated a subscription to NTN’s content, though this was already inactive when I attempted to do it. A physical address, partly in Thai, was written on the website; it leads to a convenience store.

14 Specifically,

at https://web.archive.org/web/20171017014630/, https://notthenation.com/.

64

M. P. P. Reyes

Based on the cached pages in the Internet Archive, this version of the site was accessible from at least September up to October 2017. Accessing the site now leads to a 404/not found error. I have not been able to locate any publicly accessible (leaked) list that may indicate that this deactivation was related to either subversion or lèse majesté. However, given that in 2017, “the number of lèse-majesté cases has increased sharply under the NCPO” and at least one well-known journalist was charged with “sedition and spreading false information” (Freedom House, 2018), it would not be surprising if, at the very least, NTN’s author(s) decided to hide from what is essentially a military dictatorship, whose leader had been handed an elected mandate as prime minister, albeit by a bicameral parliament whose upper house members are selected by the military.

The Tapir Times Malaysia’s Sedition Act has been described as a “colonial-era relic” (Amnesty International, 2016). According to Amnesty International (2016), “[those found guilty of violating the Act] can face three years in prison, be fined up to 5000 Malaysian Ringgit (USD1300)—or both—for their first offence. Those convicted for a subsequent offence can face up to five years in jail.” When TT started as FMN, publications were considered to have a “seditious tendency” if they, among others, “[brought] into hatred or contempt or to excite disaffection against any Ruler or against any Government”; “[excited] the subjects of any Ruler or the inhabitants of any territory governed by any Government to attempt to procure in the territory of the Ruler or governed by the Government, the alteration, otherwise than by lawful means, of any matter as by law established”; or “[brought] into hatred or contempt or to excite disaffection against the administration of justice in Malaysia or in any State.”15 There were a few exceptions, but the law generally made it very difficult to be critical of government in Malaysia. “Printing, publishing, selling, offering for sale, distributing, reproducing [and importing] seditious publications” were all considered offences (Lim, 2015). Amendments in 2015 ostensibly allowed criticism of government, and added “causing seditious material to be published” and replaced importation of seditious materials with “propagating seditious publications” as offences, but still retained all other definitions of publications with seditious tendencies, including those that cause ill-will/hostility/hatred against religious groups (Lim, 2015). Moreover, the amended act explicitly included online publications (Lim, 2015). Laws such as these were wielded by the Najib Razak administration, even against satirists, especially in the wake of the 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) scandal, in which then-Prime Minister Najib was accused of stealing over US$1 15 The 1948 Sedition Act, as amended up to 1 January 2006, can be viewed at https://www.agc.gov.

my/agcportal/uploads/files/Publications/LOM/EN/Act%2015.pdf. I am grateful to Ariff Hafizi bin Mohd Radzi for his insights on Malaysian law.

3 Untouchable, or Merely Untouched? Satirical News Websites …

65

billion intended for national development (Today, 2017; BBC, 2018). In 2018, shortly before the national elections, the Malaysian parliament even enacted an AntiFake News Act,16 which is precisely what it sounds like: a law providing penalties for “creating, offering, publishing, etc., fake news or publication containing fake news,” funding such activities, and “failing to carry out duty to remove publication containing fake news,” as well as allowing courts to order the removal of fake news. The law was immediately moved to be repealed by members of the parliament formed after the historic loss of Najib’s Barisan Nasional to Pakatan Harapan, which was led by Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad. It was successfully repealed in October 2019. One statute that was also introduced during Najib’s premiership, which may potentially be used against online satirists, remains in effect. Section 124B of the Malaysian Penal Code, introduced in 2012, makes a crime out of “activity detrimental to parliamentary democracy.”17 This poor definition was wielded against anti-Najib forces, including peaceful protestors (Malay Mail, 2015). How did what was then called Fake Malaysia News circumvent or otherwise avoid being prosecuted under these laws? Apparently, changing the publication’s name to Tapir Times was not motivated by the then-pending enactment of the Anti-Fake News Act. The decision to discard the name Fake Malaysia News was announced on Facebook on February 7, 2018, more than two months before the enactment of the law. The announcement stated that “today, in the world of [United States President Donald] Trump, ‘fake news’ doesn’t mean funny parody news or satire, it means sending out bogus terrorist attack alerts or fooling Facebook algorithms with damning information to affect election outcomes.”18 Indeed, TT/FMN seemed unperturbed by all of these developments; it published numerous clearly anti-Najib articles after the 1MDB scandal broke, with headlines such as “Be Alert for Suspicious Activity Not Involving the PM, Nation Told” and “Fitch Gives PM’s Bank Account AAA + Rating.” Perhaps the author felt that anonymity was a sufficient defence. Also, he/she/they have tried to sell himself/herself/themselves as a non-partisan critic(s); among the sites discussed here, only TT has a tab under a “politics” navigation bar button dedicated to the “opposition”; clicking this tab shows articles that are critical of then-opposition politicians, notably Anwar Ibrahim, who was in the ruling coalition under Mahathir from 2018 to 2020. Perhaps the only notable recent development in TT’s output is the apparent reluctance of the site’s author to publish content criticizing Mahathir after his remarkable return to the premiership at 92 years of age, after his coalition’s defeat of the sole political coalition that has ruled over Malaysia since independence. Prior to his return, the 16 The text of the law as enacted can be viewed at https://www.cljlaw.com/files/bills/pdf/2018/MY_

FS_BIL_2018_06.pdf. and other 2012 Penal Code amendments can be viewed in full here: https://www.federa lgazette.agc.gov.my/outputaktap/20120622_A1430_BI_Act%20A1430%20BI-penal%20code% 20(amendment).pdf. 18 See the February 7, 2018 post at the Tapir Times Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/the tapirtimes). 17 This

66

M. P. P. Reyes

site found him an easy target for ridicule, from parodying his odd enumeration-style blog entries19 when a fictionalized version of him was featured as a guest blogger (TT, 2015b), or highlighting that he was once notorious for stifling press freedom during his twenty-two-year-long premiership (e.g., TT, 2015a). Within Mahathir’s recently concluded term as prime minister, TT tended to avoid articles solely about Mahathir or painting him in a relatively positive light; for instance, a 2018 article (TT, 2018) describes him as the choice to head the opposition party, which seems to defer to the view of him as immensely popular. It is unclear whether this was due to a belief that Mahathir was needed in Malaysia at the time, or fear that he may revert to his formerly repressive ways, or for any other reason. It does betray the contradictoriness of the non-partisanship it supposedly projects.

Pos Ronda Indonesia has long been considered one of the most democratic countries in Southeast Asia after the fall of the Suharto dictatorship in 1998 (Pradjasto et al., 2012, pp. 108–109). Indeed, the post-dictatorship reformasi era saw immediate sweeping legislative changes, including laws guaranteeing the protection of freedom of expression (Yuniar, 2017). However, defamation remains a crime (Articles 310–321 of the Penal Code of Indonesia), and such laws can be and have been used against critics of public officials, even in supposedly democratic times (Kelly/Warner, n.d.b). Articles 1365 and 1372 of the Civil Code of Indonesia govern civil defamation suits, under which “truth is only a limited defense, opinions are not protected, [there is no] ‘good faith’ exception with only a limited ‘public interest’ defense, and it places the burden of proof on the defendant rather than the person claiming to be defamed” (Kelly/Warner, n.d.b). Indonesia’s controversial Electronic Information and Transactions Law, or Law No. 11 of 2008, amended by Law No. 16 of 2016, may be more readily applicable to PR. The crimes defined in the law include distributing, transmitting, or making accessible “electronic information or documents that contain insult or defamation” and “electronic information or documents that contain threats of violence or frightening information (including cyberbullying)” (Molina, 2016). The 2016 amendment reduced the penalties for these crimes, but they remain laws in a fearsome legislative corpus that facilitates harassment of critics of the powerful. Indeed, as recently as 2017, a well-known Indonesian caricaturist, Muhammad Misrad, had said that “[satire] here is different from the West…[in] Indonesia, I need to be really careful, this country is very sensitive” (qtd. in Yuniar, 2017). Nevertheless, PR seems to flout these restrictions and threats. As with NN, the identities of the people behind PR are public. As previously mentioned, Shaka Mahottama, the website’s founder and editor, has stated that The Onion is Pos Ronda’s 19 He blogs at chedet.cc. A counter on the site boasts of nearly 30,000,000 visitors since it was launched in 2008.

3 Untouchable, or Merely Untouched? Satirical News Websites …

67

main inspiration, though he also mentions other satirical news websites, including the Unreal Times of India, which he praises for their professional quality, which his publication aimed to emulate (Jakarta Globe, 2014). Pos Ronda readily identifies itself as a satire site both in its English-language tagline “Indonesia’s Political Infotainment” and in a disclaimer easily accessible through a prominently located navigation bar link. The summary, translated into English, states that “POS RONDA is a site that contains writings, articles, and stories that are created and compiled as WORKS OF FICTION, are SATIRICAL, and function as ENTERTAINMENT.” So far, this seems to be adequate protection for PR; Mahottama and his team have not uploaded new content since July 2017, but their site remains online. A meme using the “two buttons” template, shared on PR’s Facebook page on January 15, 2019,20 suggests that the people behind PR are aware that their content can be construed as deliberate inflammatory “trolling” by sensitive persons (“orang baper”) or can inspire hoaxes, showing that they are more concerned with the social than the legal consequences of their output. Further evidence that lawsuits or repression are not a significant concern of the publicly identified staff of PR is that even Joko “Jokowi” Widodo, Indonesia’s president since 2014, is a frequent target of criticism in their articles. One article, satirizing Jokowi’s apparent admiration for the development track taken by China—particularly through massive infrastructure spending, without caring where the funding for such projects came from—states that Jokowi was found praiseworthy by an Indonesian Sith lord, a master of the evil “Dark Side of the Force” in the fictional universe of the Star Wars franchise (PR, 2014). Another article satirized the news that Jokowi met with civilians, including the leader of the major Indonesian Islamic organization Muhammadiyah, in military attire, by quoting fictional presidential staff as saying that Jokowi has a penchant for cosplay—rather than, as is implied in the article, because he sees himself primarily as the armed forces’ commander-in-chief (PR, 2015). As such articles suggest, PR’s content criticizing Jokowi and his administration warns of the possibility of a democratically elected leadership transforming into a repressive autocracy with a highly limited notion of national development, ignoring those on the economic and geographical margins. Indeed, were Jokowi so inclined, he could legally suppress all his critics. Although various abuses against journalists have persisted under Jokowi (Human Rights Watch, 2017), there is currently no evidence that Jokowi himself can be directly tied to such violations. Perhaps aiming at a target that is unlikely to retaliate despite being the country’s most powerful individual, and largely avoiding sensitive subjects such as religious and racial strife, may account for why PR has remained untouched by Indonesian authorities. One wonders if PR will retain this strategy if Indonesia falls under a less accommodating leader, who was re-elected in 2019 to another five-year term.

20 This

may be viewed at https://www.facebook.com/idposronda/photos/a.304331929716196/120 0728260076554/?type=3&theater.

68

M. P. P. Reyes

Beyond the Jokes: An Anti- “Fake News” Genre Based on the above discussion, it would seem that, though what they do write can be considered “infotainment” or “soft news,” unlike in the United States the writers of SWN, NN, NTN, TT, and PR worked, or are working, within constraints that make what they do construable as acts of self-endangerment. The fact that they still proceeded with their work, even though they are or were clearly aware of the possibility that the law might be employed at the very least to harass them, makes it easy to attach a subversive character to their work. However, that characterization is tempered both by the very laws that they are (potentially) bypassing or challenging, and in the cases of SWN, NTN, and TT, the level of identity disclosure that their authors are or were willing to make. Moreover, the “subversiveness” of these websites may be seen as questionable in light of a common “cultural taboo” of sorts that can protect the authors of these websites from being prosecuted should anyone try to do so. There is scholarly and anecdotal evidence to buttress this. Ancheta, for instance, has discussed how humorous works serve as means of navigating the harsh realities of life in the Philippines (Ancheta, 2006; Romero, 2010). To paraphrase from Ancheta, humorous works have, on the surface, both suppressant and regulatory functions, thus making them valuable as means of reifying an existing class structure, such as how the comedic personas of Dolphy, a famous Philippine comedian, allegedly romanticized poverty (Ancheta, 2006). They also have an underlying subversive potential, forcing juxtapositions that challenge traditions and other norms (Ancheta, 2000, 2006). Humor is thus highly valued across the Philippine class hierarchy; a corollary of this valuation is the social injunction against being “pikon” or being “easily angered by jokes or jests” (Bansa.org). In Thailand, half of the duo behind the satirical web series Jow Kow Tuen (Shallow News in Depth), Nattapong Tiendee, stated that in Thai culture, “[funny] people are forgiven more than serious people” (AFP, 2014). This recalls the “Sacred Clowning” in traditional Thai shadow puppetry theater, which apparently satirized actual people instead of mythical characters, as is the case in other Southeast Asian shadow puppetry traditions (Johnson, 2006, p. 155). In the case of Singapore, Lee Kin Mun, the man behind political humor website mrbrown.com, who has been called “Singapore’s most popular satirist,” (Lim, 2011), believes that the reason he has mostly been tolerated by state authorities is the likelihood that he is “[is not] seen as a threat [because he is] just the guy with the big mouth, the class clown at the back of the class” (Lim, 2011). Similarly, Tan argues that a certain YouTube video that can be seen as humorously mocking Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong has such an “incoherent façade” that it is “too ludicrous to be taken seriously by official censors: the video says something without actually saying anything” (2011, p. 64). Some studies (e.g., Nanda, Sukyadi, & Sudarsono, 2012) have shown that in Indonesia, humorous teasing, at least among willing participants, is well-tolerated in various forms of entertainment media. This extends to political humor, wherein “benign” teasing or poking fun of, for example, political leaders, is, based on one

3 Untouchable, or Merely Untouched? Satirical News Websites …

69

study, more readily appreciated in Indonesia than potentially defamatory or offensive “subversive” humor, especially those targeting particular socio-religious groups (Murti, Prayoga, Abraham, & Mursitama, 2018). A similar milieu can be found in Malaysia. In a study of Malaysian ethnic and political stand-up comedy routines, Chan, Tan, Abdullah, and Chan, (2018) note that some Malaysian entertainers have publicly made jokes that may offend or be construed as subversive, but that these are “softened” by “politeness strategies” such as expressions of sympathy toward the ridiculed, or self-effacement. Thus, even among the countries examined here, in which certain cultural/sociopolitical cleavages are particularly evident, one can joke about sensitive subjects without serious consequences, as long as one tells the joke in a socially and legally acceptable manner. The above discussion seems to suggest that online satirical news writers in these Southeast Asian countries have been largely “untouched” because they are culturally “untouchable.” If the governments of the Philippines and Thailand wanted to find Stewart or NTN’s author, respectively, they likely have the means to do so, but they have apparently refrained from doing that, possibly because of the cultural acceptability of clowning (ostensibly) for clowning’s sake. However, given the lack of news or fanfare about the effective deactivation of either site, it seems likely that both were taken offline by their authors themselves as preemptive moves to ensure their personal security. NN is one of many products of Singaporean satirists, which, despite possibly fanning the flames of pro-democracy sentiments in Singapore, are likely seen by authorities as trivial. The adaptative strategies of TT, outlined above, may in retrospect seem unnecessary, as a name like Fake Malaysia News clearly communicates that the “news” on the site is fictional. Indeed, despite the observed strictness of anti-fake news or disinformation measures throughout Southeast Asia during the COVID-19 pandemic (AFP, 2020), TT continues to publish articles humorously satirizing those in government while the crisis is ongoing, and does not seem to be in any danger of being forced offline. Finally, there is no indication that PR’s recent inactivity is due to threats or harassment from state apparatuses or instrumentalities. These are all informed presumptions, however. Given how evidently personal security is as high a concern among the authors of these websites as the satirical bite of their content, the possibility that they have also cooperated (willingly or unwillingly) with authorities to deactivate their sites, go on hiatus, or make certain subjects off limits cannot be discounted, and the authors may have decided not to make such interventions, if any, public, perhaps to avoid further interventions or causing a scandal. In any case, that they persisted as long as they did, or have, shows that they were, or are, not only motivated by dedication to their craft or mere pecuniary benefit, though it is perhaps not coincidental that the remaining active sites, TT and NN, followed The Onion’s lead in terms of monetizing their content through advertising and/or merchandise. Their work—especially now that numerous writings have tried to ensure that all are aware that they are satirists, not hoaxers (e.g., Chan, 2016; de Leon, 2013; Farrelly, 2007; Jakarta Globe, 2014; Lukman, 2014)— has a defined and engaged readership, one that can potentially help navigate a World Wide Web that has become a quagmire of fiction dressed up as fact.

70

M. P. P. Reyes

As of this writing, the last tweet posted on SWN’s Twitter account is dated March 13, 2019, and appears to be a potential headline without any further text. SWN’s Twitter page remains public; as of this writing, it has over 4800 followers.21 NN is, as of this writing, followed by over 16,700 people on Facebook.22 NTN has no currently accessible statistics on followers/readers, but it was featured several times in the Australian National University-based academic blog New Mandala (Farrelly, 2007, 2011; Walker, 2010) and had readers among expatriates in neighboring Cambodia.23 As of this writing, TT’s Facebook page24 is followed by over 20,000 people. Finally, PR’s Facebook page25 states that it has over 6600 followers as of January 2019. Certainly, these follows are dwarfed by those of the social media pages of mainstream national news—or even of The Onion, the Facebook page of which26 currently has over 6 million followers—and looking at what can still be accessed of these sites and their social media pages, they rarely have any contents that are shared more than a few dozen times. Thus, quantitatively, calling all of these websites enduringly popular seems to be an overstatement. However, observing the on-site and social media comments on SWN, NN, TT, and PR’s contents, and how NTN, in various ways—including its last iteration as a “confession site”—has tried to include readers in the satirical world(s) it had built (see Walker, 2010, in which the author and another individual were sent NTN shirts to serve as a scarlet-letter like badge), makes it clear that the sites offer, or offered, readers means not only to further process and memorialize the news (Basu, 2018), but also to interact with fiction that has parodied the self-destructive immediacy of news media. In the form of posted comments, readers can build upon online satirical news articles without being members of a fanfiction writing fandom or otherwise having extensive knowledge of certain fictional worlds. This is evident in the comments under articles shared by The Onion on Facebook; typically, such comment threads include parody headlines from readers that take off from an article’s headline/content. However, a cursory examination of SWN, NN, TT, and PR comments show that many of their articles that receive the most attention, if based on shares and likes, were mistaken by readers, including members of the media, as real. Although some articles from The Onion are still sometimes shared by users who believe them to be real news, the site’s longevity has allowed most of its readers to participate in its collective production of fiction. Perhaps, in time, readers of satirical news websites in Southeast Asia will also be consistently “in on the joke” and may possibly spread this knowledge beyond these websites’ usual readership.

21 https://twitter.com/sowhatsnews?lang=en. 22 https://www.facebook.com/newnationsg/. 23 See

https://cambodiaexpatsonline.com/thailand-news-and-discussion/articles-not-the-nationsince-may-t3363.html. 24 https://www.facebook.com/thetapirtimes/. 25 https://www.facebook.com/idposronda/. 26 https://www.facebook.com/TheOnion/.

3 Untouchable, or Merely Untouched? Satirical News Websites …

71

Conclusion To reiterate, the generic characteristics of online satirical news allow readers to easily and immediately participate in a fiction production process without being knowingly deceptive or deceived, provided that they are aware of the fictive nature of satirical news. Online satirical news does not only give readers pleasure/enjoyment, which encourages sharing of both the pleasurable/enjoyable content and the ethos of the author behind it (see Fife, 2016, p. 324) or affects their political efficacy/knowledge (Baumgartner & Morris, 2006; Glazier, 2014), but also reveals both the formulaic selectivity of news media and the ease by which falsities—even patently absurd ones—can be inserted into purportedly fair and true accounts of immediate realities. It is interesting to note that in parodying the media, the authors of these sites also project themselves as advocates of freedom of expression, even if they occupy a gray zone that allows them to function like real news media (reporting news) while also engaging in what amounts to culturally and/or legally protected punditry. However, writers of online satirical news in Southeast Asia are not (necessarily) activists. Even so, what they write is perhaps the most easily accessible and effective means of highlighting the demarcation between “objective” news and patently skewed/outright fabricated reportage, and of participating in the same linguistic games that allow authorities to stretch or exploit “ambiguities” in laws related to freedom of expression.

References AFP (Agence France-Presse). (2014, March 5). Rare Thai satire takes aim at all political colours. The Nation. Retrieved from https://www.nationmultimedia.com/politics/Rare-Thai-satire-takesaim-at-all-political-colour-30228423.html. AFP (Agence France-Presse). (2020, April 10). Asia cracks down on coronavirus ‘fake news.’ The Straits Times. Retrieved from https://www.straitstimes.com/asia/coronavirus-asia-cracks-downon-virus-fake-news. Amnesty International (2016, January 26). Malaysia must end unprecedented crackdown on hundreds of critics through sedition act. Retrieved from http://www.amnestyusa.org/news/pressreleases/malaysia-must-end-unprecedented-crackdown-on-hundreds-of-critics-through-sediti on-act. Ancheta, M. R. (2000). “Pig’s nest” in an even bigger pen: Pugad Baboy as a case of subversion and renegotiation in Philippine comedy. Humanities Diliman, 1(2), 58–86. Ancheta, M. R. (2006). The “king” of Philippine comedy: Some notes on Dolphy and the functions of the Philippine cinematic humor as discourse. Humanities Diliman, 3(2), 74–117. Aravindan, A. (2019, December 16). Singapore ‘fake news’ law ensnares government critics. Reuters. Retrieved from https://www.reuters.com/article/us-singapore-fakenews/singapore-fakenews-law-ensnares-government-critics-idUSKBN1YK0KH. Baber, S. (2014). Shout for freedom to curse at the kingdom: Contrasting Thai lèse majesté law with United States first amendment freedoms. Indiana International and Comparative Law Review, 24(3), 693–728. Baek, Y. M., Kang, H., & Kim, S. (2019). Fake news should be regulated because it influences both “others” and “me”: How and why the influence of presumed influence model should be extended. Mass Communication and Society, 22(3), 301–323.

72

M. P. P. Reyes

Bardan, A. (2012). “The tattlers’ tattle”: Fake news, linguistic national intimacy, and new media in Romania. Popular Communication, 10, 145–157. Basu, L. (2018). News satire: Giving the news a memory. tripleC: Communication, Capitalism & Critique, 16(1), 241–255. Baumgartner, J., & Morris, J. S. (2006). The Daily Show effect: Candidate evaluations, efficacy, and American youth. American Politics Research, 34(3), 341–367. BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation). (2018, February 20). Malaysian artist jailed for mocking Prime Minister Najib Razak. BBC News. Retrieved from https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia43127199. Beato, G. (2007, November 6). Is The Onion America’s most intelligent newspaper? Reason Magazine. Retrieved from https://www.alternet.org/story/67039/is_the_onion_america’s_most_intell igent_newspaper. Borjal v. Court of Appeals. (1999). G. R. No. 126466. Retrieved from https://sc.judiciary.gov.ph/ jurisprudence/1999/jan99/126466.htm. Calonzo, A. C. (2013, January 24). Responding to hoax, Enrile son denies dropping out of senatorial race. GMA News Online. Retrieved from https://www.gmanetwork.com/news/story/291854/ news/nation/responding-to-hoax-enrile-son-denies-dropping-out-of-senatorial-race. Cariño, J. (2018, May 3). 85 attacks and threats vs journalists in Duterte’s time: Media groups. ABSCBN News. Retrieved from https://news.abs-cbn.com/focus/05/03/18/85-attacks-and-threats-vsjournalists-in-dutertes-time-media-groups. Chan, C. T., Tan, H., Abdullah, A. N., & Chan, S. H. (2018). A comparison of Malaysian ethnic and political stand-up comedies’ text structures and use of politeness strategies. International Journal of Applied Linguistics & English Literature, 7(7), 182–190. Chan, M. (2016, November 8). Fake Malaysia News: Malaysia’s answer to The Onion. Free Malaysia Today. Retrieved from https://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/leisure/2016/11/ 08/fake-malaysia-news-malaysias-answer-to-the-onion/. Cosentino, G. (2012). The comical inquisition: Striscia la Notizia and the politics of fake news on Italian television. Popular Communication, 10, 52–65. De Leon, M. (2013, November 7). Why can’t many Filipinos tell truth from satire? Rappler.com. Retrieved from https://www.rappler.com/move-ph/ispeak/43040-filipinos-satire-jinggoy. Defensor Santiago, M. (1999). Penal code annotated. Quezon City: Central Professional Books Inc. Dentith, S. (2000). Parody. London and New York: Routledge. Derby, S. K. (2005, April 12). Janet Jackson almost killed “The Onion,” editor reveals. The Capital Times. Retrieved from https://host.madison.com/news/local/janet-jackson-almost-killedthe-onion-editor-reveals/article_0d683a9a-50c1-11e3-b9e4-0019bb2963f4.html. Doyle, W. (2012). No strings attached? Les Guignols de l’info and French television. Popular Communication, 10, 40–51. Dwyer, J. (2008, November 14). In 1978, a faux paper was real genius. The New York Times. Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/15/nyregion/15about.html?_r=0. Fallis, D., & Mathiesen, K. (2019). Fake news is counterfeit news. Inquiry: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Philosophy. Advanced Online Publication. https://doi.org/10.1080/0020174X.2019. 1688179. Farrelly, N. (2007, December 19). Na-chua but Not the Nation. New Mandala. Retrieved from https://www.newmandala.org/the-na-chua-and-not-the-nation/. Farrelly, N. (2011, February 21). Not the Nation on Kasit Piromya. New Mandala. Retrieved from https://www.newmandala.org/not-the-nation-on-kasit-piromya/. Feldman, L. (2007). The news about comedy: Young audiences, The Daily Show, and evolving notions of journalism. Journalism, 8(4), 406–427. Fife, J. (2016). Peeling The Onion: Satire and the complexity of audience response. Rhetoric Review, 35(4), 322–334. Freedom House. (2018). Freedom in the world 2018. Thailand: Freedom House Website. Retrieved from https://freedomhouse.org/report/freedom-world/2018/thailand.

3 Untouchable, or Merely Untouched? Satirical News Websites …

73

Glazier, R. A. (2014). Satire and efficacy in the political science classroom. PS: Political Science and Politics, 47(4), 867–872. Grondin, D. (2012). Understanding culture wars through satirical/political infotainment TV: Jon Stewart and The Daily Show’s critique as mediated re-enactment of the culture war. Canadian Review of American Studies, 42(3), 347–370. Hariman, R. (2008). Political parody and public culture. Quarterly Journal of Speech, 94(3), 247– 272. Heffron, J. K. C. (2014). The Philippine Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012: To protect or destroy? DLSU Business & Economics Review, 24(1), 96–103. Holbert, R. L., & Tchernev, J. M. (2014). Satire news. In S. Attardo (Ed.), Encyclopedia of humor studies (pp. 664–665). Thousand Oaks, California: SAGE Publications Inc. Human Rights Watch. (2017, April 26). Indonesia: Journalists under assault. Human Rights Watch Website. Retrieved from https://www.hrw.org/news/2017/04/26/indonesia-journalists-under-ass ault. Hustler v. Falwell. (1988). 485 U.S. 46. Retrieved from https://www.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/his torics/USSC_CR_0485_0046_ZS.html. iLaw. (2014, September 1). Section 14(1) of computer-related crime act: A controversial enforcement of online defamation law. Freedom of Expression Documentation Center by iLaw website. Retrieved from https://freedom.ilaw.or.th/en/blog/section-141-compurt-related-crime-act-contro versial-enforcement-online-defamation-law/. iLaw. (2017, September 13). Section 116: When ‘sedition’ is used as the obstruction of freedom of expression. Freedom of Expression Documentation Center by iLaw website. Retrieved from https://freedom.ilaw.or.th/en/blog/section-116-when-%E2%80%98sedition%E2%80%99used-obstruction-freedom-expression. Jakarta Globe. (2014, May 8). Pos Ronda puts the fun back in politics. Jakarta Globe. Retrieved from https://jakartaglobe.id/features/pos-ronda-puts-fun-back-politics/. Johnson, I. (2006). Little bear sells CDs and Ai Theng drinks coke: Sacred clowning and the politics of regionalism in South Thailand. Sojourn: Journal of Social Issues in Southeast Asia, 21(2), 148–177. Kelly/Warner Law. (n.d.a). Defamation laws in Singapore. The Kelly/Warner International Defamation Law Database. Retrieved from https://kellywarnerlaw.com/singapore-defamationlaws/. Kelly/Warner Law. (n.d.b). Defamation laws in Indonesia. The Kelly/Warner International Defamation Law Database. Retrieved from https://kellywarnerlaw.com/indonesia-defamation-laws/. Kleinen-von Königslöw, K., & Keel, G. (2012). Localizing The Daily Show: The heute show in Germany. Popular Communication, 10, 66–79. Lardizabal-Dado, N. (2020, April 5). The fake news provision in the Bayanihan Act. The Manila Times. Retrieved from https://www.manilatimes.net/2020/04/05/business/sunday-business-i-t/ the-fake-news-provision-in-the-bayanihan-act/709855/. Lee, T. (2013, January 21). Terence Lee is now editor, manages growing team at SGE. Tech in Asia. Retrieved from https://www.techinasia.com/terence-editor/. Lim, P. (2011, April 29). Singapore’s top satirist thrives in election season. Yahoo News. Retrieved from https://sg.news.yahoo.com/singapores-top-satirist-thrives-election-season-025 109933.html. Lim, I. (2015, April 10). What you need to know about the amended sedition act. The Malay Mail Online. Retrieved from http://www.themalaymailonline.com/malaysia/article/what-you-need-toknow-about-the-amended-sedition-act. Lukman, E. (2014, February 19). Singapore’s satirical news site loves trolling legit media, gets 1 million page-views every month. Tech in Asia. Retrieved from https://www.techinasia.com/sin gapores-satire-news-site-loves-trolling-legit-media-sites-1-million-pageviews-month/. Macherey, P. (2006). A theory of literary production (G. Wall, Trans.). London: Routledge.

74

M. P. P. Reyes

Maclarang, C. R. S. (2019, October 12). For some Filipinos (like the MMDA spokesperson), satire is being passed as ‘news.’ Interaksyon. Retrieved from https://www.interaksyon.com/politics-iss ues/2019/10/12/156225/mmda-celine-pialogo-barurot-news/. Malay Mail. (2015, August 28). Stop misusing Section 124B, Malaysian Bar tells cops after #OccupyParliament clampdown. Malay Mail. Retrieved from https://www.malaymail.com/ news/malaysia/2015/08/28/stop-misusing-section-124b-malaysian-bar-tells-cops-after-occupy parliament/959995. Margolin, J. (2005). Singapore 40 years on: Slow road to democracy. Asia Europe Journal, 3, 95–115. Meikle, G. (2012). “Find out exactly what to think - next!”: Chris Morris, Brass Eye, and journalistic authority. Popular Communication, 10, 14–26. Molina, K. (2016, December 15). Indonesian electronic information and transactions law amended. White & Case. Retrieved from https://www.whitecase.com/publications/alert/indonesian-electr onic-information-and-transactions-law-amended. Molina, M. D., Sundar, S. S., Le T., & Lee, D. (2019). “Fake news” is not simply false information: A conceptual explication and taxonomy of online content. American Behavioral Scientist. Advanced Online Publication. https://doi.org/10.1177/0002764219878224. Murti, K., Prayoga, T., Abraham, J., & Mursitama, T. N. (2018). Political humor appreciation and political dogmatism: The role of benign, subversive, undermining, and supportive humor types. the International Journal of Civic, Political, and Community Studies, 16(4), 1–19. Nanda, S., Sukyadi, D., & Sudarsono, M. I. (2012). Conversational implicature of the presenters in Take Me Out Indonesia. Indonesian Journal of Applied Linguistics, 1(2), 120–138. NN (New Nation). (n.d.). About us. New Nation. Retrieved from https://newnation.sg/about/. NN (New Nation). (2013, December 8). S’poreans agree PAP doing well upholding democratic socialist ideals. New Nation. Retrieved from https://newnation.sg/2013/12/sporeans-agree-papdoing-well-upholding-democratic-socialist-ideals/. NN (New Nation). (2015a, February 1). PM Lee launches coup, steals Pink Dot idea by starting his own Red Dot. New Nation. Retrieved from https://newnation.sg/2015/02/pm-lee-launches-coupsteals-pink-dot-idea-by-starting-his-own-red-dot/. NN (New Nation). (2015b, 24 August). S’poreans say: ‘We’ll still remember Lee Kuan Yew 50 years from now but not Lee Hsien Loong. New Nation. Retrieved from https://newnation.sg/2015/08/ sporeans-say-well-still-remember-lee-kuan-yew-50-years-from-now-but-not-lee-hsien-loong/. NTN (Not the Nation). (2012, August 24). Palace censors naked photos of prince. Not the Nation. Retrieved from https://notthenation.com/2012/08/palace-censors-naked-photos-of-prince/. NTN (Not the Nation). (2013, December 3). Thongdaeng abdicates to Foo Foo. Not the Nation. Retrieved from https://notthenation.com/2013/12/thongdaeng-abdicates-to-foo-foo/. NTN (Not the Nation). (2015a, August 18). Prayuth orders deployment of concerned facial expressions. Not the Nation. Retrieved from https://notthenation.com/2015/08/prayuth-orders-deploy ment-of-concerned-facial-expressions/. NTN (Not the Nation). (2015b, April 22). Prayuth rides horse shirtless, wrestles monitor lizard. Not the Nation. Retrieved from https://notthenation.com/2015/04/prayuth-rides-horse-shirtlesswrestles-monitor-lizard/. Post Reporters. (2015, October 21). Prayut vows lese majeste blitz. Bangkok Post. Retrieved from https://www.bangkokpost.com/news/politics/737000/prayut-vows-lese-majeste-blitz. PR (Pos Ronda). (2014, December 14). Kaum Sith Indonesia puji rencana Presiden Jokowi [Indonesian Sith praise President Jokowi’s plan]. Pos Ronda. Retrieved from https://posronda.net/2014/ 12/15/kaum-sith-indonesia-puji-rencana-presiden-jokowi/. PR (Pos Ronda). (2015, June 18). Soal seragam militer presiden saat terima tamu sipil, stafsus: ‘Beliau memang hobi cosplay!’ [Regarding the president’s military uniform when receiving a civilian guest, special staff: ‘He really does cosplay!’]. Pos Ronda. Retrieved from https://posronda.net/2015/06/18/soal-seragam-militer-presiden-saat-terima-tamu-sipil-sta fsus-beliau-memang-hobi-cosplay-2/.

3 Untouchable, or Merely Untouched? Satirical News Websites …

75

Pradjasto, A., Irwansyah, Ardiansa, D., Aswidah, R., Wardani, S. B. E., Ichwanuddin, W., & Panjaitan, Y. (2012). (De)Monopolization of democracy in Indonesia? The Indonesian report on the Asian Democracy Index 2011. Asian Democracy Review, 1, 108-132 Roberts, J. F. (2012). The true history of Blackadder: The unadulterated tale of the creation of a comedy legend. Great Britain: Preface Publishing. Romero, G. (2010, October 22). Why the Filipino laughs. Research Lines. Retrieved from https:// www.ovcrd.upd.edu.ph/researchlines/2010/10/22/why-the-filipino-laughs/. Rubin, V. L., Brogly, C., Conroy, N., Chen, Y., Cornwell, S. E., & Asubiaro, T.V. (2019). A news verification browser for the detection of clickbait, satire, and falsified news. Journal of Open Source Software, 4(35), 1208. https://doi.org/10.21105/joss.01208. SABAT. (2011). Stewart (So, What’s News?). Retrieved from https://www.mgaepal.com/2011/10/ sabat-stewart-so-what-news_07.html. Seares, P. A. (2020, April 20). Explainer: Case against Beltran raises questions on warrantless arrest and whether opinion was lawful, news was false. SunStar Cebu. Retrieved from https://www.sun star.com.ph/article/1853271. Streckfuss, D. (1995). Kings in the age of nations: The paradox of lese-majeste as political crime in Thailand. Comparative Studies in Society and History, 37(3), 445–475. SWN (So, What’s News?). (2013, January 24). Jack Enrile withdraws from senatorial race. Afraid what dad might bring up if ever elected. So, What’s News? Retrieved from https://sowhatsnews.wordpress.com/2013/01/24/jack-enrile-withdraws-from-sen atorial-race-afraid-what-dad-might-bring-up-if-ever-elected/. SWN (So, What’s News?). (2014, December 8). Japan declares Korina Sanchez persona non grata. So, What’s News? Retrieved from https://sowhatsnews.wordpress.com/2014/12/08/japandeclares-korina-sanchez-persona-non-grata/. Tan, S. E. (2011). ‘Harmless’ and ‘hump-less’ political podcasts: Censorship and internet resistance in Singapore. Music, Sound, and the Moving Image, 5(1), 39–70. Thompson, M. R. (2015). Dead idea (still) walking: The legacy of the “Asian democracy” and “Asian values” debate. In W. Case (Ed.), Routledge handbook of Southeast Asian democratization (pp. 24–37). New York: Routledge. Today. (2017, October 10). Malaysia bans 22 books, including satirical publication on 1MDB. Today. Retrieved from https://www.todayonline.com/world/asia/malaysia-bans-22-books-includ ing-satirical-publication-1mdb. TT (Tapir Times). (2015a, March 26). When I said we should censor the internet I didn’t mean me, says Dr M. The Tapir Times. Retrieved from https://thetapirtimes.com/2015/03/13/when-i-saidwe-should-censor-the-internet-i-doesnt-mean-me-says-dr-m/. TT (Tapir Times). (2015b, June 14). Outspoken former leaders destroying nation, warns Dr M. The Tapir Times. Retrieved from https://thetapirtimes.com/2014/12/10/outspoken-former-leaders-des troying-nation-warns-dr-m/. TT (Tapir Times). (2018). Dr M already leading Khairy in fresh Umno leadership poll. The Tapir Times. Retrieved from https://thetapirtimes.com/2018/12/14/dr-m-already-already-leading-kha iry-in-fresh-umno-leadership-poll/. US v. Bustos. (1918). G.R. No. L-12592. Retrieved from https://www.lawphil.net/judjuris/juri1918/ mar1918/gr_l-12592_1918.html. Varghese, J. (2014, December 10). Hoax busted: Report on Japan declaring Korina Sanchez as ‘persona non grata’ is fake. International Business Times. Retrieved from https://www.ibtimes. co.in/hoax-busted-report-japan-declaring-korina-sanchez-persona-non-grata-fake-616711. Vida, I. K. (2012). The ‘Great Moon Hoax’ of 1835. Hungarian Journal of English and American Studies, 18(1–2), 431–441. Walker, A. (2010, December 23). Crackdown on Not The Nation readers. New Mandala. Retrieved from https://www.newmandala.org/crackdown-on-not-the-nation-readers/. Wikileaks. (2008). Thailand official MICT censorship list, 20 Dec 2008. Wikileaks. Retrieved from https://wikileaks.org/wiki/Thailand_official_MICT_censorship_list,_20_Dec_2008-wikileaks.

76

M. P. P. Reyes

Yuniar, R. W. (2017, August 20). Indonesia was supposed to be embracing freedom. What happened? South China Morning Post. Retrieved from https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/210 7411/indonesia-was-supposed-be-embracing-freedom-what-happened. Zhuo, T. (2019, September 20). Media Literacy Council reviewing material after photos of book saying satire is ‘fake news’ go viral. The Straits Times. Retrieved from https://www.straitsti mes.com/singapore/mlc-reviewing-material-after-photos-of-book-saying-satire-is-fake-newsgo-viral-online.

Mr. Miguel Paolo P. Reyes is a university research associate at the Third World Studies Center, College of Social Sciences and Philosophy, University of the Philippines Diliman. He studied comparative literature in the same university. He is an associate editor of Kasarinlan: Philippine Journal of Third World Studies. He has done research on genre fiction, authorship, academic integrity, and historical distortion or revisionism, which has led to publications in peer-reviewed journals such as Humanities Diliman, Science Editing, and Philippine Studies: Historical and Ethnographic Viewpoints. His other research engagements include serving as researcher in charge of the implementation of the Asian Democracy Index project in the Philippines, the main outputs of which can be read in the pages of Asian Democracy Review, of which he served as managing editor. He has dozens of other research, creative, and journalistic publications in various periodicals, online media outlets, books, and conference proceedings.

Chapter 4

Intersections of Protest, Art and Networked Space: Analysis of the Artistic Protest Post Carnival J. C. Thejaswini and M. Shuaib Mohamed Haneef

Abstract Since the development of mechanical reproduction (Benjamin in The work of art in the age of mechanical reproduction. Prism Key Press, Lexington, KY, 1936), the ease of producing and circulating art has become a significant marker of what art is and does. It also indicates how art has been removed from its auratic space and time, with special emphasis on aesthetics and cult value, to become more of an artefact that is marked by political, social, cultural and economic overtones. While art inherently is always political, the appropriation of art, exclusively for registering counter-cultures and forms of protest through different art movements, changed its landscape and encounters with it. Subsequently, aesthetics is not the only attribute used to experience art. With the advent of modern technology, the functionality of art has received renewed interest and has been enhanced not only by what art semiotically represents but also by the materiality of digital space and the characteristics of the Internet. This chapter examines the transmutation of a physical protest called Post Carnival, organized by artists to challenge moral discipline by the police, into the digital and networked space, and how the protest is experienced by participants in the digital space. We found that protest in the social media platform produced new spaces using networked new materiality and interactivity. Furthermore, the protest’s digital reproductions became a spectacle, though the protesters’ initiative was to politicize art challenging and questioning the act of the police that territorialized public spaces. Keywords Post Carnival · Digital materiality · Affect · Spectacle · Territorialization · Deterritorialization

J. C. Thejaswini · M. S. M. Haneef (B) Pondicherry University, Puducherry, India e-mail: [email protected] J. C. Thejaswini e-mail: [email protected] © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2020 S. S. Lam (ed.), New Media Spectacles and Multimodal Creativity in a Globalised Asia, Digital Culture and Humanities 3, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-7341-5_4

77

78

J. C. Thejaswini and M. S. M. Haneef

Introduction The Industrial Revolution affected art and social life significantly along two axes. First, structured labour time provided workers with a consciousness of their working hours. Workers then chose art as a medium of relief and tried to find free time to create it. Second, the Industrial Revolution engendered the invention and use of machines which helped in the mass production of art works. Both structured labour time and the introduction of machines contributed to the popularization of art. Benjamin (1936) provides a sequential account of the transitions in the sphere of art in his essay The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction. Mechanical reproduction facilitated mass production and consumption, giving rise to the capitalist-centered industrial era. Adorno and Horkheimer (1991) identified mass production as a capitalist plan to make consumers more passive. The mass production of art facilitated by mechanical reproduction has led to the rise of markets carrying similar mass-produced goods, as choices become limited and the market becomes the culture industry (Adorno & Horkheimer, 1991). Later, Debord (1967) characterized the tendency of capitalism to spectacularize works of art as creating consumable entities that seem largely devoid of critical engagement. According to Benjamin (1936), mass production strengthened the hands of the capitalist regime or the state. He argued that art should be used not merely for “aestheticization of politics” but for “politicization of aesthetics”. On the one hand, the capitalist-centered industrial era exercised control over the production of art and its applications, in an analogy of the Nazi use of media for propaganda purposes. Furthermore, the industrial era was also marked by the exploitation of human labour. On the other hand, the structured life imposed by industrialization led to the emergence of hierarchies. Exploitation aggravated by the capitalist logic of production and inequalities produced by social hierarchies resulted in workers dissenting and protesting. Art was one of the predominant tools of proletarians registering their disagreements in a process that Benjamin called the “politicization of aesthetics”. The themes of art deviated gradually from highlighting rituals and religious practices, and moved toward discussing the issues of the time. In the post-industrial era, art reflected issues of war, gender, labour, and other concerns, and became a political tool rather than an object of aesthetics to be looked at. From Pablo Picasso’s Guernica1 to Yusuf Arakkal’s Gujernica,2 many paintings have embodied the politics of the time. In general, there is always at least one painting that becomes an icon for every war, famine, and case of inequality, as art is used as a medium for the voiceless. Prior to the development of mechanical reproduction, art remained a spectacle for the privileged, especially for rulers, and was restricted to sacred spaces. When art was made accessible to common people, city spaces emerged as sites for artistic expression. The proliferation of art in public spaces not only (re)made citizens but also produced cities and villages as social environments. The demarcations of high 1 Guernica

was created during the Spanish Civil War. is a painting by Indian artist Yusuf Arakkal, created in response to the Gujarat pogrom that happened in 2002 and using imagery inspired by Picasso’s Guernica. 2 Gujernica

4 Intersections of Protest, Art and Networked Space …

79

and low art also became blurred with the advancements of new technology, as even the most celebrated works of art were brought to the streets, leading to a questioning of elitism. In the age of networked space and new media, the mobility of art across mediated spaces has acquired a new dynamism. The mobility of art owes itself to the materiality of art and its remediation through the materiality of the medium (Bolter & Grusin, 1999; Manovich, 2001). This ability of art to move across borders and media, and its potential to carry affective capacities, make it a relevant political tool. Citing the case of the Arab Spring, Silva (2015) has observed that an act of dissent in a public space can be transformed more efficiently with digital technology such as a mobile phone. It is interesting to observe how these new means of circulation of dissent and alternative views reconfigure the relationship between the participants, the audience, and the medium. This chapter examines how a work of protest, Post Carnival, organized by artists questioning the police for their moral disciplining of artists’ bodies, produced experiences for participants in both physical and networked spaces. The chapter explores the intersections of art, protest, and the digital space in the making of Post Carnival.

Post Carnival: Artists’ Protest Against Moral Policing Post Carnival was a protest led by a group of artists and fine arts students who belong to Kalakakshi, a non-profit organization in Kerala, India. The protest, which took place in 2016, was so named as it followed the celebration of Kochin Carnival, a ritual practice continuing from the colonial era. Celebrated in the last two weeks of every year, the carnival usually ends with the burning of Papaanji, a huge statue of an old man. The artists in Kalakakshi, who identified themselves as activists, were involved in the making of the Papaanji in 2015. While returning home in the early hours of the New Year’s morning after setting fire to Papaanji, the activists were picked up, questioned, and attacked by the police. In response to the injustice they had suffered, Kalakakshi staged various types of protest under the collective title Post Carnival, which ranged from sending petitions to the Home Minister of the Kerala/Indian government to gathering and marching on the city police commissioner’s office in Kochi. As part of the protest, members of Kalakakshi created art installations and performed in public places. One such installation, Cage, was a performance piece in which the activists carried a cage-like model and marched to the police commissioner’s office. A few activists cooped up inside the cage and walked along before cutting the bars and walking out of it at the end of the protest. The activists enacted another live performance inspired by Edvard Munch’s famous painting The Scream. They also made clay models of the artists, and created posters and portraits of known activists in Kerala.

80

J. C. Thejaswini and M. S. M. Haneef

Subsequently, members of Kalakakshi posted their protest activities, including pictures, posters, and portraits of prominent artists, on their Facebook page.3 The protest in its physical location operated within specific cartographic spaces, while its transmutation into traditional media and digital media augmented and transformed its potential. The temporality of the protest also stretched beyond its actual duration as it circulated via reports in newspapers and comments and shares in the digital space, keeping the protest alive and moving. Later, the activists shared their views on the creation of artworks covering various issues, including casteism and gender bias, on their Facebook page.

Dissent and Art in Digital Media Art was initially intended for leisure, aesthetics, and personal expressions. According to Benjamin (1936), mechanical reproduction resulted in the audience absorbing the art, instead of the art absorbing the audience. As opposed to a contemplative individual being absorbed by a work of art through acts of concentration, distraction enables the masses to absorb works of art. This marked a departure from the function of art as a representational paradigm. The aura, or the originality, that art claims as its inherent potential to generate meanings, bounded to its form and content, withers away, and the audience is able to grasp its meaning by transcending the scope of the original work. In The Logic of Sense (1992), Deleuze drew examples from Bacon’s artworks to argue that painting holds the potential to transmute affective capacities into other bodies. Affective potentials can easily bleed from the canvas to the art, and then to bodies experiencing it and beyond. Art is never a meaning-residing object; painting, its materiality, and the audience affect each other and are affected in the interaction, making the experience mutually constituting. Deleuze showed how the violence or pain Bacon depicted in his paintings would bleed into the art itself, thus causing the audience to experience it. Thus, the use of art in a political situation or in any kind of activist scenario can transmute the affective potentials from the performer’s body to the audience’s bodies, or the sense of urgency from a protest space to the audience (Silva, 2015). The ubiquitous presence of digital media, which is both space-biased and timebiased, blends protests in physical space and digital space across different spatiotemporal dimensions. Tunali (2016) notes with regard to activist artists’ use of digital media and incorporation of old and new media: The activist artists on the internet incorporate new as well as old media into their practice and reach a diversity of audience that was not possible for the mass movements of [the] 1960s and 1970s. (Tunali, 2016, p. 1)

Tunali (2016) argued that despite the audience remaining unknown to the creators, they become part of the act of civil disobedience without recognizing its artistic 3 https://www.facebook.com/Kalakakshi-783319871812287/.

4 Intersections of Protest, Art and Networked Space …

81

origin. In the new form of circulation of art with the assistance of networks, Silva (2015) observed a collective feeling emerging among the artists and audiences. The materiality of artworks produced and their sharing and circulation capture the nuanced movements of protest. Protest art is often trans-mediated to the digital platform via a mobile phone or digital camera. According to Silva (2015), the smartphone is not always an external object that assists the human being; it places the body of the artist along with the image.

Art in the Public Space Of late, public spaces such as town squares and parks have become sites of artistic protest in which people collect, assemble, and gather to engage in physical and performative acts of powerful articulations of a range of issues. The purposes behind selecting such spaces for the protest are twofold. On the one hand, a public space is within the immediate glare of passing plebeians, and protests organized in public spaces easily attract spectators’ attention. On the other hand, the state perceives public places as sites of leisure, and a protest in such a space amounts to subversion of the space, resulting in the production of counter-hegemonic politics. Problematizing the concept of public space, D’Arcus (2006) has identified it as the most concrete and bodily medium for dissent. Space is more than a surface, and it constitutes social practices. Lefebvre (1974) identified space as a tool of the state that is used to exercise its power; the state intervenes in the production of space and tries to territorialize it. His concept of abstract space explains the politics of exclusion and spatialization of marginalized sections. The very structure of such spaces conditions the behaviours and experiences of the masses. Michel Foucault’s concept of panopticism, for instance, focuses on spatial power relations (qtd. in Yacobi, 2004). Foucault (1977) described the modern urban space as a laboratory of power, where the power exercised becomes easy without bars and prisons. Likewise, Lefevbre’s (1974) perception of space encompasses the limits that are determined by the state and its role in determining spatial experiences of/for masses. In some ways, both concepts are parallel in terms of how the state imposes its power to elicit predictable and determined subjects and conduct. Artistic protests in the public space can be understood and foregrounded against these conceptual thoughts. Any art movement in a public space is an attempt to capture or re-appropriate that space, which is already occupied by the state to serve premeditated functions, regulating the inhabitants so that they will conduct themselves in conformity with its orchestrated ideas. In fact, it is the public’s intervention that appropriates and produces its space and registers its dissent. Mitchel (1995) describes this phenomenon as the marginalized people’s attempt to insert themselves into the bourgeois space, which is otherwise exclusionary in nature. When art uses such spaces to protest, it challenges those who are in power and reflects on the personal and social needs of its time (Yacobi, 2004).

82

J. C. Thejaswini and M. S. M. Haneef

While it is presupposed that space structures protest in a public space, Porta and Fabbri (2016) have argued that the space is itself structured by the protest. Protest does not prefigure space; it gives rise to new forms of space. Every place is a space of conflict, where dominance and resistance intersect (Porta & Fabbri, 2016). In the era of digital technology, any kind of interaction with the public space can be easily captured and circulated. The possibility of keeping the protest in motion makes acquiring solidarity or accomplishing collective action from people through social networking sites, gathering sympathizers, and modifying or strategizing the protest all the more important. In addition, as Silva (2015) has observed, digital media communications evoke affective potential from a protest space. The protest, the space in which it operates, the performance, and other acts are highly connected with the body of the activist. Technology and flesh are placed together and the flesh bleeds into the technology (Silva, 2015). Interestingly, the level of immediacy in interactive art has become the talking point of subjective experiences, which themselves contribute to the erasure of demarcations between body and medium. In Felshin’s (1995) terms, it is “artivism”, in which one foot is in the realm of art and the other in activism.

Spectacle in the Age of Late Capitalism Though Benjamin (1936) welcomed the changes mechanical reproduction brought to the sphere of art, his contemporary Adorno and Horkheimer (1991) took a different approach to the mass production of art enabled by technology. Adorno agreed with Benjamin about the shift of art from cult value to exhibition value, but for Adorno every production is linked to economic concerns, and anything produced in the postindustrial era therefore carries the logic and implication of profit. He pointed out that the market has its impulses to produce more products, and thus more consumers. Guy Debord (1967) noted that works of art are spectacles and function as tools for the depoliticization of subjects. Quoting Debord, Papainoannou (2013) historically located such developments in the field of art. For him, the freedom from feudal ties that artists achieved in the mid-nineteenth century was a significant development, as, even though art was produced by the masses, capitalism would appropriate it and use it to expand its market. People in the epoch of digital technology and new media generally believe they have a horizontal platform from which to express and experience works of art. But, in fact, it is a part of the larger spectacle of the medium, which is fed by the users themselves, allowing it to become larger than life. However, O’Neill (2004) argued that the digital space is a pseudo-interactive spectacle in which all are limited by power and structure. Briziarelli and Armano (2017) have proposed the term spectacle 2.0 as a framework to analyze late capitalism and the subjectivities within it. Quoting Baroncelli and Freitas (2011), they defined spectacle 2.0 as a practice centered on the self-spectacularization of individuals via information and communication technologies.

4 Intersections of Protest, Art and Networked Space …

83

Method This study examined the mediated event of the Post Carnival protest, including the posts, comments, responses, and other activities of the users of Kalakashi’s Facebook page. The page was followed and activities were observed over a period of two weeks in order to account for the transition from material protest to digitally materialized protest. The chapter specifically focuses on the context of the Post Carnival protest within the digital space, but does not negate the idea that the digital protest is an extension of the physical, offline protest.

Analysis Post Carnival: Dissent by Artivists On January 2, 2016, Kalakashi posted the context of the moral discipline to which its members were subjected, along with screenshots of the email message they sent to the Kerala home minister, on its Facebook page. Although Facebook was the platform for the post itself, the spatiality of the protest in this case spans email, the transmutation of the event from its physical location to social media, the evocation and rekindling of memories of the event, the new audiences that the post reached, and the new social relationships it produced. Different spaces intersected to establish the materiality of the protest. The first post, narrating the moral policing incident, has received 169 shares, 10 comments, and 185 likes since October 2018 (see Fig. 4.1). Each share moves information about the protest to different geographical locations, through which the protest body circulates and interacts with others. This, in turn, gives rise to the evolution of new bodies that mostly buttress, but sometimes weaken or subdue, protests, in varying intensities. Unlike information on analogue media, online posts can be shared. Sharing, though a relatively feeble type of participatory mechanism, allows protests to accumulate traction in the digital media space. The spatial and temporal limitations of the protest were therefore erased, or became inconsequential, as the Post Carnival protest was always in movement. As Juris (2012) has noted, contemporary activist networks are fluid processors, rather than rigid structures; their movements are non-linear. From any point in time, information about the protest can shoot off and emerge as another major discourse. Following their first Facebook post, Kalakakshi began to share information about the Post Carnival on digital platforms, showing that the intersection of various media was happening even before the protest took place. In addition to the gatherings and meetings that happened prior to Post Carnival, the artists of Kalakakshi sought support and solidarity from digital media users. As Tunali (2016) has observed, the adoption of new media technology has helped protesters reach out to wider audiences. Most of these posts were widely shared, and received many comments and likes,

84

J. C. Thejaswini and M. S. M. Haneef

Fig. 4.1 Participatory culture of people reacting to moral policing of the artists and the protest Post Carnival through shares and comments (Kalakakshi Facebook page. https://www.facebook.com/ Kalakakshi-783319871812287/ cited on 2018, November 10)

helping the protest to branch out further. Those who were physically unable to participate in the protest could do so in other ways and in varying degrees of materiality. In all spaces, bodies were transformed into protest bodies, which embodied the politics of performing and articulating dissent and disapprobation while contesting normativized and territorialized bodies imprinted by the state. Howard et al. (2011) have noted the interconnections between social media discourse and protest participation, arguing that that major social movements are preceded by increase in online revolutionary discourse. Participation in Post Carnival involved outsiders and onlookers whose bodies were physically apart from the protesting bodies. Thus, the materiality of protest is not singularly that of the protesting bodies, but also includes seeing and perceiving bodies as part of a larger network. The artists, who used their own bodies as part of their installation, were not simply taking part in an act, but used their bodies as a medium of expression. They foregrounded their protest in bodies and in their performative acts. In the protest space, bodies acquired both new possibilities and new limitations, becoming nodes in the network, organizing and reconfiguring it. Images, texts, and videos were the most frequently used modalities in reaching out to the public on digital media, whereas the public, in return, used features such as shares, likes, comments, and tags to expand the network further. Though the public had access to both analogue and digital media, the space for interaction in analogue media is far more structured and limited than that of digital media. The state was present in the physical space through its manifestations of law enforcement agencies such as the police who had disciplined the activists. During the protest, the state was represented by the police overseeing the protest, but not by political representatives, none of whom were present in the space. Conversely, representatives of the state

4 Intersections of Protest, Art and Networked Space …

85

bodies were tagged by the activists on Kalakakshi’s Facebook posts (Fig. 4.2), a digital “tactic” (de Certeau, 1984) of imprinting an autonomous space by activists on the already territorialized spaces of the state and of Facebook. Avoiding an issue may be easy in physical space, but in the networked space an individual cannot choose to stay aloof on his/her own volition. Tagging politicians, as data bodies circulating in different spaces, added to the gravity of the protest. Post Carnival was visualized and contextualized lucidly, and in such a way that it elaborated on the physical protest and made participants in the digital space see the virtual actors invisible in the physical space. The digital transmutation of the protest can be said to have contributed not only to the number of participants and to an expanding network, but also to have succeeded in making the protest visible before the authorities and thus less escapable for the state. The new materiality of the protest that has emerged with the intersection of digital media technologies redefines not only the protest but also the participants (Porta & Fabbri, 2016). Where participation in a protest once relied heavily on the protester’s corporeal body, the current milieu of digital technology has made the capacities of the body predominant, as the corporeality of the participants is reconfigured by the neo-materiality of the protest. Much as bodies bleed as “Bod[ies] Without Organs” (Deleuze, 1983), protest movements bleed out from the frame of physical space and into the digital space. People from different parts of the world uploaded posters in solidarity with Post Carnival, inspiring a sense of collectivity among participants and activists. #postcarnival and #artivism were the most commonly used hashtags, accompanying posters

Fig. 4.2 Government and public sector officials tagged in the comment section on Kalakakshi Facebook page. (Kalakakshi Facebook page. https://www.facebook.com/Kalakakshi-783319871 812287/ cited on 2018, November 10)

86

J. C. Thejaswini and M. S. M. Haneef

and Facebook posts. Kalakashi posted more than 100 posters of artists, activists, and art historians (Fig. 4.3) extending support and solidarity. Each poster used the same template and font style, and very similar contents, creating a cohesion among the participants. Although not all participants were aware of this cohesion, they were all part of a collective act of civil disobedience (Silva, 2015). The immediate transmutation and transmediation of the protest was carried out with smartphones. As Silva (2015) observed, smartphones are not external objects but are integral parts of the body schema. The Kalakashi team captured the protest and the artworks created for it from different angles and posted images of each event from the protest space, to create the effect of viewing the artwork from its space. Conversely, newspapers focused only on one or two events. Images of the cleaning process of the protest space were also posted on Kalakakshi’s Facebook page. The protest videos in the digital space could be paused and watched again, while still offering the feasibility of being in a moment of protest for a long time. They are removed from time and space, as Anthony Giddens claimed in his concept of “time–space distanciation” (1991). Furthermore, using the feature to skip and avoid undesired moments allowed each participant a personalized experience. The solidarity posters and the installations created on the protest space were both artworks and political tools. The shift in the viewing experience can similarly be understood as not merely works to be looked at, but works with which the viewer can interact. The clay model of a screaming lady (Fig. 4.4), for instance, was influenced by Edvard Munch’s painting The Scream.

Fig. 4.3 Solidarity posters shared by participants and other artists on Kalakakshi Facebook page. (Kalakakshi Facebook page. https://www.facebook.com/783319871812287/photos/a.783324518 478489/793550970789177/?type=3&theater cited on 2018, November 10)

4 Intersections of Protest, Art and Networked Space …

87

Fig. 4.4 Making of the clay model based on The Scream, an artwork by Edvard Munch (Kalakakshi Facebook page. https://www.facebook.com/783319871812287/photos/a.795198757 291065/795199700624304/?type=3&theater cited on 2018, November 10)

Watching the video of the making of the model, a participant would experience the creation process in the present at his/her convenience. The work of art thus exists as a created object and as a process that is ever-present on the Kalakakshi Facebook page for viewers to interact with. However, demarcating either the artwork or the protest into the physical or digital category is not possible, as each contributed to the other and co-shaped and co-created the “event” (Deleuze, 1992).

Production of Physical and Digital Spaces Through Post Carnival The protest Post Carnival was a response to the group of artists, both men and women, being questioned by the state police for being out after midnight after the event of burning Papaanji as part of an annual ritual in Kochi. Any intervention from the police to maintain the moral codes of the state is an act to territorialize the space as conceived by the state. The intervention of the state in the spatial practices of the public exemplifies how the state uses the space as a tool for exercising its power, or what Michel de Certeau called “strategies” (1984). In the midnight moral policing incident, the state tried to restrict the movements of the artists through a particular space in a specific time, and also imposed its power over the people. As the state continues to do this, the space becomes an abstract space, which is associated with the upper class (Lefebvre, 1974). Post Carnival provides categorical evidence of the state attempting to convert the midnight street into an abstract space. Midnight walking scenes are familiar elements

88

J. C. Thejaswini and M. S. M. Haneef

in Malayalam movies; furthermore, such scenes were shot at night and had never become a pressing issue for moral policing. The road through which the artists walked was not a closed road or one with an entry gate and pass, but was open to the public. Nonetheless, surveillance in the public spaces existed in the form of CCTV cameras and night patrolling police officers. Both technological surveillance and moral policing by the state demonstrate how Foucauldian biopolitics played out in such contexts, as the masses began to regulate their spatial practices and movements in response to the state’s interventions into private life. As Foucault (1977) has noted, urban spaces are effective laboratories for the execution of power, as they are like prisons without bars, their lack of rigid structures and rules giving the appearance of freedom despite one’s socioeconomic status. The female artist who recorded and posted her modelling of The Scream received comments about the fear visible on her face. The digital participants of the protest would see her face as reflecting her fear and memory of the moral policing incident, though their reading of her expressions was also based on how they themselves would have reacted. Traumatic events, such as that experienced by the artists, do not end when the events do, but continue to influence the experiencer’s further acts and practices. The state anticipates the same as the public withdraw themselves from the abstract spaces. For the state, roads are part of the spatial structure, which facilitate transportation and contribute to the economic flow. Any act that counters the concept of the state can be identified as a counter-hegemonic act. The state’s conceptual space is not about its geography alone; as Lefebvre (1974) has noted, it is also about the social relations that are designated by the space. Demarcations in the name of gender, caste, and economy are maintained with such spatial rules. Nall (2013) has noted that in every city, interstate highway roads geographically polarize people. The markets, the buildings, and even the product quality available in the market determine the accessibility of the place, through which gradually it becomes a space of exclusion. This study involves several such spaces, including the street on which the artists were disciplined, the protest space, the analogue media space, and the digital media space.

Territorializing and Deterritorializing Public Spaces Because the group of artists and the time they had opted to walk on the New Year were not desirable to the state, the artists were questioned and policed. From a Deleuzian ontological position, the state attempted to territorialize the street space in Cochin: the territory was not given but constituted. On the other hand, each endeavour undertaken by the artists was an attempt to deterritorialize the space in response to the state’s use of power. As Weinert (2015) stated, the public has attempted to acquire the space to attain power over space and thereby over life. As part of their efforts, the protesters marched in the physical space and circulated information on digital media. The district police commissioner’s office and its surroundings are places that

4 Intersections of Protest, Art and Networked Space …

89

the artists/protesters deterritorialized with their art installations. The uploaded images of the protest Post Carnival demonstrate that the presence of police intensified the sense of surveillance, leading to biopolitics (Foucault, 1977). However, the sense of surveillance is lesser in the digital space, since the presence of police was missing from the pictures posted on Facebook. Facebook authorities have claimed that a page is a space to publicize businesses, find customers, and increase sales. However, many pages are retained for no commercial purpose. Apart from the shift from the commercial possibilities that a Facebook page offers, Kalakakshi used the social media platform to gather and assemble people for protest. Both are acts of deviation from the state’s/authorities’ or Facebook’s conceived space. Each spatial practice leads to the production of a new space that the audience inhabits. The protesters used various hashtags to share their stories and images. Each hashtag can be seen as a different digital geography since it encapsulates different types of stories and pictures. In both physical and digital spaces, Post Carnival has produced a new discourse of space by making the digital space more inclusive and accessible to the public, irrespective of gender and class. With clay models and art installations, the spatial structure of the place was redefined a new space not only for protesting artists, but also for the people passing by, from different parts of the world. Sharing news and information with closed private groups, the participants produced new generative spaces.

Spectacularization of Post Carnival Though Post Carnival was fundamentally a form of protest by a group of artists, it was gradually spectacularized in physical, analogue, and digital spaces alike. Technology was used in various stages of the protest to amplify the potential of the spectacle. The protest transformed from spectacle to media spectacle to digital media spectacle, serving as observable proof of how the protest performed itself as a resistant spectacle against the spectacularizing potential of Facebook. In other words, it was a spectacle of citizens contesting the state within the commodifying spectacle of Facebook. Each spectacle fed the other, but each also contested with the other. Even as the protest sought to escape control and establish its authority as a spectacle of its own nature, a barrage of semiotic representations tried to consolidate the spectacle as an equivalent. The Post Carnival produced identical objects in an indefinite series by sharing similar and slightly modified art works of protest. This resulted in the production of a new sign or a constellation of signs that implied the same meaning (Baudrillard, 1998). These signs and objects produced standardized automated forms of artworks. Furthermore, the digital materiality of images, the variability and modularity of the new media assets (Manovich, 2001), uploaded onto Facebook helped to create look alike posters and contents. The spectacle then would coincide with the moment at which sign-value takes precedence over use-value. Since the protest was not preplanned over a week or month, the analogue media features had limitations in making

90

J. C. Thejaswini and M. S. M. Haneef

and circulating a large number of contents, whereas digital media had more potential. Thus, the effortless production of posters offered by digital media technology seems efficacious. However, it also, in some ways, limits and lessens the potential of the protest. The dissent in art was uniform, with standardized posters and modes of protest. As Adorno and Horkheimer (1991) noted, such works of art lack spontaneity and instead reflect homogeneity, making the subjects and thereby the society passive. According to Adorno and Horkheimer (1991), the public receives and uses media technology as if it is their will and choice, when they are merely using available technology provided by the market. In that context, the dissenting body attempts to fit into available technology, and the protest, standardized via mechanical digital reproduction, became homogeneous, lessening affect in and among the protesting bodies. The experiences of the artists who were morally policed on that New Year’s evening were not expressed in the same manner in the protest art. Rather, the logics of the market and of Facebook enhanced the visibility of the protest. With the protest undergoing the process of spectacularization, the true experiences are alienated from the artist’s body as part of the spectacle. As Debord (1967) has noted, the lived experience of the artists becomes an accumulation of spectacles in different spaces. If commodity is a good or service to be sold, the entire protest and its transmuted versions are commodities, at the stage at which the culture obeys the rules of the market (Adorno & Horkheimer, 1991). The protest that happened in the physical space has become a commodity for the next day’s newspaper and other analogue media, which fill their blank spaces with news about the protest. In the digital media space, each upload invariably fed the social media platform, strengthening both the value of the protest and the social media platform itself. Thus, the protesters simultaneously registered their grievances and worked for the digital media (Fuchs, 2009). The process of commodification of Post Carnival substantiates the argument that the catalyst for the production of art is the desire to express an inner feeling (Papainoannou, 2013). However, what is lurking in this freedom of choice is the overriding power of capitalism to appropriate that freedom for its own economic benefits. In fact, the transmutation of the protest into the digital space was an attempt at detournement (Debord, 1967), claiming the authorship of an artwork and repurposing it to counter hegemonic narratives. When the analogue spaces and physical spaces are owned or controlled by capitalists and the state, the chances of the protest becoming mediated is high. This is tantamount to the “aesthetization of politics” (Benjamin, 1936). In the era of spectacle 2.0 (Baroncelli & Freitas, 2011), although social networking sites and other digital platforms appear to be spaces without hierarchies, they are understood as spaces providing the false hope of horizontal communication (O’Neill, 2009). The uploaded images and videos of the protest can be seen as a detournement to occupy another space without mediation. Yet, the top-down manipulation of desire still prevails, and hierarchies exist within these social media spaces. O’Neill (2009) has discussed how the false belief of agency makes the user feed the spectacle. Providing the examples of TV reality shows, he argued that digital technology used

4 Intersections of Protest, Art and Networked Space …

91

in mass media give its audience a false notion of agency. But in reality, decisions are made by the media long before the audience acts, and interactions thus feed the spectacle. In this study, the protesters wished to leverage digital media to articulate a different sense of protest. While they did succeed in their attempt, they also contributed to a larger spectacle of the protest that the platform could use to make profit. According to the Kalakakshi Facebook page, digital participants used the option to share more than they used like or comment features. They were more interested in carrying the protest into another space and making it visible to larger audiences, than they were in engaging in discursive acts. Only one video of the protest is available on YouTube, posted by Asianet News, a leading Malayalam news channel, depicting the protest in its physical space. Though the video has been watched by more than 600 people, none of them initiated a discussion about the protest, a phenomenon that has also been observed about the physical space of the protest. The protesters have opined that even though people who were not part of the protest saw the events, most of them watched the performances but did not engage with or participate in the protest itself. Hence, it is assumed that, in both physical and digital spaces, for the public the protest turned out to be a spectacle. Debord (1967) has noted that spectacularization of events and lived experience leads to passiveness among the public and among society. Although the Kalakakshi project was an attempt to politicize art, the politics become aestheticized once the protest performances become spectacularized. Belic (2017) foresaw such possible pitfalls in using digital technology to counteract hegemony: it is difficult to escape from appropriations in the Web 2.0 era. Nonetheless, the protest can be seen as a counter-spectacle as well. Since the world we live in is a large spectacle, created and modified by capitalist logic, that spectacle can be resisted with such counter-spectacles.

Conclusion Since interactions with the space produce a new space, any protest performance is a creation of new space. In the case of Post Carnival, the entire performance is part of a discourse based on power over space. The artists’ night walk, their protest performance in front of the police commissioner’s office, and their use of digital media space to initiate the same discourse are all part of spatial practices. According to Weinert (2015), each such act is an attempt to acquire power over space and thereby power over life. The first two of these three spaces are conceived to restrict the public’s spatial practices for its defined functionalist perspectives. The installation of surveillance cameras in the city and the police patrolling at night are part of this attempt to control public space. By contrast, the third space, the digital media space, is regularly monitored and controlled by the owners on the one hand, and by the state and its other apparatuses on the other. Though the artists tried to counter hegemonic culture and spatial practices with art, the state used its repressive tools to control them. The horizontal platform image of the

92

J. C. Thejaswini and M. S. M. Haneef

social media sites prompted the artists to upload the images of their art performances and videos to their Facebook page. However, digital media platforms function like any other space in terms of spatial accessibility: access, and therefore the everyday practices, were determined by those who held power.

References Adorno, T. W., & Horkheimer, M. (1991). Dialectic of enlightenment. London: Verso. Baroncelli, L., & Freitas, A. (2011). The Visibility of the Self on the Web: A Struggle for Recognition. Retrieved from https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/351a/8aa351863a63e7a6ce12f7d3ea50fa c725a7.pdf?_ga=2.201036974.1271485012.1599186916-495827142.1599186916. Baudrillard, J. (1998). The consumer society: Myths and structures. London: Sage. Belic, M. (2017). Practices of the situationist international in the age of digital spectacle. Medium.com. Retrieved from https://medium.com/@morenobelic/practices-of-the-situationistinternational-in-the-age-of-the-digital-spectacle-c860059326ae. Benjamin, W. (1936). The work of art in the age of mechanical reproduction. Lexington, KY: Prism Key Press. Bolter, J. D., & Grusin, R. (1999). Remediation: Understanding new media. Cambridge: MIT Press. Briziarelli, M., & Armano, E. (2017). The Spectacle 2.0: Reading Debord in the context of digital capitalism. London: University of Westminster Press. D’Arcus, B. (2006). Boundaries of dissent: Protest and state power in the media age. London, New York: Routledge. de Certeau, M. (1984). The practice of everyday life. Berkeley: University of California Press. Debord, G. (1967). Society of the spectacle. Detroit, MI: Black & Red. Deleuze, G. (1992). Francis Bacon: The logic of sensation. New York: Portmanteau Press. Deleuze, G., & Guattari, F. (1983). Anti-Oedipus (R. Hurley, M. Seen, & H. R. Lane, Trans.). University of Minnesota Press (Original work published 1972). Della Porta, D., & Fabbri, M. (2016). Producing space in action: The protest campaign against the construction of the Dal Molin military base. Social Movement Studies, 15(2), 180–196. Felshin, N. (1995). But is it art? The spirit of art as activism. Winnipeg: Bay Press. Foucault, M. (1977). Discipline and punish: The birth of the prison. New York: Vintage Books. Fuchs, C. (2009). Social networking sites and the surveillance society. Austria: Forschungsgruppe Unified Theory of Information. Giddens, A. (1991). Modernity and self identity. Stanford: Stanford University Press. Howard, P. N., Duffy, A., Freelon, D., Hussain, M., Mari, W., & Mazaid, M. (2011). Opening closed regimes: what was the role of social media during the Arab Spring? Retrieved from https://ssrn. com/abstract=2595096. Juris, J. (2012). Reflections on #Occupy Everywhere: Social media, public space, and emerging logics of aggregation. American Ethnologist, 39(2), 259–279. Lefebvre, H. (1974). The production of space. New York: Horizon Press. Manovich, L. (2001). Principles of new media. The Language of New Media (pp. 27–48). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. Mitchel, D. (1995). The end of public space? People’s park, definitions of public and democracy. Department of geography, University of Colorado, 85(1), 108–133. Nall, C. (2013). The political consequences of spatial policies: How interstate highways facilitated geographic polarisation. The Journal of Politics, 77(2), 394–406. O’Neill, S. (2004). The interactive spectacle and the digital situationist. Exploration of Space, Technology, and Spatiality, 155–167.

4 Intersections of Protest, Art and Networked Space …

93

O’Neill, S. (2009). The interactive spectacle and the digital situationist. In: Turner, P., Turner, S., & Davenport, E. (eds.) Exploration of space, technology and spatiality, pp. 155–166. Pennsylvania: IGI Global. Papaioannou, E. (2013). The society of spectacle and art as a commodity. Art for What? Retrieved from https://artforwhat.files.wordpress.com/2014/01/cs2-essay.pdf Silva, T. T. (2015). Body image as strategy for engagement in social media introduction: Green and Arab revolutions. Culture Unbound, 7, 331–335. Tunali, T. (2016). Net art and activism. Studies in Visual Art and Communication, 3(1), 1–8. Weinert, J. (2015). Making sense of Lefebvre’s “The production of space” in 2015: A review and personal account. Retrieved from https://blog.ethnologie.uni-halle.de/2015/08/%E2%80% A8the-production-of-space/. Yacobi, H. (2004). In-between surveillance and spatial protest: The production of space of the ‘Mixed City’ of Lod. Surveillance and Society, 2(1), 55–77.

Ms. J. C. Thejaswini is a full time research scholar at the Department of Electronic Media and Mass Communication, Pondicherry University, India. Her research interest includes digital art, digital protest, digital technologies, and affective experiences. Her doctoral research seeks to understand the affective experiences and intensities engendered during one’s interactions with digital art and installations. Dr. M. Shuaib Mohamed Haneef is an Assistant Professor at the Department of Electronic Media and Mass Communication, Pondicherry University, India. His areas of interest include digital media and culture specifically focusing on interactivity and agency, digital journalism, algorithms, digital media and affect studies. He has published on materiality of dress in digital media; art, protest and affect in digital media, Deleuzian reading of music, etc. He is also editing an online open-access journal Communication and Culture Review.

Chapter 5

Creativity and Education: Facilitating Transfer of Learning Through Digital Creativity Multimodal Analysis (DCMA) of Social Media Posts Locky Law Abstract This chapter discusses the limited research in multimodal creativity, which subsequently hinders the effectiveness of existing pedagogies in digital literacy, multimodal literacy, and creativity literacy, particularly in the aspect of transfer. Using the Analytical Framework for Creativity in Multimodal Texts (AFCMT), this study demonstrates how the transfer of learning can be facilitated through a digital creativity multimodal analysis (DCMA) of several viral social media posts from Hong Kong, placing emphasis on instructional design, content relevance and transfer specificity. Key components of AFCMT, namely the IEEE matrix and the Cline of Creativity Complexity (CCC), are discussed in terms of their flexibility and potential incorporative power with theories, hypotheses, or frameworks of other research approaches from various disciplines. Keywords Multimodal creativity · Linguistic creativity · Digital literacy · Pattern-forming · Pattern-reforming · Transfer of learning · Social media

Introduction The multifaceted nature of creativity has fascinated scholars from virtually all disciplines since the official academization of creativity in the 1920s (Pope, 2005; Vo & Carter, 2010), first popularized in the arts-education circle in the mid-1940s (Blair, 1949; Johnson, 1948), and proliferating in psychology and sociology since the 1950s (Anderson, 1959; Drevdahl, 1956; Drevdahl & Cattell, 1958; Meer & Stein, 1955; Rogers, 1954). In the past three decades, advances in computer and Internet technologies have led to the development of new modes of communication, most prominently social media, which naturally demand new explanations and theories of creativity in its digital form.

L. Law (B) Centre for Applied English Studies, The University of Hong Kong, Pok Fu Lam, Hong Kong e-mail: [email protected] © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2020 S. S. Lam (ed.), New Media Spectacles and Multimodal Creativity in a Globalised Asia, Digital Culture and Humanities 3, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-7341-5_5

95

96

L. Law

Although there is an abundance of hypotheses in creativity (see Boden, 1994, 1998, 2004, 2009; Carter, 2004; Csikszentmihalyi, 1988, 1997, 1999; Runco, Nemiro, & Walberg, 1998) and sophisticated theories in multimodality (see Bateman, 2007, 2008, 2013; Bateman and Schmidt, 2012;Kress & van Leeuwen, [1996] 2006; Veloso & Bateman, 2013) which regard them as two independent entities, a simple unified theory or an applicable framework for both phenomena as one remains to be formulated (Law, 2020), particularly one that is designed from the perspective of multimodal creativity users, such as teachers and learners of multimodal creativity, rather than solely from a scholarly point of view. In fact, studies of digital creativity in educational contexts have focused largely on evaluating the effectiveness of multimedia applications and multimodal pedagogies through case studies, drawing conclusions from samples of various sizes and offering pedagogical recommendations based on their findings (see, e.g. Bock, 2016; Marchetti & Cullen, 2016; Thurlow & Mroczek, 2011). As valuable as these case studies are, they demand a great deal of understanding, unpacking, and extraction of information from teachers prior to adapting the material they perceive as relevant into forms their students will find more accessible. Students, most of whom are accustomed to digital environments (Prensky, 2001), are expected to accept such information without knowledge of the theories and studies behind it, depriving them of the chances to question the viability of teachers’ approaches when necessary. As a result, the understanding of learning may occur, but the transfer of learning may not, simply because the negotiation of what should be learned is absent, putting content relevance at risk. Learning and transfer are two related but distinct entities: learning is the acquiring of skills and knowledge in one context, while transfer (of learning) is the application of these acquired skills and knowledge in new situations (Haskell, 2001; Perkins & Salomon, 1994; Salomon & Perkins, 1989). Because successful learning does not guarantee successful transfer in most cases (James, 2014), educators should emphasize factors that positively affect not only learning, but also transfer (Law & Fong, 2020). Studies from business, human resources development, and information management have shown that successful transfer is related to factors such as instructional design (Baldwin & Ford, 1988; Clark & Voogel, 1985), content relevance (Baldwin & Ford, 1988; Kontoghiorghes, 2002; Lim, 2000), and transfer specificity (Clark & Voogel, 1985; Goldstein, 1986; Lim & Morris, 2006; Park, Lim, & Chang, 2017). Translating these factors into the context of (digital/multimodal) creativity teaching and learning, these include providing clear instructions on understanding how creativity is defined and differentiated, perceived and recognized, formulated and (co-)constructed, and analyzed and categorized; carefully selecting transferrable content with negotiated examples from the genres of interest (such as social media posts by people who attract student interest: influencers and celebrities, artists and creatives, or business and political leaders, see Law, 2020) that exemplify a form or pattern of creativity; and specifying explicit guidelines on where and how to approach new situations as well as suggesting possible genres to which their knowledge and analytical skills can be applied, such as how to recognize and analyze creativity in songs, music, TV drama, film, emoji, and other fields.

5 Creativity and Education: Facilitating Transfer of Learning …

97

This chapter analyzes multimodal creativity in social media posts to demonstrate how these posts can facilitate transfer of learning. The first section introduces several current issues and discusses the weaknesses in addressing transfer of learning in the study of digital creativity, multimodality, multimodal creativity, and creativity in general. The second section reviews literature on the development of multimodal analysis through a semiotic approach and categorizes it into three phases: its formation in the 1980s and 1990s, intersemiosis in the 2000s, and its application in digital multimodality in the post-2010s. The third section discusses the Analytical Framework for Creativity in Multimodal Texts (AFCMT) in brief and introduces the cline of creativity (CCC). The fourth section simplifies the AFCMT for teaching and learning purposes by encapsulating the essence of the framework into five comprehensible questions, which are then used in the fifth section for the digital creativity multimodal analysis (DCMA) of three selected social media posts from Hong Kong. The final section concludes by offering suggestions on how to maximize learning transfer in digital literacy.

Background of Multimodal Analysis The 1980s and 1990s: The Formation Multimodality and its analysis have long been linked with systemic functional linguistics (SFL). First introduced by O’Toole (O’Toole, 1994) and Kress & van Leeuwen (1996 [2006]) (O’Halloran, 2007; O’Halloran et al., 2010), the multimodal analysis draws upon Halliday’s (1978; 1985; Halliday & Matthiessen, [1985] 2014) socio-semiotic theory, also known as the systemic functional (SF) theory (Knox, 2009; Martin & White, 2005; O’Halloran, 2007), which posits that language is a social semiotic resource for “meaning making” (Halliday, 1978, p. 192) and that it is functional, semantic, contextual and semiotic. Although the theory primarily focuses on language or text as object of analysis (Knox, 2009; Pang, 2004), it is applicable to non-linguistic resources too, as “text” is basically a metafunctional construct comprises of ideational, interpersonal, and textual meanings (Halliday, 1985, p. 48; Royce, 2007a, pp. 65–66), thus “they apply to all semiotic modes, and are not specific to speech or writing” (Kress & van Leeuwen, 1996 [2006], p. 42). Perhaps the earliest and one of the most crucial publications is O’Toole’s (1994) Language of Displayed Art, which applies Halliday’s social semiotic framework of language to visual art. O’Toole analyzes elements of paintings and sculptures through three new basic functions—representational, modal/interactive, and compositional/formal—while referring to Halliday’s experiential, interpersonal and textural metafunctions for architecture analysis (Keefer, 1996; O’Toole, 1994). This separation of the new functions from Halliday’s original concept is not without challenges. Keefer (1996), in particular, questions the need for O’Toole’s differentiation

98

L. Law

of functions across genres when Halliday’s metafunctions already provide sufficient theoretical coverage. In another seminal work Reading Images: The Grammar of Visual Design, Kress & van Leeuwen (1996 [2006]) take a different approach than O’Toole’s. Rather than differentiating from Halliday’s theoretical notion of metafunctions, they directly map the metafunctions realized in language to those of visual images and moving pictures: representational (ideational), interactive (interpersonal), and compositional (textual) (Kress & van Leeuwen, 1996 [2006]). The success of this metafunctional mapping has revolutionized the field of discourse analysis by opening possibilities to analyzing resources beyond language (O’Halloran, 2008). Henceforth, the “premises” of SF theory coverage has expanded steadily on the influx of enthusiasm (Baldry & Thibault, 2006; O’Halloran, 2008), providing frameworks and terminologies for describing meanings generated by a wide range of semiotic resources (Kemlo, 2008; O’Halloran, 2007) including language (Halliday & Matthiessen, [1985] 2014; Martin & White, 2005), dynamic media such as film and video (Kress & van Leeuwen, 1996 [2006]; O’Halloran, Tan, Smith, & Podlasov, 2010), film discourse (Baldry & Thibault, 2006; Bateman & Schmidt, 2012), visual images (Kress & van Leeuwen, 1996 [2006]; O’Toole, 1994; Royce, 2007a), movement and gesture (Martinec, 1998,2000,2001), music and sound (van Leeuwen, 1999). Collectively, the study of semiotic resources of various modes is known as “multimodality,” and the analysis of multimodality based on Halliday’s SF theory is known as systemic functional multimodal discourse analysis (SFMDA) (O’Halloran, 2007).

The 2000s: The Intersemiosis The subsequent development of SFMDA has taken several paths, with main focuses on “theoretical and methodological issues (mode hierarchies, modelling semiotic resources as multiple semiotic systems, multimodal corpus annotation)” involving static, dynamic, and interactive resource types while covering a broad spectrum of disciplines such as entertainment, education, architecture, medicine, translation (Ventola, Charles, & Kaltenbacher, 2004, back cover), visual design, displayed art, mathematics, hypermedia (O’Halloran, 2011), computational linguistics, ideology, and media discourse (Royce & Bowcher, 2007). Perhaps one of the most influential theoretical and descriptive contributions within the last decade, which has taken SFMDA research into yet another dimension, is the Appraisal Framework developed by Martin and White (2005). Building upon SFL frameworks, it focuses on the interpersonal meaning construed in a form of “attitudinal evaluations” (p. 2) called Appraisal (Attitude, Engagement and Graduation), which is complemented by Negotiation and Involvement at the discourse semantics level. Also, because “all texts are multimodal” (Kress & van Leeuwen, 1998, p. 186), the Appraisal description allows access to details of “the relationship between multimodal discourse, knowledge construction, identity, and affiliation” (Djonov & Zhao, 2014, p. 4).

5 Creativity and Education: Facilitating Transfer of Learning …

99

The second half of the year 2000 saw several studies of the realization of meanings in modes and a lack of studies in intersemiotics between modes (Royce, 2007a; Royce & Bowcher, 2007). The theoretical-based multimodal corpus linguistics (Baldry & Thibault, 2008) also called for more emphasis on application; as Jewitt suggests (2009, p. 12), “multimodality, it could be argued, strictly speaking, refers to a field of application rather than a theory.” Therefore, the scholars who observed these phenomena, including Kress and van Leeuwen (1996 [2006]), Baldry and Thibault (2006,2008), Royce (2007a), Bateman (2007,2008), O’Halloran (2008), Unsworth (2008), and Jewitt (2009), took the initiatives and extended their efforts in filling in these niches. O’Halloran and Smith (2011), having expanded on Kress’s (2009, p. 54) concept of multimodality as “a domain of enquiry”, proposed a “two-senses-one-continuum” (Hyland & Paltridge, 2011) characterization for the field of multimodal studies: In the first sense, multimodal studies applies existing generalisations (of theory, description, methodology) to the exploration of specific multimodal phenomena, sets of texts or contexts in order to cast new light on those domains. In the second sense multimodal studies … use texts or types of text to explore, illustrate, problematise, or apply general issues in multimodal studies, such as those arising from the development of theoretical frameworks specific to the study of multimodal phenomena, or methodological issues (including challenges in transcription, analysis and representation within publications)… …as a continuum, two different orientations – focus on general theoretical and methodological issues, or on specific domains of study – representing poles along which individual works range in terms of their major concerns. (O’Halloran & Smith, 2011, pp. 2–3).

The Post-2010s: The Application in Digital Multimodality Studies since 2010 have been motivated by the promotion of applicative intersemiotics with the likes of multimodal concordance applications, digitalized multimodal texts such as films, websites, or printed materials, multimedia language tests, and multimodal tests (Baldry & Thibault, 2008). Education has been a strong driving force behind SFL and MDA development, and the importance of multimodal resources in teaching and learning has been recognized in research in the educational context (Christie, 2005; Christie & Martin, 2007; Guo & Feng, 2015; Heberle & Abreu, 2012; Royce, 2007b; Unsworth, 2013). Digital multimodality, therefore, naturally falls into the most popular research subject category. Coffin (2013) examines interactive meaning-making processes in online discussion forums and virtual 3D worlds used for pedagogical purposes; similarly, in her doctoral thesis, Zhao (2012) develops a logogenetic model for SFMDA to yield five types of intersemiotic patterns between words and images on web-based multimodal learning materials, or multimodal interactives in primary school social science. In the field of news/journalism-related intersemiotics in multimedia, Bednarek and Caple (2012) introduced a new Balance Framework for analyzing the interactions of language and image in worldwide

100

L. Law

English news stories. Caple (2013) took a social semiotic approach to the analysis of the interactivity between news discourse and photographs. However, despite these and other studies of digital multimodality, few have examined the creativity within, and even fewer have proposed analytical frameworks designed from a creativity user’s perspective.

Analytical Framework for Creativity in Multimodal Texts (AFCMT) in Brief Law’s (2020) AFCMT is an assessment model that can be applied to linguistic creativity, multimodal creativity, and creativity in general. Although it is based on SFL, the analytical framework requires no prior knowledge of the theory, so that it is easily applicable for students and teachers. It consists of two components: the IEEE matrix (Implicit and Explicit, Endo-referenced and Exo-referenced), and the CCC (Cline of Creativity Complexity) (Law, 2018). The IEEE matrix is the combined product of two major concepts: Carter’s (2004) hypothesis of creativity in applied linguistics, and Halliday’s (1967) information status in SFL. Carter’s hypothesis of creativity posits that all instances of creativity fall into either of two main categories: pattern-reforming creativity and patternforming creativity. In pattern-reforming creativity, patterns are broken away from norms and rules, then reformed and reshaped. In pattern-forming creativity, patterns are designed according to norms and rules, creating symmetry or repetition. Law (2020) argues that regardless of the pattern-reforming or pattern-forming process, there must be observable formulas that govern the process of construction, and these are either explicit or implicit. When a formula of creativity construction is explicit, the creator provides the target with a “walkthrough” of how the creative instance is produced. On the contrary, when a formula is implicit, the creator holds back crucial information about the process of creativity construction. According to Halliday (1967), information status is either given or new. The information status can be determined by answering the question “Is this information recoverable within the preceding or same text?” If the answer is yes, the information status is given; if the answer is no, it is new. Law (2020) adopts this concept and describes the reference style of creativity that is given as endo-referenced, and creativity that is new as exo-referenced. Together, implicit, explicit, endo-referenced and exo-referenced information status form the core of the IEEE matrix: two 2 × 2 arrays with implicit and explicit as headers of two rows, and endo-referenced and exo-referenced as headers of two columns; as pattern-reforming creativity and pattern-forming creativity each has its own 2 × 2 array, there are a total of eight different elements or entries in the entire matrix. The entries of the IEEE matrix satisfy conditions with respect to the type of creativity, the implicitness/explicitness of formulas of construction, and the reference style, as reproduced in Table 5.1.

5 Creativity and Education: Facilitating Transfer of Learning …

101

Table 5.1 Analytical framework for creativity in multimodal texts (AFCMT) Types of creativity Formula of construction Reference style Pattern-forming

Pattern-reforming

Exo-referenced

Endo-referenced

Implicit

Direct use/quoting of external resources such as famous lines, quotes, speeches, sayings, idioms, metaphor, song lyrics, classic paintings, movie scenes, and dialogues without explicit citation of the source and explicitly showing the formula of repetition (Assumed)

Repeating/playing along with existing resource/someone’s creation to the user or witnesses of such use of it without explicitly showing the formula of repetition (Assumed)

Explicit

Direct use/quoting of external resources such as famous lines, quotes, speeches, sayings, idioms, metaphors, song lyrics, classic paintings, movie scenes, and dialogues by explicit citation of the source by explicitly showing the formula of repetition (Known)

Repeating/playing along with existing resource/someone’s creation to the user or witnesses of such use of it by explicitly showing the formula of repetition (Known)

Implicit

Direct creation of New/neologism without explicit citation/indication of the source and explicitly showing the formula of creation (Assumed)

Direct creation of New/neologism using existing resources without explicitly showing the formula of creation (Assumed)

Explicit

Creation of New/neologism by explicit citation/indication of the source and by explicitly showing the formula of creation (Known)

Creation of New/neologism using existing resources and by explicitly showing the formula of creation (Known)

From the IEEE matrix, Law (2018) further defines four IEEE types of creativity, listed in increasing level of complexity: explicit and endo-referenced, explicit and exo-referenced, implicit and endo-referenced, and implicit and exo-referenced. These four IEEE types rest on the CCC (see Fig. 5.1). The categorization of the IEEE types

102

L. Law

Fig. 5.1 Cline of creativity complexity (CCC)

of creativity in AFCMT helps to explain the complexity in understanding creativity in terms of explicitness and reference type. The complexity in understanding creativity is clinal. Explicit creativity occupies a lower position along the CCC than implicit creativity, as explicit creativity requires less mental effort in decrypting the formula of creativity construction. Endo-referenced creativity takes a lower position along the CCC than exo-referenced creativity, as the reference is recoverable from preceding discourse and thus requires less prior knowledge of the reference involved. From the above outline of the effect of explicitness and reference type on the complexity of creativity, four combinations of IEEE type of creativity can be represented on the CCC. Explicit and endo-referenced creativity is the easiest to comprehend, and occupies the lowest end on the CCC (CCC level 1), followed by explicit and exo-referenced creativity, which is higher up the cline (CCC level 2). Implicit and endo-referenced creativity is the second highest along the cline (CCC level 3), while implicit and exo-referenced creativity takes the highest spot (CCC level 4). Although the intention to apply certain IEEE type varies, in general, creators choose explicit creativity to maximize the target’s understanding by making the formula of creativity construction “known”, whereas in other situations, creators choose implicit creativity to assume or challenge the target’s understanding of the formula of creativity construction. Overall, the AFCMT is a framework that binds important concepts of creativity together, making it a robust tool for DCMA. Even so, the original description is tailored for researchers, and some simplification is necessary for the framework to be transferrable to teaching and learning. The next section encapsulates the essence of the AFCMT into several simple questions to make it more approachable to general creativity users.

5 Creativity and Education: Facilitating Transfer of Learning …

103

Simplifying AFCMT for Teaching and Learning Social media is an important part of the lives of Generations Y and Z. Therefore, adopting social media in teaching and learning can be beneficial in terms of understanding learning, transfer applicability, and transfer outcome. Social media posts can be creative in various ways and may consist of text, punctuation, pictographs such as emoji or emoticons, images such as photographs, GIFs, or infographics, videos, and any combinations of the above modes.

Chase Jarvis’s Twitter post: An exemplar of digital multimodal creativity The following example is a social media post with text, a photograph, and emoji, shared by Chase Jarvis, an award-winning photographer, director, artist, educator, and founder/CEO of CreativeLive, on his personal Twitter page (see Jarvis, 2018). Chase Jarvis’s Twitter account has nearly 407,000 followers and his CreativeLive Twitter account has 170,000 followers (Fig. 5.2). The first question to ask when analyzing a social media post is, “Is there any reforming or forming of patterns if only a single mode is considered, and if different modes are considered together?” For this particular example, we can ask: 1. Is there any reforming or forming of patterns if you consider … (a) (b) (c) (d)

only the text, only the image, only the emoji, any combinations of text, image, and emoji?

The answers to questions 1 a, b, c, and d are “no,” “no,” “no,” and “yes,” respectively. Because there is a ‘yes’, we continue to ask questions 2, 3, 4, and 5. 2. What and how is the pattern created? Try to explain. The creative pattern is of a forming nature, between text and image. The contrasting concepts of “stand out” and “fit in” are made visible when the image is considered, which means that both “stand out” and “fit in” are repeated: once in the form of text, and once in the form of image. The image shows only one tree growing on top of a grassy, tyre-tracked hill against a plain pinkish blue background, which is a representation of “standing out” and of the inability to “fit in” with the rest of the grass on the hill. The meaning that is made in the image resonates or repeats with the same meaning provided in text, or vice versa; therefore, this image provides an instance of pattern-forming creativity.

104

L. Law

Fig. 5.2 A Twitter post by Jarvis (2018)

3. Does the instance of creativity refer to a source that is recoverable within the preceding or same “text” (i.e. the preceding social media posts within the same thread or within the same social media posts)? If “yes,” it is endo-referenced; otherwise, it is exo-referenced. Yes. This particular instance of creativity refers to a source within the same social media post. Specifically, “stand out” and “fit in” in the text refer to “stand out” and “fit in” in the image, both belonging to the same social media post. Therefore, this instance of creativity is endo-referenced. 4. Is the formula of creativity construction shown explicitly? If “yes,” it is explicit; otherwise, it is implicit. The formula of creativity construction is presented in a non-explicit way. This is because the creator, Chase Jarvis, has not explicitly mentioned to the targets, his

5 Creativity and Education: Facilitating Transfer of Learning …

105

Twitter post viewers, how to read the image and extract the message of “stand out” and “fit in,” which are the key elements of repetition in the formula of creativity construction, from the image. Therefore, the formula of creativity construction is implicit. 5. Where should this be placed on the Cline of Creativity Complexity (CCC)? Because this instance of creativity has an implicit formula of creativity construction and an endo-referenced reference style, it is an instance of implicit and endoreferenced (pattern-forming) creativity. It is therefore at the second highest level on the CCC, or CCC level 3, requiring a high level of mental effort in decrypting the meaning that the creator intends to make. By answering these five questions, general users of multimodal creativity can apply the AFCMT to their teaching, learning, and analysis in a simple yet systematic way, thus achieving good instructional design that facilitates the understanding of creativity. The above example is of a single creative instance that requires interpretation of both text and image. The next section demonstrates how AFCMT can handle instances of multi-level or nested creativity by analyzing three other complex examples using AFCMT in detail while introducing new situations and challenges in each one. The first example focuses on the textual embeddedness of nested creativity in one popular neologism that appeared on social media during the 2017 Hong Kong Chief Executive election. The second example examines the interactions of multimodal creativity within a social media post that consists of text and panels of manga. The last example illustrates the multimodal creativity within a re-creative faux-movie poster that went viral after Super Typhoon Mangkhut hit Hong Kong in September 2018.

Analysing Multimodal Creativity in Social Media Posts “Re-creativity” as political satire in Hong Kong: Cantopop song title neologistically retitled Social media has been one of the strongest, if not the strongest, driving force in homemade creativity and “re-creativity” among young people. The widespread ownership of computers and mobile devices on a global scale has facilitated the significant growth in the number of videos and images shared on the Internet. The following example from social media in the Hong Kong context demonstrates the flexibility of the proposed analytical framework for creativity in multimodal texts. The importance of social media to the people of Hong Kong is attributed to language use and information technology usage. In Hong Kong, Cantonese is the first language of approximately 90% of the population (Census and Statistics Department, 2017) and it is used in both formal and informal settings in verbal communication.

106

L. Law

Although traditional Chinese characters are the official logographs used in the city (GovHK, 2017), written Cantonese is also commonly used on social media. English is also used as an official language by the executive authorities, legislature, and judiciary (GovHK, 2008) and is used by 53.2% of the population (Census and Statistics Department, 2017). In terms of Information Technology usage, the household broadband penetration rate and fibre-to-the-home/building (FTTH/B) household penetration rate as of October 2018 are 92.8% and 73.9%, respectively (OFCA, 2019). The mobile subscriber penetration rate as of September 2018 is 256.7%, which is equivalent to 19,124,197 subscribers (OFCA, 2019). The first example to be discussed is the neologism ‘葡萄乘淑儀/葡萄X淑儀’ (literal translation: ‘grapes crossover Regina’; see Fig. 5.3). This neologism has been one of the most influential instances of creativity during the period of the 2017 Hong Kong Chief Executive election, as it has not only triggered other instances of “recreativity” from social media, but has also attracted attention from local newspapers (Apple Daily, 2016a; ET Net, 2017), web media (Coconuts Hong Kong, 2016), and even the German Consulate General Hong Kong, a diplomatic mission in Hong Kong (German Consulate General Hong Kong, 2016; Apple Daily, 2016b). The term ‘葡 萄乘淑儀/葡萄X淑儀’ was first created and shared on HKGalden.com by a netizen known as cheksiuting 葉瘤花生之友 (cheksiuting, 2016), as the title of his rewritten song based on an original, 葡萄成熟時 (2005), written by lyricist Wyman Wong and sung by Hong Kong singer Eason Chan Yick-shun (Rainsun, 2015). The rewritten song is based on then-Legislative Council (LegCo) member Ms. Regina Ip Lau Sukyee’s campaign in the 2017 Hong Kong Chief Executive election. It describes a series of events that happened to Ip during this period, with lyrics in written Cantonese [see Shek, 2016 (Chow & Cheung, 2016)].

Fig. 5.3 葡萄X淑儀 Song and artwork (Shek, 2016)

5 Creativity and Education: Facilitating Transfer of Learning …

107

The term “葡萄乘淑儀/葡萄X淑儀” itself is an instance of both patternreforming creativity and pattern-forming creativity. It is pattern-reformingly creative because when considered as a noun phrase, a nickname for Regina Ip, it is a completely new and unique word in the Canto-Chinese lexicon. This neologism is formed from a blend of a noun “葡萄” (‘grape’), a transitive verb “X” (short for ‘cross’ or ‘crossover’, and also a mathematical operator that is translated into Chinese as “乘”) and proper noun “淑儀” (‘Regina (Ip)’). Each of these three parts originates from different sources and thus carries different meanings. The noun “ 葡萄” (‘grape’) is taken from the Chinese version of the expression “sour grapes” (“吃不到的葡萄是酸的”) which originates from Aesop’s fable The Fox and the Grapes (狐狸與葡萄). The term “葡萄” (‘grape’) can also act as an adjective and carries the same meaning as the expression ‘sour grapes’, which is “used to refer to an attitude in which someone adopts a negative attitude to something because they cannot have it themselves” according to the Oxford English Dictionary. The transitive verb “X” or “乘” comes from ‘cross’ or ‘crossover,’ borrowed from the notion of “crossover” marketing strategy, which refers to “generat[ing] new brand or product by uniting with two brands in different areas” (Ji & Shen, 2013, p. 1364). The proper noun “淑儀” (‘Regina (Ip)’) is present as she is the main subject of this pattern-reforming creativity. Combining all three meanings together, the neologism represents a term used to shame LegCo member Regina Ip, who, during the 2017 election, had shown a negative attitude towards other, more popular candidates because she had failed to achieve a comparative level of popularity. This instance of pattern-reforming creativity is implicit as it has not mentioned explicitly the formula for the creation of neologism and the target is assumed to be able to discover it; and exo-referenced because it does not cite any internal sources. At this point of discussion, this instance of implicit and exo-referenced pattern-reforming creativity is therefore on the highest CCC level, level 4, requiring the highest level of mental effort and background knowledge of multiple external references in order to decipher the meaning that the creator intends to make. This neologism is also a pattern-formingly creative one. This becomes apparent when considering why the neologism is phrased only as ‘葡萄乘淑儀/葡萄X淑儀’ (literal translation: ‘grapes crossover Regina’) and not the reverse ‘淑儀乘葡萄/淑 儀 X葡萄’ (literal translation: ‘Regina crossover grapes’). The answer lies in the formula of construction of this instance of creativity in relation to the Cantopop song. First, the lyrics of the song 葡萄乘淑儀/葡萄X淑儀 (literal translation: ‘grapes crossover Regina’) by netizen cheksiuting (2016) includes the name of the original song 葡萄成熟時 (literal translation: ‘the grapes are ripe’) and the nickname of the singer 吹神 (referring to Hong Kong singer Eason Chan Yick-shun) in his rewritten lyrics; therefore, it is an instance of pattern-forming creativity with a formula of construction that is made explicit and to a source that is exo-referenced. This puts this instance of explicit, exo-referenced pattern-forming creativity on CCC level 2. Second, the neologism “葡萄乘淑儀/葡萄X淑儀” (literal translation: ‘grapes crossover Regina’, LSHK Cantonese syllables: pou4 tou4 sing4 suk6 ji4) actually rhymes with the title of a Cantopop love song, “葡萄成熟時” (literal translation:

108

L. Law

‘the grapes are ripe’, LSHK Cantonese syllables: pou4 tou4 sing4 suk6 si4) by lyricist Wyman Wong, differing only by the initial sound of the final Chinese character when they are read in Cantonese, showing that even the title is an instance of patternforming creativity that is explicit and exo-referenced. Again, this instance of explicit, exo-referenced pattern-forming creativity lies on CCC level 2. Third, tracing yet another level of creativity, Wyman Wong, named the original Cantopop song “葡萄成熟時” (literal translation: ‘the grapes are ripe’) after the Cantonese/Chinese translation of the English name of a German movie, The Fruit Is Ripe (1977) (original title in German: Griechische Feigen, see Fig. 5.4). Therefore, the cross-reference becomes an instance of implicit and exo-referenced pattern-forming

Fig. 5.4 The Fruit Is Ripe (1977) video disc cover with traditional Chinese title (Credit: Lisa-Film)

5 Creativity and Education: Facilitating Transfer of Learning …

109

creativity. From this perspective, this instance of implicit and exo-referenced patternforming creativity is again on the highest CCC level 4. Overall, this example consists of a total of four instances of creativity—two CCC level 2, and two CCC level 4 pattern-forming and pattern-reforming creative instances—stemming from one single neologism with no less than seven different exo-references interlinked with one another on multiple levels: ‘grape’, ‘crossover’, ‘Regina Ip’, ‘sour grapes’ from The Fox and the Grapes, the 2017 Hong Kong Chief Executive election, the original Cantopop, and The Fruit Is Ripe. The complexity of its creativity construction makes this widely-adopted social media neologism a demanding task for targets to interpret and understand fully, but also an effective exemplar of how much creativity can be packed in one single neologism.

Ten Billion Negative Power Fighter: Dragon Ball Z manga parody by a Hong Kong Facebook comic artist The second example, shown in Fig. 5.5, is taken from the Facebook page 100億 負能量戰士@negativepowerfighter (direct translation: ‘10 Billion Negative Power Fighter’; see 100億負能量戰士, 2018), which has over 17,000 followers. The page is a platform on which its author releases negative energy from the workplace by sharing parody versions of Dragon Ball Z manga strips. This post appeared on 4 January 2018 with a caption in traditional Chinese text that translates to “When the business is good, it is inevitable that the global economy will get worse next year. When the business is not good, (the global economy) will definitely be worse next year, so you had better not ask for pay rise nor bonuses.” Below the caption was a re-created image of a three-panel manga featuring an office-worker version of Vegeta (a white-collar employee) and Freeza (a white-collar employer) from the original Dragon Ball Z manga. The first panel shows the back of Freeza addressing some employees including a serious-looking Vegeta who is facing the viewers. “Last year… (Freeza says,) ‘Colleagues, since the company’s business is not satisfactory this year, I hope that everyone can tide over present hardship together with the company by freezing your salary for a year.’” The second panel shows a similar scene with slight differences, “This year… (Freeza says,) ‘Although the company’s business performance was satisfactory last year, I expect that Hong Kong’s economy will deteriorate in the next year, as a precautionary and pre-emptive measure, (your) salary…’” An angry, teeth-gritting Vegeta with visible veins on both sides of his forehead thinks to himself, “no pay raise again?” In the last panel, the scene is moved to a car park in which Vegeta is thinking to himself, “! Boss switched to a new car!” while looking at a shiny new car beside his own dirty car with cracks, trembling, with visible veins on the right side of his forehead.

110

L. Law

Fig. 5.5 Ten Billion Negative Power Fighter: A Dragon Ball Z manga parody (100億負能量戰 士, 2018)

5 Creativity and Education: Facilitating Transfer of Learning …

111

This social media post combines several instances of creativity, which include: (a) the reforming and forming of the Facebook page title into traditional Chinese 100 億負能量戰士 ‘10 Billion Negative Power Fighter’ from the original Dragon Ball Z title, translated from traditional Chinese 100億能量戰士 ‘10 Billion Power Fighter’ (pattern-reforming creativity and pattern-forming creativity); (b) the resonance of the caption with the text in the image (pattern-forming creativity); (c) the adoption of characters and vehicles from the original Dragon Ball Z characters (pattern-forming creativity), as well as the re-creation of characters and vehicles from the original Dragon Ball Z characters (pattern-reforming creativity); and, (d) the similarities between panel 1 and panel 2 in the texts and images (patternforming creativity), as well as the differences between panel 1 and panel 2 in the texts and images (pattern-reforming creativity). In (a), the Facebook page title makes an exo-reference to one of the original Dragon Ball Z titles that was not explicitly mentioned to the page visitors; therefore, it is an instance of implicit, exo-referenced pattern-reforming and forming creativity, with a creativity complexity level of CCC level 4. In (b), the resonance of the caption with the text in the image, thanks to the repetitions of many keywords, has a formula of creativity construction that is simple and obvious enough to be considered as explicit. As both the caption and the text are found within the same post, this instance of pattern-forming creativity is an explicit, endo-referenced one that is on CCC level 1. In (c), the adoption and re-creation of characters and vehicles are exo-references because the original characters were created by Japanese manga artist Akira Toriyama, outside the context of the social media post or the Facebook page. The formula of creativity construction is explicit enough for readers to tell that the original Dragon Ball Z characters Vegeta and Freeza are not playing their usual roles in the original manga or movie, but new roles as, respectively, the employee and the employer. Therefore, this is an instance of explicit, exo-referenced pattern-forming and pattern-reforming creativity on CCC level 2. Finally, in (d), the similarities and differences in the images and texts are observable and obvious enough to be considered explicit illustrations of the formula of creativity construction. The similarities form a consistent pattern whereas the minor differences in this pattern immediately reform the pattern, and because these forming and reforming of patterns occur within panels 1 and 2, this instance of pattern-forming and pattern-reforming creativity is endo-referenced, placing it on CCC level 1. Overall, the creator has used a total of four instances of creativity—two CCC level 1, one CCC level 2, and one CCC level 4 pattern-forming and pattern-reforming creative instances—in this manga-based social media post to illustrate the frustration white-collar workers often feel towards their employers in Hong Kong’s workplace culture.

112

L. Law

“Working after hurricane” movie poster parodies: post-Super Tyhpoon Mangkhut reactions from the Hong Kong netizens On 16 September 2018, Super Typhoon Mangkhut, which holds the record of “the second longest duration of Signal No. 10 since World War II,” hit Hong Kong. The Signal was hoisted for 10 h, second only to Typhoon York, which lasted 11 h. Mangkhut caused severe damages regionwide, including at least 82 deaths in Luzon, injuring more than 636 others in Luzon, Hong Kong, and Macau combined, and producing more than 60,000 reports of fallen trees in Hong Kong alone (Hong Kong Observatory, 2018). However, because the Typhoon Signal No. 10 was downgraded to Signal No. 8 at 7:40 pm on 16 September 2018 and subsequently to Signal No. 3 at 5:20 am on 17 September 2018, most Hong Kong office workers had to return to work even when major roads were closed and public transport paralyzed (Hong Kong Observatory, 2018). Communities urged the Hong Kong government to order a day off on 17 September 2018 (Cheng, 2018a), only for Chief Executive Carrie Lam to advise employers to take “considerate and flexible” measures (Cheng, 2018b). The example in Fig. 5.6 is an image of a faux-movie poster shared by netizen Pluto Mak on a Facebook group page, which subsequently went viral on the Internet (The Standard, 2018). The image consists of written traditional Chinese and English texts with fonts typically seen in a contemporary movie poster in Hong Kong, overlaying a vignetted photograph, taken on Kennedy Road on 17 September 2018, of a man in a white shirt and dark-coloured trousers carrying his backpack and standing in front of an unknown number of fallen trees (Cheng, 2018c). From top to bottom, the translations of the traditional Chinese texts, together with English texts, are as follows: Embark on this endless journey HEADING TO WORK Working after hurricane Starring Hong Kong employees September 17 The entire city goes to work MANGKHUT presents A FILM BY HONGKONG PEOPLE, “WORKING AFTER HURRICANE”, HONGKONG EMPLOYEES written by THE POOR GUY, directed by HONGKONG GOVERNMENT, co-producer MTR CORPORATION”

This example involves the following instances of creativity: i.

the reforming of a pattern from the original photograph to a faux-movie poster (pattern-reforming creativity);

5 Creativity and Education: Facilitating Transfer of Learning …

113

Fig. 5.6 “Working after hurricane” a faux-movie poster by netizen Pluto Mak that went viral in Hong Kong (The Standard, 2018)

ii. the forming of a pattern between the layout of text, font types, and font sizes with a typical contemporary movie poster in Hong Kong (pattern-forming creativity); and iii. the reforming of a pattern from the substitution of the movie production company and team members’ names by names of the parties involved in the typhoon situation (pattern-reforming creativity).

114

L. Law

In (i), the original photograph is reformed by adding vignettes and various movie poster-style elements in order to create a realistic movie poster that viewers will perceive as such; however, this information on the formula of creativity construction is not explicit. The creator assumes a level of prior knowledge and experience with movie poster elements on the part of the targets, which is not given in the image itself. Therefore, this instance of pattern-reforming creativity is implicit and exoreferenced, placing it on CCC level 4. As in (i), the creator has not been explicit about how the layout of text, font types, and font sizes are used to create a realistic movie poster-like appearance in (ii). The targets are assumed to possess adequate knowledge to interpret how such a layout of text and use of font types and sizes work coherently to form and construct an appearance of what a contemporary movie poster should look like. Thus, this instance of pattern-forming creativity is implicit and exo-referenced, a CCC level 4 difficulty. In (iii), the texts include several words related to movies, such as “presents,” “A film by,” “written by,” “directed by,” and “co-producer,” so that this instance of pattern-forming creativity uses an explicit creativity construction formula. However, because many nominal groups are external references that cannot be found within the same image, such as “Hong Kong employees,” “Hong Kong people,” “Working after hurricane,” “The Poor Guy,” “Hong Kong government,” and “MTR corporation,” and each one carries certain specific cultural information— for instance, “Hong Kong employees” follow their employers’ instructions closely, “Hong Kong people” are commonly known as hard working, “Working after hurricane” is generally tiring, unwilling, chaotic, and difficult, “The Poor Guy’ rhymes with the Cantonese slang word 仆街 (LSHK Cantonese syllables: pok1 gaai1), which means “The jerk,” the “Hong Kong government” refused to order a day off on 17 September 2018, and “MTR Corporation” is the largest public railway transport operator in Hong Kong—this creative instance is an example of explicit, exo-referenced pattern-forming creativity, which is CCC level 2. Overall, the creator has used a total of three instances of creativity—one CCC level 2 and two CCC level 4 pattern-forming and pattern-reforming creative instances—in this faux-movie poster on a widely-shared social media post, in order to depict the frustration that Hong Kong employees feel towards their employers and the local government.

Conclusion Following analysis of relevant and transferrable examples of social media posts using the straightforward AFCMT, educators should address transfer specificity by specifying or eliciting from learners how the same analytical procedures can be applied to other examples on social media from other cultural settings, or examples from other genres. For instance, how can AFCMT be used to perform DCMA on posts with various 3 × 3 and 3 × 4 Instagram grid layouts (see https://thepreviewapp. com/7-types-instagram-grid-layouts-planner-tips/), or scenes from TV dramas and movies, or even company logos (Law, 2020) or comic books (see Veloso, & Bateman, 2013)?

5 Creativity and Education: Facilitating Transfer of Learning …

115

This chapter has addressed the paucity of research work in digital creativity, and the resulting lack of pedagogical references and direction in related teaching and learning. It offers suggestions to enhance the transfer of learning in digital and multimodal creativity literacy by strengthening instructional design, content relevance, and transfer specificity. Using carefully selected, content relevant examples from social media leading to transfer specific guidelines for other genres, this chapter demonstrates the usefulness of AFCMT in achieving effective instructional design, which in turn enhances the transfer of learning. More specifically, this chapter uses the IEEE matrix to describe the CCC, providing a basic model of systemic description for the clinal nature of creativity complexity. It also reveals the flexibility of the IEEE matrix, the CCC, and AFCMT as a whole in terms of its potential incorporative power with theories, hypotheses, or frameworks of other research approaches from various disciplines.

References 100億負能量戰士. (2018, January 4). 「生意好的時候必然預計下年環球經濟會轉 [Status update; Image attached]. Facebook. https://www.facebook.com/negativepowerfighter/photos/a. 1518278508246493/1751530668254608/ Anderson, H. H. (1959). Creativity and its cultivation. Apple Daily. (2016a, 12 13). 葡萄X淑儀寸財:爺辭職唔係咁簡單要有諮詢. Retrieved from 特首 選戰 2017—【特首選戰】: https://ce2017.appledaily.com.hk/articles/1_56042609 Apple Daily. (2016b, October 30). 葡萄X淑儀 德國佬都抽水添. Retrieved from 蘋果日報: https:// hk.apple.nextmedia.com/news/art/20161030/19817115 Baldry, A., & Thibault, P. J. (2006). Multimodal transcription and text analysis: A multimedia toolkit and coursebook. London: Equinox. Baldry, A., & Thibault, P. J. (2008). Applications of multimodal concordances. Hermes—Journal of Language and Communication Studies, 11–41. Baldwin, T., & Ford, J. K. (1988). Transfer of training: A review and directions for future research. Personnel Psychology, 41, 63–105. Bateman, J. A. (2007). Towards a grande paradigmatique of film: Christian Metz reloaded. Semiotica, 167(1–4), 13–64. Bateman, J. A. (2008). Multimodality and genre: A foundation for the systematic analysis of multimodal documents. Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillan. Bateman, J. A. (2013). Hallidayan systemic-functional semiotics and the analysis of the moving audiovisual image. Text & Talk, 33(4–5), 641–663. Bateman, J. A., & Schmidt, K.-H. (2012). Multimodal film analysis: How films mean. London & New York: Routledge. Bednarek, M., & Caple, H. (2012). News discourse. London & New York: Continuum. Blair, G. M. (1949). The content of educational psychology. Journal of Educational Psychology, 40(5), 267–274. Bock, Z. (2016). Multimodality, creativity and children’s meaning-making: Drawings, writings, imaginings. Stellenbosch Papers in Linguistics Plus, 49, 1–21. https://doi.org/10.5842/49-0-669 Boden, M. A. (1994). What is creativity? In M. A. Boden (Ed.), Dimensions of creativity (pp. 75– 117). Cambridge, Massachusetts: MIT Press. Boden, M. A. (1998). Creativity and artificial intelligence. Artificial Intelligence, 103, 347–356. Boden, M. A. (2004). The creative mind: Myths and mechanisms (2nd ed.). London: Routledge. Boden, M. A. (2009). Computer models of creativity. AI Magazine, 30(3), 23–34.

116

L. Law

Caple, H. (2013). Photojournalism: A social semiotic approach. Hampshire & New York: Palgrave Macmillan. Carter, R. (2004). Language and creativity: The art of common talk. London: Routledge. Census and Statistics Department. (2017, February 27). Proportion of population aged 5 and over able to speak selected languages/dialects by year. Retrieved March 15, 2017, from 2016 Population By-census: https://www.bycensus2016.gov.hk/en/bc-mt.html cheksiuting. (2016, October 27). [原創][改詞] 葡萄*淑儀. Retrieved from 香港膠登 HKGalden: https://hkgalden.com/view/384946 Cheng, K. (2018a, September 17). Community groups urge Chief Exec. Carrie Lam to order day off for Super Typhoon Mangkhut clean-up. Retrieved from Hong Kong Free Press HKFP: https://www.hongkongfp.com/2018/09/17/community-groups-urge-chief-exec-car rie-lam-order-day-off-super-typhoon-mangkhut-clean/ Cheng, K. (2018b, September 17). Chief Executive urges employers to be considerate as damage from Typhoon Mangkhut causes delays. Retrieved from Hong Kong Free Press HKFP: https://www.hongkongfp.com/2018/09/17/chief-executive-urges-employers-con siderate-damage-typhoon-mangkhut-causes-delays/ Cheng, K. (2018c, September 18). In pictures: Hongkongers’ post-typhoon commutes spawn memes and Photoshop wizardry. Retrieved from Hong Kong Free Press HKFP: https://www.hon gkongfp.com/2018/09/18/pictures-hongkongers-post-typhoon-commutes-spawn-memes-photos hop-wizardry/ Chow, V., & Cheung, A. (2016). [膠登音樂台]《葡萄乘淑儀》 (原曲: 《葡萄成熟時》 , 陳奕迅) [Recorded by 小. 妁]. Hong Kong, Hong Kong: T. Shek. Retrieved March 17, 2017, from https:// www.youtube.com/watch?v=m5GCpHBljCI Christie, F. (2005). Language education in the primary years. Sydney: University of New South Wales Press. Christie, F., & Martin, J. (Eds.). (2007). Language, knowledge and pedagogy: Functional linguistic and sociological perspectives. London and New York: Continuum. Clark, R. E., & Voogel, A. (1985). Transfer of training principles for instructional design. Education Communication and Technology Journal, 33, 113–123. Coconuts Hong Kong. (2016, December 15). R.IP: Netizens Photoshop Regina Ip’s Chief Executive campaign poster to spell out ‘death’ for Hong Kong. Retrieved from Coconuts Hong Kong: https://coconuts.co/hongkong/news/rip-chief-executive-hopeful-regina-ip-mockedonline-campaign-poster-gaffe/ Coffin, C. (2013, August). Using systemic functional linguistics to explore digital technologies in educational contexts. In: S. Sarangi (Ed.), Text & Talk, 33(4–5), 497–522. Csikszentmihalyi, M. (1988). Society, culture, and person: A systems view of creativity. In R. Sternberg (Ed.), The nature of creativity. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. Csikszentmihalyi, M. (1997). Creativity: Flow and the psychology of discovery and invention. New York: Harper Collins. Csikszentmihalyi, M. (1999). Implications of a systems perspective for the study of creativity. In R. J. Sternberg (Ed.), Handbook of creativity (pp. 313–335). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. Djonov, E., & Zhao, S. (Eds.). (2014). Critical multimodal studies of popular culture. New York: Routledge. Drevdahl, J. E. (1956). Factors of importance for creativity. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 12(1), 21–26. Drevdahl, J. E., & Cattell, R. B. (1958). Journal of Clinical Psychology. Personality and creativity in artists and writers. ET Net. (2017, February 17).《立會透視鏡–馬天娜》 西環為林鄭組織「突擊隊」. Retrieved from 經濟通 ET Net: https://www.etnet.com.hk/www/tc/news/categorized_news_detail.php?cat egory=latest&newsid=ETN270217903 German Consulate General Hong Kong. (2016, October 29). Word of the week: Saucer. Retrieved from German Consulate General Hong Kong Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/German ConsulateGeneralHongKong/photos/a.527198957480227.1073741830.500121550187968/583 340511866071/?type=3&theater

5 Creativity and Education: Facilitating Transfer of Learning …

117

Goldstein, I. L. (1986). Training in organizations: Needs assessment, development, and evaluation. Pacific Grove, CA: Brooks/Cole. GovHK. (2008, March 17). Chapter I : General principles. Retrieved March 15, 2017, from Basic Law Full Text: https://www.basiclaw.gov.hk/en/basiclawtext/chapter_1.html GovHK. (2017, March 15). Homepage (Residents). Retrieved March 15, 2017, from GovHK 香港 政府一站通: https://www.basiclaw.gov.hk/tc/basiclawtext/ Guo, S. N., & Feng, D. Z. (2015). Infusing multiliteracies into English language curriculum: The visual construction of knowledge in English textbooks from an ontogenetic perspective. Linguistics and Education, 31, 115–129. Halliday, M. (1967). Notes on transitivity and theme in English: Part 2. Journal of Linguistics, 3(2), 199–244. Halliday, M. (1978). Language as social semiotic. London: Edward Arnold. Halliday, M. (1985). An introduction to functional grammar. London: Edward Arnold. Halliday, M., & Matthiessen, C. M. (2014 [1985]). Halliday’s introduction to functional grammar (4th edn.) London, New York: Routledge. Haskell, R. (2001). Transfer of learning: Cognition, instruction, and reasoning (Educational psychology). San Diego: Academic Press. Heberle, V. M., & Abreu, B. B. (2012). Investigating multimodality: An analysis of students’ diary journals. Linguagem Em Foco, 1, 77–96. Hong Kong Observatory. (2018). Super Typhoon Mangkhut (1822): 7 to 17 September 2018. Retrieved from Hong Kong Observatory: https://www.weather.gov.hk/informtc/mangkhut18/rep ort.htm Hyland, K., & Paltridge, B. (Eds.). (2011). Bloomsbury companion to discourse analysis. London & New York: Continuum. James, M. A. (2014). Learning transfer in English-for-academic-purposes contexts: A systematic review of research. Journal of English for Academic Purposes, 14, 1–13. Jarvis, C. [chasejarvis]. (2018, September 17). Reminder—you can’t stand out and fit in at the same time [Tweet; Image attached]. Twitter. https://twitter.com/chasejarvis/status/104150 0744980082688 Jewitt, C. (Ed.). (2009). The Routledge handbook of multimodal analysis. London: Routledge. Ji, X., & Shen, H. (2013). The research of “crossover” marketing strategy. In E. Qi, J. Shen, & R. Dou (Ed.), The 19th International Conference on Industrial Engineering and Engineering Management, pp. 1363–1370. Berlin, Heidelberg: Springer. Retrieved from https://link.springer. com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-642-38442-4_143 Johnson, R. E. (1948). Fine arts as a means of personality integration. The School Review, 223–228. Keefer, D. (1996). Review of Michael O’Toole’s the language of displayed art. Retrieved November 24, 2014, from Rhode Island School of Design: https://faculty.risd.edu/dkeefer/ldarev.htm Kemlo, J. (2008). Different voices? Film and text or film as text: Considering the process of film adaptation from the perspective of discourse. MHRA Working Papers in the Humanities, 3, 13–24. Knox, J. S. (2009, August 21). Multimodal discourse on online newspaper home pages: A socialsemiotic perspective. Retrieved May 8, 2013, from The Sydney eScholarship Repository: https:// ses.library.usyd.edu.au/handle/2123/7696 Kontoghiorghes, C. (2002). Predicting motivation to learn and motivation to transfer learning back to the job in a service organization: A new systemic model for training effectiveness. Performance Improvement Quarterly, 15(3), 114–129. Kress, G. (2009). What is mode? In C. Jewitt (Ed.), The Routledge handbook of multimodal approach (pp. 54–66). London: Routledge. Kress, G., & van Leeuwen, T. (1998). Front pages. The critical analysis of newspaper layout. In A. Bell, & P. Garrett (Eds.), Approaches to media discourse (pp. 186–219). Oxford: Wiley Blackwell. Kress, G., & van Leeuwen, T. (1996 [2006]). Reading images: The grammar of visual design . (2nd edn.) London and New York: Routledge.

118

L. Law

Law, L. (2018). House M.D. and creativity: A corpus linguistic systemic functional discourse analysis approach. Ph.D. Thesis, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University. PolyU Electronic Theses. https://theses.lib.polyu.edu.hk/handle/200/9777 Law, L. (2020). Creativity and multimodality: An analytical framework for creativity in multimodal texts (AFCMT). Linguistics and Human Sciences, 14(1–2), 36–69. https://doi.org/10.1558/lhs. 33598 Law, L. (2020). Enhancing digital literacy through the understanding of multimodal creativity in social media: a case study of Elon Musk’s social-influencer discourse in his Twitter posts. Journal of Global Literacies, Technologies, and Emerging Pedagogies. Law, L. & Fong, N. (2020). Applying partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) in an investigation of undergraduate students’ learning transfer of academic English. Journal of English for Academic Purposes. Lim, D. H. (2000). Training design factors influencing transfer of training to the workplace within an international context. Journal of Vocational Education and Training, 52(2), 243–257. Lim, D. H., & Morris, M. L. (2006). Influence of trainee characteristics, instructional satisfaction, and organizational climate on perceived learning and training transfer. Human Resource Development Quarterly, 17(1), 85–115. https://doi.org/10.1002/hrdq.1162 Marchetti, L., & Cullen, P. (2016). A multimodal approach in the classroom for creative learning and teaching. CASALC Review 2/2016-2017, 2, 39–51. Martin, J., & White, P. R. (2005). The language of evaluation: Appraisal in English. Hampshire & New York: Palgrave Macmillian. Martinec, R. (1998). Cohesion in action. Semiotica, 120(1–2), 168–180. Martinec, R. (2000). Types of processes in action. Semiotica, 130(3–4), 243–268. Martinec, R. (2001). Interpersonal resources in action. Semiotica, 135(1–4), 117–145. Meer, B., & Stein, M. I. (1955). Measures of intelligence and creativity. The Journal of Psychology, 39(1), 117–126. OFCA. (2019, March 12). Key communications statistics. Retrieved March 17, 2017, from Office of the Communications Authority: https://www.ofca.gov.hk/en/media_focus/data_statistics/key_ stat/ O’Halloran, K. L. (2007). Multimodal analysis and digital technology. In A. Baldry, & E. Montagna (Eds.), Interdisciplinary perspectives on multimodality: Theory and practice. Campobasso: Palladino. O’Halloran, K. L. (2008). Systemic functional-multimodal discourse analysis (SF-MDA): Constructing ideational meaning using language and visual imagery. Visual Communication, 7(4), 443–475. O’Halloran, K. L. (2011). Multimodal discourse analysis. In K. Hyland & B. Paltridge (Eds.), Companion to discourse. London and New York: Continuum. O’Halloran, K. L., & Smith, B. (Eds.). (2011). Multimodal studies: Exploring issues and domains. New York: Routledge. O’Halloran, K. L., Tan, S., Smith, B., & Podlasov, A. (2010). Challenges in designing digital interfaces for the study of multimodal phenomena. Information Design Journal. O’Toole, M. (1994). The language of displayed art. Cranbury: Associated University Presses. Pang, A. K. (2004). Making history in From Colony to Nation: A multimodal analysis of a museum exhibition in Singapore. In K. L. O’Halloran (Ed.), Multimodal discourse analysis: Systemic functional perspectives (pp. 28–54). London & New York: Continuum. Park, Y. H., Lim, D. H., & Chang, J. H. (2017). Trainee versus supervisor assessment of training transfer: Mediational analysis of transfer variables. Asia Pacific Journal of Human Resources, 55, 192–212. https://doi.org/10.1111/1744-7941.12116 Perkins, D. N., & Salomon, G. (1994). Contribution to the international encyclopedia of education (2nd ed.). Retrieved December 3, 2018, from https://web.archive.org/web/20070208182842/http:/ learnweb.harvard.edu/alps/thinking/docs/traencyn.htm Pope, R. (2005). Creativity: Theory, history, practice. London: Routledge.

5 Creativity and Education: Facilitating Transfer of Learning …

119

Prensky, M. (2001). Digital natives, Digital immigrants, part 1. On the Horizon, 9(5), 1–6. https:// doi.org/10.1108/10748120110424816 Rainsun, L. (2015, July 24). 再來一次,何足掛齒/林雨陽. Retrieved from 謎米音樂: https://news. memehk.com/posts/9004 Rogers, C. R. (1954). Toward a theory of creativity. ETC, 11, 249–260. Rothemund, S. (Dir.). (1977). The fruit is ripe (Griechische feigen) [Motion Picture]. Royce, T. (2007a). Intersemiotic complementarity: A framework for multimodal discourse analysis. In T. Royce & W. L. Bowcher (Eds.), New directions in the analysis of multimodal discourse (pp. 63–109). New Jersey and London: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. Royce, T. (2007b). Multimodal communicative competence in second language contexts. In T. Royce & W. L. Bowcher (Eds.), New directions in the analysis of multimodal discourse (pp. 361– 403). New Jersey and London: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. Royce, T., & Bowcher, W. (2007). New direction in the analysis of multimodal discourse. Mahwah, New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. Runco, M. A., Nemiro, J., & Walberg, H. J. (1998). Personal explicit theories of creativity. Journal of Creative Behavior, 32(1), 1–17. Salomon, G., & Perkins, D. N. (1989). Rocky roads to transfer: Rethinking mechanisms of a neglected phenomenon. Educational Psychologist, 24(2), 113–142. The Standard. (2018, September 18). Laughing in the face of the big blow. Retrieved from The Standard: https://www.thestandard.com.hk/section-news.php?id=200291 Thurlow, C., & Mroczek, K. R. (Eds.). (2011). Multimodal creativity and identities of expertise in the digital ecology of a World of Warcraft guild. New York: Oxford University Press. Unsworth, L. (2008). Multimodal semiotics: Functional analysis in contexts of education. London & New York: Continuum. Unsworth, L. (2013). Re-configuring image-language relations and interpretive possibilities in picture books as animated movies: A site for developing multimodal literacy pedagogy. In V. V. Heberle (Ed.), Ilha do Desterro: A Journal of English Language, Literature in English and Cultural Studies, 15–48. van Leeuwen, T. (1999). Speech, music, sound. London: Macmillan. Veloso, F. O., & Bateman, J. A. (2013). The multimodal construction of acceptability: Marvel’s Civil War comic books and the PATRIOT Act. Critical Discourse Studies, 10(4), 1–19. Ventola, E., Charles, C., & Kaltenbacher, M. (2004). Introduction. In E. Ventola, C. Charles, & M. Kaltenbacher (Eds.), Perspectives on multimodality (pp. 1–6). Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins Publishing Company. Vo, T. A., & Carter, R. (2010). What can a corpus tell us about creativity? In A. O’Keeffe & M. McCarthy (Eds.), The Routledge handbook of corpus linguistics (pp. 302–315). Abingdon: Routledge. Zhao, S. (2012, May 28). Learning through multimedia interaction: The construal of primary social science knowledge in web-based digital learning materials. Retrieved December 1, 2014, from The Sydney eScholarship Repository: Learning Through Multimedia Interaction: The Construal of Primary Social Science Knowledge in Web-based Digital Learning Materials: https://ses.lib rary.usyd.edu.au/handle/2123/8376

Dr. Locky Law is a Senior Research Assistant in the Centre for Applied English Studies, the University of Hong Kong. He holds a PhD in linguistics at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University. He specializes in linguistic theories, the creation and development of linguistic models, corpus creation and quantitative analysis. He has published in journals such as Corpora, Linguistics, and Human Sciences, and Journal of English for Academic Purposes. His areas of research interests are creativity, multimodality, telecinematic discourse, systemic functional linguistics, EAP, ESP, digital literacy, and computer-assisted language learning and teaching. He is a reviewer for The Asian Journal of Applied Linguistics.

Part II

Art, Design, and Media Communication in the Digital Age

Chapter 6

The Two Logics of the “Lion Rock Spirit” Re-Represented by FortunePharmHK’s Branding Television Commercial Sunny Sui-kwong Lam

Abstract In 2015, FortunePharmHK produced a branding television commercial (TVC) using the core concepts and values of Hong Kong locality and the “Lion Rock spirit” to align its brand identity with the local culture and civic identity. This chapter examines FortunePharmHK’s use of locality and local identity discourses to create a mythology for the brand and for Hong Kong with the Lion Rock spirit and the Hongkonger identity. The local pharmacy rearticulates identity politics and discourses through symbolic interactions with both older and younger generations of Hongkongers, whose two different logics and discourses of Lion Rock and Hong Kong reveal the differences and similarities in a reflexive process of Hong Kong people’s multifaceted, flexible identifications. On the one hand, the narrations and narratives of different generations in the commercial understate the differences and antagonism between these two logics, and between older and younger generations; on the other, they symbolically help to bridge the generational gaps that have been exaggerated by digital media-enabled social movements such as the Umbrella Movement in 2014. In the TVC, the brand aligns the pharmacy’s experience of hardships with the older generation and extends its brand mission and vision with the motto of “always going one step further” to synchronize with the hope and passion of the younger generation. The resemiotizations of these logics through multimodal semiotics of visual design, characterization, copywriting, and storytelling create a new myth of the Lion Rock spirit in which the older generation shows its understanding and support toward the younger generation’s uncompromising struggle for the right to decide their future through autonomy and self-determination. FortunePharmHK attempted to encourage Hongkongers to think positively, according to what is known as the Lion Rock spirit, in line with the brand’s persistent support of the health and life of Hong Kong people since its foundation in 1954. The selected cast and storyline of different generations of Hongkongers in this emotional and appealing identitybased branding TVC present a complex story for the brand and for Hong Kong, thus strengthening its brand identity through the notion of locality, or bentu, amidst the rise of localism and local identity discourses. S. S. Lam (B) The Open University of Hong Kong, Ho Man Tin, Hong Kong e-mail: [email protected] © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2020 S. S. Lam (ed.), New Media Spectacles and Multimodal Creativity in a Globalised Asia, Digital Culture and Humanities 3, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-7341-5_6

123

124

S. S. Lam

Keywords Lion Rock spirit · Branding · Identity discourses · Identity politics · Locality · Multimodal semiotics · Representation · Self-determination

Introduction Identity is a construct that is “replete with paradoxes” (Scott, 2015, p. 1). The process of identity construction and the act of identification, which is relational and contextual, can be creative or destructive. Identity (a label or stereotype) and identification (an act) can provide a sense of belonging or a structure of feeling (Williams, 1977) among a group of people or an imagined community (Anderson, 1983). In a social world, identity is a belief that makes the imagined community feel secure and comfortable and facilitates mutual trust, communication, and collective action. However, identity is not permanent, and community is a symbolic construction that is reflected in people’s shared beliefs, values, and experiences. They determine their core values and spirit to represent a locality and group identity. One such example of identity construction is the relationship between “Lion Rock spirit” (獅子山精神) and Hongkongers (香港人) in terms of locality and the local Hong Kong identity, determined via symbolic interactions in a continuous and reflexive process. This chapter investigates the rearticulations or re-representations of the Lion Rock spirit as depicted in the branding television commercial (TVC) of the local pharmacy FortunePharmHK (officially named Fortune Pharmacal Company Limited, 幸福醫 藥) in 2015. The TVC highlights the identity discourses of Hong Kong and presents the two different logics of the Lion Rock spirit according to different generations of Hongkongers. This study examines FortunePharmHK’s use of locality and local identity discourses to create a mythology for the brand and Hong Kong with the Lion Rock spirit and the Hongkonger identity. The local pharmacy rearticulates identity politics and discourses through symbolic interactions with both older and younger generations of Hongkongers, whose discourses of the Lion Rock spirit reveal the differences and similarities in a reflexive process. The chapter begins by introducing the identity politics of younger generations in the rise of localism and the new Hong Kong identity discourses, which reflect the mainland-Hong Kong antagonism that has led to an identity crisis among the younger generation. It investigates the two logics of the Lion Rock spirit in order to discern the duality of Hong Kong’s identity and identify the flexible articulation of the Lion Rock spirit, leading to the possibility of recreating the “Lion Rock myth” in the branding of the TVC to represent a new Hong Kong identity with a renewed emphasis on postmaterialist values. Finally, as a multimodal semiotic project, the chapter analyzes the TVC to elaborate on its use of visual design, characterization, copywriting, and storytelling to align the brand identity with discourses on the Hong Kong local identity using the logics of the older and younger generations.

6 The Two Logics of the “Lion Rock Spirit” Re-Represented …

125

Rise of Localism and the Identity Crisis People’s feelings, thoughts, and behaviours in a social world determine community solidarity and identity as a collective. The symbolic construction of identity among people in an imagined community is fluid, intangible, and elusive. It changes continuously based on collective representations, discourses, social norms, and cultural values in everyday practices, relationships, and social interactions (Scott, 2015). According to Hall (1996, p. 4), “identities are never unified and, in late modern times, increasingly fragmented and fractured”, and they are “never singular but multiply constructed across different, often intersecting and antagonistic, discourses, practices and positions.” The act of identification is a constant process of rearticulation or rerepresentation of a community or national identity, such as Hongkongers, based on the relationships among subjects, subject-positions, and discursive practices in the social world. A community identity is constructed from collective representations and practices based on traditions that are shared by a group of people to generate an overall sense of identity through a coherent and stable process of identification. However, the fundamental paradox of identity “combines notions of sameness and continuity with notions of difference and distinctiveness” in a transsituational and multifaceted context (Hall, 1996; Lawler, 2014; Scott, 2015, p. 2). In addition to tradition, identity is constructed emphatically according to differences, particularly in the circumstances of identity crises or politics. Such differentiation from others favors localism, and the resulting construct of local identity is propagated by multifaceted, flexible identifications, particularly within the imagination of the younger generation. This phenomenon began in Hong Kong after the handover in 1997 and has become increasingly critical and antagonistic due to a series of youth and digital media-enabled social movements, particularly the Umbrella Movement in 2014. Localism and the local identity of Hongkongers are constituted by new types of identity discourse in the rise of antisocial and anti-China sentiments facilitated by social media communication and interaction. Under the strong context of mainlandHong Kong antagonism, the notion of locality, or bentu (本土), has redefined the Hong Kong local identity in discourses of civic identity in a new mode of identification (Kwong, 2016; Veg, 2017). The Hong Kong local identity is a construct of duality that is based on “collective beliefs about shared attributes, values, and experiences” among communities (Brewer, 1999, p. 187). The younger generation, in particular, constructs their identity as Hongkongers through their flexible identifications under the double logic of connectivity and collectivity within the dynamic of social media interactions (Bennett & Segerberg, 2012). The local identity (or identities) of people in Hong Kong has never been unified; however, the rise of localism and local identity and the corresponding act of identification reveal the antagonism and increasingly strong fragmentation in Hong Kong society. This can be discerned from the two different logics of the Lion Rock spirit, which strongly reflect and represent the core values and shared attributes and experiences among different generations of Hongkongers. An investigation of the various discourses of the Lion Rock spirit in relation to the rise of localism and identity crisis must be understood on the basis

126

S. S. Lam

of Jenkins’s (2014) four aspects of identity and identification in the social world: similarity, difference, reflexivity, and process. A group identity may be perceived as a powerful form of identification to mobilize members of collectives. Membership helps to define an identity by comparing and contrasting members with others: “Identifying ourselves, or others, is a matter of meaning” (Jenkins, 2014, p. 18). Construction of such meaning is a process of identification that involves interactions of “agreement and disagreement, convention and innovation, communication and negotiation” through the reflexivity of members. The emotional charges attached to the identity and the act of identification are connected to motivation and collective behaviour “through the power of symbols and ritual experiences” (Jenkins, 2014, p. 7). Due to the rise of localism and civic identity, the Hongkonger identity is regarded as the most powerful form of identification to mobilize local people’s collective and connective actions through digital media organizations in a series of social movements, such as the Anti-Express Rail Link movement in 2010, the Anti-National Education campaign in 2012, the Umbrella Movement in 2014, and the Mong Kok riot, also known as the “Fishball Revolution,” in 2016 (Kwong, 2016). The Hongkonger identity is regarded as a local identity because of the characteristics, values, and experiences shared among people in post-handover Hong Kong. Conversely, newer local identity discourses emphasize the different and distinctive characteristics of people from Hong Kong in comparison to those of mainland China. The rise of the Hong Kong local identity highlights a “need for differentiation of the self and assimilation with others in their group identification” under an identity crisis that is caused by the “mainlandization” of Hong Kong (Yew & Kwong, 2014, p. 1091). The mainlandization process and Beijing’s top-down assimilation discourse are meant to enforce the ideology of a Chinese national identity and challenge the sense of distinctiveness and core values of people in Hong Kong. These processes lead to the rise of mainland-Hong Kong antagonism, which is further inflamed by anti-China sentiment. Therefore, localism reinforces the Hong Kong identity to protect “Hong Kong’s identity and uniqueness” through discourses of Hong Kong’s core values and the flexible identifications of being localists (Kwong, 2016, p. 437; Yew & Kwong, 2014). The new local identity discourses have also triggered polarization in the process of identification, resulting from different articulations and representations of Hong Kong’s core values and identity, based on the antisocial and anti-China sentiments of the people of Hong Kong against the Hong Kong government’s elite and pro-Beijing discourse. This polarization is demonstrated in the two logics of different generations’ interpretations of Hong Kong’s core values and local identity through their disparate discourses of the Lion Rock spirit.

6 The Two Logics of the “Lion Rock Spirit” Re-Represented …

127

The Two Logics of the Lion Rock Spirit The term Hongkonger is a construct related to other Chinese people; it is a reflexive project to protect the Hong Kong locality and identity from assimilation, mainlandization, and eradication. This identification places renewed emphasis on Hong Kong’s values and spirit and language differences, such as Hong Kong’s Cantonese and traditional Chinese compared with mainland China’s Putonghua (Mandarin) and simplified Chinese, to distinguish Hongkongers from mainland Chinese. This is a revision of the Hong Kong local identity that rearticulates Hong Kong’s core values and spirit “to encompass post-material values in the changing socioeconomic context” through unprecedented localism of city-state discourses, as advocated by Chin Wan (陳雲) and the university student journal Undergrad (Xueyuan, 學苑) (Chin, 2011; Undergrad Editorial Board, 2015; Yew & Kwong, 2014, p. 1109). However, according to Veg (2017, p. 327), the new local identity discourses of Hongkongers, derived from the notion of bentuhua (本土化) or indigenization with an advocacy of selfdetermination, “may still intermittently overlap with a pan-Chinese civic community” identity. Likewise, new discourses of the Lion Rock spirit, meant to represent Hong Kong’s core values and locality with a strong emphasis on autonomy and selfdetermination, have developed primarily among the younger generation and intermittently overlap with older Lion Rock spirit discourses. These overlapping discourses reveal several common representative elements of the Hong Kong identity and core values that FortunePharmHK used for its branding campaign in 2015, immediately following the Umbrella Movement. Similarly, to the continuous process of constructing the Hong Kong local identity, the discourses of the Lion Rock spirit are not permanent, but constantly develop according to the evolving interpretations of Hongkongers. The duality of Hong Kong local identity discourses produces two logics in the articulation of the Lion Rock spirit by older and younger generations. The Lion Rock spirit is an abstract element of Hong Kong’s core values inherited and developed by the people of Hong Kong from one generation to another. The original articulation, the traditional logic of the Lion Rock spirit, is based on Hong Kong’s colonial history and on the stories and theme song of the TV series Below the Lion Rock (獅子山下), released by Radio Television Hong Kong (RTHK 香港電台) in the 1970s and 1980s. The series portrayed real-life situations of Hongkongers, highlighting their shared values and experiences in order to build a secure and prosperous socioeconomic future through the interpretation of the Lion Rock spirit as “perseverance and solidarity” after the Second World War and the Chinese Revolution (RTHK, 2015; Celesta, 2015; Wikipedia, 2018). This original concept of the Lion Rock spirit represents the grassroots unity and resilience of Hong Kong citizens, including migrants from mainland China, and their desire to earn a living and to start a new life “in the face of hardship during the 1970s and 1980s while Hong Kong was still a British colony” (Lou & Jaworski, 2016, p. 637; Rühlig, 2016). On Below the Lion Rock, the people of Hong Kong shared some core values and a collective identity that was bound by “common dreams and aspirations, mutual striving and tolerance,” as expressed in the theme song by Roman Tam (羅文)

128

S. S. Lam

which contains the following line: “in the same boat under the Lion Rock, we row together” (既是同舟, 在獅子山下且共濟) (Browne, 2015, p. A9). This discourse of harmony under the guise of hardship and tolerance, however, is not part of the new logic of the Lion Rock spirit as rearticulated by the younger generation. The new logic of the Lion Rock spirit is related to the rise of localism and the Hong Kong local identity discourses. The banner reading “I want true universal suffrage” (我要真普選), displayed on the Lion Rock during the Umbrella Movement on October 23, 2014, manifested the new articulation of the Lion Rock spirit in terms of a spectacle of protest for Hong Kong’s democracy and civic identity (Lou & Jaworski, 2016). However, these rearticulations are multifaceted and include certain core values that are represented in the traditional logic, explaining why the symbol and the symbolism of the Lion Rock and the theme song of Below the Lion Rock were adopted and adapted during the Umbrella Movement. Photos, stickers, small banners, drawings, and models of symbolic images of the Lion Rock were created and displayed at the sites that were occupied, and were shared among the occupiers and their supporters on social media such as Facebook and Whatsapp. These new articulations or representations of the Lion Rock spirit are increasingly personalized and represent the Hong Kong spirit and local identity, which is much more “enmeshed with the call for democracy” and even independence (Leung, 2015, p. 430) than previous discourses. Therefore, this new logic can be perceived as the multifaceted rearticulations or re-representations of the Lion Rock spirit and its symbolic meanings among the younger generation through their personalized action frames. Rearticulations involve the shared common values and spirit between these two logics, as well as the disparate interpretations of these logics, whereas rerepresentations are the younger generation’s attempts to inscribe new meanings onto the Lion Rock spirit via resemiotization. These rearticulations and re-representations emphasize the younger generation’s call for discursive and participatory democracy with a strong claim for autonomy, zizhu (自主), and self-determination, zijue (自 決). They represent a new conception of the Hong Kong spirit and local identity embodied in intolerance of the status quo and the uncompromising struggle for “the right to decide their future” (Veg, 2016, 2017, p. 342). The two logics of the Lion Rock spirit provide a new dynamic for the perception of Hong Kong’s core values and local identity as an on-going reflexive project. The traditional logic is based on the original conceptions of the city’s colonial history and its people’s living experiences in the 1970s and 1980s under dominant discourses of hardship, brinkmanship, stewardship, flexibility, solidarity, and fighting spirit through collective memory and identity (Leung, 2015). The new logic is constructed from differences and similarities, with new conceptions of freedom, diversity, multiple identities, flexible identifications, independence, subjectivity, autonomy, and self-determination to rebuild the Hong Kong spirit and local identity (Veg, 2017). Table 6.1 shows the notable differences and similarities between the two logics, explaining the duality of the Hong Kong identity as “a compound group identity” with an overlapping membership, as shown in Fig. 6.1 (Brewer, 1999, pp. 189–190). The new discourses of the Lion Rock spirit re-represent local identity and core values according to the younger generation’s personalized framing

6 The Two Logics of the “Lion Rock Spirit” Re-Represented …

129

Table 6.1 Differences and similarities between the two logics of the Lion Rock spirit

Different conceptions

Similar conceptions

(a) Traditional logic of “Lion Rock spirit”

(b) New logic of “Lion Rock spirit”

Perseverance and tolerance

Intolerance

Hardship

Freedom

Brinkmanship and stewardship

Autonomy and self-determination

A local identity of common dreams and aspirations

Diversity and multiple identities

Flexibility

Flexible identifications

Fighting spirit

Uncompromising struggle

Collective action and identity through solidarity

Collective actions and identities through connective activities of subjectivity and independence

Fig. 6.1 The duality of the Hong Kong identity within a dynamic between the two logics of the Lion Rock spirit: a traditional logic and b new logic

(a)

(b)

and collective actions that are coordinated and mobilized through connective activities by digital media to fight for civil rights and justice (Bennett & Segerberg, 2012). Likewise, FortunePharmHK’s branding TVC uses the Lion Rock myth discourse and the greater influence of social media on the younger generation than that of traditional television. Its recreation of the Lion Rock myth with relation to the strategy of branding locality combines notions of sameness and continuity with notions of difference and distinctiveness in the two logics of the Lion Rock spirit.

Recreation of the Lion Rock Myth The Lion Rock spirit has been superficially used, particularly by the Hong Kong government, to mythologize a version of the core values of Hong Kong and the successful stories of Hong Kong’s people and society through a pro-government economic development discourse of hardship and perseverance. The topics of Below

130

S. S. Lam

the Lion Rock cover not only how Hong Kong grassroots and middle-class citizens have attained upward mobility, but also how different social and cultural issues in Hong Kong, such as prostitution, drug addiction, disability, the death penalty, aesthetic judgment, racial discrimination, and Hong Kong identity, affect the everyday lives of people in Hong Kong. All of these are part of the complex mixture of Hong Kong’s core values. The pro-government economic development discourse that was advocated in 2002 by the former Financial Secretary of the government of Hong Kong, Antony Leung (梁錦松), emphatically highlighted the hardships of people in Hong Kong as a symbol to construct a simulacrum of the Lion Rock spirit and the Hong Kong spirit in order to call for solidarity with, or sacrifice in favour of, the government’s policy (Ng, 2018). This superficial articulation is a myth, if not a disaster, constructed based on the stereotypes of Hong Kong’s success, in terms of the hardships through which people undoubtedly must persevere. Hardship, tolerance, and solidarity are only some of the characteristics of all the conceptions of the Lion Rock spirit, and of the people of Hong Kong. However, as Ng Chun-hung ( 吳俊雄) has mentioned in an interview (Ng, 2018), no specific episode of the TV series instructed people how to become rich by persevering through hardship. To a certain extent, this explains why the younger generation does not trust the traditional logic of the Lion Rock spirit and has tended to rearticulate or re-represent it in terms of the new Hong Kong local identity discourses, with a renewed emphasis on postmaterialist values. During the Umbrella Movement, many young protestors at Admiralty were reluctant to sing the theme song of Below the Lion Rock, based on their disagreement with the pro-government economic development discourse of an old or untrue Lion Rock myth. The discourse stereotypically represented the “Hong Kong Dream” of achieving extravagant success in economic or materialist values through hard work and with a stroke of luck (Yew & Kwong, 2014), which did not represent the young occupiers’ dreams and aspirations. The anthem of the occupiers was Raise the Umbrella (撐起雨傘), which was first performed by Anthony Wong (黃耀明), Denise Ho (何韻詩), and Deanie Ip (葉德嫻) in front of a crowd of young protestors waving illuminated mobile phones during the General Assembly of the Umbrella Movement at Harcourt Road, Admiralty. The lyrics by Lo Hiu-pan (羅曉彬) and Lin Xi (林夕) not only depicted scenes of the occupation movement, but also symbolized the younger generation’s feelings of uncertainty, intolerance, and sorrow. Under the Vast Sky (海闊天空), which was performed by the local band Beyond, was yet another popular Canto-pop song that represented the occupiers’ antisocial sentiments of freedom and locality and symbolically helped to “bridge generational cleavages” to a certain extent (Rühlig, 2016, p. 65). The Umbrella Movement created a myth of utopia and mobilized the younger generation to engage in the new Hong Kong identity discourses, thus leading to the new logic of the Lion Rock spirit. The protest songs, their corresponding music videos, and the Lion Rock banner with the slogan “I want true universal suffrage” on various protest signs and images were widely disseminated on social media. The multimodal semiotics contributed to the resemiotizations of the Lion Rock spirit, and to the production of the Hong Kong locality and identity in polyphonic communications and multimedia practices in digital media

6 The Two Logics of the “Lion Rock Spirit” Re-Represented …

131

Table 6.2 The Lion Rock myth among different generations Old “Lion Rock Myth” – Collective action by a common good and collective identity – Hardship and tolerance, perseverance, and solidarity in a stable, organized culture and society New “Lion Rock Myth” – Collective action by the logic of connective actions based on multifaceted identities and flexible identifications – Personal action frames, diversity of opinions and conflicts, independence and intolerance, autonomy, and self-determination in a dynamic, civic culture and society

and connective activities. These resemiotized signs helped to circulate, recycle, and reappropriate the core values and spirit of Hong Kong among the younger generation, who had transformed the old logic and ideologies and generated new practices and discourses of locality and local identity (Lou & Jaworski, 2016; Martín Rojo, 2014). Although the younger generation did not accept the old concept of the Lion Rock spirit and the theme song of Below the Lion Rock, which advocated tolerance of hardship, the image of the Lion Rock on the yellow banner with the umbrella icon and democratic discourses were popular during the Umbrella Movement both online and offline. The resemiotizations of the Lion Rock not only mythologized the Umbrella Movement but also created a new Lion Rock myth of locality and a local Hong Kong identity. Like the two logics of the Lion Rock spirit, the old and new Lion Rock myth discourses both emphasize passion and fighting spirit (Leung, 2015). Both myths motivate collective beliefs and action among community members, but use different means of identification (see Table 6.2). With regard to the discourses of core values and local identity of Hongkongers, FortunePharmHK’s branding TVC creates a myth by resemiotizing the two logics of the Lion Rock spirit. This semiotic project of brand advertisement allows multiple identifications among different generations to bridge generational gaps to a substantial extent. The TVC and its corresponding documentary videos that are disseminated in traditional and social media are multilayered representations of its branding and storytelling to construct or reconstruct “the relationship between meaning, reality and society” through mythology (Barthes, 1972; McFall, 2004, p. 10).

Semiotic Project for Branding and Identification In 2015, FortunePharmHK created a myth about Hong Kong’s local culture and identity in its corporate branding TVC “Lion Rock Spirit,” which was broadcast on Hong Kong television stations and digital media platforms including Facebook and YouTube. The TVC, as the core medium of the brand’s advertising campaign, was reported to have received more than 140,000 clicks on FortunePharmHK’s official Facebook page within its first two days (Pang, 2015; SkyPost, 2015). Monochromatic stereotypes allow TVCs to weave a simple story and elicit an emotional

132

S. S. Lam

association from the target audience. FortunePharmHK’s branding campaign, which appeared between April and June 2015, used multimodal semiotics to rearticulate or re-represent the two logics of the Lion Rock spirit. It presented both local identity discourses in a branding story to align older and younger Hongkongers through a reflexive process of identification that involved agreement and disagreement, convention and innovation, and communication and negotiation. According to Teresa Poon, sales and marketing manager of FortunePharmHK, the local pharmacy brand had endured many difficulties, tensions, and struggles within Hong Kong society since its founding in 1954. Therefore, the brand wishes to converse with different generations of Hongkongers and encourage them to think positively, according to the Lion Rock spirit, a combination of Hong Kong spirit and core values, to solve their problems, following the brand’s motto of “always going one step further” (幸福要走多步) (Chan, 2015). The commercial integrated the logics of the Lion Rock spirit through stories of despair from both younger and older citizens in Hong Kong to create a brand story of locality and local identity. These rearticulations or re-representations of the Lion Rock spirit revealed the younger generation’s new local identity and core value discourses of autonomy and self-determination, with some intermittent overlapping with older citizens’ identity discourses. Finally, the local pharmacy brand highlighted the similarities and differences between different generations of Hong Kong citizens using multifaceted, flexible, shared local identity discourses. FortunePharmHK’s branding TVC mythologized different generations’ articulations and rearticulations of the Lion Rock spirit to represent or re-represent the Hong Kong local identity and core values from the past to the present using multimodal semiotics, including visual design, characterization, copywriting, and storytelling. A sequence-shot analysis of the full one-minute version of the TVC (FortunePharmHK 2015, “Lion Rock Spirit,” 幸福醫藥2015電視廣 告—獅子山精神, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D9IIoRTJ9l0&list=LLbnvs NTNJRPLlfzxRhsYUgA&index=2&t=0s) demonstrates FortunePharmHK’s use of multimodal signs and symbols to resemiotize and harmonize the logics of the Lion Rock spirit. The TVC presented a brand of locality and local identity discourses that were shared by the target audiences. The primary target audience was the younger generation, with those of the older generation who were sympathetic toward younger Hongkongers, as the secondary target audience. The TVC integrated the characters’ slices of life with the local context and scenarios to represent the different periods of Hong Kong history and different generations of Hongkongers through the artistic use of gloomy, ambient colors and black-and-white visuals. The opening scene presented a crowd of youngsters with inverted mirror images on the surface of water, followed by a montage of the Mass Transit Railway station Hong Kong University (香港大 學) and a shot depicting a butterfly. This imagery presented the core message of the brand advertisement to encourage the young generation to think positively about their life in Hong Kong, particularly after the Umbrella Movement. Although the branding TVC aimed to recreate a myth of the Hong Kong identity and locality by rearticulating and re-representing different generations’ Lion Rock spirit, the visual representations and storytelling favoured the younger generation. Instead of challenging youngsters’ accusations against contemporary society, the older characters

6 The Two Logics of the “Lion Rock Spirit” Re-Represented …

133

expressed their understanding of the younger generation and agreement to a certain extent with their complaints about the local society and social problems. This agreement also represented the overlapping discourses of the two logics of the Lion Rock spirit among different generations of Hongkongers. The younger characters disagreed with social expectations of success in terms of normative economic achievements of material values. Instead, they revealed their uncompromising struggle for the right to decide their future based on autonomy and self-determination through independent and personalized action frames such as artistic expression, game development, and innovative entrepreneurship. The visual sequence of a school classroom with a young student was followed by a young character walking inside a foggy mountain. These images signified the younger generation’s feelings of uncertainty and sorrow, but also pinpointed the salience of the younger generation and the new logic of the Lion Rock spirit in the TVC’s resemiotization of a new hope for the future of Hong Kong. This new hope was symbolized with a bright twilight sea of clouds on the mountains in the final scene, following a montage of both young and old Hongkongers, who represented the attributes, values, and passions shared between the two generations. The sea of clouds represented a bright, beautiful future that replaced the fog around the young character in the former scene. In all, FortunePharmHK attempted to rearticulate or re-represent the Lion Rock myth for Hongkongers in line with the local pharmacy brand’s persistent spirit and its desire to support the health and life of Hongkongers. The TVC production intentionally selected the cast to represent different generations and promote the harmonious resemiotization of the two logics of the Lion Rock spirit in the narratives of locality and local identities. Table 6.3 shows the eight main cast members of the TVC, who are divided into characters from the older and younger generations, and their conceptual and collective beliefs about the two different logics of the Lion Rock spirit and the core values of Hong Kong are based on their identities and identifications. Uncle Ho (何伯), born in 1937, represented the general Hong Kong working class, which was required to work to earn a living in the face of hardship, brinkmanship, and stewardship during the 1970s and 1980s, much like the grassroots Hong Kong citizens depicted in RTHK’s TV series. However, he is also Table 6.3 Cast of FortunePharmHK’s 2015 TVC Elderly generation

Young generation

• 1937 Uncle Ho (何伯)

• 1988 Tse Sai Pei—illustrator (謝曬皮 – 插 畫家)

• 1924 Ip Chun—Wing Chun Master (葉準 – 詠春大師)

• 1987 Tat Gor—gaming company vice chairman (達哥 – 遊戲商副總裁)

• 1952 Ming Gor—welfare rice boxes (明哥 – • 1985 Steven Lam—founder of GoGoVan (林 良心飯堂) 凱源—GoGoVan 創辦人) • 1971 Wong Chi Poon—accountant (王志本 – 會計師)

• 2000 Ho Ngai Chi—secondary school student (何藝之 – 中學生)

Remarks The cast members are listed in their order of appearance in the TVC from top to bottom, and the number is the cast member’s birth year

134

S. S. Lam

a famous Hong Kong charity donor who had generously supported the pan-Chinese civic community in need and demonstrated practices of the Hong Kong spirit to help others to create an ideal community. Ip Chun (葉準), born in 1924, was a Wing Chun master (詠春大師) and the son of Ip Man (葉問). He was over 90 years of age, the oldest member of the cast of the TVC, and maintained his fighting spirit. His Wing Chun represents both the fighting spirit of the older generation and the local culture and identity of martial arts. His fighting spirit, perseverance, and flexibility were also extended as signifying gestures of support for the younger generation’s struggle for freedom and independence. Ming Gor (明哥), whose full name is Chan Cheuk Ming (陳灼明), born in 1952, was the chef and owner of Pekho Barbecue Restaurant (北河 燒臘飯店), which sold and donated welfare rice boxes to older citizens and people in need. Ming Gor’s success was not monetary, but charitable, in the form of his contributions to society and to the local people through solidarity and collective actions of love and care-giving. Wong Chi Poon (王志本), born in 1971, was an accountant who represented the community of professional Hongkongers. Many middle-aged Hongkongers are, like Wong, down-to-earth professionals with special knowledge and skills, who may still have to work hard to earn a living in contemporary Hong Kong due to its high cost of living, particularly its housing prices. His query about the unaffordable living standard in Hong Kong challenged the pro-government Lion Rock myth of economic development and reflected professionals’ changing attitudes toward the Lion Rock spirit and support of youth movements such as the Umbrella Movement. These four characters representing older Hongkongers demonstrated several of the practical and conceptual values of Hongkongers under the traditional logic of the Lion Rock spirit. However, they did not express any opinions counter to younger Hongkongers’ desire for freedom and independence. Moreover, their local identity discourses, shared values, and experiences did not express approval of the government’s economic development discourse or of the corresponding stereotypical representation of Hong Kong’s success stories in terms of the hardships people undoubtedly must endure. In the second part of the TVC, the characters as Hongkongers of the post-1980s era and the new millennium, the primary participants and supporters of the Umbrella Movement, expressed rearticulations or re-representations of the new logic of the Lion Rock spirit. Illustrator Tse Sai Pei (謝曬皮), born in 1988, represented the new generation of Hong Kong’s artists, who used postmaterialist values to express their locality and local identities through freedom and independent artistic performance, with no formal or commercial constraints. Interestingly, her Chinese name translates to “withering, disappointing, and sadness,” suggesting a negative image of younger Hongkongers as hopeless, useless, and unsuccessful people compared with the hardworking older generation. Despite this, Tse was an independent local artist with autonomy and positive self-esteem. Tat Gor (達哥), a famous Internet and multimedia celebrity born in 1987, was the vice-chairman of the game company Ever App Limited. His uncompromising and intolerant attitude and experience developing his multiple identities through alternative life practices challenged the collective action and identity discourse of common dreams and aspirations of the traditional logic. His success in playing and designing video games and vlogging demonstrated the new

6 The Two Logics of the “Lion Rock Spirit” Re-Represented …

135

logic of collective action and identities through connective activities in digital media. He was depicted on the rooftop of a nostalgic old building in order to harmonize his antagonistic attitude toward the older generation’s disagreement with playing video games, and to symbolize the resemiotizations of the Lion Rock spirit and the Hong Kong spirit based on autonomy and self-determination, similar to the placement of the banner reading “I want true universal suffrage” on Lion Rock during the Umbrella Movement. Steven Lam (林凱源), born in 1985, was an innovative entrepreneur and the founder of GoGoVan. His appearance was juxtaposed with images of Choi Wan Garage and the city’s busy traffic at Causeway Bay. Those images, combined with the “ding-ding” sound of a tram, signify the connections between convention and innovation, such as between traditional traffic and transportation and Lam’s GoGoVan application and networked services, as well as the traditional and new logics of the Lion Rock spirit. The Lego Van in Lam’s hands represented the GoGoVan mobile application in the customer’s hands, illustrating the idea that innovative businesses that use new media technology do not necessarily conflict with traditions and conventions. The three post-1980 characters represented alternative successful stories of younger Hongkongers who had formerly been distrusted by the older generation. They also represented the new logic of the Lion Rock spirit, shared by millennial student Ho Ngai Chi (何藝之), born in 2000, who was one of the youngest generation of Umbrella Movement participants. The eight characters in the TVC demonstrated the two logics of the Lion Rock spirit and their reciprocal relationships that are in line with the changing local identity discourses of Hongkongers. Companies often feature an element of storytelling in TVCs. FortunePharmHK’s branding TVC not only selected relevant cast members to represent the different generations of Hong Kong, but also developed a sophisticated storyline connecting the voices of the characters and their narratives using voice-overs, captions, and visuals with professional copywriting and video production. Table 6.4 shows the copywriting and narratives of FortunePharmHK’s locality branding strategy and the resemiotizations of the two logics of the Lion Rock spirit in the 1-min TVC. The storyline begins with young people despairing over the seeming eradication of their dreams of democracy, civic identity, and social justice in Hong Kong. “Our generation has dreams but lacks hope,” an off-screen voice says. The inverted images signified that the young people must unwillingly follow the route and shadow of the older generation (or the traditional logic) to achieve success by working hard and hoping for a stroke of luck in Hong Kong. However, the economic development discourse favoured by the government was challenged by both younger and older people. Uncle Ho pointed out that economic difficulties prevented grassroots citizens from thinking far ahead, although this does not mean that they do not care about an equitable future in the same way that younger Hongkongers do. In particular, his intonation of sadness expressed a type of sympathy toward the younger generation’s social movements embodying their still-unsuccessful struggle for autonomy and self-determination. This supportive standpoint was echoed in 90-year-old master Ip Chun’s statement, “I’m still standing here.” Ip Chun encourages the collaboration of older and younger Hongkongers to work collectively and connectively for change; his appearance in the TVC extends toward the final shot, until the appearance of the twilight clouds.

136

S. S. Lam

Table 6.4 Narrations and narratives in FortunePharmHK’s 2015 TVC Time For the older generation

For the youth generation

00:00

“Our generation has dreams but lacks hope”* (我哋呢代有夢想冇希望。)

00:06 “We were struggling to make ends meet at that period. How could I think so far ahead?!”* (嗰時搵朝唔得晏,邊會諗咁遠?!) 00:15 “I’m still standing here”* (我重企喺度。) 00:23 “I wish this society has no longer required Ming Gor”* (我想個社會唔再需要明哥。) 00:27 “I’ve always been down to earth”* (我都冇離地。) 00:28

[Is the meaning of life just continuously making money?]# (唔通生活除咗搵錢, 就係搵錢?)

00:32

“I don’t agree!”* (我唔 buy 囉!)

00:37

“Who says gamers are losers?”*

(

?)

00:39 [Pushing the limits]# (搏盡) 00:43

“In fact, we are not naïve”* (其實我哋唔係唔識諗。)

00:46

“Even though we know that there is a great chance of losing, we must still work hard to win”* (明知會輸, 我哋都一定要贏。)

00:50 “Living in Hong Kong has never been easy; however, every generation possesses their own ‘Lion Rock spirit’”* (香港條路從來都唔易行, 但每一代人都有佢嘅獅子山精神。) 00:55 [Always going one step further]# (幸福要走多步) Remarks “Audio narration”*; [caption] #

Ming Gor expresses disapproval of the Lion Rock myth as perpetuated by progovernment discourse, in alignment with younger Hongkongers’ statements against social inequality, and promoting further action to mitigate this inequality. Even professionals such as Wong Chi Poon agree that solving Hong Kong’s social and political problems requires the collaboration of different generations. An illustrated caption, “Is the meaning of life just continuously making money?” presented by Tse Sai Pei, appeared before the narrations of the three younger

6 The Two Logics of the “Lion Rock Spirit” Re-Represented …

137

characters. The caption is a statement of younger people’s disagreement with progovernment economic discourse, and of the postmaterialist ideologies of localism and new identity discourses. Tse’s reply “I don’t agree!” further underscores the rise of localism and local identity discourses among young Hongkongers who uncompromisingly strive for their goals. She also demonstrates her wish for freedom and independence by drawing on the floor instead of a canvas, symbolizing young people’s rejection of older generations’ materialism and mainlandization. Tat Gor’s line “Who says gamers are losers?” helps to support young Hongkongers’ local identity discourses by challenging the traditional logic of succeeding by persevering and tolerating formal working conditions. Tat Gor’s multiple identities as an Internet celebrity and the vice-chairman of a game company disprove the dismissive attitudes of older Hongkongers who, unfamiliar with new media, games, or disruptive technologies, often accuse their younger counterparts of wasting time playing games. Another caption, “pushing the limits” coincides with the appearance of innovative entrepreneur Steven Lam, symbolizing the young generation’s uncompromising struggle to achieve their goals and dreams through autonomy and self-determination in terms of their identity politics. Lam’s innovative mobile application and logistics service developed locality into “glocality” through multifaceted, flexible identifications. “In fact, we are not naïve,” student Ho Ngai Chi says, as a figure of the Umbrella Movement reminding older viewers that young people’s uncompromising efforts toward democracy and the civic identity of Hong Kong are not naïve acts, but are ascetic practices of autonomy and self-determination. Her hope for the future is supported by a voice-over announcing, “Even knowing there is a great chance of losing, we must still work hard to win.” The final narrative voice represents FortunePharmHK and its perceptions of the different generations of Hongkongers and the changing logics and articulations of the Lion Rock spirit: “Living in Hong Kong has never been easy; however, every generation possesses their own ‘Lion Rock spirit.’” This final statement concludes FortunePharmHK’s harmonious resemiotizations of the two logics of the Lion Rock spirit, and its endeavour to share its hope and passion to help the new generation, and Hong Kong as a whole, to solve problems together as part of a common Hong Kong identity.

Conclusion FortunePharmHK’s TVC uses multimodal semantics, instead of monochromatic stereotypes, to produce an emotionally appealing branding strategy. The selected characters and storyline create a complex story for the brand, and for Hong Kong, in terms of localism and local identity discourses. Using these multifaceted and flexible identifications, different generations of people in Hong Kong can share an overall sense of identity as Hongkongers in response to the shared attributes, values, and experiences that are rearticulated or re-represented in the TVC’s resemiotizations of the two logics of the Lion Rock spirit. The narrations and narratives of the different generations depicted in the commercial understate the differences and antagonism

138

S. S. Lam

between these logics, but they also symbolically help to bridge the generational gaps that are exaggerated via polarization in digital media-enabled social movements such as the Umbrella Movement. The local pharmacy brand not only aligned the corporation’s local experience of hardships with the older generation but also extended its brand mission and vision to synchronize with the hopes and passions of the younger generation. The resemiotizations of the two logics expressed in the TVC’s visual design, characterization, and storytelling create a new myth of the Lion Rock spirit, in which the elderly generation shows their understanding and support toward the younger generation’s struggle for autonomy and self-determination. This semiotic re-representation of the two logics of the Lion Rock spirit and of different generations’ identity discourses juxtaposes and harmonizes their differences and similarities in complex discourses of local identities, which reveal the duality of Hongkonger as a compound group identity with overlapping membership shared by different generations. This study demonstrates that identity is a paradoxical construct that combines notions of similarity and continuity with notions of difference and distinctiveness. The logics of the Lion Rock spirit and the identity politics of Hongkongers provide both challenges and opportunities. FortunePharmHK used this opportunity to strengthen its brand identity through the notion of locality, or bentu, amidst the rise of localism and local identity discourses. The reflexive process of identification is flexible, multifaceted, and, most importantly, continuous, indicating that the logics of the different generations of Hongkongers are not completely isolated. Therefore, FortunePharmHK connected these logics and generations with symbolic, harmonious interactions of agreement and disagreement, convention and innovation, and communication and negotiation. This semiotic branding project, employing local identity politics and discourses, was more complicated and difficult to execute than more formal stereotypical branding strategies, but the reward for doing so was enormous and enduring.

References Anderson, B. (1983). Imagined communities: Reflections on the origin and spread of nationalism. London: Verso. Barthes, R. (1972). Mythologies. New York: Hill and Wang. Bennett, W. L., & Segerberg, A. (2012). The logic of connective action: Digital media and the personalization of contentious politics. Information, Communication & Society, 15(5), 739–768. Brewer, M. B. (1999). Multiple identities and identity transition: Implications for Hong Kong. International Journal of Intercultural Relations, 23(2), 187–197. Browne, A. (2015, June 20). World news—China’s world: Election debacle is blow to city’s spirit. The Wall Street Journal, Eastern edition, New York, p. A9. Celesta (2015, March 21). Lion Rock: The spirit of Hong Kong people. Enjoying life… Retrieved from https://celesta2014.wordpress.com/tag/lion-rock-spirit/. Chan, J. (2015). Fortune captures Lion Rock spirit to inspire Hong Kong. Marketing Interactive, https://www.marketing-interactive.com/fortune-captures-lion-rock-spirit-to-inspirehong-kong/, cited on 2017 May 31.

6 The Two Logics of the “Lion Rock Spirit” Re-Represented …

139

Chin, W. (2011). Theory of the Hong Kong city-state (城邦論). Hong Kong: Tianchuang/Enrich. Jenkins, R. (2014). Social identity (4th ed.). New York: Routledge. Hall, S. (1996). Introduction: Who needs ‘identity’? In S. Hall & P. du Gay (Eds.), Questions of cultural identity (pp. 1–17). London: Sage Publications. Kwong, Y. (2016). State-society conflict radicalization in Hong Kong: The rise of ‘anti-China’ sentiment and radical localism. Asian Affairs, 47(3), 428–442. Lawler, S. (2014). Identity: Sociological perspectives (2nd ed.). Cambridge, UK: Polity Press. Leung, Y. L. (2015). (Free) TV cultural rights and local identity: The struggle of HKTV as a social movement. Inter-Asia Cultural Studies, 16(3), 422–435. Lou, J. J., & Jaworski, A. (2016). Itineraries of protest signage: Semiotics landscape and the mythologizing of the Hong Kong Umbrella Movement. Journal of Language and Politics, 15(5), 609–642. Martín Rojo, L. (2014). Taking over the Square: The role of linguistic practices in contesting urban spaces. Journal of Language and Politics, 13(4), 623–652. McFall, L. (2004). Advertising: A cultural economy. London: Sage Publications. Ng, L. M. (伍麗微) (2018). Lion Rock spirit 6: Universal value of Lion Rock (獅子山精神.六: 獅子山下含普世價值學者籲勿簡化精神). HK01 (01周報), https://www.hk01.com/, cited on 2018 October 22. Pang. (2015). A new direction by Fortune (幸福所帶來的新方向). https://www.inmediahk.net/, cited on 2017 May 31. RTHK (2015, March 19). Below the Lion Rock: Classic revisit (獅子山下 經典重溫). Retrieved from https://podcast.rthk.hk/podcast/item_all.php?pid=568. Rühlig, T. (2016). “Do you hear the people sing” “Lift your umbrella”? Understanding Hong Kong’s pro-democratic Umbrella movement through YouTube music videos. China Perspectives, 4, 59–68. Scott, S. (2015). Negotiating identity: Symbolic interactionist approaches to social identity. Cambridge, UK: Polity Press. Sky Post. (2015, April 2). City Talk (城市熱話). Sky Post (晴報), p. P08. Undergrad editorial board. (2015). Hong Kong nation (香港民族論). Hong Kong: HKUSU. Veg, S. (2017). The rise of “localism” and civic identity in post-handover Hong Kong: Questioning the Chinese nation-state. The China Quarterly, 230, 323–347. Veg, S. (2016). Creating a textual public space: Slogans and texts from Hong Kong’s Umbrella Movement. The Journal of Asian Studies, 75(3), 673–702. Wikipedia (2018, November 21). Lion rock spirit. Retrieved from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ Lion_Rock_Spirit#cite_note-qiaoyou-2. Williams, R. (1977). Marxism and literature. New York: Oxford University Press. Yew, C. P., & Kwong, K. (2014). Hong Kong identity on the rise. Asian Survey, 54(6), 1088–1112.

Dr. Sunny Sui-kwong Lam is an Associate Professor of Advertising and Media Design in the School of Arts and Social Sciences, the Open University of Hong Kong. He received his PhD in Communication at the School of Journalism and Communication in the Chinese University of Hong Kong. He served as the Digital Culture Research Centre Director of the Research Institute for Digital Culture and Humanities from 2015 to 2018. He has both practical and theoretical skills and knowledge to conduct in-depth academic and marketing research by means of both qualitative and quantitative methodologies. His research publications have appeared in several book chapters and international peer-reviewed journals such as Media, Culture & Society, Asian Journal of Communication, and Journal of Digital Media & Interaction.

Chapter 7

Exploring Cultural Recognition: Enhancing Creativity in Interactive Communications Amic G. Ho

Abstract The interactions of actors, including designers and customers, shape the communication process. Designers are expected to create innovative messages to attract more customers. In order to equip designers with the ability to generate innovative ideas, studies have provided evidence of the influence of emotion and cultural values on roles in communication. Emotional concerns and cultural recognition, and how these factors can enhance creativity and interactions in communication, have not yet been studied in depth. This study aims to investigate the relationships among emotion and cultural recognition in order to motivate interactions in the communication process. Following a literature review, the study continues with an analysis of an interactive project conducted by a team of local design students, specifically the introduction of emotional concerns with cultural recognition into the process of interactive design. The project develops a new strategy to optimize the communication process by including the emotional and cultural concerns of designers and customers. Keywords Cultural recognition · Emotion · Creative process · Undergraduate design education

Introduction Many studies have pointed out that the communication design process is influenced by the cognitive thinking capabilities of designers, which are related to their individual tacit knowledge (Jared, Merlo, Legardeur, & Pol, 2011). Most of these studies have advocated rational educational approaches. Similarly, most designers have been guided to modify their communication design process through problembased methodologies that focus on developing problem-solving skills (Bilbao, Varela, Rebollar, Bravo, & García, 2018). However, some designers still face difficulties in taking innovative approaches toward resolving their communication problems, A. G. Ho (B) The Open University of Hong Kong, Ho Man Tin, Hong Kong e-mail: [email protected] © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2020 S. S. Lam (ed.), New Media Spectacles and Multimodal Creativity in a Globalised Asia, Digital Culture and Humanities 3, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-7341-5_7

141

142

A. G. Ho

suggesting that other hidden factors are hindering their practices. Satisfying the growing need for creativity and interesting outcomes is one of the challenges in today’s society. Designers are expected to create products that are both innovative and user-friendly. In order to help designers generate innovative ideas, many studies have recommended that the creative and learning processes in design study should include training in cognitive thinking, which can leverage their individual tacit knowledge (Almendra & Christiaans, 2009; Horvath, 2008; Jared, Merlo, Legardeur, & Pol, 2011; Ruiz-Dominguez & Boujut, 2007). Even so, many design learners still face challenges in creatively resolving their design problems, which implies that other hidden factors are hindering these learners’ practices. Identifying these hidden factors can facilitate design learners’ creativity and enhance their design abilities. In addition, although design scholars have investigated approaches to helping design learners, they have been forced to engage in cross-disciplinary research due to the lack of references or prior investigation into the topic of creativity in the extant design literature. Salovey and Mayer (1990), for instance, have proposed that emotion and cultural recognition are involved in designers’ thinking processes. These factors potentially affect designers’ ability to generate ideas and modify their design practices (Ryan, 1992). Therefore, this study proposes a strategy for emotion and cultural recognition development (Becker, 1984; Goodley, Lawthorm, & Clough, 2004; Keltner, Tracy, Sauter, & Cowen, 2019; Sautera, Eisnerc, Ekmand, & Scottc, 2015). An example of interactive communication design, created by a group of undergraduate students, was proposed and conducted in order to examine how educators help design learners modify their design processes by exploring the relationships between design, emotion, and cultural recognition.

The Influence of Cultural Recognition and Emotion on Interactive Communication One of the most significant challenges in the creative process is effectively improving the design process and design outcomes. A review of previous studies demonstrates that interactive communication is a relatively complicated concept that involves several fields of study (Sternberg & Lubart, 1999; Taylor, 1998; Villalba, 2008). In order to overcome the challenge of improving the design process, it is essential to enhance design learners’ project experience (Taylor, 1998) and increase their familiarity with creative techniques and skills that can help them master the complex design process. Therefore, design scholars have introduced problem-based teaching and learning into creative design processes (Sternberg & Lubart, 1999). However, educators still face problems such as providing a “creativity stimulating environment” (Winnicott, 1971), “structuring the design processes” (Tusa, 2003), and delivering and requesting information appropriately (Gladwell, 2008). The need to encourage learners’ creativity and innovative skills is understandable (Jones & Safrit, 1994; Towse & Handka, 2013). The rise of new technology inspires learners

7 Exploring Cultural Recognition: Enhancing Creativity …

143

to use various new media in their daily lives (Evans, 2011; Kimmelman, 2005) and in their learning processes. The media-driven environment provides new challenges to design students, who must learn and understand different methods and approaches to design. Educators, therefore, have the responsibility to lead students toward new creative practices (Tusa, 2007), especially since creativity is an important means of generating and acquiring knowledge (Bramham & Wagg, 2010). Hence, methods of stimulating creativity inspire students to support self-learning and even life-long learning skills. The most effective element to enhance interactive communication is creativity. The most creative idea attracts the attention of the audience, and they will share that idea with others. Creativity is often considered an individual talent (Taylor, 1998; Tolle, 1999) that has long fascinated scholars. Research on creativity began with psychological studies such as those of Ferrari, Cachia, and Punie (2009), whose analysis of how creativity encourages communication broke creativity into the following categories: • The psychometric approach regards creativity as a quality that can be measured. • The psychoanalytic approach regards creativity as the unconscious execution of artistic design objectives. • The self-expression with cultural recognition and mystical approach regards creativity as a means to express oneself uniquely. • The end-product approach regards creativity as a function of producing design experiences that can satisfy users’ needs. • The cognitive approach embraces “phase-oriented studies,” “pragmatic methods,” and “thinking theory.” The psychoanalytic approach provides support for further investigations as to whether, and how, emotion can influence creativity. Since the publication of Goleman’s Emotional Intelligence and Working with Emotional Intelligence (2004), which investigated the relationships between social interactions and emotional intelligence, educators have systematically introduced learning activities focused on emotional concerns (Goleman, 2004). The concept of emotional intelligence was developed from the perspective of evolutionary psychology. The theory was based on the investigation of emotional expression as a means of survival; in other words, the capability of monitoring and discerning the emotions of others (Bar-On, Maree, & Elias, 2007; Salovey & Mayer, 1990). Emotion is an important factor in the development of educational methods such as problem-solving. Goleman’s concept of emotional intelligence has been widely adopted in different disciplines, which has led to the introduction of related concepts such as emotional literacy, self-motivation, and emotional creativity. These concepts have been widely adopted in creative professional practices in England (Spendlove, 2007) and are still key features of primary and secondary curricula in Great Britain. Design methods for problem-solving and creativity have been adopted in certain courses as tools to help learners understand the concept of emotion and recognize the emotional changes of themselves and others over the course of the learning experience. Previous studies have found that

144

A. G. Ho

emotional literacy strengthens learners’ creativity and decision-making ability (Biernacki, McLennan, Terrett, Labuschagne, & Rendell, 2016; Kant, 1952). According to Frederickson, Mancuso, Branigan, and Tugade (2000) of emotional literacy, specifically positive emotions, in the learning process, positive emotions can help learners make decisions more effectively and creatively. Their recommendations have since been adopted in the field of creative education, in order to help strengthen students’ problem-solving ability. Although designers’ professional experience is crucial, general learners’ creative skills can also be nurtured in design schools. For instance, project-oriented pedagogy has been incorporated as specific courses on emotional concerns and cultural recognition for design learners. Learner feedback indicated that the students found it easier to generate creative ideas and think about design problems from various points of view, including those of other people around them. The findings of these studies reflected that systematic training courses about emotional concerns and cultural recognition can provide even more effective learning experience for creativity design students who have already received professional design training.

The Influence of Cultural Recognition on Interactive Communication Design Culture is the expression of humanity (Glaveanu, 2017; Lloyd, 2005) including knowledge, traditions, heritages, civilizations (King & Swartz, 2018), and values (Rauhala, 2003; Postrel, 2003; Picard, Grönlund, & Toivonen, 2003). It is affected by changes in the economy and society (Bourdieu & Johnson 1993) and can be interpreted in various forms, such as music, art, films, and many others. Yet, few studies have focused on the relationships between creativity and culture (Carr, 2008; Glaveanu, 2017; Holden, 2006). Studies of communication design have explored the role of cultural recognition in brand identity (Hesmondhalgh, 2007; Sautera, Eisnerc, Ekmand, & Scottc, 2015). Ludwig (1992) proposed that culture is one of the factors that influences creative expression, through the exploration of forms of expression, individual uses, or rearrangements of cultural elements (Heath & Potter, 2005). Kapferer (2012) investigated the relationship of culture and brand identity with his Brand Identity Prism, which uses six categories—physical facet, relationship, reflection, aspirational self-image, culture, and personality—that are further classified into two dimensions: dimension I, “constructed source to constructed receiver”, and dimension II, “externalization vs. internalization.” According to dimension I, a brand must have a clear personality. Kapferer described the “constructed source” as “physique and personality,” and proposed that the source should be presented to the “stereotypical user” or the “constructed receiver” to generate “reflection and self-image.” According to dimension II, a brand also presents its personalities in its social aspects, which define its external expression Kapferer described this process as “externalization: physique, relationship, and reflection.” Internal communication

7 Exploring Cultural Recognition: Enhancing Creativity …

145

incorporates personality, culture, and self-image into the brand itself, in a process that Kapferer called “internalization.” Strong brands can effectively weave all points of view into one complete concept that clearly and concisely generates the brand identity. The brand identity prism model implies relationships between culture, emotion, and the design outcome of interactive communication (Bourdieu, 1984; Bracewell, 2007). The topic was largely understudied until Chua, Roth, and Lemoine (2014) investigated how culture influences creativity and drives the development of art and cultural activities. They found that creativity was linked with personal ability. It motivated individuals to think imaginatively, and to challenge traditional or existing barriers. They also found that creativity can be nurtured by personal abilities and technical skills within a social environment. Personal ability can lead the individual to think laterally (Bourdieu, 1984; Bourdieu, Silberzan, & Chatenay, 1991; Harvey, 1989), whereas technical skills are mostly referred to as the craftsmanship of artistic skills. The creative process occurs mostly within a social context that provides notable education or learning experience, which in turn encourages creativity (Leadbeater & Miller, 2004), such as within an economic trend to invest in culture and culturebased innovations (Blake, 1999; Boltanski & Chiapello, 2005; Lash & Urry, 1994; Sennett, 2006; Throsby, 2007). Chua, Roth and Lemoine (2014) pointed out that creativity is important for society; businesses, for instance, need more effective generation processes, optimized cost-controlling systems, and better techniques to improve competitiveness. Brands must also develop better products and services to better meet the needs of consumers (Beilby-Onin & Gordon, 2006; Bourdieu & Johnson, 1993; Gibson, 2003). Advances in digital technology and optimized digital techniques provide new media and channels for communication. Chua, Roth, and Lemoine (2014) have suggested that culture provides creative influence on various aspects of social changes. They pointed out that improved techniques have made creativity more important throughout the consumption cycle, including marketing, production services, and consumption. Productivity skills at the industrial manufacturing level are no longer sufficient to develop a competitive advantage for businesses or brands (Negus & Pickering, 2004; Nixon, 2003; Pine & Gilmore, 1999). Creativity, therefore, both overturns traditions and leads to productivity gains to develop a competitive advantage. Nayar (2013) proposed that the potential of creativity supports the development of the economy and society and that raising awareness of culture is essential to enhancing creativity. He pointed out that creativity would foster innovation with the appropriate communication process, which is continuously shaped by individuals (McKeown, 2008; Sennett, 1998). In some European countries, projects have been launched to developing new economic and social directions, with culture as a subsidiary element (Currid, 2007; DCMS, 2008; Holden, 2006). Ho (2014) explored the role of emotion in design from the designer’s point of view, specifically how emotion and cultural recognition relate to decision-making in the design process (Ho, 2014). Based on his literature review and empirical studies, he proposed an in-depth model of how designers’ emotions influence their design process. He found that stimuli in the daily lives and individual experiences of design learners, such as social, technological, and cultural factors, affect

146

A. G. Ho

their emotional responses and lead them to conduct the initial processing of the thinking process in their working memory. The working memory considers the internal factors that influence the design process, including information organization and human resources and resources allocation (Ho, 2014). During this process, long-term memory recalls various categories such as individual experience, value and missions, learned knowledge and skills, which serve as references for decision making, and thus generate judgements and corresponding responses. Based on Ho’s findings, enhancing culture recognition can help enhance creativity by inputting new ideas, challenging conventions, and communicating effectively. Other studies have similarly suggested enhancing the cultural and thinking ability of learners and have considered cultural recognition an important part of the training of imagination and diverse thinking in undergraduate creativity education (Florida, 2002, 2003; Florida & Tinagli, 2004). Ho’s concept built upon Kim’s (2010) study of the influence of Confucianism, a traditional part of many Asian cultures, on creativity, and of the potential for cultural factors in general to either enhance or limit creativity. Kim proposed that Confucianism would provide a negative influence on creativity, because of its emphasis on obedience, its inequality in gender role expectations, and its suppression of traditional expression. Similarly, Ho (2014) analyzed different scenarios of realistic dialogues and found emotional changes within the interactions between users and service systems. These dialogues did not only involve giving commands and instructions; the languages, interfaces, and information hierarchies that were used would elicit emotional changes in the users within the system experience (Androutsopoulos, Ritchie, & Thanisch, 1995). Users were observed to become frustrated if using an automatic system with little or no concern for emotional or cultural recognition. Some users even preferred to be approached by a human operator, indicating the importance of emotional elements in interactive communication and supporting the need for investigation of how emotional changes in users affect the conduction of dialogue (Craggs & Wood, 2004).

The Infusion of Cultural Recognition and Emotion into Interactive Communication Design Processes Based on the theories mentioned above, a model was developed to illustrate how cultural recognition works with emotion to enhance the design experience for interactive communication. Personality, past experiences, and personal values shape cultural recognition, and emotional concerns are part of these three elements. Through a consideration of cultural recognition and emotional concerns, the system and/or interface of the interactive communication design would be improved. Consideration of cultural recognition and emotional concerns can be achieved with several tools, discussed below. Customer decision-making records (Table 7.1) and consumer journey maps (Table 7.2) are tools that can help designers consider culture and emotions. Recording the

7 Exploring Cultural Recognition: Enhancing Creativity …

147

Table 7.1 Customer decision-making record Consumer experience

Purchasing decision

Actions

Awareness

Audience

Profile

Customer

Purchase

Product

Feelings Desired outcomes Pain points

Table 7.2 Consumer journey map Stages of the journey

Open to possibility

Decision to buy/change

Evaluating

Shopping

Experience

Top influences Top consumer needs Top screens

consumer/buyer’s decision-making process helps identify and track the decisionmaking path of a customer journey. Many designers have tried to create positive experiences for their users or customers; however, few of them could face changes in the requirements of customers and provide a communication experience that meets the customer’s expectations. In the worst cases, some did not even realize the extent of the negative effects of the experience. The matrix of customer decision-making processes was modified according to the theories discussed above. The consumers’ experiences were marked according to four aspects: actions, feelings, desired outcomes and pain points. A customer journey map is a matrix used to record the overall story from an individual’s perspective, of his/her relationship with an interactive communication experience over time and across channels, from inviting consumers to experience the interactive communication design to the engagement process and long-term brand loyalty building. Whether the journey map focuses mainly on the engagement process or on the entire experience, it illustrates the path of the consumer’s key desired interactions. It records customers’ feelings, motivations, actions, questions, and responses for each of these touchpoints, which reflect the objectives of and expectations for the interactive communication process. These tools help designers create memorable experiences for their customers. The customer journey map can be presented in various formats, such as infographics. All of these formats are meant to allow designers to develop a more complete understanding of their customers. These tools help designers understand the user context and gain a clearer understanding of their users’ backgrounds. They provide information about the goals of the interactive communication that the users would like to achieve. They are effective in helping the designers to know which questions to ask the users in order to provide an overview

148

A. G. Ho

of the users’ experiences. The designers understand how users process information through the communication process and use these research tools to identify opportunities to enhance the communication process. These tools show how strengthened interaction can improve the communication process, and also help designers identify. For example, Liu, Sparks, and Coghlan (2014) conducted a survey to investigate how designers used scenarios and customer journey maps to identify gaps and pain points in the interactive communication process (Huber et al., 2000). They found gaps and pain points that are commonly observed in interactive communication, including the following: • “gaps between devices” occur when a user changes communication devices; • “gaps between departments” refer to new concepts or instructions being used in the communication process without enough supporting information, causing user failure and frustration; • “gaps between channels” refer to media adopted by designers, such as websites or social media platforms. To summarize, a customer journey map always remains user-centred. The data in the map can be used to help design mobile applications, websites, and social media channels to influence user and customer behaviours. The map encourages designers to consider users’ emotional concerns, needs, and enquiries, which are essential for effective interactive communication. During the process of preparing the customer journey map, designers investigate valuable insights by data searching. The value of these insights depends on how they convey user needs to the designers. In order to obtain the most valuable insights, designers should conduct surveys that will help them build a more structured picture of users’ considerations, emotional changes, and motivations. Anecdotal research is one important method for doing so, as designers must organize their data according to user experiences. Designers achieve this goal by interviewing users or by sharing information on social media platforms. Designers should record all information carefully as these references are useful for preparing the final customer journey map. They can also interview staff working in front-line positions to investigate users’ needs because these are the people who most often interact with customers. Time and budget influence much of the information detailed in this study. In cases that involve many different groups of users, the process of creating detailed customer journeys map for each group would be difficult. Therefore, designers should focus their research on primary audiences. They may also gain information on secondary audiences’ needs by interviewing customer servicing staff and other stakeholders. An effective solution for designers would be to consider as many spaces as possible with limited resources. Designers should not make decisions solely based on assumptions, as such a move risks the structure of the interactive communication process. The time and resources spent on researching and developing the customer journey map will be worthwhile, as designers are then able to consider user needs in greater depth. Designers investigate users’ reactions, thought processes, and emotional responses. The main content of the customer journey map includes activities undertaken by the users, concepts that they consider, and feelings that they experience

7 Exploring Cultural Recognition: Enhancing Creativity …

149

during their journeys. All the information must be gathered by conducting qualitative research, including various approaches such as field studies or focus groups. The selection of the research approach should be based on the customer journey map’s purposes. The investigated data should then be organized as content according to points such as “touchpoints and channels” and “insights and ownership.” The organization of the customer journey map should link the touchpoints, the moments in which the users interact with the design; and the channels or methods of communication delivery, such as websites or pop-up stores, with the users’ goals and responses. These elements are important in determining the qualities of communication. At the same time, the aim of composing the journey-mapping process is to discover gaps within the user experience, before analyzing how to optimize the interactive communication process. The gaps generate insights and critical elements that are often ignored. All the insights found during the research process should be recorded and analyzed in detail, as they provide clear reflections of users’ needs and suggest directions to provide the most effective interactive communication methods. The records of these investigative tools are then presented in a complete user matrix that includes customers’ emotional and cultural concerns (Dewaele, Lorette, & Petrides, 2019) as described in the user scenario. The original version of the user scenario is a detailed description of users’ interactions with the design. The updated version, incorporating emotional concerns and cultural recognitions, indicates how and why users interact as they do. This version includes information that is highly relevant to the users’ experiences with and expectation for interactive communication design. It provides an outline of users’ desires to interact with communication design outcomes and their motivations for the design process. This step to creating user scenarios is essential for the development of usercentred interactive communication design. In the process of interactive communication design, designers can become easily distracted by design objects and may incorporate features or functions that may not contribute effectively to solving design or communication problems. Accurate and up-to-date user scenarios would help designers gain a fuller account of users’ concerns and needs. With clear descriptions of typical user expectations and objectives to be achieved, designers are able to provide more effective estimations of the content, complexity, and time required for the best experience within the interactive communication design process while performing different tasks. In other words, new proposed user scenarios contain every detail of user interactions within the communication process and are therefore useful for investigating user needs in later stages. The updated user scenarios illustrated how users process information and which functions and features were essential for a satisfying experience with the design. The scenarios also provide more insights on how to motivate users who are continuously engaged in interactions, by shifting the designers’ focus from technical requirements to eliciting emotions with interactive communication design. The designers are thus able to implement the corresponding instructions and technical requirements. Hence, the updated version of user scenarios serves as the foundation of experience mapping. An effective customer journey map should include more accurate information about customers. Customer journey maps are a collaborative process that seeks

150

A. G. Ho

clearly defined interactive communication design goals, and most of the information in these maps is derived from research. Maps require designers to modify the process in user-centred directions. The designers should use the insights provided by the research. The following section proposes some suggestions for designers to ensure that their processes are modified according to available user data. First, designers should investigate the clear concept; in other words, the business goal of the customer journey map. Designers must ensure that key questions about their objectives for interactive communication are clearly answered before they start the design process. Some of these key questions include the following: • • • •

What business objective does this customer journey map achieve? Who are the target customers? How do they use it and what kind of experience does it aim to address? How will it be shared by the users?

Designers should then process their information base and develop customer journey maps according to real investigations. The early steps in the process should involve gathering background information about the customers, with the ensuing investigation building from this information. Hence, qualitative research, which is widely used in social and cultural studies, is the recommended approach for this stage of the process. The three main types of qualitative research approaches are participant observation, direct observation, and interviewing. Participant observation is a common, and relatively demanding, method of gathering qualitative data. This method requires designers to become participants in cultural observation. The designers must know how to establish a context for the data, how to collect information about the participants, how to prepare observation notes, and how to analyze field data. Some studies have taken months or even years to observe the culture in the most natural manner possible. Direct observation is conducted differently from participant observation. In direct observation, the observer does not participate in the event he/she is investigating but takes an objective position in order to minimize bias in the research process. Modern technology has made such observation easier and more effective. For example, designers can use video recordings of their target audience rather than relying only on handwritten notes. To a certain extent, direct observation provides more opportunities for designers to record and investigate small changes in the target audience’s responses within a fixed time. Unstructured interviews involve direct interactions between designers and their target audience. Unlike traditionally structured interviews, unstructured interviews emphasize questions and responses. There are no fixed instruments and procedures, although some guiding questions about the core-concept may be pre-set. Designers are free to change the formation of the conversation in the direction in which they are most interested. Consequently, unstructured interviews are effective in exploring particular aspects of a broad topic. However, designers still need to control the discussion area carefully. If the interview has no predetermined question set, the resulting data may be harder to analyze.

7 Exploring Cultural Recognition: Enhancing Creativity …

151

Designers may face challenges as to which approaches are best or most proper for their projects. Both qualitative and quantitative research strategies provide various types of information from different perspectives. Projects in applied social studies and cultural studies have used both, in what is known as a “mixed methods” approach. Because knowing different approaches and functions is important in the design of the research process, designers should be familiar with the general assumptions of the study and the types of data they seek. Qualitative and quantitative approaches can also be used together by examining a data set obtained via one approach from the perspective of another. For example, most data obtained in the qualitative research process are then developed as data in quantity. Therefore, qualitative research may provide significant numerical values and meaningful descriptions. These values may then be analyzed as insights that can help the designer achieve more innovative designs or examine specific hypotheses (McCarthy, Ondaatje, Zakaras, & Brooks, 2004). Designers must work with a team during the interactive communication process. In the process of developing customer journey mapping, designers should involve and understand all the parties involved in the interactive communication process. The process should be approached step-by-step; for instance, the designers should not create aesthetically pleasing layouts until they have developed a detailed customer journey map. They should also know how to structure a complete experience rather than merely creating visual elements such as graphics or interfaces and should encourage users to share their experiences throughout the interactive communication process because sharing is a crucial element in successful interactive communication.

A Sample Student Project on Cultural Recognition and Emotion The following student project is an example of how these research tools can help incorporate cultural recognition and emotion into the interactive communication process. The project was created by third-year undergraduate students, using customer decision-making records and journey maps. The students had experience with previous design projects and were open to experimenting with new methods. During the research phase of the project, the students recorded the experiences and feelings of customers and then used a journey map to determine the most effective methods of making contact with the customers. Based on the systemic Customer Journey Map and Customer Decision Making tools, the designers developed a user scenario that included emotional changes and cultural values (Fig. 7.1). These factors were taken into consideration during the web planning stage (Fig. 7.2). Based on the systemic Customer Journey Map matrix, the cultural elements were introduced into the interfaces of the interactive design (Fig. 7.3).

152

A. G. Ho

Customer Decision Making Consumer Experience

Actions

Feelings

Desired Outcomes

Pain Points

Purchasing Decision Making Stages Awareness

Audiences

Profile

Customer

Purchase

Product

WOM, Website, Magazine

Visiting Website

Create an account of membership

Consider price

Payment options

Customer inertia, Feedback

Consider of discount

Comparing price

Curious

Eager

Belonging

Optimistic

Careful

Loyal

Unsure

Confused

Unconvinced

Doubtful

Judgement

Resigned

Increase

Maximize effectiveness

Well purchasing experience

Ensure correct payment

Customer loyalty

presence

Well distinguish between product and brand

Brand confusion Negative response

Unattractive layout design Incompatible interface

Ineffective web design

Expensive Unattractive product

Stable payment

Negative response

Confusing Interface

Customer Journey Map Stages of the Journey

Open to possibility

Decision to buy/change

Evaluating

Shopping

Experience

Top Influences

Interactive website,

Desire for new things, Interactive website, Magazine ads, Digital ads, WOM

Discount offers, Digital ads, Magazine ads, WOM

Customer service, Products, Interactive Website

Service performance, WOM, Specific promotion, Product performance

Past experience, WOM, Magazine ads, Digital ads

Top Consumer Needs

Comprehensive influences to meet the top consumer

High-quality and affordable products, Traditional convention

High-quality and affordable products, Consistent with traditional

Well interactive and userfriendly website, well customer service

High-quality and affordable product and service, Consistent with traditional

Top Screens

Computer, Tablet, Mobile, Enables content early in the journey

Computer, Tablet and Mobile, Interactive, attractive, distinguish performance in ads or website to create a positive image

Computer, Tablet and Mobile, Maximize the effectiveness of the information to attract customer

Computer, Tablet and Mobile, Provide well shopping experience with an interactive and userfriendly website

Computer, Tablet and Mobile, Create positive brand image and well service and product performance

Fig. 7.1 Development of the user scenario based on the systemic customer journey map and customer decision-making tools

7 Exploring Cultural Recognition: Enhancing Creativity …

153

New Target Audience Age

28-35

Gender

Both

Occupaon

Senior Level White Collar

Income

Below $30,000

Educaon

University

Lifestyle

Tradional

Family Status

Single or engaged

Language

Chinese

Religion

Tradional Chinese Culture

Tang is an assistant manager of an accounng company. He is a newlywed, next week he will visit his parent-inlaw. His parent-in-law is tradional and conservave. He needs something formal and polite for gis because of the Chinese tradional custom. He worries about the gis.

He started searching Chinese tradional gi/Chinese tradional food as the reference on the Internet.

60% of findings are mainly about the Chinese restaurant and food but not much informaon about the form and gi such as the Chinese sausages/tea.

Tang felt frustrated at the result. He decided to ask his mom, Mary. Then, Mary simply introduced him to a new website of WingWah.

The different set and package in the site help Tang to get the Chinese tradional gi and food by simply a few steps online and deliver to their home.

Fig. 7.1 (continued)

Conclusions Creativity in communication is receiving more attention in twenty-first-century design studies for a knowledge-driven society. Creative interactive communication design can contribute both to economic and social changes and to daily living (Du Gay & Pryke, 2002; Ginsburgh & Throsby, 2006). Creative processes are central in design education as designers seek to enhance their skills and develop competitive ability. Scholars have therefore investigated various methods of increasing creativity in designers, such as brainstorming and organizing thoughts and actions. Studies have found that different senses, experiences, and connections all influence creativity in design, which in turn influences user satisfaction. These conclusions may provide new directions for existing design processes that emphasize satisfying design functions, often at the expense of creativity (Galbraith, 2007). Other studies have revealed that at the heart of creativity, emotion and cultural recognition can strengthen the influence of experience and the memory of users. Studies in design and emotion and cultural recognition have examined how designed solutions could intentionally elicit the emotional responses and cultural recognition of users (Gibson, 2003). Design

154

A. G. Ho

Web Planning User-really want to try What

Problems

There are no stores near customers Lack of time to purchase in-store Rely on online shopping rather than shop in retail Shopping at anytime and anywhere Buy more quantity of products as delivery service is provided

Want extra discount Need delivery services Searching for information of the products

Kill time Product information

Download

Convenient online shopping experience Order different products through Internet at anywhere, anytime & enjoy delivery service Word of Mouth Social media: 2-3 weeks Invoice, delivery notice

Product catalogue

Strategy (Content is king)

Each product information (e.g. price & weight, etc.)

Each product information (e.g. price & weight, etc.)

Keywords buyer typing into google

Mooncake Wing Wah Meat sausages Wife cake Cookie egg roll Chinese tradition food

Food Online shop Eating China Traditional Yummy Snacks

Tactics (Marketing is queen)

Create A user-friendly and interactive online shop Content Interactive-based, meet each customer’s needs Share Facebook, Instagram, Blog, YouTube

Create A website showing different products Content Each product basic information Share Facebook, Instagram, Blog, YouTube

Purchase (Action you’d like them to take)

Enquire

Connect

How

The watcher

Interactive response Giving an online coupon after joined membership

Social media: 2 weeks

Fig. 7.2 Consideration of emotional changes and cultural values in the web planning stage

7 Exploring Cultural Recognition: Enhancing Creativity …

155

Fig. 7.3 Introduction of cultural elements into an interactive design interface based on the systemic customer journey map matrix

goals have therefore shifted from generating appealing outcomes toward appropriate and innovative solutions that can satisfy users’ needs and shape their experiences with the design. In order to answer some of the challenges designers currently face, this study is the first step to learning about and introducing emotional and cultural recognition into the creative process. Educators should be aware of and understand the nature of creativity and how it can be enhanced. Judgement of the originality of ideas and unexpected design experiences are also related to creativity, and the roles of emotion and culture should be taken into account in the learning and creative processes.

References Almendra, R. A., & Christiaans, H. (2009). Decision making in the conceptual design phases: A comparative study. Journal of Design Research, 8(1), 1–22. Androutsopoulos, I., Ritchie, G. D., & Thanisch, P. (1995). Natural language interfaces to databases– An introduction. Natural Language Engineering, 1(1), 29–81. Bar-On, R., Kobus Maree, J. G., & Elias, M. J. (2007). Educating people to be emotionally intelligent. Westport: Greenwood Publishing Group. Becker, H. S. (1984). Art worlds. Berkeley: University of California Press. Beilby-Onin, H., & Gordon, J. C. (2006). International measurement of the economic and social importance of Culture in Europe. Paris: Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.

156

A. G. Ho

Biernacki, K., McLennan, S. N., Terrett, G., Labuschagne, I., & Rendell, P. G. (2016). Decisionmaking ability in current and past users of opiates: A meta-analysis. Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews, 71, 342–351. Bilbao, J., Varela, C., Rebollar, C., Bravo, E., & García, O. (2018). Selecting assessments for problem based learning. International Journal of Education and Learning Systems, 3. Blake, A. (1999). Living through pop. London: Routledge. Boltanski, L., & Chiapello, E. (2005). The new spirit of capitalism. London: Verso Books. Bourdieu, P. (1984). Distinction: A social critique of the judgement of taste. Abingdon: Routledge & Kegan Paul. Bourdieu, L., Silberzan, P., & Chatenay, D. (1991). Langmuir-Blodgett films: From micron to angstrom. Physical Review Letters, 67(15), 2029. Bourdieu, P., & Johnson, R. (1993). The field of cultural production: Essays on art and literature. Cambridge: Polity Press. Bracewell, M. (2007). Re-make/re-model. London: Faber and Faber. Bramham, P., & Wagg, S. (Eds.). (2010). The new politics of leisure and pleasure. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. Carr, G. N. (2008). In the big switch: Rewiring the world, from Edison to Google. New York: W. W. Norton & Company. Chua, R. Y. J., Roth, Y., & Lemoine, J. F. (2014). The impact of culture on creativity. Administrative Science Quarterly, 60(2), 189–227. Craggs, R., & Wood, M. (2004). A categorical annotation scheme for emotion in the linguistic content of dialogue. In Proceedings of the Tutorial and Research Workshop on Affective Dialogue Systems (pp. 89–100). Heidelberg: Elsevier. Currid, E. (2007). The Warhol economy: How fashion, art and music drive New York City. Princeton: Princeton University Press. DCMS. (2008). Creative industry performance: A statistical analysis. London: Frontier Economics. Dewaele, J. M., Lorette, P., & Petrides, K. V. (2019). The effects of linguistic proficiency, trait emotional intelligence and in-group advantage on emotion recognition by British and American English L 1 user. Emotion in Discourse, 302, 279. Du Gay, P., & Pryke, M. (2002). Cultural economy: Cultural analysis and commercial life. London: Sage. Evans, E. (2011). Transmedia television: Audiences, new media, and daily life. London: Routledge. Ferrari, A., Cachia, R., & Punie, Y. (2009). Innovation and creativity in creative processes and training in the EU member states: Fostering creative learning and supporting innovative teaching. Seville: Joint Research Centre, Institute for Prospective Technological Studies. Florida, R. (2002). The creative class. New York: Basic Books. Florida, R. (2003). The rise of the creative class: And how it’s transforming work, leisure, community and everyday life. New York: Basic Books. Florida, R., & Tinagli, I. (2004). Europe in the creative age. Pittsburgh: Carnegie Mellon University Press. Frederickson, B., Mancuso, R., Branigan, C., & Tugade, M. (2000). The undoing effect of positive emotion. Motivation and Emotion, 24(4), 237–244. Galbraith, J. K. (2007). The new industrial state. Princeton: Princeton University Press. Gibson, C. (2003). Cultures at work: Why ‘culture’ matters in research on the cultural industries. Social and Cultural Geography, 4(2), 201–215. Ginsburgh, V. A., & Throsby, D. (2006). Handbooks of the economics of art and culture: Vol. 1. Amsterdam: Elsevier. Gladwell, M. (2008). Outliers: The story of success. London: Penguin Books Ltd. Glaveanu, V. P. (2017). Thinking through creativity and culture: Toward an integrated model. London: Routledge. Goleman, D. (2004). Emotional intelligence and working with emotional intelligence. London: Bloomsbury. Goodley, D., Lawthorm, R., & Clough, P. (2004). Researching life stories. London: Routledge.

7 Exploring Cultural Recognition: Enhancing Creativity …

157

Harvey, D. (1989). The condition of postmodernity. Oxford: Blackwell. Heath, J., & Potter, A. (2005). The rebel sell: How the counterculture became consumer culture. Chichester: Capstone Publishing. Hesmondhalgh, D. (2007). The cultural industries (2nd ed.). London: Sage. Ho, A. G. (2014). The new relationship between emotion and the design process for designers. Archives of Design Research, 27(2), 47–57. Holden, J. (2006). Cultural value and the crisis of legitimacy. London: Demos. Horvath, I. (2008). Differences between ‘research in design context’ and ‘design inclusive research’ in the domain of industrial design engineering. Journal of Design Research, 7(1), 61–83. Huber, R., Batliner, A., Buckow, J., Noeth, E., Warnke, V., & Niemann, H. (2000). Recognition of emotion in a realistic dialogue scenario. In Proc. Int. Conf. on Spoken Language Processing: Volume 1 (pp. 665–668). Paris: The World Academy of Science, Engineering and Technology. Jared, G., Merlo, C., Legardeur, J., & Pol, G. (2011). CoCa: A tool for analysing collaborative practices to improve design process management. International Journal of Manufacturing Technology and Management, 22(3), 247–258. Jones, J. M., & Safrit, R. D. (1994). Developing critical thinking skills in adult learners through innovative distance learning. New York: ERIC Document Reproduction Service. Kant, E. (1952). The critique of judgment. London: Oxford University Press. Kapferer, J. N. (2012). The new strategic brand management: Advanced insights and strategic thinking. London: Kogan Page. Keltner, D., Tracy, J. L., Sauter, D., & Cowen, A. (2019). What basic emotion theory really says for the twenty-first century study of emotion. Journal of Nonverbal Behavior, 43(2), 195–201. Kim, H. (2010, April 6). Korean culture is key to promoting a positive national image. The Korea Herald. Retrieved from https://www.koreaherald.com/national/Detail.jsp?newsMLId=20051123 Kimmelman, M. (2005). The accidental masterpiece: On the art of life and vice versa. London: Penguin. King, J., & Swartz, E. (2018). Heritage knowledge in the curriculum. London: Routledge. Lash, S., & Urry, J. (1994). Economies of signs and space. London: Sage. Leadbeater, C., & Miller, P. (2004). The pro-am revolution: How enthusiasts are changing our society and economy. London: Demos. Liu, W., Sparks, B., & Coghlan, A. (2014). Mapping customer experiences: An examination of touchpoints and opportunities for enhancement. CAUTHE 2014: Tourism and Hospitality in the Contemporary World: Trends, Changes and Complexity, 996. Lloyd, R. D. (2005). Neo-bohemia: Culture and capital in post industrial Chicago. London: Routledge. Ludwig, A. M. (1992). Culture and creativity. American Journal of Psychotherapy, 46(3), 454–469. McCarthy, K. F., Ondaatje, E. H., Zakaras, L., & Brooks, A. (2004). Gifts of the muse: Reframing the debate about the benefits of the arts. Santa Monica: Rand Corporation. McKeown, M. (2008). The truth about innovation: A small book about big ideas. London: Pearson Education Limited. Nayar, J. (2013). The creativity manual. Greenford: Backpack Publishing. Negus, K., & Pickering, M. (2004). Creativity, communication and cultural value. London: Sage Publications Ltd. Nixon, S. (2003). Advertising cultures: Gender, commerce, creativity (Culture, representation and identity series). London: Sage Publications Ltd. Picard, R. G., Grönlund, M., & Toivonen, T. (2003). Means for overall assessment of cultural life and measuring the involvement of the cultural sector in the information society. Helsinki: Publications of the Ministry of Education. Pine, B. J., & Gilmore, J. (1999). The experience economy. Boston: Harvard Business School Press. Postrel, V. (2003). The substance of style: How the rise of aesthetic value is remaking commerce, culture and consciousness. New York: Harper Perennial. Rauhala, O. (2003). Nature, science and art. Helsinki: Otava Publishing Company.

158

A. G. Ho

Ruiz-Dominguez, G. A., & Boujut, J. F. (2007). A study of cognitive synchronisation in distant mediated design through design artefacts. Journal of Design Research, 7(2), 136–154. Ryan, B. (1992). Making capital from culture. New York: Walter de Gruyter. Salovey, P., & Mayer, J. D. (1990). Emotional intelligence. Imagination, Cognition and Personality, 9(3), 185–211. Sautera, D. A., Eisnerc, F., Ekmand, P., & Scottc, S. K. (2015). Cross-cultural recognition of basic emotions through nonverbal emotional vocalizations. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 26(3), 354–356. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1508604112 Sennett, R. (2006). The culture of the new capitalism. New Haven: Yale University Press. Sennett, R. (1998). The corrosion of character: The personal consequences of work in the new capitalism. New York: W. W. Norton. Spendlove, D. (2007). A conceptualisation of emotion within art and design creative processes: A creative, learning and product orientated triadic schema. International Journal of Art and Design Creative Processes, 26(2), 155–166. Sternberg, R. J., & Lubart, T. I. (1999). The concept of creativity: Prospects and paradigms. In R. J. Sternberg (Ed.), Handbook of Creativity (pp. 3–15). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Taylor, C. W. (1998). Various approaches to and definitions of creativity. In R. J. Sternberg (Ed.), The nature of creativity: Contemporary psychological perspectives (pp. 99–121). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Throsby, D. (2007). Economics and culture. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Tolle, E. (1999). The power of now: A guide to spiritual enlightenment. Novato: New World Library. Towse, R., & Handka, C. (Eds.). (2013). Handbook on the digital creative economy. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar Publishing. Tusa, J. (2007). Engaged with the arts: Writings from the frontline. London: I. B. Tauris. Tusa, J. (2003). On creativity: Interviews exploring the process. London: Methuen Publishing. Villalba, E. (2008). On creativity: Towards an understanding of creativity and innovation. Ispra: Centre for Research on Lifelong Learning. Winnicott, D. W. (1971). Playing and reality. London: Tavistock Publications.

Dr. Amic G. Ho is a design scholar, typographer, and communication designer. Graduated with a PhD Des, MDes, BA (Hons) Des (Visual Communication) from the School of Design, the Hong Kong Polytechnic University. Currently, he is an Assistant Professor and the Program Leader of BFA (Hons) in Imaging Design and Digital Art and BFA (Hons) in Cinematic Design and Photographic Digital Art in the Department of Creative Arts, the Open University of Hong Kong. His design expertise and research interests are in typography, emotion and design, and communication design. He also serves as Conference Chair and Editor of Springer proceedings in the International Conference on Human Factors in Communication of Design (AHFE), scientific board member, and session chair in the International Conference on Affective and Pleasurable Design (AHFE). In addition, he served as an associate editor for Design Principles and Practices and has acted as a reviewer for several design journals including the International Journal of Design Research, International Journal of Food Design, She Ji: The Journal of Design, Economics, and Innovation. His research has been published in various academic journals and conference proceedings.

Chapter 8

Brand Design Directionality in Korea in the Digital Age Kyurag Lee

Abstract With the advent of online and mobile-based digital media, the concept of brand design is changing, so that new approaches and development methods of brand design in the digital era are required. Various approaches and development methods for the digital age are already present in practical projects to meet these needs. Therefore, it is necessary to investigate the new direction of brand design and new direction in the digital age by examining related practical project cases. In Korea, digitization is already proceeding rapidly due to many different political, social, cultural, and economic factors. Sociocultural factors based on digital lifestyle and trends are particular influences on brand solutions. Global trends are rapidly being adopted in the field of branding; and within Korea, specific branding approaches and development methods are emerging. The purpose of this study is to analyze the characteristics and directions of Korean brand design in the digital era. This chapter involves a review of literature and preliminary studies, including case studies of Hankook Ilbo, Oksusu, and Kakao Friends. These three examples demonstrate the phenomenon of digital branding, the reflection of local customers and of the digital lifestyle, and the case of interactive on–off branding. This study provides insights into the characteristics of Korean brand design in the digital era and also suggests some future directions. Keywords Digital brand design · Digital media · Digital lifestyle · Online and offline branding · Korean branding · Brand experience

Brand Digitization The digitization of brands is a global phenomenon, as in order to lead changes in the media environment, brands must adopt new communication methods that allow consumers to experience, and express their opinions of, the brand value. Over the past decade, the term BX (Brand Experience) has become common in Korea and K. Lee (B) Keimyung University, Daegu, South Korea e-mail: [email protected] © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2020 S. S. Lam (ed.), New Media Spectacles and Multimodal Creativity in a Globalised Asia, Digital Culture and Humanities 3, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-7341-5_8

159

160

K. Lee

elsewhere, and has become a keyword in general branding strategies, though not necessarily in mobile branding. BX has a broader meaning than the existing concept of BI (Brand Identity). In addition, the concepts of UX (User Experience) and UI (User Interface), used in mobile terminology, have become everyday terms, alongside BX, in the field of brand design (Kim, 2014). In Korea, a radical mobile age has begun, as many offline activities, such as banking, taxis, and shopping, are moving toward mobile access. For example, studies have shown that in Korea, mobile shopping accounts for over 60% of online shopping (Kim, 2017). Therefore, many companies and brands are competing to develop mobile brands or expand their existing brands to mobile. The press is one such example, since newspapers quickly print the news of the day on paper and use fast distribution networks. Newspapers face competition from other media such as the Internet, all of which have their specific advantages and disadvantages, and must also consider the lifestyle changes of their readers. However, in a rapidly changing new media age, newspapers are conservative and slow to change in comparison to their digital counterparts, which may lead to a major crisis in the newspaper industry in the digital and mobile era. As the number of channels has increased, the share of existing TV news media has begun to decline. 87.1% of Internet users view or read news articles online, as compared to 55.9% for newspapers and 43.7% for broadcasters. According to the Korea Internet and Security Agency (KISA), 67.1% of Internet users ages 6 and over read news articles via the Internet, and 87.1% use the portal site’s news service. By comparison, 55.9% read newspapers, 43.7% watch/listen to broadcasters, and 42.3% read Internet newspapers (Lee, 2008). As a result, the influence of classical media such as TV and newspapers has weakened and the influence of portal sites has grown. In particular, newspapers in Korea are seen as less reliable than other media, especially since multiple regime changes have resulted in the existence of both progressive and conservative papers. The top three newspapers in Korea, Chosun Ilbo, JoongAng Ilbo, and DongA Ilbo, are seen as relatively conservative, while the fourthand fifth-ranked papers, Hankyoreh and Kyunghyang Newspaper, are regarded as relatively progressive. Various political issues have increased the partisanship of Korean society and its newspapers, with the differences between conservative and progressive publications especially noticeable when political tendencies are divided. The politically moderate Hankook Ilbo was established in 1954, making it one of Korea’s oldest newspapers (The Academy of Korean Studies). Although Hankook Ilbo had been among the top four Korean newspapers, business failures and moderate stances led to bankruptcy and takeover, as subscription numbers and brand awareness dropped. Its original logo was designed by Mikyung Lee, a female calligrapher, in 1954. In 1998, the logo was redesigned in a horizontal form with Korean sans serif logotype, so that the paper could be edited in horizontal format (hankookilbo.com). Despite some minor changes since then, the horizontal logo has been maintained, with some design variations. The green geometric symbol resembling a ribbon was rarely used in newspapers, though it has been used by the distribution bureau and overseas offices as a representative corporate image of Hankook Ilbo.

8 Brand Design Directionality in Korea in the Digital Age

161

The early stages of this project examined Hankook Ilbo from various perspectives, and found that Hankook Ilbo relied solely on logo-oriented visual communication, which seemed more conservative an approach than its actual political stance would suggest. As a result, customers of moderate political viewpoints are leaving, and younger and newer subscribers are not replacing them. In addition, for strategic and economic reasons, Hankook Ilbo has focused on newspapers as print media. The digitization, and resulting vitality, of the brand have been passive, which has restricted the development of the website and mobile site, as though the existing paper has merely been transferred online. Therefore, although it operates a variety of media such as newspapers, websites, and mobile devices, its old-fashioned image has persisted, and its brand value has thus been reduced. Following its bankruptcy, Hankook Ilbo was acquired by the Dongwha Group, but the existing directors of Hankook Ilbo insisted on conservative branding, and the directors of Dongwha Group were not able to persuade them to accept new directions or alternatives (Choi, 2017). For example, instead of using green, the signature colour of both Hankook Ilbo and the Dongwha Group, the existing directors of Hankook Ilbo used sky blue as the main colour. A plan for brand digitization was necessary to satisfy the directors of both Hankook Ilbo and the Dongwha Group, in order to expand the brand into media other than newspapers. Traditional media formats have been integrated into the digital environment, and as media channels have been integrated, the structure of media has also changed from one-sided communication to interactive communication. Therefore, a strategic integration of the brand into the digital environment was essential (Shin, 2001). The initial process of brand digitization also requires a change in brand communication strategy, in order to attract more subscribers and conceptually integrate multimedia applications. In the digital age, the elements of technology and social network channels combine to form a unified communications platform, so that each element must be curated to fit with the brand’s identity. A digitized brand requires a consistent identity, regardless of in which medium users experience it. Although this project was a rebranding project, it was not intended to develop another new logo for the newspaper or to design visuals and extend them to other media, but rather to integrate media visually by reflecting its own identity from the outset in consideration of newspapers, websites, mobile screens, and social networks. On the one hand, the project has expanded to include young customers as well as existing subscribers, in order to increase the newspaper’s subscription rate. Although the designs used green, the signature colour of Hankook Ilbo, they produced richer images than the original logo design, while still keeping with the existing brand identity, by incorporating various shades of green. In visualization, icons and pictograms widely used in mobile Graphical User Interfaces (GUIs) were reinterpreted for young customers who are used to mobile environments. Integrated visuals that can be applied to various media, without distinction between print media, mobile applications, and websites, were developed through icons and pictograms. While maintaining the same concept of colour and visuality, the digitization of the brand was optimized to match the characteristics of each medium. In the development of

162

K. Lee

icons and pictograms, each section in the newspaper was visualized, then specialized iconographies were developed to represent various aspects of daily life, news, and information. Using different symbols for different fields and subject areas allowed for the development of visuals that could be modified and applied to different media, rather than one invariant logo. Such a method is more complex, more expandable, and more sustainable than the existing one-way digitization of the brand.

Reflection of Locality and Digital Lifestyle Globalization is reflected in brands all over the world. Sometimes, however, localization has proven a more effective means of brand differentiation than globalization. In Korea, successful branding requires unique storytelling even while following trends. In particular, understanding customers’ digital lifestyle, and incorporating it into the brand, is critical to successful branding in Korea. In brand communications, creatives are moving beyond simply presenting new concepts, to providing a platform with specific communication solutions. If consumers do not feel that they have value or fun to share in brand communication, then they will not support the brand. Therefore, it is important to gain “real insight” (Kwak, 2014) into consumers’ digital lifestyles. Today, as the Internet becomes a major distribution channel for video content, it is possible to watch broadcast programs in real time using applications for smartphones or tablet PCs, and to view desired programs whenever and wherever one desires, using broadcast VOD (Video On Demand) services. DMB (Digital Multimedia Broadcasting) is a technology that converts video or audio to digital format and broadcasts it to portable IT devices such as mobile phones. DMB is based on Digital Audio Broadcasting (DAB), which was developed in Europe to replace analog radio. FM/AM radio, which is an analog system, was originally developed for receiving at a fixed location; thus, when it is received on the move, the sound quality is degraded and a wide frequency band is required. DAB, on the other hand, can deliver high-quality voices to fast-moving vehicles and transmit additional information such as text and images. The introduction of DAB into Korea provided a new possibility for video service, inspiring the Korea Broadcasting Commission to coin the term “Digital Multimedia Broadcasting” or “DMB” to extend the technology to both audio and visual media. Terrestrial DMB reception is possible in Seoul, Gyeonggi, and major cities in Korea, but not in areas in which no repeater has been installed. Korea’s TU Media launched DMB in 2005 (Seo, 2011), though it ceased service in 2012 due to deficits and reduced numbers of users (Wikipedia: Digital Multimedia Broadcasting, https://ko. wikipedia.org/wiki/%EB%94%94%EC%A7%80%ED%84%B8_%EB%A9%80% ED%8B%B0%EB%AF%B8%EB%94%94%EC%96%B4_%EB%B0%A9%EC% 86%A1).

8 Brand Design Directionality in Korea in the Digital Age

163

Following the DMB era, the VOD-specific N-screen real-time video service has become widespread with the arrival of the Internet and mobile technology in Korea. In addition, the emergence of one-person media such as YouTube and Afreeca TV has inspired a golden age for mobile TV. This intense market competition prompted the development of Hoppin, a mobile TV brand created by SK Telecom, Korea’s largest telecom company. Hoppin, an over-the-top (OTT) service based on the Internet and mobile technology, was launched in 2011, and it can be described as a mobile TV service brand. The term “over-the-top” refers to a set-top box connected to a TV set, allowing users to watch video broadcasts. Initially, OTT referred specifically to a monthly Internet-based video service using set-top boxes, though it has also come to refer to video services provided by existing telecommunication companies or broadcasters for devices such as PCs and smartphones. In its early years, 3 million people joined Hoppin (Yoon, 2012), but the number of users stagnated after that. The name and design of the Hoppin brand were created by an American design company. The name “Hoppin” is a portmanteau of “hop in” and “hopping,” and its logo features an alien with two eyes floating in the air, representing the pleasure of seeing and playing on the imagery of the double “p” in the name. The purple colour of the logo was meant to convey the notion of odd and unknown images (Lippincott, 2012). However, the Hoppin trademark was relatively less recognizable than the head company, and it was soon eclipsed by TVing, its competitor, and Pooq, another digital mobile TV brand whose iconography was very similar to the original Hoppin image. A later revision to the Hoppin logo removed the alien image, on the idea that it was not understandable without storytelling, and replaced it with a play button to indicate video playback, the same image as the mobile app button. However, this revision did not produce an increase in brand awareness. As a result, SK Telecom decided to renounce the Hoppin brand. Initially, SK Telecom preferred, and requested, an intuitive name similar to that of the competing brand TVing. However, names such as TVing focus heavily on the act of watching TV, and do not convey the benefits of mobile TV or tell the brand’s story. Also, a simple and direct name would be too similar to that of TVing and would make the two brands difficult to differentiate from each other, especially since SK Telecom’s brand had been flagging in the market. Therefore, success for the project required avoiding direct or one-dimensional approaches to naming. The new name would also need to reflect the trend of digital branding. Many digital brand names, such as Apple, Melon, Kayak, Salt, Fox, Kakao, Snow, Candy, and Syrup, are not overtly related to the digital world at all, but are closely related to things in everyday life that appeal to young customers. However, all of the aforementioned brands have English names, as do other digital brands such as TVing, reflecting the trend toward globalization. Because the service was not meant for overseas customers and was not a globalization project, an English name was not needed. A Korean name was more advantageous for the project, both as an acknowledgement of local character and a specific appeal to Korean customers. Therefore, a familiar Korean name was proposed rather than an English name or a newly created name. One of the suggested names was “Oksusu,” which means “corn.”

164

K. Lee

The choice of name acknowledges the tastes of young customers of digital devices, refers to the idea of corn as delicious and nutritious, and is also easily pronounced and familiar. Just as corn can be made into many different dishes according to one’s individual taste, the digital app is not simply a means of watching TV but provides many features and benefits for a complex media experience that can be tailored to suit individual tastes. Visually, the name alludes to small items such as mobile phones, digital buttons, personal monitors, and various channels; it also brings to mind popcorn and nachos, both commonly eaten while watching movies. The name further alludes to SK Telecom’s slogan “OK! SK!” The name “Oksusu” is Korean in origin, embodying the personalities and local attributes of Korea. As the name of a common food item, it also facilitates the visualization of the brand and the development of the brand’s story. The appearance and bright yellow colour of corn, easily recognizable by anyone, were incorporated into the visualization process. The brand logo was created by combining the image of corn as a food item with the iconography of mobile TV. The symbol of the character is on the line of the character of the existing Hoppin brand, and the familiar image was created to overcome the disadvantages of the new brand. The logo also features aerial floating antennas to represent personalized mobile TV and digital images. The brand continued to develop into a storyline featuring an alien cosmonaut called Oksusu and his friends, whose designs were based on things connected to corn and digital media, such as butter, popcorn, and television. The colours were harmonized, with the contrast of the corn-specific yellow colour and the blue tone of the digital mobile image. All the characters, images, and settings were drawn with black outlines reminiscent of the 2D comics that young customers like, and they are expressed as a digital brand but not mechanical, so that they can feel humanlike and fun. Occasional interruptions of the black lines in the drawings gave the designs a hand-drawn appearance, so that the images were not split into boxes and would not look clogged. As a result of this project’s initial strategy, young customers responded to the funny name and friendly image. They naturally began to advertise and share the brand, making Oksusu the most downloaded mobile TV app in Korea to date, with approximately 10 million users. Since then, SK Telecom has been planning to introduce Oksusu to overseas markets (Baek, 2016). With their entry into the Asian market as a specifically Korean platform, they will most likely use their distinctly Korean name and brand identity to their advantage.

Repeated On-Offline Branding As the importance of online and mobile branding has increased, the interest of offline branding has consequently declined. However, in the Korean experience, online and offline branding do not diverge but interact with each other. Brands that began online may move offline, and vice versa. Furthermore, this interaction produces distinctive

8 Brand Design Directionality in Korea in the Digital Age

165

phenomena that continue to expand, repeat, and develop as they play upon each other. These phenomena provide opportunities to change the concept of existing online brands and viewpoints of digital brands. The limitations of communication in text messages composed of old texts and SNS-based apps due to the popularization of smart phones have led to the rise of communication tools that allow users to express emotions, such as emoji, visual characters created with the Unicode system. The name “emoji” was coined by combining Japanese kanji. In 1999, the developer of NTT DoCoMo, a telecommunications company in Japan, created emoji for domestic usage; since then, Apple and Google have adopted them and have spread them worldwide. Emoji are now actively used on many social networking sites; in 2015, approximately 6 billion people around the world have used them (IT Terminology Dictionary). An emoji is a more visual version of an emoticon, a symbol that conveys emotion or non-verbal expressions implicitly and abundantly (Yang & Lee, 2017). The popularity of smartphones has influenced functional and emotional communication with mobile messengers such as KakaoTalk, a mobile instant messenger used by more than 90% of Koreans (Doopedia: KakaoTalk, https://terms.naver.com/ entry.nhn?docId=2851777&cid=40942&categoryId=32837). KakaoTalk has helped to popularize the use of emoji because they can depict facial expressions, gestures, nuances, and other elements of communication that cannot be represented in text alone. Character-type emoji are especially popular on KakaoTalk, because the gestures and facial expressions of the characters can convey a wide range of emotions and situations. In addition, character-type emoji use animation and sound effects, making them more diverse, and facilitating an even greater spectrum of emotional expressions. Until the KakaoTalk emoji were introduced, Korea’s character design market was limited to certain cartoon characters, game characters, and child characters such as Pororo. In 2012, as Korean singer PSY’s song “Gangnam Style” became popular worldwide and inspired its own B-class emoticon, designers Hozo and Hye-rim Chun developed eight character-based emoji over a period of two months: Muji, Con, Apeach, Jay-G, Frodo, Neo, Tube and Ryan. These characters are examples of B-class emoticons that deliver funny messages while expressing different emotions. In addition, various materials such as webtoons, Korean soap operas, and buzzwords have also been incorporated into emoji, enhancing these colourful and cute images even further. In 2011, before character-type emoji were developed, KakaoTalk had only eleven emoji, but by 2015 it featured over 3000. KakaoTalk releases more than 50 emoji a month, and continues to create new emoji (Chae, 2016). In early mobile messenger apps, KakaoTalk’s emoji, expressing simple emotions as a secondary role of language, has been creatively developed, adding various ideas to its characters. As games and related content increase, so too do characters based on mobile devices. With the introduction of messenger stickers for smartphones, Korean emoji developed far beyond mere communication tools. Among the various mobile emoji, KakaoTalk’s have been the most successful in Korea, to the point that many of its characters have migrated offline. In June

166

K. Lee

2015, the KakaoTalk emoji were spun off into a new company, Kakao Friends (Lee, 2017), which is now the most popular brand in the Korean character design market. As such, online and mobile-based visuals began opening pop-up stores throughout Korea, starting in Seoul in 2014, and then entering various fields and collaborating with other companies producing things such as bread, toothpaste, cake, ice cream, cosmetics, games, bank accounts, credit cards, bankbooks, and fashions. For instance, LG Household and Health Care used the characters on toothpaste marketed to adults as well as to children, demonstrating the appeal of the characters to the Kidult culture. After that, the characters of Kakao Friends appeared more frequently in other offline contexts. Another subsidiary of KakaoTalk, Kakao Games, serves as an example of the phenomenon of offline successes moving back online. In August 2015, Kakao Games released its first mobile game, Friends Pop, featuring characters from Kakao Friends. A second game, Friends Run, followed in 2016, and a casual board game, Friends Marble, appeared in 2017. Both Friends Pop and Friends Run have become popular mobile games (Kim, 2016), with Friends Marble reaching number 1 on the Apple App Store and number 2 on Google Play (Lee, 2018). Although the game itself received mixed reviews, the popularity of the Kakao Friends characters was an important part of the games’ success. In 2016, KakaoTalk opened an emoji shop to expand sales channels for emoji and to provide profit for artists and the general public (Han, 2016). The emoji shop is an example of the return of the brand to its online origin alongside the commercialization of the characters developed in the past. However, it has been extensively upgraded, with new emoji, a search function, and a message function that confirms images and sounds in advance. The company has also improved the development, sale, and distribution of its characters, so that it can cooperate openly in contests to design, share, and trade emoji. This can be seen as a re-expansion, rather than merely a reverse movement online, which can be explained by the interaction of online branding and offline branding. LINE, a competitor of KakaoTalk, has also developed characters for its messenger service, which appear in the LINE Town animation and the LINE Rangers mobile game. These characters create a friendly experience for users by developing different personalities and stories. The participatory aspects of the brand and characters of LINE are also worth noting. As LINE has opened its sticker distribution network to the general public, 720,000 people have registered as LINE creators in 230 countries as of 2014, and more than 10,000 LINE stickers are sold per year. The top ten producers of stickers have earned revenues of over 36.6 million yen over an average of six months (Choo & Jun, 2015). Like the aforementioned Kakao Friends, LINE has also demonstrated a new expansion of brand experiences and characters by allowing users to participate as both producers and consumers (Ahn, 2017). This can be seen as one of the new phenomena emerging in Korean branding in the digital age, as online, digital, and mobile brands can be transformed into offline, non-digital, and emotional designs, and vice versa. Through repetition, these online and offline brands interact with each other, expanding and developing further.

8 Brand Design Directionality in Korea in the Digital Age

167

Conclusion The word “online” may well be going out of date, as digital society has been developing around mobile technology. This chapter has examined three cases of Korean branding that focus on design approaches and development methods for mobile and digital media, signalling a new direction for brand design in the digital age in Korea. Various brands have already been digitized in Korea, and classic brands such as newspapers and banks have been involved in digitization. Digitization, which is considered natural for digital, mobile, or emerging brands, is growing in importance for existing brands, classic brands, and conservative brands. Approaches and strategies to digitizing existing and conservative brands and classic brands may differ from those of other, newer digital brands, because older brands must link existing benefits and perception while complementing current problems or disadvantages. Because changes that are too rapid may cause problems in brand credibility, or may be recognized as other brands, the brand should be systematically expanded to fit the multimedia environment while maintaining the existing brand identity. For example, the mobile banking market has experienced significant growth in Korea, with existing banks having competed since 2017 with Internet/mobile banks. Since these two brand groups have different starting points, their digitization strategies must be different from the outset. This is also true for Hankook Ilbo, as, in order to maintain and compete with overflowing online/digital media, it and other such brands must build on legacies, strengths, identity, and trust. Rather than focusing on print media or online media, brands must establish a multimedia strategy that encompasses print media, the web, and mobile and social networks from the start in order to ensure successful brand digitization. Second, successful branding depends on differentiation, which itself can be based on storytelling that appeals to key customer segments. Some such approaches include localization and tailor-made strategies. In addition, following trends that are consistent with customers’ digital lifestyles is critical to branding strategies; even so, unnecessary and meaningless globalization or digitization can lead to brand failures if the brand follows trends but misses nuances or distinctions. The initial strategy is proper analysis of digital lifestyles and incorporation of the results, both verbally and visually, into the brand. However, if these strategies are similar to other competitive brands, a supplementary strategy may be needed. In the case of Oksusu, the key customer segment was identified first, and naming strategies that matched the digital lifestyle of the customers were significant parts of this approach. It was important to understand the competitive market of digital technology, and to reflect trends that fit customers’ digital lifestyles. However, differentiation was essential, and it was achieved with a local, customer-friendly strategy. The name Oksusu was chosen because it was a local Korean name that connoted familiarity and friendliness. Successful naming is also advantageous for visualization strategies, with the non-abstract and easily understood associations with corn becoming an important part of the naming process. As the visualization progressed,

168

K. Lee

the brand became a natural outlet for storytelling, and was visually expanded to suit various applications and various media. Third, digitized and online brands tend to expand back offline, only to return online as the offline expansion becomes popular in its own right. In particular, online branding and offline branding interact with each other, and this process is repeated, so that brand and media both expand. Kakao Friends, the most popular and most profitable brand in the Korean character market, developed their emoji-type characters as a means of auxiliary communication on mobile-based instant messenger services, rather than aiming directly for the character market. The project began as online branding, but as its popularity increased, it expanded offline and became recognized as a real brand and real character rather than simply as a messenger or an emoji. As the characters released with the emoji became more and more popular, they began to appear in offline contexts such as food, distribution, fashion, and games. Soon afterward, Kakao Friends opened an online emoji shop through KakaoTalk and moved its offline branding back online. The emoji shop featured more upgraded emoji and expanded the market by raising interest through public participation and sharing popularity ratings. The case of Kakao Friends illustrates the continuing importance of offline branding in the digital age and the interplay of online and offline contexts in the development of branding. With the advent of online and mobile-based digital media, the concept of brand design is changing, requiring new approaches and development methods of brand design in the digital era. To meet these needs, separate approaches and development methods for the digital age have been observed in practical projects. Therefore, it is necessary to investigate the new direction of brand design in the digital age by examining related practical project cases. In Korea, digitization is already proceeding rapidly due to various political, social, cultural, and economic factors. Sociocultural factors based on digital lifestyles and trends are especially important in the development of brand solutions. The field of branding has adopted various global trends, but has also inspired specifically Korean strategies and methods. The purpose of this study is to analyze the characteristics and directions of Korean brand design in the digital era. The cases of Hankook Ilbo, Oksusu, and Kakao Friends are examples of the digitization process in branding, reflections of customers’ localities and digital lifestyles, and interactions of online and offline branding. These examples illustrate the distinctive characteristics of Korean brand design in the digital era and provide some future directions for the field of brand design. However, it is necessary to pay attention to further trends and features that may be material for further study, as well as to follow up on the phenomena outlined in this study.

8 Brand Design Directionality in Korea in the Digital Age

169

References Ahn, S. J. (2017). “I too emoticon writer!”… With meaning rather than ability. Segye Ilbo, https:// www.segye.com/newsView/20171209001332?OutUrl=naver/, cited on March 12, 2018. Baek, Y. S. (2016). SK Broadband surpasses 10 million downloads of Oksusu. Digital Today, https:// www.digitaltoday.co.kr/news/articleView.html?idxno=69969/, cited on December 20, 2018. Chae, D. I. (2016). A well-made character hits ten big stars. Maeil Business Newspaper, https://mk. co.kr/news/business/view/2016/01/81953/, cited on March 12, 2018. Choi, S. Y. (2017). New office building effect of Hankook Ilbo. Journalists Association of Korea, https://www.journalist.or.kr/news/article.html?no=43581/, cited on February 8, 2018. Choo, H. J., & Jun, S. J. (2015). Analyzing interaction elements of character on mobile devices. Journal of Basic Design and Art, 16(6), 716–723. Digital Multimedia Broadcasting. (2017, March 31). Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, https://ko. wikipedia.org/wiki/%EB%94%94%EC%A7%80%ED%84%B8_%EB%A9%80%ED%8B% B0%EB%AF%B8%EB%94%94%EC%96%B4_%EB%B0%A9%EC%86%A1. Emoji. (2017, March 31). IT Terminology Dictionary, the free encyclopedia, https://terms.naver. com/entry.nhn?docId=5670019&cid=42346&categoryId=42346. Han, J. H. (2016). Opened ‘Kakao Emoticon Shop’. Yonhap News, https://www.yna.co.kr/view/ AKR20161223047900017, cited on March 31, 2018. Hankook Ilbo. (2017, May 31). The Academy of Korean Studies, the free encyclopedia, https:// terms.naver.com/list.nhn?cid=44621&categoryId=44621. Hoppin. (2012, February 27). Lippincott Mercer, Global Brand & Innovation Consultancy, https:// lippincott.com/. KakaoTalk. (2017, March 31). Doopedia, the free encyclopedia, https://terms.naver.com/entry.nhn? docId=2851777&cid=40942&categoryId=32837. Kim, C. S. (2014). A conceptual study on brand experience. A Journal of Brand Design Association of Korea, 12(3), 122–130. Kim, H. (2017). Online shopping on smart phones is popular…Mobile shopping volume ratio exceeded 60%. News 1 Korea, https://www.news1.kr/, cited on June 2, 2017. Kim, M. R. (2016). ‘Pokemon’ frenzy … The power of the characters. Korea IT Times, https://www. koreaittimes.com/news/articleView.html?idxno=60952, cited on March 30, 2017. Kwak, B. H. (2014). Research on digital advertisement expression for brand communication. A Journal of Brand Design Association of Korea, 12(3), 17–32. Lee, K. T. (2008). Portal site Internet news ‘gateway’. The Asian Business Daily, https://www.asiae. co.kr/, cited on March 30, 2017. Lee, S. H. (2018). Power of Kakao Friends IP! Friends Marble steady popularity. Beta News, https:// www.betanews.net/article/792799/, cited on March 30, 2017. Lee, S. Y. (2017). Characters that increase sales of IT companies. Asia Times, https://www.asiatime. co.kr/news/articleView.html?idxno=160276/, cited on March 31, 2018. Seo, D. (2011). DMB, TV in my hands. I.T. Donga, https://terms.naver.com/entry.nhn?docId=357 1873&cid=59088&categoryId=59096/, cited on July 15, 2015. Shin, C.-W. (2001). Analyzing design characteristics of internet newspapers and newspapers. Journal of Basic Design and Art, 2(1), 115–122. TU Media. (2017, March 31). Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, https://ko.wikipedia.org/wiki/TU% EB%AF%B8%EB%94%94%EC%96%B4. Yang, H. I., & Lee, S. J. (2017). A study on emotional communication by emoticon context. Journal of Basic Design and Art, 18(3), 238–247. Yoon, S. H. (2012). SK surpasses 3 million people for the Hoppin service. Digital Daily, https:// www.ddaily.co.kr/news/article/?no=96966/, cited on March 30, 2018.

170

K. Lee

Dr. Kyurag Lee is an Assistant Professor of Visual Communication Design in Artech College, Keimyung University in Daegu, Korea. He majored in visual design at Seoul National University, and received master and doctorate degrees from Kingston University and Seoul National University, respectively. Since 2009, he has studied the aesthetic consciousness based on the Korean Taoist idea and exhibited it in Seoul and Melbourne as research results. While operating a private studio since 2011, he taught identity and cultural design at Seoul National University, and in 2016, he served as an adjunct professor at Ewha Womans University. He has been awarded in WOLDA and ASIA DESIGN PRIZE and has been invited to the Danish Embassy and Swedish Embassy as a design competition winner. Currently, he has been conducting extensive research and various personal works on cultural design and vernacular design. In 2018, he also had a solo exhibition at the Open University of Hong Kong in relation to Korea’s vernacular design.

Chapter 9

Creative Base Design: A New Form of Self-Expression in Competitive Games David Kei-man Yip

Abstract As part of everyday life, mobile phones allow gamers to play online games wherever and whenever they wish. Since the first generation of smartphones, many of the most popular applications have been mobile games, with base defence games among the favourites, particularly with the implementation of real-time Player vs. Player (PvP) features. To protect their bases, gamers must not only strategically place their defence weapons in the base to guard against unpredictable attack and looting, but also launch attacks to loot others’ bases for upgrades. Each base houses necessities collected from lootings and upgrades, and also provides a personal space for the individual gamer’s creative expression and visual statement. Although strategic base creation is part of the core gameplay, the creative design of the base is not. Between 2013 and 2018, the game Clash of Clans (COC) has inspired many creative designs shared on social media by creators and fans, on both official and unofficial game forums. This mobile game has not only stood the test of time commercially as one of the most popular mobile games in the global market, but has also created an unprecedented participatory phenomenon of personal digital art, including designs specifically meant to celebrate Chinese culture, in mobile gaming and social media. This chapter examines this participatory phenomenon, focusing on the visual styles and content of these creative, and sometimes even offensive or obscene, visual expressions in social media. It also discusses the role of social media in facilitating this unique gamer-created phenomenon. Keywords Mobile gaming · Base design · Fan creativity · Online communities · Participatory culture · Participatory art of creation · Pixel art · Isometric art

D. K. Yip (B) The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Guangzhou, China e-mail: [email protected] © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2020 S. S. Lam (ed.), New Media Spectacles and Multimodal Creativity in a Globalised Asia, Digital Culture and Humanities 3, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-7341-5_9

171

172

D. K. Yip

Introduction The ancient Nazca lines in the desert of Peru were one of the great mysteries and wonders of the world. The Nazca lines, said to be created around 500 BC, formed shapes that often resembled animals, aliens and strange creatures. Although many theories about the formation of these lines have been developed over the years, the most common interpretation is that they were the ancient Peruvians’ creative and artistic efforts to communicate with their gods. Closer to our time, the strange appearances of crop circles since the late 1970s in different parts of the Europe also sparked mystery and wonder. These patterns of circles and other geometric shapes fueled the public imagination and fascination with aliens or UFOs. Many appearances of crop circles or similar formations were found in world heritage areas, such as at the site of Stonehenge or in Peru near the Nazca lines, thus enhancing the sense of mystery. Nevertheless, many of these crop formations were later revealed as the works of hoaxers who created them for various reasons, including harmless fun. Both the Nazca lines and crop circles could be viewed from the sky, as though they were made for heaven. Regardless of why and how they were made, the Nazca lines and crop circles could be viewed not only as wondrous works but also as artistic expression and as visual communication intended to be seen from on high and above. A similar mystery seems to have extended from the physical world to the digital domain. Many creative game bases created within online games, for instance, bear some visual resemblances to these wonders. Figure 9.1, compares several images of Nazca lines, crop circles, and gamer-created base designs, all of which share the same angle of view as well as similar forms, shapes, and visual statements. All three phenomena represent human desire and effort to create, express, and communicate at different times and places. Nevertheless, this chapter uses these only as examples, as its primary focus is on a particular fan-based participatory practice in a popular mobile game, and the visual expressions resulting from this practice. Although game base design is a form of global digital culture, it also demonstrates the celebration of regional culture in the globalized digital world.

Background Base-defence games have been part of digital culture since their introduction on the PC platform in the 1990s. In these games, players build and defend their own bases from sudden and unpredictable enemy attacks, using strategically-placed game assets such as weapons, traps, and wall structures. Attacking and looting others’ bases is an essential part of the gameplay, in which successful attacks could lead to more points for more different advanced offensive and defensive weapons. The game loop is meant as an escalating cycle of attack and defence followed by more attacks and lootings from stronger enemies. This popular real-time Player vs. Player (PvP) game

9 Creative Base Design: A New Form of Self-Expression in Competitive Games

173

Fig. 9.1 Collage of Nazca lines (upper left), crop circles (middle and lower left) and COC base design (right). Courtesy of https://allthatsinteresting.com/nazca-lines https://www.cropcircleconnector.com/; https://forum.supercell.com/; https://www.reddit.com/r/ClashOfClans/

genre has also inspired many different variations in forms and styles with very similar gameplay. In addition to the PvP mode, individual players can gather together to form a clan (Lehtonen & Harviainen, 2016) to launch waves of attack against other clans. Players of the same clan can share information, game assets, and war videos with each other within their clan. With the widespread use of portable smartphones, touch screen devices, and realtime access over the past few years, this game genre achieved worldwide popularity and was widely downloaded. Of the many base defence games, such as Minecraft or Castle Clash, existing in the market, Clash of Clans (COC) is currently the most popular, with more than six hundred million players and a daily income of US$1.5 million in 2018. The game was released for Apple iOS in 2012 and for Android in 2013 by the Finnish game development company Supercell, which was established in

174

D. K. Yip

2010 and has been co-owned by China’s Tencent since 2016. One of Supercell’s most successful moves was its decision to switch its focus from PC to mobile platforms as early as 2011, while mobile technology was in its infancy. This proved a wise decision, as many of its games achieved commercial success and helped develop personal digital art for social media. Supercell’s games are available for free download, but charge players for different game currencies, such as gems, in exchange for better and more weapon and defence game assets. Wall bricks, the focus of this chapter, are one such asset, with at least eleven levels available in different sizes, shapes, and colours. The primary purposes of these colorful wall bricks are to protect one’s base from weapons such as wall breakers, and to prevent looting by other gamers. Instead of building defensive walls, players can also use wall bricks as points or dots to decorate their territory. All that is required is creative imagination, enthusiasm, patience, and time, and perhaps some money to purchase upgrades. The variety of brick patterns created by fan players formed an interesting global phenomenon and creative culture, or subculture, of the COC fan communities, with many creative, humorous, sometimes artistic, and sometimes even offensive pictures showcased in many official and unofficial online forums. Although creative base design has existed in other base defence games prior to COC, the vast number of designs originating in one single game between 2013 and 2017 was unprecedented. This burst of creativity may have resulted from the game’s popularity, nature, and interface design.

Key Research Questions This study explores this form of game base creation as a new form of self-expression in a competitive game, asking whether this form of self-expression can be considered an art form. The Oxford English Dictionary defines art as the expression or application of human creative skill and imagination, such as painting, or producing works to be appreciated primarily for their beauty or emotional power. The first part of the study focuses on the creative form and content of gamer-created base design as a global participatory phenomenon. It begins by identifying the different categories of base designs, first according to their form and visual style, and then according to their content, as a possible means of identifying and determining the work’s aesthetic merit or artistic value. Content analysis also explores what fans of the game have to say and share through their base designs, such as what they consider fun outside of core gameplay and why. The second part of the study explores the nature of participatory design and creation in the context of other elements in this mobile game. In doing so, it seeks to understand how participatory design facilitates the creation of this particular gaming subcultures, and which aspects, if any, of participatory design can be considered design elements of the game. The findings of this study could be used for reference in designing future mobile social games that incorporate self-expression and participatory functions into the gameplay.

9 Creative Base Design: A New Form of Self-Expression in Competitive Games

175

Method and Methodology Examples of creative base design were found via Google Images searches, using keywords such as “creative game base design.” Creative bases make up only a small subset of the many base designs created by gamers throughout the world. These creative bases, mostly made between 2013 and 2017, were formed by different patterns of wall bricks that served no real defensive purpose, but were meant to showcase fans’ original creativity and enthusiasm. Some were uploaded by the creators themselves; others were uploaded by gamers who accidentally came across one of these creative bases in search of looting targets during their play. A theoretical framework of visual styles was used to select certain types of works and styles from the large volume of material obtained from Google searches. This framework incorporated Gestalt visual principles and content analysis, since some of the images contained text. The explicit and implicit messages of these creations were also of interest for this study, particularly what these messages mean to the fans themselves and to others who responded to them. The visual and content analysis of the first part of this study can help us develop a better understanding of these creative bases and set the groundwork for a thorough discussion on participatory design in the context of other game design elements, especially in terms of what motivates and facilitates such participatory acts of creation. This study examines game elements such as user interface layout and functionality, in order to determine whether the existing participatory phenomenon is a product of deliberate participatory design on the part of the design team or the game company, and if so, the extent to which this participatory design is successful in its purpose.

Literature Review The Elements that Make the Game The study of creative base design as a participatory phenomenon begins with a discussion of the game design elements, which typically describe the mechanics of the game such as conflict, goals, player choices, rules, and procedure (Bjork & Holopainen, 2005). All of these elements are interrelated. The game conflict defines the goal of the gamer, whose choice of action is bound by the game rules and procedures that provide challenges to reaching the goal. The game mechanics are in the form of a loop that motivates gamers to play to win, rather than merely pay to win, at each level, with more challenging goals and rules as the user upgrades to the next level. The game loop design rewards every right choice made and every successful risk taken with points and emotional satisfaction, but it also punishes wrong decisions. COC designer Collaros (2015) subdivided the game into the elements of Game Economy, Game Balance, Audiovisuals, and Social and User Interface. Part of the Game Economy was the operation of the business model, involving the direct and

176

D. K. Yip

indirect generation of revenue from the game. Gamers do sometimes pay for more varieties and quantities of wall bricks for their bases. Base design as self-expression, therefore, is one reason gamers may pay for upgrades. Game Balance involves pacing the rising difficulty evenly in level design and among gamers, in order to ensure fairness for gamers of similar abilities. In a “balanced” game, “unfair advantages” for certain gamers has to be avoided. For the creation of this static base design, game balance and audiovisuals were considered less relevant. User interface and social aspects of gaming are important for participatory practice. Players need not have any computing skills, as basic user operational skills guided step by step, or easily understood game affordances (Hammond, 2010) such as pointing and clicking, are sufficient. Since the game is played on touch-screen device such as a mobile phone or an iPad, the ability to design bases with one finger moving each brick one at a time on a touch screen is noteworthy. With very limited functions and very simple user interface design for the creation of bases, the creative process was considered user-unfriendly and time-consuming, especially since drawing and painting are not the primary intentions of the game. The role of social media in COC’s participatory design (Jacobs & Sihvonen, 2011) was prominent as it allowed fan gamers to share their own and others’ creations, and provided an incentive for fans to express themselves in their base designs. Bartle (1996, 2001), has identified four main types of players in Massively Multiplayer Role-Playing Games (MMRPGs): achievers, explorers, socializers, and killers. These four types are described below.

Types of Players Bartle (1996) identified four types of players. Achievers are players who like to play to win, and find enjoyment in power gain and in levelling up. Explorers treat the game as an adventure and seek to understand the game world. Socializers use the game as a social medium and play to interact with others. Killers find pleasure in spoiling other players’ fun. Bartle (2001) also noticed a progression of behavior among MMRPG gamers who started out as Killers but became Explorers and then Socializers as they spent more time in the game environment. Although COC is not technically an MMRPG, it does share similar real-time search-and-destroy and attack-and-defence modes of gaming, except that the former is one-on-one or PvP, rather than groupbased. Even the clan war of COC is not group-based, but a turn-based individual PvP mode of warfare with the clan as a symbolic entity.

Expression as a Pleasure of the Game Game designer LeBlanc (2004) has proposed a taxonomy of eight types of “pleasures” that gamers experience:

9 Creative Base Design: A New Form of Self-Expression in Competitive Games

177

1. Sensation refers to anything involving the joy of experiencing things with the senses; 2. Fantasy involves the experience of imagining oneself within, and as part of, an imaginary world; 3. Narrative refers to experiencing the unfolding of a sequence of events; 4. Challenge involves solving problems in a game; 5. Fellowship refers to seeking friendship, cooperation, and community; 6. Discovery involves seeking and finding something new; 7. Expression refers to creating things within the game world; and, 8. Submission involves allowing oneself to be swept up in the rules and experiences of the game. Expression usually refers to the gamers’ ability to roleplay or to select different settings of their chosen game roles and/or avatars. Although COC gamers cannot choose or design their characters, they can design their bases with bricks provided in the game, allowing them to experience the pleasure of expression. Social media provided these fan gamers with many forums and platforms on which to share their creative works, and in turn encouraged more self-expression. These particular game elements helped to make the game both successful and personal.

Participatory Creation and Re-creation Since the early days of the Internet, media content has been shared, amended, reshaped, re-produced, and sent back into online communities for more sharing and further cycles of modification. Driven by fan creativity, these practices of extending the original content of a primary producer by re-writing, amending, or adding greater diversity of meanings or perspectives are forms of participatory culture (Dena, 2008; Jenkins, 2006). As noted above, social media allow players to create their own works which are then shared with fellow users. What made this particular phenomenon unique was that, unlike re-creations of the original work described above, many examples in this project were themselves original works with noticeable artistic merit.

Game Culture and Subculture Game players form their own communities in which they practice shared codes of “game culture,” defined by the descriptions and behaviours of gamers (Shaw, 2010). Peterson (1979) has defined culture as a way of life with elements of shared behavior, values, beliefs, and expressive symbols. Not all video games create a phenomenon or a culture with a shared set of behaviours and values; however, according to Taylor (2006), online gaming is a social practice with a shared identity and community

178

D. K. Yip

created in the gamespace. Under this definition, a game such as Clash of Clans can be seen as forming a culture consisting of more than six hundred million gamers who share a common game language and values. Although there are many definitions of game culture, relatively little has been written about game subculture other than game-related consumption and cosplay. If a game culture is defined as a collective way of life shared by the gamers, a game subculture may be defined as an alternative way of life shared by a subgroup of gamers behaving within the context of the larger gameplay.

From Pointillism to Pixel to Isometric Image Pointillism is a painting technique, introduced in the late nineteenth century, which uses small and distinct dots of colour to create an image. Many present-day moving images are similarly created with different patterns of dots of light that flash on and off on a light panel to simulate motion. In the digital era, a pixel (short for “picture element”) is the smallest element of a picture, represented on the screen with a dot. Pixel art is a form of digital art commonly used in video games, in which images are composed of pixels much like a pointillist painting is composed of many dots of paint. Hoy (2017) has described pointillism as the ancestor of pixel art, since points and pixels are the smallest visual units used to form images. Isometric art is an extension of pixel art that is also commonly used in modernday video games. Isometric images display three sides, all in dimensional proportion, with 90-degree corners and one fixed viewpoint angled in order to reveal facets of the environment. All horizontal lines are drawn at 30° to the base line, creating a false sense of three-dimensional perspective in what is actually a two-dimensional image (Fig. 9.2). The participatory game subculture of Clash of Clans uses isometric images of wall bricks as point-by-point patterns to form images or visual messages. Because of the isometric structure, these images can be seen only from one angle, and the sum of these points or dots form an image, like those of pointillism or pixel art, that was best viewed from a “distance.” The only difference between these images and pointillist paintings or pixel art was that the isometric images gave the two-dimensional image an illusion of three-dimensionality.

Gestalt Visual Principles and Colour Depth A theoretical visual framework was developed in order to analyze the large volume of isometric images gathered for this study. Gestalt principles, developed in the 1920s, are based on the human brain’s unique ability to recognize forms, shapes, and patterns. Gestalt is a German word that can be loosely translated as shape, form and likeness or unified whole. These principles, which can be summarized by the

9 Creative Base Design: A New Form of Self-Expression in Competitive Games

179

Fig. 9.2 Configuration of an Isometric Image (top) and COC Wall Bricks (bottom) . Courtesy of https://www.yworks.com/pages/isometric-graph-drawing; https://cocland.com/guides/all-aboutwalls

phrase “the sum of images is greater than its parts,” characterize how our visual perception helps us organize visual information according to certain patterns, such as symmetry, closure, similarity, proximity, continuity, figure, and ground (Stadler & Kruse, 1990). Since this study examined images created by points or dots, Gestalt visual principles were used as the theoretical framework from which to explain the optical illusions and techniques seen in many of these images. For instance, the Gestalt principle of figure-group is based on the idea that our visual perception tends to single out a particular shape in a design while seeing everything else as the background. This visual perception creates the visual illusion of depth. Gestalt principles also account for the art of using negative or empty space in a composition when all elements of the image are perceived together as a whole. The Gestalt principle of closure characterizes how human visual perception actively interprets empty or negative space by filling it with the viewer’s imagination. With only a limited supply of wall bricks available to construct an image in each game, many of the images used for this project demonstrated the use of this principle.

180

D. K. Yip

Colour can also be used to create the illusion of depth, with brighter colours appearing to advance and darker or dull colours appearing to recede. Against a dark background, warm colours appear closer to the eyes while cool colours appear further away; the opposite effect occurs against a light background. All of these observations of colour contrast demonstrate how light, shadow, and colour interact with each other to create a visual perception of depth. The game featured eleven different levels of bricks of different sizes, shapes, and colours, with all of these features helping to achieve the illusion of a foreground and background. The use of Gestalt visual principles or theories as the theoretical framework of this study was not meant as an assumption or a belief that the creators of this base design knew the theories and applied them in their work; nor was it an attempt to decode the designers’ creative process. Rather, it was intended to help identify and appreciate the creativity and diversity of these images.

Base Design as Global Celebration of Regional Culture In addition to regular colourful wall bricks, COC has also released seasonal obstacles and decorations for base creation, often with seasonal themes for Western holidays such as Christmas or Halloween. Many were free of charge, while others did charge small fees to use. With the increasing popularity of COC in Mainland China, decorations for Chinese holidays have also been made available, both free and for direct purchase. Beginning in 2018, COC has released decorations for Chinese New Year, such as Lunar New Year trees or fireworks, for players who want to decorate their bases for the holiday. In 2019, the Year of the Pig, a Golden Hog was released for purchase (Fig. 9.3). These examples of global digital culture that celebrated regional culture and heritage did, however, have their own price in the actual world, as one fan noted on a message board:

Fig. 9.3 COC Lunar Tree and Fireworks (left); Golden Hog and Lunar Decorations (right). Courtesy of https://www.supercellfan.it/en/clash-of-clans-en/clash-of-clans-news-and-updates/chi nese-new-year-update-for-clash-of-clans-arriving-in-january-2018/; https://animesuperhero.com/ clash-of-clans-celebrates-the-year-of-the-pig/

9 Creative Base Design: A New Form of Self-Expression in Competitive Games

181

it is super unfair that we only have one free obstacle this year and we had 2 last CNY. The Builder Base obstacle is cool and all, but I want free obstacles for the normal village. I cannot buy these decorations, as I spent all my savings on Christmas COC packs. Haha …. (Source: https://forum.supercell.com/showthread.php/1795822-Golden-Festival-announ ced%21-Golden-Pig-and-events/page4).

The Chinese New Year decorations became very popular and inspired many discussions on fan message boards. However, although the availability of seasonal obstacles and cultural decorations for players around the world allowed players to further personalize their bases, charging for these items and for other attack and defence assets for core gameplay also served as a revenue-generating model for COC.

Base Design as Self-Expression The majority of base creations were meant mostly for defence purposes in the game. Only a few were created for expressive purposes, with a smaller proportion of these demonstrating a more sophisticated level of creativity. These creative bases attracted the attention even of frequent gamers who had never before come across them in their regular searches for enemies. They had to be located using Google Image searches or on fan message boards. Some also incorporated text with graphics. The discussion of the findings of this study began with simple symmetrical images, with similar features paired and balanced, facing each other. In the normal competitive gaming mode, most of the base designs created for maximum defence were designed in symmetrical geographical shapes. The even distribution of bricks built around the base in various forms and shapes could help withstand attacks coming from all sides. In the free creative mode, symmetrical images were created for fun; these were usually visually appealing, but generally displayed less imagination. Symmetrical images were considered less challenging to make and were often the work of beginners who would imitate other symmetrical bases. The principle of closure was demonstrated in many images such as the ones reproduced in Fig. 9.4. According to this principle, the viewer’s visual perception fills in a negative or empty space and integrates it with other visual elements as a whole image. For instance, in Fig. 9.1, the head of Iron Man is composed of a limited number of bricks arranged to produce a recognizable shape and form. In the example seen on the right in Fig. 9.4, the principle of closure is used alongside the technique of double imagery to create an optical illusion of a whole image (Seckel, 2004). Double imagery is a process of composing multiple layers of visual images. Surrealist Salvador Dalí often used this technique in his early paintings, such as “L’Amour de Pierrot” (“The Love of Pierrot”), which appears in the middle of Fig. 9.4. In this painting, the internal shape of a human skull is composed of images of a man and woman. Likewise, in the player-created image on the right of the above figure, the eyes and nose of the skull are composed of bricks

182

D. K. Yip

Fig. 9.4 Various representations of a head (left) and human skull (middle and right), illustrating the Principle of Closure. Courtesy of https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC93KUBvvNEcyTKISZvCAcZg; https://web neel.com/salvador-dali-famous-surreal-optical-illusion-paintings; https://forum.supercell.com/

Fig. 9.5 Selected samples of asymmetrical base design images. Courtesy of https://www.pinterest. at/pin/556124253973825843/; https://forum.supercell.com/

and other game items in different shapes and colours, in order to create the illusion of two shadows of the eyeholes on a human skull. Although the symmetry of the image made it uniform and balanced, it also made the image predictable, with little room for surprise. On the contrary, an asymmetrical image conveyed an unbalanced feeling, and therefore appeared to be more dynamic with more room for imagination. These asymmetrical images of base design were often seen as more sophisticated, more creative, and sometimes more artistic (Fig. 9.5).

Gestalt Principle of Figure and Ground for Depth Creating the illusion of depth on a flat surface with no perspective can generally be accomplished in either or both of two ways. One of these is by using lines and shapes, and the other is by using colours. According to the Gestalt Principle of Figure and Ground, our visual perception tends to separate a shape of an object and

9 Creative Base Design: A New Form of Self-Expression in Competitive Games

183

see everything else as a background; separation of an object from a background thus creates an optical illusion of depth. Some examples can be seen in Fig. 9.6. This appearance of depth provides visual appeal, even though these images are composed of simple lines and shapes. The images also reflected the sense of humour of their creators, who would playfully suggest that their treasures were being kept in “safe” places. These humorous creations inspired humorous responses from other fans (Fig. 9.7). This particular image attracted many replies from other fans, who would play along with the “3D” joke: That is pretty neat. Problem is, once I ‘see’ the 3D, I can’t UNSEE it. I’d have no idea how to attack this base, lol It’s easy, they left a door to go through! This layout is so distracting that I will never be able to attack it properly.

Fig. 9.6 Collage of selected base designs illustrating principle of figure and ground. Courtesy of https://www.reddit.com/r/ClashOfClans/; https://in.pinterest.com/pin/814729388819591432/? lp=true; https://www.quora.com/What-are-some-funny-village-designs-on-clash-of-Clans; https:// apk-dl.com/art-layouts-for-clash-of-clans/com.sangharsh.arts

184

D. K. Yip

Fig. 9.7 A base design illustrating principle of figure and ground. Courtesy of https://www.reddit. com/r/ClashOfClans/comments/6qzmtb/havent_seen_this_3d_base_design_before/

Would crush this base with gibarch through the front door and balloons for the top floor /s Wtf, this is so unbalanced. How are the ground troops supposed to get to the top of the base before the timer runs out??! (Source: https://www.reddit.com/r/ClashOfClans/comments/6qzmtb/havent_seen_this_3d_ base_design_before/).

Attention, compliments, and exchanges with other fans gave the creative gamers the incentive and motivation to take time and effort to create their distinctive bases for their fan community.

Depth of Colour As mentioned earlier, colour can be used to create illusions of depth and light. In general, bright colours stand out from darker ones, but in COC, the opposite effect often occurred against relatively bright backgrounds. Examples of works displaying high levels of sophistication in the use of colour for depth can be seen in the creations of Psilhopat, who posted a number of artistic base designs on various forums. Though the majority of base designs remained anonymous, these images were all watermarked with “@coc_art_by_psihopat.” Unfortunately, no further information could be found about this mysterious artist, who may have been one person or several (Fig. 9.8).

9 Creative Base Design: A New Form of Self-Expression in Competitive Games

185

Fig. 9.8 Collage of selected base paintings by Psilhopat. Courtesy of https://www.instagram.com/ coc_art_by_psihopat/

Messages from the Base Many base designs included not only images but text, which was often innovatively incorporated into the entire work. Self-explanatory text messages such as “Free Loot!”, “It’s a trap!”, “I quit!”, or “Get a Job!” were commonly seen. Since half of the gameplay involved looting others’ bases, one righteous message, “Stilling is Wrong” received humorous responses from other users for its misspelling of the word “stealing.” These messages and others represented certain feelings and attitudes about the game or life in general. Some, whether authentic or not, expressed the gamers’ determination to quit this addictive game. Others were political or religious messages, while still others were examples of the sorts of offensive or vulgar messages that are often found on the Internet. The rare happy messages on the bases included “Will you marry me?” and “Just got married.”

186

D. K. Yip

Base design in the form of a question or game using simple text and graphics was also often seen on fan message boards. For instance, the creator of the Jaws poster on the lower left of Fig. 9.9 received the following replies from other players: For some reason not many people get the ‘girl’ swimming up top, just like in the movie Enjoy! promo poster Lol, put the TH on the bottom so the mortars are pointing outwards and make the shark look lazy-eyed: 3

Another example, seen in the lower right of Fig. 9.9, asked a visitor or looter to post for a camera shot. This type of base design invited other fan gamers in the community to “play” along, even though they actually could not. The design attracted an interesting suggestion from a fan: You could draw like a smiley face instead of the camera to get them smiling. Its like I am pointing camera at attackers to shoot them

Fig. 9.9 Collage of selected playful base designs for posting messages. Courtesy of https://forum. supercell.com/showthread.php/18419-Funkiest-Most-Creative-base-designs/

9 Creative Base Design: A New Form of Self-Expression in Competitive Games

187

The compliments and creative suggestions from fans who participated in these creative activities added a new dimension to the game’s subculture. These forums were most active between 2013 and 2017. The images and messages showed that the members were generally fun, creative, and playful; they enjoyed the game and loved to share the creative works that emerged. Although Supercell never provided interviews or official reports about the creative bases, they did initiate base design contests in 2012 and 2013: Base Design Contest: Show off your creativity The Clash of Clans Community Presents: The Base Design Contest Show off your most amazing, creative, hilarious, captivating, and original base designs!!! The contest starts NOW, and tomorrow we’ll select our ten favorite base designs and then add them to a Facebook album and let the Community pick the winners! Prizes: 1st Place - 2,500 gems 2nd Place - 2,000 gems 3rd Place - 1,500 gems Clash Team Pick - 1,000 gems (Source: https://forum.supercell.com/showthread.php/159501-Base-Design-Contest-Showoff-your-creativity)

This was a one-day event, with results announced on the following day. Although there was no further information about official base design contests after 2013, the continued appearances of new base designs long after the contests had ended demonstrated the successful initiation and transformation of this creative activity into a fan-based participatory phenomenon. Other base design contests at the individual fan-based clan level were posted as recently as 2015, further indicating the spread of base creation from a top-down corporate approach to a fan-initiated phenomenon. Base design contest was not the only social participatory activity initiated by the game company and successfully spread across social media; other similar activities included character design, though this is outside the scope of this chapter.

Conclusion Game base design is similar to graffiti art on a public wall, except that the painting is done on the ground in the digital world. Although whether base design can be considered a work of art is still debated, many examples did feature sophisticated level of creativity in the use of digital art. In general, unlike graffiti art, a base designer needs no painting skill, requiring only a piece of digital ground on which he/she is free to create with wall bricks. Most gamers chose to play the intended game as designed, while others chose to paint freely with the game items and with the software that had very limited painting functionality. Similar examples of image creation on software not originally designed for imaging have been seen in the past.

188

D. K. Yip

For instance, users have created pictures in Microsoft Office software such as Excel, normally used to create spreadsheets and databases, by filling in the cells of the table with different colours to form patterns and images in the style of pixel art. A Google Images search of Excel Painting or Excel Art yields many such examples. Other digital applications have also attracted the creative energy of users. Before COC, other mobile or touch-screen games, such as Minecraft, a popular three-dimensional real-time competitive online game, also allowed gamers to freely create images for expressive or communicative purposes. However, unlike the diversity of examples found in COC base design, examples of base design in other games were not as creative or as varied. Ironically, the 360-degree three-dimensional mobility within the game world made seeing the images from the proper angle very difficult, a limitation that discouraged gamers from using it as a creative outlet. By contrast, the isometric two-dimensional simulation of three dimensions in COC, with fixed angles of view and perspective, gave all gamers the equal opportunity to see other users’ creations, and to create images of their own on the platform. The ancient drawings of the Nazca lines in Peru, the mysterious crop circles, and the creative game bases all share not only the same angle of view, but also the same desire, throughout human history, to create, express, and communicate through images. In the era of personal mobile devices with high speed real-time access and interconnectivity, creative expression can be both personal and communal, as the work can be shared and spread on social media. As a form of personal and collective communal expression, these images allow users to celebrate their, or others’, cultural heritage and festivals using creative base designs in the boundless digital world. The rewards of this work were both a personal sense of satisfaction and the communal appreciation of fellow fans in the global creative community. Future game designers may refer to this global participatory phenomenon when designing future social games with more tools and functions to encourage creative and personal self-expression by gamers. Participatory design has become an important element of game creation, especially for social games. Future versions of these games may potentially transcend static imaging and allow players to create simple animated graphics in the style of pixel art, such as a light show on display. Such capacity would provide additional gameplay on the side, allowing players to find more pleasure in creating both images and animations.

References Bartle, R. (1996). Hearts, clubs, diamonds, spades: Players who suit MUDs. Journal of MUD Research, 1(1), 19. Bartle, R. (2001). A wish list for massively multiplayer games. The Themis Group. Retrieved June 24, 2003. Bjork, S., & Holopainen, J. (2005). Patterns in game design (Vol. 11). Hingham: Charles River Media. Collaros, J. (2015). Clash of Clans: Designing games that people will play for years. Retrieved from GDCvault, https://www.gdcvault.com/play/1021858/Clash-of-Clans-Designing-Games

9 Creative Base Design: A New Form of Self-Expression in Competitive Games

189

Dena, C. (2008). Emerging participatory culture practices: Player-created tiers in alternate reality games. Convergence, 14(1), 41–57. Hammond, M. (2010). What is an affordance and can it help us understand the use of ICT in education? Education and Information Technologies, 15(3), 205–217. Hoy, M. A. (2010). From point to pixel: A genealogy of digital aesthetics. Doctoral dissertation, UC Berkeley. Jacobs, M., & Sihvonen, T. (2011, September). In perpetual beta? On the participatory design of Facebook games. DiGRA Conference. Jenkins, H. (2006). Fans, bloggers, and gamers: Exploring participatory culture. New York: New York University Press. LeBlanc, M. (2004). Mechanics, dynamics, aesthetics: a formal approach to game design. Lecture at Northwestern University. Lehtonen, M. J., & Harviainen, J. T. (2016). Mobile games and player communities: Designing for and with clans. Design Management Review, 27(3), 20–26. Peterson, R. A. (1979). Revitalizing the culture concept. Annual Review of Sociology, 5(1), 137–166. Seckel, A. (2004). Masters of deception: Escher, Dalí & the artists of optical illusion. Sterling Publishing Company. Shaw, A. (2010). What is video game culture? Cultural studies and game studies. Games and Culture, 5(4), 403–424. Stadler, M., & Kruse, P. (1990). Theory of Gestalt and self-organization. In F. Demeyere, E. Rosseel, & F. Heylighen (Eds.), Self-steering and cognition in complex systems (pp. 142–169). New York: Gordon & Breach. Taylor, T. L. (2006). Play between worlds: Exploring online gaming culture. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

Dr. David Kei-man Yip is an Associate Professor of Practice in Cinematic Arts in the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (Guangzhou). He graduated from UC Berkeley with double majors in Film and Mass Communications and USC School of Cinema and TV in the mid90s. After working in the TV and film industries, he joined the School of Creative Media of the City University of Hong Kong and taught media production and scriptwriting subjects there for the next thirteen years. He has also written, directed, and produced a number of TV programs in drama and animation categories with funding from RTHK and Hong Kong Arts Development Council. Other production credits included online cartoon series as writer/ director/ producer. He has been Consultant for Next Media Group, TV Bean (Taiwan) and Hong Kong Spirit Ambassadors. Since 2002, he has been appointed Specialist by the Hong Kong Council for Accreditation of Academic and Vocational Qualifications, and External Examiner by the Hong Kong Examinations and Assessment Authority since 2012. Starting in 2011, he has taught scriptwriting and filmmaking subjects in OUHK and developed new programs in animation, visual effects, and interactive entertainment. He obtained his Doctor of Education from the University of Bristol in 2015.

Chapter 10

Digital Materiality of Chinese Characters in Text-Based Interactive Art Yue-Jin Ho

Abstract This paper concerns the digital materiality of Chinese characters (漢字, Kanji in Japanese, Hanja in Korean or Hanzi in Chinese; literally ‘Han characters’) in text-based interactive artworks. As a logosyllabic language, Chinese is fundamentally different from alphabetic languages in terms of the nature of possible genres of literature. Simanowski (Digital art and meaning: Reading kinetic poetry, text machines, mapping art, and interactive installations. University of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis, 2011) has suggested that a work can no longer be considered literature when the letters it contains can no longer be read as words with linguistic meaning. He refers to these kinds of works as “postalphabetic,” which means they can be defined only as digital art, rather than literature. Although works that use European languages can play with this question by challenging the audience to make sense of their postalphabetic nature as a purely sensual experience, as visual symbols, or as traces of the fleeting semantics of the letters, the issue is further complicated with Chinese characters. The ideogrammatic nature of Chinese questions the possibility of stripping off all the meanings on the “letter level,” even if a character has been transformed or disintegrated. This issue has been addressed in the pre-digital era by the concrete poetry artist Niikuni, whose work disassembled and juxtaposed kanji characters. Likewise, in the late 1980s, Xu Bing addressed similar themes by creating hundreds of fake characters. In both cases, although the characters have been reduced to strokes and lines, their aesthetic values are obviously semantic in relation to the language. Using Kedzior’s (How digital worlds become material: An ethnographic and netnographic investigation in second life. Hanken School of Economics, Helsinki, 2014) idea of digital objects as “material” but simultaneously “unstable and transfigurable” (p. 16), this chapter examines contemporary Chinese artworks in terms of the post/alphabetic distinction in order to identify a direction for the study This is a revised version of two papers originally presented at the Digital Research in the Humanities and Arts (DRHA), Dublin 2015, and International Symposium on Electronic Art (ISEA), Hong Kong 2016, conferences. Y.-J. Ho (B) The Open University of Hong Kong, Ho Man Tin, Hong Kong e-mail: [email protected] © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2020 S. S. Lam (ed.), New Media Spectacles and Multimodal Creativity in a Globalised Asia, Digital Culture and Humanities 3, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-7341-5_10

191

192

Y.-J. Ho

of Chinese text-based interactive arts. The chapter investigates the possibility of a condition of “post-characters,” which differs from the condition of postalphabet in letter-based interactive art. Keywords Chinese characters · Digital materiality · Text-based · Interactive arts

Introduction: Digital Materiality “Digital materiality” may sound like a self-contradiction, because the term “digital” is often associated with a virtual, non-physical existence while “materiality” emphasizes the physical properties of a subject. Indeed, digital data and representation cannot be stored and visualized without a physical machine. Thus, digital materiality may be reminiscent of computers and mobile gadgets such as the iPhone and Kindle, which rely on digital content and processes. In this case, digital materiality may refer to the influence of the physical design of a digital device on the user’s experience. In Digital Materiality: Preserving Access to Computers as Complete Environments, Kirschenbaum and colleagues (2009) raise several questions about the challenges of “digital material” for textual scholars and librarians. How can the “manuscript[s]” of contemporary writers be studied while most books are now “born native” on computers? How does the use of computers and other digital devices affect writing practices? How can the technology and methods used for scanning and archiving paper books as digital content be perfected? These questions are concerned with how library science experts and textual scholars cope with a digital era in which the tools of writers and the medium of textual storage have changed significantly. In the following examples from the sciences and in digital humanities, digital materiality refers to the physical devices that store and process digital information and mainly focuses on the interfaces, functions, and nature of the devices. In Digital Materiality in Architecture, Gramazio and Kohler (2008) discuss the expansion of computers in architecture, from simply aiding designers as drawing tools to, in effect, doing much of the thinking for them. Instead of drawing blueprints of a building, the architect now “design[s] the relationships and sequences that inhabit architecture” (Gramazio & Kohler, 2008, p. 10), after which a computer algorithm calculates the most efficient physical design of a building to fulfill the architect’s requirements. In this context, digital materiality refers not only to the materiality of the resulting physical buildings, but also to the digital calculating process and its differences from unaided human designing processes. Summarizing ideas from organizational studies, information studies, and design studies, Kedzior (2014) also uses the term digital materiality to refer to “virtual objects” in digital worlds such as Minecraft and Second Life, which participants trade with one another. Virtual objects thus demonstrate a certain similarity to real-world commodities, yet also differ from real-world consumer products in that buyers can modify them in ways that they could not modify actual objects. Such modification is

10 Digital Materiality of Chinese Characters in Text-Based …

193

usually reversible, and the trial-and-error process could theoretically continue indefinitely. Kedzior has described virtual objects as “editable, interactive, ephemeral, open, and distributed” (2014, p. 16); therefore, digital materiality can be considered “unstable and transfigurable” (p. 16). In contrast to the previous examples, the digital materiality Kedzior defines only exists in the virtual world and can be reflected in the real world only through visualization devices such as monitors, smartphones, and projectors. By applying Kedzior’s notion of digital materiality to Chinese text-based digital interactive art, this chapter examines the materiality of Chinese characters that are manipulated in the course of the participant’s interaction with the artwork. The resulting characters can be represented on visual devices or as physical objects, such as being printed on paper. The concept of digital materiality is a crucial factor in exploring the uniqueness of Chinese text-based interactive art in comparison with art based on alphabetic languages. This chapter uses Simanowski’s theory of digital literature and digital art and Aarseth’s notion of cybertext to demonstrate the importance of digital materiality in text-based art.

Problems of Digital Literature and Digital Art The boundary between words as literature or art is an issue as old as the dawn of the so-called “contemporary art” era. Lovatt (2012) has pointed out, for instance, that Minimalist artist Sol LeWitt seemed to contradict himself in his famous manifesto “Sentences on Conceptual Art” on whether words can be defined as literature or art. Point 16 of the manifesto proclaims, “If words are used, and they proceed from ideas about art, then they are art and not literature”; meanwhile, Point 32 notes, “These sentences comment on art, but are not art” (p. 374). One of the earliest examples in contemporary art in which written text is a crucial part of a visual artwork is René Magritte’s painting La trahison des images (1928), which challenges the relationship between an object and its visual representation. The painting features an image of a pipe, below which is the sentence “This is not a pipe” (Ceci n’est pas une pipe). Marcel Duchamp’s Fountain (1917) was similarly “made” to challenge the definition of art. In addition to placing a urinal upside down, Duchamp also added the false signature “R. Mutt,” the only physical alteration he made to this object. Although there is no person named R. Mutt, and the literal meaning of this name is still uncertain, the connotation of this signature is quite clear: to physically proclaim this urinal as an artwork by pointing to a fictional author. Although these works challenged the definition of art, they did not challenge the function of words, as the Dada movement of the time did. Dadaists deconstructed the linguistic function of words through sound and visual arts, such as performing “opera” with fragmented sentences or even unintelligible sounds. In such cases, although the material of these works was originally drawn from literature, we can hardly read them as meaningful linguistic units. At this point, can we still consider these works as literature?

194

Y.-J. Ho

Simanowski (2011) has provided a definition for the boundary between digital literature and art: if the words in a work can be read as linguistic units, “which are each meaningful on their own and are to be read literally” (p. 40), then the work can be considered literature, while if a work consists of words or alphabets, and we can only perceive them as alphabet-like shapes, or typographic signs, and can only make sense of the work by seeing the whole thing, then it is visual art (p. 39). Simanowski’s definition considers the material’s function rather than the artwork’s material itself (p. 40). In the case of text-based artworks, as the name suggests, texts are supposed to be the main material of the work. However, that does not mean that they always serve as linguistic units or words. If they do not, Simanowski considers these texts postalphabetic, as opposed to literature, which is alphabetic. For example, in Camille Utterback and Romy Achituv’s work Text Rain (1999), participants are invited to stand in front of a screen and see their own images being projected while letters rain down on them and land on their heads and shoulders. The participants can interact with the letters in various ways, such as holding them or letting them drop on the floor. All the letters are taken from a poem that the artists consider relevant to the work. However, as not only the sentences, but even the words, are deconstructed, it is impossible for the participants to read or even notice the existence of the poem as such. Thus, this work falls into the definition of postalphabetic and non-literature since, even though it is made of letters, those letters have already lost their linguistic value. Simanowski’s model is important not only because it defines what digital literature or art is, but also because it helps us identify the function of the text in a work and examine whether the text functions as intended by the author and/or as a premise to fulfill the concept of the work. In Julius Popp’s Bit.Fall (2006), political keywords collected from online media are visualized through a water screen. The work appears to be intended to “question the stability of words through the utmost instability of writing material” (Simanowski, 2013, p. 196). Even though the audience can read the words, the spectacle of the water screen and the playfulness of placing one’s hand in the water to distort the words invites the audience to view the words “not in order to discover how the text deconstructs its own rhetoric strategy, but to enjoy the spectacular way of its presentation” (p. 197). In this case, although the collected keywords carry significant linguistic meanings, the “grammar of interaction” of the artwork makes them hard to comprehend (Simanowski, 2011, p. 135). On the other hand, other artists intend to create a dynamic between the readable and the incomprehensible. In these works, the function of the material (the text) may change or become ambiguous when the work discloses itself. For example, in Mark Hansen and Ben Rubin’s media installation Listening Post (2001), fragmented sentences are collected from online chat rooms, located with keywords in the artist’s search algorithms. These collected fragments are displayed on over 200 small screens and read out by an electronic voice. Simanowski (2013) has described this work as one that “lives the double life as (experimental, documentary) literature and as a (realtime, ready-made) sculpture or installation with its own aesthetic effects” (p. 188). The function of the texts in Listening Post does not change on its own, but depends on how the audience approaches it: whether they move close to the screen and read

10 Digital Materiality of Chinese Characters in Text-Based …

195

the words as language, or step back and enjoy the installation as an integrated media sculpture, as a representative of modern virtual communication (p. 188).

Focus of Attention By taking a phenomenological approach to the issue of art, literature and material, Malpas (2011) has considered the relation between an artwork and its material as similar to that between a metaphor and its sentences in literature. The materialistic layer of literature is the sentences beneath the metaphor being expressed. In art, such a layer of “metaphorical utterance” is the place at which we can read an artwork hermeneutically; it is our “focus of attention,” and beneath it is the layer of “material objectivity” (pp. 58–59). According to Malpas, “What is materially presented is most often a description of what is presented at a level immediately below the level at which our attention is primarily directed” (p. 59). Malpas derived this conclusion from a study of non-digital works. His idea of material objectivity is similar to Simanowski’s, in which the material’s function, rather than the kind of material used, determines how we perceive the work. Malpas’s idea of materiality or the material objectivity of an artwork is potentially fluid and depends on the audience’s focus of attention. One may argue that in a static work such as a painting or sculpture, our attention may tend to be locked on a level, for instance a figure and its significance in a figurative painting, and is not easily detracted to the level underneath, such as the canvas and the inks of the same figurative painting, unless the viewer’s intention is not purely aesthetic appreciation, as an art historian may do. However, when Malpas’s idea is applied to the analysis of digital art, the medium-specificity of digital art provides possibilities to challenge the audience’s usually fixed attention. This chapter argues that the “instability” of the Chinese grapheme further enhances such possibilities.

The Unstable Nature of Chinese Graphemes The Chinese characters discussed in this chapter are not limited to those in the context of the Chinese language. For example, although Chinese characters used in Japanese—referred to as Kanji, which literally means “Han characters” or “Chinese characters”—are pronounced differently and often carry different, but related, meanings than they do in Chinese. From the perspective of reading and making sense of the characters, they do not pose any phenomenological differences. In general, Chinese characters can be divided into six categories: pictograms, simple ideograms, compound ideograms, rebuses, phono-semantic compounds, and transformed cognates. This chapter considers only pictograms and compound ideograms.

196

Y.-J. Ho

Fig. 10.1 Chinese character classification and structure

A pictogram, as the name suggests, is a pictographic representation of the character’s denotation (Fig. 10.1). More characters can be created by combining pictograms, which serve as semantic components of the new words. The concept of a Chinese grapheme is usually comparable to a Chinese character (Sun, 2006), but some consider them different, since a grapheme is the smallest semantic component (as a character or part of a character) which alone plays its referential function (Peng, 2017, p. 45). Thus, a Chinese character is constructed according to four levels of hierarchical organization: character–grapheme–stroke–segment (p. 45). As shown in Fig. 10.1, a grapheme or semantic component such as “man” can be distorted as a radical in other words; for instance, as the left component in “rest”, the character does not necessarily resemble the figure of a man, as it does when used on its own. Semantic components are often also difficult to discern from “strokes,” or typographic signs, which Peng (2017) describes as “pseudo grapheme[s]” (p. 45). The characters for ‘river’ and ‘sandbank’ in Fig. 10.1 are examples of this phenomenon. In summary, the grapheme is usually considered the basic semantic unit, but this view can be problematic because of the unstable nature of Chinese graphemes. Concrete poet Seiichi Niikuni demonstrates this ambiguity in his work River or Sandbank (1966) (Fig. 10.2). The work was two stories tall, placed on the first- and second-floor exterior wall of a building. At a close look, the characters for ‘river’ and ‘sandbank’ are clearly visible, but if the audience sees it from a distance, as a whole, the strokes of both characters create a Minimalist picture of a riverside. The possible readings of this work are thus similar to those of Listening Post, as the function of the material—in this case, the characters—and the focus of attention change depending on the position of the viewer. The focus may also shift between an individual character, once the viewer knows its meaning, and the entire Minimalist picture without changing the viewer’s distance from the work. A similar effect can be created by using alphabetic languages; the letters in many concrete poems also contain both visual and linguistic functions (Simanowski, 2011). However, in those

10 Digital Materiality of Chinese Characters in Text-Based …

197

Fig. 10.2 River or sandbank by Seiichi Niikuni (photo by David Eppstein, CC-BY-SA-3.0)

cases, the basic material that draws our focus is the letters as symbolic signs. Thus, such works are perceived as being made of letters, and nothing beneath that can attract the audience. However, in the case of River or Sandbank, the strokes within both characters can stand on their own. As they resemble the shape of waves of a river, they can also be perceived as pictographic representations of the waves. Thus, compared to other concrete poems, River or Sandbank provides more intersecting layers among which the audience’s focus can shift.

The Digital Materiality of Chinese Characters The above discussion demonstrates how Chinese/kanji concrete poetry can complicate the focus of attention of the artwork, due to the unstable nature of the Chinese grapheme. Applying the concept of digital materiality to this instability helps to

198

Y.-J. Ho

explain why Chinese-based digital art may provide experiences that are different from those of digital works based on alphabetic languages. Taiwan Hanzi Making Movement is an art project created by OnionDesign in 2015, inspired by Xu Bing’s installation Book from the Sky (1987). To complete his installation, Xu invented four thousand new Chinese characters by combing existing Chinese components and strokes (Xu, Cayley, & Spears, 2009). Xu’s installation challenged the concept of a character as a linguistic unit, and also the semantic nature of components as Chinese graphemes. In Taiwan Hanzi Making Movement, the art group invited participants to create and submit their own Chinese characters, either online or using the pen and form provided at the installation site. The online submission method required the participant/contributor to download an Adobe Illustrator file containing all the basic strokes of Chinese characters. The contributor could rearrange those strokes to create new words, or transform them by sketching, pressing, or duplicating them. An examination of the characters shown in the exhibition reveals that participants who submitted hand-written contributions tended to be more liberal in making their own words; not all of them followed the style or rules of Chinese characters. In contrast, since the online digital contributors had to stick with the strokes as the basic units, they were more likely to follow the rules while creating interesting characters. This is a rare example of seeing both digital and non-digital audience-authored materials placed side by side (cf. the smaller characters in Fig. 10.3). Because of the

Fig. 10.3 Taiwan Hanzi Making Movement. © OnionDesign Associates

10 Digital Materiality of Chinese Characters in Text-Based …

199

freedom of hand-written characters, a generic focused layer or material function for those characters is difficult to imagine. Some of the characters look like drawings that can only make sense as a whole, while others merely combine one or two characters together, which can be “read” as a few linguistic units connected in a square. The digital characters, however, are much like digital objects of online platforms, in that the contributor can “edit” the character only within the bounds of the provided options. Where some of them are combinations of existing characters and/or radicals with clear semantic meanings, many others seem to invite the audience to contemplate the semantic meaning of these characters that have elaborately cannibalized and recombined existing characters and radicals. The most obvious visual difference is also the most important: the digital characters in this work are all based on the two provided computer fonts, which result in a tight and formal appearance for the characters (the bigger characters in Fig. 10.3) that eliminates any possible personal traits in the calligraphy. They seem to invite us to look at the semantic nature of the components of the Chinese characters, rather than seeing them as personal expression. However, such an invitation to focus on the semantic structure of the fake character may not always lead to a successful reading; the reading depends on the individual viewer’s imagination and skills. In fact, the project is presented much like an encoding and decoding game between the contributor and the audience. Compared with Xu Bing’s work, which challenges the concept of the character as a linguistic unit, this work is more likely to expand and explore the semantic abilities of Chinese characters beyond their daily uses. We may consider these cannibalized and recombined characters as “postcharacters,” as an analogue to the postalphabetic art in Simanowski’s model. However, in contrast to the idea of postalphabetic, the post-character regains the linguistic function of word if the reader manages to interpret some semantic meaning from this new union of components and strokes.

No Longer RIGHT Taiwan Hanzi Making Movement illustrates how a Chinese text-based work may encourage the audience “to read” the resulting text or “to see” it as art at the same time by juxtaposing handwritten with digitally assembled, invented characters. The digital materiality of this work is the result of an editable and interactive computer font and a physical pen for handwriting, two different apparatuses, each of which creates its own conditions for the audience/reader to approach. On the other hand, Chris Cheung Hon Him’s Shang Da Ren series shows how the audience’s attention may move from seeing to reading in two similar works. No Longer RIGHT (2011) and Shang Da Ren (2013) both use the same underlying digital mechanism, but the artist applied two different sets of Chinese texts as their contents. No Longer RIGHT (2011) was the first work in the series, which would later be named Shang Da Ren. It was exhibited at a busy shopping mall, placed in a spot

200

Y.-J. Ho

Fig. 10.4 The eight basic strokes. © Microwave

well-lit by both sunlight and an artificial light source. The participants were asked to write eight basic strokes, which, theoretically, are the basic material for all Chinese characters (Fig. 10.4) by hand on a piece of paper. The second paragraph of the artist’s statement describes the purpose of this activity: Basically, handwriting carries and expresses our emotions. No Longer RIGHT provides a platform for participants to write and record their handwriting. When the participant finishes writing the eight common strokes preset by the artist, the input process is completed. The work will then present and create a passage with the authentic ‘handwriting’ style. Through this artwork, the artist believes that people can recap the feeling of handwriting and how technology changes our daily lives. (Cheung, 2011)

In this work, the created passage is, in fact, the first paragraph of the same artist’s statement, which questions whether modern technology can improve our way of communication. The artist nostalgically ponders why people nowadays seldom use their hands to write, since, as he continues in the second paragraph quoted above, handwriting can express our emotions (Cheung, 2011). The representation of emotion through art is too abstract to analyze and is beyond the scope of this chapter, but the implied connection between handwriting and emotional expression is worth noting. As mentioned above, this issue is also an important factor in Taiwan Hanzi Making Movement. While looking at the passage being generated on the display, character by character, with the strokes provided by him/herself, the participant is faced with an immediate choice: whether to focus on and read the content of the passage (the artist’s statement) or to look at the characters as though they were ceramics just being taken out of a kiln. It is the resulting characters, rather than the passage, that seem to be intended as the main focus of this installation. According to the artist’s statement, “Every character is embedded with the personal style of the participants. Or the other

10 Digital Materiality of Chinese Characters in Text-Based …

201

way round, the demonstrated script also suggests the unique style of the handwriting” (Cheung, 2011). Furthermore, not every generated character is comprehensible on the display. If the structure of the character is too complicated and the strokes provided by the participant are too thick or too unusual, the computer may generate an unreadable mess reminiscent of a Franz Kline painting stuck in a small square. In this case, the passage may not be easily readable, and may leave the participant with no choice but to pay attention to the visual characteristics of the results. Examining this work in the alphabetic/postalphabetic model at first reveals it as living a double life as both literature and installation, each with its own aesthetic effects (Simanowski, 2011). However, the visual “digital calligraphy” aspect of this work is also stronger than the content of the artist’s statement. Although the statement addresses a valid issue of the digital age, it does not go any further, and repeats itself the next time. On the other hand, the game of generating characters is unique, and each time one plays, a different result is provided. This phenomenon can be explained by the notion of “text as event,” which Simanowski uses to describe the audience’s encounter with Bit.Fall. Although the artist may wish the audience to read the words, the spectacle of the visual effects and interaction is too strong, “affect[ing] the audience’s attention and distort[ing] their thinking,” resulting in the audience’s being distracted from the linguistic meaning of the texts and engaging in “joyful play or intriguing fascination” (Simanowski, 2013, p. 194). What makes this situation different from Bit.Fall is the actions of turning the text in No Longer RIGHT into an event depending on which and how characters are generated. In addition to the literary quality of the passage, the degree of compatibility of the structures of the characters within the passage with the generating process also influences whether the viewer focuses on the linguistic meaning. A comparison with the newer version of this work, showing why this situation is unlikely to arise with Bit.Fall or other alphabet-based works, helps to explain this argument.

Shang Da Ren Shang Da Ren (2013), an updated version of No Longer RIGHT, has been exhibited in museum and art spaces in Hong Kong and Taiwan. In this version, the content of the passage has been changed to a twenty-five-word classic article that shares the title of the work. The article Shang Da Ren has been used since ancient times to teach children calligraphy. It is well known to most Hong Kong Chinese speakers, and consists mainly of the most basic characters, produced with very few strokes. Moreover, compared with No Longer RIGHT, the exhibition spaces of Shang Da Ren have been dimmer, and the generated characters have been enlarged and projected on a larger cinematic wide screen that is several feet tall. Brushes are also placed on a table between the participants and the screen to mimic the setting of calligraphy

202

Y.-J. Ho

practice. This setting is more conducive to the audience paying attention to the structure and style of the characters (Fig. 10.5). Most Chinese audiences can immediately recognize the first three characters of the generated passage, Shang, Da, and Ren (literally, ‘up,’ ‘big,’ and ‘man’), which also forms the title of the article. Much as an English speaker would quickly think of Hamlet upon seeing “to be or not to be,” the whole generated passage need not be completely legible for the audience to understand the reference. Thus, the name of the article by itself, rather than its content, signifies the nostalgic feeling of handwriting and a pre-digital childhood. Compared with No Longer RIGHT, which intended to deliver a similar message, this work is more efficient, as the audience need not be briefed by the artist’s statement. Instead, the “briefing” is achieved by the metaphor of the first few characters of the article and the setting. This result is achieved not only via the article, but also by virtue of the structures of the characters it contains. The first three characters of the article, Shang, Da, and Ren, are not only symbolic signs, as are all alphabetic words, but, as pictograph and ideogram characters, simultaneously serve as iconic signs (in the case of Da and Ren, figures of man) and an indexical sign (Shang, pointing up). These kinds of characters usually consist of the fewest number of strokes and deliver the basic concepts of the world. With these simple characters on a large screen, the words are easily recognizable even if they have been distorted by the generative process. Along with the connotation of the article’s title, the characters’ unnatural shapes and strokes resulting from the generative process also remind the audience of their handwriting education in school. As in the previous version of this work, the rest of the characters in the article are occasionally generated as incomplete characters; sometimes, only parts of the components or strokes can be seen. By recognizing these meaning-carrying components, the viewer

Fig. 10.5 Shang Da Ren, 2013, Chris Cheung Hon Him, media installation. © XEX GRP

10 Digital Materiality of Chinese Characters in Text-Based …

203

may again be reminded of the childhood writing-learning process of memorizing a character with its separate parts. The net effect of these factors makes the experience of Shang Da Ren more than simply the “joyful play” of generating characters. Due to the symbolic meaning of the title and the simple characters used in the article, it is more effective than No Longer RIGHT at inviting the audience to pay attention to the linguistic meanings of the characters; it is also able to serve as a poetic metaphor evoking nostalgic feelings and childhood memories. Such results are often associated with the aesthetics of good literature. Due to the structure of Chinese characters (characters–graphemes–strokes), the Chinese artworks discussed in this chapter create an ambiguity in locating the materialistic layer of the artwork that can be read hermeneutically. Like Taiwan Hanzi Making Movement, the Shang Da Ren series demonstrates a change in focus of the viewer’s attention when the same interaction mechanism is used, but the involved digital materiality is different. In Taiwan Hanzi Making Movement, the characteristic of digital materiality is reflected in the “editable, open, and distributed” nature of Chinese computer fonts (Kedzior, 2014, p. 16). It directs the participant/audience to pay attention to the semantic values of the invented characters using a uniform style of strokes (computer font) and limits, compared to handwriting, the freedom of modifying the elements of the invented character. The Shang Da Ren series reflects the “unstable and transfigurable” (Kedzior, 2014, p. 16) abilities of digital processing. As it handles Chinese characters as digital objects, the same algorithm generates different conditions in two separate works when the participant reads or sees the regenerated characters. The following section discusses what happens structurally to Chinese characters during the digital process. Aarseth’s model of text/scripton is used to investigate the fundamental difference between an algorithm’s processing of letters and of characters.

The Identical Text/Scriptons In Cybertext, Aarseth (1997) introduced the concepts of “scripton” and “texton” to explain the structural processes of static data, algorithms, interaction and outcomes in works of participatory text (ergodic literature). Scriptons are “strings as they appear to readers,” and textons are “strings as they exist in the text” (p. 62). Scriptons can be regarded as the “verbal signs” a normal audience/ideal reader can read/see in the work, while textons are the verbal signs’ data underneath the surface and stored statically in the work. In a digital work, a user inputs data into a program, and then the algorithm calculates and generates results by drawing from the textons. This process is called “traversal function,” and the scriptons are the results of this process (Eskelinen, 2009, p. 25). In the case of No Longer RIGHT, the textons of the work are the artist’s statement stored in the computer, and the scriptons, as what is shown to the audience, are also

204

Y.-J. Ho

the statement. Since the “traversal function” of this work merely regenerates the same passage using the strokes provided by the audience, one can argue that the textons and scriptons are the same in this work, as Aarseth’s model deals only with “verbal signs” as informational data but not the visual aspects of the scripton. In the case of the extended version, Shang Da Ren, the texton content has been changed to the twenty-five-word article. However, since the traversal function does not change in this version, we should also consider the textons and scriptons to be the same in this case. At this point, it seems to be irrelevant to apply Aarseth’s model to compare these two works, as that model deals only with textonomy (the study of textual media) rather than textology (the study of textual meaning), and Hayles (2007) has described it as “blind to content.” However, if we consider other English postalphabetic works, such as Text Rain and Bit.Fall, it is always the traversal function that results in the disintegration of the linguistic value of the words. Their traversal functions are like a blender that destroys the semantic meaning of any words (textons) thrown into it. There would be almost no difference if we entered another poem or book into Text Rain, or changed the text from political to academic keywords in Bit.Fall. On the other hand, the traversal functions of No Longer RIGHT and Shang Da Ren are identical. However, where No Longer RIGHT transforms the text from linguistic sign to visual object much as Bit.Fall does, Shang Da Ren, which uses the same “engine” as No Longer RIGHT, maintains its text and its linguistic value, and even the poetry of its literary metaphor and imagery. It is the structure of the characters (textons) in both works, rather than the traversal function, that results in a different condition of the scriptons, thereby leading the audience to perceive the characters as mere visual representations of their own writing (in the case of No Longer RIGHT ) or simultaneously as linguistic signs (Shang Da Ren). Furthermore, the instability of Chinese graphemes provokes the question of what is the basic semantic unit of the language. If we consider the components or strokes as potential basic semantic units, then the scriptons and textons are in fact not identical in these works. The textons are the strokes and components inside the characters, rather than the characters themselves. Although their traversal functions are supposed to return the provided strokes to the right place, they do not always work perfectly. This imperfection is not an inherent weakness, but is in fact an important aesthetic aspect of both works, since if all strokes were placed correctly and tightly, the works would be merely the products of a boring word-processing machine that would not allow participants to “recap their feeling of handwriting” (Cheung, 2011). Therefore, we can argue that one of the characteristics of digital materiality in Chinese text-based digital artworks is the indivisibility related to singling out the linguistic units within a character. Once the traversal function involves the deconstruction and reconstruction of the strokes or components of characters, it may create unique results in comparison to alphabetic works.

10 Digital Materiality of Chinese Characters in Text-Based …

205

Conclusion This chapter’s study of English and Chinese text-based digital and interactive artworks suggests that the postalphabetic/alphabetic method can be applied to nonalphabetic languages such as Chinese characters, but the definition of alphabetic (consisting of units carrying semantic meaning that can be read by the audience) can be complicated. Nevertheless, by applying this model, we can examine the meaningmaking process when one approaches a Chinese digital artwork that consists of unstable characters or “post-characters.” Can and do the strokes or components from unstable/broken/blurred characters still contain any linguistic value? This question is essential for a critic to choose an appropriate approach and aesthetic criteria by which to judge a work. Furthermore, applying Aarseth’s model to Chinese text-based digital artworks shows that characters may not be the basic verbal signs in the flow of information in a cybertext. Such instances are rare in daily commercial digital processes, as most works of digital text rely on the Unicode system, in which a character is the basic unit, which means any process beneath the level of character is rare and difficult, except for applications of writing recognition. However, the works discussed in this chapter demonstrate that the world of art can freely ignore the standard system of Unicode. As works of art, they can fully use the characteristics of the Chinese character structure during the digital process and unleash any new possibilities in creating and recreating Chinese characters as digital art objects. Such objects may be considered as “post-characters,” different from the idea of the postalphabetic. They may fall into the grey area between linguistic and visual representations, or in between visual art and literature.

References Aarseth, E. J. (1997). Cybertext perspectives on ergodic literature. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press. Cheung, C. H. (2011). No longer RIGHT. Invention & Intervention. Retrieved from https://www. microwavefest.net/ii/ Eskelinen, M. (2009). Travels in cybertextuality: The challenge of ergodic literature and ludology to literary theory (Unpublished doctoral thesis). University of Jyväskylä, Finland. Gramazio, F., & Kohler, M. (2008). Digital materiality in architecture. Baden: Müller. Hayles, K. (2007). Electronic literature: What is it? Retrieved from https://eliterature.org/pad/elp. html Kedzior, R. (2014). How digital worlds become material: An ethnographic and netnographic investigation in second life. Helsinki: Hanken School of Economics. Kirschenbaum, M., Farr, E. L., Kraus, K. M., Nelson, N., Peters, C. S., Redwine, G., & Reside, D. (2009, October 5–6). Digital materiality: Preserving access to computers as complete environments. Presented at iPRES 2009: The Sixth International Conference on Preservation of Digital Objects. San Francisco, CA: California Digital Library, University of California. Lovatt, A. (2012). The mechanics of writing: Sol LeWitt, Stéphane Mallarmé and Roland Barthes. Word & Image, 28(4), 374–383. https://doi.org/10.1080/02666286.2012.740187

206

Y.-J. Ho

Malpas, J. (2011). Objectivity and self-disclosedness: The phenomenological working of art. In J. D. Parry (Ed.), Art and phenomenology (pp. 54–76). London: Routledge. Niikuni, S. (1966). River or sandbank [Drawing]. Osaka: The National Museum of Art. Retrieved from https://www.nmao.go.jp/exhibition/2008/id_1206161940.html Peng, X. (2017). Stroke systems in Chinese characters: A systemic functional perspective on simplified regular script. In J. Webster & X. Peng (Eds.), Applying systemic functional linguistics: The state of the art in China today (pp. 43–58). London: Bloomsbury Academic. Simanowski, R. (2011). Digital art and meaning: Reading kinetic poetry, text machines, mapping art, and interactive installations. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press. Simanowski, R. (2013). Text as event: Calm technology and invisible information as subject of digital arts. In U. Ekman (Ed.), Throughout: Art and culture emerging with ubiquitous computing (pp. 189–204). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. Sun, C. (2006). Chinese: A linguistic introduction. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Xu, B., Cayley, J., & Spears, K. (2009). Tianshu: Passages in the making of a book. London: Bernard Quaritch Ltd.

Mr. Yue-Jin Ho is a Senior Lecturer in Creative Arts at the Open University of Hong Kong and currently working on his PhD in the School of Creative Media, City University of Hong Kong. He is also an artist, translator, and writer. His works often deal with the relations between materiality, writing, and history. His works have been selected by international festivals such as the IFVA Hong Kong, Cinetribe Osaka, ZEBRA Poetry Film Festival Berlin, and Shanghai Biennale. Currently, his research focuses on Chinese text-based new media arts and visual poetry.

Chapter 11

WeChat Marketing Case Study: How to Use Social Media to Communicate with Virtual Audiences in China Fei Fan

Abstract Facing significant changes in online communication and consumption trends, marketers and practitioners in the communication and public relations industries are eager to learn how to use social media tools to engage the virtual audience and promote their messages and products to potential target audiences in the digital world. In China, WeChat is one of the most widely-used social media vehicles with an instant messaging function, making it attractive to international marketing practitioners who seek to grow brand awareness and improve brand loyalty in China. The Hong Kong Trade Development Council, a statutory body established in 1966, has been relying on WeChat to interact online with Mainland China since 2013. This chapter discusses the Hong Kong Trade Development Council’s official WeChat subscription account, and proposes a WeChat communication model based on a participant observation method between 1 November 2013 and 1 November 2015. It also uses an analysis of content gathered between 3 November 2015 and 3 November 2016 to offer message solutions for WeChat marketing in China. Keywords Social media · Social media marketing · Communication effectiveness · Online opinion leaders · WeChat marketing · Message strategy · Brand awareness · Brand loyalty

Introduction Thanks to the development of Internet and social media, common people can easily access up-to-date materials from different media channels. Previously, information was largely passive, and distributed via traditional mass media such as television or newspapers. However, today’s audience has become more powerful because of the contributions of digital and social media. They can play more active roles online and become designated gatekeepers for information which they value and are exposed to. F. Fan (B) College of International Education, Hong Kong Baptist University, Sha Tin, Hong Kong e-mail: [email protected] © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2020 S. S. Lam (ed.), New Media Spectacles and Multimodal Creativity in a Globalised Asia, Digital Culture and Humanities 3, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-7341-5_11

207

208

F. Fan

The public, especially young people who have grown up with the Internet, are eager to use digital and social media to stay in touch with others, absorb or publish updates relating to their daily lives, comment on viral and widely-discussed topics, relax with the help of social entertainment tools such as online games, and even expand their businesses online. With this “go-social” trend (Tuten & Solomon, 2014), different kinds of social media vehicles have emerged, with social media tools such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and LinkedIn commonly used around the world and others such as Weibo (the equivalent of Twitter) or Youku and Tudou (the equivalents of YouTube) designed especially for the Chinese market. According to the Pew Research Center (2017), 70% of Americans used social media, and social media played many different roles in their daily lives. Facebook was the most heavily-used social media vehicle in the United States (Pew Research Center, 2017). By comparison, Hootsuite (2019) has stated that 71% of Chinese people were active social media users and relied on social media for information and entertainment. Among various social media vehicles, WeChat, a hybrid of Facebook and WhatsApp, has become very popular in China, attracting the attention of marketers, public relations staff, and various companies (Martin, 2016). According to Deng’s news report (2018) featured in South China Morning Post, WeChat got over 1 billion active users, although a performance gap still existed among different social media platforms. Specifically, compared with WhatsApp offering similar messaging functions, WeChat got 0.5 billion fewer active users (Deng, 2018). This chapter focuses on WeChat, one of the core social media tools in China. According to its official website, WeChat was initiated by Tencent, one of China’s largest and best-known information technology companies, in 2010 and officially launched in 2011. Based on different communication purposes and user needs, the WeChat platform divides the WeChat marketing accounts into two streams in general: official accounts, released in July 2012; and enterprise accounts, launched in September 2014 (Tencent, n.d.).

Literature Review When studying the rapid development of social media, scholars have examined many of its advantages, such as mass reach, low cost, and effective communication (Kaplan & Haenlein, 2010). They have used different theories and models to explore the social and psychological behaviours of social media users and stakeholders (Colliander & Dahlén, 2011; Hau & Kim, 2011; Ngai, Moon, Lam, Chin, & Tao, 2015). Other studies have investigated how social networking sites supported the creation and development of brand communities (Kaplan & Haenlein, 2010; Muniz & O’Guinn, 2001) and how eWOM has affected virtual consumer communities in terms of social capital, consumer learning, and behavioral outcomes (Hung & Li, 2007); while others have provided opinion leader identification frameworks for word-of-mouth marketing in online social blogs (Li & Du, 2011). Although the extant studies of social media could be generally taxonomized into three categories, including social

11 WeChat Marketing Case Study: How to Use Social Media …

209

media applications, social media tools and technologies, and theories and models for social media (Ngai et al., 2015), how communication and message strategy would work for different specific social media vehicles is still unknown. Hence, the objective of this chapter is to identify the communication model and message solution of WeChat, and thereby help to fill the literature gap in digital communication.

Social Media Types Social media, classified by specific online products, are independent and commercial online communities in which people congregate, socialize, and exchange views and information (Kotler & Armstrong, 2017). Some of the best-known social media applications include Facebook, Google+, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, YouTube, and Snapchat, among others. These sites are targeted, personal, and interactive, and allow users to start and participate in customer conversations and collect customer feedback. Some studies of social media have categorized them based on the devices with which they were used, such as cellphones, computers, music, e-books, or game devices (Lenhart, Purcell, Smith, & Zickuhr, 2010), while others have categorized them according to their primary functions, such as social media community, social publishing, social commerce, and social entertainment (Tuten & Solomon, 2014). This study uses Tuten and Solomon’s (2014) classification of social media, under which WeChat could be characterized as both social publishing and social commerce, as marketers use it to disseminate their brand information and industry insights, promote branded products and services, and call for action to buy products and services on the site.

Digital and Social Media Marketing The use of social media has changed how people live, communicate, share information, shop, and access entertainment. Since more and more consumers, especially young people, are moving into the digital world, marketers are also allocating more of their budgets toward digital and social media. Kotler and Armstrong (2017, p. 515) have defined digital and social media marketing as “using digital marketing tools such as web sites, social media, mobile ads and apps, online video, email, blogs, and other digital platforms that engage consumers anywhere, anytime via their computers, smartphones, tablets, Internet-ready TVs, and other digital devices”. Social media marketing is not simply about releasing posts online and actively interacting with the target audience. Strategic social media marketing provides thorough details on how to add relevant social media promotional elements to the brand’s overall marketing plan and turn it into appropriate action to either raise public awareness toward the brand or improve customers’ purchasing intention. Tuten and Solomon (2014) have proposed several steps for social media marketing, as discussed

210

F. Fan

here. Environmental scanning is the first step, allowing online marketers to understand the internal brand’s strengths and weaknesses, as well as external opportunities and threats. Plan objectives should then be stated to guide the development of a social media marketing plan, followed by audience segmentation and targeting, social media vehicle screening, experience strategy creation, action plan detailing, and marketing effectiveness measurement.

Three Ways to Approach WeChat Marketing To help marketers communicate with individual WeChat users and engage more effectively in social media promotion, Tencent has developed three specific types of WeChat marketing accounts under two streams: subscription accounts, service accounts, and enterprise accounts. Subscription accounts and service accounts are subcategories of official accounts, whereas enterprise accounts are a stream in themselves (Fig. 11.1). Subscription accounts are tools that different stakeholders such as governments, organizations, institutions, media, companies, and online opinion leaders like celebrities can use to grow their fan bases, build online reputations, and engage with individual WeChat users. Service accounts are widely used by enterprises and organizations to assist in their customer relationship management, and to convert their offline service to online service. Unlike subscription accounts, message publication is not the main task of service accounts; instead, service accounts offer practical solutions to users to help make their daily lives easier. Organizations and companies in telecommunication,

Fig. 11.1 WeChat marketing accounts

11 WeChat Marketing Case Study: How to Use Social Media …

211

banking and financial services, and media have all successfully used WeChat service accounts as part of their marketing strategies (KF.QQ.COM, n.d.a; n.d.b). Like subscription accounts and service accounts, enterprise accounts are communication channels that allow enterprises to disseminate information and connect with their target audiences. However, enterprise accounts are closely associated with the social and business networks that enterprises have built in real life. Therefore, the “sender-receiver” relationship expressed in an enterprise account is more reliable, and the followers’ brand loyalty is much higher than with subscription accounts or service accounts. In addition, enterprises can send out as many group messages as possible and build connections with both internal employees and external business partners or marketing intermediaries. With the distinctive features of each account type in mind, marketers can benefit more from subscription and service accounts in the process of external marketing, because both types can help marketers reach out to individual WeChat users easily and boost their involvement with flexible communication means such as inviting them to discuss certain topics raised by WeChat marketing accounts, and even improve the audience engagement rate and brand awareness among the target audience. Compared to subscription and service accounts, enterprise accounts are the most useful for companies engaging in internal marketing, because they allow brands to maintain contact with and manage employees and business partners online, and ensure the daily operation and management of the business.

WeChat Marketing Case Study: Hong Kong Trade Development Council This study focuses on the communication effectiveness of an official account stream, especially a WeChat subscription account. It specifically examines how Hong Kong Trade Development Council (HKTDC) operated four WeChat subscription accounts with different positioning strategies to serve the needs of businesspeople and young people in China between 1 November 2013 and 3 November 2016. As shown in Fig. 11.2, the HKTDC operated one leading account, the HKTDC official account; and three sub-accounts, the HKTDC Exhibition Channel, the HKTDC Design Gallery, and the HKTDC.com online marketplace. Each account was set up to meet any of the following five specific audience needs: 1. Businesspeople around the world and companies of all sizes need to know why Hong Kong is the right place to expand their international business networks. HKTDC’s official WeChat account, aiming to promote HK as a regional business center and improve the HKTDC’s brand image in Mainland China, was established to fill this need. 2. Small and medium-sized businesses need to know how and where to establish international business, and also need to know about overseas trade policies, national legislation, and marketing opportunities. HKTDC’s official WeChat

212

F. Fan

Fig. 11.2 HKTDC’s WeChat accounts

account was launched in part to provide such information. Apart from developing a strong reputation in China, HKTDC’s official WeChat account has also sought to help these companies enter foreign markets, meet potential international business partners, and even provide business suggestions and solutions for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). 3. Some SMEs and startups cannot afford the rising cost of expanding business offline; therefore, they are exploring new approaches to business, such as using electronic commerce platforms to sell or buy products. The HKTDC.com online marketplace was positioned to provide entrepreneurs with high-quality international industry buyers and solutions relating to e-business through its B2B e-commerce platform. 4. Attending industry exhibitions is a traditional but effective way for both wellknown business giants and SMEs to expand their business networks and meet potential business partners: “Being the world’s 8th largest trading economy, Hong Kong has developed into a premier convention and exhibition center in the region” (Hong Kong Trade Development Council, 2016). Businesspeople seeking to hold or attend exhibitions in Hong Kong need to know about the types of industry exhibitions that are held there, the highlights and details of these exhibitions, the appeal of the events to well-known business giants and international buyers, and the logistical arrangements and travel assistance available. The HKTDC exhibition channel was created in order to assist both exhibitors and event visitors to handle issues and problems relating to the industry exhibitions organized by HKTDC. 5. HKTDC has also sought to involve young people on WeChat, based on the reputation of Hong Kong as an international metropolis that attracts numerous international brands (Hong Kong Trade Development Council, 2009) as well as

11 WeChat Marketing Case Study: How to Use Social Media …

213

Hong Kong local brands such as B. Duck, which have successfully expanded their business into Mainland China. Young people who wish to travel to Hong Kong may have questions about where they can collect information about Hong Kong fashion, while those who are unable to travel but may want to buy Hong Kong-designed products in Mainland China may have questions as to where such products are available. The HKTDC Design Gallery was launched on WeChat to answer questions such as these, to promote Hong Kong’s fashion and design culture, and to provide the virtual audience with details about Hong Kong local brands, brand stories, and new design collections. To summarize, the main account played a leading role in HKTDC’s WeChat marketing strategy whereas the other three sub-accounts satisfied the diverse needs of segmented audiences in different sectors such as business, fashion, or lifestyle. This study provides a detailed analysis of the leading WeChat subscription account established by HKTDC.

Research Design and Methodology This project uses a case study, participant observation, and content analysis to propose a model for WeChat communication and demonstrate message solutions for WeChat marketing. It asks two main research questions: how can marketers connect and communicate with their target audience on WeChat, and what kinds of information can help them gain high viewership? Yin (2009, p. 18) has defined case study as “an empirical enquiry that investigates a contemporary phenomenon in depth and within its real-life context, especially when the boundaries between phenomenon and context are not clearly evident”. In other words, the aim of case study was to improve people’s knowledge scope and knowledge base about current communication issues, events, and processes in a specific setting by describing relevant and rich realities (Daymon & Holloway, 2011, p. 115). The participant observation for this project was conducted between 1 November 2013, when HKTDC’s official WeChat account was officially launched, and 1 November 2015. I had worked on the daily operation and maintenance of HKTDC’s official WeChat account during the participant observation period. The WeChat communication model was proposed based on the information collected during this period. A one-year content analysis of WeChat’s marketing message strategy between 3 November 2015 and 3 November 2016 was also conducted. A total of 271 individual WeChat posts/articles were publicized during the study period, and all of them were analyzed on the same day, 31 December 2016. The content was categorized into four types: event information, industry sharing and research reports, contents riding on holidays and widely-discussed issues online, and online WeChat campaigns/games. The relationship between content type and readership was also examined.

214

F. Fan

Fig. 11.3 HKTDC’s official WeChat account’s content types

The four types of WeChat content are presented in Fig. 11.3. In this study, event information (Content Type 1) refers to WeChat articles or posts promoting exhibitions and events organized by HKTDC, such as the Asian Financial Forum and the Hong Kong Book Fair. Contents relating to the announcement of exhibition details and highlights such as exhibition press conference and exhibitor’s business stories were also classified under Content Type 1. Industry sharing and research reports (Content Type 2) refer to the distinctive content sources HKTDC obtained and used for WeChat marketing. When HKTDC organized each exhibition, the council would invite industry experts, such as CEOs, CFOs, and economists, to share insights and analyze trends relating to the designated exhibition theme. The public cannot easily access such professional information unless journalists and HKTDC’s official WeChat account publicize the relevant content. In addition, to enhance the distinctiveness of the content, HKTDC’s official WeChat team regularly conducted interviews with exhibitors from Mainland China at B2B exhibitions organized by HKTDC, and invited interviewees to share their experiences of how Hong Kong exhibitions and services helped Chinese enterprises gain access to the international market. Afterwards, HKTDC’s official WeChat team was responsible for drafting business stories based on the interview notes, photo editing, and other such tasks. These industry stories would be scheduled and published on HKTDC’s official WeChat account regularly so that insiders and industry interviewees could use the WeChat communication channel to make their voices heard. Meanwhile, other target audience members who were unable to come to Hong Kong and participate in the exhibitions could obtain up-to-date information about international business strategies and tips without regard to time or geographical boundaries. The council also had its own research team, with economists specializing in different economic regions such as the Greater China Market, Asian and Emerging Markets, and the Global Market (HKTDC Research, 2017). This research team continuously

11 WeChat Marketing Case Study: How to Use Social Media …

215

updated the economic and industry insights on the designated HKTDC research website. These articles were the second content source for HKTDC’s official WeChat account’s daily content operation. The third type of content consists of articles about important events, holidays, or issues discussed among the virtual audience. For example, HKTDC’s official WeChat account prepared several articles promoting the traditions and customs relating to Chinese New Year 2016 during the holiday. The last content type (Content Type 4) involves engagement activities such as the development of online games to encourage audiences to subscribe to the WeChat account and to reward loyal followers.

Research Results WeChat Communication Model The development of WeChat contributes to the prominence of customized marketing, as the downward communication model in which a virtual audience passively receives messages from marketers has been replaced by an upward communication model in which the audience has more control and plays a more active role in receiving messages promoted by marketers or public relations practitioners. Compared to other social media vehicles, WeChat follows a “half closed, half open” communication model, in which the effectiveness of a message relies heavily on WeChat friends’ and online opinion leaders’ recommendation and referrals, or electronic word-of-mouth. The term “half closed” means that WeChat marketing accounts are not allowed to directly and organically promote messages to individual WeChat users who are not subscribed to the marketing account, whereas “half open” means that messages could potentially go viral and achieve vast coverage with support from the target audience’s online engagement and endorsement, and from the use of WeChat opinion leaders. For example, posts and articles on HKTDC’s official WeChat account could be communicated in the following ways, illustrated in Fig. 11.4. WeChat individual users who had basic knowledge about the organization, noticed the existence of the official account, and showed their interest in it, were likely to follow the official account via active search on WeChat (channel 1) or scanning its QR code (channel 2) which was printed on the offline promotional materials such as leaflets distributed at the exhibition field. eWOM (channel 3) also influenced individual WeChat users’ online following and communication behaviour. When chatting with friends via WeChat’s one-onone instant messaging function, users would be motivated to follow the official account after receiving positive comments about it from their WeChat friends (subchannel 3.1) and measuring the information intimacy (sub-channel 3.2). The term information intimacy refers to the relevancy of the information to the audience, and

216

F. Fan

Fig. 11.4 WeChat communication model

the closeness between the message content and the audience’s informational needs. eWOM played a significant role in WeChat communication with the help of WeChat friends’ endorsement of the content released on the account. Once users deemed the WeChat group messages, prepared by the official account, worthy to be shared, they were willing to actively forward the message to their “Moment,” similar to a Facebook Wall, so that their WeChat friends could also read this shared message. If their WeChat friends shared the same thoughts mentioned in the message and were generally interested in the topics featured in the WeChat official account, they would be motivated to follow this official account. The official WeChat account could cross over with other well-known WeChat official accounts or WeChat opinion leaders (channel 4), and promote its account and relevant group messages in the format of online advertorials on WeChat. In this case, the official account could reach the partner’s followers who were also the potential target audiences of the official account. WeChat opinion leaders in this context include celebrities with strong reputations in traditional media who also have WeChat official accounts, or lesser-known but professional industry persons or experts such as music critics. It was not uncommon for these opinion leaders to review the advertised accounts or to filter advertised WeChat messages to be released on their own accounts, as they had to maintain their credible brand image in their followers’ minds and retain fan bases for their own WeChat accounts. Such crossover projects could be in many different formats, and could be either paid or free. WeChat advertising (channel 5) could also be used to increase exposure. On WeChat, paid advertisement is an effective way to boost fan bases and raise audience awareness, due to the wide coverage and accurate demographic and behavioral targeting offered by WeChat itself. Potential users could become new followers once

11 WeChat Marketing Case Study: How to Use Social Media …

217

they were reached by tailor-made WeChat advertisements and regarded the official account or incentivized WeChat contents as relevant to themselves. To communicate effectively with users, the HKTDC’s official WeChat account managed its content sources and filtered high-quality information. During the observation period, HKTDC’s official WeChat account would collect potential message sources from both internal and external promotion materials. Internal promotion materials included HKTDC’s brand stories, the latest organizational updates, and exhibition details that were available only to internal parties. External promotion materials were those that targeted media, potential business partners, and the public outside of HKTDC. These included press releases, advertorials, the brands’ official website, product magazines produced by HKTDC, and eDMs. No matter which type(s) of content sources would be selected, they had to focus on the industries HKTDC served in the long run, such as fashion and design, food and beverages, electronic items, jewelry and diamonds, toys and baby products, logistics and maritime, finance, filming, IT, or licensing. After the source filtering stage, the focal point and content of the message topics would be selected, and the messages would be scheduled according to the HKTDC’s current promotional strategy and individual users’ interests. For example, HKTDC’s official WeChat account tried to improve its research team’s professional image among businesspersons and to lead traffic to HKTDC’s research website by sharing an article relating to the UK’s controversial decision to leave the European Union on 30 June 2016. Much-discussed and controversial issues such as these could effectively attract the attention of the target audience.

WeChat Marketing Message Strategy Strategy 1: Content Variety On WeChat, individual users are empowered, and the effectiveness of communication relies heavily on positive electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM). Individual WeChat users have diverse informational needs. If marketers followed the traditional route to produce standard promotional messages and then promoted those messages to their target audience, the undifferentiated marketing strategy would cause marketers to lose the audience’s attention. To stand out among numerous WeChat marketing accounts, HKTDC’s official WeChat account used differentiated content to reach virtual audiences online. Between 3 November 2015 and 3 November 2016, the HKTDC WeChat account produced 141 posts or articles about various events and exhibitions. It also published 144 industry sharing and research reports, and 37 articles or posts relating to widely discussed issues and public holidays. Engagement activities accounted for only 12 posts during this period. The total for all four types of content was higher than the 271 individual WeChat messages calculated at the beginning of this chapter, because

218

F. Fan

Fig. 11.5 WeChat content distribution

some articles or posts were counted twice due to the nature of the messages. For instance, WeChat articles or posts featuring both exhibition information and holiday celebrations were counted as both content type 1 and content type 3 (Fig. 11.5). For content type 1, the mean of readership was 734.35, ranging from 91 to 11,475. The WeChat article with the lowest reading number appeared on 6 November 2015, introducing a crossover project between HKTDC and Harbour City in Hong Kong, one of the key “Inno Design Tech Expo” highlights for that year. The article or post that generated the highest number of readings was featured on 5 July 2016, promoting the Hong Kong Book Fair. The second and third most read WeChat messages were published on 1 January 2016 and 21 October 2016. The message for 1 January, sharing the New Year exhibition schedule, received 10,998 readings, while the 21 October article, introducing event details for the Hong Kong Trade Development Council’s Wine Fair, received 5495 readings. Figure 11.6 indicates the overall trend of content type 1’s viewership. For content type 2, the average number of readings was 327.46. As seen in Fig. 11.7, the readership trend was relatively stable, ranging from 81 to 961. The lowest point was reached on 13 April 2016, with an article that featured the potential silk cloth opportunity in the fashion industry. The number of readings for content type 2 peaked at 961 on 29 December 2015, with a post that was used to promote a series of videos produced by HKTDC to promote the Chinese government’s “One

11 WeChat Marketing Case Study: How to Use Social Media …

219

Content Type 1 15000 10000 5000 0

No. of Post

No. of Reading

Fig. 11.6 Distribution of number of readings for WeChat content type 1

Content Type 2 1200 1000 800 600 400 200 0

No. of Post

No. of Reading

Fig. 11.7 Distribution of number of readings for WeChat content type 2

Belt, One Road” initiative. The “One Belt, One Road” video series was endorsed by industry giants and well-known entrepreneurs in Hong Kong, such as Dr. Victor K. Fung, Group Chairman, Fung Group, Honorary Chairman, Li & Fung Limited. The number of readings for content type 3 witnessed a sharp increase in January 2016 and reached its highest point at 10,998 on 1 January 2016, with a post that focused on the New Year celebration and announcement of HKTDC’s 2016 exhibition schedule. The average number of readings for content type 3 was 1000.43, which was much higher than content type 1 and 2 in general. The overall number of readings fluctuated from 95 to 10,998. The post that received 95 readings was posted on 6 February 2016, using the Chinese New Year scenario to promote potential business opportunities for mobile applications that would allow users to order home-made food (Fig. 11.8). The last content type witnessed the highest number of readings, with 2106.67 on average. Although this content type accounted for the least number of articles or posts, it was the most effective and popular content among individual users. The

220

F. Fan

Content Type 3 15000 10000 5000 0

No. of Post

No. of Reading

Fig. 11.8 Distribution of number of readings for WeChat content type 3

WeChat message with the lowest reading number, 264, appeared on 14 February 2016 while the highest number of readings was achieved by a post on 5 July 2016, featuring the Hong Kong Book Fair’s WeChat game; this message received 11,475 readings. For this WeChat game, a limited number of free gifts, such as Hong Kong Book Fair tickets and “Super Passes” for book lovers, were distributed to users who played the game on the WeChat mini-site. The 14 February 2016 post that achieved the lowest reading number shared the list of winners of the Chinese New Year 2016 WeChat game (Fig. 11.9). In summary, the number of readings for WeChat articles and posts indicated that messages relating to HKTDC events, and popular topics or issues that were widely discussed among the virtual audience, could generate more readings on WeChat. Messages featuring industry insights shared by professionals or extracted from HKTDC’s research reports were less popular among individual WeChat users, as these messages were more business-oriented. The use of WeChat campaigns and games was essential to engage the virtual audience. Content Type 4 14000 12000 10000 8000 6000 4000 2000 0 02-Feb-16

02-Mar-16

02-Apr-16 No. of Post

02-May-16

02-Jun-16

No. of Reading

Fig. 11.9 Distribution of number of readings for WeChat content type 4

02-Jul-16

11 WeChat Marketing Case Study: How to Use Social Media …

221

Strategy 2: The Use of Visual Aids The use of visual aids can also influence communication between online marketers and online users. According to Powell, Boomgaarden, De Swert, and De Vreese (2015), visual aids such as pictures, indicating emotions such as happiness or fear, can be more effective than text alone in influencing behaviours and intentions. Visual aids allow participants to more easily digest and memorize information and knowledge delivered by the sender (Miller, 2013). If content (what to say) was the king, the creative approach to storytelling (how to say it) would be the clothes. To stand out in WeChat marketing, marketers and PR staff should consider how information is presented. For example, multimedia display functions such as embedding still pictures, infographics, or short videos into messages, have been widely used on WeChat. Such applications could help readers develop a better understanding of key concepts, to learn more about the topic discussed in the WeChat message, or to encourage a positive attitude about the WeChat message. Between 3 November 2015 and 3 November 2016, approximately 6 still pictures or infographics were used on average in each WeChat article or post, as seen in Fig. 11.10. Statistical analysis was conducted to determine whether visual aids made a difference in the readability and likeability of WeChat messages. The perceived readability of the messages was measured according to the number of readings for each message, whereas the perceived message likeability was measured according to the number of likes contributed by individual users. The use of images or visual aids in WeChat messages was categorized into three general types based on the average number of photos used: type 1 messages used 1–5 photos per message; type 2 used 6 photos per message; and type 3 used 7 photos or more per message. In all, 152 WeChat articles or posts were classified as type 1, 25 as type 2, and 94 as type 3. The data indicated no significant difference in message viewership (p = 0.349), though a difference existed between the use of visual aids and perceived message likeability (p = 0.044), as seen in Fig. 11.11.

60 50 40 30 20 10 0

Fig. 11.10 Use of visual aids

The Use of Visual Aids

above

7 or

6

1 to 5

44

11

3

30

49

9

3

37

1.00

51

17

5

29

2.00

43

13

5

25

3.00

23

10

2

11

4.00

19

11

1

7

5.00

8

5

1

2

6.00

9

3

2

4

7.00

2

0

0

2

8.00

Liking_No

Crosstab (Photo No. * Liking No.)

1

0

1

0

1

1

0

0

2

2

0

0

1

1

0

0

2

1

0

1

1

1

0

0

1

0

0

1

2

1

1

0

1

1

0

0

1

1

0

0

1

1

0

0

1

1

0

0

1

1

0

0

1

0

0

1

1

1

0

0

1

0

0

1

1

1

0

0

1

0

1

0

1

1

0

0

1

0

0

1

271

94

25

152

9.00 10.00 11.00 15.00 17.00 20.00 21.00 23.00 25.00 26.00 32.00 96.00 99.00 134.00 141.00 143.00 145.00 146.00 159.00 206.00 Total

Fig. 11.11 Relationship between the use of visual aids and number of likes

Total p value=0.044

Photos

.00

222 F. Fan

11 WeChat Marketing Case Study: How to Use Social Media …

223

Conclusion Even though scholars have been studying various aspects of WeChat, such as its use in academic libraries and clinical probation teaching (Lin, Mu, Jiang, Lin, Xu, & Zeng, 2017; Xu, Kang, Song, & Clarke, 2015), or characteristics of users’ attitudes and liking behaviours (Gan, 2017; Lien & Cao, 2011), this is the first case study of the WeChat marketing communication model and message strategy in the government or related council sector. This study suggests that multiple channels such as active search, the use of QR code, opinion leaders’ endorsement, and others can help WeChat marketers maximize their message exposure. Messages featuring light and entertaining topics such as public holidays and online games could generate a higher viewership rate on WeChat than macroeconomic topics or industry insights. Moreover, although no significant relationship between the use of visual aids and viewership was observed, marketers should use more images and infographics in WeChat message to engage individual users and improve their attitude toward WeChat content.

Limitations and Future Studies Since this study used case study, participant observation, and content analysis, its limitations include researcher subjectivity, as well as limited generalizability and external validity (Daymon & Holloway, 2011, p. 124). Even so, multiple research methods such as those used for this project could be applicable to other similar case studies. Due to a lack of manpower and limited information capability, the content analysis of this study was restricted to messages released between 3 November, 2015 and 3 November, 2016, rather than all the articles that have appeared on HKTDC’s official WeChat account. A larger sampling size is therefore recommended for future studies.

References Colliander, J., & Dahlén, M. (2011). Following the fashionable friend: The power of social media. Journal of Advertising Research, 51(1), 313–320. Daymon, C., & Holloway, I. (2011). Qualitative research methods in public relations and marketing communications. New York: Routledge. Deng, I. (2018). Tencent’s WeChat hits 1 billion milestone as Lunar New Year boosts monthly active users. Retrieved December 8, 2019 from https://www.scmp.com/tech/apps-gaming/article/213 5690/tencents-wechat-hits-1-billion-milestone-lunar-new-year-boosts Gan, C. M. (2017). Understanding WeChat users’ liking behavior: An empirical study in China. Computers in Human Behavior, 68, 30–39.

224

F. Fan

Hau, Y. S., & Kim, Y. G. (2011). Why would online gamers share their innovation-conducive knowledge in the online game user community? Integrating individual motivations and social capital perspectives. Computers in Human Behavior, 27(2), 956–970. HKTDC Research. (2017). Retrieved July 11, 2016 from https://economists-pick-research.hktdc. com/business-news/article/HKTDC-Economists/Nicholas-Kwan-Director-of-Research/econom ist/en/1/1X31QM8Y/1X0A0RAH.htm Hong Kong Trade Development Council. (2009). Middle-class consumers in China. Retrieved June 3, 2017 from https://economists-pick-research.hktdc.com/business-news/article/EconomicForum/Middle-class-Consumers-in-China/ef/en/1/1X000000/1X06AA9X.htm Hong Kong Trade Development Council. (2016). Convention and exhibition industry in Hong Kong. Retrieved July 11, 2016 from https://hong-kong-economy-research.hktdc.com/businessnews/article/%E9%A6%99%E6%B8%AF%E8%A1%8C%E6%A5%AD%E6%A6%82%E6% B3%81/%E9%A6%99%E6%B8%AF%E6%9C%83%E5%B1%95%E6%9C%8D%E5%8B% 99%E6%A5%AD%E6%A6%82%E6%B3%81/hkip/tc/1/1X47J8WG/1X0018NP.htm Hootsuite. (2019). Digital 2019 China. Retrieved December 8, 2019 from https://wearesocial.cn/ digital-2019-china/ Hung, K. H., & Li, S. Y. (2007). The influence of eWOM on virtual consumer communities: Social capital, consumer learning, and behavioral outcomes. Journal of Advertising Research, 47(4), 485–495. Kaplan, A. M., & Haenlein, M. (2010). Users of the world, unite! The challenges and opportunities of social media. Business Horizons, 53, 59–68. KF.QQ.COM. (n.d.a). WeChat advertising FAQ. Retrieved June 6, 2016 from https://kf.qq.com/faq/ 120911VrYVrA141118Uv2yAF.html KF.QQ.COM. (n.d.b). What is WeChat service account? Retrieved June 3, 2017 from https://kf.qq. com/faq/120911VrYVrA150918fMZ77R.html?scene_id=kf3386 Kotler, P. T., & Armstrong, G. (2017). Principles of marketing. Harlow, Essex: Pearson Education Limited. Lenhart, A., Purcell, K., Smith, A., & Zickuhr, K. (2010). Social media and mobile internet use among teens and young adults. Retrieved May 29, 2017 from https://www.pewinternet.org/2010/ 02/03/social-media-and-young-adults/ Li, F., & Du, T. C. (2011). Who is talking? An ontology-based opinion leader identification framework for word-of-mouth marketing in online social blogs. Decision Support Systems, 51(1), 190–197. Lien, C. H., & Cao, Y. (2011). Examining WeChat users’ motivations, trust, attitudes, and positive word-of-mouth: Evidence from China. Computers in Human Behavior, 41, 104–111. Lin, K. Y., Mu, P. W., Jiang, W., Lin, S., Xu, H. X., & Zeng, L. Y. (2017). Application of WeChat app in clinical probation teaching. Diabetes, 66(S1), A606. Martin, G. (2016). Chinese concerns about impact of social media continue to grow. Retrieved May 29, 2017 from https://cn-en.kantar.com/media/social/2016/kantar-china-social-media-imp act-report-2016/ Miller, M. B. (2013). A visual aid designed to teach cervical dilation. International Journal of Childbirth Education, 28(4), 34–38. Muniz, M. A., & O’Guinn, C. T. (2001). Brand community. Journal of Consumer Research, 27, 412–432. Ngai, W. T., Moon, K. L., Lam, S. S., Chin, S. K., & Tao, S. C. (2015). Social media models, technologies, and applications: An academic review and case study. Industrial Management & Data Systems, 115(5), 769–802. Pew Research Center. (2017). Social media fact sheet. Retrieved June 2, 2017 from https://www. pewinternet.org/fact-sheet/social-media/ Powell, T. E., Boomgaarden, H. G., De Swert, K., & De Vreese, C. H. (2015). A clearer picture: The contribution of visuals and text to framing effects. Journal of Communication, 65(6), 997–1017. Tencent. (n.d.). Retrieved June 6, 2016 from https://www.tencent.com/zh-cn/index.html

11 WeChat Marketing Case Study: How to Use Social Media …

225

Tuten, T., & Solomon, M. (2014). Social media marketing. Harlow, Essex: Pearson Education Limited. Xu, J. H., Kang, Q., Song, Z. Q., & Clarke, C. P. (2015). Applications of mobile social media: WeChat among academic libraries in China. The Journal of Academic Librarianship, 41(1), 21–30. Yin, R. K. (2009). Case study research: Design and methods. London, UK: Sage.

Ms. Fei Fan with several years’ cross-disciplinary teaching experience, is now a Lecturer in Communication at the College of International Education, Hong Kong Baptist University. She is also an emerging scholar. Her research papers have been presented in different international and local conferences, and also published in several international peer-reviewed journals such as Young Consumers. Her research interests include social media advertising and promotion, celebrity studies and online public relations.

Chapter 12

What Are You Looking for? Understanding the Uses and Gratifications of Blued in Mainland China Yunbo Chen and Runze Ding Abstract Location-based real-time dating (LBRTD) gay platforms have proliferated in recent years, and now have massive user bases worldwide. Both the popular press and academic literature have speculated how and why sexual minority men (SMM) use these platforms. However, studies examining how these platforms are used among Chinese SMM are still limited. This chapter describes specific gratifications for Blued users, contextualizing them within Chinese social, cultural, and political environments. The project adopts a two-study approach to answer two research questions. Adopting a uses and gratifications approach, Study 1 consisted of a pilot study and an online survey. Motivations for Blued use were reported in the pilot study through open-ended descriptions, and then coded into 31 items in the online questionnaire. A total of 406 Blued users completed the online survey. An exploratory factor analysis with varimax rotation revealed six uses and gratifications: killing time, sexual and romantic goals, social networking and community engagement, social inclusion/approval, searching for health information, and visual/interactive fantasies. Study 2 is ethnographic, associating the satisfaction factors obtained in Study 1 with users’ relevant social, cultural, and political backgrounds. Participants’ Blued use is seen as cynical and instrumental. Although many users felt hopeless about finding a boyfriend on Blued, they continued using the app to maximize the potential of a relationship. General negative perceptions towards Blued users have also been observed. Participants expressed ambivalence regarding their “membership in the gay community” on Blued. The project concludes that Blued has created a sense of “imagined community” (Weeks, 2000) among Chinese gay men. The strength and stability of this “imagined community” warrants further exploration. Keywords Chinese gay men · Gay digital culture · Dating apps · Sexual minority · Uses and gratifications Y. Chen School of Journalism and Communication, Jinan University, Guangzhou, China e-mail: [email protected] R. Ding (B) School of Media and Communication, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen, China e-mail: [email protected] © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2020 S. S. Lam (ed.), New Media Spectacles and Multimodal Creativity in a Globalised Asia, Digital Culture and Humanities 3, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-7341-5_12

227

228

Y. Chen and R. Ding

Background With the proliferation of mobile devices offering location services, many SMM (sexual minority men)—a population that includes gay, bisexual, queer, and questioning men—have adopted location-based real-time dating (LBRTD) applications such as Grindr, Jack’d, and Scruff to meet anonymous partners, form relationships, or engage in sexual encounters. These apps employ global positioning system (GPS) technology to connect users according to real-time locations. Thus, they have generated efficient vectors for SMM to meet potential partners, based on attraction and physical proximity. This has revolutionized how gay and bisexual men approach social connectivity by removing boundaries that previously governed physical and virtual spaces. Because of the popularity of these apps, both the popular press and academic literature have speculated how and why men use them (Blackwell, Birnholtz, & Abbott, 2015; Crooks, 2013; Gudelunas, 2012; Raj, 2011; Roth, 2014; Van De Wiele & Tong, 2014). Homophobia in many low and middle-income countries (LMIC) encourages men who have sex with men (MSM) to use mobile applications to locate partners. China has followed a similar pattern, and LBRTD platforms have proliferated. China has the world’s largest population of Internet and smartphone users; accordingly, the mobile Internet is quickly replacing traditional locations such as gay saunas and bars as the preferred site for SMM to find sex partners. One of the most popular platforms is Blued, which is classified as a “location-based real-time” dating platform, or a “people nearby application” (PNA), designed for gay men in China. With over 27 million users worldwide and several million DAU (Daily Active Users), it is the most popular LBRTD platform among Chinese gay and bisexual men. Blued also has more functions than its counterparts Grindr, Jack’d, or Scruff. This implies an alternative business strategy and discloses China’s social, cultural, and political specificity. The use of applications such as Blued has revolutionized how gay and bisexual men approach social connectivity, while delivering new gratifications to their users. Despite the increased popularity of these platforms and China’s massive user base, literature on LBRTD gay platform use by Chinese SMM is limited and remains poorly understood, even as smartphone use continues to proliferate and evidence suggests that SMM are adopting these platforms faster than the general population. The few studies that have examined gay platforms in China have been conducted from a public health perspective, identifying links between these platforms and the transmission of STDs (Sexually Transmitted Diseases), especially HIV/AIDS (e.g.: Bien et al., 2015; Cao et al., 2017; Tang et al., 2016). However, what those platforms bring to Chinese gay males involves more than sex and STD, and is far more complicated. To fill this gap in the literature, this chapter describes the specific user gratifications of these gay platforms in Mainland China, where SMM have experienced discrimination, violence, and social marginalization. The broader range of social, economic, and political issues present on LBRTD platforms will also be addressed.

12 What Are You Looking for? Understanding the Uses and Gratifications …

229

Blued: China’s Leading LBRTD Application Both Chinese authorities and the public have only recently begun acknowledging homosexuality in non-pathologizing terms. Consequently, acts deemed homosexual were decriminalized in 1997 (Bao, 2015). Under these circumstances, Blued has become the most popular LBRTD gay platform in China. Since 2013, Blued has transformed from a public service agency to a social enterprise, from a public website to a mobile social app. As Blued has pursued overseas markets, an important question has arisen: Why has Chinese society accepted Blued? With over 27 million users worldwide, Blued completed three rounds of financing in one year. In February 2017, it completed a C++ round of financing from Shanshui Congrong Media Investment, whose shareholders include the Beijing News, a Chinese mainstream media outlet. Meanwhile, Blued’s development has buoyed the emerging social identity of the LGBT community while reducing global misunderstandings about Chinese society. Blued has integrated more features into its interface than its Western counterparts such as Grindr, Jack’d, or Scruff. Unlike Grindr or Jack’d, on which a gay individual is only allowed to upload limited (profile) pictures,1 Blued encourages its users to upload as many pictures as they want. In this way, it is similar to Instagram, on which users create their own timelines. Moreover, in addition to chats between users, Blued also allow users to generate group chats and set up social interest groups.2 Additionally, in January 2016, Blued introduced a live streaming feature to its interface, which has enabled its users to broadcast themselves to other users (Wang, 2020). This function contributed the second largest revenue stream for its parent company Blue City in 2016.3 Live streaming not only generates substantial revenue, but has also been reported to extend users’ time online, increasing the daily time online per user from 38 min to nearly one hour, thus promoting user stickiness on the platform.4 In 2017, China enacted the General Rules of Examination and Approval of Online Video Content. This law stipulates that content involving improper sexual relationships or sexual behaviour, including incest, homosexuality, parasexuality, sexual assault, sexual abuse, or sexual violence, must be deleted.5 In response, Blued formed a censorship department dedicated to monitoring live streaming content. In addition to banning pornography, gambling, and drug-related content, Blued has also banned its streamers from showing white socks, appearing topless, or streaming in bed or on the toilet. Also in 2017, Blued developed a smart HIV risk assessment and testing appointment system. By applying “Internet+” to AIDS prevention and control, Blued has undertaken its own social responsibility initiatives as one of the world’s largest gay 1 Grindr

allows its user only one profile image; Jack’d allows its users one profile picture plus three additional images. 2 https://cn.nytimes.com/china/20151015/cc15blued/. 3 https://www.globaldatinginsights.com/news/blued-turns-to-live-streaming-after-hitting-15m-rev enue-last-year/. 4 https://www.danlan.org/disparticle_52645.htm. 5 https://tech.sina.com.cn/i/2018-04-26/doc-ifztkpin2992964.shtml.

230

Y. Chen and R. Ding

social platforms. In planning China’s 13th Five Year Plan, Blued CEO Geng Le was invited to be a member of the HIV/AIDS prevention and control panel, and participated in the drafting and revision of the Plan. Government recognition is therefore one reason for the rapid growth of Blued in China.6 Blued’s business strategy is different from that of its competition, and this has shaped its interface design which is flush with “Chinese characteristics.” As a result, the use of Blued, and the gratifications users derive from it, cannot be understood without contextualizing it within China’s broader social and cultural framework. This project extends the literature by including a large sample from a low and middleincome country (LMIC) setting in which SMM rarely disclose their sexual orientation, and homosexuality is still considered the “dark side” of society (Ellis-Petersen, 2016).

Literature Review: The U&G of LBRTD Apps Broad classifications of motives, including physical (sex), social (friendships, romantic relationships), and psychological (sense of community) purposes, have been identified in previous studies. This project uses the Uses & Gratifications (U&G) framework to understand how MSM use LBRTD apps to achieve multiple goals. The U&G framework reflects grounding in media theory as a needed addition to ongoing research in public health areas. It assumes that individual needs influence media use, and that the outcomes of media use attract and hold individuals to media content (Ruggiero, 2000). This framework aims to identify “The social and psychological origins of needs, which generate expectations of the mass media or other sources, which lead to differential patterns of media exposure…resulting in need gratifications and other consequences” (Katz, Gurevith, & Haas, 1973, p. 510). Though the U&G framework was originally developed to investigate and identify mass media effects, it has also been applied to explain individuals’ use of newer Internet and mobile technology. Studies of Internet gratification have demonstrated that gay men use the Internet to form social and romantic relationships (Gudelunas, 2012; Liau, Millett, & Marks, 2006) in addition to seeking sexual partners. By communicating online, gay men access essential social and emotional support. Previous scholarship has shown decreases in depression, suicidal thoughts, and other invalidating thoughts in response to positive affirmation and support received from online communication (Engler, Frigault, Leobon, & Levy, 2005; Ross, 2005). Gay men use the Internet en masse to connect with other gay men for friendship, support, and sexual opportunities (Daneback, Ross, & Mansson, 2008). Mobile devices have transformed the motivations and gratifications of SMM. Research on mobile phone user behaviour has identified primary gratifications as sociability, relaxation, mobility, immediacy, and instrumentality (Leung & Wei, 6 https://www.dw.com/zh/中文同志软件预防艾滋功不可没/a-18104669?maca=chi-VAS-VT-

CW-all-13474-html-copypaste.

12 What Are You Looking for? Understanding the Uses and Gratifications …

231

2000). Although these gratifications have been identified as basic affordances of the mobile phone, individual needs have changed, as has the technology through which gratification is achieved. One such extension of the mobile phone is the integration of ubiquitous computing systems such as LBRTD gay platforms. Scholars have noted the motivations of LBRTD gay platform users, ranging from the most frequently mentioned motivations, such as sexual gratification or monogamous romantic relationships, to less obvious motivations, such as killing time and making friends. Meanwhile, outlets such as Vanity Fair and The New York Times have suggested that the overwhelming (if not sole) motivation for Grindr use is “casual sex” or “hook ups” (Kapp, 2011; Wortham, 2013). Participants have largely agreed that, regardless of where they use Grindr, their user intentions are manifold. According to Blackwell and his colleagues, the popular users on Grindr include “people who are looking to hook up, people who are looking for dates, and people who are just looking for chats and [to] make friends” (Blackwell et al., 2015, p. 1127). Previous studies have indeed shown that users turn to Grindr to fulfill sexual desires (Landovitz et al., 2013). However, other research has suggested less obvious motivations, such as friendship, dating, or monogamous romantic relationships. For example, Rice et al. (2012) report “killing time” as the primary motivation for using Grindr, followed by “making friends,” “connect(ing) to the gay community,” “meet(ing) people to have sex/hookup with,” and “find(ing) someone to date.” Also, Van De Wiele and Tong (2014) revealed that Grindr motives include social interaction, sex, social inclusion/approval, entertainment, dating/romantic relationships, and location-based partner searching. Other scholars have reported similar results using qualitative approaches (Birnholtz, Fitzpatrick, Handel, & Brubaker, 2014; Gudelunas, 2012). Users may have a wide array of contextually and temporally variable motivations and desired outcomes for using these services. Roth (2014) found that each Scruff user has a wide array of contextually and temporally variable motivations and desired outcomes for using the service. Some seek face-to-face sexual encounters; some look for friendship or professional networking; others use the service as a source of visual or interactive fantasy (see Crooks, 2013; Gudelunas, 2012; Raj, 2011; Woo, 2013). Other scholars have regarded these apps and other smart devices as new platforms for delivering sexual health information and have examined their effectiveness in doing so. Despite these findings, little is known about how Chinese SMM use these platforms, and what gratifications they provide. Although LBRTD gay platforms are ubiquitous in China, their official raisons d’etre remain deliberately vague. Thus, this study proposes the following research questions: What gratifications do Chinese SMM gain from LBRTD gay platforms? What are the differences between the gratifications that Chinese SMM and those in Western countries receive from using LBRTD gay platforms? Uncovering the specific uses of and gratifications derived from LBRTD gay platforms in China requires understanding not only the confluence of SMMs’ place, space, technology, and communication behaviour, but also the broader social, political, economic and cultural environments that influence gay culture in China. Thus, this study is an ethnographical investigation into this gay dating/hook-up platform,

232

Y. Chen and R. Ding

exploring what these LBRTD gay platforms mean for gay men in China, and contextualizing these motivations for and gratifications from the use of gay PNAs. In other words, we want to explore the stories behind these motivations and gratifications. Hence, another question this study seeks to answer is: How do social, economic and cultural environments in China influence the uses and gratifications of Chinese SMMs on LBRTD gay platforms? This project adopts a two-study approach to answer its research questions.

Study 1 Pilot Study Study 1 was a pilot study exploring the gratifications Blued users receive from the application. The sample consisted of 10 Blued users, ages 18 and up, recruited both on- and offline. They were asked to describe their motives for using the application, in four open-ended questions adapted from Van De Wiele and Tong’s (2014) measures: 1. What is the first thing that comes to mind when you think about what you enjoy most when accessing Blued? 2. What other words describe what you enjoy most about interacting through Blued? 3. Using easy-to-understand terms, please describe what you use Blued for; and, 4. What Blued functions are most important to you? Similar to previous studies, many respondents said that they use Blued to find someone to date, or to form a long-term relationship. Some mentioned random sexual activity and hooking up. Others talked about combating loneliness and boosting confidence. Participants also reported enjoying live shows, a function unique to Blued. HIV testing was mentioned by only a handful of users. A taxonomy was generated using thematic coding of the open-ended responses from the pilot study. The ensuing close-ended survey items were then based on the taxonomy. Thematic analysis is a method for “identifying, analyzing and reporting patterns (themes) within data” (Braun & Clark, 2006), often used in U&G research to “identify responses that are related” and find commonalities in open-ended response data (Joinson, 2008). Two coders examined the data from the open-ended responses, looking for patterned or related words or statements within each response. These patterned themes were then discussed and labeled according to their common features. From this initial examination, eight unique themes— networking/community, killing time, gathering health information, social inclusion, sex, romance, location-based searching, and visual/interactive fantasy, emerged as the primary categories associated with using Blued.

12 What Are You Looking for? Understanding the Uses and Gratifications …

233

Online Survey The items drawn from the pilot study were administered to a larger sample of Blued users, and then factor-analyzed to identify recurring motives of use. The survey was open for six weeks in September and October 2018, and took 10 min to complete on average.

Participants A snowball sampling strategy was used, in which participants were asked to share the survey’s hyperlink with other known Blued users who fit the sampling criteria. After incomplete and unfinished surveys were deleted, the final sample consisted of 406 male users.

Measures The survey included closed and open-ended questions, which were structured into three sets of questions: demographics, Blued use, and a 7-point Likert scale for Blued use gratifications.

Demographic Characteristics Demographic characteristics were assessed according to seven items: age, education, occupation, participants’ geographic locations, sexual orientation, and sex relationship role.

Blued Use A ubiquitous technology, LBRTD apps allow users to be constantly logged on. Therefore, Blued use was not operationalized in terms of overall number of hours or minutes participants spent on the application, as this would have been difficult for the participants to estimate and report. Instead, Blued use was measured with the questions: “On average, how many times do you open or log on to your Blued account in a given day?” Answers were: (1) Barely (every several days or less), (2) Occasionally (once a day), (3) Sometimes (2–3 times a day), (4) Often (4–5 times a day), and (5) Always (over 5 times a day). The number of years spent using Blued was categorized as (1) 4 years.

234

Y. Chen and R. Ding

Respondents were asked to check off the apps besides Blued on which they currently had profiles or accounts, from a list including seven options: Aloha, Zank, Grindr, Jack’d, Tinder, Fanpanzi, Desmix, and a space to write in others not listed. The number of apps on which a respondent had a profile or account was calculated for each participant.

Gratifications Derived from Blued Use For each close-ended use item, participants were asked to indicate on a 7-point Likert scale, “How important are each of the following uses of Blued to you, personally?” Response options ranged from 1 = not at all important to 7 = very important. There were a total of 31 statements representing gratifications derived from Blued use (see Appendix).

Findings Demographic Characteristics A total of 406 Blued users completed the online survey. The participants’ sociodemographic characteristics are shown in Table 12.1. The majority of the participants were between the ages of 18 and 25 (51.62%), and were college graduates (50.15%). 80% of the participations were out of the closet to at least some people.

Blued Use The majority of the participants had had a Blued account for at least 3 years (see Table 12.2). 18.29% of the respondents reported checking their Blued account 5 times a day or more; 26.84% reported rarely opening it. This suggests that most participants were familiar enough with the application to answer the questions (Fig. 12.1). The respondents also reported using accounts on LBRTD mobile apps other than Blued, with Aloha the most common (256), followed by Zank (52.5%), and Jack’d (45.7%), as shown in Fig. 12.2. Figure 12.3 indicates that most respondents had accounts with 1–4 LBRTD applications other than Blued. Some even used as many as 7 applications. Of apps not included in the options, Tantan was the most frequently reported.

12 What Are You Looking for? Understanding the Uses and Gratifications …

235

Table 12.1 Participants’ demographic characteristics Age 50

1 0.29

Occupation Directors (including those of government departments of any level, private enterprises, public institutions, party/government offices, or public organizations)

16 4.13

Professionals (teachers, doctors, engineers, writers, designers, etc.)

97 23.89

Administrative workers

83 20.35

Commercial personnel

19 4.72

Service staff in tertiary industries

16 4.13

Industrial workers

10 2.65

Students

123 30.38

Agricultural, forestry, animal husbandry, and fishery workers

0 0

Private entrepreneurs

5 1.47

Unemployed

19 2.36

Others

24 5.90

Education Middle school or below

19 2.36

Technical secondary school, technical school, or vocational high school

26 6.19

High school

20 5.01

Junior college Bachelor’s degree Master’s degree or above

59 14.45 204 50.15 88 21.83

Location First-tier city (Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, etc.)

254 62.54

Urban area

117 28.91

County town

30 7.37

Countryside

5 1.18

Sex role 1/top 0/bottom

65 15.93 117 28.91 (continued)

236

Y. Chen and R. Ding

Table 12.1 (continued) Age

N

0.5/versatile

157 38.64

(%)

Disagree with the traditional classification of the (homo)sexual role

57 14.16

Others

10 2.36

Do you hide your homosexual identity? Entirely (no one knows your sexual preference)

81 20.06

Separately (some know your sexual preference)

285 70.21

Never (everyone knows your sexual preference)

40 9.73

Table 12.2 Blued use summary

Years on blued 4 years

38.35

18.29%

once several days 26.84%

9.73%

once a day 2-3times a day

16.81% 28.31%

(%)

4-5times a day 6-7times a day

Fig. 12.1 Blued use frequency

Factors Influencing Use Gratifications Derived from Blued Responses were analyzed in order to identify response frequencies and underlying factor structure. The 31 items were subjected to an exploratory factor analysis with varimax rotation. Consistent with previous U&G studies (Joinson, 2008), criteria for retention included eigenvalues of 1.0 or greater, individual factor loadings of 0.5 or

12 What Are You Looking for? Understanding the Uses and Gratifications …

237

None Others (please state) Desmix Fanpaizi(翻牌子) Tinder Jack’d Grindr Zank Aloha 0

50

100

150

200

250

300

Fig. 12.2 Use of other LBRTD apps

Fig. 12.3 Number of LBRTD APPs used. The x-axis indicates the number of apps. The y-axis indicates how many participants gave this response

greater, no significant cross-loadings, and a simple interpretation with at least two items per factor. We also examined the data to ensure that all items contained sufficient variability. The application of these criteria resulted in the factors described in the tables below (see Table 12.3 for descriptive statistics). Factor loadings and scree plot examination revealed six factors that accounted for 68.52% of the variance. All factors were also analyzed for reliability, and alpha values ranged from 0.82 to 0.93. Two items (item 7 and item 28) were dropped from the factor structure due to low primary factor loadings. Six items loaded onto Factor 1 with statistical significance. This suggested the intended gratification of social network building and community engagement. The social focus of these items, such as “finding new friends,” reflected community

238

Y. Chen and R. Ding

Table 12.3 Factor loadings for Blued use gratifications Item Factor 1 Social networking/community engagement

Factor 2 Killing time

Factor 3 Searching for health information Factor 4 Social inclusion/approval

Factor 5 Sexual/romantic goals

Factor 6 Visual/interactive fantasies

1

2

9

0.71

10

0.70

11

0.65

12

0.66

13

0.58

14

0.67

3

18

0.60

19

0.67

20

0.55

21

0.53

23

0.71

27

0.69

29

0.83

30

0.82

31

0.75

4

5

1

0.69

2

0.76

3

0.56

4

0.67

5

0.72

6

0.82

8

0.68

15

0.77

16

0.58

17

0.57

22

0.58

6

24

0.81

25

0.74

26

0.81

% of variance

13.07

12.82

11.57

11.50

10.75

8.78

Cumulative % of variance

13.07

25.89

37.47

48.97

59.73

68.51

0.91

0.82

0.92

0.88

0.82

0.93

3.63

4.16

2.75

3.50

3.98

2.21

Cronbach α Mean KMO

0.91

12 What Are You Looking for? Understanding the Uses and Gratifications …

239

building and network visibility (α = 0.91). This factor explained 13.07% of the variance. Factor 2 explained 12.82% of the variance. It contained six items including browsing the application for fun, or when bored, or curious (α = 0.82). Items for this factor suggested a primary act of “people watching” or “browsing” through profiles, with no intention of initiating contact with other users. This suggested a “killing time” gratification, paralleling other U&G studies on media use. Factor 3, labelled “health information seeking,” explained 11.57% of the variance. This factor was indicated by motives such as looking for information about HIV/AIDS and getting tested. It consisted of three items (α = 0.92), which is consistent with Sun, Stowers, Miller, Bachmann, & Rhodes’s (2015) study. Items loading on Factor 4 suggested that Blued users seek attention from other users or strive to alleviate feelings of loneliness. Because each contained a statement regarding the user-generated gratification of inclusion or attention, this factor was labelled “social inclusion/approval” (α = 0.88). It accounted for 11.50% of the variance. Six items loaded on Factor 5 (α = 0.82), which focused on sexual gratifications such as finding new partners for casual/random sex. Surprisingly, items involving romantic gratification, such as building long-term relationships, loaded on this factor too. Therefore, we combined the sexual and romantic gratifications into one factor. This “sexual/romantic goals” factor is consistent with previous literature documenting gay men’s use of social technologies for sexual and relational gratification. The three items loading on Factor 6 were user-intended gratifications of the “visual/interactive fantasy” by “watching handsome men livestreaming,” “interacting with gay friends via livestreaming”, and “watching interesting gay friends’ livestreaming shows” (α = 0.93). This factor is unique to Blued, and represents a new form of gratification based on the availability of livestreaming on the application. Factors 3 and 6 have low means; respectively, 2.75 and 2.21. This indicates that respondents may disagree that they derive such gratifications from Blued. The explanations and indications of these findings are discussed in Study 2. Moreover, the factor “location-based searching,” which came from the pilot study, disappeared in the online survey. The 3 related items were loaded in Factors 2 and 5, rather than forming a new “location-based searching” factor. This may have been due to ambiguity in the wording of the questionnaire.

Study 2 Study 2 is ethnographic. We created participant observer accounts on Blued to explore the everyday use of this gay-dating/hook-up platform, and to identify potential participants. In these academic accounts, we described ourselves as researchers and provided information on the project. Although we know this one-on-one approach was not the most random way of recruiting participants, it did provide an opportunity

240

Y. Chen and R. Ding

for insight via participant observation within the platform. We also participated in local gay social events and activities. In this way, we were immersed in the local gay community, providing us with a broader context of how and why people use Blued. It was also a valuable means to recruit participants. Individual in-depth semi-structured interviews were conducted with 15 participants with diverse backgrounds, who were recruited via a variety of methods. The participants’ experiences using Blued were reviewed in the interview, with emphasis on their feelings and thoughts about their experiences. We also encouraged participants to compare their experiences using Blued with other LBRTD gay platforms, and to identify why they preferred to use Blued, or other apps. All interviews were recorded, with participants’ verbal consent and a detailed explanation of participants’ rights and interview procedures. Interviews were conducted in public spaces such as the office of the local gay organization or in cafés, and each interview lasted approximately one hour. Recordings were transcribed verbally and analyzed thematically along with our fieldnotes. All identifiable information was erased to maintain anonymity. Open and axial coding (Strauss & Corbin, 1990) were adopted to identify emerging themes, and to organize the themes under broader categories.

Findings Ambivalence Over Finding Love on Blued According to the ethnographic portion of this study, the user gratification factors obtained are associated with relevant social, cultural, political, and economic backgrounds. Although many existing studies have suggested that gay men tend to use LBRTD platforms for a variety of relational development reasons (Chan, 2017; Miller, 2015; Van De Wiele & Tong, 2014), the findings of Study 1 corroborate the results of Rice et al. (2012), with “killing time” ranking as the first motivation (mean = 4.25) for using Blued. Most participants held the same ambivalent view about finding a boyfriend on Blued. The qualitative data suggest that this affects their motivations for using the application. Negative views on casual sex-seeking and hook-up practices have been reported on Blued. Blued users are regarded by many participants as lower quality (suzhi), due to their perceived promiscuity. Some of the participants even jokingly called Blued “AIDS Blue” (aizi lan [艾滋蓝]) as a reference to the platform’s reputation for facilitating unprotected casual sex. This is ironic, considering the company’s role in HIV prevention, as Ah Zhe (26) explained: You know when you get on Blued, you always receive hook-up messages. Many just simply text “yue? [wanna (shag)?].” Even if you put something like you are not looking for quick sex in your profile, people still ignore (it). And sometimes you will also receive texts like “hai ma? [wanna get high?].” I did not understand what they meant at first. I thought they

12 What Are You Looking for? Understanding the Uses and Gratifications …

241

were just greeting. But then I found out that they wanted to have sex on drugs. In these occasions, you just have to admit that there is a reason why people call Blued “AIDS Blue.”

Although some participants were annoyed with the endless direct casual sex invitations they received on Blued, they did not necessarily abandon the idea of finding a boyfriend on the app. Xiao He (26) said that he had deleted Blued several times, but could not help re-installing it when he was lonely and felt the need for a boyfriend. Moreover, the sexual nature of Blued also changed some participants’ views on hookups. When Ah Nan (23) started using Blued three years prior to the interview, his motivation had been to find a romantic relationship and he had rejected casual sex invitations. However, his Blued use was now primarily for sexual purposes: RD:

Could you explain why your main purpose of using Blued has changed in recent years?

Ah Nan: Well, I was too young and too naïve. After you have met a number of people [on Blued] you will know that people just want to play. Then, slowly, I also became numb. RD:

Do you still hope you can find a boyfriend on Blued?

Ah Nan: Yes. RD:

Do you think Blued can help you achieve this?

Ah Nan: 98% no. RD:

Why not?

Ah Nan: Don’t know. Maybe because I have not met the right one. I rarely meet anyone with a sincere attitude [on this matter], and no one has walked into my heart. The conversations and interactions happened on mobile phones, not in real life.

Ah Nan was holding out the slim hope of finding love on Blued. Like Ah Nan, some participants accept casual sex with individuals they have met on Blued. For instance, Ah Hua (29) believed that “a casual sexual encounter can also lead to a serious relationship.” This may have been why, in Study 1, sex goals and relational/romantic goals could not be differentiated as motivation for using Blued. This point echoes Chan’s (2017) examination of American gay men’s use of mobile dating apps. He suggests that although certain gay dating apps have been seen as having certain uses, there is always ambiguity in relational goals. This can be “interpreted as a tactic to maximize the potentiality of the relationships achievable on these apps” (p. 8). Participants reported low trust in Blued users, as they were more likely to use fake profile pictures. They also recounted reading negative news about Blued, such as stories of fraud and intentional HIV transmission. Some described Blued users as “low in quality” [zhiliang cha/suzhi di]. Bao (2011) has claimed that “the rhetoric of suzhi (quality) seems to dominate in the construction of tongzhi identity: tongzhi are characterized by gao suzhi (‘high quality’),” a perception that is, essentially, emphasizing good citizenry (p. 234). Ho (2009) pointed out that “money boys (rent boys), cross-dressing performers or migrant workers who usually come from an underprivileged village background” and those men who are “impoverished, uneducated or unemployed” are regarded by Beijing’s same-sex community as low suzhi (quality). Many participants also applied this classification to judge Blued users.

242

Y. Chen and R. Ding

Some added other low-quality factors which were in line with Ho’s (2009) classification, such as dishonesty and being “deeply closeted” [shengui (深柜)]. Moreover, many participants evaluated other Blued users according to their yanzhi (the value of a person’s appearance). Thus, they consider those with low yanzhi as low quality. On this matter, some participants prefer Aloha, another popular Chinese gay dating application, over Blued, as they feel Aloha users are more likely to be good-looking and thus perceived as high yanzhi (for a more detailed discussion on how yanzhi works on Blued, see Wang, 2020). It is understandable that people would naturally want to pursue a boyfriend with high quality. Therefore, for those who see Blued users as low quality, they would naturally return low gratifications from its relational purpose. Finally, many participants dislike the quantified market-like nature of Blued, and find it time-consuming to develop a relationship on the platform. Ah Hua (29) offered a typical view on this matter: “Finding [a] boyfriend on Blued is like you are the goods in a market waiting to be selected, and vice versa. People are too realistic and too materialistic.” Many participants felt that the dating/hooking-up practices on Blued were meant entirely for exchanging or evaluating each other’s social capital. Indeed, as Wang (2020) has observed about Blued browsing, “gay men are datafied with numbers and tags for users to sort and filter.” This does help Chinese gay men find boyfriends; however, some of the participants in this study were unable to take advantage of the opportunity because they had not been privileged with high yanzhi and other forms of social capital. Contrary to the celebration of technological efficiency in previous studies of LBRTD gay platform use (e.g., Batiste, 2013), many of the participants in this project were unsatisfied with Blued as a dating/hooking-up platform. This is also reflected in the results of Study 1; for example, Kent (20) did not believe that Blued is the best platform for finding a boyfriend. Apart from the reasons discussed in other participants’ stories, he also found the dating process on Blued time-consuming: If you know a person offline, for example if he is a friend’s friend, you already have some idea about that person. But for those strangers on Blued, after you greet each other, there is often a long chat about common interests, or some basic information about that person. Once you feel this guy is trustworthy, you will add each other on WeChat, and have more chats, and even flirting conversations, which can continue for weeks. Then you decide to meet each other and have date. But…sadly, sometimes after a few dates you will find this guy is not really the right one for you, or decide he does not meet certain expectations. Then you have to start another search, which can also take you at least several weeks’ time.

Kent did not regard the dating journey on Blued as easy. Like Xiao He, he had also deleted Blued several times, only to reinstall it whenever he felt lonely and in need of romance. Thus, for him Blued became a dating pool, and not an efficient one; when he feels the need, he uses it. This instrumental view of Blued was common among the participants in this project. On the other hand, few participants found Blued an efficient tool for finding casual sexual encounters. Zhou Ge (31), a self-identified bisexual man, claimed that his main motivation for using Blued was quick sex. He found Blued helpful because he believed that the users were direct about sex, and he could identify individuals who

12 What Are You Looking for? Understanding the Uses and Gratifications …

243

could fulfill his sexual needs: “I think perhaps gay guys are more direct, they know what they want. And most of the time when I am horny, I can easily find someone on Blued to have something.” Zhou Ge’s case can be interpreted as a positive example of technological efficiency. However, his privileged power position in the “meat market” also needs to be considered. As a bisexual man who claims to “act straight,” he performs the image of heterosexual masculinity that many gay men prefer. In the cases above, the boundaries between sexual and relational motivations are blurred. Such observations also suggest that an individual with relational/romantic reasons for using Blued is more likely to report ambivalence towards it. This may explain why many of the gay men surveyed in Study 1 chose “killing time” as their primary motivation for using the platform. This view was summarized by Xiao He (26): “I don’t think I will find a boyfriend on Blued, but I cannot help using it. I think it is just a way to kill time. At least, it is the most convenient way to identify other gay guys around me.” Although physical locations such as community centres or gay bars/clubs are available for urban gay men, most of the participants reported that they rarely go to these spaces. LBRTD gay platforms are still the most convenient and affordable way for them to connect to other gay males and the “imagined community.” Given that Blued has the largest gay user base in China, some participants believed that it may present the most possibilities, either sexual or relational.

The Imaginary Power of Community The point above explains why “networking/community” (mean = 3.63) was the third major gratification users received from Blued. Although some participants reported weak senses of community in relation to using Blued, this does not mean they do not care about other gay males’ lives. In other words, many participants want to make sense collectively of gay life. For example, Xiao Lou (24) expressed ambivalence about his “membership in the gay community”: Er…Yes, naturally, I am gay…but I won’t show it deliberately, that is to say… like my other identities…I don’t really care [to be out in public]. I know I am a tongzhi, but this identity is not something on the table, unlike other identities, you can say it loudly. I also don’t feel there is a so-called gay community, yes I occasionally hang out with a few gay buddies. I got to know some of them through Blued. But I still feel we are not that close, say, I wouldn’t ask them to lend me money if was in trouble […] I don’t check the feeds on Blued on purpose now, but for example when I am in the bathroom I will have a look at other people’s timelines. I just want to see what kind of lives they are living, and you know, people often show off the positive sides on social media.

Xiao Lou’s comment makes several significant points. First, gay identity is latent; in his account, it is a private issue. Second, for him, Blued has proven beneficial to growing his social network. He later revealed that some of the gay friends he had gotten to know through Blued had initially been those with whom he had been interested in developing a relationship, or vice versa; yet, the romance had never materialized. This observation also demonstrates the blurred boundaries and the flow between different motivation/gratification factors.

244

Y. Chen and R. Ding

The important point to elaborate on in Xiao Lou’s (24) case is this imaginary power of community that Blued helps to form. Weeks (2000) has argued that the notion of sexual community is always a fiction, but that it is a necessary fiction which “enables and empowers” (p. 192). He suggested that this “imagined community” “provides the context for the articulation of identity, the vocabulary of values through which ways of life can be developed, the accumulated skills by which new possibilities can be explored and hazards negotiated, and the context for the emergence of social movements and political campaigns which seek to challenge the existing order” (p. 192). We remain unsure, however, whether the participants’ use of Blued corroborates Weeks’ (2000) point that the imagined community provides the context for “the emergence of social movements and political campaigns” in China, as the Chinese gay movement has followed a strategy different from that of the West (Chou, 2000). Even so, both studies reveal empowerment in relation to the other aspects of Weeks’s (2000) concept of the “imagined community.” In Study 1, the item “to reduce loneliness” received an average score of 4.18, ranking 7th among the 31 statements. The ethnography showed that although many participants were not involved in the physical community spaces, they all felt included socially when using LBRTD gay platforms. For most of the participants, sharing other gay men’s lives on Blued was the most common and convenient way to articulate their gay identity. Thus, new gay life possibilities can be both imagined and practiced.

The Complexities of Other Gratification Factors One form of user gratification, visual/interactive fantasy, is provided by a unique function of Blued called “livestream,” which is one of the application’s primary income streams. According to the results of Study 1, this feature provided the least satisfaction to the survey participants. Although on the surface this is surprising, ethnographic data provide an explanation. As noted in the introduction to this chapter, China implemented the General Rules of Examination and Approval of Online Video Content in 2017, which has shaped Blued’s censorship policy. In addition to banning content pertaining to pornography, gambling and drugs, Blued also does not allow its streamers to show white socks, appear topless, or stream in bed or on the toilet (Li, 2018), suggesting that Blued has tried to minimize the sexual elements of its live streaming service. Many participants could identify changes in the content of Blued live shows. They used to be able to find male streamers showing off their toned bodies, but now, “low quality” entertainment shows, such as drag performances, dominate the platform. Such changes have been reflected in gay individuals’ uses of and gratifications from Blued. Moreover, many participants have reported negative opinions on the market-driven approach of Blued live shows, believing that the livestreamers are more interested in making money than in making friends. Blued’s integrated approach to HIV prevention provides an example of another gratification, “health information search,” which received a low average score (mean = 2.21) in Study 1. The point here is not to devalue Blued’s efforts at HIV community

12 What Are You Looking for? Understanding the Uses and Gratifications …

245

work; rather, the ethnographic data reveal that Blued is not a common source to which participants turn when seeking relevant information. In fact, Blued’s ironic nickname “AIDS Blue” also indicates that participants still view it as a hook-up platform that facilitates risky sexual activity. Moreover, Blued provides free HIV testing, primarily in Beijing and perhaps other top tier cities; presumably, gay men from less developed cities were not benefiting from this. However, we still believe that Blued could play an important role in HIV/AIDS prevention and control, as it has already obtained the recognition of government authorities through such work. Moreover, as Blued has the largest population of Chinese SMM users, many of whom live in less developed areas, it should be easier for Blued than for other LBRTD gay platforms, to make a difference in terms of social responsibility.

Discussion Over the past decade, gay and bisexual men have rapidly adopted LBRTD apps for multiple purposes, increasing their social networking and partner-seeking opportunities as they are able to find nearby partners in real time. Data on gay app use among MSM are limited, and most have been collected from small MSM samples in highincome settings. This chapter describes the use of LBRTD apps among a sample of MSM in China. It adds to the existing literature by including a sample from a lowand middle-income country (LMIC) setting in which most MSM do not disclose their sexual orientation. At the time of the study, most participants had accounts or profiles on at least one app other than Blued, with the most common being on Aloha, Zank, Jack’d, and Grindr. This study’s results suggest that Blued users are motivated by multiple need-based gratifications. The U&G approach identified six motives for Blued use: networking/community, killing time, searching for health information, social inclusion/approval, sex/romance, and visual/interactive fantasies. Unlike representations in the popular press, the findings of this project show that gay men use ubiquitous technology to fulfill needs beyond casual sex. Although sex is a motivation for use, it is not the only motivation. The six uses and gratifications identified in this study echo the findings of other U&G studies conducted around the world. However, the social, cultural, and political contexts of China influence how and why the participants are using Blued. The ethnographical lens employed in this research provides a nuanced understanding of users’ gratifications, and adds texture to the quantitative results. A “culture of participatory reluctance” is also visible in Chinese gay communities (Cassidy, 2018).

246

Y. Chen and R. Ding

Limitations This is one of the first projects to investigate the U&G of Blued use in China, and the results of the study are therefore limited. First, we recruited an online sample of MSM that may have varied from the general MSM population. Snowball sampling design does not constitute a random sample, leaving the potential for sample bias in our results. For this reason, and given the small sample, these findings may not be representative of the larger Blued user base, or SMM individuals more broadly. Thus, these results should not be generalized to the entire SMM population in China. Second, the self-reporting nature of the survey responses may have exacerbated social desirability bias. For example, participants may have been reluctant to indicate whether they had sexual goals for using Blued. Third, our data is cross-sectional; the use patterns are not necessarily “one-shot” behaviours. For example, gratifications of use are not static and may be reprioritized or redefined by users over time (Dillard, 1997) as their personal preferences and their social and psychological needs change.

Future Research This chapter focused on the technological uses and gratifications of Blued, but future research should also examine factors such as how individuals’ experiences within physical locations such as community centres or gay bars/clubs influence the frequency and nature of Blued use. In addition, longitudinal research could be conducted to examine app use patterns over time, and to explore the associations between connecting with potential partners via apps and sexual risk behaviours, with a focus on the effect of varying durations and frequencies of use with age.

Appendix: Measures of Blued Use Gratifications How important are each of the following uses of Blued to you, personally? 1

Receive validation from others

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

2

Get an “ego-boost” 0.925

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

3

Feel less lonely 0.600

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

4

Get attention from other gay men 0.855

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

5

Get compliments from other guys

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

6

Find a new sex partner

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

7

Satisfy my sexual curiosity

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

8

Random sexual behavior

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

9

Meet new friends

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 (continued)

12 What Are You Looking for? Understanding the Uses and Gratifications …

247

(continued) 10 Chat with friends

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

11 Build my social/friendship network 0.834

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

12 “Plug-in” to the existing gay network around me

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

13 See what’s happening in the gay community

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

14 Learn about other gay lifestyles

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

15 Find someone to date 0.906

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

16 Find a long-term relationship, partner, or boyfriend

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

17 Find a gay friend in an unfamiliar place

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

18 Satisfy my curiosity of making friends

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

19 Browse other gay friends’ head shots

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

20 Browse other gay friends’ sexy photos (sensual poses, nude shots, dick 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 pics) 21 Kill time

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

22 Meet with nearby gay friends

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

23 Check whether someone you know uses Blued

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

24 Watch handsome men livestream

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

25 Interact with gay friends in livestreams

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

26 Watch interesting gay friends’ livestreaming shows

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

27 Browse people who you do not know using devices located nearby

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

28 Chat with others in the gay community

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

29 Get information about HIV/AIDS

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

30 Get information about sexual health

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

31 Make an appointment for STD testing

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

1 Not important; 7 Extremely important

References Bao, H. (2011). Queer comrades’: Gay identity and politics in postsocialist China. Ph.D., University of Sydney. Bao, H. (2015). Digital video activism: Narrating history and memory in queer China, “Comrade” China. In E. L. Engebresten & W. F. Schroeder (Eds.), Queer/Tongzhi China: New perspectives on research, activism, and media cultures (pp. 35–56). Copenhagen, Denmark: Nordic Institute of Asian Studies. Batiste, D. P. (2013). ‘0 Feet away’: The queer cartography of French gay men’s geo-social media use. Anthropological Journal of European Cultures, 22(2), 111–132. Bien, C. H., Best, J. M., Muessig, K. E., Wei, C., Han, L., & Tucker, J. D. (2015). Gay apps for seeking sex partners in China: Implications for MSM sexual health. AIDS and Behavior, 19(6), 941–946. Birnholtz, J., Fitzpatrick, C., Handel, M. & Brubaker, J. R. (2014) September. Identity, identification and identifiability: The language of self-presentation on a location-based mobile dating app. In

248

Y. Chen and R. Ding

Proceedings of the 16th international conference on Human-computer interaction with mobile devices & services, pp. 3–12. Blackwell, C., Birnholtz, J., & Abbott, C. (2015). Seeing and being seen: Co-situation and impression formation using Grindr, a location-aware gay dating app. New Media & Society, 17(7), 1117–1136. Braun, V., & Clarke, V. (2006). Using thematic analysis in psychology. Qualitative Research in Psychology, 3(2), 77–101. Cassidy, E. (2018). Gay men, identity and social media: A culture of participatory reluctance. New York, London: Routledge. Cao, B., Liu, C., Stein, G., Tang, W., Best, J., Zhang, Y., & Tucker, J. D. (2017). Faster and riskier? Online context of sex seeking among men who have sex with men in China. Sexually Transmitted Diseases, 44(4), 239–244. Chan, L. S. (2017). Ambivalence in networked intimacy: Observations from gay men using mobile dating apps. Paper presented at the Annual Conference of the National Communication Association, Dallas, TX. Chou, W. S. (2000). Tongzhi: Politics of same-sex eroticism in Chinese societies. New York: The Haworth Press. Crooks, R. (2013). The rainbow flag and the green carnation: Grindr in the gay village. First Monday, 18(11). Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.5210/fm.v18i11.4958. Daneback, K., Ross, M. W., & Månsson, S. A. (2008). Bisexuality and sexually related activities on the Internet. Journal of Bisexuality, 8(1–2), 115–129. Dillard, J. P. (1997). Explicating the goal construct: Tools for the theorists. In J. O. Greene (Ed.), Message production: Advances in communication theory (pp. 47–69). Mahwah, New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc., Publishers. Ellis-Petersen, H. (2016). China bans depictions of gay people on television. The Guardian. Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2016/mar/04/china-bans-gay-peopletelevision-clampdown-xi-jinping-censorship. Engler, K., Frigault, L. R., Léobon, A., & Lévy, J. J. (2005). The sexual superhighway revisited: A qualitative analysis of gay men’s perceived repercussions of connecting in cyberspace. Journal of Gay and Lesbian Social Services, 18(2), 3–37. Gudelunas, D. (2012). There’s an app for that: The uses and gratifications of online social networks for gay men. Sexuality & Culture, 16(4), 347–365. Ho, L. W. W. (2009). Gay and lesbian subculture in urban China. London, New York: Routledge. Joinson, A. N. (2008, April). Looking at, looking up or keeping up with people?: Motives and use of Facebook. In Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, 1027–1036. Kapp, M. (2011). Grindr: Welcome to the world’s biggest, scariest gay bar. Vanity Fair, 27. Retrieved from https://www.vanityfair.com/culture/features/2011/05/grindr-201105. Katz, E., Gurevith, M., & Haas, H. (1973). On the use of the mass media for important things. American Sociological Review, 38, 164–181. Landovitz, R. J., Tseng, C. H., Weissman, M., Haymer, M., Mendenhall, B., Rogers, K., … Shoptaw, S. (2013). Epidemiology, sexual risk behavior, and HIV prevention practices of men who have sex with men using Grindr in Los Angeles, California. Journal of Urban Health, 90(4), 729–739. Leung, L., & Wei, R. (2000). More than just talk on the move: Uses and gratifications of the cellular phone. Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly, 77(2), 308–329. Liau, A., Millett, G., & Marks, G. (2006). Meta-analytic examination of online sex seeking and sexual risk behavior among men who have sex with men. Journal of Sexually Transmitted Diseases, 33(9), 576–584. Miller, B. (2015). They’re the modern-day gay bar: Exploring the uses and gratifications of social networks for men who have sex with men. Computers in Human Behavior, 51, 476–482. Raj, S. (2011). Grindring bodies: Racial and affective economics of online queer desire. Critical Race and Whiteness Studies, 7(2), 1–12.

12 What Are You Looking for? Understanding the Uses and Gratifications …

249

Rice, E., Holloway, I., Winetrobe, H., Rhoades, H., Barmanadhikari, A., Gibbs, J., et al. (2012). Sex risk among young men who have sex with men who use Grindr, a smartphone geosocial networking application. Journal of AIDS and Clinical Research, 3. Ross, M. W. (2005). Typing, doing, and being: Sexuality and the Internet. Journal of Sex Research, 42(4), 342–352. Roth, Y. (2014). Locating the “scruff guy”: Theorizing body and space in gay geosocial media. International Journal of Communication, 8, 2113–2133. Ruggiero, T. E. (2000). Uses and gratifications theory in the 21st century. Mass Communication and Society, 3(1), 3–37. Strauss, A., & Corbin, J. (1990). Basics of qualitative research: Grounded theory procedures and techniques (2nd ed.). Beverly Hills, CA: Sage Publications. Sun, C. J., Stowers, J., Miller, C., Bachmann, L. H., & Rhodes, S. D. (2015). Acceptability and feasibility of using established geosocial and sexual networking mobile applications to promote HIV and STD testing among men who have sex with men. AIDS and Behavior, 19(3), 543–552. Tang, W., Tang, S., Qin, Y., Zhang, Y., Zhang, W., Liu, C., … Huang, S. (2016). Will gay sex-seeking mobile phone applications facilitate group sex? A cross-sectional online survey among men who have sex with men in China. PLoS One, 11, e0167238. Van De Wiele, C., & Tong, S. T. (2014). Breaking boundaries: The uses & gratifications of Grindr. In Proceedings of the 2014 ACM International Joint Conference on Pervasive and Ubiquitous Computing (pp. 619–630). Wang, S. (2020). Calculating dating goals: Data gaming and algorithmic sociality on Blued, a Chinese gay dating app. Information, Communication and Society, 23(2), 181–197. Weeks, J. (2000). Making sexual history. Malden, MA: Polity Press. Woo, J. (2013). Meet Grindr: How one app changed the way we connect. Books.Google.com. Retrieved from https://doi.org/papers3://publication/uuid/AA18AEB6-0D4F-44AE-BDC4-0A7 B2C5F8C49. Wortham, J. (2013). How Grindr is changing the way we connect. New York Times. Retrieved from https://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/03/10/how-grindris-changing-the-way-weallconnect/?_php=true&_type=blogs&_r=0.

Dr. Yunbo Chen is an Associate Professor in the School of Journalism and Communication at Jinan University. She received her PhD in Communication in the School of Journalism and Communication at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. She has served as the Director of Teaching and Research Office of Advertising since 2013. Her research interests include information and communication technologies (ICTs), advertising and digital marketing communication, new media and empowerment, communication and development. She has published several books and her research publications have appeared in several book chapters and peer-reviewed journals. Dr. Runze Ding is a post-doctoral research fellow in the School of Media and Communication at Shenzhen University. His general research interest concerns the role of (digital) media in everyday life, with particular focus on the relationship between digital media and the construction/formation of a certain identity. He is seeking to identify any ways in which these factors may influence the experiences of sexual minorities. He is also interested in Chinese gay men’s sexual lives, in particular, gay porn culture. His recent research article can be found in Porn Studies.