Doctoral student Marcella Szablewicz (Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute), with the guidance of Dr. Tamar Gordon, will investigate the societal dimensions of internet technology use in the context of government and mass media disapproval. The research will be carried out in urban China, where the researcher will examine the role of technology in changing conceptions of modern youth identity and community.
The researcher will employ a mixed-methods research strategy. She will do archival research to document how internet use has been portrayed over time and how the government has responded. She will interview patrons at "internet cafes" about their use of the new media and map the social relations they establish both on-line and in the physical spaces where they obtain access. She will interview programmers about the cultural as well as technical processes involved in game design, and game users about how they negotiate games in practice.
As in many developing countries where not all households can afford home computers, Chinese "internet cafés" initially became popular because of economic necessity. Over time, however, researchers have found that young Chinese have reappropriated these spaces for social purposes. Simultaneously, the government and media increasingly has depicted cafés as encouraging anti-social behavior such as addictive internet habits; careless attitudes toward school, work and family; and violence. But internet cafés persist as important social sites for increasing numbers of urban youth. This research project will investigate the sources and effects of these conflicting portrayals, and thereby contribute to better understanding of one of the most pervasive tehcnological developments in the contemporary world. Funding this research also supports the education of a social scientist.
