Unraveling China’s digital traces
Evaluating communication scholarship through a sociotechnical lens
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 21790264 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Kaiping Chen (0000-0002-5864-5333, University of Wisconsin–Madison), Yingdan Lu (0000-0002-9955-6070, Northwestern University, corresponding author), Yiming Wang (0000-0002-9114-1540, University of Wisconsin–Madison) |
| Year | 2024 |
| Volume | 17 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 127-150 |
| Publication date | 2024-04-02 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Chinese Journal of Communication (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1754-4769 • E-ISSN: 1754-4750 |
| Publisher | Informa UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/17544750.2023.2264406 |
| OpenAlex | W4387525079 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 3 |
| References cited | 57 |
In the growing trend of research using digital trace data to study human activities and opinions across different contexts, networked China has emerged as a prominent area of interest. However, research that critically examines the use, strengths, and weaknesses of existing digital trace methods, and the extent to which they can reveal the true landscape of digital China remains limited. To address these gaps, this study proposes a framework for examining and evaluating the knowledge production of digital trace research within a sociotechnical system comprising state actors, platform governance, digital civil society, and international forces. We then provide the first empirical examination of the knowledge claims and epistemic approaches used in digital trace communication scholarship that has studied China across different phases in the past 30 years. Grounded in the resulting empirical evidence, we discuss two common practices in existing digital trace research on China, how these approaches and perspectives could affect the validity and reliability of offering diverse viewpoints for studying and understanding digital China, and directions for improving these practices
Data science · Digital scholarship · Knowledge management · Library science · Political science · Public relations · Scholarly communication · Scholarship · Sociology · Sociotechnical system · Viewpoints · China's Socioeconomic Reforms and Governance · Computer Science · Hong Kong and Taiwan Politics · Law · Social Media and Politics
The Wuhan Lockdown
Contesting Cyberspace in China
The Multipurpose Application WeChat
The digital repression of social movements, protest, and activism
Qualitative research in health care
Evaluative Criteria for Qualitative Research in Health Care
Validity Issues in the Use of Social Network Analysis with Digital Trace Data
The Power of the Internet in China
The Science of Open (Communication) Science
China’s globalizing internet
A new approach to the geopolitics of Chinese internets
Regional variation in Chinese internet filtering
Restyling propaganda
The geopolitics of infrastructuralized platforms
‘China’ as a ‘Black Box?’ Rethinking methods through a sociotechnical perspective
Zoom in and zoom out the glocalized network
The challenge of the cloud
Don't Hate the Player, Hate the Game
Let Dr Ai’s story flee
How Information Flows from the World to China
Digital Trace Data Collection for Social Media Effects Research
MeToo as Connective Action
Virtual Collectivity through Second Screen
Playing platformized language games
Platform enclosure of human behavior and its measurement
Identity politics, resistance and new media technologies
Reflexivity, Relationism, & Research
When national identity meets conspiracies
Integrating Survey Data and Digital Trace Data
Does the Great Firewall Really Isolate the Chinese? Integrating Access Blockage With Cultural Factors to Explain Web User Behavior
Symbolic power and the internet
The ‘authoritarian determinism’ and reductionisms in China-focused political communication studies
The Internet and the Rise of a Transnational Chinese Cultural Sphere
Why Triangulate
When Digital Trace Data Meet Traditional Communication Theory
Idolizing the nation
Fighting Propaganda with Censorship
Capturing Clicks
China at the Tipping Point
An Invitation of Reflexive Sociology
How Censorship in China Allows Government Criticism but Silences Collective Expression
Concealing Corruption
The Scholastic Point of View
Qualitative Quality
| Unique citing works | 3 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 1,5 |
| Citation span | 2024 - 2026 (3) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 3 |