Guided by Uses and Gratifications Theory, this study investigated the relationship between Chinese college students' use of social media and their social activism. Data collected from a goup-administered survey of 309 undergraduate students at a large university in eastern China was used to answer four research questions. The results indicated that Chinese college students who used social media for information seeking were likely to participate in individual social activism. Besides, students who used social media for self-status seeking and information seeking were likely to participate in collective social activism. No significant correlation between entertainment motivation and social activism were found. Neither can socializing motivation predict Chinese college students' social activism. In addition, gender had an impact on individual social activism and frequency of social media use could affect both individual and collective social activism.

Joyce Nip Yee-man. / "November 2001." / Thesis (Ph.D.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2001. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 135-163). / Electronic reproduction. Hong Kong : Chinese University of Hong Kong, [2012] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Electronic reproduction. Ann Arbor, MI : ProQuest Information and Learning Company, [200-] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Mode of access: World Wide Web. / Abstracts in English and Chinese.

Leung, Wan Chi. / Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2011. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 103-111). / Abstracts in English and Chinese ; appendix in Chinese. / abstract --- p.i / 內容摘要 --- p.iii / Table of Contents --- p.V / Chapter Chapter I: --- Introduction --- p.1 / Chapter 1.1 --- Anti-drug Campaign in Hong Kong --- p.2 / Chapter 1.2 --- Harmful Messages on the Internet --- p.5 / Chapter 1.3 --- Theoretical Significance of Study --- p.6 / Chapter 1.4 --- Social implications of this study --- p.8 / Chapter Chapter II: --- Literature Review and Theoretical Framework --- p.10 / Chapter 2.1 --- Third-person effect and perception --- p.10 / Chapter 2.2 --- TPE and Antisocial Messages on the Internet --- p.12 / Chapter 2.3 --- First-person effect and perception --- p.17 / Chapter 2.4 --- Behavioral component of TPE --- p.22 / Chapter 2.5 --- Behavioral component of FPE --- p.27 / Chapter 2.6 --- Perceived effect on self and on others and behavioral consequences --- p.28 / Chapter 2.7 --- Anti-drug Rectifying Behaviors --- p.31 / Chapter Chapter III: --- Methods --- p.37 / Chapter 3.1 --- Data Collection --- p.37 / Chapter 3.2 --- Measurements of Key Variables --- p.39 / Chapter 3.3 --- Measurements of Control Variables --- p.45 / Chapter 3.4 --- Design of Questionnaires --- p.50 / Chapter Chapter IV: --- Findings --- p.52 / Chapter 4.1 --- Descriptive Statistics --- p.52 / Chapter 4.2 --- Hypotheses Testing --- p.55 / Chapter 4.3 --- Answers to Research Questions --- p.57 / Charts and Tables --- p.68 / Chapter Chapter V: --- Discussions and Conclusions --- p.78 / Chapter 5.1 --- TPE of online messages: antisocial and prosocial --- p.78 / Chapter 5.2 --- Perceived effects and behavioral intentions --- p.79 / Chapter 5.3 --- Control Variables --- p.87 / Chapter 5.4 --- Overall Regression Analysis --- p.90 / Chapter 5.5 --- Theoretical Contributions of this study --- p.92 / Chapter 5.6 --- Suggestions for Future Anti-youth-drug-abuse Policies in Hong Kong --- p.93 / Chapter 5.7 --- Limitations and Further Research Directions --- p.102 / Bibliography --- p.103 / Chapter Appendix: --- Questionnaire --- p.112

Zhang Weiyu. / Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2003. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 170-177). / Abstracts in English and Chinese. / Introduction --- p.1 / Chapter I --- Subaltern Public Spheres on the Internet --- p.5 / Democracy and the Internet --- p.5 / Public sphere as a democratic ideal --- p.7 / Chapter ´Ø --- Habermasian public sphere --- p.8 / Chapter ´Ø --- Multiple public spheres --- p.11 / Chapter ´Ø --- Habermasian public sphere vs. multiple public spheres --- p.17 / Public sphere and the Internet --- p.21 / Chapter ´Ø --- Habermasian public sphere on the Internet --- p.23 / Chapter ´Ø --- Multiple public spheres on the Internet --- p.27 / Chapter II --- Subaltern Public Spheres in China --- p.30 / The history of Chinese civil society --- p.30 / Civil society in contemporary China --- p.32 / Chapter ´Ø --- Definitions of civil society --- p.32 / Chapter ´Ø --- Trade union and the caged social organizations --- p.34 / Chapter ´Ø --- Entrepreneurial class and the incorporated social organizations --- p.36 / Chapter ´Ø --- Discussions --- p.38 / Multiple public spheres in contemporary China --- p.39 / Chapter ´Ø --- Mass media and the dominant public sphere --- p.41 / Chapter ´Ø --- The premises of subaltern public sphere in China --- p.42 / Chapter ´Ø --- Subaltern public spheres in contemporary China --- p.44 / Chapter III --- Research Questions and Research Design --- p.48 / Research questions --- p.48 / Research site: an online discussion board of movies --- p.48 / Chapter ´Ø --- Why BBS? --- p.49 / Chapter ´Ø --- Why movies? --- p.51 / Research methods --- p.54 / Chapter IV --- Bulletin Boards as Subaltern Public Spheres --- p.57 / Introduction of Rear Window --- p.58 / Chapter ´Ø --- The development of Rear Window --- p.59 / Chapter ´Ø --- The contents on Rear Window --- p.61 / Chapter ´Ø --- The users of Rear Window --- p.63 / Accessibility of Rear Window --- p.65 / Chapter ´Ø --- Accessibility of the Internet in China --- p.65 / Chapter ´Ø --- Accessibility of xici.net --- p.66 / Chapter ´Ø --- Accessibility of Rear Window --- p.68 / Discourse on RearWindow --- p.73 / Chapter ´Ø --- "Introduction of the discussions about ""Movies are a kind of politics""" --- p.75 / Chapter ´Ø --- The goal of the discussion --- p.77 / Chapter ´Ø --- The equality of the discussion --- p.80 / Chapter ´Ø --- The rationality of the discussion --- p.85 / Chapter ´Ø --- The communicative rationality of the participants --- p.89 / Chapter ´Ø --- Other kinds of discourse --- p.93 / Discussions and conclusions --- p.95 / Chapter V --- Relationships among the Subaltern Public Sphere and the State --- p.98 / The autonomy from the state --- p.100 / Chapter ´Ø --- Control at the level of state --- p.102 / Chapter ´Ø --- Control at the level of websites --- p.107 / Chapter ´Ø --- Control at the level of boardmasters --- p.111 / Chapter ´Ø --- Control through self-censorship --- p.112 / The discursive resistance toward the state --- p.114 / Discussions and conclusions --- p.125 / Chapter VI --- Relationships between the Subaltern Public sphere and the Market Economy --- p.129 / The Internet economy in China and the subaltern public sphere --- p.132 / The pirate movie industry and the subaltern public sphere --- p.138 / Private movie watching and the market economy --- p.142 / Discussions and conclusions --- p.147 / Chapter VII --- Relationships between the Subaltern Public Sphere and the Mass Media --- p.149 / The competition between RearWindow and mass media --- p.151 / The collaboration between RearWindow and mass media --- p.154 / Discussions and conclusions --- p.159 / Discussions and Conclusions --- p.161 / Subaltern public spheres --- p.161 / Democratic potential of the Internet --- p.165 / Chinese civil society and Chinese public sphere --- p.166 / Limitations of the study --- p.168 / Bibliography --- p.170 / Appendix: Survey Questionnaire --- p.178

Tang, Li. / Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2007. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 130-137). / Abstracts in English and Chinese. / Chapter 1 --- Introduction --- p.1 / Chapter 2 --- Literature Review --- p.9 / Chapter 2.1 --- Subaltern Public Sphere --- p.9 / Chapter 2.1.1 --- Public Sphere: Liberal Model --- p.9 / Chapter 2.1.2 --- Criticism on Unitary Public Sphere --- p.11 / Chapter 2.1.3 --- Subaltern Public Sphere --- p.12 / Chapter 2.1.4 --- Criteria for Subaltern Public Sphere --- p.14 / Chapter 2.1.5 --- External Parties --- p.16 / Chapter 2.1.6 --- Public Sphere in the Cyberspace --- p.17 / Chapter 2.2 --- Public Sphere in Contemporary China --- p.19 / Chapter 2.2.1 --- Application of the Concept of Public Sphere in China --- p.19 / Chapter 2.2.2 --- Dominant Public Sphere in China --- p.21 / Chapter 2.2.3 --- Subaltern Groups in China --- p.23 / Chapter 2.2.4 --- Subaltern Public Spheres in Chinese Cyberspace --- p.25 / Chapter 2.2.5 --- HBV Carriers Group and the Forum --- p.28 / Chapter 3 --- Research Design --- p.32 / Chapter 3.1 --- Overall Conceptual Framework --- p.32 / Chapter 3.2 --- Research Questions --- p.33 / Chapter 3.3 --- Research Methods --- p.36 / Chapter 3.3.1 --- Textual Analysis --- p.36 / Chapter 3.3.2 --- Interviews --- p.39 / Chapter 4 --- Brief Overview of the Forum --- p.43 / Chapter 4.1 --- Overall Development --- p.43 / Chapter 4.2 --- Structure --- p.46 / Chapter 4.3 --- Users --- p.50 / Chapter 5 --- Empowerment on the Discursive Level --- p.53 / Chapter 5.1 --- Characteristics of the Forum --- p.53 / Chapter 5.1.1 --- Alternative Topic --- p.53 / Chapter 5.1.2 --- Alternative Information of HBV --- p.54 / Chapter 5.1.3 --- Discourse of Self-Narrative --- p.59 / Chapter 5.1.4 --- Forum Accessibility --- p.61 / Chapter 5.1.5 --- Relative Equality --- p.62 / Chapter 5.2 --- Rhetoric of Innocence --- p.64 / Chapter 5.2.1 --- Attribution of the Spread of HBV --- p.65 / Chapter 5.2.2 --- Attribution of Discrimination --- p.68 / Chapter 5.3 --- Summary --- p.70 / Chapter 6 --- Empowerment and Collective Action --- p.73 / Chapter 6.1 --- The State --- p.73 / Chapter 6.1.1 --- State's Impact on HBV Carriers --- p.75 / Chapter 6.1.2 --- Resistance Enabled by the Internet --- p.76 / Chapter 6.1.3 --- Challenges from the State --- p.84 / Chapter 6.1.4 --- Compromise with the State --- p.86 / Chapter 6.2 --- The Market --- p.88 / Chapter 6.2.1 --- Market Domination --- p.89 / Chapter 6.2.2 --- Resistance against the Market --- p.91 / Chapter 6.2.3 --- Challenges from the market --- p.99 / Chapter 6.3 --- The Mass Media --- p.101 / Chapter 6.3.1 --- Mass Media's Domination --- p.102 / Chapter 6.3.2 --- Forum's Efforts to Get Favourably Represented --- p.106 / Chapter 6.3.3 --- Mass Media's Influence over the Forum --- p.111 / Chapter 6.4 --- Summary --- p.113 / Chapter 7 --- Conclusion and Discussion --- p.116 / Chapter 7.1 --- Assessing Empowerment Capacity --- p.116 / Chapter 7.1.1 --- Formation of a Subaltern Public Sphere --- p.116 / Chapter 7.1.2 --- Discursive Empowerment --- p.117 / Chapter 7.1.3 --- Transformed Relationships with External Parties --- p.118 / Chapter 7.2 --- Internet and Empowerment --- p.123 / Chapter 7.3 --- Limitations of the study --- p.127 / Bibliography --- p.130

Wong Nga Lai. / Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2002. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 96-104). / Abstracts in English and Chinese. / Chapter Chapter One --- An Introduction / Chapter 1.1 --- Foreword: Fermat's Last Theorem --- p.1 / Chapter 1.2 --- Introduction --- p.3 / Chapter Chapter Two --- Literature Review / Chapter 2.1 --- News Diffusion Theory --- p.7 / Chapter - --- Personal Importance / Chapter - --- Emotional Response and Parasocial Interaction / Chapter 2.2 --- Comparing The First Sources of News Diffusion --- p.14 / Chapter - --- Perceived Salience / Chapter - --- Credibility / Chapter - --- Other Perception Differences / Chapter - --- News Diffusion and the Use of the Internet / Chapter 2.3 --- Possible Internet Uses in News Diffusion --- p.21 / Chapter - --- The Internet As a Personal Medium / Chapter - --- The Internet As an Information Source / Chapter - --- Summary / Chapter Chapter Three --- Methodology / Chapter 3.1 --- Pre-survey Preparations --- p.33 / Chapter 3.2 --- Operationalization and Measurement of Variables --- p.36 / Chapter Chapter Four --- Results and Discussion / Chapter 4.1 --- Rate of Diffusion --- p.42 / Chapter - --- September 11: A stunning high diffusion rate / Chapter - --- Leung-Fu Engagement: A romance known to 90% of a population / Chapter 4.2 --- Results and Discussion --- p.48 / Chapter H1:- --- September 11: Television was the predominated source / Chapter - --- Leung-Fu Engagement: Newspaper was the predominant source / Chapter H2:- --- September 11: High personal importance evoked interpersonal communication / Chapter - --- Leung-Fu Engagement: Personal importance determined extent of diffusion / Chapter - --- Active early knowers were key players in diffusion / Chapter H3a:- --- September 11: Upset people were more active in telling others / Chapter H3b:- --- Leung-Fu Engagement: No indication of para-social interaction / Chapter H4:- --- September 11: Initial sources differentin perceived credibility / Chapter - --- Leung-Fu Engagement: Different media different in perceived salience / Chapter H5& H6: --- The news diffusion function of the Internet / Chapter 4.3 --- Summary of Results --- p.75 / Chapter Chapter Five --- Conclusion / Chapter 5.1 --- Discussion of Findings --- p.80 / Chapter 5.2 --- Discussion of the Use of the Internet in News --- p.86 / Diffusion / Chapter - --- The Internet as an additional information source / Chapter - --- The Internet as a mediated personal channel / Chapter - --- The Internet as an initial source / Chapter - --- Enhancement of Internet Communication by 3G technologies / Chapter 5.3 --- Final Words --- p.92 / Reference --- p.96 / "Appendix 1 Questionnaire for ""September11""" / "Appendix 2 Questionnaire for ""Leung-Fu Engagement"""

Ma Lai Yee. / Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2005. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 105-109). / Abstracts in English and Chinese. / Acknowledgements --- p.i / Abstract (English version) --- p.ii / Abstract (Chinese version) --- p.iii / Chapter Chapter 1 --- Introduction / Political use of the Internet: Utopian or distopian? --- p.1 / Virtual communities and social movements --- p.4 / Chapter Chapter 2 --- Political and Technological Landscape in Hong Kong / Chapter I) --- Political Background / The Handover of Hong Kong to China in1997 --- p.7 / The Tradition of Pro-democracy movement in Hong Kong --- p.8 / The 1 July Rally in2003 --- p.9 / Chapter II) --- Technological Background / Internet Penetration in Hong Kong --- p.11 / Chapter Chapter 3 --- Review of Literature / Chapter I) --- "Internet, Uses and Gratifications and political effects" / The Uses and Gratifications Approach: Theoretical assumptions --- p.14 / Uses and Gratifications and the Internet --- p.15 / Gratifications and Political media use --- p.17 / "Internet usage, Gratifications and Political effects" --- p.19 / Chapter II) --- "Social movement, collective identity and the Internet" / Social Movements in contemporary social context --- p.23 / Collective Identity in Social Movements --- p.26 / Identity Formation in Computer-mediated Communication --- p.28 / The Internet as a Social Movement Medium --- p.30 / Chapter Chapter 4 --- Cyberactivism in Hong Kong / 1 July Protest and Cyber Activism in Hong Kong --- p.36 / The Case: Yumkung.com --- p.38 / Chapter Chapter 5 --- Methodology / Research Design and Sampling --- p.44 / Survey Sample Profile --- p.45 / Content Analysis --- p.46 / Textual Analysis --- p.47 / Measurements of variables --- p.48 / Analytical Procedures --- p.50 / Chapter Chapter 6 --- Results and Interpretations / Gratifications of Yumkung.com from Survey --- p.52 / Gratifications of Yumkung. com from Content Analysis --- p.54 / Collective Identity from textual Analysis --- p.60 / Correlational Analysis of Collective Identity --- p.71 / Predictors of Collective Identity --- p.74 / Correlational Analysis of past political participations --- p.77 / Predictors of past political participations --- p.80 / Correlational Analysis of intentions for future political participations --- p.82 / Predictors of intentions for political participations --- p.85 / Chapter Chapter 7 --- Discussions and Conclusions / Uses and Gratifications and its Theoretical Contribution --- p.88 / Collective Identity Formation in Yumkung.com --- p.92 / Political Participations among Participants in Yumkung.com --- p.94 / Theoretical and Practical Implications --- p.99 / Chapter Chapter 8 --- Limitations and Suggestions for Future Research --- p.102 / References --- p.105 / Appendix 1 Questionnaire --- p.110 / Appendix 2 Coding Guide of Content Analysis --- p.115 / "Appendix 3 Invitation letter to Mr. Paul Lin, Yumkung.com's Webmaster" --- p.117

University of Macau / Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities / Department of Government and Public Administration

本論文通過十二個月的田野研究，探討城市化進程中，鄉鎮、城鎮與城市等三個處於不同城市發展階段的地方，信息化進程中的性別政治有何異同。本研究的核心問題是：城鎮化與信息化的交互作用如何進行？在城鎮化與信息化同時推進的當下中國，個體，尤其是個體的性別化身體，如何與以電腦、互聯網爲代表的數字科技之間産生脫嵌與再嵌入的"雙向形塑關係？ / 本研究運用科技馴養、個體化和性別-科技共創理論，分析城鎮家庭中電腦和互聯網的社會化生活。本研究發現中國社會現代性建構中，城鎮用戶通過在家庭內部採用電腦和互聯網，逐步形成一種數字化家庭關係，其中互聯網本地化特徵明顯。此外，本研究還發現，性別化的網絡互連的個體化是當下中國社會中的城鎮化、信息化發展過程中的主要特徵。本研究採用綫上與綫下相結合的多點民族誌的混合方法，探討在中國城鎮化過程中研究性別與互聯網的共創關係。 / Based on ethnographic data collected in 12 months of field work, this thesis studies the gender politics in the process of digitization and urbanization by comparing the phenomenon in a village, a town, and a city. The three main research questions of this study are: How are the interactions between urbanization and digitalization? How do digitization and gender relations mutually construct each other in the process of urbanization? / Using theories of technology domestication, individualization theory and the mutual construction of gender and technology, I analyze the use of computers and internet in the social life of rural and town families. This research found out that in the process of modernization, as rural and town families adopted the use of computers and internet; they gradually transformed themselves into, digitalized families. Furthermore, the individualization of gendered networks stood out as the key characteristic of urbanization and digitalization of post socialist China. This research pioneered the combination of multi-sited ethnography and virtual ethnography in exploring the interplay between gender and the internet in Chinese urbanization. / Detailed summary in vernacular field only. / Detailed summary in vernacular field only. / 任珏. / Thesis (Ph.D.) Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2014. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 201-228). / Abstracts also in Chinese. / Ren Jue.