Archives of Peking University News - PKU English - 北京大学

北京大学英语新闻网/Peking University News
Beijing Forum 2007: Academic Briefing
of the third Panel Session on Cultural
Diversity, harmonious society and
alternative modernity: New media and
social development--New media and
international order of communication
By Chen Zhenxia
PKU NEWS 2007--11--05
http://ennews.pku.edu.cn/news.php?s=194237454
Peking University, Beijing, Nov. 4th, 2007: Following a short coffee break after the
previous session, the fourth Panel Session of ―Cultural Diversity, harmonious society
and alternative modernity: New media and social development‖, most concentrated
on ―New Media and international communication order‖, was held in the VIP Room,
Yingjie Exchange Center, Peking University from 10:50 to 12:30 am on November
3rd,2007.
Dr. Eddie Kuo, from Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information,
Nanyang Technological University, delivered his speech on the topic of ―New media
and globalization of the imagined community‖. The new media (the Internet, WWW,
and blogs) had impact on the large and growing number of overseas Chinese
communities in various parts of the world. They, such as Disney Cartoon Mulan, had
created an imagined community to retain the identity and memories of the homeland
for the diasporaic Chinese. Thus, the imagined community was indeed globalized,
beyond the territory, in the cyberspace.
What were the logics of new media and the Information society? Dr. Randolph
Kulver, from Institute for Pacific Asia/Department of Communication, Texas A&M
University, tried to find a theoretical base for understanding the impact of new media
on the harmonious society, which was defined by him as one in which there were
shared values and beliefs that minimize conflict, and international relations. As the
primarily technological logic of new media could not adequately explain the
deployment, refinement, and consequences in a social context by itself, he tried to
develop more adequately the cultural and social logics that provide the context for
the deployment of technology.
408