10th Chinese Internet Research Conference

Award-winning game developer Jenova Chen is the creator of the ground-breaking game Flow, one of the most downloaded games on the Sony Playstation Network. His latest title Journey has gained widespread acclaim, with a 92/100 rating on Metacritic. Shanghai-born Mr. Chen is a graduate of the USC School of Cinematic Arts, Interactive Media Program, and was named of the world's young top innovators by MIT Technology Review.

Lin Zhang, USC Annenberg Lin Zhang received her B.A. in English Literature from Beijing Foreign Studies University and her MA in Media, Culture and Communication at New York University. After graduation, she went to the Chinese University of Hong Kong where she was involved in a research project on Asian gaming industry, exploring gaming guild culture and consumer co-creative labor. Her research interest lies at the intersection of online cultural communities and the political economy of digital cultural industries.

Rongbin Han, University of California, Berkeley Rongbin Han is a Ph.D. candidate at Political Science Department at University of California, Berkeley. His primary interests are contentious politics, social movements and comparative democratization. His dissertation focuses on internet governance in China, particularly how state and non-state actors interact on online forums and bulletin board systems (BBSes), not only on censorship, but also on mass opinion engineering and discourse competition.

Jiachun Hong, Southern Illinois University of Carbondale Once an award-winning veteran documentary director at CCTV, Jiachun Hong is currently a PhD student in Mass Communication and Media Arts at Southern Illinois University, Carbondale. He holds a BA in International Studies from Peking University and a M.Phil in Communication from the Chinese University of Hong Kong. His research area includes social media, mobile media, and family communication.

Leizhen Zang, Peking University Leizhen Zang is currently studying for a Ph.D in Comparitive Politics at Peking University. His research interests focus on party state relations,public sector reform, civil society, and social innovation. He has participated in, and contributed to, several national research projects in the capacity of principal investigator or core group member. He has published many manuscripts in the peer review journals and presentations in the international conference, such as Journal of Public Management and Journal of Social Sciences.

Zhaowen Wu, Beijing Foreign Studies University Zhaowen Wu holds a B.A. in English from Sichuan University and received her M.A. in International Communication at Beijing Foreign Studies University in April, 2012. She is a part time researcher at The New York Times in Beijing. Prior to this, she interned at the China Press in New York, a cultural program at the International Channel of China Central Television (CCTV), and Medecins Sans Frontiers after the Sichuan earthquake. Her research interests include the role of transnational watchdog journalism in China and how ICTs strengthen an emerging civil society.

Qi Gu, Wake Forest University As a young communication scholar at the Wake Forest University, Qi Gu is particularly interested in the civic and economic implications of the Internet. She graduated with distinction from the University of Wisconsin-Madison double majoring in journalism and economics.

Elisa Oreglia, University of California, Berkeley Elisa Oreglia is a PhD candidate at the UC Berkeley School of Information. She researches the circulation, adoption, and use of mobile phones and computers among marginalized populations in northern China, with a focus on the countryside.

Huan Sun, Massachussetts Institute of Technology Huan Sun is a graduate student at Comparative Media Studies and research assistant at Center for Civic Media at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Her research interest lies in the rise of digital media and its socio-political implications on China. She also involves with the NGO2.0 Project which helps enhance the digital media literacy of grassroots NGOs in China.

Eric Harwit, University of Hawaii; Duncan Clark, BDA Communications Eric Harwit is a Professor of Asian Studies at the University of Hawaii. He has a B.A. from Cornell University and a Ph.D. in political science from the University of California at Berkeley. His most recent book is China's Telecommunications Revolution (Oxford University Press, 2008).

Shaojing Sun, Fudan University; Mihye Seo, University at Albany, State University of New York; Ying Wang, Youngstown State University Shaojing Sun, Ph.D., is an associate professor of Department of Communication at Fudan University. His research areas and interest cover new media, media effects and health communication in China. His research has been published in various international journals including communication research, journal of broadcasting & electronic media, journal of experimental education, communication methods & measures, among others.

Yawei Liu, Carter Center Yawei Liu is Director of The Carter Center's China Program. He has been a member of numerous Carter Center missions to monitor Chinese village, township and county people's congress deputy elections from 1997 to 2006. He has written extensively on China's political developments and grassroots democracy. Recently, Yawei is a cofounder and editor of The journal 21st Century International Review (2010), editor of the online Chinese newsletter "National Political Development Report" and executive editor of Sunshine, a biweekly current affairs magazine based in Hong Kong.

Cara Wallis, Texas A&M University Cara Wallis is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Communication at Texas A&M University in College Station, Texas. She studies new media technologies and issues of power, difference, subjectivity, and social change, particularly in China. Her forthcoming book, Technomobility in China: Young Migrant Women and Mobile Phones (NYU Press), is an ethnographic exploration of the use of mobile phones by young rural-to-urban migrant women working in the low-level service sector in Beijing.

Jonathan Hassid, University of Technology, Sydney, and Maria Repnikova, University of Oxford Jonathan Hassid is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the University of Technology, Sydney's China Research Centre. He received a Ph.D. in political science from the University of California, Berkeley and wrote his dissertation on journalists' political resistance to China's censorship apparatus. In addition to recent work in the China Quarterly and the Journal of Communication, and a forthcoming article in Comparative Political Studies, he has also published on the Chinese media in Asian Survey and elsewhere. Maria Repnikova is Research Officer for the ESRC Project "UK-China-Africa Media Research Network". Maria is currently a doctoral student (Rhodes scholar) at Oxford's Department of Politics and International Relations, focusing on the issues of the press in China and Russia. She has received her Masters in Comparative Government from Oxford and holds a Bachelor's degree in Foreign Service from Georgetown University. Her current research interests are: China-Russia comparative media politics; comparative media regulation and protections of the press; China's media assistance to Africa; theoretical research on non-democratic regimes.

Chen serves as chairman of the Board of Trustees for the non-profit organization that supports Wikipedia, the world's most popular online encyclopedia. He has been active in the English, German and Chinese Wikipedias since 2003. Born in Shanghai and raised in Harbin, Chen studied electrical engineering at the Technical University of Braunschweig and is now based in Mainz, Germany where he works for IBM.

Dean Ernest Wilson III of the USC Annenberg School of Communication & Journalism makes opening remarks at the 10th Annual Chinese Internet Research Conference. -- Ten years ago, when China's Internet population totaled 22.5 million and Facebook and Twitter had not even been conceived, a group of researchers came together to organize a conference to study the Internet in China. By all indications even then, it was clear that China would have a major impact on the global digital economy. Ten years on, that foresight has been vindicated. China today has the largest Internet population of any country and it has made its presence felt in the Internet space. In all aspects of the Internet -- online gaming, micro blogging, search engines, ecommerce, content regulation, Internet governance, international domain names -- China is both changing and being changed by the Internet. The annual Chinese Internet Research Conference (CIRC) investigates these phenomena, asking probing questions into what, how, to what extent, and why these changes are taking and have taken place. This interdisciplinary conference brings together scholars, analysts, industry leaders, journalists and legal practitioners from around the world to examine the impact of the Internet on Chinese societies, its social, cultural, political and economic aspects, as well as how China is changing the Internet. Hosted by the University of Southern California's Annenberg School for Communication & Journalism and the USC U.S.-China Institute, the 10th Annual Chinese Internet Research Conference -- CIRC10 -- will be held on May 21-22, 2012, in Los Angeles, the world's entertainment capital. CIRC10 will examine trends and themes as we explore the ways in which the Internet and other technologies interact with Chinese cultural and social life.

Wang is the founder of Silicon Valley-based startup SMULE,creator of iPhone/iPad virtual musical instrument applications such as Ocarina (one of Apple's All-Time Top 20 Apps) and Magic Fiddle. SMULE's products have been described as "cutting edge" by the New York Times and "pure, unadulterated musical awesome," bythe tech news site Mashable. He is also assistant professor at the Stanford University Center for Computer Research in Music and Acoustics.

Cedric Sam, YY Chan, D. Bandurski, Fu King Wa, University of Hong Kong King-wa Fu is Research Assistant Professor at the Journalism and Media Studies Centre (JMSC), The University of Hong Kong. His research focuses on political participation and media use, computational journalism, mental health/suicide and the media, health communication, young people's Internet use, and statistics for journalism.

Severine Arsene, Yahoo-Fellow-In-Residence, Georgetown University Prior to becoming the Yahoo Fellow in Residence at Georgetown, Severine Arsène was an Assistant lecturer at the Universityof Lille. Previously a researcher at Orange Labs (France Telecom R&D), SENSE laboratory in Paris and curator of the annual seminar of the social sciences department in Beijing, Dr. Arsène was active in organizing and promoting discussions on the social stakes of the Internet in China. With a focus on China, Dr. Arsène's current research explores how different notions of "modernity" across the globe are contextually based and shape the uses of technology, more specifically, as a tool for online protests.

Fei Jiang, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences; Kuo Huang, China International Publishing Group Fei Jiang is Professor of Communication in Institute of Journalism and Communication, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, Beijing, China. He serves as Director at Department of Communication and Director of Centre for Global Media Studies. His book Intercultural Communication Studies in the Post-colonial Context (2005, Beijing: Renmin University Press) was awarded National WU Yu-zhang Prize in 2007 and National HU Sheng Prize in 2009. Kuo Huang is Associate Professor of Communication in Centre for International Communication Studies, China International Publishing Group. She is the author of the book Multimedia Technology: How It Changes Classroom and Communication (2009). She was granted the Higher Degree Research Award for Contributions to Improving Faculty Research Climate by the Faculty of Arts, Macquarie University, Australia in 2009.

Benjamin Chiao, Henry Ling-Hu, Shanghai University of Finance & Economics Benjamin Chiao is Associate Professor of Economics at the Shanghai University of Finance and Economics. He obtained his PhD from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. Previously he was Assistant Professor at the Peking University Guanghua School of Management, and Research Scientist/Director of Operations at NYU. His general area is law and economics of information systems and policies. His specialties are Internet management in China, anti-spam economic mechanisms, grading mechanisms and open-content/source. Henry Hu is Assistant Professor of law in Shanghai University of Finance and Economics. He graduated from Peking University (LLB, LL.M) and University of Hong Kong (Ph.D). He focuses on cyberlaw and Internet governance. He is finishing a book on Internet governance in China.

Marcella Szablewicz, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Marcella Szablewicz is a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Communication & Media at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, and she holds an MA in East Asian Studies from Duke University. Marcella's research focuses on the politics of digital gaming in urban China. In July, she will join MIT's Department of Comparative Media Studies as a Mellon Postdoctoral Fellow.

Yu-Wen Chen, Academia Sinica, Taiwan Julie Yu-Wen Chen is an Assistant Professor at the Institute of Political Science at the Academia Sinica in Taiwan and honorary research fellow at the Institute for Human Security at La Trobe University in Australia.

Min Jiang, Kristen Okamoto, UNC Charlotte Min Jiang (Ph.D. Purdue University) is Assistant Professor of Communication at UNC Charlotte and an Affiliate Researcher at the Center for Global Communication Studies, University of Pennsylvania. Her research is located in the intersections of Chinese Internet politics, social activism, media policies, and international relations.

Yun Long, PhD, is professor and deputy director of the National Center for Radio & Television Studies at Communication University of China. Based on a long-term audience survey, Dr. Long focuses on the study of the effects of TV violence in Mainland China. Her current research also includes media ethics issues in transitional society.

Lei Zhang is an Associate Research Fellow at the National Center for Radio and Television Studies at Communication University of China. He had visiting experience in University of Pennsylvania, City University of Hong Kong and Goldsmiths College at University of London. His research interests include cultural studies and cultural consumption, political economy of communication in transitional China, and media anthropology.

Amanda Ting Zhou graduated with a Ph.D. degree from Journalism School of Fudan University in China, now she lives in Beijing and is working as an Associate Professor in National Center for Radio and Television Studies, Communication University of China. She gives lectures to both undergraduate and graduate students, on the history of mass communication and the research of media production.

Jidong Li, PhD, is associate professor of National Center for Radio and Television Studies at Communication University of China. His research Interests include communication policy and institution studies, media industry and public service studies, as well as new media studies.

Deqiang Ji, PhD, is an assistant research fellow of National Center for Radio and Television Studies at Communication University of China. His studies include the political economy of digitalization in China, media reform and social restructuring, and media literacy. He teaches graduate courses at CUC, such as the political economy of communication and communication theories.

Bingchun Meng, London School of Economics Bingchun Meng is a Lecturer at the London School of Economics. She has a BA in Chinese Language and Literature (1997) and an MA in Comparative Literature (2000) from Nanjing University, China. She obtained a PhD in Mass Communication (2006) from the Pennsylvania State University, USA. She researches communication governance and media production, both of which are examined in the context of globalization and technological shifts.

Bu Wei, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences Bu Wei is a professor at the Institute of Journalism and Communication (IJC), the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS) and director of the Research Center for Children and Media. She researches children 's use of media and their sub-culture, empowering marginal groups through communication, feminist media studies, media literacy education, and communication research methodology.

Jing Wang, Massachusetts Institute of Technology Jing Wang is Professor of Chinese Media and Cultural Studies at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She is also Director of the Institute of Civic Media and Communication at Sun Yat-sen University, China. Wang is also the founder and organizer of New Media Action Lab and Chair of the Advisory Board of Creative Commons China.

Yawei Liu, Sean Ding, Mei "Calanthia" Lan. Carter Center Yawei Liu is Director of The Carter Center's China Program. He has been a member of numerous Carter Center missions to monitor Chinese village, township and county people's congress deputy elections from 1997 to 2006. He has written extensively on China's political developments and grassroots democracy. Recently, Yawei is a cofounder and editor of The journal 21st Century International Review (2010), editor of the online Chinese newsletter "National Political Development Report" and executive editor of Sunshine, a biweekly current affairs magazine based in Hong Kong. Sean Ding is senior program associate at The Carter Center. He assists with programming decisions, fundraising, and project management. Mr. Ding holds dual bachelor's degrees in Arabic and Foreign Service from Beijing Foreign Studies University, a Master of Arts degree in political science from Georgia State University, and is currently an MBA candidate at Emory University's Goizueta Business School. Calanthia Mei Lan is China program intern at the Carter Center. She is also a special contributor and correspondent for Southern Weekly, one of China's most popular and liberal newspapers based in Guangzhou, and Nanfang Daily, the official newspaper of Guangdong Province. Ms. Mei is currently pursuing a degree in international politics at the School of Foreign Service, Georgetown University.