UC Berkeley Journalism - Program - Berkeley China Internet Project

Berkeley China Internet Project

Exploring the impact of the digital communications revolution on China's transition

Mission: To explore interactive digital media and communication technologies in order to advance the world's understanding of China, and to promote the knowledge, culture and social practices of those technologies which will facilitate China's democratic transition, sustainable development and peaceful emergence in the global community.

Overview of the Berkeley China Internet Project

China is in the nascent stages of a momentous transition that will shape the world of the 21st century and beyond. Over 94 million Chinese are now online, and 330 million cell phones are in use in the country. Participatory media technologies such as Weblogs, Wikis and RSS are transforming communication, publishing and social organizations in profound ways. This digital revolution has already altered the course of China's ongoing social and economic reforms while also creating unprecedented opportunities for journalists and researchers to cover this complex and rapidly changing country.

How can we apply the participatory media approach to enhance the world's knowledge of China? How can new communication technologies, culture and social practices be developed and applied to help grow civil society and create emerging democratic institutions? Which technologies, methods of implementation, and culture of social practices will encourage China's transition towards a more open, humane and democratic society? And finally, what are the ways to effectively promote new knowledge and cultures which will systematically facilitate massive adaptation of such technologies and practices?

Based at the Graduate School of Journalism, University of California, Berkeley, the Berkeley China Internet Project (BCIP) is established to address these questions. Focusing on this critical intersection of technology, media and China's social and political transition, the activities of BCIP are centered around the development of a participatory media website, China Digital Times, which explores cutting edge digital technologies and virtual collaboration mechanisms to cover China's social and political transition. Together with an interdisciplinary class and online knowledge base on participatory media and collective action, research projects, public meetings, and a "China Digital Fellows" program, BCIP aims to explore the emerging technology and practice of participatory media in order to advance the world's understanding of China, and to facilitate China's democratic transition, sustainable development and peaceful emergence into the global community.

The Berkeley China Internet Project has three interrelated components:

China Digital Times (CDT):

A participatory media portal which serves as a news aggregator, resource center, and a nexus of online networks devoted to the politics, society, culture, economy, environment and international relations of China. CDT will be a testing ground for cutting-edge digital technologies such as collective filtering, visual-representation and virtual collaboration mechanisms to gather, filter and organize information and knowledge about China, as well as to facilitate greater online information flow from Chinese to English. It will provide a wide spectrum of perspectives, opinions and analysis from those networks, and form a fully interactive China knowledge community. It will aggregate the collective intelligence of this community and bring in the expertise and voices of community members. It will also be a catalyst to timely and in-depth China reporting for other traditional forms of media, such as print and broadcasting.

China Digital Pulse (CDP):

Research, visiting fellow program and technology development. CDP researches and publishes on, among other subjects, the rise of participatory media in Chinese cyberspace and its interplay with China's media and politics. CDP will establish a "China Digital Fellows" program, which will engage in activities such as developing distributive blogging tools, promoting open culture and building an information network on the development of technology and society in China.

China Digital Future (CDF):

Classes, forecasting exercises and a virtual community focusing on the interplay of participatory media, collective action and China's democratic transition. CDF aims to facilitate and empower a community of students, journalists, technologists and academics who share a common interest in introducing the technology, culture and practice of participatory media into Chinese cyberspace. This network will also be developed around a set of virtual projects, including collectively building a Chinese language interactive knowledge base for social software, participatory media, networked activism and emerging democracy. Ultimately, it will create a self-sustaining virtual community which plays a key catalyst role in spreading new forms of technology and media practice and information-based organizing in China. CDF will also conduct public lectures, workshops and conferences to promote and extend the network and its influence.

The collective effect of the classes, online projects, forecasting exercises, and social network will provide both a new lens on the complex and rapidly changing society and a locus of influence on events: enhancements of the effectiveness and civic impact of participatory media could accelerate the growth of citizen-engaged civil society, a rich and informed public sphere, and political forms that balance democratic freedoms and effective governance of the 21st century's most influential nation. It will also help develop critical knowledge and insight into how the digital communication revolution is interacting with China's society, media and politics and transforming China's future.

The Berkeley China Internet Project is based in the University of California, Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism, while cooperating closely with U.C. Berkeley's School of Information Management and Systems, Institute of East Asian Studies, Boalt School of Law, and Center for Information Technology Research in the Interest of Society at the College of Engineering.