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Special Issue: Sustainability, Resilience, and Global Communication
Guest Editor: Norbert Mundorf |
Preface: Global Sustainability, Health and Resilience
Author(s): Norbert Mundorf & James O. Prochaska
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[Norbert Mundorf & James O. Prochaska. Preface: Global Sustainability, Health and Resilience. China Media Research 2015; 11(4):1-5]. 1
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The Beijing Smog: Between Media Frames and Public Perceptions
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Beijing’s air pollution has become an increasingly urgent issue on both the media’s and the public’s agenda in China. To find out how the media construct the air pollution message and how the public perceives it, this study seeks to examine the two interconnected aspects of environmental communication in the case of Beijing’s air pollution. Using qualitative frame analysis and a semi-structured focus group interview, this study compares how major newspapers in Beijing covered the smog in early 2013 and how the public perceived the air pollution. The findings indicate that there is a gap between what the newspaper says and what the public perceives. The findings suggest that the public actively engage with the air pollution issue by questioning the economic development model; however, the public is not empowered to act and contribute to the effort of improving air quality.
[Lian Ma. The Beijing Smog: Between Media Frames and Public Perceptions. China Media Research 2015; 11(4): 6-15]. 2
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Tool of Emancipation or Domination? Debating the Contentious Nature of China’s Online Environmental Activism
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Is the proliferation of information and communication technologies (ICTs) – especially various social media platforms (e.g. Weibo by SINA and WeChat by Tencent) – causing power shifts within environmental politics in China? This article addresses this question by examining recent theoretical debates on the Internet’s democratic potential and situating these arguments in the context of China’s online environmental activism. Instead of focusing on the often de-contextualized dichotomy of “control versus resistance,” the primary concern of this article is the broader technical and social possesses underpinning China’s leapfrog into the digital era. Drawing upon the theories of “technical code” and “infrapolitics,” the article argues that the Internet, as a relatively new technology, has not been technically and socially stabilized and thus the future of China’s online environmental activism hinges upon the complex interactions among three interconnected factors within the cyberspace: the Chinese society’s political economy context, the Internet’s evolving technological configurations, and the political and cultural struggles of various social actors.
[Sibo Chen. Tool of Emancipation or Domination? Debating the Contentious Nature of China’s Online Environmental Activism. China Media Research 2015; 11(4): 16-27]. 3
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Cultural Factors Influencing Domestic Adoption of Solar Photovoltaic Technology: Perspectives from China
Author(s): Xiangrong Liu, Yaqin Sun, Talar S. Kaloustian
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The adoption of a solar photovoltaic (PV) distributed system is not only a technological advancement and economic trend, but also a cultural phenomenon. In addressing the following four perspectives: 1) the spread of sustainability concepts; 2) current Chinese architectural practices; 3) centralized vs. distributed energy structure; and, 4) the trade wars among several Western countries and China, this research bridges the gap between cultural discussions and technology adoption, especially in the solar PV field. Specifically, this paper demonstrates culturally driven practices in China and their implications for a solar PV distributed system adoption. This paper then applies Hofstede’s six dimensions of national culture to further demonstrate the opportunities and challenges associated with the adoption of a solar PV rooftop system. Implications suggest that cultural factors are the enablers and disablers for PV adoption, an observation that policy makers should consider in order to develop better strategies when engaging in cross-cultural discourse.
[Xiangrong Liu, Yaqin Sun, Talar S. Kaloustian. Cultural Factors Influencing Domestic Adoption of Solar Photovoltaic Technology: Perspectives from China. China Media Research 2015; 11(4): 28-41]. 4
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Translating Corporate Sustainability: The Case of BASF in China
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In the context of global endeavor for sustainability big international corporates often play an ambiguous role in regard to the local environment they transpose to. This paper will take BASF as a specific case study and look into the process as to how the foreign sign gets translated into the Chinese semiotic system, and how such media translation affects the way people perceive, receive, and react to the real or imaginary environmental concerns. In addition, with semiotic phenomenology as its research methodology, the paper examines the need for translation from the perspective of the addresses to infer to the creative nature of such translation.
[Hong Wang, Shippensburg University of Pennsylvania, USA. Translating Corporate Sustainability: The Case of BASF in China. China Media Research 2015; 11(4): 42-52]. 5
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Towards Sustainable Mobility – Digital Eco-Systems as Drivers of Disruptive Change
Author(s): Andre Hanelt, Björn Hildebrandt, Benjamin Brauer, & Lutz M. Kolbe
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The quest for sustainability is one of the most demanding challenges societies face today. As the mobility sector is among the main contributors to environmental degradation, regulative institutions promote sustainable technologies and modes of transportation, though they often ignore socio-technical circumstances. In this conceptual paper, we draw on the established socio-technical transitions theory to develop a multi-level framework explaining the role of emerging digital eco-systems – comprising digital technologies, relevant actors, and the relationships between them – in the transition of mobility towards sustainability. Drawing on an analysis of mobile applications for sustainable mobility, we illustrate our theoretical propositions on how digital eco-systems transform and disrupt established patterns for the benefit of smart sustainable solutions. For instance, the ubiquity of broadband Internet in conjunction with the diffusion of mobile devices and social media enables communication among distant actors, thus reducing uncertainty and enhancing resilience of sustainable mobility alternatives, such as peer-to-peer carsharing.
[Andre Hanelt, Björn Hildebrandt, Benjamin Brauer, & Lutz M. Kolbe. Towards Sustainable Mobility – Digital Eco-Systems as Drivers of Disruptive Change. China Media Research 2015; 11(4): 53-66]. 6
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Global Communication for Organizing Sustainability and Resilience
Author(s): Ziyu Long, Patrice M. Buzzanell, Min Wu, Rahul Mitra, Kai Kuang, Huijun Suo
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This paper unpacks the communicative constitutions of resilience and sustainability in global communication through research exemplars that address grand challenges for engagement of new generational workforce, better inclusion of professional immigrants, sustainable organizational development and leadership, and infrastructure design for global water supply and safety. Specifically, we discuss how resilience emerges in communicative processes whereby (a) Chinese Post80s workers construct career discourse to contend with changing global and local career dynamics; (b) immigrant professionals in the United States negotiate identities and deal with tensions in everyday work interactions; (c) NGOs in China employ alternative logics to do the needed human service work and promote democratic practices; (d) Chinese Banks actively frame their leadership to contribute to productive action and national resilience; and (e) design team members in Ghana shift expertise and identifications in human-centered design for water safety. Guided by communicative theorizations of resilience (Buzzanell, 2010), this paper contributes to greater understanding and development of sustainability and resilience for self and others, now and in the future, and in local through global contexts.
[Ziyu Long, Patrice M. Buzzanell, Min Wu, Rahul Mitra, Kai Kuang, Huijun Suo. Global Communication for Organizing Sustainability and Resilience. China Media Research 2015; 11(4): 67-77]. 7
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Communication as a Tool for Empowerment: A Model for Resilience
Author(s): Ann Salzarulo & Norbert Mundorf, Jaya Sakar, Megumi Terui & Wen Lei
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In an era of increased interconnectedness yet rising inequity and vulnerability, communication technologies have become a tool to harness the power of social capital as a means of empowerment. Using communication technologies to generate increasingly horizontal networks, individuals become agents in a grid that, in turn, builds community, which extends influence on a national and even a global scale. Correspondingly, the diffusion of information from the household or individual level strengthens the position of these change agents, as an accelerated exchange of information provides them with access to resources otherwise inaccessible. This article will feature Resilience as a function of empowerment at various levels and within various social spheres, shed light on the role of Communication for Resilience, reveal interconnectedness, and highlight its centrality. It presents a model in which the use of communication as a tool for empowerment helps build resilience through political, social, human, physical, natural and financial resources. Facilitating both a trickle-up and a trickle-down exchange of information, communication strengthens networks that address the challenges posed by inequality, corruption and crisis. These networks can then emerge and become a permanent, more resilient fixture in the social mantle.
[Ann Salzarulo & Norbert Mundorf, Jaya Sakar, Megumi Terui & Wen Lei. Communication as a Tool for Empowerment: A Model for Resilience. China Media Research 2015; 11(4): 78-87]. 8
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Resilience and Sustainability in the Coverage of Political Crisis: The Case of the Arab Spring by the BBC, CNN and Aljazeera
Author(s): Henry Amo Mensah
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This paper examines the power of journalism as a possible instrument of peace - which is pivotal in achieving long-term resilience. It focuses on international news reporting during times of political crisis. The analysis explores the coverage by BBC, CNN and Aljazeera online of the final stages of the Arab Spring in Egypt and Libya in the context of the causes of the Arab Spring and the international news media’s role in conflict reporting and its resolution. The study is qualitative in that it seeks to provide in-depth analysis of six news stories from the three media outlets. It combines Fairclough’s Dialectical-Relational (D-R) and Wodak and Reisigl’s Discourse-Historical (D-H) approaches of Critical Discourse Analysis as a method and uses framing as the theoretical basis for the analysis of the selected news stories. The findings show that the reports are not aimed at uncovering the real causes of the Arab Spring neither do they seek to build resilience and peacefully resolve these conflicts (Galtung, 1997). Rather the news outlets report the news based on conventional news values that serve the institutional agendas of their organisations. The paper recommends that in reporting conflicts, the journalist must strive towards uncovering the real causes of conflicts, strike a healthy balance between reporting the truth and minimizing harm and also be mindful of the cultural values of cultures different from theirs. This can be achieved through ridding the stories of needless embellishments and giving a voice to the vanquished in the conflict.
[Henry Amo Mensah. Resilience and Sustainability in the Coverage of Political Crisis: The Case of the Arab Spring by the BBC, CNN and Aljazeera. China Media Research 2015; 11(4): 88-99]. 9
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Online Debates as a Tool to Promote Global Awareness of Culture and Sustainability in Business and Communication
Author(s): Irina Trushnikova, Wolfgang Fritz, Norbert Mundorf, Wang Lu
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One purpose of this paper is to present a concept of intercultural communication skills. It describes the international online debate as a method of long distance learning in marketing and management education, and as a way to promote the discourse about sustainability. While such online debates have been part of the curriculum at a few U.S. and German universities for some time, they were introduced in Russia and China only recently. Empirical findings indicate that these international online debates may be a factor in raising the intercultural awareness and sensitivity of their participants in the framework of sustainability topics. Thus, these debates may be regarded as an educational instrument that contributes to better communication conditions across countries and cultures, and could play a role in globalizing business curricula.
[Irina Trushnikova, Wolfgang Fritz, Norbert Mundorf, Wang Lu. Online Debates as a Tool to Promote Global Awareness of Culture and Sustainability in Business and Communication. China Media Research 2015; 11(4):100-109]. 10
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The Impact of Class Discussions on Attitudes of Chinese Students in the US towards Culture and Sustainability
Author(s): Wang Lu1 Norbert Mundorf, Yinjiao Ye, Wen Lei, & Kaylen Shimoda
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Researchers have found that in-class participation has become increasingly important for Millennial generation students who demand more interaction from their classroom experience (Allred & Swenson, 2006; Howe & Strauss, 2000). Students learn best when they are actively involved in collaborative groups, and they appear more satisfied with their classes (Beckman, 1990; Chickering & Gamson, 1991; Collier, 1980; Cooper et al., 1990). However, class discussion of Chinese students in U.S. higher education has been largely ignored. With the growing number of Chinese students coming to American universities and colleges, their participation and performance in group discussion as part of the American international, intercultural classroom is becoming a great concern. In addition, this participation also may imply exposure to new content and new ways of thinking about challenging topics—such as sustainability on and off campus. This paper aims to explore how Chinese students perform and interact with American peers in group discussions, and seeks to understand and analyze the factors affecting Chinese students’ performance based on Geert Hofstede’s five cultural dimensions (1980). A survey of 138 students from six U.S. universities as well as interviews with three selected faculty members and 18 students were conducted. Findings revealed that 1) 75% of the Chinese students had problems in class discussion mainly due to lack of familiarity with American discussion conventions; 2) Chinese Students’ adaptation period typically ranged from one to two semesters; and 3) the overall adjustment was positive with levels of individual attachment having a slight effect on their adjustment. It was also found that 58% of Chinese students agreed that lack of discussion skills in English and culture shock greatly affected their confidence and expression of ideas. Implications and future research are discussed. By and large, exposure to new societal concepts such as sustainability was limited. Mostly students were exposed to these through informal conversation in and outside of the classroom.
[Wang Lu, Norbert Mundorf, Yinjiao Ye, Wen Lei, & Kaylen Shimoda. The Impact of Class Discussions on Attitudes of Chinese Students in the US towards Culture and Sustainability. China Media Research 2015; 11(4): 110-118]. 11
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