Distributed Epistemic Responsibility

Contemporary practices of knowing take place in increasingly complex, distributed and dynamic socio-technical environments. However, despite a recognition of the socialness of epistemic practices in social epistemology, and a recognition of the role of technology and instruments for knowledge creation in philosophy of science and technology, many epistemological concepts are still astonishingly individualistic. One concept we deem central to understand contemporary knowledge practices is epistemic responsibility. Understood individualistically, epistemic responsibility refers to the responsibilities of knowers in giving and accepting reasons, of assessing the credibility of information providers and sources (Origgi 2008), or of being a good informant (Craig 1990). Clearly, the ability to act responsible in knowing has changed profoundly due to various technologies of information, computation, communication we use in our daily quests for knowledge and we need a notion of distributed epistemic responsibility to account for these changes (Simon 2014). In particular, we argue that individualized accounts of epistemic responsibility not only fail to capture the nature of contemporary knowledge practices, but also that they are potentially harmful by ignoring issues of power and fairness within knowing. One aspect often considered profoundly important for the assumption and attribution of responsibility is the availability of information. Only if I have information about the credibility of information sources, only if I can offer information to back up my knowledge claims, am I able to act responsibly. However, the availability of information while being necessary, is not sufficient for acting responsible in knowing.

 Terms of Service: Providing Information, Shedding Responsibility?

Consider for example the case of personal information management in dynamic socio-technical environments. Knowers are held responsible for revealing information online, ensuring their passwords are secure and making decisions about whether to allow or deny applications access to information such as their physical location on various mobile devices. In most cases, knowers are presented with information about the services or devices they use via Terms of Service (in the event of a purchasing or signing up for a free service such as an email address) or an End User License Agreement (in the event of obtaining an application for use). Where the Terms of Service (ToS) are a set of rules the user must follow in order to be allowed to use the service, the End User License Agreement (EULA) is a license given to the user by the provider for the right to use the application. These types of documents detail the activities the user and the provider are allowed to engage in and typically specify terms of engagement with user data (what kind of data can be exchanged, how it might be used by either party, what kinds of rights and obligations each party has). For example, by accepting the EULA in the process of installing smartphone applications users give permission to access a range of their use data and to utilize it for a variety of purposes (Kelley, P., Cranor, L. & Sadeh, N. 2013). Considerable efforts have been made in designing for better and easier presentation of permissions and rules users actually agree to in this process and by producing various supportive tools to assist with knowledgeable decision-making. Yet research repeatedly shows that smartphone users do not have a good idea of what they are agreeing to when installing applications (Good et al., 2005; Felt et al., 2012;). They may not read EULAs at all or, if they do, they may have a hard time understanding the technical language (Kelley et al., 2012). Given that users must make an ongoing, practically never-ending series of decisions when installing, updating, sharing, setting permissions for the services and applications they use it is no wonder they exhibit fatigue and eventually a kind of learned helplessness (Shklovski et al, 2014; Andrejevic, 2014).

Accordingly the availability of information about the way personal data is dealt with does not necessarily or even predominantly result in responsible action. Users are drowned in information either impossible or impractical to process and moreover there often are no real opt-out possibilities beyond not using specific services at all. So it seems that information provision can sometimes not only be insufficient for responsible action (on the side of the user), it can actually be a form of delegation or shedding responsibility (on the side of the service provider). Thus, similarly to the introduction of informed consent in the realm of medicine, the availability of detailed information regarding the terms of service can be seen as a form of responsibility shedding rather than as a form of user/client empowerment.

How to support a fair distribution of responsibility

Given this situation, what can be done to enable and support epistemically responsible behavior and to distribute the burden of responsibility fairly? To our mind, three approaches must be considered and ideally combined:

1. Intermediaries designing tools and services to support individual responsible action.
2. Hard law solutions for issues such as data protection.
3. Technology development for de-centralized security solutions

Intermediaries: One way of managing the weight and pressure of personal responsibility for navigating the thickets of information about permissions and data practices is through the creation of intermediaries that can simplify and support individual responsible action. One example of such an effort is a recent launch of PrivacyGrade.org - a project run by a group of researchers at Carnegie Mellon University - intended to provide an easy guide for ANDROID users about the data practices of the applications they may want to install. The website lists applications and gives them a letter grade - from A for very privacy sensitive to D not privacy sensitive. The website contains links and information on how the evaluations of these apps are made, what algorithms and models are used and how privacy is conceptualized (Lin et al., 2012). The transparency of the evaluation is designed to engender user trust as a way to negotiate just how much information should knowers need to assess in order to make informed and responsible decisions. One problem with services such as PrivacyGrade.org is that they still endorse a rather individualistic understanding of epistemic responsibility. While the team of PrivacyGrade.org is certainly supporting users to assess the privacy implications of their choices, the action to inform themselves and act accordingly is left entirely on the side of the users. It is their responsibility to use the services, to inform themselves and to make informed choices, there is no default protecting them. In order to more fairly distribute the burden of responsibility over different actors, we need other types of governance alongside these efforts.

Hard Law: Responsibility is not only a duty of users, but also of service providers. One way to ensure that service providers meet their responsibilities towards the users is through hard law. Cases of particular interest for epistemic responsibility are data protection regulations as well as privacy laws. Only if there is a basic protection of private data can users be reasonably expected to act responsibly themselves. Given the pervasiveness of data leakage it is no wonder that users refuse to read EULAs and continue to give access to their data despite expressed discomfort in doing so. This perceived futility of self-protection may lead to fatalistic acceptance of constant data leakage as the inevitable norm, resulting in learned helplessness. After all, the "inability to protect one's private zones is a sign of absolute helplessness in defending one's basic interests" (Margalit 1998, p. 120).

Technology Design: In the time of fast-paced technology development, hard law often can not keep up with the rate of technological advance, thus technical tools such as decentralized secure data platforms that can enforce how personal data is accessed and used are necessary. Recent advances in security and secure systems research and development of secure data and usage control layers for mobile technologies offers solutions at the level of technical infrastructure. This is another way that responsibility for personal data management can be shifted from resting entirely on the user to application developers and service providers as they must contend with the inherent structural limitations of such secure systems (Danezis et al., 2012; Anciaux, Bonnet, Bouganim & Pucheral, 2014).

Conclusions

These are different types of governance to increase responsible action in knowing - distributing responsibility over different agents - industry and government alongside users. While each one of these alternatives is currently vigorously pursued, this research is mostly done in isolation. We argue that to achieve fairly distributed epistemic responsibility these lines of research must interact in order to produce complementary solutions.

Acknowledgments

Judith Simon wishes to acknowledge the financial support of the Austrian Funding Agency (P-23770).

References

1. Anciaux, N., Bonnet, P., Bouganim, L., & Pucheral, P. (2014). Trusted Cells: Ensuring Privacy for the Citizens of Smart Cities. ERCIM News, 2014(98).
2. Andrejevic, M. (2014). Big Data, Big Questions| The Big Data Divide. International Journal of Communication, 8, 17.
3. Craig, E. (1990). Knowledge and the State of Nature: An Essay in Conceptual Synthesis; Claredon Press: Oxford, UK.
4. George Danezis, Markulf Kohlweiss, Benjamin Livshits, Alfredo Rial. (2012). Private Client-Side Profiling with Random Forests and Hidden Markov Models. Privacy Enhancing Technologies. Vigo Spain.
5. Felt, A., Ha, E., Egelman, S., Haney, A., Chin, E., & Wagner, D. (2012). Android Permissions: User Attention, Comprehension & Behavior. SOUPS '12 NY: ACM
6. Good, N., Dhamija, R., Grossklags, J., Thaw, D., Aronowitz, S., Mulligan, D., et al. (2005). Stopping spyware at the gate: a user study of privacy, notice and spyware. SOUPS '05 (pp. 43-52). NY: ACM
7. Kelley, P., Consolvo, S., Cranor, L., Jung, J., Sadeh, N., & Wetherall, D. (2012). A conundrum of permissions: installing applications on an android smartphone. In Proceedings of FCDS12 (pp. 68-79). Berlin: Springer-Verlag, Heidelberg
8. Kelley, P., Cranor, F., & Sadeh, N. (2013). Privacy as part of the app decision-making process. In Proceedings of CHI 13 (pp. 3393-3402). NY: ACM
9. Lin, J., Sadeh, N., Amini, S., Lindqvist, J., Hong, J., & Zhang, J. (2012). Expectation and purpose: understanding users' mental models of mobile app privacy through crowdsourcing. UbiComp '12 (pp. 501-510). NY: ACM
10. Margalit, A. (1998) The Decent Society. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press
11. Origgi, G. (2008). Trust, authority and epistemic responsibility. Theoria, 61, (pp. 35–44).
12. Shklovski, I., Mainwaring, S., Skúladóttir, H., & Borgthorsson, H. (2014). Leakiness and Creepiness in App Space: User Perceptions of Privacy and Mobile App Use. In Proceedings of the 2014 ACM international conference on Human Factors in Computing (CHI 2014), Toronto, Canada: ACM.
13. Simon, J. (2014). Distributed Epistemic Responsibility in a Hyperconnected Era. In The Onlife Manifesto – Being Human in a Hyperconnected Era; Springer: Dordrecht, Netherlands, (pp. 145-159).

Introduction

Ten years after tragically tsunami attack in Indian Ocean the situation in early warnings of stakeholder of natural disasters is dramatically improved, but still is not ideal. Following paper brings several critical views on current situation in a special aspect of Early Warning Systems – namely „last-mile“ of communication channels in emergencies and special situation. It introduces possibilities and advantages of addressable forced broadcasting (Radio-Help) and describes a major component of its receiver – personal communication terminal. There are also mentioned the managerial aspects of distribution of emergency information and possibilities of using the suggested system in daily life.

After the catastrophic tsunami attack in December 2004 with 230 thousand victims the significant research agencies focused their activities on the research and implementation technologies and resources, enabling the early identification of tsunami threats. In this area, significant progress has been achieved. They were created functional mathematical models, reflecting specific situation and allowing simulate the flow of natural disasters and effectively identify the degree of danger and threats. Level of risk by such events has been greatly reduced [3].

Current early warning systems are aimed at encouraging residents and institutions in situations that can be expected to advance tens of hours. Such emergencies are mostly connected with natural disasters like hurricanes and storms. Distribution of information in unexpected situations (tsunami, unexpected earthquake, terrorist attack,…) is the subject of various solutions, based not only on technologies opportunities and capabilities, but mainly on policy decisions on governmental level. An increasing number of terrorist attacks at the beginning of 2015 reveal some weaknesses of current early warning systems – e.g. distribute needed information during forced shutdown of mobile networks and Internet.

An Emergency Population Warning

The origins of building early warning systems for large groups of population could be found between two world wars last century. One of the base requirements of warning systems was to build an extensive network of warning sirens. An integral part of warning technologies has been training people how to behave in cases of threat and danger. The performance of alerting infrastructure decreased dramatically after the collapse of communist regime at European countries at the beginning of nineties. It becomes increasingly difficult to bridge the “„last-mile“” between local emergency management authorities and the population in times of crises [5].

The introduction of new technologies brings intense challenges to their application for the „last-mile“ communication in the frame of early warning systems. However, there is no unified concept for newly conceived schemes of communication channels. The approaches of individual countries and regions to the „last-mile“ communication differ from each other even dramatically [3], [4].

Recently published a number of papers deal with the issue of accessibility and usability of communication channels. Klaft [5] on the example of subscription-based “Katwarn” system (multi-channel alerting system, which offers the possibility to distribute alerts via SMS, e-mail, and pagers) tested reception of warning information (majority participants were people with some affiliation to emergency management). The alert message was randomly generated and sent on August 24th, 2009 at 14:09 CET. Approx. 25% of participations noticed and read the alert within ten minutes. This ratio increased to 32.4% within twenty minutes, to 47.9% within one hour. After five hours more than 35 % of participants didn’t make any action (!).

Another Katwarn case study observed actual user behavior on the same subscription-based system. After sending the test alert message at 9:58 a.m. to approx. 14 thousands subscribed users, the log files of the information website were analyzed to see how often the site had been accessed. Within ten minutes were identified only 6.1% of alert recipients. This number increased to 8.5% within 30 minutes and to 11.6% within two hours. After 24 hours, the ratio reached 17.4% (!).

Research in Indonesia costal municipality [10] provides information about quantification of access to media by the type of media and time of the day. In the morning the main availability to get access is represented by mobile phones (63 %), TV (60 %), radio (55 %). Access to TV and radio raises during the day to 88 % (TV at the evening) and 64 % (radio). Sirens cover less than 48% of people.

The role of early warning systems does not finish with the end of emergency. It is necessary to maintain communication connection even in times of crisis and in subsequent stages, i.e. recovery and resilience. Major problem remains to scientists and policies - how to effectively deliver the authorized recipient in case of emergency necessary adequate information in a timely manner, i.e. at the right time to the right place.

It is evident that in the case of dramatic situations of X-events type (long-term failure of electric power grid, electromagnetic pulse,…) our civilization will lose all possibilities associated with modern communication technologies [1]. A similar situation is becoming a reality, however, immediately after any larger accidents and disasters. Tsunamis, earthquakes, floods and hurricanes are accompanied by blackouts of electricity, dropouts of mobile networks and the Internet. In the period of global increase of terrorism grow needs for immediate transmission of information and guidance to people in vulnerable zones. In many situations is appropriate to provide different information to people located in different places [7].

For efficient transfer of information is optimal to use the widest range of communication channels and options. It is, however, evident, that the applicability of some advanced technologies, especially based on mobile communications, is in many types of disasters very limited.

On the other hand - no system is ever perfect. The answer for a question - “High” or “low” technology is better for crises communication - seemed to be very simple: as “low” as possible by the principles – with a respect to potential loss of technological and energy infrastructure. Next paragraphs describe original solution of information channel that fulfill main demands for efficient communication channel in disasters and crises.

Main Principles of Radio-Help

The default requirements for RADIO HELP system were an effort to eliminate the shortcomings of the current distribution of warning messages. Radio-Help in its concept uses existing technological components and solutions, but integrates them into new functional units. The basic requirements, which should the designed system meet, are:

• the availability of adequate information to every people,
• independence on functionality of mobile networks and the Internet,
• mediation of trusted information from an authorized source,
• geographical addressability for distribution of information,
• security of the system - resistance to abuse,
• financial and time feasibility,
• possibility of continuous testing and auditing functionality,
• usability for other applications.

In terms of overall design is a key issue the choice of communication media. As an optimal, affordable and widely tested for the purpose Radio-Help seems to use the concept of HD Radio. In principle, HD Radio technology is based on superposition of digital channels to analog signal carrier frequency of radio transmitter.

The crucial point of the system is the receiver - „Personal Communication Terminal“ – PCT. In principle it could be an HD-RADIO receiver that is integrated into wide-spread personal equipment, e.g. a smart phone. The PCT could also be recharged by internal or external mechanical boost of the battery.

Figure 1. Personal Communication Terminal – block scheme [7]

(see PDF version for the Figure).

Solution of addressable receiving of the Radio-Help is that superposed digital signal of the transmitter carries in encrypted form an "address" of geographic area for which the transmitted information is intended. The PCT is equipped with a satellite position system (GPS, Galileo etc.) that generates position codes (Fig. 2). The transmitter of Radio-Help digitally sends an identification code for the targeted area (i.e. the position code) and/or a special code of an individual PCT (Special codes could be used for responsible persons that have to be notified regardless of their position). The PCT continually checks the internal and/or position code of the Radio-Help sender and activates itself for receiving the broadcast only with matching of the internal and received identified code. If position and/or internal codes of PCT and broadcasting sequence do not match, no sound is activated on the receiver. If internal and receiving codes match, the system automatically switches the receiver on for reception of needful information. Switch-of code broadcasted at the end of each session switches the receiver back into standby mode.

The only thing required to upgrade a current mobile phone (with GPS) is the addition of one Radio-Help chip with a code comparator. The receiver of Radio-Help can be integrated into any audio and audio/video devices. Immediately it could be used in all voice sirens and public information systems (e.g. in supermarkets, shopping centers, schools, factories etc.). Such systems just need once setup (e.g. by the initial switching on) the position code.

The exclusive transmitter

The transmitter of Radio-Help is a crucial point of the entire system. It is an authorized radio transmitter (controlled by the state or the army), which must be able to long-term broadcast from a protected area also in the case of a forced radio silence. It provides nationwide coverage of crisis broadcast throughout the country via analogue, preferably LW or MW transmitter, in whose modulation is superposed digital signal. For a dissemination of verbal information is sufficient channel with a frequency range of 200 to 4000 Hz. On one analog carrier signal is thus possible to simultaneously superposed multiple digital information channels for parallel addressed broadcasting to multiple locations or e.g. in multiple languages.

Figure 2. Radio-Help broadcasting for the affected area of floods [9]

(see PDF version for the Figure). 

Results and Discussion – Example of Practical Application of Radio-Help System in Traffic

Any early-warning emergency system has to be positively accepted by potential and real users and regularly tested in terms of functionality and possibilities of improvement and development. The best form is the sustainable use of the system for the transmission of information of "very practical content" which learns users to use the system effectively.

Wide areas of applications bring the integration of Radio-Help receiver into sound systems in cars and navigation systems. A “Radio traffic terminal” is a device receiving information through one unique communication channel in any region. It provides a forced voice (and/or data) session, activated only in a particular geographical area thus delivering warning messages only to the relevant recipients. In practice, we may be able to provide a road user, depending on his current position and travel direction, with automated information on a danger ahead (traffic accident) almost immediately.

The radio traffic terminal system uses Radio-Help technology enhanced by a GPS system. If warning data could be broadcast from an extensive eCall system, it would be very efficient in helping decrease the number of car’s accidents.

Figure 3. Principles of Radio-Help in traffic application [7]

(see PDF version for the Figure).

Conclusion

The aim of this paper was to indicate the current status system, possibilities system, weaknesses and opportunities of current early warning systems. Greater attention has been paid to the Radio-Help system, which is capable - in the case of governmental support - to ensure information distribution to needy people in appropriate areas.

Acknowledgments

This paper was supported by the SGS research project of the Technical University of Liberec “New possibilities of advanced information and communication technologies in solving of uncommon situation”.

References and Notes

1. CASTI, John, L. X-events: The collapse of everything. 1st ed. New York: HarperCollins Publisher, 2012, ix, 326 p. ISBN 00-620-8828-9.
2. COOMBS, Timothy, W. Ongoing crisis communication: planning, managing, and responding. 3rd ed. Thousand Oaks, Calif.: SAGE, 2012, xv, 231 p. ISBN 14-129-8310-X.
3. GOLNARAGHI, Maryam (Ed.). Institutional Partnership in Multi-Hazard Early Warning Systems: Synthesis of Seven Good Practices in Multi-hazard Early Warning Systems. Heidelberg: Springer, 2012, p. 217-238. ISBN 978-3-642-25373-7.
4. KEENEY, Harold, Jr., Steve BUAN and Laura DIAMOND. Institutional Partnership in Multi-Hazard Early Warning Systems: Multi-Hazard Early Warning System of the United States National Weather Service. Heidelberg: Springer, 2012, s. 115-158. ISBN 978-3-642-25373-7.
5. KLAFFT, Michael. Diffusion of emergency warnings via multi-channel communication systems an empirical analysis. In: 2013 IEEE Eleventh International Symposium on Autonomous Decentralized Systems (ISADS). Mexico City: IEEE, 2013, p. 1-5. ISBN 978-1-4673-5069-3. DOI: 10.1109/isads.2013.6513437.
6. KLAFFT, Michael and Hans Georg ZIEGLER. A Concept and Prototype for the Integration of Multi-Channel Disaster Alert Systems. In: EATIS' 14. Valparaiso, Chile: IEEE, 2014, s. 1-4. ISBN 978-1-4503-2435-9. DOI: 10.1109/isads.2013.6513437.
7. SKRBEK, Jan. Advanced Early Warning Systems and Radio-Help – State-of-the-Art. In: 2013: Information Technology, Human Values, Innovation and Economy, 21st Interdisciplinary Information Management Talks. Linz: Trauner Verlag, 2013, s. 39-46. ISBN 978-3-99033-083-8.
8. SKRBEK, Jan, David KUBAT, Tomas ZIZKA, Jiri KVIZ a Klara ANTLOVA. Ambient Traffic Services Based on the Use of Agile Warning and Notification System Radio-Help. In: AMBIENT 2012 : The Second International Conference on Ambient Computing, Applications, Services and Technologies. Barcelona: International Academy, Research, and Industry Association, 2012, p. 7-11. ISBN 978-1-61208-235-6.
9. SKRBEK, Jan. Advanced Ways and Means of Civilian Notification in Crisis Situations. In: Proceedings of the 10th International konference: Liberec Economic Forum 2011. Liberec: Technical University of Liberec, 2011, s. 419-426. ISBN 978-80-7372-755-0.
10. TAUBENBÖCK, H., N. GOSEBERG, G. LÄMMEL, N. SETIADI, T. SCHLURMANN, K. NAGEL, F. SIEGERT, J. BIRKMANN, K.-P. TRAUB, S. DECH, V. KEUCK, F. LEHMANN, G. STRUNZ a H. KLÜPFEL. Risk reduction at the “Last-Mile”: an attempt to turn science into action by the example of Padang, Indonesia. Natural hazards. 2013, vol. 65, issue 1, p. 915-945. ISSN 1573-0840

Introduction

In order to sustain mass production, mass consumption is essential. In order to pursue this very basic rule of capitalism, entrepreneurs try to apply plans increasing consumption and invest in advertising (Ewen, 1976). Corporations use advertising to persuade consumers to purchase (Harms & Kellner, 1991) and so as to compete and gain advantage in the highly competitive capitalist economy they frequently use deceptive tactics in advertising practices (Boush, Friestad, & Wright, 2009; Preston, 1994).

The history of deceiving consumers is as old as the history of trade but with the development of capitalist economy it has become more common and widespread. Despite of its countless harms to the consumers, such as the health losses and alike, markets and advertisers do still use deceptive tactics (Aditya, 2001; Gao, 2008; Gardner, 1975). The increasing use of Internet in daily life and trade elevated the use of deceptive tactics and deception has turned into a more complicated and omnipresent phenomena (Boush et al., 2009)

The Internet media and web interfaces provide numerous facilities and amenities to the sellers and advertisers that no other pervious medium could. Companies and marketers, not surprisingly, use these features to accomplish a variety of purposes ranging from informing to convincing the consumers while promoting their products on the Internet. Recent research showed that the misleading and deceptive advertising on these mediums are on the rise (Grazioli & Jarvenpaa, 2003; Mitra, Raymond, & Hopkins, 2008; Xiao & Benbasat, 2011). In that respect the aim of this study is to analyze and explain the deceptive tactics used in the online shopping sites by focusing on the distribution and nature of use of these tactics used by ads.

Methods

In this study deception is considered as ‘the deliberate attempt, whether successful or not, to conceal, fabricate, and/or manipulate in any other way, factual and/or emotional information, by verbal and/or nonverbal means, in order to create or maintain in another or others a belief that the communicator himself or herself considers false’ (Masip, Garrido, & Herrero, 2004). By adopting this definition, the practice of deceiving becomes independent from the behavior change since it is conceived as a result of the deception attempt. Many researchers accept the definitions defending that the deception occurs when a consumer perceives and believes an advertising claim is false (Cowley, 2006; Gao & Scorpio, 2011; Gardner, 1975, 1976; Göle, 1983; İnal, 2000). According to this approach if no one distinguishes the deception, it is not considered as deception. To put this in other words, we can only detect deception after it happens and this means that we cannot avoid from the harms and negative consequences of deception. Instead of this the definition the definition employed here provides opportunity to detect the potentially deceptive contents by comparing the information and the presentation. Following this latter stance, this study designed to examine the verbal and nonverbal content of ads. Accordingly this study analyses both the presentation of the products and the information given about these products in a shopping web site. As a strategy, this study used both qualitative and quantitative content analyze methods in order to find out the deception tactics used in ads.   

For this study the indicators that are developed by Grazioli & Jarvenpaa (2003) were used to define the deceptive tactics used in the shopping sites. According to this framework there are basically two categories that deceivers use to affect the purchase behaviour of consumer: 1) tactics that hinder the formation of a correct representation of the core; masking, dazzling and decoying 2) tactics that foster an incorrect representation of the core; mimicking, inventing, relabelling and double playing). Due to the limitations of the research, in this study I examined the possibilities of 3 tactics covered under the first category and accordingly I have done the following analysis:

1. Masking: The advertising contents were examined if there is any crucial characteristic of the core was omitted or eliminated (ex: material and size). In real store environment during purchase consumers can understand the material and size of a product by looking and touching. Furthermore they can examine the label of the product, which according to laws should contain the crucial information about the product like production materials, size and etc. In virtual environment like shopping sites, consumers do not have a chance to see and touch the real product but it is very easy to provide label information on the web page.

In this research, two crucial information about the product are defined as 1) the information about the material and 2) the size of the product. The absence of any of this information is considered as use of masking tactics and reported as deceptive.

Masking was measured as follows:

1. The main page of the shopping site is opened and boutique ads are coded according to the product type.
2. Each boutique is visited by clicking on the banner ads. There were different numbers of product ads on different boutiques. From every boutique every 1st, 5th, 9th and 13th products were selected.
3. Selected 4 products page are visited clicking on the banner ads. Each page is analysed for having information about the material and the size of the product separately. Ads having full information are coded as ‘0’. Ads that do not have any information is coded as ‘1’ and reported as using masking tactics.

2. Dazzling: The advertising contents were examined by comparing the other available information on the web site so as to find out if any crucial information about the characteristics of the core was obscured or made difficult to access (ex: special offers, shipping and return terms).

      Dazzling was measured as follows:

1. The ads about the campaigns are found and the special offers announced in that ads are noted.
2. By clicking on the ads the pages explaining the conditions of he campaigns are reached. Conditions are carefully examined to figure out if there is any terms that may have a potential effect on decreasing or cancelling the appeal of the offer.

3. Decoying: The advertising contents were examined by comparing the other available information on the web site whether any crucial characteristic of the core was tried to be driven away from the attention of the consumer. (Ex: presenting images of the good that are not on sale or out of stock, invalid discount offers, possible untrue virtual product experience)

      Decoying was measured as follows:

1. Each boutique was examined on the grounds that if the presented image is on sale or not. If the presented image is also found in the boutique’s page the ad is coded as ‘0’ (meaning that there is no deception) otherwise the ad is coded as ‘1’ and reported as deceptive for using dazzling.
2. In order to find out the truthfulness of discount offers, all the discount rates are calculated to check the correctness of the ad.

With the framework described above I have analysed 48 unique online shops, which operates under a web site, which has the highest membership figures in Turkey. For some deception tactics (like invalid discount offers) all of the ads were coded and for others (like masking) the ads chosen by the random sampling method.

Results and Discussion

1. Masking:

It was found that 40.7 percent of the total ads do not provide the essential information about the products’ materials. Moreover, it was also found that this type of deceptive tactic varies according to the product types. Among the seven product categories, the highest use of masking material information was detected in the category of shoes-bags (52 percent), followed by textile products and toys (50 percent each). The books category has a comparatively low rate for masking material (8 percent). Lastly the category of ‘others’, which covers gifts, decorative products and furniture, displayed full information for the products.

Masking the information about the size of the products is relatively lower compared to the material masking, with 18 percent in total. This practice is mostly common among toys (62 percent) and hardware products (50).

2. Dazzling:

On the day of analysis there were three banner ads announcing special offers/campaigns for online shoppers. One was about ‘free shipment and three instalments’, the other was about ‘winning discounts as you purchase more’ and last one was an announcement of a ‘cross-promotion’. All three ads had hyperlinks which means that when you click on, you go to a new page explaining the details of the campaign. One out of three has a warning _written in small fonts_ saying ‘click for conditions of campaign’. The other two do not have any sign of hyperlink unless you move the cursor on them. When reached to the conditions of the campaign it was seen that the second offer is valid only purchases upper than 20TL and the cross-promotion offer is not valid for products like dippers, wet wipes and like.

3.Decoying:

Decoying was examined under three headings:

1. Presenting images of the good that are not on sale or out of stock: 13 boutiques out of 48 was found to use deceptive images on the main page because the product shown or represented in the main page ad was not available for purchase.
2. Invalid discount offers: There was six boutiques offering special prices on their main page ads. Four of them were offering discounts and two of them were offering products available for very low prices. All the discounts were calculated and it was found that only one boutique applied the exactly promised rate. Nonetheless that boutique applied this exact rate to two products that one of them was out of stock and the other one was the cheapest product on sale. When the boutiques offering very low prices was examined, it was found that a very small number of products are available for that prices (2 out of 188 and 2 out of 157).

Conclusions

Online shopping and online advertising practices are exponentially growing. Moreover misleading and deceptive advertising and misrepresentations of information on internet are also on rise (Grazioli & Jarvenpaa, 2003). Accordingly this study verifies that the deceptive advertising practices are common among Internet shopping sites. Based on the acquired quantitative data, it can be said that while some sellers, advertisers and marketers provide valuable information for consumers, some of them omit, obscure or manipulate the crucial information about their products.

The results displayed the fact that a considerable amount of ads do not provide information on the material, and the size of the product. While the masking of the material is more common among the textile products, the masking of size is more common among toys. The dazzling practice is especially common in delivery/shipping notices. It has been found that for all special offers there are preconditions given in a linked page, which can easily be missed out by the customers. Potentially decoying the consumers, discount rate numbers, which were written in big numbers, were followed by very tiny “up to” phrase. By this way consumers were manipulated as if there is a very big discount in all of the products. In addition to this, some discount claims are found to be not true. Finally analysis displayed that; in a number of cases the advertised commodity was not available in the shops. All these tactics were considered as deceptive since they have a potential to manipulate the rational purchase decision of the customers

References and Notes

1. Aditya, R. N. (2001). The Psychology of Deception in Marketing: A Conceptual Framework for Research and Practice. Psychology &Marketing, 18, 735-761.
2. Boush, D. M., Friestad, M., & Wright, P. (2009). Deception in the Marketplace: the psychology of deceptive persuasion and consumer self protection NewYork: Taylor & Francis Group.
3. Cowley, E. (2006). Processing exaggerated advertising claims. Journal of Business Research, 59, 728-734.
4. Ewen, S. (1976). Captains of Consciousness:
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8. Gao, Z., & Scorpio, E. A. (2011). Does Puffery Deceive? An Empirical Investigation. J Consum Policy(34), 249-264.
9. Gardner, D. M. (1975). Deception in Advertising: A ConceptuAapl proach. The Journal of Marketing, 39, 40-46.
10. Gardner, D. M. (1976). Deception in Advertising: A Receiver Oriented Approach to Understanding. Jurnal of Advertising Research(5), 5-11.
11. Göle, C. (1983). Ticaret Hukuku Açısından Aldatıcı Reklamlara Karşı Tüketicinin Korunması: Banka Ve Ticaret Hukuku Araştırma Enstitüsü Yayını,.
12. Grazioli, S., & ]arvenpaa, S. L. (2003). Consumer and Business Deception on the Internet: Content Analysis of Documentary Evidence. Internaihnal fourmil of Electronic Commerce, 7(4), 93-118.
13. Grazioli, S., & Jarvenpaa, S. L. (2003). Deceived: Under Target Online. Communications of the ACM, 46(12), 196-205.
14. Harms, J., & Kellner, D. (1991). Toward a critical theory of advertising. Current perspectives in social theory(11), 41-67.
15. İnal, E. (2000). Reklam Hukuku ve Aldatıcı Reklamlar. İstanbul: Beta Basım.
16. Masip, J., Garrido, E., & Herrero, C. (2004). Defining Deception. Anales de Psicología, 20(1), 147-171.
17. Mitra, A., Raymond, M. A., & Hopkins, C. D. (2008). Can Consumers Recognize Misleading Advertising Content in a Media Rich Online Environment? Psychology & Marketing, 25(7), 655–674.
18. Preston, I. L. (1994). The Tangled Web They Weave: Truth, Falsity, And Advertsing. England: The University of Wisconsin Press.
19. Xiao, B., & Benbasat, I. (2011). Product-Related Deceptıon In E-Commerce: A Theoretıcal Perspectıve. MIS Quarterly, 35(1), 169-196.
20. Grazioli, S., & Jarvenpaa, S. L. (2003). Deceived: Under Target Online. Communications of the ACM, 46(12), 196-205.

There are four doctrines of information in the print publications and cyber source: informationalism, informatism，informationism and informatilism. Among them the informationism is mainly used in philosophy. Based on the research in China there are difference dimensions for philosophical informationism: axiological informationism, epistemological informationism and ontological informationism.

Ontological informationism is the most important philosophical informationism, its famous point is “It from bit” and “Everything is information” by John Archibald Wheeler. In China there also are some similar viewpoints, such as “information is the fundamental factor of the universe”, “The material is an aggregate of information”(Wang Jiang-huo), “Information generate world, the universe is a deductive process of information”(Shen Xin-xi), and so on.

“Ontology” is a very complex concept, if it is interpreted as the theory of the essence of “being” or the foundation of the world (what initiates the another one between physical and mental phenomena), then the ontological doctrine can be differentiated into materialism and idealism, so we will face the problems of relationship between informationism and materialism or idealism. So far there are three different views about it which can be found: The first one thinks of it as a new form of materialism (Rafael Capurro); The second one takes it as a new form of idealism (Miao Dongsheng); The third one asserts that it is beyond materialism and idealism and belongs to the third form of ontology theory (Shen Xinxi, maybe including Wu Kun).

How to understand information philosophically decided how to evaluate ontological informationism for us. In my opinion, because the information is not equal to the material or any physical items, so the ontological informationism as a form of materialism is not reasonable. And due to the existence of information is inseparable not only from material but also from person's consciousness, namely the information is not the third being beyond the physical and mental phenomena, so the ontological informationism as third kinds of ontological doctrine transcending materialism and idealism is also untenable.

Further to see how to understand information philosophically is determined by how to understand philosophy. If we see it as the studies of the relation between Men and world, the information as a philosophical concept should be understood involving human being rather than a phenomenon unrelated to people, i.e. there is no “nature information”, all information is “human information”, More immediately, information can be regarded as the virtual form of material reality, it belongs to the mental world—a mental phenomenon emphasizing communication and semantic function. With this understanding of information and philosophy, we can say that the ontological informationism is a new form of idealism. If you are a materialist, you certainly will not agree to it.

References

1. David Lyon , The information society. Issues and illusions,Cambridge, Polity Press, 1988.
2. Manuel Castells, The Rise of the Network Society，Blackwell Publishing Ltd. 1996.
3. From Wikipedia, Information art, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Information_art.
4. Shi Yang, Informatism，http://shiyang.net/?cat=6.
5. John A. Wheeler, At Home in the Universe, New York, Spring-Verlag Inc., 1996.
6. Rafael Capurro, etc., Is a Unified Theory of Information Feasible? http://www.capurro.de/trialog.htm.
7. Richard Price, Informationism, http://www.hydrohotel.net/informationist1.htm.
8. Miao Dongsheng: A review of Wheeler's information view, Journal of Huazhong University of Science and Technology (Social Science Edition), Wuhan, China, 2008(2).
9. Wu Kun, Philosophy of information, The Commercial Press, Beijing, 2005.
10. Shen Xinxi, Informatilism, Cozy House Publisher, New York, 2007.
11. Wang Jiang-huo, Unified theory of information, China University of Political Science and Law Press, Beijing, 2012.

Introduction

Language—the words we inherit and those we coin, are arguable one of the primary means through which we define, not only ourselves, but our cultures, civilizations, and supporting mythos. [1, 2] This research examines some of the words, or signifiers, that have been used, and/or are currently being used, to reference the totality of our interconnectedness with information and communication technologies (ICTs) and the co-emergent global consciousness arising with/in it. Some of these signifiers include: noosphere, global brain, superorganism, worldwide network, Gaia, collective intelligence, and planetary consciousness. [3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9]

Rationale

The purpose of the research is to explore the implications and potential consequences of the choice/s we make in the use of signifiers on our unfolding global consciousness and the cultures, civilizations, mythos, and possible futures, co-arising with it. Do the current signifiers, for example, expand or limit our thinking, and/or that of future generations? Although pioneering theorists, Teilhard de Chardin [3, 4] and Peter Russell, [5] included higher forms of human consciousness and/or spirituality, as integral to their work (and Russell himself coined the term “global brain”), the term “brain” represents an exterior, objective structure, and as such, does not speak to interior, subjective processes. [10, 11] The term, “global” speaks to a collective objective reality, rather than a collective intersubjective reality. As words are the primary means through which we co-create, share, and transmit reality, through continuing to use (and thus promote) the term “global brain,” for example, are we inadvertently diminishing humanity’s potential to enlarge, grow, and/or expand its capacity for collective compassion and/or other higher values? (The latter are subjective and intersubjective realities with objective and interobjective consequence.) Can we reduce Chardin’s noosphere or the Greek νοῦς (nous "mind") to the brain? Does such a reduction not inadvertently perpetuate outdated reductionistic frameworks that demoted and/or stymied intuitive, emotional, and compassionate forms of knowing in the first place? There is a poignancy in this inquiry that arises from the fact that many theorists using the term do not adhere to reductionist philosophies, but rather are pioneers of more embracing/holistic philosophies. [12]

The intention of the inquiry is thus to highlight the importance of recognizing the power of word choice on the evolution of consciousness (global, planetary, or otherwise). If we doubt that words have such power or that they can readily lose their original meanings and associations, we can look to Bohm [2], who points out that current Western use of the word “measure” is a debased form of its original meaning. He reminds us that the term “right measure” once referenced “inner measure.”

In this regard, measure was not looked on in its modern sense as being primarily some sort of comparison of an object with an external standard or unit. Rather, this latter procedure was regarded as a kind of outward display or appearance of a deep ‘inner measure’, which played an essential role in everything. When something went beyond its proper measure, this meant not merely that it was not conforming to some external standard of what was right, but much more, that it was inwardly out of harmony, so that it was bound to lose its integrity and break up into fragments. [2]

Bohm demonstrates that even when a word is coined to include subjective and/or intersubjective ways of knowing, such meaning can be lost.

Method

The transdisciplinary method of Integral Methodological Pluralism is used to explore a selection of signifiers used to reference the emergent interconnected consciousness: global brain, worldwide network, superoganism, noosphere, Gaia, collective intelligence, and planetary consciousness.^[i] Integral Methodological Pluralism (IMP) is a methodology that identifies multiple perspectives that must be taken into account and integrated if any phenomena are to be properly understood.[10] IMP is designed to shed light on perspectives that are often overlooked, particularly in the sciences. In the first stage of the exploration the words/signifiers are located in one or more of four quadrants of the IMP model. The four-quadrant model has axes: the inner world and outer world as compared with the individual and collective realms. [10] The figure below illustrates the basic distinctions. With the exception of Gaia, all the signifiers, including noosphere are terms (composed of two words) and many of the terms are composed of compound words.

Discussion

A preliminary mapping reveals three signifiers that cross the intersubjective-interobjective divide, e.g., Noosphere, Planetary Consciousness, and Gaia.^[ii] If it is our intention to include subjective and/or intersubjective experience^[iii] in the arising global interconnectedness, the use of one of the above words and/or the coining of new signifiers, is warranted. If we continue to use signifiers that do not reflect subjective and intersubjective perspectives, how do we dare hope the original intentions/meanings will survive? If we intend to encourage the adoption of systemic, holistic, integral philosophies capable of enabling human and planetary flourishing, the terms we utilize need to reflect our intention.

When we speak “from the heart,” it is commonly understood that we are speaking honestly—and about that which we gained through personal experience. The “global brain” adequately represents an organ of interobjective knowledge, but it does not speak to intersubjective loving. Will humanity meet the challenges confronting the global community now, and in the future, with a Global Brain, or even Global Intelligence, devoid of a metaphorical organ of compassion?

If the sum total of human history has taught us anything, it is that knowledge without compassion is naught but fuel for the worst crimes in history. It is incumbent upon us to recognize that a self-organizing, learning network that exhibits collective intelligence will only serve our betterment if it has an algorithm of compassion. It may be challenging to come up with such, but through languaging the Global Heart into our collective Future we come nearer. What signifiers might we use to embody the collective interdependent collaborative network of the Global Brain-Global Heart duo such that the future is not limited by our choice? We need intelligence, but we need wisdom all the more. Finally, as we increasingly move toward an image-mediated society, we would do well to imagine our new signifier/s as images—for it is likely one or more of these images will come to symbolize much.

References and Notes

1. Luhmann, N. (1995). Social systems. Translated by Bednarz, J., Stanford University Press. USA.
2. Bohm, D. (1980). Wholeness and the implicate order. Routledge. USA. pp. 25-26
3. de Chardin, T. (1959). The phenomenon of man. Harper, USA.
4. de Chardin, T. (1964). The future of man. Harper & Row. USA.
5. Russell, P. (1983). The Global Brain. Tarcher, USA.
6. Heylighen, F. (2002). The Global Superorganism: an evolutionary-cybernetic model of the emerging network society. Journal of Social and Evolutionary Systems, 1-37.
7. Heylighen, F. (2011). Conceptions of a Global Brain: an historical review. Evolution: Cosmic, Biological, and Social, eds. Grinin, LE, Carneiro, RL, Korotayev AV, Spier F, 274-289.
8. 8. Lovelock, J. (1979). Gaia: A new look at life on earth, Oxford University Press. UK.
9. Laszlo, E. (1997). 3^rd Millennium: The challenge and the vision. Gaia Books Limited. UK
10. Wilber, K. (1995). Sex, ecology, and spirituality: The spirit of evolution. Shambhala, Boston. USA.
11. Wilber, K (2006). Integral spirituality. Shambhala, Boston. USA.
12. Heylighen, F. (2011). Self-organization of complex, intelligent systems: an action ontology for transdisciplinary integration. Integral Review.

^[i] It is beyond the scope of this inquiry to explore all the words and/or terms that are currently being used in this context. The selected words are intended to represent some of the more commonly used terms.

^[ii] The term Gaia is placed in both the Interobjective and Intersubjective quadrants because it has been used to reference the Earth as a physical structure, and to reference a self-regulating, complex system that arises when organisms interact with their inorganic surroundings on Earth, i.e., Gaia theory [8]

^[iii] I am using the singular and plural (subjective and intersubjective as well as objective and interobjective) purposefully to remind that the global entity which we are seeking to name or signify is made up of individuals.

1. Introduction

In information age the “information+ism” is a necessary result of word formation, and appear many relevant now words such as informationalism， informatism，informationism and informatilism, they have different meaning and are applied in the fields of sociology, philosophy, art and literature. In general, the “informationalism” comes from the information sociology, its appeal is a kind of social (historical) view of informationalism; “informatism” mainly comes from the art and poetry circles, with an advocating of information art expression; “informationism” and “infornatilism” comes mainly from the philosophy, and they pursuit of an information world outlook. Due to the complicated implication of “information+ism”, we need to perform specific investigation to clarify the different meaning of them, and then find which doctrine is acceptable or unacceptable especially from philosophy.

2. Four words about information+ism

From print publications and cyber source we can find at least four words about “information+ism”: informationalism， informatism，informationism and informatilism. They are formed and popular in different subject areas and show the complexity of information doctrine.

1. Informationalism as a sociological concept was proposed most early by the Canadian scholar David Lyon (D. Lyon, 1988) and USA scholar Maunel Castells(M. Castells, 1996). In his Information Society published in 1988，David Lyon took the informationalism as a similar theory with the post- industrialism, and use it to describe the emergence of a new social structure. He said that we take the “informationalism” to understand the technological and social organization of production and management, among them the application of new information technology constitutes the intellectual potential and  the productivity based by information. In this view, the development and diffusion of information technology lead to the changes of social community structure pattern.

This meaning of informationalism was inherited and expanded the influence by Castells. Since 1990’s he  published his Information Ages Trilogy (The rise of the network society, The end of Millennium and  The Power of Identity ) and  constantly used the concept of informationalism to describe the paradigm of the new technology with the information technology as its foundation and the network technology as its core. He think it is speeding up remodeling the material basis of society, and has exerted a profound and significant influence to the economy, politics and culture of contemporary society and the whole social life as well as the corresponding system, and also led to the change of social structure, therefore it was regarded as “the historical most decisive factors of the whole world”.( Manuel Castells, 1996)

For Castells the informationalism is a new technological paradigm, which emphasized the overall impact of information technology on society and its fundamental role for changing the age, and reflected a proposition of "information technology determinism", so it also can be called as “informationizationism”. In this field its synonyms are information age，network society and so on ,and its Contrast word is industrialism.

As you can see, Castells’ "information" in the "informationalism" is the short term of "information technology", and even referred to "modern information technology". Therefore, the informationalism on this context is essentially the "information technology doctrine ", more precisely the "modern information technology doctrine ", and even can be said to be "the doctrine of the network", its expression is the decisive influence of information technology such as computer and network to contemporary society. In a sense, it also is an effort to seek the technology roots of the changes in contemporary society, So the term "informationalism" is properly expressed his Worship on information technology in the view of social development, and then he took it as a perspective to puts forward the concept of "informational capitalism", also in China some scholars proposed the "informational socialism" and "information of communism". Because of this "first application" for “informationalism”, which makes it became the proper noun referencing the theory of Castells, or synonymous with "information society" or “informationization”.

In a recent paper Zhou Liqian and Søren Brier (Zhou Liqian and Søren Brier, 2015) use “Pan- informationalism” to reference the philosophical proposition, especially classify the view of Wu Kun to this camp, which marks the meaning of “informationalism” going beyond the sociology and expanding to philosophy field.

2. Informatism appeared earlier than informationalism, it is with complicated usage at least in three disciplines: art and literature, politics and philosophy.

(1) The informatism from art and literature (first from the 1970’ art) is a kind of ways for art expression. The Wikipedia describes it as information art, data art or electronic art, which is a form of art that makes use of electronic media and it synthesizes computer science, information technology, and more classical forms of art, including performance art, visual art, new media art and conceptual art, it often includes interaction with computers that generate artistic content based on the processing of large amounts of data. Information art data can be manifested using photographs, census data, micropayments, personal profiles and expressions, video clips, search engine results, digital painting, network signals, and prose. In China the dominant usage of informatism is to reference a new school of poetry: the network poetry（or informatism poetry）, Some network poets named their style and characteristics of poetry as "informatism", and then they created a web site for http://informatism.org.，it born in 1993 or 1994 and becomes very active 10 years later in early 21st century, so it also is called contemporary art movement mainly in poetry.

Informatism poetry explained the general relationship between poetry and information. In the new age, information goes into our spirit, into our poetry entity, our poetry environment full of omnipresent information, and our poetry are always surrounded by information, the whole meaning of information movement subsumes the spirit phenomenon of poetry. Our practice of poetry creation can be understood as information movement reducing to the native state of the process of poetry, we even can’t confirm thoroughly the reliability of the information source in the process of poetry creation. The informational transmission, feedback, alienation and exhaustion form of unlimited survival practice, and poetry can be saw as the aesthetic simulation of this kind of process. (Shi Yang)

(2) The informatism from politics is used as “bureaucratic informatism”. David T. Johnson defined it as the bureaucracy has the information, but other people do not have. As a privilege, the right to information becomes a confidential legal system, forms the social divide between people, and also becomes the means for "elites" to keep control of social conflict and changes.

(3) The informatism from philosophy is mainly in the phrase “dialectical informatism” (DIAINF). Rafael Capurro thinks Wolfgang Hofkirchner’s method as “dialectical informatism” —a deferent new version of dialectical materialism(DIAMAT) when Wolfgang takes an evolutionary perspective to see information as a feature of emergence and goes back to the etymological roots (information as "giving form") in his establishment of a unified information theory. (Rafael Capurro[6])

Both the usage (2) and (3) are sporadic, and mainly the informatism express a general view of art doctrine, or a new idea and expression of literary and artistic creation.

3. Informationism has two usages, one is the term first used by Richard Price in 1991 in the magazine Interference to describe common trends in the work of a group of Scottish poets. Their work was later collected in the anthology Contraflow on the Super Highway (1994). Inside it there is an introduction: Approaching the Informationists.

Another one is considered as a new philosophical trend, it is the focal point in this paper and will be introduced soon afterwards.

4. Informatilism is a word used only by a Chinese scholar Shen Xinxi(沈新曦) and only take it as a philosophy category. In Shen Xinxi's view, information includes two kinds: "original information" and “derived information”. In its own deductive history the “original information" shows as rule, relation, structure of N order’s（0≤N≤7） things of universe including the derived information since C．E．Shannon. (Shen Xinxi, 2007)

3. Multiple dimensions of philosophical informationism

From above we can see that all four words (informationalism, informatism, informationism and informatilism) have the philosophical meaning. Due to the informationism is used by more scholars in philosophy circle, so we can mainly take it as a philosophical theory.

Based on the research in China as I know, there are multiple dimensions for philosophical informationism:

1. Axiological informationism views that information (resource) is more important than material (resource)，it is a prevalent values while the information age is coming, and it also becomes the dominant ideology of contemporary economic philosophy, political philosophy and so on. But it is not involved in the ontological issue such as whether or not the information is dependent on the matter.

2. Epistemological informationism claims that information decide the matter, or information guide material items, this is actually another way of saying concept guiding artificial object, or man’s intent leading the creation (building). The information here indicates knowledge, idea, purpose, and so on.

3. Ontological informationism is the most important philosophical informationism. In China the ontological informationism match a kind of definitions of “information”, which is based on the disciplines tripartite division into material, energy and information and take them as three major elements of the world(also from Wiener’s “information was neither a matter, nor energy, and information was the information”). If a philosophical point of view take one of them as the most basic elements, which can be respectively formed the "materialism", " energetism" and "informationism". Miao Dong-sheng, a Chinese scholar, uses explicitly the "only-informationism" to sum up physicist Wheeler’s point of view. John Archibald Wheeler divided his life in physics research and the evolution of world view into three periods: the first period he believed everything is particle, the second the field, and the third the information. In the third perspective, one will think the information is the only reality, or more real than material; the material is the derivative item of information, there is information first in the world , and then the material. Due to above Professor Miao thinks that " Wheeler is advocating an ontology of informational monism, so it  should be called only-informationism. There have been idealism and materialism in the human cognitive history, and now there is another ontology : only-informationism .” (Miao, 2008)

Wheeler’s famous point is “It from bit” and “Everything is information”. In his view the information is not only an independent existence that differed from matter and mind, but also the most basic existence, because whole universe was initiated from information, it is why we call informationism not materialism. In China there also are some similar viewpoints, such as “information is the fundamental factor of the universe”, “The material is an aggregate of information”(Wang Jiang-huo), “Information generate world, the universe is a deductive process of information”(Shen Xin-xi), and so on.

We can call the ontology informationism as "strong informationism" or “radical informationism”, and the others as "weak informationism" or “mild informationism”.

4. How to evaluate the philosophical informationism?

Which kind of philosophical informationism can we accept?

Axiological and epistemological informationism is certainly acceptable, and ontological informationism is difficult to be accepted.

“Ontology” is a very complex concept, if it is interpreted as the theory of the essence of “being” or the foundation of the world (what initiates another one between physical and mental phenomena), then the ontological doctrine can be differentiated into materialism and idealism, so we will face the problems of relationship between informationism with materialism and idealism.

Some axiological and epistemological informationists are not ontological informationists even if they claim the existence of ontology information. The key problem is how to understand the relationship between the information and material. If one asserts that information is a property of matter and its existence depends on the material, then we can say that his assertion of informationism is a new form of materialism but not an ontological informationism. If one asserts that information belongs to mental phenomenon similar to news, message (telling something to somebody), knowledge, data and further think such information can’t rely on the material, we should classified it as a new form of idealism. If one asserts that information is a “third” phenomenon beyond both material and mental phenomenon, then it is also beyond materialism and idealism and belongs to the “third form” of ontology theory.

So far there are three different ontological positions about infromationism can be found: The first one thinks of it as a new form of materialism (Rafael Capurro , maybe including Wu Kun); The second one takes it as a new form of idealism (Miao Dongsheng thinks Wheeler’s opinion); The third one asserts that it is beyond materialism and idealism and belongs to the third form of ontology theory (Shen Xinxi). The first one is not but the second and third ones are access to the ontological informationism.

The difficulty of ontological informationism is how to understand the information without the material carrier, or how bare-information

“bare-information” can existence? If there is no reasonable explanation for how information initially produces material, we should think the ontological informationism is unreasonable.   bare-information

5. Conclusion

How to understand information philosophically decided how to evaluate ontological informationism for us. In my opinion, because the information is not equal to the material or any physical items, so the ontological informationism as a form of materialism is not reasonable. And due to the existence of information is inseparable not only from material but also from person's consciousness, namely the information is not the third being beyond the physical and mental phenomena, so the ontological informationism as third kinds of ontological doctrine transcending materialism and idealism is also untenable.

Furthermore, how to understand information philosophically is determined by ho to understand philosophy. When Claude Shannon and Warren Weaver develop their mathematical theory of communication, they intend to eliminate the "psychological factors" involved in the concept of information, in order to establish a "measure of information in terms of purely physical quantities." (C. E. Shannon and W. Weaver, 1949) They intend to forget the specific common meaning of information, i.e., the semantic and pragmatic levels of the concept.( Rafael Capurro[14]) Philosophy is different from science. If we see philosophy as the studies of the relation between Men and world (so philosophy is not a research only about matter or only about Man, but about Man-matter), then the information as a philosophical concept should be understood involving human being rather than a phenomenon unrelated to people, i.e. it indicates a major human characteristic and so there is no “nature information”, all information is “human information”. More immediately, information can be regarded as the virtual form of material reality, it belongs to the mental world —— a mental phenomenon emphasizing communication and semantic function. With this understanding of information and philosophy, we can say that the ontological informationism is a new form of idealism. If you are a materialist, you certainly will not agree with it.

References and Notes

1. David Lyon , The information society. Issues and illusions,Cambridge, Polity Press, 1988.
2. Manuel Castells, The Rise of the Network Society，Blackwell Publishing Ltd. 1996.
3. From Wikipedia, Information art, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Information_art.
4. Shi Yang, Informatism，http://shiyang.net/?cat=6.
5. John A. Wheeler, At Home in the Universe, New York, Spring-Verlag Inc., 1996.
6. Rafael Capurro, etc., Is a Unified Theory of Information Feasible? http://www.capurro.de/trialog.htm.
7. Richard Price, Informationism, http://www.hydrohotel.net/informationist1.htm.
8. Miao Dongsheng: A review of Wheeler's information view, Journal of Huazhong University of Science and Technology (Social Science Edition), Wuhan, China, 2008(2).
9. Wu Kun, Philosophy of information, The Commercial Press, Beijing, 2005.
10. Shen Xinxi, informatilism, Cozy House Publisher, New York, 2007.
11. Wang Jiang-huo, Unified theory of information, China University of Political Science and Law Press, Beijing, 2012.
12. Zhou Liqian and Søren Brier, Is There a Philosophy of Information in Chinese Style? Philosophical Analysis, 2015,Vol 6. No.1
13. E. Shannon and W. Weaver: The Mathematical Theory of Communication. Urbana, University of Illinois Press ,1949.
14. Rafael Capurro,EPISTEMOLOGY AND INFORMATION SCIENCE, http://www.capurro.de/trita.htm

Introduction

The first remote sensing satellites were launched in the 1960s by the U.S. and Soviet militaries as one central element of their space race during the cold war. The space-based surveillance systems helped to reduce the ‘fog of war’ and mitigate the risk of being surprised by the enemy’s military capacity or an actual attack [1]. While geospatial intelligence still is a very important element of governmental security policy, the user group as well as the scope of application have extended well beyond the circles of intelligence and government agencies over the last decade. The privatization and advancement of satellite technology have led to novel implications for international politics. In the aftermath of 9/11, many states have further restricted information in the public domain and expanded their use of surveillance technology to control their citizens. At the same time, applications like Google Earth and commercial satellite technology also allow spaces to be seen that governments wanted to keep secret from civil society [2]. The increasing availability of commercial and open source satellite imagery has begun to challenge governments’ interpretational sovereignty by opening up spaces for new expert groups to play an influential role in security discourses that is based on their “authoritative claim to policy-relevant knowledge” [3-5]. Indicative for this is the growing amount of international organizations, freelance experts and non-governmental organizations (NGO) that use commercial satellite imagery to augment assessments of global security and human rights issues.

Research Puzzle

Remote sensing is particularly valuable in situations of incertitude and when sites are inaccessible. Similarly, non-governmental expert networks’ leverage to affect the definition of security problems, interests or policy responses is greatest when issues are characterized by political complexity and factual uncertainty [3, 6]. The case of North Korea possesses these characteristics as the development of its nuclear program as well as its human rights situation are heavily contested and the country is difficult to access due to government restrictions. Working around these difficulties, satellite imagery analysts closely observe North Korea’s nuclear facilities, human rights situation and nuclear test sites and publicly report any development on the ground. By combining satellite imagery analysis with various communication channels, this expert network cannot only produce policy-relevant knowledge but also directly disseminate it globally. Against this background, the paper aims at assessing non-governmental satellite imagery analysis’ potential and constraints to provide additional and alternative viewpoints and how it punctures state propaganda and affects public opinion on security and human rights issues in North Korea.

The paper understands knowledge and its context of origin to “play a crucial and complex role in the configuration of societal security” [7]. Therefore, it will focus on practices of security knowledge production and dissemination based on commercial satellite imagery. More precisely, we will ask: (1) How has the commercialization of remote sensing influenced the emergence of non-governmental satellite imagery analysts as an epistemic community? (2) How do non-state experts produce security knowledge about North Korea based on satellite imagery and what is the role of uncertainties in that process?

Theoretical Considerations

The paper is located at the intersection between International Relations (IR) and Science and Technology Studies (STS). Only recently research has started to bring together both disciplines on a theoretical and empirical level to investigate the interrelation of technology, power and security [8-13]. Moreover, only few studies have concentrated how non-state satellite imagery analysis is conducted [14] and how it affects discourses of international politics [15, 16]. Research on remote sensing in international politics can be grouped in two different realms, i.e. governmental and non-governmental. While the former focuses on the capabilities and application in a state security or intelligence context [17, 18], the latter mostly analyzes non-governmental usage and work in areas of human security and environmental issues [14-16, 19, 20]. Early on, scholars pointed to the difficulties of satellite imagery analysis and the potentially severe consequences of incorrect conclusions that are difficult to challenge by non-experts [1, 21]. Despite these early warnings, the knowledge practices of non-governmental satellite imagery analysts are still insufficiently understood and only very limited research has been done on the ways that non-governmental analysts deal with the challenges of analyzing and interpreting satellite imagery in a politically highly sensitive context and how they cope with uncertainties.

Main Arguments and Discussion

We outline different techno-political and epistemic conditions non-state actors face by taking into account not only their technical capabilities but also the political and historical context of remote sensing. This is necessary to build the underlying parameters to frame the modes of knowledge production and subsequent dissemination. We will make two major arguments: (1) The commercialization of space-based remote sensing has laid the foundation for the emergence of an expert group of analysts by increasing their epistemic capacity. (2) This network of non-governmental satellite imagery analysts shares particular norms and epistemic practices and experiences significant uncertainties when producing knowledge about North Korea.

The paper takes political decisions as rarely based on firm knowledge [22] and will contribute to a better understanding and assessment of expert groups’ inherent uncertainties in the process of security knowledge production. In doing so, it attempts to foster a constructive and necessary debate on the legitimacy of knowledge claims in international security. Furthermore, it will offer theoretical considerations on the interrelation of technology, knowledge production and security discourses in IR and STS. Results will also be of interest to practitioners and researchers of development assistance, security policy and humanitarian aid.

References and Notes

1. Skolnikoff, E.B., The Elusive Transformation: Science, Technology, and the Evolution of International Politics, 1993, Princeton: Princeton University Press.
2. Perkins, C. and M. Dodge, Satellite Imagery and the Spectacle of Secret Spaces. Geoforum, 2009. 40(2009): p. 546-560.
3. Antoniades, A., Epistemic Communities, Epistemes and the Construction of (World) Politics. Global Society, 2003. 17(1): p. 21-38.
4. Cross, M.K.D., Rethinking Epistemic Communities Twenty Years Later. Review of International Studies, 2013. 39(1): p. 137-160.
5. Haas, P., Introduction: Epistemic Communities and International Policy Coordination. . International Organization, 1992. 46(1): p. 1-35.
6. Dunlop, C., Epistemic Communities, in Routledge Handbook of Public Policy, E.J. Araral, et al., Editors. 2013, Routledge: New York. p. 229-243.
7. Burgess, J.P., The Future of Security Research in the Social Sciences and Humanities, 2014, European Science Foundation: Strasbourg.
8. Bueger, C., Making Things Known: Epistemic Infrastructures, the United Nations and the Translation of Piracy. International Political Sociology, 2015. 9(1): p. forthcoming.
9. Fritsch, S., Technology and Global Affairs. International Studies Perspectives, 2011. 12(1): p. 27-45.
10. Fritsch, S., Conceptualizing the Ambivalent Role of Technology in International Relations: Between Systemic Change and Continuity, in The Global Politics of Science and Technology: Concepts from International Relations and Other Disciplines, M. Mayer, M. Carpes, and R. Knoblich, Editors. 2014, Springer: Heidelberg. p. 115-138.
11. Herrera, G.L., Technology and International Transformation, 2006, Albany: State University of New York Press.
12. Scheuerman, W.E., Realism and the Critique of Technology. Cambridge Journal of International Affairs, 2009. 22(4): p. 563-584.
13. Weiss, C., Science, technology and international relations. Technology in Society, 2005. 27: p. 295–313.
14. Aday, S. and S. Livingston, NGOs as intelligence agencies: The empowerment of transnational advocacy networks and the media by commercial remote sensing in the case of the Iranian nuclear program. Geoforum, 2009. 40(4): p. 514-522.
15. Herscher, A., Surveillant Witnessing: Satellite Imagery and the Visual Politics of Human Rights. Public Culture, 2014. 26(3): p. 469-500.
16. Hong, C., The Mirror of North Korean Human Rights: Technologies of Liberation, Technologies of War. Critical Asian Studies, 2013. 45(4): p. 561-592.
17. Graham, T. and K.A. Hansen, Spy Satellites and Other Intelligence Technologies That Changed History2007, Seattle: University of Washington Press.
18. Harris, C., The Omniscient Eye: Satellite Imagery, "Battlespace Awareness," and the Structures of the Imperial Gaze. Surveillance & Society, 2006. 4(1/2): p. 101-122.
19. Livingston, S. and W.L. Robinson, Mapping Fears: The Use of Commercial High-Resolution Satellite Imagery in International Affairs. Astropolitics, 2003. 1(2): p. 3-25.
20. Shim, D., Visual Politics and North Korea: Seeing is Believing, 2014, New York: Routledge.
21. Florini, A.M. and Y. Dehqanzada, Commercial Satellite Imagery Comes of Age, in Intelligence and the National Security Strategist: Enduring Issues and Challenges, R.Z. George and R.D. Kline, Editors. 2006, Rowman & Littlefield: Lanham. p. 159-168.
22. Daase, C. and O. Kessler, Knowns and Unknowns in the 'War on Terror': Uncertainty and the Political Construction of Danger. Security Dialogue, 2007. 38(4).

Introduction

The emergence of new communication technologies inevitably raises questions about the extent to which existing media work will change as a result, and this is particularly true in the case of journalism, both for the news production and the news consumption (Deuze & Marjoribanks, 2009; Alqudsi-ghabra, Al-Bannai, T., & Al-Bahrani, 2011; Mitchelstein & Boczkowski, 2010). Different studies have been documented in discussing about whether online news will substitute or displace print newspapers (Ahlers, 2006; Althaus & Tewksbury, 2000; Gentzkow, 2007; Newell, Pilotta, & Thomas, 2008), whether the internet provides a platform through which networked individuals can form a “Fifth Estate” (Dutton, 2009; Baum & Groeling, 2008), and whether the media digitization has affected journalistic norms and practices (Deuze, 2003, 2005; Lewis, Kaufhold, & Lasorsa, 2010). However, most of these studies focused on the analysis either about the online version of existed media (print newspapers or TV) or the role played by social-media platform (i.e. Twitter or Weibo) into the journalistic practices.

Huffington Post, the American online news aggregator, which was the first commercially run digital media enterprise won a Pulitzer Prize in 2012, expanded its business largely since 2011 and opened new branches in main European countries (i.e. U.K., France, Germany, Italy, Spain), Asia (Japan, South Korea), and Latin America (Brazil). Established as a commentary blog in 2005, Huffington Post has grew to become one of the most influential original-produced online news source in a global context nowadays. The Paper (Pengpai Xinwen in Chinese), is a new Chinese online news platform established in July, 2014. Different from the origin of Huffington Post, The Paper is a “new media” project directed by the Shanghai United Media Group (state-owned media), however, it shares the same function as Huffington Post as an original-produced online news source targeted on different levels of digital media market (i.e. Web, APP, Wap, and other social media platform like Weibo and Wechat). Not so many researches have been made yet to investigate case studies of this kind of original-produced “online newspaper”, and even less comparative analyses were conducted to observe the same challenges but different solutions those platforms encounter and manage today across nations—especially under the West-East comparative context. And this paper is thus designed to fill in this gap.      

Methods

Under the theoretic framework of comparative media system studies (Hallin & Macini, 2004; Zhao, 2011) and comparative journalism studies (Rantanen, 2010; Hanitzsch et al, 2011), this paper takes the approach of media political economy to discuss the role played by the state, the market and the audience in Huffington Post and The Paper. Some critical analyses on media content are also equipped for detailed understanding on the news frames (generic news frames and issue-specific frames) used in Huffington Post and The Paper.

Results and Discussion

• The partisan characteristic (Huffington case in Europe) V.S. the role of the state (The Paper in China). The development of Huffington Post in the European case was especially embedded with partisan characteristic from the beginning. Such as the French version of Huffington was in partnership with Le Monde, the German version of Huffington was in partnership with Focus, thus the “Left-wing” orientation of Huffington Post-France and the “Liberal-conservative” orientation of Huffington Post-Germany did impact the news coverage (especially in the French case). The Paper, as a successful experiment of “new media” platform from state-owned media group, has been testing the bottom line of the Communist Party by utilizing its flexibility of providing online-content and its openness from the support of local Shanghai government, however, it still meets limits by receiving pressures from the central government on certain politic news topics.
• The market/users-driven content production (crowdfunding case in Huffington) V.S. the politics/users-driven content production (the liberal orientation on The Paper). In this part the author discussed the crowd-funding case in Huffington to follow the coverage about Michael Brown, to see whether this example could provide original online newspaper an alternative way to follow public-interest with a focus on the “market”; and also discussed the anti-corruption case in Peng Pai to understand its dilemma between Chinese public interests and the Chinese authorities with a focus on the “politics”.  
• Next “New-York times” V.S. next “Nan Fang Zhou Mo”: The construction of news credibility and media accountability are crucial questions for original-produced online newspapers. Huffington Post provided a positive case for this constructive process as it received Pulitzer Prize in the year of 2012 for one of its senior military correspondent, while Peng Pai is still struggling of identifying itself as a successor or an opponent of “South Genre”, which was recognized widely for its liberal orientation that contributes to public democratic debate and the formation of civil society in China.

References and Notes

1. Ahlers, D. (2006) News consumption and the new electronic media. Harvard International Journal of Press-Politics, 11(1), pp.29–52.
2. Alqudsi-ghabra, T. M., Al-Bannai, T., & Al-Bahrani, M. (2011) The Internet in the Arab Gulf Cooperation Council (AGCC): Vehicle of Change. International Journal of Internet Science, 6(1), pp.44–67.
3. Althaus, S., & Tewksbury, D. (2000) Patterns of Internet and traditional news media use in a networked community. Political Communication, 17(1), pp.21–45.
4. Baum, M., & Groeling, T. (2008). New media and the polarization of American political discourse. Political Communication, 25(4), 345–365.
5. Deuze, M. (2003) The web and its journalisms: Considering the consequences of different types of newsmedia online, New Media & Society, 5(2), pp.203-230.
6. Deuze, M. (2005), What Is Journalism? Professional identity and ideology of journalists Reconsidered, Journalism, 6(4), 442-464.
7. Deuze, M., & Marjoribanks, T. (2009) Newswork, Journalism, 10(5), pp.555-561.
8. Dutton, W.H. (2009). The Fifth Estate emerging through the network of networks. Prometheus, 27(1), pp.1–15.
9. Gentzkow, M. (2007). Valuing new goods in a model with complementarity: Online newspapers. American Economic Review, 97(3), pp.713–744.
10. Hallin, D.C. & Mancini, R.M. (2004) Comparing Media Systems: Three Models of Media and Politics. Cambridge University Press
11. Hanitzsch et al (2011) Mapping Journalism Cultures Across Nations: A comparative study of 18 countries. Journalism Studies, Volume 12, Issue 3, pp. 273-293
12. Lewis, S.C., Kaufhold, K. & Lasorsa, D.L. (2010) Thinking about citizen journalism: The philosophical and practical challenges of user-generated content for community newspapers, Journalism Practice, 4(2), pp.163-179.
13. Mitchelstein, E., & Boczkowski, P. J. (2010) Tradition and transformation in online news production and consumption, In Dutton, W. H. (Eds.), The Oxford handbook of Internet studies. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
14. Newell, J., Pilotta, J. & Thomas, J. (2008). Mass media displacement and saturation. International Journal on Media Management, 10(4), pp.131–138.
15. Rantanen, Terhi (2010) Methodological inter-nationalism in comparative media research: flow studies in international communication In: Roosvall, Anna and Salovaara-Moring, Inka, (eds.) Communicating the Nation: National Topografies of Global Media Landscapes. Nordicom Publications, Gothenburg, pp.25-39.
16. Zhao, Y.Z. (2011) The Challenge of China: Contribution to a transcultural political economy of communication for the twenty-first century. In Wasko, J. et al. (Eds.) The handbook of Political Economy of Communications, Wiley-Blackwell publication, pp.558-582.

Introduction

Enterprise Social Media (ESM) have become increasingly popular over the last 5 years and promise to increase knowledge sharing, facilitate global collaboration and simplify work through quicker access to information. ESM afford visibility and persistence of content, as well as editability allowing ESM users to retain some control over content produced [5]. Yet, when implementing Social Media in corporate settings, employees are often reluctant to use such new platforms and only little is known about the actual adoption and use of ESM in corporate environments. From the few examples that exist to date [2] we know that many employees consider ESM as a waste of time and yet another tool of surveillance.

In addition, and in the light of the existing social media boom of recent years, many employers take successful ESM implementation within their companies for granted. And in fact, the existing literature on digital labor has demonstrated that often individuals are willing to expense efforts and time to participate and contribute to Social Media platforms without any monetary compensation [3-4]. For many Social Media users the mere participation, socialization and the chance of building up a reputation online are reward enough [1].

Encouraged by such voluntarily given online activity, corporate managers often expect that employees will start to actively utilize ESM in addition to their daily work, without critically reflecting that using Enterprise Social Media requires both time and effort on part of the employee that is neither listed in job descriptions nor performance targets. I argue instead that employees are expected to contribute to ESM platforms under the pretext of voluntariness, meaning that the managerial communication of the platform is explicitly voluntary yet when looked more closely signs of pressure, dependency and lack of choice surface. I therefore propose that this adds a new dimension to the digital labor literature, which so far has not yet explored the effects of Enterprise Social Media in relation to digital labor.

Methods

This research draws on data collected between March 2014 and January 2015 in which I intensively studied the implementation of a new Enterprise Social Media system in a large multinational technology company based in Germany. Using a mixed methods approach I gathered both qualitative and quantitative data. Firstly I conducted ethnographic work offline in the corporate headquarters, secondly I carried out ethnographic work online using the ESM platform implemented at the studied company. Finally I conducted a large survey carried out in the 28 biggest employee communities of the company using the new platform, resulting in a final N of 2690 employees.

The offline ethnographic work mainly comprised of dozens of informal conversations I had during visits to the four different company sites to which I had access during the research period. The online ethnographic work consisted of participant observation on the platform where I actively contributed to the content created on the ESM platform, and started and participated in existing conversations online. The sample for the survey was randomly drawn after having obtained an excel list of all potential employees with access to the new ESM tool and narrowing it down to employee communities with at least 1000 employees leaving me with the 28 biggest countries. By drawing on these different methods I was able to achieve data triangulation, allowing a comprehensive picture to emerge that combined both statistical as well as in-depth qualitative insights.

Results and Discussion

From my research a complex situation surfaced, revealing an existing tension between the apparent social functions of ESM, a rigid legal context forbidding any private use of the platform and a management body caught up in the struggle to provide Social Media to employees in order to reap ESM’s often proclaimed benefits and management’s unwillingness to invest time and human resources into the success of the platform. Furthermore, the data showed that the concept of voluntariness of Social Media in a private setting does not automatically translate into corporate surroundings, where such voluntariness turned out to be a mere illusion. Instead, it became clear that ESM much rather add a new dimension of exploitation to the existing employer-employee relationship by expecting employees 1) to use Enterprise Social Media on top of their normal work duties, 2) to utilize skills that have been acquired during leisure time and 3) by deriving value from employees long after they have left the organization as their once intangible knowledge becomes manifest and permanent online.

Conclusions

In conclusion, I argue that to date the digital labor literature has left one crucial dimension unexplored, namely corporate digital labor, that is, extra and uncompensated labor in corporate settings that is increasingly expected of employees contributing to both an intensification and extension of work. In addition, as the data showed, while on the surface the corporate dimension of digital labor differs significantly from the digital labor on conventional Social Media platforms, as employees have agreed to a contractual and monetary relationship; a closer look revealed that ESM encroach on employees’ leisure time in multiple ways allowing employers to reap value from their employees during work, after work and even beyond an employee’s exit of the company. This research presents a first step in better understanding digital labor in corporate settings, yet more research in different organizations will be necessary to investigate this new dimension further. In particular, future research will be necessary to understand if and how these currently exploitative dynamics will change once ESM have become more widely used by employees.

References and Notes

1. Hesmondhalgh, D. User-generated Content, Free Labour and the Cultural Industries. Ephemera - Theory & Politics in Organization, 2010, 10, 267-284.
2. Pettersen, L. From Mass Production to Mass Collaboration – Institutionalized Hindrances to Social Platforms in the Workplace. Nordic Journal of Science and Technology Studies, 2014, 2, 29-40.
3. Ross, A. In search of the lost paycheck. In Digital labor: The Internet as a Playground and Factory; Scholz. T, Ed.; Routledge: London, UK, 2012; pp. 13-32.
4. Terranova, T. Free Labor. In Digital labor: The Internet as a Playground and Factory; Scholz. T, Ed.; Routledge: London, UK, 2012; pp. 33-57.
5. Treem, J.W.; Leonardi, P.M. Social Media Use in Organizations Exploring the Affordances of Visibility, Editability, Persistence, and Association. In Communication Yearbook; Salmon, C.T., Ed.; Routledge: New York, USA, 2012; Volume 36, pp. 143-189.

This study investigates whether Internet technology and New Media innovations have been homogenizing British and Chinese press journalism, and, if not, in which ways and why they have responded differently.

The basic assumption of the thesis has been raised from Fidler’s mediamorphosis theory and it argues that the transformation of mass media is normally brought about by a complex interplay between many variables (1996). To do this, the study examines the complex processes through which news organizations have been repositioning their brand identity and value, and through which journalistic professionals have been redefining the notion of their craft and their work practices in the UK and China. It first takes a historical perspective identifying the commonalities and differences between press journalism of the two countries as well as social and economic conditions that have influenced the ways in which newspapers have responded to the development of communication technologies. The thesis then selects four well-established newspapers from the UK and China and compares the commonalities and differences between the online content they produced, their editorial organizational patterns, established journalistic culture in the four selected newsrooms. This study in the end discussed the impacts of the complex interplay between historical journalistic traditions, commercial drives and organizational structure as well as journalistic practices upon the ways in which newspaper organizations in the two countries have responded to Internet technology and New Media innovations.

This study finds that although all newspapers claim to be multi-platform content providers, the two British newspapers, The Guardian and the Daily Mail, have enhanced their brand value on the Internet by extending their journalistic values and good practice online, while the two Chinese newspapers, the China Youth Daily and the Southern City Daily, have faced a decline in brand credibility, a decrease in journalistic integrity and an erosion of self-satisfaction among Party journalists. This study identifies the changes in organizational structure, as well as the negotiations between the Internet’s social and technical dimensions with newsroom culture; and it goes on to evaluate how newspapers have managed to achieve a good online strategy and excellent online journalistic practice, and have enhanced journalists’ self-perception.

However, the findings have also shown that there is a danger of deterioration in the quality of journalism, and the reasons have been identified as: 1. Requirements for multimedia skills; 2. increased competition between 24-hour news channels, online news portals and social media platforms; 3. the replacement of traditional editorial judgments and journalistic practice through the availability of various technical supplements.

The study makes two contributions to knowledge. First, the comparison between the UK and China is a starting-point in seeking a new approach to the understanding of media convergence and New Media phenomena, and a new way of reasoning as to how the interplay between technological, cultural, commercial and political pressures might shape journalism in terms of newsroom practice/routines and organizational structure in different countries. Second, it is the first doctoral study in the UK and other English–speaking countries to compare how newspapers organization practice online journalism in the UK and China as responses to the development of Internet technologies and New Media innovations, not only by providing empirical evidence, but also by providing quantitative content analysis of newspapers’ online websites and a comparison between each newspaper’s online and offline versions. It will bring the understanding of Chinese journalism up-to-date.