Program

*Program is subject to change.

Date: May 27 -28, 2015
Location: Telus Centre, University of Alberta
87 Avenue & 111 Street, Edmonton, Alberta
Conference Venue: Tier Classroom 134

Day 1 Wednesday May 27, 2015
8:30 AM - 5:030 PM

8:30 - 9:00 AM Continental Breakfast

9:00 - 9:30 AM Welcoming Remarks

University of Alberta Deputy Provost, Roger Epp
China Institute Director, Gordon Houlden
CIRC Co-Organizers, Ashley Esarey and Min Jiang

9:30 - 10:15 AM Keynote Address

Guobin Yang, University of Pennsylvania, "A Civilizing Process: Speech Censorship in China from Wall to Firewall"

10:15 - 10:30 AM Break

10:30 - 12:00 PM Panel 1: "Uncivil Society in Digital China"

Panel Chair: Min Jiang
Rongbin Han, University of Georgia, "Three Images of 'Public Intellectuals': Contesting Online Expression in China"
Shaohua Guo, Carleton College, "The Appeal of Style: Taboo Breakers and Cultural Contention in China's Digital Public"
Hu Yong, Peking University, "Taiwan Public Figures' Voices on Cross-Strait Controversies through Different Social Networks of Choice"
Tony Zhiyang Lin, University of Hong Kong, "A Case of Microblog Debates: The Interactive Contexts, the Semiotic Strategies and the Polarized Dialogues"
Kevin M. Deluca and Elizabeth Brunner, University of Utah, "Creating China's Uncivil Society via Bodies and Social Media: From Environment Justice to Social Justice"

12:00 - 1:00 PM Lunch

1:00 - 2:00 PM Roundtable Discussion: "The Internet in China at 20 Years"

Panel Chair: Jia Wang, University of Alberta
Jack Linquan Qiu, Chinese University of Hong Kong
Peter Yu, Texas A&M University School of Law
Hu Yong, Peking University

2:00 - 2:15 PM Break

2:15 - 3:45 PM Panel 2: "Public Opinion Online"

Panel Chair: Ryan Dunch, University of Alberta
Steve Balla, George Washington University, "Online Consultation"
Yuan Wang and Rongbin Han, University of Georgia, "Paying Lip Service or Taking it Seriously? How the Chinese Government Responds to Online Complaints"
Li Guo, University of British Columbia, "The Emergence of a Mini Public Sphere: Online GMO Public Opinion Mobilization in China"
Meiying Li, New York University, "Who Sets the Agenda of the Social Media Discussion on the Kunming Attack? An Analysis of the Information Agenda on Weibo for a Terrorist Attack"
Shuning Lu, University of Texas at Austin, "Media Event Revisited: The Live Tweeting of China's Moon Landing on Weibo"
Lotus Yang Ruan, University of British Columbia, "Manufacturing a Controlled Civil Society in China"

3:45 - 4:00 PM Break

4:00 - 5:30 PM Panel 3: "Sex, Gender, and Sensation"

Panel Chair: Daouda Cissé, University of Alberta
Marcella Szablewicz, Pace University, "(Un)Civil Society: Digital Gaming, Heteronormativity and Sexual Slang on the Internet"
Carlotta James, Psiphon Inc., "From Taboo to Tolerance: Using the Internet in China to Advocate for LGBT Rights"
Huang Peiying and Li Xueqing, Chinese University of Hong Kong, "Exploring the Poles of Narcissism, Social Anxiety, Use of the Social Media and Gratification on the Psychological Well-Being and Support for Single Women"
Tianyang Zhou, University of Sussex, and Lianrui Jia, York University, "The Making of Online Celebrity: A Case Study of a Rural Chinese Same-Sex Couple-Anwei and Yebin"

6:15 - 8:00 PM Dinner (by Invitation Only)

Faculty Club, University of Alberta

Day 2 Thursday May 28, 2015
8:30 AM - 5:00 PM

8:30 - 9:00 AM Continental Breakfast

9:00 - 10:30 AM Panel 4: Information Management and Control

Panel Chair: Jean DeBernardi, University of Alberta
Jason Q. Ng, The Citizen Lab, University of Toronto, "Justifying Censorship: Using WeChat Public Posts to Examine the Chinese Initiative to Curtail Online Falsehoods (Anti-Rumor Campaign)"
Yawei Liu and Ying Zhu, The Carter Center, "Lost in Transition: A Case Study of Chinese Censorship on the US-China Perception Monitor WeChat Accounts and its Implications"
Rogier Creemers, University of Oxford, "An Interconnected World with Chinese Characteristics? China Engagement with Global Governance"

10:30 - 10:45 AM Break

10:45 - 12:15 PM Panel 5: "Government Propaganda and the 'Push' Factor Online"

Panel Chair: Gordon Houlden, University of Alberta
Maria Repnikova and Fang Kechang, "Propaganda 2.0: The Digital Modes of Top-Down Persuasion in China"
Lianrui Jia, York University, "What Public and Whose Opinion? A Critical Analysis of Chinese Online Public Opinion Management Specialists"
Ping Shum, King's College, London, "Beyond Censorship: The CCP's Proactive Propaganda Strategies on the Internet"
Qian Yu, Washington State University, "SNS Use by the Chinese Government: Examining the Communication Mechanism of Political Microblogging in China"

12:15 - 1:15 PM Lunch

1:30 - 2:30 PM Roundtable Discussion: "Chinese Internet or Internet in China?

Chair: Ashley Esarey, University of Alberta
Guobin Yang, University of Pennsylvania
Rongbin Han, University of Georgia (TBD)
Marcella Szablewicz, Pace University
Weiyu Zhang, National University of Singapore

2:00 - 2:15 PM Break

3:00 - 4:30 PM Panel 6: "Pop Culture, Entertainment and Globality"

Panel Chair: Daniel Fried, University of Alberta
Weiyu Zhang, National University of Singapore, "Reading Politics Out of Entertainment: Chinese Fans' Interpretation of House of Cards"
Lijie Dong, Southwest University, "Internet Literature Reading Applications and Readers in China"
Hamilton Cheng and Yang Lee, Public Television, "Sunflower Movement Media Advocacy and the Confrontation of Public Service Broadcasters"
Tokunbo Ojo, York University, "China in Africa: Huawei and Nigerian Telecommunications"

4:30 - 5:00 PM Graduate Student Papers Award Ceremony

5:45 - 7:30 PM Dinner (by Invitation Only)

Faculty Club, University of Alberta