Suchergebnisse

Moving beyond the publicness-oriented perspective in Internet censorship studies, this article directs attention to censorship's consequences for users' personal lives. We examine "account bombing" in China, a phenomenon where social media platforms suspend user accounts permanently, and we focus on the loss of the "victims." Notably, people commonly use social media accounts as personal archives that store their digital traces, from which they obtain a sense of self, and perceive the accounts as their private property. We use the dignity takings theory to illustrate the dual harm the victims suffer in account bombing: Censorship deprives them of both their social media accounts and dignity. We propose the concept of "dual dehumanization" to explain the dignity violation in account bombing, as this arbitrary conduct not only occurs in a dehumanizing manner, but also destroys users' identity work and community ties.

"Account bombing" is the phenomenon in which Internet regulators permanently block some individual users' social media accounts without the users knowing in advance. In this study, we frame account bombing as a form of user-targeted censorship by Internet platforms, which disrupts individual users' daily routines. To understand how Chinese Internet users make sense of their experiences of account bombing, our study examines user narratives about this practice, paying particular attention to the metaphors they employ. Our findings suggest that users often use metaphors related to the body and death, such as "death sentence, ghosts, reincarnation," and a person's "will." Overall, body-and-death metaphors reveal the irreversibility of account bombing and the uneven power relations of the Chinese Internet, which are heavily skewed toward regulators. These metaphors also establish the relevance of the seemly individual, sporadic experience of account bombing to a broader audience, evoking affective and political sympathy.

Abstract Background Due to the potential of human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination for decreasing cervical cancer rates in Mainland China, where some of the highest incidences in the world have been reported , our study aimed to assess HPV and HPV vaccine knowledge, and to evaluate the effect of a brief educational intervention on HPV knowledge and vaccine acceptability in Chinese undergraduate students and employed women. Methods This multi-center, cross-sectional study was conducted across five representative cities of the five main geographical regions of Mainland China. Participants were selected from one comprehensive university and three to four companies in each city for a total of six comprehensive universities and 16 companies. A 62-item questionnaire on HPV knowledge and HPV vaccine acceptability was administered to participants before and after an educational intervention. The intervention consisted of an informative group lecture. Results A total of 1146 employed women and 557 female undergraduate students were surveyed between August and November 2011. Baseline HPV knowledge was low among both groups— 320/1146 (28%) of employed women and 66/557 (12%) of students had heard of HPV, while only 237/1146 (21%) of employed women and 40/557 (7.2%) of students knew that HPV is related to cervical cancer. After educational instruction, 947/1061 (89%) of employed women and 193/325 (59%) of students knew the relationship between HPV and cervical cancer ( χ 2 = 1041.8, p < 0.001 and χ 2 = 278.5, p < 0.001, respectively). Post-intervention, vaccine acceptability increased from 881/1146 (77%) to 953/1061 (90%), (p = <0.001) in employed women and 405/557 (73%) in students to 266/325 (82%), (p < 0.001). Women in both groups cited concerns about the HPV vaccine's safety, efficacy, and limited use to date as reasons for being unwilling to receive vaccination. 502/1146 (44%) of women were willing to vaccinate their children at baseline, which increased to 857/1061 (81%) post-intervention, p < 0.001. Conclusions Incorporation of our lecture-based education initiative into a government-sponsored or school-based program may improve HPV-related knowledge and HPV vaccine acceptability. Further studies are needed to evaluate and standardize HPV education programs in China.