January  2016 35
研究論文Research Articles
防火牆真的讓中國與世隔絕了嗎?從整合互聯網屏蔽和文化因素的角度來解釋網絡用戶的使用習慣
Does the Great Firewall Really Isolate the Chinese?Integrating Access Blockage with Cultural Factors to Explain Web User Behavior
  (4940)
作者 哈什.塔納加、吳曉
Author Harsh TANEJA, Angela Xiao WU
關鍵詞 網絡屏蔽、用戶重疊、審查、文化接近性、基於文化的市 場、互聯網、過濾、全球化、媒介選擇
Keywords access blockage, audience duplication, censorship, cultural proximity, culturally defined markets, Internet, filtering, globalization, media choice
摘要 有關「互聯網審查」的國際主流言論認為,一些政府對外國網站的屏蔽(亦稱封鎖)將全球互聯網割裂為互不通氣的用戶群體。這一言論的假設是,如果給予人們充分的自由,那麼網民會選擇使用所有的網站。我們對此作出質疑。本文將互聯網屏蔽這一因素與社會結構結合,發展出解釋網絡用戶選擇行為的整合理論框架。本研究認為,用戶們訪問的是讓他們在文化上有親近感的網站,只有當這些網站被屏蔽的時候,「互聯網屏蔽」因素才產生作用。本文將網絡封鎖尤其嚴重的中國作為研究對象,將中國互聯網使用模式與其他地區進行對比。通過對全球1,000個最流行網站的用戶數據進行分析,本文發現,基於用戶重疊而形成的網站「群集」的主導因素是語言和地域性。使用中文和關乎大中華地區的網站構成了一個獨立「群集」,且從「網站組成」和「隔絕指數」兩方面看,這個華文 / 華人地區集群與世界上其他基於地理語言的「群集」並無殊異。本文通過實證研究揭示出,文化接近性較之於互聯網屏蔽,可以更好地解釋用戶網絡行為。
Abstract The dominant understanding of Internet censorship posits that blocking access to foreign-based websites creates isolated communities of Internet users. We question this discourse for its assumption that if given access people would use all websites. We develop a conceptual framework that integrates access blockage with social structures to explain web users’ choices, and argue that users visit websites they find culturally proximate and access blockage matters only when such sites are blocked. We examine the case of China, where online blockage is notoriously comprehensive, and compare Chinese web usage patterns with those elsewhere. Analyzing audience traffic among the 1,000 most visited websites, we find that websites cluster according to language and geography. Chinese websites constitute one cluster, which resembles other such geo-linguistic clusters in terms of both its composition and degree of isolation.Our sociological investigation reveals a greater role of cultural proximity than access blockage in explaining online behaviors.



本文引用格式﹕

哈什.塔納加、吳曉(2016)。〈防火牆真的讓中國與世隔絕了嗎?從整合互聯網屏蔽和文化因素的角度來解釋網絡用戶的使用習慣〉。《傳播與社會學刊》,第35 期,頁27–55。



Citation of this article:

Taneja, H., & Wu, A. X. (2014). Does the Great Firewall really isolate the Chinese? Integrating access blockage with cultural factors to explain web user behavior. The Information Society, 30(5), 297–309.
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