Asia-com-Asia-encounters-the-Internet.html

edited by K.C. Ho, Randolph Kluver and Kenneth C.C. Yang

270 pages

2003 RoutledgeCurzon, London

Review by Madanmohan Rao madan@techsparks.com

The Internet is developing more rapidly in Asia than most other parts of the world, and this book joins a number of studies on the diffusion and impact of the Internet on politics, journalism and identity in Asia and its diaspora population.

The 15 chapters are divided into two parts, one covering overall critical perspectives and the second featuring case studies of countries and issues. The 22 contributors are drawn from Asia, the US and Europe. The papers are selected from a conference on the Internet and development in Asia, held in Singapore in September 2001 and funded partly by Microsoft and the Lee Foundation.

K.C. Ho is associate professor at National University of Singapore, Randolph Kluver is assistant professor at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore, and Kenneth C.C. Yang is associate professor at the University of Texas, El Paso.

ICTs are a priority investment in the basket of items essential to the building of a country’s economic competitiveness, the editors begin; ICT contribution to GDP and productivity in many countries has been increasing. Despite uneven ICT diffusion, a number of Asian countries have developed pro-ICT policies at the highest levels, though more significant regulatory and institutional culture changes are called for. More attention needs to be paid by Asians to issues like online pricacy, the wired or “coded” nature of Internet impacts on free speech, and the “superempowerment” afforded to potential terrorists.

Critical issues: Diffusion, control and ownership

Tim Beal provides quantitative analysis of Internet diffusion in Asia, but cautions that “follower countries” need not necessarily follow the US model of Internet usage. Local variations include leapfrogging (eg. directly into mobile phones, over landline telecoms) and heavy reliance on community-oriented access models (eg. cybercafes).

Though developing countries should not fall victim to “technology fetishism,” they should nonetheless spur use of ICTs via infrastructure, R&D, standards, portals and e-procurement.

Anthony D’Costa addresses the growing ranks of Asian IT professionals in the global workforce, the growth of knowledge clusters like Bangalore and their convergence with core markets overseas as well as divergence from the rest of the country.

East Asian countries have managed considerable industrial upgrading whereas in South Asia new ICTs are “grafted onto existing forms of inequality.” Still, the continued expansion of meritocracy and education will in the long run spread the fruits of employment in the IT sector to rural middle class populations; global integration with transational IT will continue to be the best course for economic policy, according to D’Costa.

David Lyon addresses surveillance trends by corporations and governments in cyberspace, and calls for new Asian perspectives in these issues which go beyond the US fixation with privacy and Europe’s satisfaction with reliable data protection. Carolyn Penfold provides case studies of Internet control in Australia, Singapore and China, which differ in control mechanisms at the level of content hosts, ISPs and users. “Internet content is likely to remain regulated in most nations in a manner and to a degree similar to other media,” according to Penfold.

While some analysis see the digital age as an opportunity to rethink authorship, creativity and private property, others see it as an era of massive theft, according to Debora Halbert. “Despite rampant piracy throughout the US and Europe, it was Asia that became the focus of anti-piracy campaigns,” observes Halbert.

Because very few people in Asia can actually afford the expense of most Western products, providing pirated versions may be seen as a larger good, eg. products like engineering textbooks. Thus the open source revolution may be a far better model for development than the proprietary system for Asian countries, Halbert advocates. Many Asian countries are now going beyond earlier models of technology transfer, to technology innovation and production.

Case studies: Journalism, civil society and identity

Merlyna Lim provides a fascinating account of the role of the Internet during the resistance movements in Indonesia. The Internet enabled the creation of new “cyber-terrains of contests over identity.” Internet pioneers like Onno Purbo created innovative models of low-cost access via warnet (Internet cafes), and provided access beyond the traditional reach of commercial ISPs and postal offices (WasantaraNet).

Mailing lists like Apakabar (started by an American, John McDougall), Pijar, Suara Demokrasi and Parokinet circulated Indonesian news around the world and provided valuable space for political discussions not otherwise available in mainstream media. Information flowed from cyberspace to the streets of Indonesia in the form of photocopied posters, and then back into cyberspace in the form of online communication by grassroots activist organisations.

Similar developments were observed in Malaysia, regarded by some analysts as a “semi-democracy.” James Chin provides a detailed case study of the invigorative impact of MalaysiaKini.com on the flow of news in Malaysia and abroad, especially for opposition parties. In addition to political harassment, the bigger challenge faced by the independent online news site is ensuring sustaibility or commercial viability; attempts to increase subscription revenue are being pursued.

Li, Quan and Kluver provide a content analysis study of the impact of online chatrooms on the news agenda in China. During the spyplane incident between the US and China in 2001, online chat rooms displayed a liveliness not found in traditional Chinese media. Chinese authorities seem willing to tolerate a certain amount of frankness in cyberspace.

Citizens in China now have the ability to find alternative news sources online if they grow distrustful of government sources, thus challenging the agenda-setting function (“soft power”) of the Chinese media. “In the age of globalisation, without the immediate and profound press reforms, Western media will eventually set the agenda for the Middle Kingdom,” the authors warn.

Karsten Giese also addresses how the Internet is simultaneously an indicator, catalyst and agent of an accelerated socio-cultural change in mainland China, by constructing, performing and reproducing multiple identities. Based on a study of Chinese BBSs, Giese observes the growth of linguistic innovations like slang and the use of altered spellings and words for getting around censorship blocks.

Leslie Tkach-Kawasaki identifies how the Internet is simultaneously altering and reinforcing political relationships in Japan, especially through the use of the Net and cellphones by campaigning parties.

Despite Japan’s notorious reputation in trafficking of women and creation of child pornography Web sites, the Internet has also empowered urban and rural women by transcending the limits of social marginalisation and homebound life, according to Junko Onosaka. It has helped women find a new social life, seek and offer emotional support, share resources on caring for the aged, start entrepreneurial companies, coordinate social service, mobilise protests (eg. over the US military bases in Okinawa), and mobilise during UN summits.

Other case studies in the book focus on “netwar” patterns of Internet usage by Sri Lankan Tamil militant movements to target “the uncommitted, the sympathetic and the active” audiences online, and keep the civil war issue alive in the international media.

K. Arul analyses the growth of Internet communites which may or may not overlap at all with physical communities, especially with regard to Hindu extremist group discussions in Usenet forums. Much discussion in some of these forums has tended to focus on “flame wars” and mechanisms to deal with them.

Lee and Chan address the use of the Net as not just a technology and a medium but an “engine of social relations” for Singapore youth. They analyse patterns of interaction between youth for whom the Net was an extension of existing relationships, as well as those for whom it overlapped partially or not at all with physical meetings. Most Singaporean youth’s online communication tends to be with locals. “The Internet is part of their real world,” according to the authors; the youth also see the Net as an efficient tool for organising their social interactions and thus building “social competence.”

In sum, this is a useful book on the spectrum of Internet impacts in Asia. “As Asia encounters the Internet, both Asia and the Internet are changed,” the authors conclude.h

More perspectives on issues like policy formulation, e-government, cross-media interaction and media/ICT industries would have rounded off the material very well. Still, this book should be counted as an informative contribution to the growing literature of new media in Asia.

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Madanmohan Rao is the editor of “The Asia-Pacific Internet Handbook”

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