"網路通訊科技在過去二十年間的快速發展,已經劇烈地改變人們的生活方式,特別是對人際溝通和社會網絡的影響。表現在政治行為層面,最顯明的就是公民參與形式、頻率、組成方式、參與份子,許多造成一國政治情勢重大改變的政治運動,已經不再仰賴傳統的實體社團組織來進行動員,組織上也不需要少數發起者投入大量資源,而是由一群自發性的公民透過網絡的串聯,在極短的時間內,以最少的成本就能夠成功的組織一場影響社會輿論和政治情勢的政治運動,比方說美國的佔領華爾街運動、台灣的太陽花運動、香港的佔中運動、馬來西亞的淨選盟運動(Bersih)、中東的阿拉伯之春等等。網絡通訊科技的進步所帶來的社群媒體蓬勃發展,取代了原先一對多的大眾傳媒環境,而演變成多對多、每個人都可以是自媒體、進行即時互動的資訊傳播和組織動員時代。
政治學中已經有許多學者注意到社群媒體時代下公民參與的行為變遷,多數的研究集中在政治傳播的領域,主要的核心議題在網路通訊科技對於政治溝通和政治參與的影響。然而過往研究在最基本的議題¬上卻有不同的發現,此議題為「當人們已經習慣於以社群媒體為主要的人際溝通工具時,究竟對於他們的政治參與行為有怎樣的影響」?主流的看法認為社群媒體的興盛會大幅提高人們的社會運動參與(social activism),因為一般公民會利用網通工具的便利,透過公民運動的發起和組織,鼓吹並且實際推動志願工作主義(volunteerism)。然而其他研究則指出,儘管網通工具的強大通訊功能,社群媒體的興盛更多帶來的是資訊爆炸後對人們注意力的分散,或者是網路空間上其他行動的替代性,因此或許大家接觸到政治資訊的頻率和強度增加,但人們可能寧願選擇在網路上吸收和表達政治意見,宣洩自己的政治興趣,卻不會化成實際行動(鍵擊行動主義);有些人則會因為網路空間上充斥著大量是非難辨的負面新聞,或者發現非政治類的資訊更吸引人,開始對於政治產生冷感,變成莫不關心政治(政治冷漠感),甚或也有人會變成所謂的酸民,看不慣一切既有事物,而以在網路上盡情發表批判言論取代他們實際的政治參與行動(犬儒主義)。這些有關於公民參與的基本行為變遷樣態的分佈模式,很大程度上決定了該社會中網通科技進步所帶來的政治影響,本子計畫就是希望透過實際的資料收集,來研究在亞洲社會中,網通科技進步在不同社會脈絡中帶來的公民參與行為模式的變遷究竟為何。"
"The rapid development of Internet communications technology over the past two decades has dramatically changed the way people live, especially in terms of interpersonal communications and social networks. At the level of political behavior, the most obvious changes are found in the form, frequency, composition, and participants in civic activism. Political activism in the Internet era has been cited as factor in political change across many countries, and is no longer dependent on traditional organizations for mobilization. Organizations no longer require the investment of resources from a small number of patrons; instead, groups of ordinary citizens can spontaneously organize influential political movements in a short amount of time and using minimal resource. Examples of such social movements include the Occupy Wall Street Movement in the U.S., the Sunflower Movement in Taiwan, the Occupy Movement in Hong Kong, the Bersih Movement in Malaysia, and the Arab Spring in the Middle East. The rapid growth in social media bought about by the advancement in Internet communication technology is replacing the traditional “one-to-many” media environment with a new “many-to-many” environment, with each individual having their own media channel for the dissemination of information and organizational mobilization.
Many scholars in political science have noted changes in patterns of civic participation in the social media era. Most of this research is focused on the field of political communication, exploring the impact of Internet technology on political communication and political participation. However, previous studies have produced many different findings to a basic research question: “When people are in the habit of using social media as their main tool for interpersonal communication, how does this effect their political participation behavior?” The mainstream view is that the rise of social media will greatly increase social activism because ordinary citizens are able to use the Internet to initiate and organize social movements and promote volunteerism. However, other studies have found that although the Internet is a powerful tool for communication, the growth of social media has led to an explosion of information that has distracted people’s attention, or that online actions may act as a substitute real life actions. Therefore, while the frequency and strength of contact with political information may be increasing, people may increasingly prefer to absorb and express political opinions on the Internet, but without turning it into actual action (keyboard activism). Since the Internet also contains a large amount of negative information about politics, and non-political information may be more attractive to users, the Internet may actually lead to increasing disconnection from politics (political indifference). People may become cynical, using the Internet to vent their anger rather than actually participating in politics to try and change things (cynicism). These patterns of behavioral changes in civic participation to a large extent determine the political effects of advances in Internet technology. This sub-project will collect data to study changes in civic participation behavior brought about by the development of Internet technology in different Asian social contexts."