Introduction: Assessing the Social and Political Impact of the Internet and New Social Media in Asia

Abstract

This paper introduces a special issue on the social and political impact of new information communications technologies (ICTs) in Asia, with specific attention paid to new social media. This paper provides some contextualisation of the broader questions that the principal literature on the subject raises, namely questions about the effectiveness of ICTs as tools for mobilisation and information exchange; mechanisms of censorship and control; and the nature of public discourse on the Internet. In doing so, the paper introduces and locates the articles that comprise this special issue within these debates.

Key Words:

• Internet
• new social media
• mobilisation
• public sphere

Acknowledgement

Four of the articles presented in this special feature section are drawn from the participants at a workshop entitled “The Jasmine Revolution and the Bamboo Firewall: The impact of the Internet and new social media on political change in East Asia” hosted by the Center for Asian Democracy at the University of Louisville, August 24–25, 2011.