Week 9: Digital Age and Cyber Space

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YcuGdj0x_os

After the fall of Saigon, many Vietnamese fled the country. Though they were able to escape Vietnam, they had to leave lots of things behind, including people the care and love. Communication was very difficult between people in Vietnam and people who had escape from there. In “Social Transformation from Virtual Communities,” Valverde acknowledge readers about the developments of internet communication technology (ICT) in Vietnam. These developments gave Vietnamese diaspora connections with Vietnamese. This expanded No-Nike Campaign further with cyberspace.
 After the Vietnam War, there was very limited communication within and outside the boarders of Vietnam. Though technology was expanding in more develop countries, technology in Vietnam was very limited. Technology such as internet access was not available in Vietnam Many Vietnamese, who studied abroad, such as United States, had to leave all technology behind. In the late 1980’s and early 1990’s many of those students and other overseas scholars push for ICT development. When internet was starting up in Vietnam, activists created VNforum to create connection with Vietnamese and Vietnamese diaspora.  This was very difficult for many Vietnamese because the Vietnam government and anticommunist always cracked down. Activist still fought for VNforum.
They development of internet in Vietnam they were able push for the No-Nike Campaign and created other opportunities. After exposure of Nike factories with the help of VNforum and internet access, they were able to give workers better labor conditions. VNBIZ was also created in the light of communication technology via internet. VNBIZ is similar to VNforum but is less threaten because it discusses less political topics. Dot Choui Non is a blogging site. All of these are monitored by Vietnamese government official. Some of these website requires real names, so posting and blogging it done at one own risks.   



“Mapping Networks of Support for the Zapatista Movement: Applying Social-Networks Analysis to Study Contemporary Social Movements” - Maria Garrido and Alexander Halavais

The Zapatista movement is unique from other movements because it used the internet to create its organization to expand its ideas, its support networks and take advantage of the globalization done by technology, particularly the internet. The Zapatista movement was a revolution in Mexico in 1994. The organization occupied a town with armory to fight against the poverty that plagued the indigenous communities. This organization used the internet “as a tool for global mobilization” for social change (Garrido & Halavais, 174). By using the internet for global mobilization, they united a forefront of workers throughout the world in disadvantaged economic positions. Together, these disadvantaged groups throughout the world could unite through “ties, roles and strategic alliances” (Garrido & Halavais, 174) to help fuel the Zapatista movement. The article states that globalization has taken away power from nations and decentralized that power into divisions of nonstate actors. Globalization through the internet has helped spread ideas and information throughout underrepresented groups and these groups can also spread their ideas throughout the global world wide web. - Nam Phuong Pham

1.) How did the Zapatista movement deal with online oppositions to the movement?

2.) In such an inclusive movement, what ways did the Zapatista movement centralize its focus and plan its next actions without a “leader”?

3.) Which different disadvantaged groups in different nations did the Zapatista movement influence and how much did they copy from the original Mexican movement?

        In the article, "Notes on Queer 'N' Asian Virtual Sex" by Daniel Tsang explains how techonology is a new way for queer Asians to "come out" of the closet and talk about their sexuality. For example, the Bulletin Board System (BBS) is a virtual community in cyberspace that is used by homosexualities, especially gay Asian Americans, to "meet others for affection, romance, love, and sex..." (432). However, through this virtual community people can lie about their real identity to protect their privacy, but others take advantage of this to create a whole new person. This includes changing peoples ethnicity, age, or sexual orientation. A Chinese man from Taiwan had changed his ethnicity to Caucasian, and realized that he receives more messages from people who are interested in him. 
       Moreover, many members of BBS are spending hours on the site, instead of going out to gay bars to meet new people. This has become the new way for gay Asians to interact with other gay people, since some of them might feel uncomfortable to be with the same sex partner in public. Also, a person who signs up to be a member on BBS doesn't necessarily mean that they are "coming out" because not all of them are using their real identity. Conversely, Asians are becoming more visible with their gay identities. In 1994, "...gay and lesbian Asian contingent has marched in San Francisco's Chinatown" (434). This is a great example to explain how gay Asians are starting to express their sexual identity, even though it may be against cultural norms. 
        
1) How have virtual communities affect one's identity? Do you think this is a negative or positive thing?

2) Is it important to have these virtual communities for queer or gay Asians to express themselves, even though they are deceiving other members with their false identity?