Thursday, November 12, 2015

Week 9 Blog: Winnie Chen

            The impact of information communication technology (ICT) has led to a world dependent on the Internet, but it has allowed users to easily obtain the information they need within seconds of searching on any forum or server. From Transnationalizing Viet Nam, Kieu-Linh Caroline Valverde labels this phenomenon as “Social Transformations from Virtual Communities”, in which the power of ICT has allowed Vietnamese from the homeland to maintain connections with Vietnamese in the diaspora through the use of Internet, cell phones, and other sources of ICT. However, even this source of communication was limited and regulated by the Vietnamese government, and in the diaspora, connections within were often limited and conflicted. Such connections included the VNForum, which was eventually closed to open soc.cult.vietnam (SCV). Due to debates between communist and anticommunist sympathizers and lack of accountability, the online discussion forum became uncontrollable because it was a space of expression and concern for the homeland, but it was also a space to attack those who did not share the same political views. Conflicts, sentiments, and feelings about the homeland do not go away even when you are online. Even on cyberspace, forums like VNForum and SCV ultimately reflect the state of the homeland and the diaspora.

Question: Beyond VNForum and what existed when ICT first emerged decades ago, what is the state of ICT currently in Vietnam?

Works Cited:
Valverde, Kieu-Linh Caroline. "Popular Music: Sounds of Home Resistance and Change." Transnationalizing Viet Nam: Community, Culture, and Politics in the Diaspora. Philadelphia: Temple UP, 2012. Print.


Image: http://brandaiddigital.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/ICTBanner.jpg

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