Tues, June 28. 15.30-17.30.

The use of Internet tools such as blogs, Facebook, Twitter, etc., to advocate for justice and gather support around certain causes has enormously shaped the political landscape across the world over the past decade. It not only unites people to challenge the authority but also tears people apart, as said by Wael Ghonim, activist who helped spark the Egyptian Revolution. Despite disillusion, people still aspire for real changes by bringing solidarity, civility and thoughtfulness to social activism in a digital era. In response to this yearning, the two speakers of this salon will share their research findings and working experiences with us.

Rolien HOYNG is Visiting Assistant Professor of Cultural Studies at Lingnan University. Her work is primarily situated in Istanbul and Hong Kong. It explores digital information technologies in relation to urban governance as well as practices of resistance. Topics she writes about include information infrastructures and digital environmental governmentality, e-waste, digital labor, and the socio- technical networks of emerging forms of activism and dissent. Publications have appeared in Cultural Studies, New Media and Society, International Journal of Cultural Studies, and Television and New Media.

LAM Oi-wan, who co-founded Hong Kong citizen journalist website inmediahk.net, is Northeast Asia editor at globalvoicesonline.org and a part-time lecturer at the Master Program of Global Communication at the School of Journalism and Communication in the Chinese University of Hong Kong.