Online Contribution Practices in Countries That Engage in Internet Blocking and Censorship

Irina Shklovski, Nalini Panchita Kotamraju

    Research output: Conference Article in Proceeding or Book/Report chapterArticle in proceedingsResearchpeer-review

    Abstract

    In this article we describe people’s online contribution practices in contexts in which the government actively blocks access to or censors the Internet. We argue that people experience blocking as confusing, as a motivation for self-censorship online, as a cause of impoverishment of available content and as a real threat of personal persecution. Challenging ideas of blocking as a monolithic, abstract policy, we discuss five strategies with which Internet users navigate blocking: self-censorship, cultivating technical savvy, reliance on social ties to relay blocked content, use of already blocked sites for content production as a form of protection and practiced transparency. We also discuss strategies that forum owners and blogging platform providers employ to deal with and to avoid blocking. We conclude by advocating for more research that acknowledges the complexity of the contexts in which all Internet users contribute to the Internet and social media.
    Original languageEnglish
    Title of host publicationCHI '11 : CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems Vancouver, BC, Canada — May 07 - 12, 2011
    EditorsDesney Tan, Geraldine Fitzpatrick, Carl Gutwin, Bo Begole, Wendy Kellogg
    Number of pages10
    PublisherAssociation for Computing Machinery
    Publication date2011
    Pages1109-1118
    ISBN (Print)978-1-4503-0228-9
    Publication statusPublished - 2011
    EventThe ACM CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems 2011 - Vancouver, BC, Canada
    Duration: 7 May 201112 May 2011
    http://chi2011.org/

    Conference

    ConferenceThe ACM CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems 2011
    Country/TerritoryCanada
    CityVancouver, BC
    Period07/05/201112/05/2011
    Internet address

    Keywords

    • Internet censorship
    • Online contribution practices
    • Self-censorship
    • Government blocking
    • Digital navigation strategies
    • Social media content
    • Technical savvy
    • Internet freedom
    • Content protection
    • Online surveillance

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