iGeneration 08

Exegesis

      Ethnic-language media is one of the most important elements in the lives of international students, long-term travelers and both old and new migrants in their new host country. According to Zhou et al., publications is placed in a dominant position among various media forms in ethnic-language media (2006, p.52). Community newspapers actually provide a source for these ‘foreign’ people to gather informations on different aspect of life, ranging from news to suggestions for dinner. This audio project aims to examine how one of the most widely circulated community newspaper, Australia Asia Business Weekly (formerly Asia Times), contribute to the Chinese community in Perth, as well as the experience of participating in such publication.

      As a small-scale community weekly, it allows the participation of non/semi-professional people, such as students, in the production process. The interviewee in the podcast is one of them. In this case, a supposed-to-be consumer becomes a producer. Reporters can decide what they want to cover in some of the pages apart from hard news, with the approval of the editor at the end, but they do have the power to determine their own focus of stories that they are writing. Though the top down relationship of producer and audiences still exist, but the hierarchy is being relaxed.

      As mentioned in the project, both the reporter (interviewee) and readers have a feel of home and sense of belonging to the community by writing and reading the weekly. Chavis argues the ‘sense of community’ or identity is more important to a community than physical locality (cited by Gooch, 2008, p.19). The Chinese community has the advantage of living in the same area, and the sense of belonging created by the newspaper enhances the ‘social bond’ among the community. The ‘social bond’ (2002) suggested by Jenkins has being intensified by the internet. Unlike the internet, the community newspaper does not provide immediate access and speedy interactions between readers, but the ‘social bond’ still has developed within the community. The community has formed their own ‘ethnic networks to find housing, jobs and their way around’ (Zhou et al., 2006, p.67).

      In addition, the community newspaper creates linkage between the diasporians and their homeland. The Chinese newspaper emphasizes particularly on news in China and other Southeast Asian region, so it ‘keeps immigrants in close contact with the homeland, thus easing the psychological and emotional problems of being a foreigner’ (Zhou et al., 2006, p.69). Once again it creates a ‘sense of community’ (Gooch, 2008, p.19) to the Chinese people in Perth, but this time with the people in their homeland, especially friends and relatives. Although people staying in different localities cannot conduct immediate conversations through the newspaper, still it brings forth a sense of community which transcends geographical locations.

      This audio project is produced in the form of a podcast and supposedly being uploaded to a blog, which people can browse freely while they surf the World Wide Web. The circulation of newspaper is limited to physical locality as readers have to show up at the distribution point to get copies, as well as promotion of the paper is greatly limited to mouth-to-mouth transfer. Like fandom before the emergence of internet, it is a ‘week-end only world’ (2002), as Jenkins suggests. However, since the World Wide Web gives ‘a surprising degree of public visibility’ (ibid.) to its contents, the efficiency of promotion will be rocketed if it is publicised through the internet, allowing more people to acknowledge its presence and advantages brought to the community. Sadly, the newspaper remains as a ‘week-end only world’, since the newspaper is published once a week, and still being limited to its physical distribution.

      Apart from how the contents of the podcast engage in participatory culture, as mentioned above, the podcast is being uploaded to the internet so that people with the connection would have the chance of approaching it. That means the person who creates and uploads the podcast, which is me, has also engaged in participatory culture. Dery describes ‘all forms of DIY (Do-It-Yourself) media as “jamming”’ (Cited by Jenkins, 2002). The podcast jammed the Australian and Chinese culture together as it talks about Chinese community newspaper in Perth.

      In conclusion, this audio project attempts to examine how a supposed-to-be consumer tries to participate in community newspaper publication and how the community newspaper contributes to the Chinese community in Perth. The hierarchy of small-scale community newspaper is relaxed due to the employment of students as volunteer reporters. The newspaper creates a better sense of community to both producers and consumers. Moreover, the podcast itself helps to inform people on the existence of such community newspaper through a much efficient way of publicizing, the World Wide Web. Last but not least, the podcast is also a cultural product engaged in participatory culture.

The Podcast

audio-project-shemila-cheng [4:22]

Bibliography

Gooch, Betsy (2008) ‘The Communication of Fan Culture: The Impact of New Media on Science Fiction and Fantasy Fandom.’ http://smartech.gatech.edu/bitstream/1853/21818/1/gooch_betsy_r_200805_ro.pdf (accessed 8 September 2008)

Jenkins, Henry (2002) ‘Interactive Audiences? The “Collective Intelligence” of Media Fans’, in Dan Harries, ed., The New Media Book. London: British Film Institute, pp.157-170.

Zhou, Min, Wenhong Chen and Guoxuan Cai (2006) ‘Chinese-language media and immigrant life in the United States and Canada’, Wanning Sun, ed., Media and the Chinese Diaspora: Community, Communications and Commerce, New York: Routledge, pp.42-74.

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