- Dr. Gejun Huang earned his Ph.D. degree in Media Studies from the Department of Radio-TV-Film, UT Austin. His researc... moreDr. Gejun Huang earned his Ph.D. degree in Media Studies from the Department of Radio-TV-Film, UT Austin. His research focuses on the global game industry, media entrepreneurship, cultural policy and creative economy, and the sociocultural impacts of digital media technologies. He has published in peer-reviewed journals including Big Data & Society, Cultural Trends, International Journal of Communication, Chinese Journal of Communication, American Behavioral Scientist, and among others.edit
- Wenhong Chenedit
This article explores how entrepreneurs in the Chinese digital game industry initiate their venture creation by investigating the relationship between their social capital and key steps of identifying entrepreneurial opportunities in the... more
This article explores how entrepreneurs in the Chinese digital game industry initiate their venture creation by investigating the relationship between their social capital and key steps of identifying entrepreneurial opportunities in the premarket entry stage: opportunity recognition and opportunity evaluation. Drawing on semistructured interviews with 33 gaming entrepreneurs in Shanghai, the findings show that social capital plays a minor role in their recognition of opportunities, whereas it substantially affects their opportunity evaluation. These entrepreneurs adopt varied approaches to accessing and mobilizing social capital given their situated industry sectors. Those who focus on commercial game products or services prioritize specific members of professional networks, while those on indie and fledgling game products and services rely more on diverse ones. Such a difference in networking practices is subject to the industry's overarching dynamics.
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As a key constituent of China's approach to fighting COVID-19, Health Code apps (HCAs) not only serve the pandemic control imperatives but also exercise the agency of digital surveillance. As such, HCAs pave a new avenue for ongoing... more
As a key constituent of China's approach to fighting COVID-19, Health Code apps (HCAs) not only serve the pandemic control imperatives but also exercise the agency of digital surveillance. As such, HCAs pave a new avenue for ongoing discussions on contact tracing solutions and privacy amid the global pandemic. This article attends to the perceived privacy protection among HCA users via the lens of the contextual integrity theory. Drawing on an online survey of adult HCA users in Wuhan and Hangzhou (N = 1551), we find users' perceived convenience, attention towards privacy policy, trust in government, and acceptance of government purposes regarding HCA data management are significant contributors to users' perceived privacy protection in using the apps. By contrast, users' frequency of mobile privacy protection behaviors has limited influence, and their degrees of perceived protection do not vary by sociodemographic status. These findings shed new light on China's distinctive approach to pandemic control with respect to the state's expansion of big data-driven surveillance capacity. Also, the findings foreground the heuristic value of contextual integrity theory to examine controversial digital surveillance in non-Western contexts. Put tougher, our findings contribute to the thriving scholarly conversations around digital privacy and surveillance in China, as well as contact tracing solutions and privacy amid the global pandemic.
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China’s cultural policy has been a key driver to the formation and development of the domestic digital game industry. In line with the nationwide promotion of “Mass Entrepreneurship and Innovation” since 2015 (He et al., 2019), there has... more
China’s cultural policy has been a key driver to the formation and
development of the domestic digital game industry. In line with
the nationwide promotion of “Mass Entrepreneurship and
Innovation” since 2015 (He et al., 2019), there has witnessed an
increasing emphasis on entrepreneurship in the related cultural
policies at the local level, especially in China’s major cities known
for high-tech creative clusters. Focusing on the thriving
gaming entrepreneurship in Shanghai, this article adopts an
entrepreneurial ecosystem approach to examine the understudied
relationship between the creation of gaming ventures
and the relevant set of cultural policy. Drawing on 33 gaming
entrepreneur interviews complemented by policy content, this
article provides rich accounts of how gaming entrepreneurs react
to and reflect on the local cultural policy in relation to two key
elements of the entrepreneurial ecosystem: financial capital
availability and support services. The findings shed new light on
creative autonomy and cultural policy in China.
development of the domestic digital game industry. In line with
the nationwide promotion of “Mass Entrepreneurship and
Innovation” since 2015 (He et al., 2019), there has witnessed an
increasing emphasis on entrepreneurship in the related cultural
policies at the local level, especially in China’s major cities known
for high-tech creative clusters. Focusing on the thriving
gaming entrepreneurship in Shanghai, this article adopts an
entrepreneurial ecosystem approach to examine the understudied
relationship between the creation of gaming ventures
and the relevant set of cultural policy. Drawing on 33 gaming
entrepreneur interviews complemented by policy content, this
article provides rich accounts of how gaming entrepreneurs react
to and reflect on the local cultural policy in relation to two key
elements of the entrepreneurial ecosystem: financial capital
availability and support services. The findings shed new light on
creative autonomy and cultural policy in China.
Entrepreneurs have been a driving force in the rapid development of the Chinese digital game industry. However, in previous studies, little attention has been paid to entrepreneurs’ business development and performance, especially the... more
Entrepreneurs have been a driving force in the rapid development of the Chinese digital game industry. However, in previous studies, little attention has been paid to entrepreneurs’ business development and performance, especially the ways in which they obtain key resources in the process of venture creation. Because most gaming entrepreneurs in China have wrestled with fundraising difficulties in recent years, this study was conducted to examine how gaming entrepreneurs acquire financial capital from a social capital perspective. Data were collected from 33 in-depth interviews with gaming entrepreneurs who were operating ventures in Shanghai, one of China’s major game industry hubs. The data included detailed accounts of the acquisition of financial capital in relation to the local entrepreneurial ecosystem’s four capital providers: business angels, venture capitalists, incubators/accelerators, and government funding agencies. The findings showed that the gaming entrepreneurs in this study used diverse patterns of social capital access and mobilization to acquire financial capital. The findings also showed how the entrepreneurs had adjusted their social capital use in response to the worsening financial market. The findings of this study contribute to the literature on the Chinese digital game industry by articulating how gaming entrepreneurs leverage social resources to enact venture creation.
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As the Internet penetration in the United States increases, many digital divide researchers have delved into the parent–child dynamics regarding family digital access and use. However, little attention has been paid to digital parenting... more
As the Internet penetration in the United States increases, many digital divide researchers have delved into the parent–child dynamics regarding family digital access and use. However, little attention has been paid to digital parenting in terms of monitoring, guiding, and regulating children's digital lives, especially in the context of disadvantaged communities. As an initial step to fill the critical gaps in related literature, this study casts light on factors that affect the self-efficacy of digital parenting in disadvantaged urban communities. Using a census survey of public housing households in one of the largest public housing authorities in the United States, we found that single motherhood and home Internet access significantly accounted for low–socioeconomic status parents' digital parenting self-efficacy. We also found that parental engagement in children's school activities strongly affected their digital parenting self-efficacy. By contrast, we found that other sociodemographic and socioeconomic factors (i.e., gender, education, race/ethnicity), mobile Internet access, parents' homework help, and educational expectation fail to be contributing factors.
Research Interests:
Privacy has become a crucial issue of the digital age, with significant social, political, and economic ramifications. A growing body of literature has dedicated to the patterns, causes, and consequences of individuals' privacy concerns,... more
Privacy has become a crucial issue of the digital age, with significant social, political, and economic ramifications. A growing body of literature has dedicated to the patterns, causes, and consequences of individuals' privacy concerns, skills, and practices. Advancing a producer's perspective, this research draws on in-depth interviews with 45 tech entrepreneurs to examine privacy practices of mobile start-ups in the United States. Results reveal (a) factors that contribute to the problematic status of privacy issues and (b) whether and how entrepreneurs leverage privacy management as a competitive advantage. Results show that data are widely seen by entrepreneurs as a potentially profitable asset. Privacy practices are networked and thus pose challenges for privacy management as different parties may have different privacy practices. Fast-moving technologies often leave government regulations behind, making them look outdated or irrelevant to many entrepreneurs. For most start-ups not specialized in identity, privacy, or anonymity service, privacy is neither a core business strategy nor a top concern. Only a few mobile ventures have leveraged privacy management as a competitive advantage and designed their products from the ground up concerned about privacy. Most entrepreneurs adopt a building-the-plane-while-flying-it approach: as business grows, privacy policies and practices would evolve. Many entrepreneurs fail to recognize the significance of privacy policies and practices as they lack the awareness, bandwidth, and capacity. Growth and monetization pressures from investors are perceived as more urgent and important than privacy and security issues. Offering a richer account of the power structure that shapes mobile entrepreneurs’ privacy practices and their challenges of managing privacy in a data driven
digital economy, our work advances the existing literature dominated by
stories of the individual consumers.
digital economy, our work advances the existing literature dominated by
stories of the individual consumers.
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Abstract A decade after Google Fiber promised faster, cheaper internet connections in selected American cities, few studies have investigated its adoption, let alone in disadvantaged urban communities. Drawing on a household survey of... more
Abstract A decade after Google Fiber promised faster, cheaper internet connections in selected American cities, few studies have investigated its adoption, let alone in disadvantaged urban communities. Drawing on a household survey of public housing communities in Austin, Texas, a major Google Fiber city, we examine how relational, technological and community factors affect Google Fiber signup. Results show that community intervention combining digital inclusion programs and promotional neighborhood events was the most important contributor that elevated the likelihood of signing up for Google Fiber. Internet use, network diversity, expectations about the outcomes of digital inclusion programs, and having young children living in the household also significantly increased the likelihood of Google Fiber signing up. The findings have policy implications, highlighting the importance of coordinated efforts of the public, private, and non-profit sectors to engage underprivileged urban residents in a digital future through targeted community interventions.
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Privacy has become a crucial issue of the digital age, with significant social, political, and economic ramifications. A growing body of literature has dedicated to the patterns, causes, and consequences of individuals’ privacy concerns,... more
Privacy has become a crucial issue of the digital age, with significant social, political, and economic ramifications. A growing body of literature has dedicated to the patterns, causes, and consequences of individuals’ privacy concerns, skills, and practices. Advancing a producer’s perspective, this research draws on in-depth interviews with 45 tech entrepreneurs to examine privacy practices of mobile start-ups in the United States. Results reveal (a) factors that contribute to the problematic status of privacy issues and (b) whether and how entrepreneurs leverage privacy management as a competitive advantage. Results show that data are widely seen by entrepreneurs as a potentially profitable asset. Privacy practices are networked and thus pose challenges for privacy management as different parties may have different privacy practices. Fast-moving technologies often leave government regulations behind, making them look outdated or irrelevant to many entrepreneurs. For most start-up...
Research Interests:
In this article, we argue that new kinds of risk are emerging with the COVID-19 virus, and that these risks are unequally distributed. As we expose to view, digital inequalities and social inequalities are rendering certain subgroups... more
In this article, we argue that new kinds of risk are emerging with the COVID-19 virus, and that these risks are unequally distributed. As we expose to view, digital inequalities and social inequalities are rendering certain subgroups significantly more vulnerable to exposure to COVID-19. Vulnerable populations bearing disproportionate risks include the social isolated, older adults, penal system subjects, digitally disadvantaged students, gig workers, and last-mile workers. Therefore, we map out the intersection between COVID-19 risk factors and digital inequalities on each of these populations in order to examine how the digitally resourced have additional tools to mitigate some of the risks associated with the pandemic. We shed light on how the ongoing pandemic is deepening key axes of social differentiation, which were previously occluded from view. These newly manifested forms of social differentiation can be conceived along several related dimensions. At their most general and ...
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
As the Internet penetration in the United States increases, many digital divide researchers have delved into the parent–child dynamics regarding family digital access and use. However, little attention has been paid to digital parenting... more
As the Internet penetration in the United States increases, many digital divide researchers have delved into the parent–child dynamics regarding family digital access and use. However, little attention has been paid to digital parenting in terms of monitoring, guiding, and regulating children’s digital lives, especially in the context of disadvantaged communities. As an initial step to fill the critical gaps in related literature, this study casts light on factors that affect the self-efficacy of digital parenting in disadvantaged urban communities. Using a census survey of public housing households in one of the largest public housing authorities in the United States, we found that single motherhood and home Internet access significantly accounted for low–socioeconomic status parents’ digital parenting self-efficacy. We also found that parental engagement in children’s school activities strongly affected their digital parenting self-efficacy. By contrast, we found that other sociod...
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
The neologism of phubbing, a coalesce of phone mediated activities and snubbing effects, caters to the public’s imperative to accentuate the ubiquitous perception of being annoyed, disregard, and offended in light of phone’s presence in... more
The neologism of phubbing, a coalesce of phone mediated activities and snubbing effects, caters to the public’s imperative to accentuate the ubiquitous perception of being annoyed, disregard, and offended in light of phone’s presence in co-present situation. Its symptomatic record accompanies important achievements of diffusing mobile media in developing countries, in which young people are one of the most active social groups in this scenario. By incorporating and relating to the theories of media displacement, we focus on the analysis of a Brazilian and Chinese young people survey, pinpointing how they understand and cope with the tensions between mobile media and face-to-face interaction. The results might provide new tissues to the discussions on media displacement.
Também disponível em: http://revistaseletronicas.pucrs.br/ojs/index.php/revistafamecos/article/view/21005
Também disponível em: http://revistaseletronicas.pucrs.br/ojs/index.php/revistafamecos/article/view/21005