Author: Yan Zhang
Email: shenhaiyanzi@gmail.com Student number: S2811588
Home University: University of Groningen Supervisor: Dr. Chris Lamont
Host University: Ruhr-Universität Bochum Supervisor: Dr. Markus Moke
How to apply participatory media in the DRR area from the perspectives of three main stakeholders in China?
Concluded March 2017
This thesis is submitted for obtaining the Joint Master’s Degree in International
Humanitarian Action. By submitting the thesis, the author certifies that the text is from
his own hand, does not include the work of someone else unless clearly indicated, and
that the thesis has been produced in accordance with proper academic practices.
Abstract
The purpose of this thesis is to answer the question of how to apply participatory media in the DRR area that facilitates the DRR work and relives its potential risks in China.
There is little research that focuses on the actual application of participatory media in the DRR area, let alone its possible effects and potential risks, which indicates a clear gap between the practice and the study. In this thesis, the main question will be answered through addressing a set of sub-questions.
In Chapter 2, the study completes the theoretical base through the literature review with the definitions of participatory media and DRR, and analysis of their current statuses respectively from a global and local perspective. To facilitate answering the question pointedly, the study also demonstrates the current status of participatory media and DRR in China. And then, the study does a qualitative and quantitative analysis on the good practices of applying participatory media in the DRR area from the perspectives of three DRR stakeholders in China in the following chapters.
From Chapter 3 to Chapter 5, three important DRR stakeholders in China, including the government, NGOs and INGOs and the public in China, served as the major groups for research. Thus, their good practices of applying participatory media in the DRR area are presented in this thesis.
The Chinese government reinforces the coordination between other DRR stakeholders and itself as well as improves its working efficiency in the DRR area through three main attempts, including establishing an effective participatory information mechanism, forming a collaboration matrix and providing smart services for DRR. For NGOs and INGOs in China, Several NGOs or INGOs like One Foundation, BSR and ZMDISC, have been selected as case studies for this thesis. Based on these cases, the study introduces three new attempts for applying participatory media in DRR work by NGOs and INGOs in China, including raising funds for DRR projects, providing a better guidance for DRR, and offering online and offline DRR education or trainings. In spite of the government and NGOs, the public is also one of the important DRR stakeholders.
The study indicates that the public in China facilitates the DRR work by two main
means. The first one is that DRR information on participatory media platforms
published or disseminated by individuals enriched the DRR information sources of
other people or even DRR projects’ leaders. The second one is that applying
participatory media in DRR work improves individuals’ capability of representation as well as understandability on DRR discussions and motivates more people to join in DRR work through participatory media platforms. During the in-depth DRR discussion and participation through participatory media platforms, a majority of participants had a better DRR awareness, which finally facilitates the DRR work.
However, challenges for applying participatory media in DRR work remains and root
causes are discussed in Chapter 6 through a set of semi-structure interviews, such as the
fragmentation of information about disasters, the limited feedbacks and insufficient
evaluation on DRR activities and the public needs for DRR work, and the imbalance
distribution of media resources in different disasters. Furthermore, the study lays out
priorities for applying participatory media in DRR work, which involve relevant
national policies and successful attempts, as well as future plans of NGOs and INGOs in
China. Finally the contribution and future steps are concluded in Chapter 7. For relevant
DRR stakeholders, the study aim to increases the understanding of applying
participatory media in DRR work for these DRR stakeholders, both on a theoretical and
practical level. The good practices, challenges and priorities in application are presented
to help properly utilizing participatory media in DRR work.
Table of Contents
List of Abbreviations ... 5
List of Tables ... 7
List of Figures ... 7
Chapter 1 Introduction ... 8
1. 1 Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) in China... 8
1.2 The Application of Participatory Media in Daily Life and the DRR work ... 9
1.3 State of Arts ... 10
1.4 Object of Study and Research Methodology ... 11
1.5 Research Structure... 12
Chapter 2 Theoretical Framework: Participatory Media and DRR ... 14
2.1 Introduction ... 14
2.2 Participatory Media ... 14
2.2.1 Understanding Media ... 14
2.2.2 Understanding Participatory Media ... 16
2.2.3 Participatory Media in China ... 18
2.3 DRR... 21
2.3.1 Understanding disaster risk ... 21
2.3.2 Understanding DRR ... 22
2.3.3 DRR in China... 24
2.4 Applying participatory media in the DRR area in China ... 28
Chapter 3 How to Apply Participatory Media in DRR Work from the Perspective of the Chinese Government ... 29
3.1 Introduction ... 29
3.2 Establishing an Effective Participatory DRR Information Mechanism ... 29
3.2.1 Background ... 29
3.2.2 Establishing an Effective Participatory DRR Information Mechanism ... 31
3.3 Forming A DRR Collaboration Matrix ... 33
3.3.1 Background ... 33
3.3.2 Forming a DRR Collaboration Matrix ... 34
3.4 Providing Smart DRR Services ... 36
3.4.1 Background ... 36
3.4.2 Providing Smart DRR Services ... 37
Chapter 4 How to Apply Participatory Media in DRR Work from the Perspective of NGOs ... 40
4.1 Introduction ... 40
4.2 Fundraising for DRR Projects ... 40
4.2.1 Background ... 40
4.2.2 Innovating the Donating Ways ... 43
4.2.3 Further Cooperation between NGOs and Public Figures ... 45
4.2.4 Estimating the Information Asymmetry between NGOs and the Public ... 46
4.3 Providing Accurate Disaster Information, Professional DRR Guidelines and the Better
Guidance for Mobilizing Resources ... 48
4.3.1 Background ... 48
4.3.2 Providing Accurate Disaster Information and Professional DRR Guidelines ... 50
4.3.3 Providing the Better Guidance for Mobilizing Resources ... 52
4.4 Providing both Online and Offline DRR Education and Trainings ... 53
4.4.1 Background ... 53
4.4.2 Providing Offline DRR Education and Trainings ... 56
4.4.3 Providing Online DRR Education and Trainings ... 58
Chapter 5 How to Apply Participatory Media in DRR work from the Perspective of the Public ... 61
5.1 Introduction ... 61
5.2 Enriching Information Sources and Providing Need Assessment for DRR Work ... 61
5.2.1 Background ... 61
5.2.2 Enriching Information Sources for DRR Work ... 62
5.2.3 Providing Needs Assessments for DRR Work ... 66
5.3 Enhancing the Participation of the Public in DRR Discussions and the Understanding of Relevant Outcomes ... 67
5.3.1 Background ... 67
5.3.2 Enhancing the Participation of the Public in DRR discussions and the Understanding of Related Outcomes ... 68
Chapter 6 Future Challenges and Priorities of Applying Participatory Media in the DRR Area ... 72
6.1 Introduction ... 72
6.2 Challenges for Applying Participatory Media in the DRR Area ... 72
6.2.1 Unstructured and Unclassified Information about Disasters ... 72
6.2.2 The Limited Feedbacks and Insufficient Evaluations on DRR Activities and the Public Needs for DRR Work ... 73
6.2.3 The Imbalance and Unreasonable Distribution of Media to Different Disasters ... 74
6.3 Priorities for Applying Participatory Media in the DRR Area ... 77
6.3.1 Completing the Information Verification and Classification as well as Diminishing Negative Effects of the Misleading Information ... 77
6.3.2 Further Cooperation between DRR Stakeholders and the Owners of Participatory Media Platforms ... 79
6.3.3 Developing More Cooperative and Complementary Relationship between Traditional media and Participatory media in the DRR Area ... 81
Chapter 7 Conclusion ... 84
7.1 Introduction ... 84
7.2 Research Results ... 84
7.2.1 The Creation of a Theoretical Framework ... 84
7.2.2 Main Research Results and Conclusions ... 85
7.3 The Contribution of the Research ... 87
7.4 Limitations of the Research and Recommendations of Future Research ... 87
Bibliography ... 89
Appendices I: Interviews to explore the application and development of
participatory media in the DRR area ... 96
List of Abbreviations
DRR Disaster risk reduction
NGO Non-governmental organization
INGO International non-government organization
CRED Center for Research on Epidemiology of Disasters CNNIC China Internet Network Information Center MAU Monthly active users
DAU Daily active users
SC Save the Children
CNKI China National Knowledge Infrastructure IDC Internet Data Center
ITU International Telecommunication Union UNDRO United Nations Disaster Relief Organization
UNICEF United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund UNISDR United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction HFA Hyogo Framework for Action
ARF ASEAN Regional Forum
CMA China Meteorological Administration MAC Ministry of Civil Affairs
MWR Ministry of Water Resources SOA Sate Oceanic Administration MLR Ministry of Land and Resources CEA China Earthquake Administration MA Ministry of Agriculture
MH Ministry of Health
SAWS State Administration of Work Safety
MIIT Ministry of Industry and Information Technology SFA Sate Forestry Administration
MEP Ministry of Environmental Protection MPS Ministry of Public Security
PRC People’s Republic of China
CENC China Earthquake Networks Center
CISAR China International Search and Rescue Team
TNT Trinitrotoluene
ICL Institute of Care-Life
PGIS Police Geographic Information System CYDF China Youth Development Foundation
CNY Chinese Yuan
CFPA China Foundation for Poverty Alleviation CIDF China Internet Development Foundation
BSR Blue Sky Rescue
SARS Severe Acute Respiratory Syndromes WHO World Health Organization
IFRC International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Society ZMDIS ZhuoMing Disaster Information Service
UNDP United Nations Development Program
IAEM International Association of Emergency Manager
PV Page View
UV Unique Visitor
List of Tables
Table 1: Natural and technological disasters in China (2010-2015) Table 2: Government departments for disaster management in China Table 3: The most popular channels to obtain DRR information
List of Figures
Figure 1: Types of media with top-down and bottom-up Figure 2: The ecosystem of participatory media
Figure 3: DRR framework
Figure 4: The Summary for the warm package project in 2012
Figure 5: The amount of post, commentary and forwarding on Sina Weibo in 2010
Chapter 1 Introduction
1. 1 Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) in China
China is a high-risk natural hazards and technological disasters country due to its enormous population, industrialization, complicated weather and geographic conditions (Yi et al., 2011). According to the statistics of the Center for Research on the Epidemiology of Disasters (CRED), during the period from 2010 to 2015, China has suffered from 1101 disasters, over 44% of which are caused by natural hazards and the rest ones are technological disasters (Emdat.be, 2017). China is suffered from almost all kinds of natural disasters each year, including droughts, earthquakes, floods, typhoons, heavy snows and so on (Emdat.be, 2017). Meanwhile, technological disasters like industrial accidents, miscellaneous accidents, and transport accidents also occurred. Due to the great amount of disasters, China is the country that has the most severe disasters.
The increasing number of disasters has caused extensive damages in a wide area of China, including damages both on infrastructure and economy, and the most important, on a large number of casualties. It has been indicated by CRED data that during the period from 2010 to 2015, around 127,896 people were killed and 1,628,069,891 people were affected by the disasters in China (Table 1). These disasters also caused far more 322,818,189 dollars loss in economy (Table 1). To relieve the damage caused by disasters, the government, non-governmental organizations (NGO) and international non-governmental organizations (INGO) in China have carried out great efforts to build the DRR framework.
Natural disaster in China (2010-2015)
Disaster sub-type Events count Total deaths Total affected Damage (US dollar)
Drought 21 134 309,250,000 17,264,115
Earthquake 85 92,109 62,271,966 103,117,157
Epidemic 5 423 6,829 0
Extreme temperature 8 233 81,087,822 21,401,200
Flood 161 10,401 827,467,758 115,309,884
Landslide 43 3,322 2,182,375 960,400
Mass Movement (dry) 3 101 360 8,000
Storm 152 4,151 345,517,280 64,742,433
Wildfire 2 22 303 0
Total 480 110,896 1,627,784,693 322,803,189
Technological disaster in China (2010-2015)
Disaster sub-type Events count Total deaths Total affected Damage (US dollar)
Industrial accident 402 10,966 270,133 -
Miscellaneous accident 80 1,968 6,515 -
Transport accident 139 1,551 2,785 15,000
Total 621 17,000 285,198 -
Table 1: Natural and technological disasters in China (2010-2015) (Emdat.be, 2017)
Despite the efforts have been put on, building an effective DRR framework is a challenging task which covering the period from the disaster preparation to the rebuilding after disasters. This is mainly due to the variety of disasters, the dynamics of disaster processes and the complexity of managing system itself. An effective DRR framework should involve multiple professional groups, and require a combined effort from the government, related organizations/enterprises, and the public. Thus, to set up a stable and accessible platform for all these groups has been a crucial issue for reducing disaster risks and to have effective responds to disasters.
1.2 The Application of Participatory Media in Daily Life and the DRR work
Along with the development of communication technology, Internet has become more
and more popular. The report of China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC)
indicates that by June 2016, the number of Internet users in China reached 710 million
and the coverage of Internet had reached 51.7% of the population. This has led to a
continuous growth for 5 years (CNNIC, 2016). Meanwhile, the participatory media
which highly relies on the Internet has also been developed with an incredible speed. A
great amount of participatory media platforms have been established, including Sina
Weibo and WeChat. And people in China have more opportunities to use the
participatory media for their daily life and their works. Taking Sina Weibo as an
example, by September 2015, the amount of monthly active users (MAU) had reached
212 million (Fan, 2016). Also in September 2015, the amount of daily active users
(DAU) had reached 1 billion, which had increased by 30% compare to the date from the
same time last year (Fan, 2016). Furthermore, with the universal application of
participatory media in people’s daily life and work, the effects of participatory media on
users’ habits of living and working as well as their ways of making decisions, are
gradually growing. WeChat, a participatory media platform with 697 million MAU in
2015, is a good example in this area (Tecent, 2016). On the report of WeChat’s impact
published by Penguin Intelligence, WeChat is gradually becoming a part of people’s
daily life and work in China, and over 55.2% of WeChat users open the application for an average of 10 times a day (Tecent Tech, 2015). Meanwhile, WeChat had been an important platform for communication, on where users keep in touch with each other or expand their social networks. There are 62.7% of WeChat users who have more than 50 friends on the platform, and around 57.3% of WeChat users make new friends or reconnect to friends they haven’t heard for years through the platform (Tecent Tech, 2015).
Due to the wide use of participatory media in China, the Chinese government, relevant organizations and the public have applied the participatory media into the DRR work in a more frequent manner. In Save the Children (SC) Shanghai program office, for instance, the author found that nearly 100% of colleagues have been using the participatory media in their daily work. On one side, the SC colleagues share the latest information about their own DRR work with other colleagues through WeChat so that all relevant staff can follow the DRR work timely and clearly. On the other side, they also publish valuable information about their DRR projects on diverse participatory media platforms like Sina Weibo, and the public on the same platforms can comment or forward relevant information according to their own judgements, which is helpful for the further development of their DRR projects. The participatory media is used by different groups as the effective channel for gathering resource, reducing relevant disaster risks and responding to disasters. Including the Chinese government, relevant organizations and the public. In current interviews to seven representatives from different NGOs in China, all of them mentioned that they had applied participatory media or had the plan to rely more on participatory media platforms in the DRR area.
Due to the fact mentioned above, there is an increasing concern on the effects and possible risks to apply participatory media in disaster risk reduction.
1.3 State of Arts
With the increasing number of disasters in China, a great number of researches related
to disasters and crises have been conducted, which also included the application of
media in disaster risk reduction. Most of them, however, focused on the effect and risks
of applying the traditional media in the DRR area in China. Wei (2011) has explored the
risks of traditional media when applied in disaster reporting (Wei, 2011). Tang (2006)
and Shan (2008) have made analysis on the drawbacks of traditional media when they were taken part in the disaster reporting (Tang, 2006; Shan, 2008). The countermeasures were also discussed in their researches. Liu (2014) discussed the contents, means and activities of the traditional media under the DRR framework in China (Liu, 2014). Few researches have been putting their efforts on the application of participatory media in DRR work. Among them, most are dealing with the relations between participatory media and traditional media. In the research of studying the “We Media” in transmission of major catastrophic event, the researcher mainly explained the complementary relationship between the participatory media and traditional media (Hu, 2014).
1.4 Object of Study and Research Methodology
With the universal application of participatory media in DRR work and its positive
impact on relevant areas, an increasing number of DRR stakeholders, including the
Chinese government, relevant organizations and the public are starting to apply it in the
DRR area. Among them, there have been both the positive results where the
participatory media was used to improve the DRR work, and the negative results where
the platforms were misused and were suffered from the consequences in credibility and
securities. Therefore, understanding the possible effects and risks of applying
participatory media in disaster risk reduction is essential and important for reducing
disaster risks in an effective way. In this thesis, the purpose of the study is to further
understand the positive effects when applying participatory media in the DRR area
based on the good practices from various stakeholders. The knowledge is becoming
more important in the modern world, which is helpful for relevant DRR stakeholders to
choose proper ways to apply participatory media in their works based on the types of
disasters, and thus improve the working efficiency. Meanwhile, the negative effects of
applying participatory media in the DRR area will be indicated in this thesis. Based on
its negative effects, it is beneficial for all DRR stakeholders to predict the possible risks
when applying participatory media in the DRR area and then to provide corresponding
measures or alternatives to relieve or even avoid the relevant risks. Above all, the
research will provide relevant DRR stakeholders with an effective guideline of applying
participatory media in the DRR area, so that they can conduct their DRR work on
participatory media platforms in a better way. It will also provide some recommendations for the next steps related to apply participatory media in DRR work to relevant DRR stakeholders in China.
As indicated in the former section, background information and the present research state, this thesis aims to answer the following question:
How to apply participatory media in the DRR area that facilitates the DRR work and relieves its potential risks in China?
In more details, the thesis is aiming to answer the following sub-questions related to the main questions throughout the chapters:
1) What are, according to theory, participatory media and DRR?
2) In fact, how to apply participatory media in DRR work in China from related DRR stakeholders’ perspectives?
3) What are future challenges and priorities of applying participatory media in the DRR area in China?
To answer these questions, the study and explanation were mainly conducted in two ways. Firstly, in order to compose a theoretical base for the thesis, relevant literatures were reviewed through the digital database of Groningen University and Ruhr University (Bochum). Considering the fact that the study was based on the Chinese context, the author also reviewed the relevant literatures, reports and news through China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI) and official websites of relevant Chinese organizations. The relevant data sources available from the digital database previous mentioned were consulted. Besides, for the qualitative analysis, seven in-depth interviews have been conducted. All these interviewees are currently or have been working in the DRR area in NGOs or INGOs in China. These seven in-depth interviews provide the support and complementarities for the theoretical explanation.
1.5 Research Structure
The thesis starts with the construction of a theoretical framework. The first chapter
(Chapter 2) of the theoretical base answers the first sub-question for the research
regarding the participatory media and DRR specification. The following three chapters
are aiming to perform the analysis for relevant data and sources achieved, and then answer the second sub-question from the perspectives of different DRR stakeholders regarding how to apply. Chapter 3 explains how to apply participatory media from the perspective of the Chinese government. The good practices of NGOs and the public for applying participatory media in the DRR area are illustrated in Chapter 4 and Chapter 5 respectively. To build upon the analysis of current practice, the thesis also extends its vision to future challenges and priorities of applying participatory media in the DRR area in China in Chapter 6. Also the third sub-question will be addressed in this chapter.
The study will be finally completed with a concluding chapter, Chapter 7, in which the
summary for the main research results and its limitations will be done.
Chapter 2 Theoretical Framework: Participatory Media and DRR
2.1 Introduction
This chapter constructs the theoretical framework and aims to answer the sub-question:
“What is the participatory media and DRR?” The question is answered in a way that to demonstrate what is currently identified in relevant literatures regarding participatory media and DRR both in China and abroad. Comparing with most advanced countries in the areas of participatory media and DRR, the studies and applications in relevant areas have been developed very late in China. Thus, it is necessary to understand the general identification of participatory media and DRR in these countries from both academic researches and practical experiences. Meanwhile, the development of participatory media and DRR in China have their differences compared with these countries due to the fact that they differ in history, cultural and economic conditions. Therefore, the distinction and clarification for the specific characteristics of development in China is necessary. In this chapter, an overview of participatory media and disaster risk reduction both in China and worldwide will be provided as an introduction to the topic.
2.2 Participatory Media 2.2.1 Understanding Media
For the definition of media, a large number of scholars have defined the concept from
different aspects. Marshall McLuhan (1964), the pioneer philosopher of communication
theory, identifies that medium is the message which is an extension of our sense. The
personal and social consequences of any medium result from the new scale that is
introduced into affairs by the extension of ourselves or by any new scale technology
(McLuhan, 1994). Meanwhile, the medium shapes and controls the scale and form of
human association and action (McLuhan, 1994). John Fiske (1990) thinks that the
medium is a technical or physical mean of converting the message into a signal capable
of being transmitted along the channel (Fiske, 1990). The technological ways for
broadcasting includes the media of radios and televisions and the technological or
physical properties of media are determined by the nature of the channel or channels
available for its use (Fiske, 1990). While these studies considered the media as the
content of information dissemination, some scholars defined the media as the channels of information transmission. As David Barrat (1986) defines, media are the channels of information dissemination that serves the target audience, including films, televisions, radios, newspaper, popular literatures and music (Barrat, 1986). There is match between some Chinese scholars’ perception and the standpoint held by David Barrat. The Chinese scholars remark that the medium has two following meanings: (1). The medium is the intermediate channel or technology for delivering messages, such as newspaper or television;
(2). The medium is the agency for creating and disseminating information, such as the press, radio station or television station (Guo, 2011).
Neither the standpoint that media are the content of information dissemination nor the standpoint that media are the channels for delivering message can identify the comprehensive attributes of media alone. Therefore, Shao (2007) combines these two different standpoints and provide a viewpoint that the media are not only the channels for information dissemination, but also are the content on the channels (Shao, 2007).
The content on channels is the value pivot, which determines the credibility of media.
At the same time, the expansion of channels means the increasing size of audience, which decides the influence of media.
There are different types of media that we are accustomed to in this days. The media can be divided into different major categories including print media, electronic media and new age media (Manohar, 2016). The print media encompasses mass communication through printed materials, including newspaper, magazines, house magazines, booklets and brochures, periodicals or newsletters, direct mailers, handbills or flyers, billboards, press releases, and books (Manohar, 2016). Compared with other two media types, the print media is popular in earlier time. With the developing popularity of electronic media, print media has taken a backseat. In a long run, the electronic media has been more popular than the print media. Electronic media, namely
“Board Media”, is the kind of media that requires the users to utilize an electric
connection to access it, which includes television and radio (Manohar, 2016). Both the
print media and electronic media are categorized as traditional media with one-way
communication and limited contents. In the past, for a long period of time, traditional
media have important and positive effects on delivering and receiving information in
people’s daily life. With the advent of Internet, several new age media gradually entered into the area of mass communication, such as mobile phones, computers, and Internet, which have a huge impact on traditional media. The Internet Data Center (IDC) reported that there were 2.9 billion people online by the end of 2014, which covered 40.4% of population all over the world (IDC, 2015). In particular, the Internet penetration rates in developed countries and developing countries have reached 78% and 32.4%
respectively (IDC, 2015). Instead of the visible increase in Internet utilization, the consumption of traditional media, such as new paper, television, and radio, experienced a significant decrease. For instance, the monthly telephone surveys conducted by the Press Research Center of the People in 1998 reported that there is an increase in online news users while there is a visible decrease in the consumption of news from traditional media like television, newspaper and magazines (Dutta-Bergman, 2004). Furthermore, Internet has generated social networking sites, such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, which have redefined mass communication all together, and these platforms have made mass communication more interesting and easier for the public.
2.2.2 Understanding Participatory Media
In 1970s, Marshall MacLuhan already discussed the participatory potential of media (McLuhan, 1994). While new sites had been responsive and had better ability to handle the growing demands of audiences with the maturation of Internet. Online communities, personal news and information sites were participating in it as well as playing an increasing diverse and important role (Bowman and Willis, 2003). Furthermore, Armed with easy-to-use Web publishing tools, always-on connections and increasing powerful mobile devices, audiences have more diverse and convenient ways to become active participants in the process of creating and disseminating news and information (Bowman and Willis, 2003). Meanwhile, the border between audiences and media producer are blurring with an increasing number of audiences actively participate in creation and dissemination of news and information (Jenkins, 2006).
Participatory media, which is also known as participatory journalism, is a media where
the audience can play an active role in the process of collecting, analyzing and
disseminating news and information (Bowman and Willis, 2003). Unlike other types of
media, participatory media has three unique characteristics:
a. Participatory media has made it possible for everyone who are connected to the networks to broadcast and receive news and information to and from others, which to a large extent changes the asymmetry between media producers and audience (Rheingold, 2008).
b. Participatory media is created by networked communities and attaches to diverse social information and communication networks. Hence, it enables broader, faster, and lower cost coordination of activities when amplified by these social information and communication networks (Rheingold, 2008).
c. Participatory media is a kind of bottom-up media (Rheingold, 2008). In figure 1, it shows two models of media based on the direction of information transmission, namely, the top-down model and bottom-up model. Instead of traditional media with a top-down and unidirectional model, the value and power of participatory media mainly derives from the active participation of many audiences (Bowman and Willis, 2003). Figure 2 describes that while online communities discuss and extend the news and information created by traditional media, these communities also produce participatory media, grassroots reporting, annotative reporting, commentary and fact checking in the ecosystem of participatory media (Bowman and Willis, 2003).
Figure 1: Types of Media with Top-down and Bottom-up (Bowman and Willis, 2003)
Figure 2: The Ecosystem of Participatory Media (Bowman and Willis, 2003)
As participatory media are booming in diverse social information and communication networks, increasing numbers of people seek to master the participatory media tools to express themselves, explore their identities and connect with peers. According to the report of International Telecommunication Union (ITU), 3,2 billion people are using the Internet, and the 3G coverage has reached 69% population by the end of 2015 (ITU, 2016). Among them, there are around 2.206 billion active social media users and 1.925 billion mobile social users, both of which are the potential users for participatory media (Kemp, 2016). A growing demand from different groups with different needs for participatory media also promotes the forms of participatory media. And the forms are enriched instantly to satisfy the diverse needs and tastes of different groups.
Participatory media, until recently, are mainly categorized as six forms, including online discussion groups, user-generated content, Weblogs, collaborative publishing, peer to peer, and open vs. closed, which are also the trends in the near future (Bowman and Willis, 2003).
2.2.3 Participatory Media in China
The development of participatory media in China has experienced three stages. The first
stage was when the concept of participatory media was firstly introduced into China. In
2002, “Blog”, as the earliest form of participatory media in China, came into people’s
vision and grew rapidly over the next several years. By 2008, around 162 million people
had their own blogs, which accounted for 54.5% of Internet users in China (Han, 2011).
As the advent of blog reduced the barrier in producing news and information, an increasing number of individuals became the news and information producers on blog and a user-centered information dissemination model was gradually formed. In the second stage, the content on participatory media platforms began to diversify. With the development of digital camera manufacturing technology, the market in China was growing rapid and more Chinese people began to use cameras in their daily life. As a result, the content on participatory media platforms was not only limited to text-based content or pictures, but also began to contained audios and videos. In 2004, Tudou.com, the first podcasting website in China, was emerged (Han, 2011). In the following years, the number of websites that offered similar services was increasing, such as Youku.com, IQIY.com and 56.com. The number of users on this kind of participatory media platforms was on the increase as well. By April 2009, the number of podcasts in China had increased to 430 million (Han, 2011). Finally, the third stage we are experiencing right now is the rapid growth of instant and comprehensive participatory media. Along with the development of wireless network technology, the mobile devices with portability and immediacy, such as smartphones or tablet devices, are becoming new tools of participatory media, which further enriches the way to apply participatory media. The mobile devices are different from many other tools for participatory media.
They could help users to disseminate news and information with different forms to audiences on participatory media platforms timely and conveniently. And the needs of audience for receiving instant and continuous news and information can be satisfied.
The report of Key Statistical Indicators for Internet, Mobile and Social Media Usage in China 2015 by “We Are Social” indicates that by August 2015, there are 594 million active mobile Internet users and 659 million active participatory media users in China (Kemp, 2016). Among them, there are around 574 million mobile participatory media users, which accounts for 96.6% of active mobile Internet users and 87.1% of active participatory media users respectively (Kemp, 2016).
Due to the large number of mobile participatory media users in China, some
participatory media platforms have developed their application clients for these mobile
users in order to remove the barrier for disseminating news and information as well as
strengthen their users’ loyalty. A survey of more than 50,146 mobile participatory
media users in 2015 by Penguin Intelligence found that nearly 46.8% of mobile
participatory media users took more than three hours on these application clients each day (Tecent Tech, 2016). To consider specific one client, WeChat is a good example.
The Penguin Intelligence report showed that over 80% of WeChat users were accessing through its application client and among them, 62.7% of users use it as an important tool for news and information exchange (Kemp, 2016). Nevertheless, participatory media users with different backgrounds, generally, focus on different topics and differ in their specific usage habits. To cater to the needs of different groups of participatory media users and attract more new users, some participatory media platforms have integrated internal resources and expanded resources outside the platforms, as well as developed characteristic productions and services. Sina Weibo, a popular participatory media platform in China, has done quite well in this area. By the end of 2015, Sina Weibo has 212 million MAU (Sina Weibo Data Center, 2015). These users not only search or post news and information, but also exchange these news and information through collecting, commenting, reposting or tagging them as like. As a comprehensive participatory media platform, Sina Weibo also have created an ecosystem to exchange internal and external information in order to attract more new users from other platforms. The statistics of Sina Weibo Data Center demonstrated that stem from the ecosystem, total number of reposting, commenting and give a like approached 150 million, 100 million and 360 million times respectively (Sina Weibo Data Center, 2015).
With the popularity of participatory media in China, it is starting to have an influence
on all levels of society in China. Firstly of all, the influence of participatory media is
gradually increasing on public issues. Compare to traditional media, there is lower
barrier for participants and has less limitation for the contents on participatory media
platforms. It is more convenient for more citizens to achieve information regarding
public issues they pay attention to, and is easier to express their opinions with higher
level of freedom. In other words, if a great number of users on participatory media
platforms focus on one specific topic, the topic has a high potential to be a hot issue
with a lot of attention from the public. Secondly, the original media environment is
shifted along with the popularity of participatory media in China. Relying on the
participatory media platforms, the public won the extent voice in public issues and
participated into the process of information dissemination, which broke up the
monopolies of traditional media in related area and formed an interaction mechanism
between traditional media and participatory media. Within the mechanism, the public
has taken part in the supervisions and has operated as supplements to traditional media through participatory media platforms. Meanwhile, the sources of traditional media could be enriched based on the news and information achieved from participatory media platforms. Finally, participatory media are gradually changing its participants’ way to thinking, behavior and life style. People in China can receive more information from diverse areas and have deeper understanding of world. Meanwhile, participatory media platforms are attracting more and more people in China to join in and are considered to be an important tool for social communication, due to the openness and convenience of these platforms. Indeed, negative impacts of participatory media in the society of China should not be ignored, such as Internet infringement and changing the mutual recognition of morals (Han, 2011). However, this is not covered in the scope of current study and therefore will not be discussed in details.
2.3 DRR
2.3.1 Understanding disaster risk
United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) defines that the disaster risk is the potential loss, which could occur in some particular communities or even the whole society due to the adverse impacts of hazards (UNICEF, 2014). The potential loss is always expressed in live, health status, livelihoods, and assets as well as services (UNICEF, 2014). Deyle et al. (1998) indicated in their article that the disaster risk has two measurable components, which are the magnitude of the harm that may result in and the probability of the harm occurring in any particular location at any specific period of time (Deyle et al., 1998). The United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (UNISDR) also defines that the disaster risk as the probability of harmful consequences, or expected loss resulting from interactions between natural or human-induced hazards and vulnerable conditions (UNISDR, 2004). Furthermore, UNISDR provides the following notation to vividly express the meaning of disaster risk:
𝑅𝑖𝑠𝑘 (𝑅) = 𝐻𝑎𝑧𝑎𝑟𝑑𝑠 (𝐻) × 𝑉𝑢𝑙𝑛𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑏𝑖𝑙𝑖𝑡𝑦 (𝑉) (UNISDR, 2004)
In this notation, hazards are the potential damaging physical events, phenomenon or
human activities that may cause a great number of lives lost, person injured, property
damage, environmental degradation or disruption to social and economic activities (UNISDR, 2004). It can be single, sequential or combined in their different origins of natural or induced by human processes (UNISDR, 2004). In spite of hazards that have been taken place, hazards here also include the latent conditions that may predict future threats (UNISDR, 2004). Different hazards are characterized by different situations, such as their different locations, frequency, intensity and probability (UNISDR, 2004).
Vulnerability means that after predicting the hazard zones, all loss of lives and properties within the endangered extent when disasters occur should be estimated (Chen et al., n.d.), which will be determined by physical, social, economic, and environmental factors or process (UNISDR, 2004). The level of disaster risks will be highly influenced by the types, intensities and vulnerable conditions of the particular hazard. Which means, with the increasing number of available resources and abilities in DRR, the coping capacity is gradually strengthened while the vulnerability is reduced. That, to a large extent, reduces the level of disaster risks.
2.3.2 Understanding DRR
According to the definition of UNISDR, DRR is the concept and practice of reducing
disaster risks through systematic efforts to analyze and reduce the casual factors of
disasters (UNISDR, 2017). The content includes reducing exposure to hazards,
minimizing vulnerability of people and property, and enhancing preparedness and early
warning for hazards (UNISDR, 2017). UNICEF indicates that DRR is a systematic
approach to identify, assess and reduce disaster risks or vulnerabilities throughout the
whole society. The aim of DRR is to avoid or relieve the adverse impacts of hazards,
while also facilitate sustainable development (UNISDR, 2017). Thus, the DRR strategy
should feature the assessment of vulnerability of facilitates crucial to the social and
economic infrastructure, the application of effective warning systems, and the use of
many different types of capacities (UNISDR, 2004). Sharing information and
experience in relevant areas along with all forms of education and professional training
take significant position for improving the DRR awareness of the public and
minimizing the vulnerability of the public (UNISDR, 2004). In figure 3, it shows the
DRR framework, which includes the general context and primary activities of disaster
risk management. Based on the context of socio-culture, politics, economy and
environment, the framework can be composed to following actions:
a. Risk awareness and assessment, including hazard analysis and vulnerability or capacity analysis;
b. Knowledge development, including research, education and training, and related information sharing;
c. Public commitment and institutional frameworks, including organizational, policy, legislation and community action;
d. Application of risk reduction measures, including environmental management, social and economic development practices, physical and technical measures, and networking and partnerships;
e. Early warning systems, including forecasting, dissemination of warnings, preparedness measures and reaction capacities (UNISDR, 2004).
Figure 3: Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR, 2004)
Round the world, no matter natural or technological hazards, which affected a large number of local people and caused a substantial social economic loss both in developed countries and developing countries, finally turned into disasters and then highly increased the risks of other disasters. According to the data from UNISDR, during the period of 2004-2014, the average number of annual disaster is 384, which led to a statistical average of 99,820 people killed, 199.2 million people affected and over 162.5 billion dollars of economic loss per year (Guha-Sapir, Hoyois and Below, 2015).
Considering the increasing amount of disasters and related loss caused by disasters, the work for preventing future losses is very urgent.
DRR, as a cost-effective investment in preventing future losses, has been applied widely in the context of sustainable development. Asian countries like India, Japan and Thailand, have been putting on huge efforts to identify and manage these risks as a part of development planning. Additional human and material resources aiming for reducing disaster risks are being allocated from sources other than emergency contingency funds (UNISDR, 2004). Furthermore, in order to enhance the DRR capacities, several worldwide DRR frameworks have been established over the past years, such as Hyogo Framework for Action (HFA) and Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction. At present, most of worldwide DRR frameworks are playing significant roles in developing policies, strategies, and DRR knowledge.
2.3.3 DRR in China
As a country with a high risk of disasters, China has experienced a significant amount
of disasters during last 2 decades, including the flood in 1998, Wenchuan earthquake
(M=8.0) in 2008, blizzards in 2009, and Yushu earthquake (M=7.1) in 2010 (Yi et al.,
2011). In these disasters, China was continuously enriched with knowledge and
experiences from DRR work. Besides, China has joined various international DRR
frameworks, such as HFA, the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) and Sendai Framework
for Disaster Risk Reduction. Relying on these frameworks, China has taken part in
extensive cooperation and communication with other countries and regions regarding
the DRR work. By drawing the lessons from previous disasters and accumulating
experiences from varied international frameworks, the DRR work in China has been
developing progressively in past few years (Yi et al., 2011).
According to the definition of the Chinese Government, the DRR work is based on disaster management framework, which is divided into six phases: prevention, mitigation, preparation, emergency rescue, recovery and reconstruction (Yi et al., 2011).
Through the accurate prediction and effective management of disaster risk in these six phases, the government is able to prevent disasters in advance and improve the capacity of resilience after disasters, which would reduce the disaster risks and relieve the potential losses. For example, China Earthquake Administration, a department that undertook the managing function in seismic fortification, released a Seismic Ground Motion Parameter Zoning Map with the scale of 1:4,000,000 in 2001 (Yi et al., 2011).
The seismic zoning map adopts the probabilistic seismic hazard analysis and chooses the risk level-probability of exceedance is 10% in 50 years as its seismic fortification criterion (Yi et al., 2011). In the phases of prevention and mitigation, the application of the seismic zoning map indicates the areas with high risks of earthquake in China and guides more stakeholders how they should invest in related areas. Furthermore, the Chinese government has established its own disaster risk management mechanism. The mechanism has the following characters: unified leadership, graded response and functional division, while it operates based on local governments, is supplemented by central government (Yi et al., 2011). In China, the practice expenditure of reducing disaster risk mainly depends on local governments and supplemented by the central government. As unified leadership, the government issues policies and regulations, makes decisions and recommendations, as well as provides supervisions and coordination in the DRR area (Yi et al., 2011). Graded response means that the central government and local governments have their own responsibilities in the DRR area. In particular, the central government is responsible for the overall management for reducing disaster risks, while local governments, including provincial governments, municipal governments and county governments, are mainly focusing on the management on their administrative levels (Yi et al., 2011). Functional division means that relevant departments of government shall be responsible for relevant DRR work according to their respective functions and obligations (Yi et al., 2011). Different DRR responsibilities of government departments in different disasters are presented in Table 2. Moreover, some permanent and temporary headquarters are set up for specified disasters will be responsible for reducing specified risks (Yi et al., 2011).
Type Monitor
Prediction and Hazard Analysis
Prevention &
Mitigation
&Preparedness
Emergency response Recovery
Meteorological disaster
CMA CMA, MAC, the troops
Emergency management office under the State Council
Government departments related to disasters
MCA
Affected local government
Flood disasters CMA MWR
Marine disasters SOA, CMA SOA
Geological disasters
MLR, CMA MLR
Seismic disasters CEA CEA
Agricultural disasters
MA, CMA MA
Forestry biological disasters
SFA SFA
Public health incidents
MH MH
Industrial accidents
SAWS, MIIT SAWS, MIIT
Forest grassland fires
SFA, CMA SFA
Environmental problems
MEP MEP
Social security MPS MPS
China Meteorological Administration (CMA), Ministry of Civil Affairs (MAC), Ministry of Water Resources (MWR), Sate Oceanic Administration (SOA), Ministry of Land and Resources (MLR), China Earthquake Administration (CEA), Ministry of Agriculture (MA), Ministry of Health (MH), State Administration of Work Safety (SAWS), Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT), Sate Forestry Administration (SFA), Ministry of Environmental Protection (MEP), Ministry of Public Security (MPS)
