FOW023 – Michelle Proksell and the Chinternet (live @ 32c3 Sendezentrum)

Introduction

• Guest: Michelle Proksell (Twitter: @proksell; WeChat: mutedrainbow)
• Michelle’s talk at 32c3

Michelle’s research 00:58

• WeChat
  • Message in a Bottle: shake phone, find random people near you
  • People Nearby: people active within a 1000m radius near you
• Michelle’s current research partner Gabriele de Seta
• Their paper on Chinese selfies: „The Aesthetics of Zipai: From Wechat Selfies to Self-Representation in Contemporary Chinese Art and Photography“

Examples. So many examples. 08:25

• „Demographics“ folder
• 美图秀秀 měitú xiùxiù: photo editing app (English name: Meitu Pic)
• Uniqlo: popular clothing store chain

• E-commerce on WeChat
• Business Insider: „WeChat is helping Chinese buy US homes“
• Tencent, huge internet company
• QQ, instant messenger platform
• WeChat has international appeal/international connections
• Weibo (literally „microblogging“) (often compared to Twitter to make it easier to understand for foreigners)
• Michelle’s „small data“ database, individual assessment, chance of infering something wrong not as high as with big data
• Fundraising through WeChat is also possible
• 红包 hōngbāo: „red envelope“, which is used to gift money (esp. on Chinese New Year) to children and unmarried women
• WeChat described as „China’s homegrown OS (Operating System)“
  • can be used to play games
  • not an OS in the traditional sense, but in the way its used and the broad functions it provides; driving a lot of app development
• 1.3 billion Chinese: still ~600 million people are still offline (Xi Jinping wants everyone online by 2020)
• Older phones more prevalent in rural areas, not as many smartphones as seen in urban areas. Worse/no 3G coverage in the countryside?
• Migrant workers (PIC 1. bunk 2. selfie with bed in background 3. group of people)
  • indicator: bunk beds
  • indicator: gestures

crab legs formed to spell 中秋快乐 („Happy Mid-Autumn Festival“)

Slightly modified WeChat startup screen

• ca 48:00

我不年轻了: Obama, Kim Jong Un, Shinzo Abe, Duang

• „duang“, a Chinese neologism

• 51:40: Escalator memes

• 53:20 Tianjin explosion: „Pray for Tianjin“
• „🙏“ originally intended as a high five, not hands folded in prayer

• Michelle enjoys fish pics

• 520 = 五二零 = wuerling   ~>   woaini = 我爱你

Q&A 1:01:30

Thank you, Sendezentrum!