Invitation to the Sharing Session of the Inaugural CUHK Research Summit and Workshop on Digital Methods and Social Development

On Saturday, 27 August 2016, the Inaugural CUHK Research Summit and Workshop will conclude its week-long program with a public session to share their findings. Participants of this international event include 30 scholars from 20 universities and research institutes around the world. Using the latest digital methods such as data mining, network analysis, and data visualization, they will make short presentations of their studies regarding these four issues: (1) the fulfillment of a music social enterprise; (2) the promotion of an environmental campaign for clean air; (3) the advocacy of a labor cause; and (4) the understanding of the media dynamics of the on-going Legislative Council election.

For more information, please see: http://c-centre.com.cuhk.edu.hk/research-summit/

Location: C-Centre, 3F, the Humanities Building, New Asia College, CUHK

Contact: Centre for Chinese Media & Comparative Communication Research (C-Centre), The School of Journalism & Communication, the Chinese University of Hong Kong

Telephone: 3943 7701 (Ms. Chan)

E-mail: manlokchan@cuhkREMOVE_ME.edu.hk

Schedule & Synopses:

1:30-2:00 Democratizing music, demarginalizing small artists

Can an algorithm democratize online music? Can small musicians receive more airplay? Spotify and iTunes recommend music to its listeners based on different data practices, but both remain a far cry from the more democratic system independent musicians would like to see. Aivvy, a Hong Kong-based start-up, has devised a system that recommends music based on the ‘hidden’ features of sound. The research project has compared the recommendations made by Spotify, iTunes and Aivvy so as to determine whether Aivvy’s algorithm democratizes music. The project shows which songs an ideal ‘equalized’ music recommendation system would play.

2:00-2:30 Reimagining Des Voeux Road Central: Expanding the stakeholders and their issues

There is currently a campaign underway to pedestrianise Des Voeux Road Central, a busy arterial road that passes through the heart of Hong Kong Island, from Western Market to Pedder Street. The campaign, initiated by the Des Voeux Road Central Initiative, envisages engaging stakeholders as community, government, professionals, academics, business operators, property owners and others to imagine its future. In the project, a social media data analysis of Facebook groups and pages, we aid in the imagineering (so to speak), and ask what local city users care about, with the aim of ultimately reimagining (and re-issue-fying) the Road. Could their issues be embedded into Des Voeux Road Central in future? If so, can city users become not only new stakeholders but newly recognised road users as well?

2:30-3:00 Making Labour Advocacy Urgent: Tactics and Issue Rhetorics in the Workers’ Rights Issue Space

Workers in the electronics, garments and toys industries face labor conditions often described as harrowing. Non-governmental organizations such as Students and Scholars Against Corporate Misbehaviour (SACOM) campaign for improving factory conditions and the quality of life of the workers more broadly. They do so by choosing particular issues to work on as well as strategies for their campaigns. They ask: how to transform labour advocacy into urgent public concern in social media? Which kinds of formulas and formats grant poignancy to an issue, and sustain both professional as well as public attention? How do SACOM and other organizations position themselves in the action repertoires of the field? Whilst living wages may be the leading issue, and launching a call on a global petition community the top strategy, how might a labour advocacy NGO deploy social media to meet its goals?

3:00-3:30 Coffee break

3:30-4:30 Hong Kong Legislative Council Elections: What can social media add to the story of the campaign so far?

The Hong Kong Legislative Council Elections pits pro-establishment, pan-democratic, localist and other candidates against one another in a hard-fought campaign played out in television and radio debates, on soapboxes in the streets as well as newspaper advertisements. It also takes place in social media, primarily Facebook, where some 80 candidates have pages that are liked, commented upon, and posted to. How are the candidates faring online? Do younger candidates have more Facebook support? More technically, does social media activity reflect the polling numbers? Which social issues are most significant? What does social media add to the campaign story so far? This project concludes with a discussion of the emerging (or trending) candidates on Facebook, and what their candidacies would imply for the future of the Hong Kong Legislative Council.

數位方法與社會發展：首屆香港中文大學研究峰會兼工作坊邀請信

2016年8月27日星期六，首屆香港中文大學研究峰會兼工作坊將舉辦成果發佈會，總結為期一周的研究活動，並就公眾感興趣的議題公開主要成果。是次活動由中大新傳學院C研中心主辦。活動將於週六下午一點三十分開始，地點為新亞書院人文館三樓。本次跨國學術活動的參與者包括來自世界各地二十所大學的三十多位學生和青年學者。他們與來自阿姆斯特丹、米蘭及香港本地的培訓專家密切合作，將在發佈會上進行分享。我們關注的問題是：如何運用數位研究方法——例如數據挖掘、網絡分析、數據可視化等——來推動社會發展，具體包括四項議題：（一）音樂社會企業的發展，（二）保護空氣潔淨的環保運動，（三）促進工人權益的勞工倡導，（四）加強瞭解今屆香港立法會選舉。

更多資訊請見是次活動主頁: http://c-centre.com.cuhk.edu.hk/research-summit/

地點：中華傳媒與比較傳播研究中心，新亞學院人文樓三樓，香港中文大學

聯絡：香港中文大學新聞與傳播學院中華傳媒與比較傳播研究中心 （C研中心）

電話： 3943 7701 （陳小姐）

電郵： manlokchan@cuhkREMOVE_ME.edu.hk

日程安排：

1:30-2:00 音樂民主化行動：邊緣音樂人不邊緣

2:00-2:30 徳輔道中的新設想：拓展持分人與議題的範疇

2:30-3:00 令勞工倡導更加迫在眉睫：探討工人權益議題的策略分析

3:00-3:30 茶歇

3:30-4:30 香港立法會選舉：社群網站扮演的角色

內容摘要：

2:00-2:30 音樂民主化行動：邊緣音樂人不邊緣

計算機算法能夠推動網路音樂的民主化嗎？獨立音樂人的作品怎樣才能被更多人聽到？Spotify和iTunes的音樂推薦系統不盡相同，但它們與獨立音樂人理想中的民主音樂推薦系統仍有很大的差距。Aivvy, 這所香港的數位音樂創業企業，發展了自己的音樂推薦系統，在發掘樂曲本身“隱密”特性的基礎上向用戶推薦音樂作品。研究團隊對比了Spotify、iTunes和Aivvy的音樂系統，驗證了Aivvy的算法是否真的比主流音樂推薦系統更民主。研究團隊將展示最理想狀態下，一個完全公平的音樂推薦系統會推薦什麼歌曲。

2:00-2:30 徳輔道中的新設想：更多利益持分人、更多議題、更多步行者

徳輔道中是港島鬧市中心繁忙的主幹道，連接西港城和畢打街。徳輔道中聯盟正進行倡導將徳輔道中變成步行區。該組織計劃讓在地社區、政府、專家、學者和商戶都參與到行動中來，重新構想徳輔道中的藍圖。在是次項目中，我們用社區網絡法研究了相關的Facebook小組及主頁，以協助了解當地居民關切的問題，重構理想的徳輔道中新圖譜。本港市民或遊客的所思所想能融合到新的徳輔道中發展計畫裡嗎？假如是的話，香港的居民或遊客是否能成為道路的利益持分者，亦成為道路的使用者？

2:30-3:00 令勞工倡導更加迫在眉睫：探討工人權益議題的策略分析

在電子業、服裝業以及玩具製造業中，許多勞工都面臨著非常惡劣的生存狀態。因此，包括大學師生監察無良企業行動（SACOM）在內的一些非營利組織採取了行動，旨在提升包括工作環境在內的勞工整體生活品質。為此SACOM針對不同的勞工問題運用各種戰略進行行動。研究小組的問題是：如何通過社群網站，令勞工問題成為大眾關心的、具有急迫性的公眾議題？通過什麼樣的途徑和形式，才能給予勞工議題以辛辣度，從而維持專業人士和公眾的注意呢？在議題設定和維權行動上，SACOM和其他相關的組織分別扮演了什麼樣的角色呢？如果說提高勞工薪資是維權的首要目的，而構建一個全球性的請願行動組織是行動的主要策略，那麼那些為勞工維權的非政府組織又該如何利用社群網站來達成他們的行動目的呢？

3:00-3:30 茶歇

3:30-4:30 香港立法會選舉：社群網站扮演的角色

香港立法會選舉進行得如火如荼，民主派、建制派、本土派以及其他派別彼此競爭，從電視和廣播辯論，報紙廣告，到街頭宣講，皆可看到他們競選之激烈。這場競選亦延續到了社交網路之中，尤其是Facebook上，八十幾位候選人紛紛開啟主頁，以供自己發表意見，亦供市民點贊與點評。這些候選人在網上的表現如何？更確切地說，誰在社交網路上更勝一籌？是那些更年輕的候選人麻？技術上來說，候選人在社交媒體的一舉一動是否和他們的票倉掛鉤？哪些社會議題在社群網站上最被關注？在這場選舉之中，社群網站究竟扮演了什麼樣的角色呢？本項目研究了那些在Facebook上新興或炙手可熱的候選人，並討論了在即將到來的選舉中這些候選人以及他們推行的議題會有何種表現。