Thomas Crampton, who oversees social media strategy in the Asia-Pacific region for the marketing and communications company Ogilvy and Mather, spoke to a standing room only audience at a seminar hosted by SPRIE about how controls imposed by the Chinese government have created a vibrant and unique social media domestic ecosystem.

Daniel C. Sneider, associate director for research at Shorenstein Asian-Pacific Research Center, also shared his views on the issue of the role of the internet and social media in social and political change.

Much has been written of late about the PRC government's efforts to control and censor the internet. The government's censorship of websites is an important issue, but it is not the top priority of the country's 420 million internet users or netizens. Their top priority is to connect with other Chinese online. The internet has opened access to information for ordinary Chinese citizens in ways that were unimaginable just a few years ago. Coming from a world where information was pre-filtered by editors at state-run media, China's internet is freewheeling by comparison.

"China's government officials are the most savvy in understanding the power of social media and actively trying to shape its use," Crampton noted at the talk. Rather than eliminate social media, restrictions on foreign websites and social media have resulted in a flourishing home-grown, state-approved ecosystem in which Chinese-owned properties thrive. YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter have faced blockage in China, but their Chinese equivalents are expanding. According to the official statistics from the China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC) , the number of Chinese netizens reached 420 million at the end of June 2010. But their patterns of use vary from those in other countries. Quoting a 2008 MTV Music Matters survey, Crampton showed a graph that young people across Asia have made a similar number of friends online and offline. Only in China, however, young people actually have more friends online than offline. This points to a convergence of the offline and online worlds, where it is less important to distinguish between what happens online from the "real world." In China, more than in many countries, social media has become deeply integrated into people's lives.

China's government officials are the most savvy in understanding the power of social media and actively trying to shape its use.

- Thomas Crampton, Ogilvy and MatherIn China, as elsewhere in Asia, local variations of internet usage are driven by language, culture, levels of economic development, and the underlying digital ecosystem. For example, rather than short videos popular on YouTube, China's Youku and Tudou are filled with longer form of content, up to 70 percent of which is professionally produced, though individual Chinese users produce and post videos too. Users in China spend up to an hour per day on these sites, compared with less than 15 minutes spent by Americans on YouTube. In the way they present programs, the Chinese sites seem more like online television stations or a replacement for digital video recorders.

Twitter vs. Sina Weibo

Crampton cited another difference between Chinese and foreign social media that is rooted in language. At first glance, Sina Weibo is a latecomer to the microblog phenomenon. Launched in 2009, just about three years after Twitter, it is by far the most popular microblogging platform in China.

Similar to Twitter, Sina Weibo allows users to post 140-character messages, and users can follow friends and find interesting comments posted by others. Small but important differences in the platform have made some say it is a Twitter clone, but better. For example, unlike Twitter, Sina Weibo allows users to post videos and photos, comment on other people's updates, and easily add comments when re-posting a friend's message.

Though mobile phones are used to send less than 20 percent of Twitter updates in the United States, nearly half of Sina Weibo's updates are sent via mobile phone. This phenomenon points to the growth of China's mobile internet, one of the biggest trends in China and Asia.

Perhaps the most striking difference between Chinese and foreign social media, however, is the length of communications expressed via microblogs in Chinese versus English. One measure is to look at what Dell Inc., a company skilled at social media, can communicate on microblogs in Chinese compared to English. Twitter holds messages to 140 characters, which is quite short in English, especially if users want to include a URL. Dell often uses its Twitter feed, @delloutlet, to promote special offers, such as this posting: "Today's Deal: Get FREE Eco-Lite Sleeve with the purchase of any Dell Outlet Insprion Mini 10 or 10v Netbook! http://bit.ly/77fUFG." This message came in at 136 characters, almost the maximum length.

Since each character in Chinese is a word, @delldirect, Dell's Chinese-language feed, can write much more using the Chinese-language Zuosa microblogging platform. As translated by Ogilvy's Beijing team, a similar message reads: "Dell's National Day Sale runs from Sept. 11 to Oct. 8. To celebrate the 60th anniversary with the motherland, Dell Home Computers is offering 6 cool gifts and deals on 10 computer models. These exciting offers will run non-stop for 4 weeks. Also, get a free upgrade to color casing and a 512MB independent graphics card, as well as other service upgrades. All offers are on a first-come, first-served basis. What are you waiting for? Act now!" Even with a message of this length-114 characters in Chinese-there is still enough space to put in a webpage link. In other words, 114 characters in Chinese translates into 434 characters in English, well beyond the text limit of a "tweet" in English. This language efficiency turns microblogging in China into a more blog-like platform.

In an effort to foster a more open, transparent and accessible scientific dialogue, we've started a new effort aimed at inspiring pioneering use of technology, new media and computational thinking in the communication of science to diverse audiences. Initially, we'll focus on communicating the science on climate change.

We're kicking off this effort by naming 21 Google Science Communications Fellows. These fellows were elected from a pool of applicants of early to mid-career Ph.D. scientists nominated by leaders in climate change research and science-based institutions across the U.S. It was hard to choose just 21 fellows from such an impressive pool of scientists; ultimately, we chose scientists who had the strongest potential to become excellent communicators. That meant previous training in science communication; research in topics related to understanding or managing climate change; and experience experimenting with innovative approaches or technology tools for science communication.

This year's fellows are an impressive bunch:

• Brendan Bohannan, Associate Professor of Environmental Studies and Biology, University of Oregon
• Edward Brook, Professor, Department of Geosciences, Oregon State University
• Julia Cole, Professor, Department of Geosciences, University of Arizona
• Eugene Cordero, Associate Professor, Meteorology and Climate Science, San Jose University
• Frank Davis, Professor, Landscape Ecology & Conservation Planning, University of California-Santa Barbara
• Andrew Dessler, Professor, Atmospheric Sciences, Texas A&M University
• Noah Diffenbaugh, Assistant Professor, Environmental Earth System Science, Stanford University
• Simon Donner, Assistant Professor, University of British Columbia
• Nicole Heller, Research Scientist, Climate Central
• Brian Helmuth, Professor, Biological Sciences, University South Carolina
• Paul Higgins, Associate Director, Policy Program, American Meteorological Society
• Jonathan Koomey, Consulting Professor, Civil and Environmental Engineering, Stanford University
• David Lea, Professor, Earth Science, University of California-Santa Barbara
• Kelly Levin, Senior Research Associate, World Resources Institute
• David Lobell, Assistant Professor, Environmental Earth System Science, Stanford University
• Edwin Maurer, Associate Professor, Civil Engineering, Santa Clara University
• Susanne Moser, Research Associate, Institute of Marine Sciences, University of California-Santa Cruz
• Matthew Nisbet, Associate Professor, School of Communication, American University
• Rebecca Shaw, Director of Conservation, The Nature Conservancy, CA Chapter
• Whendee Silver, Professor, Ecosystem Ecology and Biogeochemistry, University of California-Berkeley
• Alan Townsend, Professor, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Colorado

At our Mountain View, Calif. headquarters in June, the fellows will participate in a workshop, which will integrate hands-on training and facilitated brainstorming on topics of technology and science communication. Following the workshop, fellows will be given the opportunity to apply for grants to put their ideas into practice. Those with the most impactful projects will be given the opportunity to join a Lindblad Expeditions & National Geographic trip to the Arctic, the Galapagos or Antarctica as a science communicator.

Congratulations to all of the fellows! And we'll keep you posted on more ideas and tools emerging for science communication.

Pradnya Palande's passion for improving human health through scientific research began during her graduate studies, and has continued to the present day through her work with Reliance Life Sciences (RLS) of India. Palande, a 2010-2011 Corporate Affiliates Fellow, holds a master's degree in zoology, with a specialization in animal physiology and a minor in biotechnology. "I used to dream of getting a job in the biotechnology industry," she says. Within just a few short months of graduating, Palande began working for RLS, and she has enjoyed serving the company for the past nine years.

RLS belongs to the Reliance Group, one of India's largest corporate entities. It conducts research in a wide variety of areas, such as stem cell therapy, molecular medicine, and industrial biotechnology, and it offers products ranging from therapeutic proteins to tissue-cultured plants. "RLS is a life sciences company in the truest sense," Palande states. In her role as a team leader for the company's biopharmaceuticals division, which is headed by Dr. Venkata Ramana, she conducts literature searches and strategic planning for new research projects, and also supports regulatory audits. In addition to her primary duties, Palande is dedicated to her role as secretary of the safety observation committee. "RLS believes in safety and a safe working culture," Palande emphasizes. "It is a perfect place for me to work."

During her year at the Walter H. Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center (Shorenstein APARC), Palande is conducting cancer-related research in a laboratory under the direction of Cliff L. Wang of the Department of Chemical Engineering. Her Shorenstein APARC advisors are Rafiq Dossani, a senior research scholar, and Karen Eggleston, the director of the Asia Health Policy Program. Palande and her fellow researchers in Wang's lab are studying the population dynamics of cancer cells. In the process of cancer development, Palande explains, it is thought that cells often develop high mutational activity before accumulating mutations that lead to cancer. Mutations—changes in the genome sequence—can be advantageous, benign, or harmful to cells. Palande is examining whether a high mutation rate provides a survival advantage to cancer cells. For this, she is studying the activation-induced cytidine deaminase (AID) enzyme, which plays a key role in the development of immune response in the human body. The goal of the project is to provide insight into the nature of cancer development, and also to give direction for the prevention of chemotherapy resistance due to AID activity.

"Before I leave for India, I would like to complete my project successfully in a way that will instigate future research in cancer biology," Palande says. Upon returning to RLS, she intends to apply some of the concepts that she has gained while conducting research at Stanford. She also hopes to build upon the Stanford management classes that she has been auditing, studying the subject in more detail with the intention of utilizing it in her work at RLS.

"It has been a great privilege for me to work at Stanford, and it has been an amazing experience," she states. "Interacting with people from various backgrounds has been enlightening. Also, I am quite impressed by the professionalism of people [in the United States], their helping nature, and their free way of life. I love it." She adds that through her Stanford research and classes, her horizons have been broadened.

As passionate about the natural world as she is about scientific research, Palande looks forward to traveling more before returning to India. "I love traveling to be close to nature," she says. Also something of an adventurer, she has taken a rock-climbing course and has tried skydiving. Inspired by the range of activities in the United States, she plans to take an activity class, such as dance, after returning to India. "I want to keep myself as active and healthy as possible," she says with a smile.

 

The 2011 SPICE catalog is now available.  SPICE has four curriculum units featured in this year's catalog.

Inter-Korean Relations: Rivalry, Reconciliation, and Reunification

This curriculum unit provides students with a multifaceted view of inter-Korean relations, asking them to study the relationship through the lenses of history, politics, economics, security, and socio-cultural and human dynamics. Finally, students apply their knowledge of inter-Korean relations to consider future prospects for the Korean peninsula.

Indigo: A Color That Links the World

This teacher's guide was developed specifically for teachers in the New York City Public Schools to encourage the use of Indigo: A Color That Links the World, Calliope: Exploring World History (September 2010, Volume 21, Number 1) and the study of the Silk Road in their classrooms. The indigo issue of Calliope and the teacher's guide were developed in collaboration with Yo-Yo Ma's Silk Road Project as part of its Silk Road Connect education initiative.

Early Encounters: The First Japanese Embassy to the United States, 1860

This graphic novel tells the story of the first Japanese diplomatic mission to leave Japan after over two centuries of isolation under the Tokugawa Shogunate. Chronicling encounters with foreign leaders, cross-cultural mishaps, and unlikely friendships that develop despite barriers of language and politics, the graphic novel follows the embassy's voyage to San Francisco, Washington D.C., and other cities on the East coast.

Sadako's Paper Cranes and Lessons of Peace

In collaboration with the Tribute World Trade Center Visitor Center (Tribute Center) in New York City, SPICE has developed educational materials that help students to reflect upon the impact of September 11th and the humanitarian efforts that took place in the aftermath of the attack on the World Trade Center.

Los Que Se Quedan (Those Who Remain) is the powerful story of nine Mexican families who cross the U.S. border in search of a better life and those left behind. In this moving story, the families share their hope and fears. The film has won many film festival awards, including Los Angeles, Biarritz, Woodstock, and Guadalajara. After the film, Beatriz Magaloni, Director of the Program on Poverty and Governance in Latin America, and Carlos Hagerman, the film's co-director, engaged in discussion with the audience.

On February 22, Professor Alison Renteln of the University of Southern California spoke during the seventh installment of the Sanela Diana Jenkins Speaker Series hosted by the Program on Human Rights at the Stanford Center on Democracy, Development, and the Rule of Law. During her lecture entitled, "The Right to Culture as a Human Right: Law in a Multicultural World," Renteln challenged the universality of human rights, a claim previously debated by prior series' speakers.

Assessing the "monocultural paradigm of human rights," Renteln argued in favor of what she termed the human right to practice and enjoy one's culture. She maintained that legal systems must protect this fundamental human right by allowing defendants to employ a "cultural defense" and to voice relevant cultural motivations during court proceedings. She cited three main instances in which such a cultural defense has been used: to lessen the sentence in criminal cases, to be granted exemption from a policy, or to receive additional compensation when an abuse disproportionately affects a person because of cultural considerations.

Renteln presented recent court cases in both Canada and the United States brought against members of the Sikh faith. A central tenet of the Sikh faith is to wear the kirpan, a dagger that must constantly be carried on the person of all Sikhs. Renteln contested that in these cases, the courts must respect the cultural meaning of the kirpan, symbol of non-violence or ahimsa, and grant Sikhs the right to uphold their cultural tradition. With this example, Renteln demonstrated how courts must "make room for culture" in the evidence presented during the case.

Renteln concluded with a discussion on the hierarchy of cultural rights and other forms of human rights. For example, she questioned whether the Amish's right to practice their culture superseded the right of all Amish children to be educated. In her consideration of more questionable and often heatedly debated practices, she proposed that no cultural practice that inflicts "irreparable harm" on individuals should be allowed or supported. However, she admitted that defining practices which violate this standard can often be difficult.