Hidden participation in the public sphere: understanding Malaysian university students' public discourse practices in cyberspace

A recent development in Malaysia was the unprecedented rise in young Malaysians’ participation in the country’s social and political affairs, facilitated almost entirely by the Internet. This phenomenon caught many by surprise considering that university students in the country had been barred throu...

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Main Authors: Chan, Mei Yuit, Rafik-Galea, Shameem, Yap, Ngee Thai
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: 2014
Online Access:http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/37855/
http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/37855/1/Hidden%20participation%20in%20the%20public%20sphere%20understanding%20Malaysian%20university%20students%27%20public%20discourse%20practices%20in%20cyberspace.pdf
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author Chan, Mei Yuit
Rafik-Galea, Shameem
Yap, Ngee Thai
author_facet Chan, Mei Yuit
Rafik-Galea, Shameem
Yap, Ngee Thai
author_sort Chan, Mei Yuit
building UPM Institutional Repository
collection Online Access
description A recent development in Malaysia was the unprecedented rise in young Malaysians’ participation in the country’s social and political affairs, facilitated almost entirely by the Internet. This phenomenon caught many by surprise considering that university students in the country had been barred through legislation from active involvement in political activities for more than 30 years. Through a survey of 514 university students in a Malaysian public university, supplemented by interview data and samples of students’ writing, this study investigated in which ways Malaysian tertiary students are participating in the public sphere through the Internet. Following Hauser’s (1999) conception of public discourse as personal, interactive, informal, and distributed voices among the citizenry, we argue for a perspective that explains how online interactions in the friendship frame among young people represent their participation in the public sphere in the context of contemporary society.
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spelling upm-378552020-04-15T16:50:53Z http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/37855/ Hidden participation in the public sphere: understanding Malaysian university students' public discourse practices in cyberspace Chan, Mei Yuit Rafik-Galea, Shameem Yap, Ngee Thai A recent development in Malaysia was the unprecedented rise in young Malaysians’ participation in the country’s social and political affairs, facilitated almost entirely by the Internet. This phenomenon caught many by surprise considering that university students in the country had been barred through legislation from active involvement in political activities for more than 30 years. Through a survey of 514 university students in a Malaysian public university, supplemented by interview data and samples of students’ writing, this study investigated in which ways Malaysian tertiary students are participating in the public sphere through the Internet. Following Hauser’s (1999) conception of public discourse as personal, interactive, informal, and distributed voices among the citizenry, we argue for a perspective that explains how online interactions in the friendship frame among young people represent their participation in the public sphere in the context of contemporary society. 2014 Article PeerReviewed application/pdf en http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/37855/1/Hidden%20participation%20in%20the%20public%20sphere%20understanding%20Malaysian%20university%20students%27%20public%20discourse%20practices%20in%20cyberspace.pdf Chan, Mei Yuit and Rafik-Galea, Shameem and Yap, Ngee Thai (2014) Hidden participation in the public sphere: understanding Malaysian university students' public discourse practices in cyberspace. First Monday, 19 (5). ISSN 1396-0466 http://firstmonday.org/ojs/index.php/fm/article/view/4829 10.5210/fm.v19i5.4829
spellingShingle Chan, Mei Yuit
Rafik-Galea, Shameem
Yap, Ngee Thai
Hidden participation in the public sphere: understanding Malaysian university students' public discourse practices in cyberspace
title Hidden participation in the public sphere: understanding Malaysian university students' public discourse practices in cyberspace
title_full Hidden participation in the public sphere: understanding Malaysian university students' public discourse practices in cyberspace
title_fullStr Hidden participation in the public sphere: understanding Malaysian university students' public discourse practices in cyberspace
title_full_unstemmed Hidden participation in the public sphere: understanding Malaysian university students' public discourse practices in cyberspace
title_short Hidden participation in the public sphere: understanding Malaysian university students' public discourse practices in cyberspace
title_sort hidden participation in the public sphere: understanding malaysian university students' public discourse practices in cyberspace
url http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/37855/
http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/37855/
http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/37855/
http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/37855/1/Hidden%20participation%20in%20the%20public%20sphere%20understanding%20Malaysian%20university%20students%27%20public%20discourse%20practices%20in%20cyberspace.pdf