Talk:Big mama

Untitled

I added more information and citation to the beginning section — Preceding unsigned comment added by Kaylam7 (talk • contribs) 04:52, 30 November 2016 (UTC)

Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment

This article is or was the subject of a Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment. Further details are available on the course page. Student editor(s): Kaylam7.

Above undated message substituted from Template:Dashboard.wikiedu.org assignment by PrimeBOT (talk) 15:42, 16 January 2022 (UTC)

for and against

Removed the pro-con section because it was completely unsourced and weasel-worded, and had been since 2008. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.85.242.7 (talk) 21:14, 18 August 2011 (UTC)

Psiphon

Psiphon is a software project designed by University of Toronto's Citizen Lab under the direction of Professor Ronald Deibert, Director of the Citizen Lab. Psiphon is a circumvention technology that works through social networks of trust and is designed to help Internet users bypass content-filtering systems setup by governments, such as China, North Korea, Iran, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates and others.

"We're aiming at giving people access to sites like Wikipedia," a free, user-maintained online encyclopedia, and other information and news sources, Michael Hull, psiphon's lead engineer, told CBC News Online.

References

Sysops?

This article should explore the similarity and differences with Western sysops or people with similar roles. While the Chinese have worse censorship they are no the only ones ever to have removed a posting. Wnt (talk) 15:11, 18 February 2008 (UTC)

Big Mama or Big Ma?

The chinese is simply 大媽 (big ma) so why don't we just translate it as Big Ma? Rothery (talk) 02:29, 2 May 2010 (UTC)

Sources

Here are the sources I plan to use for editing this article. I had a hard time finding substantial information. Any suggestions would be great!

Annotated Bibliography

Boas, Taylor. "Weaving the Authoritarian Web." Current History 103.677, 438-43, 2004.

http://people.bu.edu/tboas/currenthistory.pdf

• This article describes how China, as an example of an authoritarian regime, censors and controls the internet not just directly but especially in the case of China through indirect institutional constraints. China has pressure on websites/companies/intermediaries so that they censor themselves, their content and their users. One form of this censorship is big mamas who screen posts and chat rooms. I will use this article to contextualize big mamas within the story of censorship in china and how different levels of censorship work.

Damm, Jens. “The Internet and the Fragmentation of Chinese Society”. Critical Asian Studies, 39:2,

273-294, 12 July 2007. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/14672710701339485

• This article talks about the discourse around internet and censorship from the viewpoint of the West and their idea of a strict controlling China as well as the viewpoint of the Chinese authorities and their idea of the purpose of the internet. I will use this article to discuss the language used around internet censorship and concerning Big Mamas. The term Big Mama is like big brother and encourages people to censor themselves thinking that someone is always watching. This will be added to the language section of the article.

Farrell, Kristen. "The Big Mamas are Watching: China's Censorship of the Internet and the Strain on Freedom of Expression." Michigan State Journal of International Law 15.3, 577-604, 2007.

• (this source is restricted access but I include it for now) This article in detail describes levels of internet censorship in china including the use of big mamas by companies like Yahoo! It talks about how big mamas censor content and examples. I will use this for general information on how internet censorship works, how big mamas fit in, and to provide example uses of big mamas (Yahoo!).

"Internet Censorship in China." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, n.d. 26 Oct. 2016.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_censorship_in_China

• This page will help be contextualize big mamas within a bigger picture of Chinese censorship as well as provide some definition of big mamas.

Mooney, Paul. “China’s ‘Big Mamas’ in a Quandary”. Yale Global, 12 April, 2004.

http://yaleglobal.yale.edu/content/chinas-%E2%80%98big-mamas-quandary

• This article talks about big mamas as being all Chinese censors. This provides a larger picture of Big Mama like the concept of Big Brother. This article talks about the role of Chinese censors in a new time with growing amounts of netizens/hacktivists who protest and get around censors. I will use this to discuss big mamas as a larger picture idea and its role in censorship as the use of the internet changes and impacts Chinese politics.

News, BBC. "The Astonishing Speed of Chinese Censorship." BBC News. N.p., 27 Mar. 2013.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-21743499

• This article does not mention big mamas specifically but talks censors and about the process of what a big mama would do and how quickly posts get taken down. It provides some findings on those who monitor and censor sites as well as statistics about removal of content and how many censors would need to be employed to keep up with their job. I will use this to provide information on how big mamas work, more information about them and their job, how efficient they are and some findings.

Sinclair, Gregory. “The Internet in China: Information Revolution or Authoritarian Solution?”.

Dissertation, University of Leeds, May 2002.

• This paper discusses internet censorship in China broadly, technologies of censorship, the Great firewall, and foreign companies’ role in censorship in China. The article mentions that the job of big mamas has begun to be more automated. It also talks specifically about the Yahoo example. I will use this article to discuss the Yahoo example in depth and the role of foreign companies in Chinese censorship.

Tsui, Lokman. “Internet opening up China: Fact or Fiction?”. Media in Transition: Globalization &

Convergence Conference, Boston MA, May 2002. http://cmsw.mit.edu/mit2/Abstracts/LOKMANTSUI.pdf

• This article talks about censorship from the government versus self-policing. It references the idea of Panopticon. I will explain this concept. I will use the information in this article to talk about this self-regulation and the private sectors economic and political interest to censor itself in China.

Tsui, Lokman. “Internet in China: Big Mama is Watching You”. Dissertation, University of Leiden,

July 2001. http://www.lokman.nu/thesis/010717-thesis.pdf

• This article talks about the legal, technical, social, and economic aspects of internet control in China. It talks about the role of big mamas in news and how every news agency has a team of moderators known as big mamas that censor content and how their role has a social impact since they decide what is acceptable. The other role big mamas play is the concept that someone is always watching and will censor content which leads to self and societal censorship. I will use this article as a basis for the role of big mamas.

Zhang, Yin, and Leung, Laifong. “Internet Control in China: A Digital Panopticon”. ProQuest Dissertations and Theses, 2004.

• This article also talks about the legal technical social and economic aspects of Chinas control of the internet as well as its history and current state, punishment of violations, and more. It talks about how all chat rooms have big mamas and mentions Yahoo. I’ll use this to discuss the prevalence of big mamas.

United States. Report to Congress of the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission. 2008 110th Congress, 2nd session, 291-310, 2008.

• This report talks broadly about censorship in China and the role of the US in its technology. It discusses the Golden Shield Project, the Great Firewall, and internet police. This includes the private sector and public institutions use of big mamas to monitor sites. I will use this to describe the role of the US and technology as well as provide context to the larger censorship project and how big mamas fit in to that. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Kaylam7 (talk • contribs) 17:32, 27 October 2016 (UTC)

Language

should the etymology section be changed to language? suggestions- Add discussion on what language is censored, what words trigger a need for removal, etc. Could also discuss language and discourse around big mamas and censorship. Could also add information on the discourse and language (that is used to describe big mamas and censorship in china) used by the West versus the language and discourse to explain censorship by the Chinese government

more sources are needed for what is there in the etymology section. look at annotated bibliography for a start of making additions.

  — Preceding unsigned comment added by Kaylam7 (talk • contribs) 04:47, 30 November 2016 (UTC) 

technology and process

I added content and a study on how big mamas work. More information could be added on specific technological aspects — Preceding unsigned comment added by Kaylam7 (talk • contribs) 05:04, 30 November 2016 (UTC)

examples

I added info on examples of big mamas. Yahoo is the most discussed example. More direct examples could be added. There is also more information on the Pledge. I was not sure how much to write about it but it is linked and the annotated bibliography has more sources that cover it. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Kaylam7 (talk • contribs) 05:06, 30 November 2016 (UTC)

self-censorship

I added this bigger picture section to show the impact of big mamas and how they have influenced the population and censorship. I was not sure how much to write about discourse and more theoretical concepts of self-censorship and societal relations — Preceding unsigned comment added by Kaylam7 (talk • contribs) 05:08, 30 November 2016 (UTC)