A Case Study: The Influence Of Campus BBS On Public Deliberation Of School Affairs

The study of the effect of the Internet on constructing public sphere and promoting democracy has recently risen to be the focus of communication, journalism, sociology, and politics. The thesis attempted to explore to what extent the Internet forum, particularly BBS, can construct public sphere in China by case study (Campus BBS of Chongqing University of Posts and Telecommunication was chosen as the case.) from the perspective of public opinion and Internet communication. Both qualitative and quantitative methods were employed in the study and information was gathered and analyzed by literature search, content analysis, in-depth interview and questionnairing to probe into the characteristics, development, gate-keeping mechanism, freedom and equality of its deliberation on public affairs, and influence on the decision-making of school public affairs and on the civic quality of its users of the Internet forum, particularly BBS.Three major conclusions have been reached.At first, Campus BBS of Chongqing University of Posts and Telecommunications is strictly controlled by a rigid gate-keeping system, which profoundly affects its orientation of contents and functions.Secondly, Campus BBS of Chongqing University of Posts and Telecommun ications constructs a primary public sphere according the result of content analysis and questionnairing.Thirdly, the study fails to prove that the use of Campus BBS of Chongqing University of Posts and Telecommunications helps its users become critical and rational citizens with the ability to make social changes.