Research Of Technological Products Evaluation: The View Of Micro Study Of Scientific Communication

With the informatization progress and the popularization of technological products, the audiences’ demand of technological products evaluation is on the rapid rise. There are a lot of media, both home and abroad, famous for their professional technological product reviews, but there is little research in this field in Chinese academia nowdays. As a major represent of the technological products evaluation, it is necessary to define and analyze 3C product reviews from the perspective of journalism and communication. This paper argues that technological products evaluation is a text for the mass designated to analyze and evaluate the technological consumer goods through experience and experimental methods. It is not only a kind of business guidance, but also plays a supervision role on media. It is the spreader of science communication as well. In the last twenty years, along with the development of Chinese technological media industry, a batch of professional evaluation media emerged, formulating its own degree of standization and specialization of content production.The first chapter includes the introduction, incoulding the origin, background, significance, and definition of this research. The literature review of this part intends to explain its relevance to journalism and scientific communication. It is believed that technological products’ evaluation has many characteristics, including educational, professional, commercial and critical ones. It is a kind of independent style of text, being distinctly different from science and technology news/comments from many perspectives. These differences are reflected not only in its content, but also in its shopping-guide purpose. Judging from the perspective of science and technology communication, the evaluation of technological products helps to the popularize new science and technology results, products, nouns and concepts, and improve people’s use of new technological products.In the second chapter, the development of Chinese technological products evaluation since 1990s is expounded. In this paper, its development can be divided into three stages, namely the stage of being created and developed, the stage of capitalization and network, and the stage of the mobile Internet nowadays. Judging from the object, media and the professional level, the types of technological products evaluation are classified. Due to the fact that 3C product reviews are the earliest and largest type of evaluation, this paper is mainly forcused on the discussion of 3C product reviews and IT media. Other types, such as car review by car media, will also be introdueced.The third chapter takes the case for Engadget China’s review, to research its form, style and content with the quantitative and qualitative methods. This paper argues that its review has strong style of experience and popularization; attaches great importance to the multimedia presentation. Its product-focus reviews are cautious on criticism.The fourth chapter combines two cases, Popsoft Magazine’s review of Aiptek DV, and the debate of Luo and Wang together, to discuss the possibility of bringing about objective, independent, public and professional evaluation. It is found that technological products evaluation once had strong media supervision in traditional IT media. However, due to the internal/external imbalances of media, such as lacking industry standard, there is still a long way ahead to realize the professionalism of the evaluation industry featuring publicity, objectivity and independence.