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Communications in Humanities Research

Proceedings of ICADSS 2024 Workshop:

International Forum on Intelligent Communication

and Media Transformation

Beijing, China

September 8th, 2024

Volume 36

Editors

Yanhua Qin

Beijing Normal University

Enrique Mallen

Sam Houston State University

ISSN: 2753-7064

ISSN: 2753-7072 (eBook)

ISBN: 978-1-83558-451-4

ISBN: 978-1-83558-452-1 (eBook)

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Committee Members

ICADSS 2024

General Chair

Enrique Mallen, Sam Houston State University

Technical Program Chair

Kurt Buhring, Saint Mary's College

Technical Program Committee

Enrique Mallen, Sam Houston State University

Yuanyuan Fan, Academy of Art and Design, Tsinghua University

Luke Qiu, University of Wisconsin-Madison

Ruichang Ding, Beijing Normal University

Shui Li, Tsinghua University

Jia Zheng, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences

Abdullah Laghari, Quaid-e-Awam University of Engineering, Science and Technology

Riaz Ahmad Saeed, National University of Modern Languages

Shaza Mahar, Arab Open University

Muhammad Wasim Akram, Arab Open University

Ursula Faura-Martínez, University of Murcia

Organizing Chair

Nafhesa Ali, Northumbria University

Organizing Committee

Kwasu Tembo, Lancaster University

Chinny Nzekwe-Excel, Birmingham City University

Muhammad Idrees, University of Agriculture, Faisalabad

Ni Lu, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences

Yue Qian, Hong Kong Baptist University

Xiao Ma, Peking University

Wenliang Lin, Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications

Q.Y. Yuan, University of Manitoba

Shuai Li, Beijing Foreign Studies University

Yanhua Qin, Beijing Normal University

Publicity Chairs

Asim Aqeel, University of Agriculture, Faisalabad

Nasir Mahmood, University of Sialkot

Preface

The 3rd International Conference on Art, Design and Social Sciences (ICADSS 2024) is an annual

conference focusing on research areas including sociology, communication science, and fine arts. It

aims to establish a broad and interdisciplinary platform for experts, researchers, and students

worldwide to present, exchange, and discuss the latest advance and development in all facets of

sociology, communication science, and fine arts.

This volume contains a selection of high-quality papers submitted to the workshop "International

Forum on Intelligent Communication and Media Transformation" held in collaboration with the

ICADSS 2024. The workshop, chaired by Prof. Yanhua Qin, director of the Key Laboratory for Big

Data Analysis and Application of User Behavior in the Publishing Industry at Beijing Normal

University, is part of a broader initiative to examine interdisciplinary approaches in artificial

intelligence, intelligent communication and media revolution. Each of these papers has gained a

comprehensive review by the editorial team and professional reviewers. Each paper has been

examined and evaluated for its theme, structure, method, content, language, and format.

Cooperating with prestigious universities, ICADSS 2024 organized two more workshops in

Huntsville and Lexington. Prof. Enrique Mallen chaired the workshop "Art and Literature as

Alternate Forms of Expression in Pablo Picasso", which was held at Sam Houston State University.

Dr. Garry R. Bibbs chaired the workshop "Spirituality: Ideas and Emotions=Art", which was held at

University of Kentucky.

Besides these workshops, ICADSS 2024 also held an online session. Eminent professors from top

universities worldwide were invited to deliver keynote speeches in this online session, they have

given keynote speeches on related topics of sociology, communication science, and fine arts.

On behalf of the committee, we would like to give sincere gratitude to all authors and speakers who

have made their contributions to ICADSS 2024, editors and reviewers who have guaranteed the

quality of papers with their expertise, and the committee members who have devoted themselves to

the success of ICADSS 2024.

Prof. Enrique Mallen

General Chair of Conference Committee

Workshops

Workshop – Beijing: International Forum on Intelligent Communication and Media

Transformation

September 8th, 2024 (GMT+8)

Media Convergence and Digital Publishing Research Center, School of Journalism and

Communication, Beijing Normal University

Workshop Chair: Prof. Yanhua Qin, Professor in Beijing Normal University

Workshop – Huntsville: Art and Literature as Alternate Forms of Expression in Pablo

Picasso

October 18th, 2024 (UTC-5)

Department of World Languages and Cultures, Sam Houston State University

Workshop Chair: Prof. Enrique Mallen, Professor in Sam Houston State University

Workshop – Lexington: Spirituality: Ideas and Emotions=Art

December 2nd, 2024 (UTC-4)

School of Art and Visual Studies, University of Kentucky

Workshop Chair: Dr. Garry R. Bibbs, Professor in University of Kentucky

ICADSS 2024 Workshop: International Forum

on Intelligent Communication and Media

Transformation

ICADSS 2024

Table of Contents

Committee Members ······························································································································

Preface ·······················································································································································

Workshops ················································································································································

The Application of Intelligent Technologies in the Creation of Historical Documentary Films 1

Wei Ren

A Cultural Publishing Perspective on the Development of Artificial Intelligence in the Process

of Impacts and Opportunities ············································································································ 12

Weitao Xu

Visible Artificial Intelligence: Exploring the Enhancement of Chatgpt and Film Script

Creation ················································································································································· 22

Xinhao Zhou, Meiqi Xu, Min Sun

The Logical Path of Applying Sora Technology in the Cultural Industry ·································· 28

Ran Li

Changes and Mechanisms of Social Interaction Models in the Digital Age ································ 37

Jiaqi Lv, Maoyuan Zhang

Despair and Hope in Nonsense: A Study of the Subcultural Ritual of Youth —Taking "Crazy

Literature" as an Example ··················································································································· 46

Wei Xie, Xiao Rao

The Prevalence of Self-Exploitation in Media Production: Analyzing the Impact of

Technological and Societal Transformations ··················································································· 53

Niqin Wang

Erosion and Remodeling: New Alienation of User Subjects Led by Intelligent Algorithms ···· 61

Muting Sun, Naye Ji

Human-machine Voice and Human-machine Competition: Practical Landscape, Pattern

Changes and Industrial Challenges of Generative AI-Enabled Audiobook Publishing ··········· 73

Yuanxin Wang, Tingting Wang, Jingyi Fu, Xinyue You

A New Demon after Collapse: Jewish Social Media Images in the Israeli Palestinian Conflict—

Short Videos' Analysis Based on TikTok ·························································································· 79

Xiangwu Lai, Tiange Zhang

The Operation of Moe: A Discourse Practice of Cyber Nationalism ············································ 86

Lingyu Wang

A Systematic Review of Public Relations Research in the Context of Artificial Intelligence ··· 92

Xinyu Zhao

The Maze Walls of the City: An Analysis of the Bestselling Strategy of Haruki Murakami’s

Works ··················································································································································· 102

Yanhua Qin, Sasaki Junna

Substantive and Emotional: The ‘Anthropomorphic’ Evolution of Generative AI—Taking

GPT-4o as an Example ······················································································································· 111

Jingyi Xie

Building the Literary Award System and Marketing of Works in the Era of Intelligent

Communication --An Analysis of the Reasons Behind the Bestseller Status of "Golden

Slumbers" ············································································································································· 119

Yanhua Qin, Yihuan Wang

Research on the Marketing Strategies of International Bestsellers in the Digital Age: A Case

Study of It Ends with Us ··················································································································· 129

Yanhua Qin, Fengyi Wang

Information Stratification: An Understanding of Rural Governance in the New Media Era · 137

Chang Niu, Hongyan Li, Chunfeng Gao

AI Voice Cloning Technology under Human-machine Attachment Shared Mechanism

Behavior Research ······························································································································ 150

Kejian Meng

Analysis of the Causes and Mitigation Paths of Artificial Intelligence Anxiety among

Journalism Practitioners ···················································································································· 168

Kewen Liang, Kaidong Dong

Analysis of Editorial Planning and Insights from International Bestsellers in the Age of

Intelligence ·········································································································································· 177

Yanhua Qin, Yifan Li

Reshaping the Sound Landscape: The Application and Development of AI in the Sound

Creation of Chinese Podcasts in the Era of Intelligent Media ····················································· 185

Lingyu Kuai

Analysis of Marketing Strategies for Bestselling Books in the Context of Publishing

Convergence: A Case Study of The Fugitive Artist ······································································ 195

Yanhua Qin, Yuli Hou

Sensing Facts and Emotions: Intelligent Technology's Redefinition of News Text Presentation

······························································································································································· 205

Wei He, Min Zhou

Empowerment of Generative AI in the International Dissemination of Chinese Audiobooks

from the Perspective of Platform Infrastructure ··········································································· 214

Yanhua Qin, Jianing Fu

The Application of Intelligent Technologies in the Creation of

Historical Documentary Films

Wei Ren1,a,*

1Shenyang City University, Shenyang, Liaoning, 110100, China

a. rensirong2010@163.com

*corresponding author

Abstract: In the context of intelligent media, communication ushers in an unprecedented

transformation. As an important way of cultural communication, documentary production is

exploring the deep integration with emerging technologies. As an important part of

documentary creation, historical documentary films are constantly integrated with intelligent

technology in reality creation due to their special attributes. The research scope of this paper

is under the national "new quality productivity" development strategy to explore the

application and potential of intelligent technology in the content shaping of historical

documentary films. It is mainly reflected in the selection of massive historical literature

materials through artificial intelligence algorithms, the full integration of classified valuable

information, and the provision of creative materials and basis for film creation; Post editing

and special effect processing through intelligent technology to enhance the film's

expressiveness; Restore historical moments and shape spatial scenes through intelligent

technologies such as AR, VR virtualization and face recognition; Accurate calculation

between works and audiences is achieved through data analysis, and communication

channels are expanded. The coupling development of intelligent technology and historical

documentary creation promotes its content innovation, stimulates its creative potential, and

realizes the digitalization and intelligent content shaping of historical documentary. Through

this article, I hope to provide new ideas for the intelligent development of historical

documentary creation.

Keywords: Intelligent Technology, Historical Documentary, Creative Application,

Development Potential.

1. Introduction

With the development of intelligent technology, the scope of its application is constantly expanding.

Intelligent technology has played a great role in the creation of historical documentaries, from the

idea to the content production, from the integration of historical documents to the later intelligent

editing have played a great role. This paper focuses on the application of intelligent technology in

historical documentaries, summarizes and analyzes its application, value and innovative development

direction through literature analysis method, case study method and content analysis method.

Proceedings of ICADSS 2024 Workshop: International Forum on Intelligent Communication and Media Transformation

DOI: 10.54254/2753-7064/36/2024BJ0045

(https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).

2. The application and potential of intelligent technology in the creation of historical

documentary films

2.1. Overview of domestic and international research on intelligent technology and

documentary creation

2.1.1. Review of foreign studies

Foreign research on AI technology involved in documentary creation, such as the teaching practice of

the University of Southern California and Columbia University in the United States, uses AI

technology to analyze narrative structures, and uses algorithms to help students understand the

subtleties of story telling. In the creation of historical documentary films in some British universities,

AI was used to conduct in-depth data mining and systematic sorting. Deeply study the intervention of

artificial intelligence (AI) technology, including the new forms of virtual reality (VR) and augmented

reality (AR) documentaries, and enable the audience to enjoy immersive sensory immersion.

Internationally, the core of research is how AI technology can enhance the narrative strategy, visual

expression and editing efficiency of documentaries. As studied by Smith and Jones, AI has been

applied in documentary film production of historical archives.

2.1.2. Review of national studies

In the domestic academic circles, research on documentary film production in the intelligent media

environment has seen several achievements. The trend of research content on intelligent technology

and documentary creation as well as the research relationship network of related topics in HowNet are

shown in Figure 1 Trends in the literature theme "Intelligent Technologies and Documentary

Creation", Figure 2 Distribution of literature citation network of "Intelligent Technology and

Documentary Film Creation" and Figure 3 Overall trends in the literature on "smart technologies and

documentary filmmaking". Some researchers began to focus on the innovative practice of AI in the

film and television industry. For example, in the Application and Exploration of AI Technology in the

Creation of Historical Documentary [1], Professor Liang Xing took the works such as I came from the

Han Dynasty as an example to deeply explore the evolution track and role of AI technology in the

creation of historical documentaries, and contributed practical development ideas. [1] Hu Ziyi

pointed out in the 2023 Application of CG Technology in the Creation of Historical Documentary

that AI technology shows great cultural value in building an 'imaginary community' in the process of

maintaining historical coherence, filling historical gaps and constructing historical memory, and at

the same time, he deeply analyzed the artistic and technical criteria of CG technology in the

production of historical documentaries.

Proceedings of ICADSS 2024 Workshop: International Forum on Intelligent Communication and Media Transformation

DOI: 10.54254/2753-7064/36/2024BJ0045

Figure 1: Trends in the literature theme "Intelligent Technologies and Documentary Creation".

Figure 2: Distribution of literature citation network of "Intelligent Technology and Documentary

Film Creation".

Proceedings of ICADSS 2024 Workshop: International Forum on Intelligent Communication and Media Transformation

DOI: 10.54254/2753-7064/36/2024BJ0045

Figure 3: Overall trends in the literature on "smart technologies and documentary filmmaking".

2.2. The significance and value of intelligent technology in the creation of historical

documentaries

Since the rapid development of intelligent technology, the relationship between the injection of

intelligent technology and the authenticity of documentaries has become the focus of many

researchers. Historical documentaries, because of its material in the long river of history has passed

away, so in the past creation of historical documentaries, many of them adopted the form of scene

reproduction, scene interpretation. Through the role of characters to restore the historical situation.

There is a distance between the sense of immersion and the real record, and history can not be truly

recorded again. The development of intelligent technology is expected to further enhance the sense of

visual immersion, shape the virtual space, reproduce historical characters through face recognition,

and build historical space through scene construction. In the creation of historical documentaries, the

application of intelligent technology can effectively enhance the audience's viewing experience.

Through intelligent technology, historical events and documents can be presented more accurately,

making the content of the documentary more vivid and interesting. As a new assistant of auxiliary

content creation, AI plays an important role in improving creation efficiency and content quality. [2]

The bottleneck in the creation of historical documentary films stems from the inability to record

and shoot what has happened. The historical documentary films in the past were presented through

cultural relics, historical data, interviews with researchers, actors' performances, and scene

reproduction, and there were many shortcomings in the details of important scenes or events and

characters. The AR and VR technologies in the intelligent technology can build scenes and put the

audience's perception and experience into the historical environment. This design can give viewers a

sense of being in it, and can deepen the audience's understanding and cognition of the specific history.

Through intelligent technology, the rhythm of post editing can be changed, so as to improve the visual

experience of the documentary and make the whole work more vivid and attractive. The data analysis

results of artificial intelligence technology can be applied to content production. Through platform

data capture and analysis, the audience can be accurately depicted. According to the analysis results,

the content production can be accurately planned to achieve clear priorities and detailed display of

key points. For example, the close combination of story production and platform audience in Netflix.

At present, Netflix's operating revenue is $13 million, while HBO's operating revenue is $54.8

Proceedings of ICADSS 2024 Workshop: International Forum on Intelligent Communication and Media Transformation

DOI: 10.54254/2753-7064/36/2024BJ0045

million. Netflix's revenue share has accounted for 23% of HBO's overall revenue. From the data

display, we can see the value of the intelligent plan feedback content such as the application platform

data analysis in the production. Therefore, in the intelligent production of historical documentary

films, producers can also develop personalized presentation schemes according to the audience's

preferences, so as to provide a higher viewing experience for the audience. According to the

audience's browsing situation and personal viewing habits presented by the data, relevant historical

documentary films are recommended through artificial intelligence algorithms to achieve accurate

positioning, make the best use of everything, and maximize the communication effect. Improve the

audience's audio-visual viewing experience.

The application of intelligent technology in historical documentaries is not only reflected in

improving the production efficiency and quality of documentaries, but also expanding the way of

expression. Through the intervention of intelligent technology, a more vivid and intuitive

presentation can be realized, which can be seen in the reproduction of historical events through virtual

reality technology or the creation of a more fascinating storyline through intelligent scriptwriting

technology. These innovative ways of expression reached through technology can make the audience

feel and understand historical events in a more immersive way, and enhance the interactivity and

immersion of the movie-going experience.

3. Application of Intelligent Technology in Documentary Films on Historical Documents

3.1. The Role of Intelligent Technology in the Creation of Documentary Films on Historical

Documents

The integration of intelligent technology and the creation of historical documentaries is very

important in terms of the important role of intelligent technology in data processing, data capture and

integration.

With the development of intelligent media technology, it provides greater creative space for the

creation of historical documentary films. The powerful data capture, storage, integration and analysis

functions of intelligent technology can help creators quickly integrate text, pictures and video

information. Help repair pictures and restore details. Intelligent technology, supported by big data

and based on new media platform, can realize rapid data integration. In the future, its keyword

crawler technology can be further used to improve the data processing and analysis of keyword

history, so as to form a close combination of complete historical context and detailed events. This

kind of data processing is scientific and reliable, which makes up for the disadvantage of incomplete

and imperfect historical data. Authenticity is a concern about the combination of intelligent

technology and documentary recording in the past. The combination of historical documentary and

intelligent technology is based on reality, and the means is not real real-time recording. Real words,

pictures and historical videos are the most faithful pursuit of reality under the combination of

intelligent technology and intelligent technology. Therefore, this highlights its applicability and value

in the development of historical documentary creation and intelligent technology. In addition, VR is

used for the parameter reference of script writing and shooting. For example, the film Eye for an Eye:

A S é ance in Virtual Reality was shot by Seine Abs, the VR consultant, Devin Emi1, the digital

director, and Elias Petridis, the director. [3] The VR lens script writing method is adopted, and the

parameter design of some shooting equipment at present also uses intelligent technology to design its

different modes, It greatly facilitates the documentary shooting process. Intelligent technology plays

an irreplaceable role in the data processing of historical documentary films. It not only greatly

improves the work efficiency and accuracy of data processing, but also provides more innovative

directions for creation. With the continuous development and application of intelligent computer

technology and its simulation technology, 3D graphics technology, sensing and display technology,

Proceedings of ICADSS 2024 Workshop: International Forum on Intelligent Communication and Media Transformation

DOI: 10.54254/2753-7064/36/2024BJ0045

servo technology, etc., it is believed that intelligent technology will play an increasingly important

role in the creation of future historical documentary films. Digital technology allows filmmakers to

present information and clues in data visualization ways, enhancing the expressive power of

documentaries and giving viewers more ways to watch them.[4]

In addition, intelligent technology can also play a more advantageous role in editing and post

production of historical documentary creation. Editing and post packaging production has always

been the key process in the documentary creation process. The development of intelligent technology

has realized the automation of the process of material automatic or setting screening, clip rough

cutting, special effects application and other processes in the production process, greatly improving

the production efficiency and quality. At present, intelligent AI software such as SORA, which is

applied abroad and used for film creation, can play a role in the scene presentation and character story

development of historical documentary creation. It is believed that with the continuous upgrading of

technology, more and more intelligent editing software will be developed and applied to the

production of historical documentary, and then the creation level will be further improved. Although

the current software is faced with challenges such as technology upgrading and human-computer

interaction, there are some problems such as poor performance in production, discrepancy between

unit duration and presentation and instructions. The documentary of human history is one of the

important means to present the national, city or individual characters. [5] In the future, with the

continuous progress of artificial intelligence technology, intelligent editing and post production will

also continue to develop, which will bring more possibilities and innovations to the creation of

historical documentary films.

3.2. Intelligent technology to assist the creation of historical documentaries embodies

3.2.1. Application of Image Recognition Techniques in Documentary Films on Historical

Documents

By capturing, identifying, sorting and analyzing historical pictures, the historical scene and

occurrence at a certain moment can be reconstructed, so that the audience can more truly feel the

vicissitudes and changes of history. From the imitation of the reproducing narrative means of the

traditional historical documentary, to the stylized narration of the multi-form such as

three-dimensional animation, two-dimensional animation and stop-motion animation, and finally to

the animation image as the media main body of the historical documentary, tell the story of history

with a new identity. [6]Thousands of works stood out in the "See You Again" Kathmandu Panorama

Nepal Historic Site Restoration Action, which won the Effie Award. 90% of the ancient square

buildings and religious temples in Kathmandu collapsed and were destroyed in the great earthquake.

Their restoration works are the digital restoration of ancient buildings in Nepal. Through 42108

photos uploaded by netizens at home and abroad, digital processing through intelligent technology

has achieved effective integration, and also played a huge role in process value, industry value and

global influence. It is an excellent embodiment of intelligent technology driven innovation. This case

provides a favorable reference for intelligent technology to promote the creation of historical

documentary. Intelligent technology can not only play an important role in the restoration of

historical documents, but also make all-round efforts in data sorting, image recognition and platform

interaction, which can enable content creation and promote communication.

In addition, image recognition technology can also carry out facial recognition and feature

extraction of historical characters, making the characters in the documentary presentation more

realistic and vivid, and can also be applied to the image restoration and enhancement in historical

documentary films. The problems such as blurred pictures and unclear sounds in the original

historical materials should be repaired to improve the picture quality, and the sound should be

Proceedings of ICADSS 2024 Workshop: International Forum on Intelligent Communication and Media Transformation

DOI: 10.54254/2753-7064/36/2024BJ0045

reduced or imitated according to the characteristics of the characters, so as to improve the overall

viewing. Image recognition technology is of great significance and wide application value in the

creation of historical documentary films. With the continuous progress of intelligent technology, I

believe that the application scope and effect of image recognition technology in the creation of

historical documentary will be more abundant and outstanding. At present, in the creation of

historical documentary films, intelligent image recognition is used to repair and identify historical

pictures, photos, paintings and other historical materials, show and restore historical scenes and

character stories, reconstruct cultural relics, historic sites and buildings, or use AR VR technology is

used to reshape the space and create virtual scenes and reproduce the scenes, so that visitors can feel

the occurrence of history. Nonfiction storytelling shapes our understanding of the real world.[7]

Through the combination of intelligent technology and sound, light and electricity, people can feel

the scenes and situations described in the history in the past.AR focuses on the connection between

virtual and reality, blending virtual information (objects, pictures, video, sound, etc.) into the real

environment to enrich the real world for a more powerful augmented reality experience. [8] Through

intelligent technology, historical documentary films are produced to form a large screen surrounding.

This three-dimensional, lifelike and immersive display is a better way to understand Chinese history

for different groups, especially the generation of Z-generation network growth and foreign groups.

Based on the above cases and studies, the author practices this aspect in the documentary creation

class of colleges and universities where he teaches. In the documentary creation class of historical

documents, the students are guided to use intelligent technology to create in the region, namely,

Liaohe culture and city publicity. The students use the existing software to create "Smart Shenyang"

to be shortlisted for the Golden Calf Award. In the process of creation, I found that there are still

many technical barriers, which will also become the part to be conquered in the future. In the future,

the seamless connection between content planning and technology will be realized through

cooperation and research and development, and the representation of Liaohe culture will be realized,

contributing to the further research and development of local history and culture.

Image recognition technology can also be used to analyze and process photographs and color

images in historical documents to realize the visual reproduction of the historical period and present

more real and vivid historical scenes for the audience. Intelligent image recognition technology in the

application of historical documentaries has seen results, which makes up for the shortcomings in the

creation of historical documentaries in the past, but also brings more possibilities for its creation, so

that the film is richer, more vivid, more varied forms, expanding the display is not only embodied in

the documentary itself, but also to open up the space of dissemination from the two-dimensional to

the three-dimensional to the three-dimensional spatial scenes. Its development is not only the creation

of documentary itself, but also brings more new possibilities, expanding to more fields and industries.

On the basis of the dissemination of the documentary itself, it brings new possibilities for the

development of historical documentaries and cultural tourism, as well as the promotion of the city. It

is believed that with the continuous progress and improvement of technology, intelligent image

recognition technology will play a more important role in the future creation of historical

documentaries, and will bring more possibilities.

3.2.2. Speech Recognition Technology Application of Intelligent Technology in Documentary

Films on Historical Documents

With the development of intelligent technology, the use of artificial intelligence synthesis technology

to achieve voice dubbing has emerged in many fields, such as map navigation voice, audio reading,

etc., which are widely used in daily life. The emergence of a large documentary "Innovative China"

broadcast on CCTV documentary channel in 2018 is more prominent in the field of documentary

creation. The commentary part of the film used AI voice dubbing, which became a documentary

Proceedings of ICADSS 2024 Workshop: International Forum on Intelligent Communication and Media Transformation

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about whether the world used AI to simulate voice dubbing at that time. The score of the film Douban

is 9.3 points, and the platform broadcast volume is 31 million, which can be said to be highly praised

after the broadcast. This technology was completed by the top AI voice production team in the

country. The whole process includes the collection of data voices, the establishment of sound library,

the determination of text manuscripts, and later editing and synthesis by the team. From the

perspective of the whole documentary experience, the AI artificial dubbing part of the film is natural

and harmonious, forming close cooperation with the video. The success of this film is the successful

integration of intelligent speech recognition technology and documentary creation. At present, in

addition to voice dubbing, dictation of historical data into text form, AI speech recognition is also

reflected in all aspects of post production speech recognition that automatically forms subtitles, thus

greatly improving efficiency. [9]In the past post editing, except for the editing of the feature film, the

formation and proofreading of subtitles often consumed a lot of time. However, intelligent voice

technology has solved this problem. This technology has been widely used in different types of video

production. Because of its own characteristics, historical documentary films still have a lot of

application space in speech recognition. In addition to voice dubbing and caption recognition, in the

future, we can explore the formation of sound effects such as ambient sounds based on historical data

and background, so as to match accurate sounds for historical scenes, including personalized

language for characters' historical background. In this way, the intuitiveness of the documentary can

be improved, so that the audience can accurately accept the historical information, like going back to

different times, making the historical figures more vivid, and providing more possibilities and

innovations for the reproduction of history. The historical documents and audio-visual production

products are constantly closely combined to provide a more three-dimensional experience for the

audience.

In short, intelligent speech recognition technology provides more new paths for the creation and

development of historical documentaries. In the future, technology development and content creation

will be driven in both directions. The development of technology promotes the innovation of

historical documentaries, while the demand for content can also provide more directions for the

development of technology.

3.2.3. Application of Intelligent Technology for Data Analysis in the Creation of Documentary

Films on Historical Documents

According to UNESCO data, one language disappears every two weeks worldwide. Taking the

author's ethnic Manchu as an example, only one in every 100 million Chinese can master this

language. Hello, AI, the first 8K documentary in China, will be broadcast on Youku platform in 2019.

Therefore, in the application of text analysis technology, creators need to be cautious, combine the

advantages of AI and AI, and carry out effective text analysis to achieve better results. So as to

present a richer and deeper historical and cultural connotation for the audience.

In the data analysis technology, visitors' browsing and clicking preferences can be captured by

means of crawling, so as to conduct data analysis and help producers understand which history the

audience has a sequel to "I use AI to build cultural relics and artificial intelligence to revive a

thousand years of history", which recorded the story of a researcher who saved history by voice, The

film shows the world the role and significance of AI in saving endangered languages. Through

recording, storing and fetching, a recording mode is formed for specific voice, intonation, syllable

and timbre, which is unified into the database to provide language for documentary production. The

data analysis of intelligent technology in the creation of historical documentaries is also reflected in

the deep mining of historical data, finding its relevance, analyzing the correlation between characters

and historical events, and providing better narrative services for the construction of the overall story

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context, how to display the complete event, reflect the character and better narrative. Increase the

historical depth of content through information interaction. Provide help for better telling history.

It is worth noting that there are still some challenges and obstacles to text analysis technology in

the creation of historical documentaries, such as the uneven quality of the text of historical documents,

the difficulty of translating and interpreting ancient documents, etc. All these problems will have an

impact on the accuracy and reliability of the text analysis, which will help us to understand the

demand and guide the creation of the film. Through data analysis technology, accurate audience

positioning and personalized content recommendation can be achieved to improve the audience's

viewing experience and enhance the influence and attractiveness of the work. [10] The application of

data analysis technology brings new ideas and possibilities for the creation of historical

documentaries, which helps to explore the potential of the work and attract more viewers.

4. Functions and Characteristics of Intelligent Technology Applications in the Creation of

Historical Documentary Films

4.1. Intelligent Technology as a Creative Aid in Documentary Films on Historical Documents

According to the statistics of Yien, in 2022, the documentary will be produced for more than 90000

hours and broadcast for more than 800000 hours, with 1040 new videos on typical video platforms;

According to the statistics of "China Audiovisual Big Data" (CVB), 64000 hours of documentaries

will be broadcast by CCTV and local satellite channels in 2022, and the market popularity and

reputation will increase. (Source: Xinmin Evening News) The assistance of intelligent technology in

the creation of historical documentary films is reflected in the aspects of conception, content

construction, post production, audience feedback, etc. In terms of conception, intelligent technology

can analyze the theme of creative conception through the collection and collation of historical

documents. Provide data basis from the beginning of creation. In terms of content construction,

intelligent technology can enrich the content performance of documentaries through image

recognition and voice recognition technology, help to shape suitable characters, mine details of

historical events, and deeply mine information to enrich the expression of content. At the same time,

the continuous development of intelligent editing technology directly provides convenience for video

production. At the same time, different styles of design provide more editing rhythm and direction for

later editing, and provide more expression for creation. Improve the expressiveness and appreciation

of historical documentary creation in terms of speed and quality. Through the development of

intelligent technology, we can timely harvest the click feedback information of the video platform,

provide creative strategies for future creation, and provide services for accurate benchmarking and

watching users and future accurate push.

4.2. Innovative Features of Intelligent Technology in Documentary Films on Historical

Documents

At present, the functions of intelligent technology in historical documents are embodied in the sorting

and integration of content and text, identification technology and the creation of virtual space. First,

from plane to solid. With the development of technology, we will further dig on this basis. Fully

integrate existing applications. From the portraits of historical figures to the details of the

environment, it has been constantly improved. From two-dimensional to three-dimensional display to

the creation of three-dimensional virtual space, VR technology is applied to bring all audiences

audio-visual experience and cognitive style. Secondly, from watching to immersing. To create a

space historical scene, you can imitate the game settings, so that the audience can choose roles to

enter the historical scene and participate in the interaction with historical events. The historical

documentary itself has different viewing and experience paths, and the audience can choose the main

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line. So as to enhance experience, deepen understanding and interest, and achieve better

communication. Interactive design, such as touch screen, voice control, gesture, and motion

recognition, is added to the viewing and space immersion experience, which makes the audience

more immersed in the world of historical documentary films and increases the fun and sense of

participation in viewing. Through continuous innovation and improvement of interactive experience

design, it can bring new possibilities and opportunities for the production and dissemination of

historical documentary films. Data + Artificial intelligence will also make the documentary market

more detailed and break through the professional production limitations of film studios, television

stations, and other entities.[11]

5. Exploiting the Potential and Prospects of Intelligent Technology in the Creation of

Historical Documentary Films

5.1. Aspects of Historical Restoration and Spatial Shaping

Intelligent technology in historical documentaries is mainly applied to information extraction and

integration, material collection, which has a large potential space in historical restoration and space

shaping, and the collected materials can be organized according to different keywords to

automatically generate videos. Currently more mature software can generate matching clips

according to the file description, but the precision and accuracy need to be improved. Here we need to

establish a larger database, improve the recognition function and vertical links. The degree of

reproduction is further improved. Establish a more flexible and realistic character construction and

space to improve the degree of historical reproduction. Solve the situation of stiff movement and

expression of characters. For example, for the restoration of Kathmandu, we can combine online and

offline activities to collect and reserve rich and sufficient data, and utilize intelligent technology to

restore photos and images, and store them in the library. According to the set code, we can generate

characters with distinctive personalities that are in line with the reality of the historical data like game

characters, and generate video content according to the content of the data and the story line. In this

way, in the face of a large number of faded history, intelligent technology will provide a broader

creative space and market for the creation of historical documentaries. For example, the author is

concerned about the recovery of Liaohe culture, combining intelligent technology with historical

documents and historical relics, and will be committed to the creation of related historical

documentaries. In the past, there are many drawbacks that can not be reproduced in the creation, with

the help of intelligent technology will be improved. Especially in the character characterization,

historical space will play an important role in the creation.

5.2. Aspects of emotional resonance and depth of experience

The exploration of intelligent technology in historical documentaries has important practical

significance and application value, and it is a development trend that cannot be ignored in the field of

documentary production. In addition to the technology to promote the convenience of content

production and quality improvement, we can consider the technology to enhance the emotional

resonance between the work and the audience, so as to enhance the depth of experience. This relies on

the data analysis of intelligent technology in historical documentaries. In addition to hotspot analysis,

emotional analysis can be further carried out from the field of big data. The aim is to identify and

analyze the emotions of text, audio and video materials through artificial intelligence technology, and

to reveal the emotional characteristics and emotional direction contained therein. To help creators

better grasp the emotional clues contained in the historical materials, so as to better present the

historical events and the inner world of the characters, increase the emotional resonance of the

audience and the depth of understanding of history, and form an emotionally contagious story

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development to the audience, which is expected to inject new vitality and contagious force into the

creation of historical documentaries.

6. Conclusion

Intelligent technology through virtual reality can improve the audience's sense of view and make

historical documentaries more attractive. Through virtual presentation, people can travel to different

time and space, and through interactive experience, they can feel the reality of history as if they were

there. The development of intelligent technology improves the innovation possibilities for historical

documentaries. With the help of intelligent technology, historical and cultural documentaries can

move from the existing video creation to the creation of scene video, virtual video space and scene,

and form an industry starting from this. The scope of application includes the reproduction of

historical relics, the promotion of history and culture, the promotion of culture and tourism, and the

promotion of urban development. It is believed that with the further development of intelligent

technology, the creation of historical documentaries will continue to improve its richness and depth of

content, ease of creation and accuracy. Intelligent technology not only provides tools for the creation

of historical documentaries, but also provides more directions and ideas for the creation of texts and

contents. Along with the development of intelligent technology in the future, the creation of historical

documentaries will continue to innovate and improve.

References

[1] Liang Xing. (2023). The Application and Exploration of AI Technology in the Creation of Historical Documentaries.

News Gathering and Editing (02), 25-27.

[2] Wu Jianwang. (2024). An Analysis of the Empowerment of Documentary Creation by Artificial Intelligence

Technology. Modern Audio-Visual (02), 59-62.

[3] Xie Fang. (2019). The Creation and Application of VR Technology in Documentary Creation. China Media

Technology (11), 64-66.

[4] Chen Meiyang. (2023). Research on the Hypothetical Influence of Digital Technology on Historical Documentaries

(Master's degree thesis, Sichuan Normal University).

[5] Chen Jiatong & Wang Ziqi. (2024). "Traveling with Tang Poetry": The Audio-Visual Presentation and Value

Exploration of Humanistic and Historical Documentaries. Audio-Visual (04), 104-107.

[6] Li Lei & Shang Yuhang. (2024). Mimicry, Transgression and Self-Discipline - The Triple Narrative Mechanism of

Animated Images in Historical Documentaries. Contemporary Television (05), 8-14.

[7] Gu Jing. (June 28, 2023). Hollywood's artificial intelligence decision-making has arrived. What now? China Film

News, 014.

[8] Gong Jin. (2015). The Leap of VR Virtual Reality Technology. Science and Technology Fashionable Products (12),

38.

[9] Zhao Yang. (2024). Reconstructing Reality: The Concept and Practice of Intelligent Creation of Documentaries.

Contemporary Cinema (03), 66-74.

[10] Li Wei. (2023). The Application of New Media Technology in TV Program Production. TV Technology, (06), 72-74.

[11] Zhou Jingquan. (2020). Discussion on Documentary Creation under the Background of New Media. Science and

Technology Communication, (17), 31-32.

Proceedings of ICADSS 2024 Workshop: International Forum on Intelligent Communication and Media Transformation

DOI: 10.54254/2753-7064/36/2024BJ0045

A Cultural Publishing Perspective on the Development of

Artificial Intelligence in the Process of Impacts and

Opportunities

Weitao Xu1,a,*

1School of New media, Beijing Institute of Graphic Communication, Xinghua Street (Section 2),

No.1, Beijing, China

a. 1219478744@qq.com

*corresponding author

Abstract: In the wave of informatization and digitization, generative artificial intelligence

(AIGC), an important branch of artificial intelligence technology, is gradually penetrating

and reshaping the publishing industry. Through systematic analysis and research, this paper

discusses the current status of the application, its development path, and the challenges

generative AI faces in the publishing industry. Firstly, this paper explains the basic principles

of generative AI technology and its advantages in content generation. It also analyses its

specific application scenarios in various content forms such as text, image, audio, and video.

Secondly, this paper discusses the various paths of generative AI to enable the high-quality

development of the publishing industry, including improving content production efficiency,

promoting creative diversity of content, and optimizing the publishing process. At the same

time, this paper also analyses the technical bottlenecks, market barriers, and ethical and safety

issues faced by the application of generative AI in the publishing industry, and puts forward

some strategies and suggestions to cope with these challenges.

Keywords: generative artificial intelligence, publishing quality development, smart

publishing.

1. Introduction

In today's deepening globalization and information technology, Artificial Intelligence (AI), as a

disruptive technology, is influencing the development of all industries with unprecedented speed and

breadth. The publishing industry, as an important carrier of cultural dissemination and knowledge

transfer, is no exception to the profound impact of this wave of technology. Artificial Intelligence

Generated Content (AIGC), as an emerging force in AI technology, is leading the publishing industry

to a new stage of high-quality development with its powerful content generation and automated

processing capabilities.[1] AIGC is a new technology that is leading the publishing industry to a new

stage of high-quality development.

Relying on the in-depth comprehension of large language models, powerful computational

capabilities, and extensive knowledge accumulation of pre-trained models, generative AI technology

can autonomously create diverse text, images, audio, video, and even program code. This

revolutionary technology not only significantly improves the efficiency and creativity of content

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(https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).

production, but also broadens the boundaries of content forms, enabling publications to reach readers

in a richer, more diversified, and interactive way, and facilitating the modernization process of

knowledge dissemination and cultural communication.

However, although generative AI brings great opportunities and transformative power to the

publishing industry, its application process also faces many challenges and dilemmas. The bottleneck

of technological transformation, the obstacle of market crossing, the consideration of ethical safety,

and the path of integration and development are all key issues that need to be solved urgently.

2. The application prospect of generative artificial intelligence to empower the high-quality

development of publishing

Science and technology innovation is the core element for developing new quality productivity and

promoting the development of high-end, intelligent, and green industries. Artificial Intelligence

Generated Content (AIGC) relies on the depth of comprehension of the large language model, the

extensive knowledge accumulation of the pre-trained model, and the learning mechanism based on

the continuous optimization of human feedback to realize a whole new dimension in content creation

- -autonomous integration and innovative generation, allowing the cultural publishing industry to

usher in a profound change of high efficiency and intelligence, giving rise to diversified and highly

efficient publishing application scenarios such as intelligent topic planning, manuscript writing

assistance, human-machine collaborative editing and proofreading, intelligent printing plant

operation, and intelligent knowledge services.

With the continuous progress of technology and the continuous exploration of application

scenarios, the boundaries of intelligent publishing will be further broadened and deepened, bringing

us a richer, more convenient, and high-quality publishing experience.[2] The following is a summary

of the latest developments in intelligent publishing.

2.1. Comprehensive management of resource integration and sharing

First of all, generative artificial intelligence comprehensively optimizes the efficiency of resource

allocation and sharing, promotes the in-depth sharing of resources such as copyright, editorial

experience, and market data among different publishing subjects, breaks down the barriers of stock

resources, realizes the continuous influx of incremental resources for publishing, and promotes the

harmonious coexistence of the publishing business and the publishing industry. In recent years, the

national level has also accelerated the construction of the industry data system. As of 1 August 2024,

the National Public Service Platform for Publishing and Distribution Information has accessed 166

publishing and distribution units and Internet e-commerce companies, and 4,571 shops, and has

cumulatively exchanged 1,671,900 items of bibliographic data, 519,000,000 sales data,

11,609,000,000 items of inventory data, and exchanged 374,800 e-monotony certificates. Gradually

improve industry data management[3]. In the context of globalization, AI can likewise help

publishing organizations break geographical restrictions and achieve resource integration on a global

scale. For example, through cross-border cooperation and copyright transactions, publishing

institutions can introduce outstanding foreign works and broaden access to resources, as well as

promote outstanding domestic works to the global market and expand market share.

2.2. Intelligent Innovation in Content Creation and Presentation

As a cutting-edge technological system, generative AI is rooted in sophisticated algorithms, complex

models, and multiple technological innovations, and is capable of autonomously creating an

unprecedented diversity of content such as text, images, audio, video, and even programming code.[4]

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The result is an unprecedented diversity of content, including text, images, audio, video, and even

programming code.

In the field of content creation in the publishing industry, generative AI can simulate the writing

style and thought process of human authors by training large-scale language models to generate high-

quality text content. These models can not only generate coherent paragraphs or even entire articles

based on input keywords, topics, or contexts but can also be iteratively optimized based on feedback

to improve the accuracy and innovation of the content. For publishing organizations, this means that

they can respond more quickly to market demand and generate diverse content products while

reducing their reliance on a single author and improving the flexibility and efficiency of content

production.

What's more, AI can also achieve the integration and innovation of multimodal content and

broaden the boundaries of content forms. For example, when publishing picture books or popular

science books, AI can generate illustrations, animations, or audio commentaries that match the textual

content, enhancing the reading experience of readers, enabling publications to reach readers in a richer

and more diversified, immersive and interactive way, attempting to operate full copyright and develop

the whole industry chain, and facilitating the modernization process of knowledge dissemination and

cultural communication.

2.3. Automated management of editing and print distribution

In the editing process, AI editing tools can automatically check the manuscript for grammatical errors,

spelling mistakes, and improper use of punctuation, and provide suggestions for changes. This

process not only reduces the workload of editors but also improves the accuracy of editing.

At the same time, AI can also perform content checking, identifying and marking potential

plagiarism or duplicate content by comparing a large number of text databases to ensure the

originality and copyright security of publications. For the editing of long books or complex

documents, AI can also assist in structural analysis, chapter division, and logical sorting, making the

editing process more systematic and scientific.

Publishers can also leverage AI to upgrade automated print and distribution management systems

to reduce operating costs and improve responsiveness and customer satisfaction.[5] In the printing

process, generative AI can automate format conversion, color correction, and typesetting. In the

printing process, generative AI can automate the format conversion, color correction, and typesetting

optimization of printing files, reducing manual intervention and error rates. At the same time, AI can

also monitor the operation status of printing equipment and printing quality in real-time, and identify

and solve problems promptly. In terms of distribution, AI can also provide optimal distribution

strategies and logistics solutions by analyzing sales data, inventory, and logistics information.

2.4. Market Forecasting and Precision Marketing for Book Distribution

In the topic planning stage, AI can dig deep into user data from social media, online reading platforms,

and other channels through big data analysis technology, identifying hot topics, potential bestseller

themes, market demand gaps, etc., to provide valuable market information and topic direction, which

can help publishers quickly orientate the market direction. At the same time, AI can also analyze

historical sales data, market trends, and other information to carry out market forecasts and risk

assessments of selected topics, helping publishers to scientifically plan the number of first printings

and quickly respond to readers' needs while reducing the risk of inventory backlog.

Based on user behavioral data and preference analysis, AI can build detailed user profiles[6]. These

portraits include information on the user's age, gender, geography, interest preferences, and other

dimensions, which refines a more comprehensive reader portrait for the publishing organization and

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helps to further upgrade the intelligent recommendation system. For readers with different

preferences, generative artificial can interactively analyze readers' preferences, accurately meet

readers' needs, be more diversified to meet the audience's expectations of the field of vision, and

achieve the personalized distribution of publishing content distribution of "a thousand people, a

thousand faces".[7] In terms of publishing content distribution, it can provide personalized

distribution and delivery for thousands of people. At the same time, it can also provide customized

reading suggestions, enhance reader loyalty and satisfaction, and lay a solid foundation for long-term

development.

3. Dilemmas and limitations faced at this stage

Compared with other forms of technology, generative AI shows excellent potential in terms of content

and form and can seamlessly integrate the essence of intelligent technology with the modern needs

of the publishing industry, promoting an unprecedented degree of fit between the two. However,

generative AI still faces some key issues and challenges that need to be resolved to help the publishing

industry achieve high-quality development.

3.1. Difficulty in transforming technology: shortcomings in innovation capacity in key areas

Although China is accelerating the pace of independent innovation, compared with the developed

countries, especially in the core areas of high-end chips, operating systems, and industrial design

software, and other core areas, China is facing dependence on external technology, AI arithmetic

bottlenecks to be broken through, and significant shortcomings in innovation capacity in key areas,

and this technological shortcoming has hindered China's path of independent development in the field

of AI and limited the depth of the expansion of application scenarios.

The book publishing and distribution industry, currently at the turning point of building an

intelligent network for cultural consumption, does not match the ratio of capital investment to actual

output in the process of AI transformation. In the integration of AI and the cultural industry, despite

the huge development potential, the large-scale application has not yet been realized, the deep mining

of cultural data and the construction of the corpus are still in the early stage of exploration, and the

development and practice of diversified application scenarios urgently need to be accelerated.[8] The

development and practice of multiple application scenarios also need to be accelerate d urgently.

China Publishing Media Business Daily has actively introduced digital anchor technology in its

innovative exploration of news reporting and live broadcasting, however, despite the unique charm

of the digital anchor, the limitations of its current application should not be ignored: the lack of

emotional communication ability, difficult to respond to audience needs, and even more unable to

convey the warmth of the emotional resonance of people's hearts.

In the art of expression, digital anchors have made significant progress in the fluency of movement

and the realism of language, but there is still room for improvement, and it is difficult to match the

naturalness and vividness of real people. They undoubtedly have broad application prospects and can

be widely used in a variety of fields, but as a complete replacement for real anchors, it seems

premature.

Taking live streaming as an example, this area is particularly focused on emotional links and

instant interaction. Consumers are often attracted by the anchor's emotional engagement and

personalized charisma, thus stimulating the desire to buy. In the face of digital anchors who lack real

emotional communication and intimacy, consumers may find it difficult to establish a deep emotional

connection, which in turn affects their purchasing decisions. Therefore, despite the continuous

evolution of digital anchor technology, it is still a huge challenge to cultivate a beloved star like

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"Dong Yuhui" or to surpass the real anchors in terms of the total amount of goods carried, at least in

the publishing industry and similar industries that value emotional resonance.

Therefore, strengthening the basic research of AI technology, improving arithmetic efficiency,

enriching algorithmic innovation, and building a perfect application ecosystem are strategic tasks that

must be prioritized at present.

3.2. The market is hard to cross: the challenge of intelligent transformation in the book

publishing industry

At present, there are obvious differences and imbalances in the adoption of AI technology and the

distribution of resources among industries, regions, and even social strata, which inhibit the efficiency

of information flow and hinder the popularization and development of the technology. Existing legal

frameworks and regulatory mechanisms also show a certain degree of lag and limitations in the face

of AI, a rapidly evolving field of science and technology, making it difficult to accurately grasp and

respond promptly to its complex, volatile, and high-speed iterative nature. As a direct result, some

large technology companies, the leaders in the field of AI, may take advantage of their dominant

position in the market and adopt strategies such as data blocking and exclusivity agreements to create

market monopolies, suppress the vitality of innovation in the market, and undermine the rights and

interests of consumers.

As a key link in the traditional cultural industry chain, the book publishing and distribution

industry, compared with those active in the field of digital science and technology, faces problems

such as data scarcity, low data quality, and lack of data processing capacity. Specifically, the problem

of "data silos" prevails in the industry, which makes it difficult to effectively integrate and share book

data; at the same time, the low degree of advanced analysis and use of book data, and the lack of in-

depth excavation and value refinement capabilities have failed to fully explore the value of the data

assets, which makes it easy to miss the opportunities of the artificial intelligence era. Therefore, it is

imperative to accelerate the intelligent upgrading of the book publishing and distribution industry,

break the industry's data barriers, and enhance the effectiveness of data applications.[9] Therefore, it

is imperative to accelerate the intelligent upgrade of the book publishing and distribution industry,

break the industry's data barriers, and enhance the effectiveness of data applications.

3.3. Challenges and Opportunities of Data Rights Enforcement: Building a New Ecology of

On a practical level, the issue of data rights poses a challenge that cannot be underestimated within

the field of AI. Since the beginning of 2024, data resources have formally become part of the financial

statements of enterprises, promoting the process of data assimilation, many places have also tried to

integrate data and realize the table, but data rights are still facing many obstacles in practice. As a

special and increasingly critical factor of production, the generation of data often involves complex

interactions between multiple subjects with different degrees of contribution, and this intertwined

attribute makes the definition of data property rights extremely complex.

While the introduction of generative AI in the publishing industry has brought innovation and

efficiency in quality control, there are also concerns about ethical misconduct in its improper use.[10]

The reason is that AI-generated works challenge the traditional concept of copyright. Because AI-

generated works challenge the traditional concept of copyright, blurring the boundaries between

originality and reproduction, and easily triggering copyright disputes.

Therefore, for the publishing and distribution industry, while actively applying AI technology,

domain knowledge and avoid unauthorized use or tampering requires publishing and distribution

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companies to work closely with copyright regulators, legal experts, and technology providers to

develop copyright protection solutions that are in line with the characteristics of the new era of

technology, and to ensure that technological innovation and the protection of cultural heritage coexist

harmoniously and in parallel.[11] This will ensure that technological innovation and cultural heritage

protection go hand in hand and co-exist in harmony.

3.4. Exploring Career Transitions in Publishing with Generative AI

With the deep integration of technology into the publishing process, AI tools have shown amazing

efficiency in the traditional publishing process of "three reviews, three proofreads and one read-

through", and practitioners in the publishing industry will face a major shift in their identity and

responsibilities. They are no longer just decision-makers for content, but take on more of the role of

operators and AI tool applicators. This requires that the relevant personnel not only be proficient in

traditional publishing processes but also effectively use and guide intelligent technologies, achieving

a double upgrade of their roles and skills.[12] The current rapid development of AI technology has

made it possible to achieve the double upgrade of roles and skills. In the rapid development of

artificial intelligence technology, AI tools have shown significant advantages in primary proofreading

tasks, effectively overcoming the efficiency and accuracy problems that exist in the traditional Dark

Horse proofreading software. The one-click operation not only simplifies the process but also

significantly improves the work efficiency, especially in the basic error checking following the

established language specification, AI has shown excellent ability.

However, when the proofreading work is deepened to the advanced level, especially when it

involves the detailed sorting and checking of logical relations, the limitations of AI come to the fore,

and AI's judgment is mainly based on the database of linguistic norms accumulated in history, and it

tends to mark the contents that do not conform to these norms as errors directly, which is a "one-size-

fits-all" approach. This "one-size-fits-all" approach is undoubtedly a powerful force for productivity

when dealing with texts that need to strictly follow the original language, especially when checking

citations. On the other hand, for the pursuit of original language styles, especially for poetry, an art

form that inspires unique textual charms by breaking conventional language norms, AI's standardized

judgments may become a constraint.

Therefore, practitioners need to rethink their professional positioning, adapt to the new mode of

working with AI, improve work efficiency and content quality, and more importantly, improve

themselves to maintain the unique value of in-depth understanding and creative control of content.

Because the massive training data that generative AI relies on may imply value issues such as secular

bias and racial discrimination, these hidden risks may be invisibly amplified and spread under the

impetus of AIGC. Therefore, publishers should strengthen the ethical review and supervision

mechanism, strictly abide by the identity of "gatekeeper", and promote the harmonious coexistence

of technology and humanities, to ensure the high quality of published content and the positive

development of society.

Advances in technology have also touched the creative job market, with the rise of automated

writing tools casting a shadow over the career prospects of many traditional writers and facing a

reshaping of the employment structure. However, AI creation has the potential to exacerbate the

problem of content homogenization, which will stimulate writers to seek breakthroughs and propel

the publishing industry toward greater efficiency and precision.

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3.5. Privacy Security, Algorithmic Bias, and the Urgent Issue of Ethical Review

The widespread use of AI systems is also accompanied by privacy and data security concerns. To

provide a personalized service experience, AI may collect and analyze a large amount of personal

data, and how to balance user experience and privacy protection has become an urgent issue.

The deeper concern is that the potential bias of AI algorithms may lead to the exacerbation of

social problems such as gender and race, bring about market-oriented blind pursuit, and exacerbate

the imbalance of social and cultural ecology. Joy Buolamwini, a researcher at the MIT Media Lab,

pointed out that AI systems, especially those models that rely on big data from the Internet for deep

learning, may absorb and amplify the biases that exist in human society. This phenomenon is known

as Garbage In, Garbage Out (GIGO), where the quality of a model's output is limited by the quality

of its input data. When training datasets contain biases, such as gender inequality or racial

discrimination, AI systems will also reflect these biases when generating results, affecting the

dissemination of positive culture. At the same time, the tendency of intelligent algorithms to push

popular content may also inhibit the exposure of original and niche works, exacerbate the problem of

content homogenization, form an information cocoon, and to a certain extent squeeze the living space

of diversity, affecting the wide dissemination of knowledge and culture[13] . The information cocoon

will be formed, squeezing the space for diversity to some extent and affecting the wide dissemination

of knowledge and culture.

In addition, the authenticity and ethical censorship of AI-generated content has become a new

challenge, especially when the content contains misleading or inaccurate information, the definition

of responsibility attribution has become exceptionally complex and involves the rights and

responsibilities of developers, publishers, and even the AI itself.

In summary, while embracing AI technology, the publishing industry must adhere to the ethical

bottom line to ensure that the development and application of the technology can promote the progress

of the industry while taking into account copyright protection, privacy and security, cultural diversity,

and content fairness. Publishers, technology providers, and regulators should work closely together

to build a set of industry norms adapted to the AI era, leading the technology in a more responsible

and inclusive direction, and creating a healthier and more beneficial cultural environment for readers

and society.

4. Innovative Development Strategies and Governance Paths of Generative Artificial

Intelligence in the Publishing Industry

It has become a new dimension of communication, and a key innovation engine to promote the

modernization of publishing in line with the trend of the times and to grasp the general trend of

development. At present, this field has ushered in unprecedented development opportunities but is

also accompanied by a series of urgent challenges. While enjoying the convenience and efficiency

brought about by technological progress, we also need to implement precise measures to effectively

manage the practical obstacles on the path of development and ensure the healthy and sustainable

development of technology applications.

Specifically, on the one hand, we should actively embrace the changes brought about by generative

AI, and make use of its powerful content generation capabilities, personalized recommendation

systems, and efficient editing and processing tools to accelerate the digital transformation of the

publishing process, enhance the efficiency and quality of content creation, and broaden the boundaries

and depth of cultural communication.

On the other hand, given the ethical risks, data security, copyright protection, and other issues that

may arise in the process of technological development, we need to establish a sound system of

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relevant laws and regulations, strengthen industry self-regulation and supervision, and guide

technology developers and users to uphold the principle of technology for the good.

4.1. Optimizing the AI market ecology and build a strong defense of data security and

privacy

Firstly, the government should take the initiative to gain an in-depth understanding of the challenges

faced by cultural publishing enterprises in AI transformation, formulate and improve relevant laws

and regulations such as data security and data rights, encourage the legal and compliant flow and

sharing of data, and build a policy system that supports the development of AI.

Secondly, by providing incentives such as tax breaks and financial subsidies, it provides a solid

backing for enterprises' technological innovation and R&D investment and stimulates market vitality.

At the same time, we will strengthen market supervision, refine the guidelines for "fair competition"

in the AI era, closely monitor the business behaviors of all kinds of platforms and enterprises,

establish a sound reporting and feedback mechanism, work to prevent market monopoly, maintain a

healthy order of market competition, and build an open, fair and sharing AI ecological environment.

Publishing and distribution enterprises should also establish comprehensive data security

management mechanisms and technical defenses. In terms of internal management, they should raise

the awareness of data security among all staff, implement a layered authorization system, such as

setting differentiated data access rights for different business scenarios, apply encryption technology

to strengthen sensitive information and carry out regular data security risk assessment and repair work.

When cooperating externally, sign strict confidentiality agreements with third parties, clearly define

the boundaries of data exchange and application, and prevent data leakage or improper use to ensure

the healthy and sustainable development of the data ecosystem.[14] We will ensure the healthy and

sustainable development of the data ecosystem.

4.2. Driving the upgrading of the book publishing and distribution industry

Book publishers and distributors need to take the initiative to cooperate with high-performance

technology research and development teams, data support teams, and product service teams, follow

the trend of technology, and improve the "technology application power" of generative artificial

intelligence. In the cooperation, AI can achieve the digitization and structuring of copyrighted content,

activate the stock of knowledge assets, innovate the way of cultural dissemination, enhance the

overall competitiveness of the industry, and let "AIGC+Reading+Culture+Social" burst with new

vitality. At the same time, it builds a perfect data governance system, ensures copyright compliance

and information security, and promotes the harmonious coexistence of AI ethics and human values.

4.3. Collaborative promotion of digitization and talent development paths in the Cultural

Industry

Cultural publishing enterprises should strengthen targeted training, encourage employees to adopt

new technologies, apply new modes, adjust job functions, and adapt to the needs of the cultural

industry in the new era. In 1998, the UK Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) issued

the Creative Industries Mapping Document (which was updated in 2001), which for the first time

treated the cultural industry as a creative industry in terms of top design, tracked the international

development trend, and planned the development direction of the UK cultural and creative industries.

In 1998, the Department of Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) issued the Creative Industries Mapping

Document (the document was updated in 2001), which, in terms of top-level design, for the first time

treats the cultural industry as a creative industry, tracks the international development trend, plans the

direction of the development of the UK's cultural and creative industries, and implements an overall

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marketing and branding strategy to help creative products and enterprises go global[1] The document

points out that: "Electronic publishing is an important part of the UK's cultural and creative industries.

The document points out that "electronic publishing provides an important opportunity for publishers

and content providers to expand their global market share. Growth will be fuelled by converging

technologies, opportunities to develop new revenue streams, and continued demand for information

in fast and flexible formats." In terms of institutional innovation, the UK has formed a cross-sectoral

and cross-industry Creative Industries Tak Force to improve the efficiency of specialized work.

Cultural publishing enterprises can refer to the reference, priority integration of traditional

business teams, integrated communication teams, e-commerce service teams, data support teams, and

other personnel, to form a special group, strengthen collaboration, improve efficiency, and integrate

into the intelligent publishing process. Simultaneously increase the cultivation and introduction of

innovative talents, optimize the talent training mechanism, improve the talent introduction policy,

and attract more excellent talents to devote themselves to the research and development of key areas

of the digital economy.

4.4. Technological Innovation, International Dissemination and Cross-Disciplinary

Collaboration

In today's wave of generative AI, we need to accelerate the construction of a generative AI technology

highland, and the cultural publishing industry is even more important to assist in the construction of

a corpus centered on the Chinese Knowledge Ontology, which will support the research and

development of AI technology with independent intellectual property rights, paving the way for the

deep integration of the publishing industry with local technological innovation, and promote the

localized prosperity of the knowledge and culture as well as the international dissemination of the

knowledge and culture.

At the same time, we need to participate in the establishment of international standard data sets in

a forward-looking manner, accurately grasp the balance between development and security, broaden

our international vision, embrace audience orientation, make full use of the power of generative

artificial intelligence technology, gain deep insights into the needs and cultural preferences of

overseas markets, and create a global discourse system that not only contains Chinese characteristics

but also transcends the cultural divide. This discourse system will be widely disseminated through

multi-dimensional channels such as intelligent knowledge service platforms, cross-border book

transactions, and international cooperation on copyright, to enhance the international community's

deep understanding of China and its wide recognition of, and to jointly promote the construction of a

more just and diversified global discourse system.

Deepening cross-field collaboration and interoperability will also be an important way to achieve

this goal. The cultural industry should actively participate in cross-border cooperation, deeply

understand the characteristics of data "multi-dimensional reuse" and "full-link traceability", and

promote data sharing and in-depth fusion between the cultural industry and other industries, to

maximize data efficiency, stimulate industrial synergy, and promote the development of a future

society led by artificial intelligence. We will work together to build a highly interconnected future

society led by artificial intelligence.

5. Conclusion

Generative AI is leading the cultural publishing industry into a profound and unprecedented change,

becoming the core engine for promoting the high-quality development of publishing and bringing

new opportunities for content creation, copyright development, editing and printing efficiency, and

communication and interaction. However, copyright disputes, ethical risks, value penetration, and the

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digital divide are all challenges on the way forward that require the publishing industry to deal with

prudently. While pursuing technological empowerment, the publishing industry needs to balance the

scales of development and safety, deeply understand and handle the relationship between humans and

machines, make use of technological power to make up for the limitations of manpower, and also

correct technological bias and avoid cultural chaos with the help of human wisdom, to practically

empower the publishing industry to achieve high-quality and sustainable development and endeavor

to build an intelligent cultural ecology for the new era.

References

[1] Yuan, X., & Zhang, C. (2024). Empowering traditional publishing with new productivity: Background, path, and

expectations. China Digital Publishing, 2(4), 43-51.

[2] Li, B., & Wang, M. (2023). Paths and prospects of digital intelligence technology enabling Chinese-style publishing

modernisation. Publishing Wide, 2023(2), 29-34. https://doi.org/10.16491/j.cnki.cn45-1216/g2.2023.02.004.

[3] China Publishing Media Business Daily. (2024, August 3). National public service platform for publishing and

distribution information. http://www.cbbr.com.cn/contents/589/58795.html

[4] China Academy of Information and Communication Research, & Jingdong Discovery Institute. (2022). Artificial

intelligence generated content (AIGC) white paper.

http://www.caict.ac.cn/english/research/whitepapers/202211/P020221111501862950279.pdf (Accessed 2024, July

20).

[5] Ning, T., & Ge, M. (2019). Historical review, development status and effective strategies of intelligent printing

devices. Packaging Engineering, 40(19), 230-238. https://doi.org/10.19554/j.cnki.1001-3563.2019.19.034

[6] Scholarly production and publishing under generative AI technologies: Changes, dislocations, and paths. (2023).

Digital Library Forum, 19(5), 64-71.

[7] Xu, J., & Zhang, R. (2023). Application of ChatGPT in editing and publishing industry: Opportunities, challenges,

and countermeasures. China Editing, 2023(5), 116-122.

[8] Wu, Y., & Ding, N. (2024, May 30). The tide rises in Southeast China's digital Fujian. China Economic Herald,

(002). https://doi.org/10.28095/n.cnki.ncjjd.2024.000523

[9] Mao, L., & Wang, Q. (2024, July 20). Data elements drive the coordinated development of the regional economy:

Based on the analysis of spatial attributes and the utility of data elements. Journal of Chongqing University of

Technology (Social Science). http://kns.cnki.net/kcms/detail/50.1205.T.20240717.1715.002.html

[10] Wu, W., & Huang, H. (2023). Intelligent creation, deep integration, and ethical crisis: A new exploration on the

prospect of ChatGPT application in digital publishing industry. China Edit, 2023(6), 40-44.

[11] Li, J., & Jiang, Y. (2024, July 20). Generative artificial intelligence enabling high-quality development of publishing:

Value significance, reality obstruction, and path of regulation. Technology and Publishing.

https://doi.org/10.16510/j.cnki.kjycb.20240709.001

[12] Yang, L., & Feng, Z. (2023). The ethical dilemma of responsibility for technological risks in smart publishing and

its exit path. Science and Technology Herald, 41(7), 63-70.

[13] Qin, Y., & Li, Y. (2024). Application of artificial intelligence for big language modeling in the publishing industry:

Current status, challenges, and future trends. China Publishing, (5), 11-18.

[14] Qi, A. (2015). International comparative study on personal information protection law in the era of big data. Beijing:

Law Press.

[15] Higgs, P., & Cunningham, S. (2008). Creative industries mapping: Where have we come from and where are we

going? Creative Industries Journal, 1(1), 7-30. https://doi.org/10.1386/cij.1.1.7_1

Proceedings of ICADSS 2024 Workshop: International Forum on Intelligent Communication and Media Transformation

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Visible Artificial Intelligence: Exploring the Enhancement of

Chatgpt and Film Script Creation

Xinhao Zhou1,a, Meiqi Xu2,3,b,*, Min Sun4,c

1Institute of Journalism and communication, Hebei University, Hebei Province, China

2Institute of Global Media Business, Communication University of China, Beijing, China

3Faculty of Media, Arts&Design, University of Westminister, London, UK

4Institute of Philosophy and Sociology, Hebei University, Hebei Province, China

a. hoshurarika@qq.com, b. z3dmax@hotmail.com, c. sunmin10980311@163.com

*corresponding author

Abstract: As a joint link of artificial intelligence products, the emergence of ChatGPT

triggered a global debate, and attracted the attention of practitioners all over the world.

Meanwhile, multiple film and television production fields such as computer graphics

processing, digital virtual shooting, CG special effects production, have embedded automatic

content generation factors. However, artificial intelligence is also facing legal dilemmas and

ethical constraints, researchers need to compare and analyze its advantages and problems,

systematically consider the strengths and impacts, limitations and problems of AIGC, and

provide reference and practical guidance for AI to better promote itself.

Keywords: Media, Script creation, AIGC, Chatgpt.

1. Introduction

In 2022, the ChatGPT (chat general pre training converter) developed by OpenAI, an American AI

laboratory under Google, was officially launched on a multimedia platform. It can generate answers

based on the patterns observed during the pre-training phase and statistical patterns. It can also interact

based on a chat environment, communicate like a person, and even complete tasks such as writing

papers, emails, scripts, copying, translating, coding, etc. Microsoft founder stated that the emergence

of ChatGPT is of great significance to human history and is a groundbreaking invention. [1] It can be

seen that ChatGPT, as a technology product that has already emerged and been implemented, has a

wide range of application scenarios. [2]Fast story outline generation ability of ChatGPT have

attracted people's attention from the beginning.[3]In December, the first film "Safe Zone" written and

directed entirely by ChatGPT was officially released. Public opinion believes that this indicates that

artificial intelligence has penetrated into the field of script creation, from early planning to script

creation, to mid-term intelligent painting, text writing and composition, to later scene design,

distribution and promotion. Although the improvement of efficiency will have significant social

influence, it may also face greater challenges. This article will gradually clarify typical case studies

in the fields of human intelligence and film script creation from the above aspects, providing guidance

for answering the above questions.

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(https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).

2. Technological upheaval: Script Creation with Artificial Intelligence Throughout the

Entire Cycle

The production of film works have redefined the way audiences participate and experience, building

closer connections with them.[4] However,a good film still relies on the emotional creation of human

authors,the core of film works still needs humanistic care.For example, "Breaking Through the East"

tells the long journey of the people of Northeast China crossing mountains and seas and leaving their

hometowns, "Life Events" portrays the strong resilience of the lower class people in the face of life

and death,praising the hardworking spirit of rural cadres. Realistic films are created on the warmth

and coldness of human emotions, possessing the "roots" of film and television, namely the

embodiment of life logic, emotional logic, and ideological logic, as well as the examination of the

authenticity of real life. Screenwriter Song Fangjin believes that the general pursuit of short, flat, and

fast script creation models may be not conducive enough in the long terms. The fundamental principle

of adhering to the realism lies in the artist's creative attitude. Only with a "sincere" attitude can one

fully enjoy unique artistic resources, capture "unique" creative objects, and generate "colorful" artistic

effects.

Professor Liu Tao proposed that in order for artificial intelligence to overcome its limitations in

the creative process, it must maximize its participation in text creation, learn and progress. Otherwise,

semantic errors, lack of emotional experience, and other defects will have a certain dissolving and

deconstructing effect on the humanistic spirit.[5]For example, robots used to be a tool for humans to

produce and interpret news, automatically collecting daily news content and quickly generating news

reports, surpassing countless professional journalists. However, it should be noted that the writing

mode of robot news is stereotyped and dogmatic, lacking innovation due to the use of fixed

"templates".As its creation is generally based on data accumulation, it lacks human touch when

reporting warm news, which has also led to the loss of users for news organizations. In terms of

subject matter, for certain types such as tracking interviews, in-depth interviews, and non fiction

writing, due to the particularity of their subject matter, it is difficult to achieve them solely through

robots in a short period of time,and there are inherent deficiencies in the integrity, narrative style, and

language features of robot news narration in terms of "depersonalization" and "expression restriction".

[6]

From 2022 to present, intelligent creative writing is roughly in a transitional stage from

"completely under human jurisdiction" to "fully automated independent creation". Machines have

gained a certain degree of independence, but there is still a long way to go.[7]Many AI films and

television scripts have entered the audience's field of vision. In 2024, as the creator of the AI short

drama "Chinese Mythology", he integrated technologies such as text, images, music, and videos to

achieve the full process of artificial intelligence reconstruction from creative conception to audio-

visual presentation, exploring new models of cooperation between humans and machine intelligence.

[8] The creator believes that by adopting "intelligent planning", it can become a "think tank" for

creative planning. Story planning is the primary step in creating audio-visual content.Traditional

screenwriters' inspiration is often limited by personal experience and knowledge structure, while big

language models, which have learned trillions of words, are more familiar with the "human world"

of ancient and modern times, both in China and abroad, compared to individual creators. By utilizing

tools, it is possible to efficiently complete tasks such as script planning, character design, and the

construction of the work's worldview. Taking the creation of "Chinese Mythology" as an example,

the creative team used intelligent applications to conduct intelligent retrieval and correlation analysis

of ancient Chinese mythological materials, quickly sorting out key information such as character

genealogy and plot context. [9]Based on this, dozens of story candidate schemes were generated, and

the process of building the segmented story framework only took 20 minutes, reducing the manpower

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investment in early planning by about 70%. Since 2023,among the more than 200 AI videos recently

created by the Tsinghua University team, the topic selection schemes have covered multiple vertical

fields such as literature and history, technology, food, travel, education, etc.[10] Looking ahead to

the future, ChatGPT will also enter the field of screenwriting, and empower more possibilities for

artistic creation. [11]

3. Super Script: Recombination of Old and New Scenes in Interrelated Narratives

Data shows that there are currently over millions professional screenwriters in China, but only 3% of

their works are widely-spread. [12] This means that there is fierce competition in the screenwriting

industry. In 2020, two students majoring in film and television production at Chapman University in

the United States continued to write movie scripts using screenwriter Short Read and produced the

short film "Lawyer". The director said, "Although we used artificial intelligence, from the perspective

of the story, it stepped on the emotional nodes in a somewhat strange way." For example, post

production has always been a time-consuming and labor-intensive process in film and television

production. Nowadays, with the existence of intelligent shot classification, automatic strip splitting,

segment indexing, intelligent subtitles, one click color grading and other methods can be used in video

editing, allowing "scissor hands" to take over 80% of the rough cutting work. A 6-minute film can be

roughly edited in just 20 minutes, which is five times faster than traditional manual editing. The

comprehensive labor and time cost for delivering the entire video is about 1/16 of the traditional

production process. After artificial intelligence takes over a large amount of foundational work, they

believe that human creators can devote more energy to macro scheduling and artistic control of their

works, as well as selecting and optimizing content.

3.1. Technology Feedback: Application of technical polishing and script creation

The wave of AIGC is sweeping the entertainment industry. Public opinion believes that as technology

continues to mature, it will increase the efficiency of audiovisual content creation by hundreds or

thousands of times. The entire process may only take a few minutes to complete. This unprecedented

dreamlike scene of audiovisual creation can be achieved with the assistance of artificial intelligence.

However, although AI has shown great potential in various aspects of the film and television industry,

it is still too early to predict that systems will replace human creators. For example, currently, AIGC

still faces issues such as inability to handle lengthy works and lack of vitality, which has sparked

heated discussions, including copyright ownership and content ethics issues. Masterpieces in film

history, such as'Spring'and the 2023 horror masterpiece'Morgan', rely on the combination of social

reality to create delicate, touching, authentic, and realistic characters. Director Wang Jing recalled

her experience and said, "The creative process requires the pursuit of values such as interpretation,

narrative, aesthetics, pleasure, or ethics. It is these dimensions that shine with human wisdom and

spirit, and it is the innovation and value at these levels that truly move the audience."

3.2. Disillusionary Drama: The possibility of creating diverse scripts

Brecht's theory of drama takes "estrangement" or "estrangement effect" as its ideological essence and

value core, he proposed the following clear definition of the dialectics and epistemology reflected in

estrangement plays: "estrangement is an understanding (understanding - not understanding -

understanding), the negation of negation. [13]Brecht inherited Diderot's idea and made dialectical

drama a unity of contradiction, drama, and narrative, which is also his brilliance.[14] Afterwards, he

continued to propose the idea of social intervention in his aesthetic system of drama, believing that

the aesthetic function of drama should not be limited to textual content, structure, language, and other

aspects. The ultimate goal is to inspire people to think about life, understand the objective world, take

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action, and participate in the transformation of reality. This means that the creation of drama involves

the audience's dual expectations of seeking knowledge and beauty, and the thematic changes in the

play are not the product of the artist's whims. Such thematic changes must conform to the

comprehensive changes in the spiritual life of the times.Clearly, the aforementioned numerous

requirements are undoubtedly complex. In contemporary society, it is difficult for a novice

screenwriter to possess both proficient literary skills and sharp social insights, which is also the main

obstacle that limits their ability to engage in high-quality script creation.

With the breakthrough development of technology, big data has been able to grasp the text. The

advancement of natural language processing technology (NLP) and the application of big language

models (LLM) have also made open understanding and generation of coherent text possible. At

present, AI is proficient in various theories and can meet various requirements such as text extension,

refinement, and stylization. Wu Geer pointed out that artificial intelligence has three auxiliary

functions in script creation: Library analysis, data mining, and semantic analysis. With the assistance

of machines, even ordinary people can produce high-quality works.

4. Probability margin: Think twice about the constraints of AI script creation

Faced with the upcoming era of AI, many people are worried that future screenwriters may no longer

need creativity, and human screenwriters will eventually be replaced by machines. But in fact, this is

an inaccurate viewpoint. At present, although artificial intelligence scripts are more efficient, they

still have limitations in terms of text depth and diversified interpretation content.

4.1. First thought: Limitations of script narrative template

In modern times, compared to the classic narrative studies dominated by structuralism, film rhetoric

narrative studies have become more focused on the issue of narrative communication inside of the

text. This means that the script must balance narrative skills and aesthetic heights in order to enable

the audience to decipher information according to the predetermined viewing trajectory of the

movie.[15] However, there is a common problem of in the current process of artificial intelligence

intervention in script creation, which involves huge randomness, uncertainty, and gamification. The

fast track mode of random crawling also makes script themes more prone to superficiality, and

sometimes even conflicts.

Technology is often a double-edged sword. At the same time as increasing the number of authors,

it also means a diversion of readers. In order to attract more reading volume and gain visibility on

numerous online article rankings, online article authors will have to put more effort into innovation

and ideation, striving to break out of the homogenization trap. At the current rapid development speed

of artificial intelligence, regardless of the height that AIGC has reached in generating poetry, even

large-scale online novels are expected to surpass the vast majority of human authors. When the entire

industry achieves human-machine integration, writing efficiency will be greatly improved. If online

writers only stay at simulating, integrating, or even renovating existing writing patterns, routines, and

internet memes to a limited extent, it will be difficult to effectively distinguish them from the massive

influx of works, let alone surpass those creative and excellent writers among human peers.

Technically, good stories always touch people's hearts. Only works with richer emotional experiences,

more unique story creativity, and more diverse narrative art can stand out.

4.2. Second thought: Data exhaustion and the crisis of artificial intelligence using

Unlike human screenwriters, AI emerged from the training of large databases and is a text model

based on corpora and scripts. Therefore, it does not have much emotional experience or the ability to

deeply interpret the text. The intelligent subject represented by applications such as intelligent

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screenwriting is different from the literary creation and interpretation mode based on human personal

growth and emotional experience. The cornerstone of the former's writing is data analysis, databases,

and corpora. At the same time, as an information tool that can gather human past knowledge, although

generative artificial intelligence technology has unlimited potential, we still need to maintain critical

thinking and be wary of the data-driven bias brought by technologism. In particular, algorithm

recommendations in artificial intelligence may amplify or conceal certain aesthetic tastes, emotional

tendencies, art types, or thematic content, leading to a convergence of online writers' writing, or only

pursuing eye-catching themes and popular topics. As a result, the ideological power and literary value

of the works will always hover at the same level, making it difficult to have significant exploration

and innovation.

Under current technological conditions, generative artificial intelligence, which is in its growth

stage, not only consumes extremely high energy, but also has the risk of being abused. The

introduction of AIGC will bring a series of issues such as data security, information ethics, privacy

challenges, and copyright governance to literary and artistic creation, including the online literature

industry. It is necessary to put forward new requirements for the relevant regulatory system. At the

end of 2023, The New York Times took the lead in launching the first wave of AI copyright, accusing

companies such as Microsoft of using newspaper content to train artificial intelligence models without

authorization, and these AI research and development institutions are also unable to avoid copyright

disputes falling into a "model war". All of these remind us not only to pay attention to the structural,

patterned, and homogeneous issues in generated text, but also to initiate strict filtering procedures,

establish a sound regulatory governance system, and guard against plagiarism, privacy breaches,

security vulnerabilities, and inappropriate content.

4.3. Final thought: The ethical shift of artificial intelligence

Under the trend, the arrival of AI is also accompanied by many controversies, and many people are

worried that their positions will be replaced, although it does not have human emotions, as a rational

tool to intervene in the creation of film and television scripts, its efficiency has far exceeded that of

humans, and humans are likely to be defeated by it. This means that in the creative process of such a

subject transformation, the deeper the intervention, and the resulting social controversies such as

media ethics issues, legal responsibility issues, and whether traditional screenwriters will disappear

are foreseeable future realities. From an algorithmic perspective, ChatGPT can currently freely store

user interaction information, but it is currently unclear how artificial intelligence will process this

data. The results generated should belong to derivative works formed by adaptation, translation,

annotation, and organization based on existing works of others. When exercising the copyright of

such works, the consent of the original author should be obtained and the copyright of the original

work should not be infringed. This means that in the field of script creation, it is remain unknown

whether data security, intellectual property, and copyright can be guaranteed.

5. Conclusion: Dialectically view the future of human and artificial intelligence integration

and survival based on the present

At present, ChatGPT is just an application interwoven with different algorithmic languages, under

the jurisdiction of human government departments. However, it should not be forgotten that ChatGPT

is also a constantly evolving form of digital life, possessing the function to build digital content twins

for the real world, digital editing capabilities, and almost unlimited digital creation capabilities.

Many experts believes that facing with the upcoming of AIGC generation, humans do not need

molecular anxiety. In the future, they can constantly learn and adapt to new technologies. As the

famous American writer Howard A. Rodman once said, "The ideas generated by artificial intelligence

Proceedings of ICADSS 2024 Workshop: International Forum on Intelligent Communication and Media Transformation

DOI: 10.54254/2753-7064/36/2024BJ0014

may be clever or foolish, but they can help us break through the limitations of our imagination and

bring us ideas that we have never had before. This boundary breaking approach is always beneficial.

In the long history,any new thing that conforms to the trend of the times will not stop due to personal

confusion. In the face of the future, humans should reflect on themselves while confidently, firmly,

and wisely dealing with the symbiotic world of humans and machines. They should "settle" in the

wave of technological opportunities and challenges."[16]Applying artificial intelligence to media

creation can bring more possibilities and optimize the structure of the media industry. Perhaps this is

the best way to present the coexistence of humans and machines and the integration of technology

and art.

References

[1] Zhu Guanghui, Wang Xiwen Operation mode, key technologies, and future prospects of ChatGPT [J/OL]. Journal

of Xinjiang Normal University (Philosophy and Social Sciences Edition): 1-10

[2] Xu Yang. What ChatGPT can't take away in creative writing [N]. Wen Hui Bao, February 14, 2023 (005)

[3] Zhao Anqi ChatGPT sweeps the world, AI faces' ethical shift '[N]. China Youth Daily, February 16, 2023 (009)

[4] Shen Yiwei. Script: Fundamental Creation. Journal of Zhejiang Media College, 2005 (04): 5-6+9

[5] Li Weiwei. Limitations of Robot News Writing from the Perspective of News Narratology [J]. Research on

Communication Power, 2018,2 (19): 5-7

[6] Jian Bin, Li Kun. Emotion, Recording, and Narrative: A Study from Ethnographic Writing to Film Script Creation

[J]. Film Literature, 2020, (17): 7-12

[7] Liu Tao. The intervention of artificial intelligence in film and television post production and research on digital

editors [J]. New Media and Society, 2018 (02): 141-150

[8] Ling Xiaoxiong, Wang Dingmin, Yuan Jian. Cold Reflection on Technology Ethics and Academic Ethics after the

popularity of ChatGPT [J/OL]. Journal of Xinjiang Normal University (Philosophy and Social Sciences Edition)

[9] Zhang Shuduan. Analysis of the Integration Path of Film and Television Education and Artificial Intelligence under

the Background of New Liberal Arts Construction [J]. New Film, 2022, (05): 143-148

[10] Wu Geer. Research on the Assistance Function of Artificial Intelligence Machine Learning in Script Creativity [J].

Art Management (Chinese and English), 2020, (02): 57-63

[11] Ba Shengchao, Jiang Jiajuan. Issues and Countermeasures of the Integration and Development of Artificial

Intelligence Technology and Film and Television Creation [J]. Journal of Kunming University of Science and

Technology (Social Sciences Edition), 2021, 21 (02): 99-105

[12] Liu Qian. Application of Artificial Intelligence Technology in the Field of Film and Television Media [J]. Modern

Audiovisual, 2018, (11): 25-29

[13] Sun Gang (2018). Research on Alienation in Susan Lowry Parks' Plays (PhD Dissertation, Nanjing Normal

University)

[14] Jiang Yang, Song Yaqi. Analysis of the Impact of Artificial Intelligence on the Film Industry from the Perspective

of Value Chain [J]. Media, 2019, (24): 37-40

[15] Ma Shiyu. Research on the Body, Identity, and Narrative Function of Artificial Intelligence Images: Taking 21st

Century American and British Artificial Intelligence Science Fiction Film and Television Works as Examples [J].

Oriental Art, 2021, (05): 127-132

[16] Jia Hongying. Research on the Application of Artificial Intelligence Technology in the Field of Film and Television

Media [J]. Western Broadcasting and Television, 2022, 43 (14): 56-58

Proceedings of ICADSS 2024 Workshop: International Forum on Intelligent Communication and Media Transformation

DOI: 10.54254/2753-7064/36/2024BJ0014

The Logical Path of Applying Sora Technology in the

Cultural Industry

Ran Li1,a,*

1Beijing Jiaotong University, Beijing, China

a. 1027611741@qq.com

*corresponding author

Abstract: Today, with the in-depth development of science and technology, the application

of artificial intelligence has become a new driving force for the development of the cultural

industry. As the latest technological achievement in the field of generative artificial

intelligence, the rational application of Sora in the cultural industry can produce synergistic

effects and significant results. This paper aims to sort out the application logic of Sora

technology in the cultural industry, comprehensively showcasing its core features of

technology-driven, multi-faceted synergy, and paradigm shift from the five elements of

technology, information, talent, systems, and channels. In this process, in order to further

optimize the application of Sora technology in the cultural industry, it is necessary to

strengthen the construction through innovative strategies, and improve the technological,

economic, and aesthetic dimensions, thereby contributing to the prosperity and flourishing of

socialist culture with Chinese characteristics.

Keywords: Sora technology, cultural industry, logical path

1. Introduction: The Significance of Applying Sora Technology in the Cultural Industry in

the Intelligent Era

The advent of the intelligent era has brought unprecedented changes and opportunities to various

industries, and the cultural industry is no exception. Sora technology, as a comprehensive platform

that integrates multiple advanced technologies, is gradually occupying an important position in the

cultural industry. It not only promotes the innovation and upgrading of cultural products but also

injects new vitality into cultural dissemination, protection, and economic development.

Firstly, Sora technology significantly enhances the creativity and production efficiency of cultural

products through means such as virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), and artificial

intelligence (AI). In fields like film, gaming, and publishing, Sora technology can create more

realistic virtual environments and interactive experiences, enabling creators to work in virtual spaces,

thereby reducing production costs and time[1]. Additionally, the inclusion of AI technology makes

content creation more intelligent, such as automatically generating suitable scripts and scene designs

through big data analysis of audience preferences, further enhancing the market competitiveness of

cultural products.

The application of Sora technology in the field of cultural dissemination greatly broadens the

channels and methods of cultural exchange. Through VR/AR technology, users can immerse

themselves in experiencing cultural heritage, museum exhibitions, and artistic performances from

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DOI: 10.54254/2753-7064/36/2024BJ0005

(https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).

around the world, breaking the limitations of time and space, making cultural dissemination more

extensive and efficient. For example, virtual museums allow users to visit globally renowned art

galleries from home via the internet, significantly enhancing the breadth and depth of cultural

dissemination. At the same time, the application of real-time multilingual translation technology

makes cross-cultural communication more convenient, helping to promote understanding and

integration between different cultures[2].

The application of Sora technology encourages continuous innovation and transformation in the

forms of cultural products and services. Traditional cultural products, enhanced by Sora technology,

have been revitalized. For instance, traditional paper books, combined with AR technology on the

basis of electronicization, can present three-dimensional interactive content, enhancing the user’s

reading experience. Film and television works can also provide immersive viewing experiences

through Sora technology, making the audience not just passive recipients but also a part of the story.

2. Logical Path

2.1. Elements of Sora Technology Application in the Cultural Industry

2.1.1. Technological Elements

The working principle of Sora is based on neural networks, Transformer architecture, and language

modeling. By training on a large corpus of text data, Sora learns the statistical patterns of language

and can generate coherent and natural text. This powerful language understanding and generation

capability makes Sora a valuable tool for natural language processing tasks. Suppose we have a text

description: "In a spacious garden, a small bird sings on an oak tree." Sora can transform this

description into video content. First, Sora analyzes the keywords in the text: "garden," "bird," and

"oak tree." Next, Sora generates a scene: a lush green garden with sunlight filtering through the leaves.

On the branches of the oak tree, Sora adds a cute little bird singing cheerfully. Finally, Sora

synthesizes this scene into a video, allowing viewers to experience the fresh natural atmosphere.

The booming development of the cultural industry in the digital age cannot be separated from the

support of various key technological elements. Virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR)

technologies provide highly immersive and interactive experiences, allowing users to enjoy cultural

content in virtual environments, breaking the limitations of time and space. Artificial intelligence (AI)

plays a significant role in content creation, personalized user recommendations, and intelligent

interactions. By analyzing data and optimizing algorithms, AI improves the efficiency of cultural

product creation and user experience. The integration and application of these technological elements

provide a solid technological foundation for the innovation and development of the cultural industry,

promoting the digitalization, interactivity, and intelligence of cultural products and supporting the

industry in achieving efficient and sustainable growth.

2.1.2. Informational Elements

During the digital transformation of the cultural industry, it is essential to integrate various key

informational elements, and Sora technology, as an advanced platform technology, can play a

significant role in this process. Firstly, Sora technology can collect and analyze market demand

information and user behavior data through VR and AR technologies, providing precise evidence for

the development of cultural products and personalized recommendations. Using VR/AR, companies

can simulate market environments and test user reactions to different cultural products, thus gaining

insights into changing market demand trends. Secondly, cultural content information is the core

resource of the cultural industry. Sora technology can achieve the digital management and copyright

protection of cultural content through blockchain technology, ensuring the originality and legal

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circulation of content. Blockchain technology can record the creation, distribution, and transaction

processes of cultural products, preventing piracy and infringement, and promoting the rational use of

cultural resources.

Industry chain information covers all links from content creation to consumption. Sora technology

can integrate and optimize the information flow of the cultural industry chain through cloud

computing and big data analysis. Lastly, Sora technology can help cultural enterprises grasp industry

trends and competitive situations by integrating industry dynamics and competition information,

formulating effective market strategies and responses. Utilizing big data analysis, the Sora platform

can monitor industry dynamics in real-time, analyze competitor trends, and provide accurate market

intelligence to help enterprises stand out in the fierce market competition.

2.1.3. Talent Elements

The continuous innovation and development of the cultural industry cannot be separated from the

support of various key talent elements, and Sora technology, as an advanced platform technology,

provides strong technical support and application scenarios for these talents, further enhancing their

roles and value in the cultural industry.

Firstly, creative talents are the core driving force of the cultural industry, requiring rich

imagination and artistic talent. Through the virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) of Sora

technology, creative talents can achieve a more immersive and interactive creative environment,

breaking the limitations of traditional creation. For example, directors can use VR technology to

virtually construct scenes and special effects, designers can interact with real environments through

AR, and musicians can create and perform in virtual spaces, thereby enhancing the expressiveness

and attractiveness of cultural products. Secondly, technical talents are particularly important in the

cultural industry, mastering advanced technologies such as virtual reality, augmented reality, artificial

intelligence, and big data. Marketing talents can perform more accurate market analysis and user

targeting through Sora technology. The Sora platform integrates big data analysis and artificial

intelligence technology, enabling marketing talents to deeply explore user behavior and market trends

and develop more precise market strategies.

Lastly, legal and policy talents are responsible for intellectual property protection and policy

compliance in the cultural industry. Sora technology can achieve the digital management and

talents to more efficiently track and manage copyrights, ensuring the legality and originality of

cultural products. Additionally, the Sora platform can help these talents timely access and interpret

the latest legal regulations and policy information, ensuring that enterprises operate in compliance

within the policy framework and avoid potential legal risks[3].

2.1.4. Institutional Elements

The healthy development and continuous innovation of the cultural industry rely on sound

institutional guarantees, and Sora technology, as an advanced integrated platform, can effectively

support and enhance the implementation and operation of these institutional elements.

Firstly, the copyright protection system is the cornerstone of the cultural industry, ensuring the

legal rights of creators and encouraging the production and dissemination of original content. Sora

technology can achieve copyright registration and tracking of cultural content through blockchain

technology, ensuring the originality and legality of every piece of cultural work. The immutability

and transparency of blockchain can effectively combat piracy, ensuring the market value and fair

trade of cultural products. Secondly, the innovation support system is crucial for the continuous

development of the cultural industry. Sora technology integrates advanced technologies such as VR,

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AR, and AI, providing robust technical support for the cultural industry[4]. Through the Sora platform,

governments and industry organizations can provide innovation incentive mechanisms, such as

technology development subsidies and project funding, encouraging enterprises and individuals to

use these technologies for cultural creativity and product development, driving industry innovation

and progress.

The industry norm system is key to ensuring the orderly development of the cultural industry. Sora

technology can monitor and regulate cultural product production and market behavior through big

data analysis and intelligent algorithms[5]. The platform can set content production standards and

market entry thresholds, ensuring the high-quality development and market order of cultural products,

preventing false advertising and market monopoly, and maintaining a healthy industry environment.

The market regulation system is an important aspect of ensuring the healthy development of the

cultural industry. Sora technology can achieve market access and competition regulation through big

data and blockchain technology. The platform can monitor market dynamics in real time, analyze

enterprise behavior and consumer feedback, ensure standardized market behavior and fair

competition, protect consumer rights, and promote healthy market development. The international

cooperation system is essential for the global development of the cultural industry.

2.1.5. Channel Elements

The successful operation and market expansion of the cultural industry rely on diverse and efficient

channel elements, and Sora technology, as an advanced technology platform, can significantly

enhance and optimize various channels of the cultural industry, promoting the dissemination and

commercialization of cultural products.

Firstly, communication channels are crucial in the promotion of cultural products. Sora technology

can help cultural enterprises precisely target and advertise on traditional media such as television,

radio, and newspapers, as well as emerging digital platforms such as social media, video-sharing

websites, and streaming platforms through its powerful data analysis and AI functions. By analyzing

user behavior and interests, Sora technology can optimize marketing strategies, enhance

communication effects, and ensure the visibility and influence of cultural products among a broad

audience. Secondly, the diversification of sales channels is vital for the commercialization of cultural

products. Sora technology supports cultural enterprises in multi-channel sales both online and offline

through its cloud computing and e-commerce platform. Enterprises can use the Sora platform for

product display, order processing, and logistics management, achieving automation and optimization

of the sales process, improving customer experience and sales efficiency.

Cooperation channels are also important means of driving innovation and expanding influence in

the cultural industry. Sora technology helps cultural enterprises efficiently communicate and share

resources with other cultural institutions, artists, creative teams, and cross-sector partners by

establishing a partner relationship management system. Through the Sora platform, partners can

jointly develop new cultural products, explore market opportunities, and share sales and marketing

channels, achieving broader market coverage and continuous innovation development.

2.2. Characteristics of Sora Technology in the Cultural Industry

2.2.1. Technological Drive

With continuous technological advancements and accelerated digital transformation, Sora technology

exhibits a significant "technological drive" effect in the cultural industry, profoundly impacting the

creation, dissemination, commercialization, and user experience of cultural products through its

advanced platform and innovative functions.

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Firstly, Sora technology, through VR and AR, brings a new creation and experience mode to the

cultural industry. Artists and creators can use the Sora platform to create immersive works beyond

traditional media, and audiences can interact with art and culture in virtual spaces. This technology-

driven innovation expands the boundaries of artistic creation and enriches the cultural consumption

experience. Sora technology enhances the market marketing effects and personalized user experience

of cultural products through big data analysis and AI. The platform can analyze user interests and

behavior data, accurately recommend cultural products and activities, enhancing user engagement

and loyalty. For example, by analyzing user preferences through AI algorithms, Sora can recommend

personalized art exhibitions, concerts, or digital art works, meeting users' diverse cultural needs and

promoting the broader dissemination and acceptance of cultural products.

Sora technology's technological drive in the cultural industry is also reflected in its construction

of an open platform and ecosystem. Sora provides rich technical tools and resources for cultural

enterprises and creators and promotes the generation and sharing of innovative applications through

open APIs and a partner ecosystem. Cultural enterprises can quickly access the latest technologies

and market trends through the Sora platform, achieving rapid business expansion and differentiated

competitive advantages.

2.2.2. Multidimensional Collaboration

Sora technology exhibits excellent multidimensional capabilities in the cultural industry, promoting

efficient collaboration among different entities through its advanced technology platform and open

ecosystem, enhancing the overall innovation and operation level of the cultural industry.

Sora technology promotes collaboration among creators by building an open platform. The Sora

platform provides a space for cultural creators such as artists, designers, and writers to share creative

tools and resources, enabling them to collaborate in real-time and share ideas and inspirations across

geographical boundaries. Through Sora's cloud computing and big data functions, creators can easily

share works and data, conduct remote collaboration, and optimize creation processes. This

collaboration not only improves creation efficiency but also inspires more cross-border cooperation

and creative collisions, promoting the diversification of cultural products. Sora technology, by

integrating frontier technologies such as VR, AR, and AI, promotes collaboration between technical

teams and creative teams. Cultural enterprises can use the technical tools provided by the Sora

platform to achieve seamless connection between technical teams and creative teams, jointly

developing immersive experiences and intelligent cultural products. For example, technical teams can

use the VR/AR development tools provided by Sora to collaborate with creative teams to create

interactive art exhibitions or digital theaters, achieving a perfect blend of technology and art.

The Sora platform can achieve transparency of copyright information and automated management

of transactions, ensuring all parties reach a consensus on copyright protection and management,

reducing copyright disputes, and protecting all parties' rights and interests. This collaborative

mechanism provides better legal protection for cultural creators, inspiring more innovation and

content production. Cultural enterprises can quickly access the latest technologies and services

through the Sora platform, share data and resources with partners, and collaboratively optimize supply

chains and product development processes, improving collaboration efficiency and response speed

across the entire industry chain.

2.2.3. Paradigm Shift

Sora technology has caused a significant "paradigm shift" in the cultural industry, redefining the

creation, dissemination, and consumption of cultural content through its advanced technology and

platform functions, driving profound changes in the cultural industry.

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First, Sora technology, through immersive technologies such as virtual reality (VR) and augmented

reality (AR), has completely changed the creation paradigm of cultural products. Traditional cultural

products often rely on flat media and linear narratives, whereas the Sora platform allows creators to

use VR/AR technology to build three-dimensional virtual worlds and interactive scenes, providing

users with highly immersive cultural experiences. For example, artists can create virtual exhibitions

on the Sora platform, where viewers can wander freely in virtual spaces, closely appreciating works,

and even interacting with them. This new creation paradigm not only expands the expressive forms

of art but also inspires more cross-border creativity.

Second, Sora technology promotes the digital transformation of cultural content, changing the

traditional dissemination and consumption paradigm. Through the Sora platform, cultural products

can be distributed and sold digitally, breaking physical space and time limitations. For example, books,

music, and movies can be globally distributed through Sora's digital platform, allowing users to access

and consume them via the internet. This digital dissemination method significantly reduces

distribution costs and time, expands the audience range of cultural products, and makes cultural

consumption more convenient and diverse.

Sora technology introduces big data analysis and artificial intelligence (AI), driving the

personalization and intelligent transformation of the cultural industry. The Sora platform can deeply

analyze user interests and behaviors through big data and AI technology, providing personalized

content recommendations and services. For example, based on users' browsing and consumption

history, the Sora platform can recommend cultural products that match their preferences, enhancing

user experience and satisfaction. This intelligent recommendation system changes the traditional

model construction of cultural products, making the dissemination of cultural content more precise

and efficient.

Sora technology achieves innovation through blockchain technology. Traditional copyright

protection relies on complex legal and administrative procedures, whereas the Sora platform achieves

digital copyright management and automated transactions of cultural content through blockchain

technology[6]. The transparency and immutability of blockchain ensure clear copyright information

and secure and reliable transaction processes for every cultural product, greatly simplifying the

processes of copyright protection and transactions. This paradigm change not only protects creators'

rights but also enhances the market circulation efficiency of cultural products.

3. Path Exploration

3.1. Technological Path

With continuous technological advancements and accelerated digital transformation, Sora technology

will continue to leverage its unique advantages to drive innovation and development in the cultural

industry, injecting new vitality. Sora technology will not only advance the application of augmented

reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) in the cultural field but also significantly enhance user

experiences. For example, through the Sora platform, art exhibitions, museums, and historical sites

can create virtual and augmented reality displays, allowing audiences to immerse themselves in these

cultural contents anytime and anywhere. This not only broadens the methods of cultural dissemination

but also provides viewers with richer and more interactive experiences, making cultural content more

vivid and engaging.

Sora technology can also further enhance the personalized recommendation capabilities of cultural

products through big data and artificial intelligence (AI). The platform can analyze vast amounts of

user data, including browsing history, interests, and consumption habits, to provide highly

personalized cultural content recommendations for each user. This precise recommendation system

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can significantly improve user satisfaction and retention, thereby promoting the consumption and

dissemination of cultural products.

Additionally, Sora technology will continue to promote cross-border collaboration and innovation

among different entities in the cultural industry through open APIs and a partner ecosystem. Cultural

enterprises can quickly access the latest technologies and market resources via the Sora platform,

collaborating with companies from other industries, creators, and technical teams to develop more

competitive and innovative cultural products. This open ecosystem will drive the cultural industry

towards more diversified and interactive development.

Through its powerful digital platform, Sora technology will also promote the global dissemination

of cultural content. In the future, the Sora platform will support multi-language and multi-cultural

content distribution, enabling cultural products to overcome geographical and linguistic barriers and

reach global markets. Through big data analysis and AI technology, Sora can help cultural enterprises

understand the cultural preferences and market demands of different countries and regions,

optimizing cultural product design and marketing strategies to achieve global market expansion.

In terms of enhancing the operational efficiency of cultural enterprises, Sora technology also

excels. Cultural enterprises can use the Sora platform to achieve full-process management and

automation from content creation to market promotion to sales, including functions such as intelligent

contracts, data analysis, and supply chain management. This will reduce labor and time costs, improve

the response speed and market competitiveness of enterprises, and promote the sustainable

development of the cultural industry.

Sora technology will help cultural enterprises achieve digital transformation across the entire

industry chain, from content creation, production, and dissemination to sales and service,

comprehensively enhancing their digital level. Through the Sora platform, cultural enterprises can

achieve seamless data connection and sharing, improving the collaborative efficiency of each link in

the industry chain, and promoting the overall digital transformation and upgrade of the cultural

industry.

3.2. Economic Path

Sora technology, through automation and intelligent tools, significantly improves the efficiency of

cultural content creation and distribution while reducing production costs. The Sora platform will

further optimize the content creation process, providing AI-based content generation, editing, and

optimization tools to help creators produce high-quality cultural products in a short time. Additionally,

Sora technology can achieve global content distribution through digital platforms, reducing logistics

and distribution costs, allowing cultural products to reach global markets faster, thereby expanding

sales channels and market coverage, and increasing economic benefits.

Sora technology will introduce and promote innovative business models in the cultural industry,

opening new revenue channels. The Sora platform will explore new business models such as

subscription-based, pay-per-view, digital copyright sales, and virtual goods transactions. Through

blockchain technology, Sora can achieve secure transactions and copyright management of cultural

content, providing services for buying and collecting digital artworks, creating a digital asset

economy. Additionally, Sora technology can promote the commercialization of VR and AR content,

providing paid immersive experiences and interactive services for users, increasing corporate revenue

sources.

Through digital and intelligent means, Sora technology can optimize supply chain management in

the cultural industry, reducing operational costs. The Sora platform will provide a blockchain-based

transparent supply chain management system, achieving full-process tracking and management from

content production and logistics transportation to terminal sales. Through this method, cultural

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enterprises can grasp supply chain information in real-time, reduce inventory backlog and logistics

costs, improve supply chain efficiency and economic benefits.

Leveraging its global digital platform, Sora technology will help cultural enterprises expand

markets and consumer groups. The Sora platform will support multi-language and multi-cultural

content distribution and services, enabling cultural products to overcome language and geographical

barriers and reach global markets. Through big data analysis and market research, Sora can help

cultural enterprises accurately target potential markets and customers, formulate effective market

promotion strategies, attract more international consumers, and increase economic income.

The Sora platform will provide real-time market analysis and forecasting tools, helping cultural

enterprises quickly respond to market changes and consumer demands, optimize product design and

market strategies, reduce market risks and operating costs, and enhance economic benefits. Through

data-driven market insights, enterprises can accurately predict market trends and consumer behaviors,

formulate effective business and development strategies, and achieve long-term economic growth.

Through interactive and social features, Sora technology can enhance user engagement and loyalty,

thereby improving economic benefits. The Sora platform will develop more interactive features, such

as social sharing, user reviews, and interactive games, increasing user activity and time spent on the

platform. Additionally, Sora can enhance user brand loyalty through personalized membership

services and reward mechanisms, increasing repeat purchases and consumption frequency, and

boosting enterprise revenue and market share.

Sora technology can also combine with cultural tourism and experience economy to create new

economic growth points. The Sora platform will develop AR/VR-based cultural tourism experience

projects, such as virtual tours and immersive historical re-enactments, providing unique tourism and

cultural experience services for users. Sora can also collaborate with cultural attractions and tourism

agencies to develop digital tourism products and online experience services, increasing cultural

tourism income and promoting the development of the experience economy.

Through an open platform and cooperation mechanism, Sora technology will support the

development of the creative industry and the establishment of an entrepreneurial ecosystem. The Sora

platform will provide entrepreneurial support and technical services, helping start-ups and creative

teams quickly enter the market, reducing entrepreneurial costs and risks. Through Sora's open

ecosystem, cultural enterprises can establish close cooperation with technology companies, creators,

and market institutions, promoting resource sharing and collaborative innovation, driving the

prosperity and economic growth of the creative industry.

3.3. Aesthetic Path

Sora technology is poised to leverage its unique aesthetic advantages in the cultural industry through

a series of innovative applications, enhancing the artistic value of cultural products and improving

user experience. By utilizing big data and artificial intelligence (AI) technologies, the Sora platform

can deeply analyze users' aesthetic preferences and provide personalized artistic recommendations.

In the future, Sora will be able to more accurately capture and understand users' aesthetic interests,

such as their preferred art styles, color schemes, and thematic content, to recommend art pieces and

cultural activities that align with their aesthetic inclinations. In this way, users can discover more

cultural products that match their tastes, enhancing their satisfaction and aesthetic experience in

cultural consumption.

The Sora platform will continue to promote collaborative creation among artists, designers, and

creative teams, integrating diverse cultural and aesthetic elements through cross-disciplinary

cooperation. In the future, Sora technology will provide richer creative tools and resource libraries,

supporting creators from different cultural backgrounds and artistic styles to interact and collaborate,

developing cultural products with innovative and diverse aesthetic features. This collaborative

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creation enriches the artistic expression of cultural products and promotes the mutual appreciation

and integration of global cultures.

Sora technology can incorporate dynamic visual effects into cultural products, enhancing the

expressiveness and impact of artistic works. For example, through real-time rendering and animation

technology, the Sora platform can add dynamic elements to static paintings, bringing them to life

before the viewers' eyes. These dynamic visual effects not only enhance the visual appeal of the works

but also provide viewers with a richer aesthetic experience.

Sora technology can also develop AI aesthetic evaluation features, analyzing visual elements,

composition, and style of artworks to provide scientific aesthetic assessments. This evaluation feature

can help creators understand the aesthetic characteristics and market potential of their works, guiding

them to optimize their creations and improve artistic levels. At the same time, AI aesthetic evaluation

can recommend art pieces that match users' aesthetic preferences, enhancing users' viewing

experience and artistic appreciation ability. These innovations will further elevate the artistic value

of cultural products and user experience, driving the cultural industry towards greater diversity and

quality.

4. Conclusion

Although the application prospects of Sora technology in the cultural industry are broad, challenges

such as immature technology development, high application costs, and privacy and ethical issues still

exist. In the future, as technology continues to advance and applications become more in-depth, the

application of Sora technology in the cultural industry will become more extensive and profound.

Continuous exploration and innovation are needed to promote the application and development of

Sora technology in China's cultural industry, contributing more significantly to the prosperity of

Chinese-style cultural modernization and cultural heritage preservation[7].

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Proceedings of ICADSS 2024 Workshop: International Forum on Intelligent Communication and Media Transformation

DOI: 10.54254/2753-7064/36/2024BJ0005

Changes and Mechanisms of Social Interaction Models in the

Digital Age

Jiaqi Lv1,a, Maoyuan Zhang1,b,*

1Guangzhou University, No. 230, West Waihuan Street, Higher Education Mega Center, Panyu

District, Guangzhou City, Guangdong Province, China

a. 1402498194@qq.com, b. z5213279@qq.com

*corresponding Author

Abstract: In the wave of the digital age, technology is rapidly evolving from Web 1.0 to Web

2.0 and moving towards the new era of the metaverse. Social media, as a pioneer of this

transformation, has deeply permeated people’s daily lives, reshaping our social interaction

models. The rise of "companion socialization" is a typical phenomenon in this transformation,

reflecting significant changes in social interaction models in the digital age. This paper aims

to systematically review the notable changes in social speed, social subjects, and social

methods during the evolution of social media, and to deeply analyze the reasons behind these

changes. By exploring the mechanisms of market evolution, platform manipulation, and user

addiction, this study seeks to help people better understand the pros and cons of social media,

adopt a more rational attitude towards the social challenges of the digital age, and promote

the construction of a healthy social ecosystem.

Keywords: Digital Age, Social Media, Social Interaction Models, Platform, Media Evolution

1. Introduction

The term "社交媒体" is a translation of "Social Media," though different scholars hold varying

viewpoints, translating it as "社会化媒体" or "社会性媒体". Among these, "社交媒体" is more

widely accepted. With the deepening of social media research, its definition has become narrower.

Social media refers to a series of web applications built on the technologies and ideologies of Web

2.0 that allow users to create and exchange User-Generated Content (UGC)[1]. In the context of the

digital age, everyone faces an uncertain risk society, and this uncertainty permeates our daily lives

through technological media. The changes in social media are imperceptibly altering us. With the

combination of technological updates and innovative ideas, the development of social media has

become increasingly intense. During its continuous evolution, it has brought about changes in social

interaction models. Through literature review and observation, this paper sorts out the specific

manifestations of changes in social interaction models. By focusing on the three main subjects of the

market, platforms, and users, and exploring how these three interact with social media to trigger

changes in social interaction models, this study aims to contribute to the construction of a healthy

social ecosystem in the digital age.

Proceedings of ICADSS 2024 Workshop: International Forum on Intelligent Communication and Media Transformation

DOI: 10.54254/2753-7064/36/2024BJ0008

(https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).

2. Changes in Social Interaction Models

2.1. Social Speed: From Pen Pal Socialization to Fast-food Socialization

During the heyday of BBS (Bulletin Board System), online interactions on platforms like Tianya,

Mop, and blogs were mostly conducted in written form. Personal interests, novel viewpoints, and

daily experiences served as the material for users’ posts. The poster would assume the role of "thread

starter" or "楼主" (Lou zhu). Other users, upon seeing different threads posted by various thread

starters, would comment based on different motivations, whether to find like-minded individuals or

to express their unique opinions. The thread starter’s act of replying to comments imbued the

interaction with social attributes. Due to the underdeveloped infrastructure at that time, and the low

information transmission rate of 2G mobile communication technology, the thread starter would see

comments later than when they were actually posted. Tianya Forum limited posts to 10,000 Chinese

characters, while Mop Forum had no character limit. Most posts were relatively long and required

readers’ patience. This reading time also resulted in delayed comments. This reading "buffer period"

or "cooling-off period" often led users to think more carefully before responding. Additionally, as of

July 2001, the average weekly online time for users was 8.7 hours, with the majority going online at

8 or 9 PM, reaching a ratio of 77.2%[2]. This meant that the time from commenting to replying was

quite long. People’s life pace was slow, and their focus remained on real-life matters. Their attitude

towards socializing with strangers online was casual but not frivolous. This mindset was similar to

the approach people had with pen pal correspondence, where the slow internet speed and delayed

responses resembled the lengthy process of mailing letters. Thus, this period of social interaction is

aptly termed "pen pal socialization."

However, with the update and iteration of social media, the advent of Web 2.0 features embodied

in Facebook, Twitter, MicroBlog, WeChat, and other platforms, has shifted the pen pal socialization

model towards a fast-food socialization trend. Short video socialization and "companion

socialization" are manifestations of this trend. By December 2023, the average weekly online time

had more than tripled from 2001, reaching 26.1 hours[3]. Internet usage is no longer highly

concentrated in the evening hours of 8 or 9 PM; daytime online activity has gradually increased and

is more evenly distributed[4]. Users are frequently active on the internet. In the backdrop of the rapid

emergence of social media, many people, driven by a sense of novelty, navigate through various

social media platforms. On average, global social media users are active on six different social media

platforms each month[5].

On one hand, with technological support, internet speed has greatly improved. By 2019, the

information transmission rate reached 10 Gbps, validating the instantaneous nature of the internet.

Instant messaging, immediate comments on MicroBlog, and instant likes on WeChat Moments all

highlight the accelerated speed of social interactions. On the other hand, being involved in multiple

social media platforms means that the time spent on each one is relatively reduced. This compression

of time inadvertently accelerates social interactions, increasing the quantity of interactions while

simultaneously reducing their quality. Users are immersed in the "time machine" created by the

internet, enjoying the convenience brought by technology, often unaware that they are deeply

entrenched in the "fast-food trap" of time controlled by capital. After indulging in fast-food

socialization for a while, it loses its charm, becoming monotonous and uniform. With the aid of

artificial intelligence and algorithms, "pre-made" social interactions emerge. Instead of humans, the

interactions are conducted by robots that have undergone deep learning through big data, such as

ChatGPT, a powerful AI capable of understanding the context and providing the desired answers. At

this point, social interactions may lose their interactive essence, turning into a performance of

individual psychological activities.

Proceedings of ICADSS 2024 Workshop: International Forum on Intelligent Communication and Media Transformation

DOI: 10.54254/2753-7064/36/2024BJ0008

The essence of fast-food socialization is actually the emptiness of desire, the lack of

companionship, and increased pressure. To some extent, this is a byproduct of technological

advancement and urban evolution. How to maintain the sincerity of pen pal socialization in the face

of rapid technological progress is a critical issue that requires deep reflection in the current era of

fast-food socialization.

2.2. Social Subjects: From Elite Socialization to Mass Socialization

Reviewing the development of social media, the leading figures of Tianya, Mop, and BBS sites were

characterized by "elite" qualities. Their sensitivity to the internet was closely related to their cultural

backgrounds. Tianya’s founder, Xing Ming, with his academic background from Sun Yat-sen

University and work experience in government information departments, imbued Tianya with a

scholarly atmosphere. As shown in Table 1, data on users’ occupations, educational levels, and gender

also confirm that in the early days of the internet, those who had access to computers and the internet

were mostly from the "elite class" of the time, either engaged in related technical work or having a

high level of education.

Table 1: Basic Information of Netizens

Year

Occupation (Top 3)

Education Level (Top 3)

Male

Female

2001

Students 23.0%

Bachelor’s Degree

33.6%

61.3%

38.7%

Professional Technicians

20.6%

High School 28.8%

Clerks and Related

Personnel 18.6%

Associate Degree 26.7%

2004

Students 31.9%

High School 30.6%

59.3%

40.7%

Professional Technicians

13.2%

Bachelor’s Degree

28.2%

Managers in Enterprises

and Institutions 9.6%

Associate Degree 26.0%

2023

51.4%

48.6%

Overall, in the Web 1.0 era, those who had access to the internet were mostly well-educated males.

The dominant position of males in the gender order provided them with material rewards, which have

been significantly underestimated[6]. They enjoyed the benefits of the internet earlier than females,

which is just a part of the "patriarchal dividend." Naturally, the users on social media at that time

were homogeneous, and the high threshold for internet access fostered elite socialization. Platforms

like Renren and Facebook initially restricted their usage to college students only. Elite socialization

ensured the balance of social interaction quality. For instance, Tianya and Mop were initially user-

managed platforms until the expansion of the user base disrupted this balance due to the varying

quality of users. Lower-educated groups, such as farmers and workers, were busy with their jobs.

Only with technological advancements that improved efficiency did they have the time and mental

capacity to engage with the internet. The greatest benefit of internet technology is undoubtedly the

reduction in the cost of going online. Inclusivity became the key reason for the expansion of the range

of social subjects, driving the transition from elite socialization to mass socialization. Compared to

the algorithm-driven mass socialization of later stages, early elite socialization allowed for more

autonomy in choosing social subjects.

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In their quest to acquire more users, social media platforms removed usage barriers. Facebook is

the best example, opening its registration to the public in 2006. Social media users became

heterogeneous, impacting content quality, with undesirable content such as pornography, violence,

and fraud becoming rampant. The ultimate goal of the mass audience using social media is to build

relationships through the expression of opinions rather than to communicate using viewpoints.

[7]Nowadays, people use social media as a tool to supplement daily interactions. According to the

"Post-95s Social Attitudes and Social Relationships Survey Report," over 80% of the surveyed users

view social software as an important means to expand their network[8]. Earlier "elite socialization"

did not treat social media as an extension of real-life interactions but as a venue for expressing

opinions, with socialization being secondary. The popularity of works like "Ming Dynasty Those

Things" and "Ghost Blows Out the Light" on Tianya Forum was not due to social relationship

marketing but rather an unexpected success.

The transition from elite socialization to mass socialization has promoted the rise of female

socialization. Many social media platforms have positioned their user base towards females.

Pinterest’s design concept extends the habit of women clipping photos from magazines to online

collections, making it highly popular among female users. According to 2014 research data from

RJMetrics, only 20% of Pinterest’s registered users were male, and only 8% of them actively shared

content. [9]Women are more emotional and sensitive to visual socialization. Consequently, many

photo-based social media platforms incorporate beautification features like filters to attract female

users. Moreover, women, due to their physiological and psychological traits, have an advantage in

social interactions. Women’s purchasing power and willingness have led to a female-leaning trend in

social media, with female live streamers significantly outnumbering male live streamers. Many social

media platforms produce content around fashion and beauty to attract female users.

2.3. Social Methods: From Singular to Diversified Socialization

In recent years, related surveys have shown that social media fatigue affects users’ willingness to

migrate between social media platforms[10]. Social media, under the pressure of user fatigue,

continues to innovate, evolving from singular to diversified social methods. This development trend

began to sprout in the Web 2.0 era, with social media types divided into microblogging (e.g.,

MicroBlog), photo-sharing (e.g., Instagram), video-sharing (e.g., YouTube), instant messaging (e.g.,

WeChat), anonymous social networking (e.g., Soul), short video sharing (e.g., TikTok), and interest-

based social networking (e.g., Douban). The root of this diversification is the emergence of mobile

social media. On January 9, 2007, the release of the first-generation iPhone in the United States

initiated the mobile internet wave. The mobile internet is the product of the convergence of mobile

wireless communication and the internet, with mobile communication operators providing access and

internet companies offering various applications, inheriting the characteristics of mobile

communication (anytime, anywhere, and personal) and the internet (openness, sharing, and

interactivity). [11]Users are no longer limited to text expression; images and videos have become

more direct forms of communication. At the same time, the traceability of the internet has made image

and video socialization a source of pressure for users. This is the appeal of Snapchat, whose "self-

destructing messages" reduce the stress and anxiety associated with the permanent recording of

content[12]. With advances in VR and brain-computer interface technology, virtual simulation

socialization will break the boundaries between virtual and real, making online socialization an

extension of offline reality, as seen in platforms like "Second Life" and the "Metaverse."

Changes in users’ emotional needs have also stimulated innovation in social methods. In 2023, the

term "companion socialization" trended on MicroBlog. According to the "2023 Companion

Socialization Report," more than half of young people have companions, and 31% of those without

companions still want one[13]. Netizens post their needs for finding companions on various social

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media platforms, and Little Red Book (Little Red Book) has specifically created an entry point for

"companion socialization."

The diversification of social methods keeps users online 24/7, blurring the lines between offline

and online, and overlapping public and private spaces. Social media is becoming a comprehensive

medium, continually expanding its functions to consolidate and expand social relationships. WeChat,

as an instant messaging product, is used by many enterprises for work communication due to its

convenience and simplicity. It also covers daily scenarios such as transportation, lifestyle services,

and shopping. Tasks like booking a taxi after work or buying tickets for a trip can all be done on

WeChat. However, this convenience comes at the cost of invading private domains, trapping

employees in a state of being "physically at home but mentally at work," with the expectation of

timely responses on WeChat becoming necessary to maintain relationships with leaders and

colleagues.

3. Market, Platform, Users: Mechanisms of Three Major Entities

Changes in social patterns influence their presentation. The acceleration of social speed inevitably

leads to "quantity accumulation," which includes the diversification and popularization of social

connections. Stimulated by the fleeting pleasure of fast-paced social interactions and the broad

demand for social connections, social methods also become diversified. The fundamental drivers of

these changes lie in the mechanisms of the three major entities: market, platform, and users. User

demands and technological advancements drive market evolution, enabling platforms to capitalize on

controlling user time and emotions. Users, in turn, become passively or actively "addicted" to

platform manipulation and self-interest gains, collectively shaping the evolution of social patterns.

3.1. Evolution of the Market: Cost Reduction and User Penetration

Changes in social patterns regarding social speed, social connections, and social methods trace back

to the evolution of the market. The reduction in internet costs due to technological advancements and

the saturation of mainstream markets have expanded the reach of markets. In the Web 1.0 era before

2004, China’s mobile communication technology had a maximum information transfer rate of only

14.4 kbps, supporting only voice calls and SMS functionalities. Many early social media platforms

faced bandwidth shortages; for instance, Tianya’s server bandwidth from Hainan to Guangdong was

a mere 2 Mbps, and even overseas social media like MySpace succumbed to server crashes. With the

advent of Web 2.0 in 2008 and the 3G era, information transfer rates reached 2 Mbps, supporting

services such as voice and video calls and internet access, though most people still used keypad

phones, limiting social media usage to desktop terminals. Around 2011, the proliferation of

smartphones with touchscreens marked a shift of social media usage from desktops to mobile devices,

fostering diversified social media platforms. The 4G era significantly amplified this trend with

information transfer rates reaching 100 Mbps, establishing robust technological foundations for

image-based, video-based, and instant messaging social apps. Diversified social media platforms are

built upon the interaction of multiple technologies. Web 3.0’s integration with cloud computing,

blockchain, and artificial intelligence is closely linked, with 5G technology serving as crucial

infrastructure due to its high performance, low latency, and high capacity characteristics[14]. As of

December 2023, China had cumulatively built and opened 3.377 million 5G base stations, covering

all prefecture-level city urban areas and county-level city urban areas. The total number of fixed

internet broadband access users from three major basic telecommunications enterprises reached 636

million households, with a net increase of 46.66 million households over the previous year’s end;

among them, 601 million users have access speeds of 100 Mbps and above, accounting for 94.5% of

the total user base [3]. The rapid increase in internet speed will inevitably accelerate social speed

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objectively, and the accelerated pace of digital life in the digital age will prompt people to voluntarily

increase their social speed.

The mobile wave holds significant milestone significance for the transformation of social patterns.

Mobile internet has narrowed the overall digital divide between people. On one hand, mobile phones

are easier to operate than computers; on the other hand, the production cost of phones is slightly lower

than that of computers, leading to price disparities between the two. In the global growth rates of ICT

device users, mobile phones rose from 33.9% in 2005 to 76.2% in 2010, while the growth rates of

internet, fixed telephone lines, wireless broadband, and fixed broadband in 2010 did not exceed

30.1%. [15]According to the GSMA Intelligence report "Global Mobile Economy Development

2023," global mobile internet users reached 4.4 billion in 2022[16], generating an additional $5.2

trillion in economic value for the mobile industry [16]. By 2030, there will be 9 billion smartphones

connected, accounting for 92% of total connections [16]. The mobile internet wave shows no sign of

receding. Due to advances in communication technology and the proliferation of electronic devices

like computers and phones, broadband costs will continue to decline due to economies of scale and

boundary benefits. Just as multifunctional smartphones may ultimately eliminate some major

standalone electronic consumer technologies [15], multi-functional modern social media will also

replace singular forum-type websites. The evolution of social media processes confirms this point.

In the early days of the internet, market expansion focused on first- and second-tier cities. Now,

the initial group of highly educated individuals who were early internet adopters is gradually saturated.

This trend inevitably leads to an extension towards lower educational levels and older age groups.

User penetration and content penetration have become new strategies for social media. Wang Hua,

managing partner of Innovation Works, pointed out that the third wave of internet population

dividends in China includes mainstream consumer groups in third- and fourth-tier cities, known as

"small town middle-aged". [17]Due to lower living pressures in third- and fourth-tier cities compared

to first-tier cities, residents have more disposable time, which they spend more on activities such as

watching videos and playing games. Data shows that "consumers in China’s third-tier and below

cities account for more than 70% of the national total, and their GDP accounts for 59% of the national

total. At the same time, third-tier and below cities also contribute two-thirds of China’s economic

growth". [18]Therefore, mass socialization is inevitable. In order to cater to user penetration, internet

content penetration is inevitable. "Short and direct" short video social interactions and live streaming

social interactions are increasingly favored by users today, with entertainment becoming the main

theme of social media content production. Under the dual impetus of user penetration and content

penetration, the cost of users becoming producers has decreased. For them, social media is no longer

just a place for socializing but also a business origin for how to profit through social interactions.

3.2. Platform Manipulation: Time Delay and Emotional Quantification

The concept and functional design of social media platforms subtly influence users, thereby altering

social patterns. Existing research mostly analyzes the control of platforms over users’ social and life

aspects from an algorithmic perspective. Algorithmic filtering mechanisms coerce individuals into a

homogenized network of information, limiting the scope of social connections and the reception of

social content. While people overly focus on algorithms, they often overlook the platform’s inherent

design manipulation. In the latter half of the first decade of the 21st century, humanity created a new

development in media called the timeline, which is entirely different from the hierarchical systems of

the early 1990s—documents and charts—and the mid-1990s World Wide Web model (represented

by search engines). [17]The timeline presents itself in a "flow" form, embedded in platform designs.

Whether domestic platforms like TikTok, Little Red Book, MicroBlog, or international ones like

Pinterest, Facebook, Twitter, all adopt settings where new content appears upon scrolling down. Hu

Yong refers to the logic behind this as "time has now become the organizing principle of media" [17].

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The user experience on social platforms is structured like a hypnotic rhythm, pulling users into a real-

time information flow and constantly urging them to maintain a competitive edge[19]. Content release

times are replaced with "xx minutes ago," and video durations are shown with progress bars, creating

an illusion of time retention by the platform. This is similar to how casinos control time; they prevent

sunlight from entering and forbid the placement of any objects that convey a sense of time: no

windows, no clocks, and continuous serving of snacks and materials instead of scheduled meals [19].

Short videos under 60 seconds, posts limited to 140 characters embed short bursts of time into users’

trivial daily lives, appearing to utilize time "cherishing every second." However, unwittingly, users

fall into the platform’s time trap, perpetuating a vicious cycle of "there’s still time to keep watching."

The aftermath of this time retention can induce anxiety and unease, which translates into restless

emotions projected onto social interactions, forming fast-food-style socialization. As new content

constantly appears upon scrolling, likes, comments, and likes within comments serve as a platform’s

reward mechanism, akin to training pets: when pets meet their owner’s standards, they receive a

reward. In social media, however, the platform is the master. Social media platforms emulate this

reward system, immersing users in the pleasure of time retention and fostering dependency. Once

users respond positively to this mechanism, they become attracted to other social media platforms

that employ similar reward systems. Thus, behind the diversification of social patterns lies nothing

more than subtle variations on a theme.

In the time-retention device created by platforms, the quantification of user emotions narrows the

range of their social connections. Every swipe, pause, keystroke, and click represents an expression

of emotion, yet platforms quantify the emotional value of users through metrics such as likes and

pause times. Similarly, Facebook has always sought reactions like "wow" or "like" to replace lengthy

emotional expressions in comments. Early social media platforms like Tianya and Mop did not

represent liking or approval through likes, nor did they excessively limit the length of posted content.

Short statements and direct likes allow platforms to more precisely and quickly analyze users,

presenting user profiles and using algorithmic filtering mechanisms to recommend people with

commonalities or suggest content liked by similar users, thereby filtering homogeneous social

connections for users. Additionally, platforms introduce some "humanizing" features that appear to

benefit users but ultimately serve the platform’s best interests. Instagram’s "archive" feature

specifically reserves a corner for old photos that users do not want to publicly display or are no longer

popular, discouraging users from deleting these photos and thereby retaining content for the platform.

[19]Many social media platforms employ similar strategies with features like "pinning." WeChat

Moments’ "pinning" allows users to prominently display their most cherished posts without the hassle

of deleting or locking every post they wish to keep private. Users often enjoy the convenience of

these features but overlook that enjoying them comes at the cost of surrendering personal emotional

data to the platform. Platforms could analyze users even without these features, but by achieving the

same goals at lower costs and gaining user favor, why wouldn’t they? Users initiate chats with

strangers on social media, indulging in the joy of common topics and similarities, delighting in their

right to choose social connections, yet oblivious that platforms have long made those choices for

them. Rather than users coincidentally finding the "friends" they desire, it’s more accurate to say that

every "friend" they encounter is indistinguishable because it’s the platform’s choice, not theirs.

3.3. User Addiction: Benefits of Communication and Emotional Thinking

According to Adam Smith’s theory of "homo economicus," the shift from singular to diversified

social patterns can be traced. Users flock to UGC-type social media platforms due to the benefits

gained from communication. In the Web1.0 era, who would have thought that chatting could generate

income? Today, platforms like TikTok, Kuaishou, and Little Red Book enable profit from live chat

interactions. In the Web2.0 era, users empowered as producers reap double dividends. For instance,

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as a live streamer, a user can earn income from live broadcasts—partly from virtual currency recharge

income and partly from membership value-added services[20]. With a substantial fan base, they can

monetize traffic through partnerships with businesses, selling products, and hosting advertisements,

among other opportunities. Even as mere users, participating in various live streams offers emotional

release, stress relief, cost-free global travel experiences, and discounts on shopping and

consumption[21]. As geopolitical and blood ties weaken and urban prosperity conceals the loneliness

of countless strangers, social media interactions may become their sole outlet for emotional

expression. Many young people tend to click into live broadcasts hosted by fellow natives, using their

shared hometown identity as a catalyst for instant connection. Shared experiences of city life,

traditional customs, and familiar accents resonate, fostering rapid engagement and interaction in live

streams. By relieving feelings of homesickness and loneliness through live broadcasts, individuals

can proactively establish more meaningful connections. With the rise of live tourism and adventure

broadcasts, travel bloggers have leveraged new scenarios, demonstrating the value of solo travel and

virtual tourism within live streams. Furthermore, female consumer spending has become a driving

force behind e-commerce live streaming. Many e-commerce platforms selling clothing and cosmetics

capitalize on discounts during live broadcasts to attract female users, increase sales volumes, and

enable consumers to engage interactively with hosts to understand product details more

comprehensively, thus simulating offline shopping experiences to a greater extent. With a large

enough purchasing group, this interaction can lead to collective bargaining, allowing consumers to

purchase goods at lower costs.

"Universal personal suffering, as well as a society firmly convinced of its own crisis, are the

foundational premises on which social media business models rely." [19] Emotional thinking has

gradually become the core of social media and even internet product design. Users are human, and

exploring human nature is the source of progress in social media. The manifestation of "greed, anger,

and ignorance" in social media design also influences changes in social patterns. Humans are both

emotional and rational, but ultimately, they are emotional beings. [22]Perhaps elites may exhibit more

rationality, but even the elite cannot escape emotional needs; emotionally, they still dominate, and

since most internet users are grassroots, mass social interaction driven by emotional thinking is

undoubtedly the trend. Impulsive and lazy users enjoy straightforward "quick feedback," and the

pursuit of this pleasure has driven the development of fast-paced social interactions. Greedy and

selfish users cannot resist temptation; gimmicks like "earn cash with TikTok (Speed Edition)" and

"Snapchat’s instant merchant vouchers" [23]are enough to lure users to open a new social app,

actively pioneering social interactions in a "willing to be hooked" manner.

Compared to men, emotions are often used to describe women more often. Scientific research and

extensive evidence show that women are naturally sensitive and emotionally rich, so their actions rely

more on emotions. [24]From a physiological perspective, women’s brains, particularly the amygdala

and hippocampus responsible for emotions and memory, are more developed than men’s. In 2023,

women accounted for 46.3% of global social media users [5], slightly lower than men, but women

spend more time using social media [5]. This also explains why emotional thinking can influence

changes in social patterns; as the number of women online continues to rise, they are more active on

social media, and their inherent emotional thinking gradually permeates its use.

4. Conclusion

The evolution of social media brings inevitable changes to social patterns, influenced not only by

market forces, platforms, and users—the three main entities—but also by cultural backgrounds,

institutional environments, and other factors worth exploring. However, in the digital age, bolstered

by artificial intelligence and algorithms, the roles and mechanisms of markets, platforms, and users

will become more prominent and crucial. Vigilance against the "alienation" of these three entities is

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essential to ensure the prosperity and control of social media development, fostering a positive

atmosphere for contemporary digital citizen social interactions.

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[14] Xu, L., Li, S., & Ning, H. (2023). Concept, connotation, technology, and development status of Web 3.0. Journal of

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Proceedings of ICADSS 2024 Workshop: International Forum on Intelligent Communication and Media Transformation

DOI: 10.54254/2753-7064/36/2024BJ0008

Despair and Hope in Nonsense: A Study of the Subcultural

Ritual of Youth

—Taking "Crazy Literature" as an Example

Wei Xie1,a,*, Xiao Rao1,b

1School of Journalism and Communication, Hunan University, Changsha, 410082, China

a. tntxie@hnu.edu.cn, b. 1091025205@qq.com

*corresponding author

Abstract: In the era of intelligent communication, the phenomenon of folk discourse

production in online society is increasingly common. From the initial roaring style to the

prevalent "crazy literature" today, various so-called internet "literature" emerges endlessly,

becoming a "media spectacle" and also giving various forms of expression to the subculture

of despair. Although "crazy literature" belongs to the category of the subcultural ritual of

despair, those who are "despairing" are "not despairing". Young people release emotions in

despair through hysterical nonsense, and seek hope by establishing emotional connections

with others in the same circle. This paper analyzes "crazy literature" from the perspective of

interactive ritual chains, explores the formation mechanism of discourse carnival, and reveals

the cultural symptoms behind "crazy literature", providing a pathway for understanding

"crazy literature" and the culture of despair.

Keywords: interactive ritual chains, discourse production, crazy literature, subculture

1. Introduction

"In the early game, Diaochan indeed cannot defeat Zhang Liang. Zhang Liang’s first and second

skills control and enhance damage, clearing waves quickly. However, I suggest Diaochan should first

buy a Bloodsucker because this allows her to replenish her status at any time. By the way, Zhang

Liang’s spicy hotpot is really delicious, especially with deep-fried dough sticks and instant noodles

soaked in soup, topped with sesame sauce. It’s truly a delightful earthly pleasure."

"Yes, indeed, a sow’s resistance significantly decreases after giving birth, and reproductive organs

undergo changes. Improper care at this time can affect the sow’s postpartum recovery and,

consequently, the health of piglets. It could potentially lead to postpartum depression in sows, directly

impacting the economic efficiency of the pig farm. Therefore, proper postpartum care for sows is

crucial."

The chaotic sentence structure, undisputed content, and unexpected endings express the speaker’s

strong emotions while conveying a sense of nonsensical humor. This is the prevalent "crazy literature"

today, with various styles such as roaring, repeating, and rainbow-farting. Although termed

"literature," "crazy literature" differs significantly from traditional literature and is essentially a

product of internet meme culture. It has infiltrated various social scenes, becoming a common mode

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DOI: 10.54254/2753-7064/36/2024BJ0003

(https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).

of discourse. Whether urging deliveries on e-commerce platforms, arguing with netizens on social

media, or expressing fervent love and support for something, "crazy literature" can vividly express

intense emotions. The emergence of "crazy literature" not only promotes identity and emotional

expression, especially among young people, but also reshapes the digital cultural landscape of the

internet.

As Kellner puts it, "With the development of media technology, profound changes have occurred

in contemporary culture, turning the whole world into a spectacle composed of various media

symbols." [1] With the advancement of media technology and the popularity of social media,

numerous "spectacular phenomena" have emerged on the internet, and "crazy literature" is one such

"media spectacle."

2. Analysis of Ritual Elements

The concept of interactive ritual chains was first proposed by American sociologist Randall Collins.

He posited that interactive rituals consist of four elements: the group focus of interactive participants,

barriers that exclude outsiders, mutual attention focus, and shared emotional states. These elements

interact with each other, resulting in collective excitement and emotional pleasure among participants.

Consequently, four ritual outcomes emerge: symbols of social relations, individual emotional energy,

group solidarity, and moral standards. [2] In the era of new media, thanks to technological

advancements, interactive rituals can take place without temporal or spatial constraints on any social

media platform, achieving the desired ritual outcomes.

2.1. From Offline to Online: "Co-Presence" in Virtual Settings

Collins argues that rituals fundamentally emerge as activities after physical gatherings, where

physical presence serves as the link for interaction and communication. For instance, traditional ritual

activities such as weddings, funerals, and religious ceremonies emphasize physical co-presence,

which enhances the visual cues received from other participants compared to remote participation via

phone or television. Only through sufficient physical co-presence can the strongest sense of being

present be felt, allowing for the release of fervent emotional energy and strengthening of group

cohesion. Therefore, face-to-face co-presence and mutual attention among individuals are the

foundation of interactive rituals. It is through physical co-presence that the exchange and feedback of

symbolic capital and emotional energy occur. At this stage, the body serves as a functional medium

of communication, capable of perceiving, receiving, internalizing external information, and

responding to interaction signals from others through body parts, language, gestures, and more. [3]

However, being physically present is not an absolute necessity for ritual interaction. Collins argues,

"If the nervous system can directly generate the same effects remotely, then its effect would be the

same as being physically present." [4] The development of mobile internet technology has reshaped

the spatiotemporal logic of interactive rituals, turning the "global village" into a reality. Social media

platforms such as MicroBlog and Little Red Book have eliminated the spatial limitations of traditional

communication, providing a domain for "virtual presence" and making online "co-presence" the norm.

At the same time, the immersive and participatory experiences offered by these platforms enable users

dispersed across different regions to establish online long-distance connections in their nervous

systems, producing ritual interaction effects similar to those of being physically present. Social media

platforms, centered around users, allow everyone to meticulously design and decorate their own

spaces, especially with various privacy and blocking functions that enable individuals to shed their

disguises and fully enjoy the ritual experience.

Once users enter the app interface, various media platforms use algorithms based on their app

activity history to recommend content, facilitating interactions among users interested in the same

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field or topic, thus enabling them to "meet" online. Therefore, these platforms serve as bridges for

users to engage in online ritual interactions. Taking Little Red Book as an example, it constructs a

virtual space on the internet where everyone has equal opportunities for self-presentation and

expression. If users have shown interest in "crazy literature" through their search behavior, the

platform continues to recommend related posts. Users can interact remotely through actions such as

likes, saves, and comments, transforming offline "physical presence" into online "co-presence,"

facilitating focused interactions among enthusiasts of "crazy literature."

As of now, the topic of "crazy literature" on Little Red Book has amassed 1.54 billion views, with

the most liked post receiving 757,000 likes.

2.2. From Mainstream to Niche: Circle Symbols Promote Group Identity

French-Jewish sociologist Emile Durkheim believed that religious rituals serve a social integrative

function, with totem worship being the origin of religion. Totems symbolize primitive tribes and

maintain tribal unity and emotions. However, they merely represent a tribal emblem; people worship

not the totem itself but the meaning it represents. Therefore, totems are symbolic expressions of tribal

members that promote group identity within the tribe. Collins, in his study of interactive ritual chains,

borrowed Durkheim’s concept of "totem," suggesting that clear participation by group members and

barriers excluding "outsiders" are necessary to strengthen group identity. "‘Subcultural capital’ refers

to objects and ideas within a subculture that members consider unique, scarce, and emblematic of

their interests, that is, the unique style of the subculture itself." [5]

"Crazy literature" is one of the derivatives of youth subcultures, characterized by niche

dissemination primarily among Generation Z, referring to individuals born between 1995 and 2009.

This demographic includes students and ordinary workers. Regardless of their roles, they face daily

pressures in the post-pandemic era such as high living costs, competitive job or academic

environments, and interpersonal challenges, amidst a facade of apparent tranquility and emotional

stability. Internally, however, they often feel frustrated and anxious, needing outlets to vent emotions

and relieve stress. The content of "crazy literature" ranges from complaints about early morning

classes to frustrations about endless overtime, reflecting common experiences among most young

people. Therefore, they easily empathize with each other, constrained by their identities in these

circumstances.

Another limitation is the group symbols. As mentioned by Professor Guo Qingguang in

"Communication Studies Tutorial," effective communication requires both parties to establish a

common space of meaning. As a circle symbol, "crazy literature" acts as a barrier that excludes

"outsiders," facilitating identity continuity among group members through posting, commenting, and

sharing in various forms. When browsing social media platforms, individuals keen on using "crazy

literature" will interact with posts and bloggers, possibly replying with "crazy" comments or liking

to show support. Through extensive copying and pasting, "crazy literature" generates emotional

energy among "crazy enthusiasts," expanding the shared space of meaning between communicators.

Generation Z doesn’t indiscriminately use "crazy literature" in all scenarios but tends to use it more

in private circles, interacting with peers from the same background. Consequently, those who do not

understand or use "crazy literature," such as some elders or leaders, inadvertently form

communication barriers with young people who frequently use it, becoming "outsiders" to "crazy

enthusiasts."

2.3. From Spectating to Joining: Meme Transmission Triggers Collective Frenzy

Richard Dawkins proposed the concept of "meme" in his book "The Selfish Gene," referring to the

cultural transmission of an idea, behavior, or style from one person to another. [6] Thanks to its

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virtuality, interactivity, and low threshold, the internet has become a crucial arena for the imitation,

replication, and dissemination of linguistic memes. The popularity of "crazy literature" originated

from Douban. Some netizens shared their conversations with Taobao customer service, where using

phrases like "I know I don’t deserve early delivery, everyone else has received their orders, unlike

me who even hesitates to urge for delivery, has become a ridiculous hot topic joke," effectively urged

customer service to ship their orders, sparking widespread imitation among netizens. The content of

"crazy literature" is open and easily imitated, possessing inherent meme characteristics, which

attracted a large number of users to create derivative works, igniting a creative frenzy on social

platforms. Consequently, the content of "crazy literature" continues to proliferate and evolve into

different versions, with its application scenarios becoming increasingly diverse. For instance, on

TikTok, the platform offers features such as shooting and publishing videos under the "join

immediately" topic, making it easy for TikTok users to participate in the "crazy" trend. Currently, the

topic of "crazy literature" has accumulated 4.57 billion views on TikTok, with the most liked video

under this topic receiving 2.357 million likes.

Next, the breakout of any internet meme cannot be separated from the boost provided by opinion

leaders. As Rogers once said, only by connecting strong and weak ties in social networks can the

maximum dissemination effect be achieved. Behind the breakout of "crazy literature," there are also

numerous celebrity bloggers who have helped fuel its popularity. For example, netizens quoted Zheng

Shuang’s meme-worthy statement from a variety show, "I’m really angry! If I don’t get angry, will

others think I’m stupid?", and turned it into an emoji pack widely used on social media platforms.

Last August, singer Na Ying’s remarks known as "Na’s Words" (referring to her previous statements)

exploded on TikTok. Phrases like "This is just a scare tactic!" and "Yes, I’m mentally unstable,

everyone has issues" flooded major platforms, with netizens even creating DJ remixed versions that

became the hottest summer video BGM. Hashtags such as "Formally Diagnosed as Na Ying" and "Na

Ying Plays My Mental State" repeatedly trended on MicroBlog, TikTok, and other platforms, with

netizens exclaiming "Na Ying’s mental state is ahead by ten years." As public figures, both Zheng

Shuang and Na Ying naturally attract attention, effortlessly sparking discussions and providing

momentum for the spread of "crazy literature."

Lastly, literary and cinematic works serve as the resource pool for "crazy literature," allowing

netizens to engage in "textual poaching." "Lin Daiyu’s crazy literature" is a derivative of "crazy

literature," adopting the speech style of Lin Daiyu from "Dream of the Red Chamber," where netizens

adapt classic quotes to express opinions in a more literary manner compared to traditional "crazy

literature." The TV series "The Legend of Zhen Huan" has also joined the "crazy" ranks. Lines like

"I can’t do it!" and "If we freeze to death here, will anyone know?" from the classic dialogue have

been appropriated by "Zhen fans" (loyal fans of the series) for use in everyday life scenarios.

Additionally, "The Legend of Zhen Huan" has spawned "diagnosis culture." The meme "Formally

diagnosed as xxx" originated from a note on Little Red Book titled "I’ve officially been diagnosed as

Huanbi" with the original text stating "On June 30, 2023, at 11:15 PM, I was officially diagnosed as

Huanbi because I just can’t stand other people," quickly becoming a trending topic upon its release,

sparking widespread discussion and active imitation, evolving into a new form of "crazy literature"

known as "diagnosis-style literature."

2.4. From "Internal Consumption" to "External Consumption": Emotional Venting by

Removing Masks

Goffman’s dramaturgical theory posits that interpersonal interactions are akin to performances. In

different settings, individuals adjust and constrain their behaviors according to their interaction

partners, operating between the "frontstage" and "backstage." Although interpersonal interactions

online occur in virtual spaces, this performative behavior persists. When individuals are on the

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"frontstage," they restrain themselves, striving to present their most perfect selves to others, while it

is only on the "backstage" that they can disregard others’ opinions and fully express themselves.

This form of self-display is akin to donning an exquisite mask, which over time can lead

individuals into a vicious cycle of mental exhaustion. "Internal consumption," the depletion of

internal resources, has become a prevalent term in the internet lexicon in recent years, now recognized

as one of the ailments of the times. The term "internal consumption people" refers to a group prone

to anxiety, repression, tension, and other negative emotions, exacerbating their inner turmoil. The

Douban group "Internal Consumption People" was founded on August 13, 2021, with over fifty-four

thousand members actively posting; hashtags such as "Reject Mental Exhaustion" and "How to

Overcome Mental Exhaustion at Work" frequently trend on MicroBlog, prompting netizens and

media alike to engage in discussions, attempting to find paths for those experiencing internal

consumption.

Turning internal consumption into external consumption is one potential solution. Influenced by

Confucian thought, individual personality must harmonize with society, a trait inherent in East Asian

cultures. Traditional social norms demand emotional stability in adults, emphasizing endurance and

inhibition. However, suppressing emotions without release only intensifies internal repression.

"Eliminating mental exhaustion and directly venting when necessary" is a method contemporary

youth employ to address mental exhaustion. No longer pursuing perfection and refinement, they arm

themselves with outrageous language to honestly express their intense emotions. The emergence of

"crazy literature" allows individuals to tear off the mask of "calm waters" and provides a channel for

personal emotional release, thereby breaking free from internal consumption.

3. Exploring Ritual Outcomes

Collins pointed out that when the elements of a ritual effectively combine, they generate a specific

chain reaction, resulting in social effects known as ritual outcomes. Participants in rituals can derive

"emotional energy" and a "sense of group belonging" from these interactive ceremonies.

3.1. Constructing a Sense of Group Belonging

Within interactive rituals, people use various symbols to express and convey meaning. These

symbolic representations embody shared beliefs among group members, becoming "sacred objects"

among them. The formation of an interactive ritual chain provides social members with a common

focal point of attention and a shared emotional experience. Participants can express and transmit

emotions through consistent symbols, language, and behavior, collectively experiencing and sharing

similar emotional states. This emotional resonance strengthens connections among social members,

establishing a sense of group identity and belonging.

Firstly, for the group that uses "crazy literature," this literary form has become a shared symbol,

aiding in the construction of a unique group identity. By employing the same linguistic style and

expression in online spaces, they collectively create a specific cultural atmosphere and mode of

communication, thereby reinforcing their perception and recognition of each other’s identities.

Secondly, "crazy literature" expresses users’ unique perspectives and emotional experiences

regarding social phenomena or personal encounters. These shared experiences and perceptions create

a strong emotional resonance among group members. By understanding and sharing their feelings,

they receive emotional support from others, thus enhancing connections and a sense of belonging

among the group. Additionally, the rebellious, ironic, and critical spirit exhibited in "crazy literature"

makes group members feel they possess a unique set of values and belief systems. Pursuing these

values collectively further strengthens their group identity and sense of belonging.

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Therefore, such subcultural groups, through shared language, emotional experiences, and values,

form a strong sense of group identity and belonging, thereby becoming more enthusiastic about using

"crazy literature" as a mode of expression.

3.2. Attaining Emotional Energy

"Crazy literature," with its unique approach, provides users with abundant emotional energy. This

literary form often incorporates elements of exaggeration, satire, and rebellion, capable of touching

deep emotions and evoking strong resonance and emotional release among people. Firstly, "crazy

literature" uses exaggeration and satire to allow individuals facing life’s anxieties and helplessness to

alleviate their tension with humor and self-deprecation. It creates a relaxed atmosphere where

individuals can release inner anxieties. Secondly, "crazy literature" fosters a shared emotional

resonance among group members. It makes people realize that everyone has their own troubles and

hardships, which find resonance and expression within "crazy literature." This resonance helps

individuals feel they are not alone, that others understand their emotions and circumstances, thereby

enhancing emotional support and connection. Additionally, "crazy literature" embodies a spirit of

rebellion against traditional norms, encouraging individuals to challenge conventional comfort and

express their genuine thoughts more courageously, thereby reinforcing their own values.

In summary, "crazy literature," through exaggeration, satire, resonance, and rebellion, provides

people with rich emotional energy, enabling them to face life’s disturbances with an optimistic and

humorous attitude.

4. Cultural Symptoms of "Crazy Literature"

Whether it’s the previously popular "Versailles literature" on the internet or the current widely

popular "crazy literature," these cultural phenomena appear to be a nonsensical discourse carnival on

the surface. However, they are closely linked to social contexts and are essentially a product of the

structural dilemmas in contemporary society, constituting a subcultural "resistance" belonging to the

youth.

On one hand, the prevalence of "crazy literature" reflects the divergence between internet slang

and mainstream discourse at the level of values. "Crazy literature" attracts spontaneous participation

from a large number of netizens in a festive manner. Under the agenda-setting function of platforms,

it competes for discursive power with mainstream discourse, squeezing the survival space of

mainstream discourse and causing it to face an existential crisis. Generation Z, with its adept use of

social media platforms, gradually regains the power of self-expression and self-presentation.

On the other hand, behind its superficial entertainment nature, "crazy literature" reflects the deep-

seated anxiety of young people. Using convoluted and irrational language, "crazy literature"

expresses the speaker’s intense emotions, focusing on releasing the suppressed emotional appeals

under "spiritual consumption," and indirectly responds to social issues with absurd discourse. Faced

with relatives urging on reproductive issues, one can calmly respond with "I’m infertile"; or when

someone borrows money and doesn’t repay, one can openly shout and make a scene, preemptively

undermining their dignity in public.

5. Conclusion

Today, "crazy literature" has become the internet’s traffic code, vividly demonstrating the youth’s

fervor for imitation and creation, their pursuit of identity, and their love for interactive and

participatory cultures.

As Rollo May once said, "We feel anxiety because we do not know what role to strive for and

what behavior to trust." [7] Each generation has its own way of expression—ten years ago, the post-

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90s used Martian language to express themselves, and now Generation Z vents their emotions through

nonsensical discourse. Although "crazy literature" falls within the category of subcultural nihilism,

those who embrace it are far from nihilistic. Through hysterical gibberish, young people release

despair and establish emotional connections with others in the same circle to seek hope. However,

emotional release does not solve problems. After the carnival ends, attention should be focused on

the problems themselves and address "craziness" at its root.

Acknowledgment

This article is supported by the "Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities."

References

[1] Kellner, D. (2003). Media spectacle: The crisis of democracy in contemporary America. (Shi, A. B., Trans.). Beijing,

China: Tsinghua University Press.

[2] Ran, Y. X., & Wei, H. Y. (2016). A multi-case study of brand crisis response from the perspective of interactive ritual

chains. Journal of Management, 13(5), 647-656.

[3] Turner, B., & Stets, J. E. (2007). The sociology of emotions. Shanghai, China: Shanghai People’s Publishing House,

64-65.

[4] Cai, Y. Y. (2023). "Watching cats online": A study on user interaction on short video platforms from the perspective

of interactive ritual chains. Media Forum, 6(20), 27-30.

[5] Collins, R. (2011). Interaction ritual chains. (Lin, J. R., Wang, P., & Song, L., Trans.). Beijing, China: Commercial

Press.

[6] Thornton, S. (1996). Club cultures: Music, media, and subcultural capital. Middletown, CT: Wesleyan University

Press.

[7] Hull, R., & Nordberg, M. (1987). An introduction to Jungian psychology. (Feng, C., Trans.). Shanghai, China:

Shanghai Life · Reading · New Knowledge Joint Publishing.

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The Prevalence of Self-Exploitation in Media Production:

Analyzing the Impact of Technological and Societal

Transformations

Niqin Wang1,a,*

1Department of Media and Communication, University of Leeds, Leeds, UK

a. Wangniqin0310@hotmail.com

*corresponding author

Abstract: The development of science and technology and the changes of society have given

a new look to traditional conceptual work. The developed network and ubiquitous

communication have broken the time and space boundaries of work. Working from home has

become a reality. Some people continue to predict that work will become a relaxed enjoyment.

But the reality is frustrating. Not only did people not relax, but they also took on increasingly

heavy work pressures. The boundaries between work and leisure are eliminated by heavy

business, and the office is transformed into a place where people spend the most time.

Therefore, work is no longer a pleasure, but self-exploitation behaviour. The unstable and

unsafe nature of creative work in the media industry creates stress and anxiety, and the strong

emotional pleasure associated with this kind of work exists. The tension between "pleasure"

and "pain" in creative occupations has been fully proven. Unstable labour has now become a

key feature of creative work. Creative occupations are driven by self-fulfilling desires and are

places for exploitation and serious insecurity.

Keywords: self-exploitation, creative occupations, media industries, recreational labour, new

media

1. Introduction

The media industries are dynamic and changing, Media industries are increasingly important sources

of wealth and employment in many economies. The development of science and technology and the

changes of society have given a new look to traditional conceptual work. The developed network and

ubiquitous communication have broken the time and space boundaries of work. Working from home

has become a reality. Some people continue to predict that work will become a relaxed enjoyment.

But the reality is frustrating. Not only did people not relax, but they also took on increasingly heavy

work pressures. The boundaries between work and leisure are eliminated by heavy business, and the

office is transformed into a place where people spend the most time. Therefore, work is no longer a

pleasure, but self-exploitation behaviour [1]. It is necessary to think through the relation between

work and art, and by implication, culture and economy [2].

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(https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).

2. Marxian critiques of exploitation

Marx believes that before the labourer is dominated by capital, his labour is a pure personal labour.

In the course of his labour, this labourer combined the functions that were separated from each other

later, that is, mental and physical labour. However, when the labourer becomes the dominant person

under the rule of capital, the mental and physical labour in the labour process are separated from each

other. The theory of exploitation is an important doctrine of Marx's critical capitalism. Like Marx,

Cohen firmly believed that workers were exploited by capitalists, and Cohen believed that the

exploitation of workers by capitalists was unfair. While Marxists suggest that cultural workers are

forced to accept capitalism because they’re powerless, govern mentality theorists suggest that

workers/subjects are trained to accept and reproduce for themselves their subordination.

3. Immaterial labour, Creative labour and Digital labour

The concept of immaterial labour is a new category created and used by Italian Autonomous Marxists.

This concept is also defined as the production of commodity information, cultural content, and service

and emotional labour. It not only refers to the production of a commodity, but also produces a capital

relationship. Once the concept was proposed, this triggered intense discussions and reflections by

Chinese and Western scholars. Some people believe that immaterial labour is of great significance to

further study the new situation of Marxist political economy in contemporary social and economic

development, as well as the new changes in capitalist exploitation and value production, and points

out Marx's labour theory of value has long since become obsolete. Some people criticize that the

labour paradigm has undergone a fundamental change, but to use the concept of immaterial labour to

understand this fundamental change is obviously not helpful, because it has not really jumped out of

Marx’s productive labour . The cognitive proletariat is the person who embodies various forms of

universal intelligence. They process information in order to produce various products and provide

various services [3]. Immaterial labour has not changed the nature of the capitalist exploitation

relationship.

Creative workers are players of some significance within society. Their work is the communication

of experience through symbolic production. The current discussion on digital labour mainly focuses

on the following two research topics: the discussion on the exploitation of professional labor and the

audience a discussion of exploited labour. The former focuses more on critical capital's exploitation

of professional workers in different digital fields, while the latter focuses more on critical capital's

exploitation of audiences in varying degrees from time to data. The discussion of treating the audience

as exploited labour derives the gift economy and the discussion on free labour formally puts the

initiative of the audience into the discussion of digital labour.

Today, the era of digital media is occupying the world’s historical stage. The unprecedented

process of human proletarianization has begun. It also heralds the digital media as an ever-increasing

habitat and labour place for netizens and labourers around the world. Marx pointed out on this basis

that the production process will produce a hierarchical structure of labour power, and the monitoring

of the labour rhythm and efficiency of workers is the source of capitalist alienation. Therefore, the

emergence of digital machines is the logical consequence of capital's pursuit of accumulation and

profit. When more and more labour, especially rural labour, is involved in the field of industrial

production, it is also a process in which machines continue to replace labourers. The so-called

industrial upgrading also means continuous transformation of labour. The media industry is the key,

because the global information supply chain plays an increasingly important role in industrial

upgrading, and it is continuously networked along with the labour process.

The first is the understanding of unpaid labour on the Internet. It refers to online behaviour that is

not voluntarily voluntary based on the capitalist salary system, and is used to obtain pleasure. Whether

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it is unpaid or "immaterial" is also exploitative [4]. The point of critical theory is to reveal this

exploitability, but more importantly, it is necessary to explain the paradoxical relationship between

exploitation and voluntary. On today's platforms and social media, it is already difficult to distinguish

between the public economic part, the market economic part and the gift economic part. They all

contain, or mainly belong to, non-material labour. That is to say, even if the concept of labour is

extended to the relationship between non-material and non-employment, the relationship between

labour and exploitation is obscure and not self-evident.

4. Features of cultural work and workers

Unpaid work.

In the United Kingdom, more and more people are beginning to try "unpaid work", through this

way to establish connections with others. It is reported that this "unpaid" job has gradually become a

new strategic means [5]. Affected by the emerging digital business model, the economic downturn,

and the increase in the number of freelancers, it has become common practice in certain industries to

abandon remuneration in exchange for a promise to increase "exposure" or a vague "network". But

for workers in the media industry, unpaid work is a common state. Today's popular unpaid work has

a long history in the creative and entertainment industries [6].

Starting from Amalia Illgner's own internship experience, in the article Why I’m suing over my

dream internship, he talks about the phenomenon of unpaid interns in Britain that has been

intensifying since the financial crisis. During his interview, the executive editor made it clear that

although he was encouraged to publish articles, any articles published during the internship were free.

At the same time, he will understand the role of the editor and will be able to publish articles at the

rate of 80 pence per word after the internship period, which is unheard of by a young freelance writer.

And he learned that some top editors started as interns. Therefore, it is not difficult to find out why

many hopeful writers, critics, podcasters, commentators, and opinion leaders cram their personal

resumes in media companies' inboxes. Most people do not hesitate when they have the opportunity

to intern here, even if the daily salary is only equivalent to a movie ticket, a pint of beer or a pack of

cigarettes. Cultural institutions, movies, television, fashion and media have shaped our hopes and

dreams, as well as our stereotypes, and provided us with access to important information [7]. Psychic

income compensates for lack of monetary success. Internal rewards inherently bound up in various

strong practices in modern societies, as opposed to outside rewards such as money, power and fame.

Precarious and economically insecure.

New media industry practitioners have become the biggest anxiety group in the workplace. With

the advent of the information explosion era, in the media industry, a large number of people are

devoted to whether they make their own content or provide services to businesses. The short life cycle

of the enterprise and the low stability of work have become the biggest anxiety factors for media

practitioners [8]. The low income and frequent overtime work are even more painful. For media

practitioners, job stability not only refers to the frequency of individual job-hopping, but also the

passive job-hopping caused by the enterprise's life cycle.

In an era, where anyone can become a new media person, the improvement of the processing power

of personal computers, the reduction of the cost of digital authoring tools and the convenience of

publishing on the Internet have promoted the rise of fan activities. Today, fan sites, blogs, and

message boards are common, and fan groups are organized on every social media site. In these online

communities, fans post their work: reviews and close reading, stories and poems, songs and videos,

re-enactments and animations wallpapers and screenshots and icons. Fan works are all over the

Internet. Low conversion rates, low reading, and insufficient activity are new problems encountered

by new media operations. Those companies that rely solely on content handling are gradually

disappearing, and more and more the business life cycle is shortening. In today's complex of invalid

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information and fragmentation of industry information, it is becoming more and more difficult for

media practitioners to create texts. The probability of producing high-quality works is also gradually

reduced. New media practitioners still lack money, which intensifies the pressure on the media

practitioners' work, and the salary level is gradually decreasing. The current media wages are

becoming more and more differentiated. If you want to increase the salary level of media workers,

practitioners must do a good job of pre-accumulation and foreshadowing, consolidate their own

capabilities, and ensure the quality and quantity of content output.

High education.

Baker and Hesmondhalgh pose the vital question of why some particularly privileged creative

workers should be studied: creative workers tend to be highly educated, to come from middle-class

backgrounds, and it has been difficult for non-white workers and women to gain access to the most

prestigious sectors of the cultural industries [9].

The concept of willing slaves is particularly important in writing about cultural labour, because

people think that cultural workers have more choices. People who are often highly educated or

relatively privileged are more likely to be associated with self-exploitation [10]. Rodino-Clauchero

and Berberick proposed that higher education plays an important role in the media internship system.

Higher education institutions not only encourage students to engage in internship work, but also

provide a credit system programs to help employers pass on labour costs. Interns just show the

blurring between students and workers. Their work can never be solved from nine o’clock in the

morning to five o’clock in the afternoon, but to improve themselves by consciousness and self-

exploitation [11]. Modern employees are no longer obedient after more advanced and higher

education. They want autonomy and flexibility, so more and more companies are beginning to test

new methods of leadership and cooperation. A core is: give the job to oneself, autonomy, and self-

exploitation.

5. Internet content production company interns in China

Ross Palin conducted in a four-year survey of interns. He found that internships are increasingly

becoming an important part of the lives of college students in the United States and other countries.

Many interns also choose to study and work in the media industry. Ross Perlin argues that internships

are a new wild west, unregulated, often exploitative, a key factor in perpetuating income inequality,

and a symptom of neocolonialism's reach. And this new labour category is growing [12]. By one

account, three-fourths of students now attending four-year colleges will intern at least once by the

time they graduate, resulting in between one and two million interns in the United States each year,

and countless others abroad. Perlin wrote with a case study of Disney World’s internship program.

The program is one of the largest anywhere. Each year, 7,000 to 8,000 students and fresh graduates

are employed for various basic jobs. Interns earn a minimum wage, from operating amusement park

rides to flipping hamburgers to playing Disney characters. Looks suspiciously like a term of indenture.

Also, in China, many students do internships in various companies even around the world. A lot

number of them are doing unpaid internships. Interns are almost everywhere in the current Chinese

media industry. Most of them are engaged in the production of new media content in the social media

promotion department of media companies or small APP companies. Media companies employ a

large number of interns at school to replace regular employees, in order to save the labour costs of

enterprises; on the other hand, due to school requirements and employment pressure, interns have to

succumb to low-pay, low-security and high-pressure professional work [13]. And most students are

very willing to carry out these high-intensity jobs, output different texts in the media industry, have

some images, videos, textual output, and continuously exploit their time and energy with creative

ideas.

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In terms of working hours, most Internet content production company interns should be considered

full-time employees. Because interns are often students at school and need to take care of school work.

From the basic logic, interns need more flexible working hours than full-time employees. However,

the fact is that many interns' vacations are not approved by the team leader, because sometimes their

work is related to the daily operation of the company. After the internship is over, most interns want

to get the opportunity to become regular employees, but the change is often determined by "human

relations" [14]. Relationships, throughout the Chinese society, from the beginning of work to the

internal flow of work, people with good relationships can get more employment opportunities, and

relationship networks often restrict those who are "disadvantaged in the social network. Gold also

pointed out that relationship is a basic element of Chinese culture and is closely related to some

important issues in Chinese society, such as "affecting things", "human relations", "face" and

"reciprocity". In China, it is generally believed that a good relationship with superiors is a necessary

condition for a company to be promoted. Similarly, "relationships" play an important and positive

role in helping graduates get rid of fierce competition and find good jobs in the short term. In the

media industry, this "relationship" rule still takes effect [15].

The willingness of young people to accept unpaid work for a long time is entirely due to the

excessive admiration of creative labour, which results in oversupply. The generalization of the system

of unpaid interns has reduced the treatment of full-time employees, and it has also deepened social

inequality in the media industry [16]. Only young people from wealthy families can do internships

without salary. And more and more college media education lists internship as a necessary course to

obtain a degree, which also makes young people desperate for this unpaid job. The intern system has

deepened the social inequality in the media industry. In the context of China, this issue is closely

related to urban and rural inequality.

6. Chinese reality TV production and internship

In China's variety reality shows and entertainment industries, interns are usually a typical

representative of self-exploitation [17]. In China's television industry, most variety shows are

recorded late at night. Recording late night shows has become the norm in the industry. Moreover,

no matter whether it is a program on a new media platform or a TV station such as CCTV, it will not

pay interns, or at most one Yuan. But the workload of interns is not a lot, overtime is commonplace,

and there are many cases of working until overnight (such as writing scripts for the program). By

engaging in flexible ways such as intimacy, emotional loyalty, and praising emotions, managers

transform high-intensity labour into pleasant entertainment, capturing the intern's recognition and

enthusiasm [18]. Behind this, is a set of secret ideological control: the worker is guided to accept a

specific experience, thus entering a real illusion, pursuing his residual pleasure in the ideological

reality, and finally, the worker entirely devoted himself to labour, and lost the ability to think and the

willing to resist.

Compared with traditional industries, labour in the variety media industries has changed: In

addition to media audiences and consumers of entertainment products, labourers are also involved in

entertainment when making programs [19]. Singing, performing, laughing, and calling signs are all

normal. The production of variety entertainment programs is a kind of entertainment labour to

entertain the audience with their own entertainment. On the other hand, this job has no time boundary

and organizational boundary, and the interns as labourers are not paid and are not within the legal

labour relationship. The interns ignore their physical exertion and carry out high-intensity unpaid

labour in a wonderful entertainment experience, producing well-known cultural products. While

experiencing, excited, and happy, the labourer obtains the desired happiness and continuously

exploits themself, but dispels the ability of thinking and the willingness to resist.

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The recording of the program itself is an exciting experience. When the all-black stage sounds

melodious music, soft chasing light is accompanied by the rain of cherry blossoms, the singer’s low

singing is swaying in the night sky, and the trainees are also moved. Tears; when the rock singer

jumped angrily holding the electric guitar and shivered uncontrollably, everyone roared with him.

"Beautiful scenes provide us with pleasure." [20]. Under the creative environment, the messages

received by everyone's eyes, ears, and mouths cause the brain to secrete a sufficient amount of

dopamine, and the mood is also ignited. At this time, no one cares how hard it is to carry props around,

squat under the guests' feet to make recordings, and hide among the audience to guide emotions.

However, in the week-long program production, on-site recording only takes one day. In the

remaining five working days, the interns need three days to discuss and produce the desk book. There

is also a request to cut the film overnight. In this case, the emergence of entertainment and the

continuous self-exploitation of staff need to resort to a specific emotional atmosphere.

When the recording of the program entered the last six issues, the interns had been working for

nearly 60 hours a week for several months. Even if labour is used as entertainment, this is too much.

Some people started to suffer from insomnia all night, some people lost their hair a lot, and many

people became emotionally exhausted. In the absence of a labour contract, interns began to hesitate

to withdraw or not, and anxiety gradually spread. At this stage, in order to keep the intern to continue

to serve, it is not enough to rely on relationship work and emotional work. The team must inspire the

intern's sacrifice spirit and noble experience.

In management research, researchers often advocate promoting corporate culture to improve

management efficiency and reduce management costs. Many companies declare that they have a

unique corporate culture, and write various slogans on the company's website hang it on the wall or

even print it on paper cups. However, on the W team, it is not this normative method that inspires the

intern’s sacrifice spirit, but the cultural sentiment work: the management will pass on personal

intentions to the audience through speeches, inspirational stories, lyrical text, etc., and then inspire

The latter's ethical behaviour. The normative system often floats on the surface, and the feeling of

work can be integrated into all aspects of work life. It calls and praises the corporate culture in an

extremely personal way, and achieves an incentive effect that directly points to the hearts of the

people.

"Sacrifice for media ideals" is one of the most important corporate cultures, which originated in

the company's founding period [21]. When the start-up team's military was unstable, the general

manager, cheered everyone who was struggling because of staying up all night. When the interns are

ready to sacrifice, the management will begin to motivate through lyric poetry. Wilde’s motto "We

all live in the gutter, but some of us are looking up at the stars" is widely sung in media companies

[22]. The importance of emotional work for labour control lies in the fact that in the absence of labour

contracts and wage incentives, the management side has made the interns overcome physical and

mental exhaustion and burst into spiritual power through the aura of media ideals and the praise of

self-sacrifice [23].

When relationships, atmosphere, and feelings are greeted with smiles at the front desk, the formal

system and market competition are hidden behind the scenes, making interns feel cold. If the interns

do not work hard, they may be eliminated from the labour market. Walking side by side with cultural

labour control strategies is ideological domination. Entertainment, this experience based on sensory

stimulation, a pleasant activity, has become a "material ritual" that makes ideological control possible.

The cultural strategies that make labour control possible also shape the real experience of labourers,

intimate relationships provide a pleasant experience, the entertainment atmosphere triggers joy and

excitement, and great feelings trigger a sublime experience. It is precisely because of the immersion

in the noble entertainment experience that the intern’s consent to recreational labour and self-

exploitation can be produced.

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7. Conclusion

The unstable and unsafe nature of creative work in the media industry creates stress and anxiety, and

the strong emotional pleasure associated with this kind of work exists. The tension between "pleasure"

and "pain" in creative occupations has been fully proven [24]. Creative occupations are driven by

self-fulfilling desires and are places for exploitation and serious insecurity. However, they are also

spaces where workers have moral commitment and enthusiasm for their cultural work. Unstable

labour has now become a key feature of creative work. For creative workers, creativity in

contemporary society [25]. provides people with a kind of work narrative that can be deeply pleasing,

The harvest is generous and full of emotional passion. However, the doctrine also plays a role in

masking exploitation and insecurity [26]. In this industry, there is a strong subjective connection

between creative media work and freedom, autonomy, charm, and self-actualization.

References

[1] Schrenk, J. (2007). Work, self-exploitation? We missed life because of work. DuMont Verlag Press.

[2] Parker, M. (2013). Art as work: Rules and creative labour. Journal of Cultural Economy, 6(2), 120–136.

[3] Berardi, S. (2010). Cognitarian subjectivation. E-flux Journal.

[4] Burstein, R. (2013). Review of the book Intern Nation: How to earn nothing and learn little in the brave new

economy. 317-319.

[5] Birch, D. L. (1979). The job generation process. Cambridge: MIT.

[6] Bolton, J. (1971). Report to the committee of enquiry on small firms. London: HMSO.

[7] Blauner, R. (1964). Alienation and freedom: The factory worker and his industry. Chicago: Chicago University

Press.

[8] McRobbie, A. (2002). Clubs to companies: Notes on the decline of political culture in speeded-up worlds. Cultural

Studies, 16(4), 516–531.

[9] Hesmondhalgh, D., & Baker, S. (2008). Creative work and emotional labour in the television industry. Theory,

Culture & Society, 25(7-8), 97-118.

[10] Hughes, K. (2003). Pushed or pulled? Women’s entry into self-employment and small business ownership. Gender,

Work and Organization, 10(4), 433–454.

[11] Ursell, G. (2000). Television production: Issues of exploitation, commodification and subjectivity in UK television

markets. Media, Culture & Society, 22(6), 805–825.

[12] Perlin, R. (2011). Intern Nation: How to earn nothing and learn little in the brave new economy. New York: Verso

Press.

[13] Schwalbe, M. L. (1986). The psychosocial consequences of natural and alienated labour. Albany: State University

of New York Press.

[14] Xia, B. (2019). Research on the dilemma of interns in the Chinese media industry. Sohu. Available from:

https://www.sohu.com/a/303546680_700645

[15] Jia, W. (2019). Another entertainment to death: The truth about China's entertainment capital exploitation. Tencent

News. Available from: https://new.qq.com/omn/20190102/20190102A1BXSF.html

[16] Bunting, M. (2004). Overwork culture. Sohu. Available from: https://www.sohu.com/a/303546680_700645

[17] Xia, X. (2017). Do you think university teachers have free and easy working hours? Sohu. Available from:

https://www.sohu.com/a/138700526_788170

[18] Ming, J. (2019). A new professional life between freedom and self-exploitation. Southern People Weekly, 2, 5.

[19] Hao, P. (2018). Unpaid internship: The only way to enter the workplace, or cheap labor that is not respected? 36kr.

Available from: https://36kr.com/coop/zaker/5127611.html

[20] MacIntyre, A. (1981). After virtue (2nd ed.). Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press.

[21] Shan, D. (2019). The current status of media practitioners in 2019: Unstable work becomes the biggest anxiety.

Sina News. Available from: http://sd.sina.com.cn/news/2019-03-21/detail-ihtxyzsk9308189.shtml

[22] Scholz, T. (2012). Digital labor: The internet as playground and factory. New York: Routledge.

[23] Quinn, A. (2012). Book review: Sarah Baker and David Hesmondhalgh, Creative Labour: Media work in three

cultural industries. Media, Culture & Society, 34(7), 916–918.

[24] Maxwell, R. (2017). Digital labour in the manufacturing and services industries.

[25] Lv, X. (2019). Lu Xinyu: What is labor in the digital age? Sohu. Available from:

https://www.sohu.com/a/311569663_425345

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[26] Lazarato, M. (2006). Intangible labor. In H. Ju & G. Luo (Eds.), Empire, metropolis and modernity (pp. 139).

Jiangsu People's Publishing House.

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Erosion and Remodeling: New Alienation of User Subjects

Led by Intelligent Algorithms

Muting Sun1,a, Naye Ji2,b,*

1School of Journalism and Communication, Zhejiang University of Media and Communication,

Hangzhou, China

2College of Media Engineering, Zhejiang University of Media and Communication, Hangzhou,

China

a. 774505023@qq.com, b. jinaye@cuz.edu.cn

*corresponding author

Abstract: As the core technological means of today's artificial intelligence products,

intelligent algorithms have become an indispensable tool for human development. They have

led the progress of the intelligent era, fully demonstrating the powerful charm and infinite

possibilities of technology, and depicting a hopeful intelligent future. However, while

bringing convenience and imagination to users, it also makes them objects dominated by

intelligent technology, gradually losing their independence and creativity as humans, losing

their ability to criticize and think deeply, and causing a series of inevitable alienation

problems that cannot be ignored. This article uses qualitative research methods to conduct in-

depth interviews with respondents, extract their attitudes and opinions towards one of the

artificial intelligence technologies - algorithms, and organize and analyze them. The

phenomenon of "new alienation" brought about by reshaping algorithms is based on users'

real thinking and more accurate needs, breaking the constraints of intelligence and adding

benefits to the development of algorithms.

Keywords: algorithms, new alienation, autonomy, erosion, remodeling.

1. Introduction

Since the advent of the era of intelligent media, artificial intelligence has completely changed human

society because of its revolutionary and subversive nature. Various intelligent systems have sprung

up like mushrooms after rain, bringing scientific and technological civilization to an unprecedented

height. However, the development of artificial intelligence is not yet mature, and the end of

intelligence is not yet foreseeable. Compared with the agricultural and industrial ages, the intelligent

era seems to have taken "unmanned" to the extreme, with humans who were once in a dominant

position retreating to bystanders or even being dominated. The "new alienation" by machines is

pushing humans to the brink of systemic degradation[1]. As Thomas·Davenport and J. Kirby said,

"As computers begin to take up more and more knowledge tasks, the rate of skill degradation will

accelerate." [2] This issue demands our immediate attention.

As one of the means of artificial intelligence technology, algorithms play a huge role in the

structure of information dissemination, but the push mode advertised as "personalized" is also eroding

users' autonomy and critical thinking ability. While enjoying the convenience of algorithms, users

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(https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).

have also become a string of numbers in massive data and have become objects dominated by

intelligent technology. Therefore, in the early stage of the development of artificial intelligence,

timely patching of hidden alien vulnerabilities and reshaping the "new alienation" phenomenon

brought about by algorithms is the optimal solution to realize the collaborative evolution and all-

round development of man and machine. This process also lays the foundation for the vigorous

development of the intelligent era.

2. Research design

This article uses in-depth interviews to focus on the impact of algorithm push on the 20-35 age group,

and selected 20 qualified interviewers through purposive sampling (see Table 1).

Table 1: Basic information of respondents

Serial No.

Gender

Age

Occupation

Education

Female

designer

junior college

Female

student

postgraduate

Female

product managers

undergraduate

Male

civil servant

undergraduate

Male

student

undergraduate

Female

teacher

postgraduate

Male

student

postgraduate

Male

student

undergraduate

Female

new media operations

undergraduate

Female

freelance

junior college

Male

civil servant

postgraduate

Male

information flow distributor

undergraduate

Female

product operations

postgraduate

Female

securities

undergraduate

Female

customer service

undergraduate

Female

civil servant

undergraduate

Female

self-media

undergraduate

Female

artist coordination

undergraduate

Male

student

postgraduate

Male

teacher

postgraduate

Combined with online and offline interviews, it's not difficult to understand how algorithms erode

users' autonomy, what users' actual needs for algorithms are (see Table 2), and how to reshape users'

freedom in the intelligent era.

Table 2: Coding table.

Core Generic

Generic

Initial concept

The positive

impact of

algorithms

Expand horizons

Expand the dissemination rate of niche

cultures

Push unfamiliar fields

individualization

Do not push content that I am not interested in

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Push me content that interests me

Improve

information

acquisition

efficiency

Filter heterogeneous information

Quickly collect similar information

Expand social

networking

Join the same group

Contact individuals with consistent

viewpoints

The negative

impact of

algorithms

information

cocoons

Unable to obtain content beyond preferences

Unable to hear voices beyond one's own

perspective

Algorithmic

discrimination

Push content varies among different ages

Push content varies between genders

Inert thinking

Lack of deep thinking and critical thinking

ability

Blindly receiving homogeneous information

and viewpoints

Privacy leakage

Personal identity information leakage

Personal preference exposure

Development

Expectations

Privacy

protection aspect

Introduce relevant privacy protection laws

Establish a protection mechanism for the

platform

Personalization

aspect

Self-set push mechanism

Pushing diversity to break through the cocoon

house

Through the word frequency query (see Figure 1), it can be seen that the proportion of words such

as ‘recommendation, technology, information, interest, and demand’ is relatively high; Words such

as ‘content, service, development, and impact’ also have a high proportion. Regarding algorithmic

technology, the first thing respondents talk about and say more about is its positive impact on

themselves. Statistically, more than 70% of the respondents support and enjoy algorithmic technology,

but they will also add some subtle impacts of algorithms, such as "privacy, protection, problems, hope,

"and other words.

Table 2: (continued).

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Figure 1: Interview word frequency cloud

While the negative impact of the algorithm mentioned by respondents is not a significant aspect,

it is not a minority seen through word cloud aggregation. Negative words such as "worried,

dissatisfied, weakened, critical, discriminatory, biased, misleading" are obvious. Therefore, this paper

will discuss how to alleviate the new alienation phenomenon by algorithms, which has little impact

on ordinary users but cannot be ignored, and reshape user subjectivity in the intelligent era.

3. Refactoring: The powerful benefits of intelligent algorithms

As a core driving force of modern scientific and technological development, algorithm technology

exerts a positive and far-reaching impact on all societal fields with unprecedented depth and breadth.

It has significantly changed how people live, work, and society operates. For algorithm users, it serves

as a model of AI for the benefit of humanity. Currently, algorithm technology has permeated human

life and, to some extent, mitigated the impact of the influx of users in the information society. This

trend is evident from the interviewees' statements, revealing its status as an essential tool for internet

users.

3.1. Individuality and efficiency: Improve user experience and information acquisition

efficiency

The essence of algorithms is "opinions expressed mathematically or in computer code", among which

the recommendation system is an information filtering system that can help users reduce the time

wasted by browsing large amounts of invalid data. Since the development of recommender systems,

their core technologies can be roughly divided into three categories: recommendation methods based

on collaborative filtering, content-based recommendation methods, and hybrid recommendation

methods. On the other hand, the personalized recommendation provides specific services for each

user to achieve personalized demands for "thousands of people and thousands of faces" services[3].

This is also one of the most distinctive applications in the practice of algorithm recommendation. The

study found that when it comes to the positive impact of algorithms on users, the first thing

respondents proposed was the personalized push model. The vast majority of respondents said that

algorithmic recommendations have changed the way they browse and obtain information and

affirmed this customized push. "I think the effect of algorithm technology in meeting personalized

needs is quite good. For example, Xiaohongshu Douyin's algorithm mechanism is relatively mature,

and it can push what I am interested in into my account. (F1)"For example, when I usually visit

Xiaohongshu, I just click on a topic that I am interested in, and he will keep pushing me this kind of

thing after that, which is a benefit." (F5) It can be seen that this kind of personalized recommendation

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of content or products that meet the user's taste by analyzing the user's historical behavior, interest

preferences and other data is more accurate and effective than the traditional advertising and

promotion methods, which can significantly improve the user's satisfaction and loyalty, not only

improve the user's engagement but also enhance the user's stickiness to the platform.

3.2. Filtering and sorting: Improve the efficiency of information acquisition and alleviate

information overload

"Information overload" is a concept that has been around since the 80s and 90s of the last century.

With the rapid development of information technology and the Internet, humanity has moved from

the era of information scarcity to the era of information overload. Early research has proposed solving

this problem using information retrieval and filtering. By the mid-'90s, researchers were trying to

solve the problem of information overload by predicting how users would rate recommended items,

content, or services. As a result, recommender systems have emerged as an independent field of

research[3]. It can perceive user interest and behavioral changes in real-time. Dynamically adjust

recommendation strategies by continuously learning from user feedback and interaction data to

maintain timely sensitivity to user needs. This ability to dynamically adjust allows personalized

recommendation systems to always provide users with the latest and most appropriate content or

products to improve the efficiency of information acquisition, "I feel that algorithmic technology has

changed the way I browse and obtain information." Without this technology, I might have taken the

initiative to find something that I am interested in. Still, with its blessing, the things I am interested

in will be automatically pushed to me, which will reduce the time I spend searching for information.

" (F6) greatly alleviates the digital pressure caused by information overload and uses technical means

to break the intelligent dilemma that comes with the times.

3.3. Broaden your horizons and expand your social network: Promote multicultural

exchange

Social media platforms use algorithmic recommendation technology to recommend people or groups

that may interest users based on their social relationships, interests, and preferences. This referral

mechanism helps users expand their social circle and meet more like-minded friends. "I think there

will be a situation where when social media platforms continue to recommend things that I am

interested in, and if there are some people below who discuss what I am interested in, I may participate

in their discussions and then meet some friends who have similar views to me." (F12) At the same

time, the algorithm's similar content push and friend can let users know about areas that they have

not paid attention to before, "I may not be so interested in a specific content initially, but in the case

of this algorithm recommendation, he keeps recommending it to me, because I clicked on such a push

for the first time, he will continue to push it to me for the second and third time, then from the

beginning, I may just click on this push out of curiosity, and then he gradually pushed it to me many

times. I may develop progressively a specific emotion for the content he pushes, and I will like such

content even more. " (F1) Enables users to access artworks, traditional customs, and other content

from different cultures and promotes understanding and respect for multiculturalism. At the same

time, in the context of globalization, it is becoming increasingly common for people to communicate

across languages and cultures through platforms such as social media and online forums. Through

machine translation, language recognition, and other technical means, the algorithm lowers the

threshold and difficulty of cross-cultural communication so that people with different cultural

backgrounds can communicate and exchange more smoothly. In turn, it promotes the international

dissemination of culture. In addition, algorithms have also shown great convenience in career search

platforms, such as common career social platforms such as LinkedIn, Zhilian, and Ape Circle

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Technology, which help users discover potential partners, peers, or employers through algorithm

recommendations to expand their career networks.

4. Erosion: The hidden lesion behind the algorithm

Artificial intelligence technology is an extension of human intelligence, based on information

technology and coordinated development with biotechnology and aerospace technology, which can

be described as the culmination of modern science and technology. Regarding the relationship

between science and technology and people, the most influential "value neutrality theory" in history

believes that technology is a tool created by human beings, a means to achieve goals and meet needs.

It is neutral in itself, and there is no difference between good and evil, good or evil, and it is the people

who drive tool technology behind the scenes who can play the role of good or evil. With the

continuous progress of human practice, human science and technology has reached an unprecedented

height. The development of artificial intelligence has promoted the emergence of an intelligent

society, and its powerful functions and heterogeneity that cannot be ignored have become a new alien

force and have gradually become the protagonists of human civilization and being dominated.

Objectification has also become a visible crisis. Heidegger mentioned in his essay "The Pursuit of

Technology" that "technology is not only a means but a way of display." It is no longer "neutral" but

a "pedestal" that governs the way modern people understand the world, "limits" the social life of

modern people, and becomes a fate that contemporary people cannot get rid of[1]. As one of the

technical means of artificial intelligence, algorithms are causing "new alienation" problems.

4.1. Innocence of harm: Privacy leakage and identity blurring

The right to privacy refers to the specific personality rights enjoyed by natural persons, which refers

to the specific personality rights enjoyed by natural persons to enjoy the tranquility of their private

lives and to independently dominate and control the security interests of their private lives, such as

private spaces, private activities, and private information, that they do not want others to know, and

not to be disturbed by others. The emergence of the Internet is due to society's quest for self-

invisibility, which is reflected in the idea proposed by Jerome S. in his book integrated broadband

networks, that network design should focus on ensuring "end-to-end" freedom and privacy[4].

Whether it is using APP or browsing the web, you need to check the so-called "informed consent"

box, that is, "consent" the platform to obtain its information such as geographical location, contacts,

and mobile phone storage content, which is also the existence of the hidden layer of the algorithm

makes there is a technical and cognitive gap between the platform company and the user[5]. For

example, according to an April 2022 survey, the top 10 free apps in Apple's App Market have a

combined user agreement and privacy policy of more than 220,000 words, with an average of 22,000

words of relevant text for each app. For users, it takes at least 40 minutes to 1 hour to read these texts

in full[6]. The vast majority of users do not read such lengthy texts carefully, so the vague and

speculative terms for collecting user information hidden in them are bypassed. People's simple desire

to hide themselves in cyberspace is ultimately frustrated, and sharing their private information

becomes the "entry qualification" to enter this space. In this context, the accurate tracking, collection,

and analysis of personal information and online behavior by platforms have become increasingly

sophisticated, which not only amplifies users' demand for privacy protection but also strengthens the

motivation of platforms to obtain information[7]. Many respondents in the survey expressed their

hope that the platform would introduce relevant privacy protection measures, such as not pushing

"me" to "my" friends, so that users can have the freedom of "invisibility": " When I communicate and

interact with others on social media, sometimes I don't want offline people to see it, which creates a

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sense of contradiction, so I hope to have my own free space online and not be discovered by others."

(F9)

In addition, the "new alienation" by algorithms also manifests in the blurring of identity. In social

media, people only build awareness of others through superficial information (such as profile pictures,

nicknames, updates, etc.). Algorithms reinforce this superficial connection through a

recommendation mechanism, making social relationships illusory and lacking in depth. This lack of

authentic understanding and communication further exacerbates the ambiguity of identity. At the

same time, constantly pushing information that matches the user's interests reinforces some of the

user's cognitive biases and stereotypes. This continuous reinforcement can lead to a distorted sense

of identity and an inability to thoroughly and objectively perceive themselves. In a pluralistic

environment, algorithmically recommended information can contain conflicting views and values.

Users may feel confused and lost under this kind of information shock, and it isn't easy to form a

stable identity.

4.2. Algorithmic rights: Profit-driven induced consumption

Generally speaking, any technological revolution is accompanied by a redefinition of interest

relations and profound changes in power structures[8]. Under the detailed user portrait of the

algorithm, the user's behavior information on the platform, including purchase history, shopping

preferences, gender division, and search history, is accurately captured for further user classification

so that accurate data mining comes from vigorous profit pursuit and business games. Driven by

market competition, users' personal information is usually further used by algorithms in the form of

matching, regulation, and control, thus outlining the strong correlation between them[9], thereby

releasing substantial commercial value and stimulating the enthusiasm of the platform to polish and

upgrade information acquisition technology and acquisition mode. As far as the current social and

shopping platforms are concerned, the platform algorithm attracts users by recommending highly

customized content and makes users emotionally resonate with great adaptability and personalized

services. As a result, in the profit-first platform strategy, the idea of "finding content based on users"

will be changed to "finding users based on content," resulting in colossal user stickiness and

ultimately attracting more and more netizens to use social media platforms with algorithmic

recommendation functions[10].

Take the Douyin short video platform as an example. It comprehensively collects users' browsing

history and browsing preferences, extracts and mines users' purchase needs, and then constructs user

portraits and prediction models to achieve high-accuracy purchase preference prediction. Then use a

hidden and subtle way to induce users to consume, such as pushing "guess what you like" product

videos or product live broadcast rooms on the Home of the app, or high-frequency pushing "you are

interested" bloggers' business push videos, using users' love and trust in bloggers to induce

consumption. These strategies seem to improve the satisfaction of user experience and demand

matching. Still, in fact, they treat users as "Party B" to obtain the benefits of the platform and infinitely

consume services for "Party A", that is, brands and merchants. In the interview, one of the

interviewees also mentioned: "I think the algorithm will recommend things I like according to my

preferences, and at first I thought it was a good thing, and I liked a lot of recommended products, but

then I realized that it seems that these purchases are not very necessary, and the algorithm seems to

make me spend a lot of money" (F16).

4.3. Reverse acclimation: The user's tool "prosthetic" in the age of intelligent media

The term "domestication" originated in biology and refers to the process of forming new conditioned

reflexes based on the innate instincts of animals through human intervention and training[11]. Silvers

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et al. introduced this concept into the field of sociology, referring to the process by which human

beings discipline the use of media through the use of daily life[12]. Human beings have created media

technology, but technology does not only exist as a tool, as a social subject; people are also

constrained and influenced by object media technology while changing media technology, constantly

making changes involuntarily, and being "branded" by technology, and unconsciously being "reverse

domesticated" from media technology[13]. Taking the wide application of algorithm technology as

an example, people are completely conquered by the precise push of algorithms and excellent user

experience, and the comfortable and intelligent lifestyle created by technology is increasingly

"kidnapping" the autonomous socialization behavior of individuals and gradually evolving into an

indispensable and unavoidable way of survival.

McLuhan's "Media Extension Theory" once proposed that all media (or technology) are an

expansion and extension of a certain function of human beings. For example, a hammer is an

extension of a fist, a wheel is an extension of a leg and foot, etc. As far as algorithm technology is

concerned, people can say that its high degree of intelligence extends the wisdom of the human brain,

which is equivalent to an individual having an extra brain without using a knife. It is a super-brain;

such an intelligent extension undoubtedly leads the social development of human beings, helping

people perceive the world, link others, and even replace thinking. However, such an extension does

not seem to be a boon to the benefits of smart technology. In the long run, users affected by the

platform's algorithms have mild or severe algorithm domestication. The human brain has enjoyed the

services of the super brain for a long time, and it has gradually degraded. Specifically, users are

accurately "instilled" with the content they are interested in by the algorithm and lack the will to jump

out of the cocoon, so they gradually lose the ability to think deeply. Users are bound to the value-

oriented category of algorithm design, and they strayed into the vicious circle of value discipline. One

respondent responded, "I can feel that the content and opinions of the messages I receive are roughly

the same. It's the opinions that I agree with more that will be pushed in front of me, and then I may

rarely have access to things that contradict my opinions. In such a situation, it may be difficult for me

to realize that my ideas are wrong. "(F12)

4.4. Hidden loopholes: Discrimination and the black box dilemma

The "black box" of an algorithm refers to the knowledge involved in the algorithm's operation at a

particular stage, which is known to the developer and manufacturer but not necessarily known to the

user. Users can only observe and understand the input and output in computer science. Still, they

cannot understand converting input into output, constituting a "black box." Based on this, the

computer science definition of the algorithm "black box" refers to the "technical black box" that

appears in people's field of vision due to the complexity of the algorithm itself, in a state that is known

to the developer but not necessarily known to the user[14]. Users are unaware of the goals and intent

of the algorithm and have no way of knowing, judging, and monitoring the designer, actual controller,

and responsibility for machine-generated content. The algorithmic black box exacerbates the

inequality in information access and interpretation, so capitalists and enterprises with control of

algorithms can use this advantage to carry out back-end operations and control the process and effect

of information release and transmission. For example, the personal information of users obtained by

cookie technology is originally an interaction between the online platform and the user. Still, such

data will be provided to third-party companies as a commodity. Third-party companies will cooperate

with filtering algorithms to analyze and calculate user information to target personalized pushes[15].

Finally, the so-called personalized service that improves the satisfaction of the user experience is

formed, that is, the circular business chain with the user as the commodity behind the algorithm.

The black box is the crux of algorithmic discrimination, and there are two types of research content

on algorithmic discrimination in the academic community. One of them is algorithmic discrimination

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in the name of algorithmic convenience. Network service providers argue that algorithms can improve

decision-making efficiency and facilitate decision-making, but they incorporate factors such as

personal preferences into actual decision-making. When biased algorithms exceed reasonable limits,

they provide different services to similar users, enabling algorithms to implement and expand

discriminatory behaviors[16]. Due to the inherent insidious nature of algorithmic discrimination,

discrimination embedded in AI is no longer as explicit as in the past. Still, it hides in the corners of

the digital world and silently erodes social fairness and justice[17]. Under the control of capital, the

algorithm design is initially formulated with rule preferences. The algorithm inherits the developer's

bias, and the user becomes the object of control under the algorithm discrimination. In the interview,

more than two-thirds of the respondents mentioned that they had encountered algorithmic

discrimination: "I found that the information recommended by the algorithm to everyone is different,

especially for men and women, the content of his information is relatively different, such as many

common gender-related social issues, as if different genders receive different pushes, and everyone's

views are different." (F7) In addition to gender discrimination, ageism, juvenile discrimination, and

religious belief discrimination all exist on many common social platforms, and this kind of bias and

discrimination hidden under artificial intelligence algorithms is difficult to detect.

5. Remodeling: The multi-faceted return of subjectivity

The original goal of the emergence of machines was to liberate human productivity, whether it was

the agricultural age or the industrial age, and human beings needed to take the risks brought by

machines if they wanted to change society through machines. In the era of human-machine symbiotic

intelligence, "human beings and artificial intelligence should not compete with each other, but in a

complementary and symbiotic relationship."[18]In the face of the marginalization of user autonomy

caused by algorithm technology, it is necessary to prevent technological improvement and human

control, find a reasonable balance between regulation and innovation, and make the application of

algorithms meet social expectations and norms.

5.1. Technology optimization: Construct a humanism-guided direction

Technological evolution is essentially a process of selection, development, and reinforcement by

human beings, and human beings as subjects play a decisive role in determining the direction of

evolution[19]. When exploring optimization algorithm technology, humans must establish a people-

oriented operational direction. This means that while pursuing the efficiency and accuracy of

algorithms, algorithm designers must have deep insight into and respect people's needs, values, and

emotions. Promote the harmonious coexistence of man and machine through technological innovation

so that algorithms can not only solve complex problems but also take into account individual

differences, social ethics and long-term goals of sustainable development in the learning and decision-

making process, to ensure that every step of technological development serves the well-being of

mankind. For example, user feedback mechanisms are incorporated into the recommendation

algorithm, such as the "dislike" button or preference adjustment options, so that users can actively

intervene in the recommendation results and enhance the transparency and controllability of the

algorithm. Intensify scrutiny to ensure that algorithms are human-centered regarding program design,

data collection, and computing, comply with digital ethics, and ensure the security of users' private

data.

In addition, optimizing the algorithm model's design is necessary. The primary purpose of

algorithm application is people-oriented, and designers should strengthen humanistic thinking and

project humanistic concepts into algorithm programs so that algorithms can focus on users' privacy

protection and equality norms, correct discriminatory statements, ensure the operation of algorithms

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justly and improve the accuracy and efficiency of algorithms. However, the optimization of the

algorithm model is a continuous iterative process. With the increase in data volume, the complexity

of problems, and the development of new technologies, it is necessary to continuously optimize the

algorithm model, which involves many links and a long time, so it may be a challenge for those who

benefit from the algorithm.

5.2. Accountability: Autonomous monitoring of technological intelligence

"As a technology, algorithms themselves have no power attributes, but once they are applied in the

public domain, they will have the color of public power and should be subject to the regulations of

public field ethics"[20]. The supervision of algorithm technology should be reflected in technical

governance and legal constraints. As far as algorithmic technology itself is concerned, when wrong

values guide it, it may lead to the alienation of algorithmic power, which will cause a series of

algorithmic risks[21]. Compared with the rigid constraints of the law, algorithm companies need to

consciously assume the primary responsibility of digital enterprises and give full play to

organizational self-discipline to conduct self-supervision and self-examination. Using algorithmic

discrimination as an example, foreign algorithmic technology entities represented by Google and

Microsoft have actively intervened in regulating algorithmic discrimination through technological

innovation and have developed tools to detect and observe algorithmic discrimination. Microsoft also

created the Fairness, Accountability, Transparency, and Ethics in AI Group to study the complex

societal implications of artificial intelligence, machine learning, and natural language processing. In

addition, Pymetrics, an emerging AI company, has developed an open-source tool called Audit AI to

measure the specific data and traits used by algorithms to determine whether they negatively impact

a small number of people[22].

Compared with the supervision and governance of all sectors of society, the autonomous

supervision efficiency of artificial intelligence is more feasible, and it can use technology to counter

technical drawbacks, significantly reduce the problems caused by algorithms at the source, and cut

off various risks such as data threats and privacy leaks. At the same time, the smooth use of self-

supervision software technology can also effectively help users get a better user experience, reduce

black box and discriminatory push so that users can jump out of the fixed information cocoon, get

out of information bias, and then expand the boundaries of thinking, and break the user thinking

inertia and value discipline cycle caused by the new alienation of algorithms.

5.3. Regulatory constraints: Algorithms for good under rigid requirements

The operation of algorithms requires the mastery of personal information data as a prerequisite, and

the security of personal information data is the Achilles heel in the operation of algorithms. However,

the definition of personal information in China's judicial practice is ambiguous. Although the existing

laws provide for the protection of personal information and require that no subject use it illegally, it

does not protect non-personal information other than personal information that can be used to identify

a specific individual[23]. At present, the algorithm technology has made the illegal collection of

personal information more and more widespread with its high concealment and strong information

capture capabilities. Software platforms are the most common online platforms for algorithmic

applications today, and most mobile app users have no idea how their personal information is leaked

or even how it is infringed[24]. In addition, with the support of algorithms, it is no longer necessary

to rely on specific duties or services to obtain information. The criminal punishment boundary of the

criminal law is unclear for the collection behavior in this case. There is also a regulatory ambiguity

in the collection methods using neutral technologies such as crawlers [25]. Therefore, concerning the

construction of laws and regulations, it is also necessary to pay attention to the special legislative

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status of the Personal Information Protection Law. When conducting the trial of relevant cases, the

provisions of the pre-existing laws and the criminal law requirements should echo each other to

maximize the effect of legal protection.

Second, on the issue of algorithmic black boxes, legal regulations can also be used to enforce

constraints, such as stipulating that algorithm producers should make corresponding interpretations

before the algorithm is applied, clearly presenting the user use agreement, not depriving individuals

of privacy by obscure word games, and at the same time, the principle of contracting and autonomy

should be used in dispute resolution. Improper exploitation and infringement should not be carried

out because users do not understand and are not sensitive to professional technology. Algorithm

developers and users are required to make a clear explanation of the causal relationship between the

input data of the algorithm itself and the output results without revealing the part of the algorithm that

is protected as a trade secret and make the black box of the algorithm operation transparent and

visualized, to enhance the public's sense of trust and security, protect the symmetry of information,

and prevent algorithm writers from manually interfering with the operation of the algorithm[26].

6. Conclusion

The emergence of algorithms is not a technological evil, but the rights and interests on them are the

crux of algorithmic crimes. The development trend of artificial intelligence is becoming more and

more vigorous. The changes in human society will be more rapid in the future, and the changes

brought by science and technology are immeasurable. It is foreseeable that in the future, human beings

will become more and more dependent on artificial intelligence and computer programs, and in the

face of this unchangeable and reverie trend, what people can do is to continue to make up for it in the

process of development, timely patch the loopholes accompanying the technological take-off, and

maintain the balance between technology and humanity. However, there is a necessary process for

developing all things, and the solution of problems is not achieved overnight. In the same way, the

new alienation phenomenon brought about by algorithms also needs to be gradually broken and

reshaped; as long as the concept of human-machine symbiosis has not wavered, the future of human-

machine harmony technology take-off is just around the corner.

Acknowledgements

This work was partially supported by the "Pioneer" and "Leading Goose" R&D Program of Zhejiang

(No.2023C01222), the Public Welfare Technology Application Research Project of Zhejiang

(No.LGF22F020008).

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Proceedings of ICADSS 2024 Workshop: International Forum on Intelligent Communication and Media Transformation

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Human-machine Voice and Human-machine Competition:

Practical Landscape, Pattern Changes and Industrial

Challenges of Generative AI-Enabled Audiobook Publishing

Yuanxin Wang1,a, Tingting Wang2,b,*, Jingyi Fu1,c, Xinyue You1,d

1Department of Publishing, Beijing Institute of Graphic Communication, Xinghua Street, Daxing

District, Beijing, China

2Department of Economics and Management, Beijing Institute of Graphic Communication, Xinghua

Street, Daxing District, Beijing, China

a. wangyuanxin007@163.com, b. wang_tt926@163.com, c.3043568186@qq.com,

d. 2559852426@qq.com

*corresponding author

Abstract: At present, generative artificial intelligence has a profound impact on the

audiobook publishing industry chain, and exerts unprecedented transformative power in all

aspects of audiobook publishing. This paper reviews the specific technical forms of

generative artificial intelligence used in the process of audiobook publishing, including text-

to-speech, speech recognition, intelligent speech interaction, voiceprint recognition, voice

anonymization, etc., and shows the practical picture of how these technologies influence

audiobook publishing in different stages of content creation, sound presentation, recording

and editing, quality control, terminal playback and readers’ feedback. It analyzes the pattern

changes of the audiobook publishing industry brought about by generative artificial

intelligence, with "human-machine voice" as the core, and then discusses the challenges and

reflections faced by the audiobook publishing industry under the trend of "human-machine

competition and cooperation" from the aspects of underlying logic, industry pain points,

fundamental principle, reading environment and technical ethics. Therefore, generative

artificial intelligence technology is like a double-edged sword, audiobook publishers should

fully understand its nature, conform to the trend of technology, and use it to enable new

quality productive forces of audiobook publishing industry.

Keywords: generative artificial intelligence, audiobooks, human-computer interaction.

1. Introduction

Generative AI refers to a new technology that generates text, pictures, sounds, videos, codes and other

content, which share a striking similarity to that created by humans [1], based on algorithms, models

and rules. Audiobook publishing industry is one of the fields to accept, integrate and apply Generative

AI, which can soon become a powerful weapon to drive it to make a achievement and promote new

quality productivity.

Proceedings of ICADSS 2024 Workshop: International Forum on Intelligent Communication and Media Transformation

DOI: 10.54254/2753-7064/36/2024BJ0048

(https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).

2. The Technical Forms of Generative AI Applied in Audiobook Publishing

2.1. Text-to-Speech

Briefly, text-to-speech is a technology that input a text and finally output a speech. It is generally

divided into two stages: text analysis and speech synthesis. Traditional text-to-speech needs to

manually record a large number of speech samples and output a relatively simple speech through

complex processing. But with the advent of "AI+TTS", the synthetic speech has become more natural

and accurate. It is now widely used in the stage of production in audiobook publishing.

2.2. Speech Recognition

Speech recognition is a technology that converts human speech into machine-readable text or

commands. Its core is to convert speech signals into text, which mainly includes several steps such

as speech signal preprocessing, speech feature extraction, acoustic and language model training.

"AI+SR" can transform audiobooks from sound-led publications to both audio and text publications,

which can bring about a more pleasant reading experience.

2.3. Intelligent Speech Interaction

Functions like "hear, speak, understand" are endowed with audio products in a variety of scenarios,

mainly used in the stage of playback to reply readers' feedback. Users can change the interaction

mode and complete the story plot in dialogue with machine by voice commands [2].

2.4. Voiceprint Recognition

Voiceprint Recognition is a technology that extracts the speaker's voice characteristics and

automatically verifies their identity. When the voiceprint matches, it is verified or retrieved

successfully, which can not only determine the identity of the speaker, but also confirm whether any

audio contents are the same or not. It is mainly applied in the stage of voice presentation.

2.5. Voice Anonymization

Voice anonymization refers to an asynchronous voice anonymization method that changes speech

features to prevent machine recognition but retain human perception, that is, the speaker in the

original voice is replaced with a fake one, so as to protect the privacy of the speaker [3]. The technique

has already been applied to the voice presentation of audiobooks.

3. Practical Landscape of Generative AI in Audiobook Publishing

3.1. Stage of Content Production

3.1.1. Text Production

Generative AI helps human in the following ways. One is direct creation. Such as "Caiyun small

dream", only by giving the beginning of one story within 1000 words can it continue to write the

following content. The second is creation assistance. It can provide creators with updated

information, creative suggestions and writing framework, saving amounts of time used to spend on

searching information. Third, interactive creation. It can adapt to readers' needs by changing the

story setting, adjusting the characters’ sequence, selecting the appropriate structure by interacting

with readers. Fourth is cooperative creation. It can choose and combine communication elements

such as text, sound, picture and video to present works with "audio and visual integration".

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3.1.2. Sound Production

First is to reproduce and "revive" sound. It is a speech synthesis technology for both the living

and the deceased, supporting the creation of readers' own exclusive sound library. For example,

Himalayan APP reproduced the voices of human anchors, such as Childe Xidao and Yidao Susu, to

create AI anchors "Xiaodao Xi" and "Xiaodao Su", with 99,000 and 24,000 fans respectively. They

have released 50,030 episodes, 8,338 hours and 17,581 episodes, 2,930 hours of work respectively

since their launch in May 2022. Their average working time is much shorter than that of the human

anchors, while the number of their works has doubled. It also collected the sound samples of the late

famous Pingshu performing artist Tianfang Shan into a sound database to make his voice reappears

in the world. The total amount of plays has exceeded 100 million times.

The second is to customize sound. Generative AI supports multi-language and dialect

personalized sound library customization, which allows the same audiobook to generate different

language versions based on different needs. Meanwhile, it can also use multi-style and multi-emotion

TTS to combine and match all the language style, emotion, tone, timbre, pitch, speech speed and other

elements. It can also intelligently match readers' current listening scene, automatically generate

suitable works.

The third is conceal sound. Generative AI can de-identify the speaker, which perfectly fit both

the communication ethics and privacy protection ethics in the era of big data. The fifth is to combine

sound. Generative AI can distinguish dialogues from narrations, extract dialogue roles in multi-

character audiobooks, and create a suitable "combination" with different characters.

3.2. Stage of Recording and Editing

3.2.1. AI Recording and Editing

The essence of AI recording is to complete the process of text to speech by using speech synthesis

technology. Himalayan News TTS can convert about 3,000 words per minute, which is an efficiency

that real people can't imagine. Also, generative AI drives the content editing productivity with

technical power. For example, "Sound clip" launched 89 kinds of AI timbre, providing creators with

rich creative choices in the process of editing.

3.2.2. Character Recognition

Role-playing dialogues often exist in audiobooks. Generative AI can quickly complete the intelligent

chapter dismantling and character recognition, and input the text into the multi-emotional support

system.

3.2.3. Automatic Sound Effects

Generative AI can extract various sound effects from the sound library and put them at specified

locations according to readers’ personal preference. Himalaya, for example, uses the speech signal

processing algorithm to create intelligent sound effects, so that users can match different sounds for

different content and enjoy a better listening experience.

3.3. Stage of Quality Control

AI content review automatically complete the tedious and repetitive parts to assist the reviewers to

speed up the audio content review. Reviewers only need to fill in the feedback opinions to obtain a

complete hearing report, without complicated manual summary. The average coverage of automatic

content filtering in Himalaya increased from 25.7% in 2022 to 72.2% by the end of 2023.

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3.4. Stage of Broadcast and Readers Feedback

Readers can wake up the device to start reading, get the story plots or learn others' comments by

simple voice commands, and also can determine the direction of the story or choose their favorite

voice to perform. Generative AI can automatically capture and deeply learn from the "digital traces"

left by readers and incorporate them into its own big data models, making the characteristics of reader-

centered more stand out than before.

4. Human-machine Voice: Pattern Changes Generative AI Made

4.1. Improvements of Publishing Efficiency

4.1.1. Reduced Creation Threshold

As for text production, it is also possible for AI to create complete new content without human’s

motivate imagination, creativity or inspiration. As for sound production, on one hand, it is no longer

confined to the professional performer for a long time recording and broadcasting; on the other hand,

the emergence of AI anchors makes the audiobook more diversified.

4.1.2. Speedup of Production Efficiency

Firstly, the production cost is lowered. Generative AI greatly reduced the labor cost of audiobooks

which lower the price and the premium. Secondly, the production cycle is shortened. The entire

traditional production process was about three times longer than the finished product, and the

additional time cost further raised the price of audiobooks. Generative AI can complete the production

in a few hours at the fastest, much faster than before. Thirdly, one-stop production is taking shape.

"AI+TTS" forms a closed loop of the whole process from content creation to sound presentation,

providing readers with more convenient audio reading services.

4.2. Changes of Content Ecosystem

4.2.1. Change of Content Production Mode

Gradually, AIGC has become a creation mode alongside UGC, PGC and PUGC on major audiobook

platforms, and the completion rate and popularity of AIGC works are no less than that of human

works. The total duration of AIGC content on the Himalaya APP has exceeded 240 million minutes,

equivalent to 401 million hours, accounting for 6.6% of the platform's audio content by the end of

2023.

4.2.2. Change of Content Production Roles

With the advent of generative AI, the content production have transformed from single-player unicast

presentation to AI multicast interpretation, from only human creation to human & AI creation.

4.2.3. Better Audio-visual Experience

generative AI bring about more enriched audio resources. Besides, it also generate visual materials

such as pictures, text, animation and video, making audiobooks more three-dimensional. It can also

freely switch between listening and watching according to the reader's reading scenario.

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4.3. Reader Experience Optimization

4.3.1. Customized Services

First, audio customization is more refined. Focusing on readers' needs for more refined timbre,

diversified voice lines, emotional fluctuations,etc., the synthesized speech can meet the needs of

readers. Second, the scene adaptation is more accurate. Generative AI can adapts audiobooks to

scenes where the Internet of Things exist [4], and judge the scene and match the hidden needs of

readers based on their positioning information or behavioral state, so as to automatically provide

sound content suitable for different scenes. Third, the recommended benchmark is more

diversified. Little consideration was given to readers' needs in timbre, rhythm and other aspects of

the sound [5]. The platform subsequently produce a more precise recommendation mechanism related

to both text and sound.

4.3.2. Immersive Participation

The role of readers is no longer limited to the target audience, but the "creator", "communicator" or

"publisher" who can be deeply engaged in the audiobook production, recording and uploading their

own voices to achieve sound creation of specific content.

4.3.3. Matching Service

According to statistics, 88.7% of reader inquiries on Himalaya APP in 2023 will be solved by AI-

driven intelligent customer service. Such integrated services enable readers to continuously optimize

their reading experience.

5. Human-machine Competition & Cooperation: Challenges Caused by Generative AI

5.1. Underlying Logic: Human-machine Relationship

The role of machine in the audiobook publishing process has changed from the device to the

communicator, which not only challenges the inherent logic of communication, but also brings out

some new publishing concept of audiobooks.

5.2. Industry Pain Point: Copyright Crisis

There is an opaque "black box" operation in the process of data crawling and processing. Therefor it

is easy to become a "hotbed" for breeding infringement, and generative AI may further aggravate the

5.3. Fundamental Principle: Content Quality

Firstly, the matching of generated contents to original contents need to be improved. Secondly, due

to the lowered creation threshold, the content quality is uneven. Thirdly, narrative emotional effect

of the synthetic voice is not satisfactory.

5.4. Reading Environment: Information Cocoon

Most of the major audiobook platform recommend fantasy, romance and other "popular" theme of

online literature for new users, while books with classic content and high cultural value are rarely on

the list, which confines readers to be trapped in the information cocoon. This profit-oriented algorithm

logic will further worsened the audio reading ecosystem.

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5.5. Technical Ethics: Identity and Career Crisis

One is the identity crisis. The human-machine boundary is gradually blurred. The other is the career

crisis. It is predicted that about 300 million jobs worldwide will be replaced by generative AI, which

will unavoidably lead to career anxiety in all walks of life.

6. Conclusion

As a representative new technology, generative AI has highly penetrated into every stage of

audiobook publishing by various technical forms, reshaping the process from content production

stage to readers’ feedback stage, and revolutionizing the audio publishing industry in publishing

efficiency, content ecosystem and reader experience. Meanwhile, it brings about industrial challenges

in aspects of human-machine relationship, copyright crisis, content quality, information cocoons and

technical ethics. Therefore, generative AI is like a "double-edged sword". Only by fully understanding

its nature, conforming to its trend should audiobook publishers use it to enable new quality productive

forces.

References

[1] Wang, J. (2023). Artificial intelligence-generated content and its application in book publishing. Communication

and Copyright, (10), 48-51. https://doi.org/10.16852/j.cnki/g2.2023.10.001

[2] Shen, Y., & Jin, S. (2022). Mechanism and optimization path of audio publishing in the era of intelligent media.

Chinese Editors, (11), 86-91.

[3] Wang, R., Chen, L., Lee, K. A., & Ling, Z.-H. (2024). Asynchronous voice anonymization using adversarial

perturbation on speaker embedding. In Proceedings of Interspeech.

[4] Deng, X. (2020). Evolution logic and advanced path of "ear economy". People's Forum, (05), 95-97.

[5] Liu, Y., & Gao, Y. (2019). Application of artificial intelligence speech in audiobooks. Published Studies, (11), 35-

39. https://doi.org/10.19393/j.cnki/g2.2019.11.008

Proceedings of ICADSS 2024 Workshop: International Forum on Intelligent Communication and Media Transformation

DOI: 10.54254/2753-7064/36/2024BJ0048

A New Demon after Collapse: Jewish Social Media Images in

the Israeli Palestinian Conflict

—Short Videos' Analysis Based on TikTok

Xiangwu Lai1,a,*, Tiange Zhang1,b

1Institute of Journalism and Communication , Northwest University, Xuefu Street, Xi’an City,

Shaanxi Province, China

a. 1980864393@qq.com, b. 2549935915@qq.com

*corresponding author

Abstract: From over two thousand years of exile history to post World War II Holocaust

literature and film and television dramas, Jews have always appeared in various media as

innocent victims with a mix of sadness and resilience, even making the "Jewish stance"

somewhat politically correct. This article is based on the new round of Palestinian Israeli

conflict that broke out on October 7, 2023. The research object is 729 short video data

crawled on social media TikTok. Through analyzing the overall attitudes towards Jews

presented in the videos, it is found that the ratio of positive and negative attitudes is about

1:12, and "genocide", "war criminals", and "terrorism" are the majority of accusations against

Israeli Jews in the videos. The large number of negative evaluations on social media

presented in the research conclusion strongly contrasts with the stereotypical impression of

Jews in past media expressions. This finding is crucial for China's future diplomatic practice

and how to enhance its ability to guide international public opinion.

Keywords: Media Image, Israeli-Palestinian Conflict, TikTok, Jew.

1. Introduction

For a long time, Jews have been presented as "Holocaust victims" in various media, even making the

"Jewish position" a sense of "political correctness" for a time. On October 7, 2023, a new round of

Israeli-Palestinian conflict broke out, and by the evening of October 9, 2023, the TikTok hashtags "#

Palestine" and "# Israel" had been viewed more than 50 billion times.[1] While a wealth of first-hand

accounts of the war and unfiltered commentary from all sides are widely disseminated, the media

image of the Jewish people on TikTok seems to be moving toward the other end of the "victim"

spectrum.

At present, studies on the media image of Jews in academic circles are mostly conducted from the

perspectives of world history, international politics, drama, film and television, etc. In addition to

some articles that expose the truth of control by Jewish interest groups, the image of Jews constructed

through the media for a long time is always difficult to break away from the image of stigmatization

from the religious standpoint, the weak party in anti-Semitism and anti-Semitism, and the tenacious

resistance to racism. Therefore, in order to clarify the real image of Jews to guide diplomatic activities

Proceedings of ICADSS 2024 Workshop: International Forum on Intelligent Communication and Media Transformation

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(https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).

under the current complex situation, this study selects the overseas version of TikTok as the research

platform from the perspective of communication studies. By analyzing the attitudes towards Jews in

the presentation of relevant short videos after the outbreak of the current round of Palestinian-Israeli

conflict, it summarizes the real media images of Jews in the era of social media that are not subject to

the control of Jewish capital.

2. Literature review

2.1. Jewish media images under the narrative of others

In the long history of the Middle Ages, many long-standing and deeply rooted Jewish images have

emerged. Ai Rengui once conducted research on the origin and historical distribution of the Jewish

image of "eternal wandering Jews" originating from the 13th century. "This image confirms the true

and eternal fate of Jews --- constantly wandering and scattered everywhere."[2]; In medieval

Christian painting, painters often depicted the "hooked nose," "long webbed feet," and "horns" as

typical physiological features of Jewish images, and demonized them in visual representation.[3] In

1955, John Hyam's book "Strangers on the Land" discussed American localism and immigration

issues, in which Jews appeared as typical immigrant figures with racist connotations[4]; In the

traditional narrative of Irish Catholicism, Jews are often referred to as "exploitative and wealthy

foreigners" and "friends who often betray non Jews".[5]

2.2. Jewish media images in self promotion

After the Third Middle East War, the political status and discourse power of American Jews increased

significantly, and by virtue of their status as victims of the terrible human atrocities, they gained a

unique narrative position in the American cultural landscape [6]. At that time, Jewish media images

were mainly reflected in two types of Jewish films in Hollywood: one was based on trauma narrative,

aiming to win international sympathy, guilt and compensation, such as the fate of Krakow Jews in the

film "Sintler's List", and the boy Shimr living in a concentration camp in "The Boy in the Striped

Pajamas"; The other is based on heroic hymns, focusing on the heroic Jewish people's unyielding

resistance in the face of oppression and touching stories of making a living, such as Noah Ekman who

struggled to make a living in postwar America in the film Lion Cub[7], and the tenacious Jewish hero

who endured violence but had a rebirth in Exodus [6]. During this period, the construction of Jewish

media image went through the whole process from carefully pursuing identity, to using character

narration to show anti-Semitism on the screen, and then evolving it into ideology implanted in

American society.

2.3. Media images of Jews in modern media reports

The image of Jews in the media in the 21st century is largely reflected in worldwide anti-Semitic

sentiment and reports about Jews.A study by Anders Wiegerfurt and others at Marmo University

found that reports of anti-Semitic crimes in the Swedish media increased significantly at the end of

2008, with 126 articles published in 31 Swedish dailies over a 15-year period[8]; According to the

Online Hate Prevention Institute, there were 2,000 anti-Semitic tweets and videos posted on social

media sites such as Twitter and YouTube in a 10-month period between 2015 and 2016[9]. In the face

of widely reported anti-Semitic sentiment, some scholars have pointed out that political groups have

deliberately exploited the charge of "anti-Semitism", just as the Holocaust in American Life revealed

that "Holocaust memory has been used as a tool by American Jews and American politicians" [10],

Zhao Dingqi pointed out that in today's Western public opinion environment, the label

"anti-Semitism" has been associated with a certain political identity. It became a kind of "everyone

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passes" culture war[11].

3. Research design

In this study, Octopus collector version V8.6.7 was used. Logging in TikTok on April 2, 2024, videos

under the hashtag "# Palestinian-Israeli conflict" in Chinese and translated into English and Arabic

were respectively crawled for the specific fields shown in Table 1. By using TikTok's comprehensive

sorting function [12], which ranks works from highest to lowest in terms of communication effect,

1,192 pieces of original data were initially obtained.In the data cleaning stage, the study takes "the

official outbreak of the current round of conflict" (October 7, 2023) and "the UN Security Council

passed a resolution explicitly calling for a ceasefire in Gaza for the first time" (March 25, 2024) as the

key time node, and deletes videos that are outside the time range and not directly related to the current

round of conflict. Finally, 245 Chinese, 255 English, 229 Arabic, a total of 729 valid data.After that,

the sample data were coded in three levels in terms of attitudes toward Jews, and finally clustered into

four categories: positive attitude toward Jews, negative attitude toward Jews, neutral attitude toward

Jews, and no mention of attitudes toward Jews.

Table 1: TikTok data crawling keywords and specific fields.

Language

Standpoint



keyword

Chinese

Within China

#巴以冲突

Video link

Publisher ID

Publish account link

Release time

Video title

Likes

Forwarding volume

Volume of comments

English

Internation

#israelpalestineconflict

Arabic

Arab world





4. Research findings

4.1. Summary of Jewish media images

As shown in Figure 1, in this round of conflict, the image of Jews on social media is mainly

negative, followed by neutral, and the least positive image. Among them, as shown in Figure 2,

English hashtags had the highest number of videos with positive views of Jews, accounting for 89%

of all positive videos, while Chinese and Arabic accounted for less, each less than 10%.Comparing

these three languages, it can be seen that only videos under the Chinese tag show significantly more

negative feelings toward Jews than "not mentioned". However, it is still worth considering whether

this significant difference between negative emotions and positive emotions 135:1 is the result of

independent thinking and judgment of the video publisher, or is it blindly following or echoing the

mainstream public opinion of social media in the Chinese context.

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Figure 1: Overall attitudes toward Jews

Figure 2: Positive & Negative attitudes toward Jews in three language

4.2. Jewish media image in the Chinese hashtag

Under Chinese tag, more than half of the videos explicitly expressed negative attitudes toward Jews

or Israel. The images of Israeli Jews in these videos are mostly associated with negative words such as

"aggression", "genocide" and "Holocaust", and are repeatedly described as "war criminals",

"terrorism", "Nazification" and "aspirants". User @terrywang87 posted the only video with a positive

attitude toward Jews under the Chinese hashtag. User @terrywang87 posted the only video with a

positive attitude toward Jews under the Chinese hashtag. By introducing Israel's outstanding

achievements and leading technologies in the military, agriculture and other fields, the publisher of

the video constructs a "ruthless Middle East" image of a strong military and agricultural power.

Unlike the English and Arabic hashtags, all videos under the Chinese tag are posted by ordinary

users (non-Blue V accounts) who are not officially verified by TikTok. Among the 66 publishers of

negative videos, in addition to 1 non-certification authority account, 5 non-certification news media,

and 5 foreign Chinese users, the other more than 50 video publishers are ordinary we-media users

who use Chinese as their mother tongue. Thus, it can be seen that unverified Chinese "we media"

dominated the construction of the negative Jewish media image under the Chinese narrative

framework of the current round of Palestinian-Israeli conflict on TikTok, and official opinions

representing media, organizations or institutions accounted for a small part, and the discourse

expression of the Blue V verified account was missing in the Chinese context of the topic.

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4.3. Jewish media image in the English hashtag

Under the English hashtag, videos with no mention of attitudes toward Jews and videos with negative

attitudes toward Jews were far more than those with neutral and positive attitudes toward Jews. There

were 22 references to "genocide" and "apartheid," and 11 to "violence" and "atrocities." This negative

image mostly overlaps with that in the Chinese tag. In the 99 videos that did not mention attitudes

toward Jews, except for 36 videos that were not clearly attitudinal oriented and 28 videos that were

sympathetic, supportive or pro-Palestinian, there were some anti-Palestinian or anti-Hamas videos

which had not been seen in the other two languages. Therefore, the attitude toward Jews in the

framework of English narrative is complicated and diversified, but the video content showing the

negative media image of Jews still accounts for a large proportion in this context. On the whole,

among the publishers of videos with positive and negative attitudes in English tag, the ordinary

self-media without verification are far more than the authentication users.

The video language symbols under "#israelpalestineconflict" have appeared in German, French,

Thai, Indian and other languages in addition to English. Therefore, the overall attitude toward Jews

presented under the English hashtag on TikTok can be used as a rough reference for the media image

of Jews formed worldwide on social media during this round of Israeli-Palestinian war. In all negative

video accounts, English users in Europe and the United States are still the majority, and there are also

individual users in South Asia, Southeast Asia and Arab countries. More videos with positive

anti-Semitic sentiments were posted from video accounts of Jewish users, and less than half were

posted sporadically from a handful of European and American countries.

4.4. Jewish media image in the Arabic hashtag

Arabic is the official language of several Arab countries, such as Palestine, Saudi Arabia and Turkey.

Therefore, as the Arabs who took the opposite position of the Jewish nation in this round of conflict,

a total of 85 videos in the 229 videos in the Arab context clearly showed negative emotions toward

Jews; Article 92 does not mention specific attitudes toward Jews, but in its content symbols clearly

convey sympathy or support for the opposite of its public opinion: Palestine or the militant group

Hamas. There were also 19 neutral videos, while the smallest number of videos with a positive view

of Israel was only 2. Among the 85 videos that negatively evaluated Jews, the keywords "occupation"

and "invasion" were used 17 times, "massacre" and "killing" 11 times, and "genocide" and "injustice"

seven times each. In addition, the repeated keywords of "terrorism", "Zionism", "Satan" and

"ambition" in the Chinese and English videos are again displayed in the negative videos in the Arab

context.

In the 35 TikTok users who posted 85 videos with negative views of Jews, 24 were posted by

regular Arabic speakers and five by regular Arab news outlets; There are also six officially certified

TikTok "Blue V" Arab media outlets, including five news outlets and one sports outlet. Thus, the

negative anti-Semitic sentiment under the Arabic hashtag, without exception, comes from the Arab

world. The Arabic video also featured two videos that were positive about Jews and one that made no

mention of anti-Semitism but explicitly expressed opposition to the Palestine Liberation Organization

Hamas. As for the identity of the publisher of these three videos, only @Capt. ella's authentication

interface clearly shows his Israeli nationality. For the other two users, @aljazeera and

@palestine_gaza.live, the former is an Arab news media officially certified by TikTok. The latter are

ordinary Arabic speakers. In terms of content, all three videos are from the standpoint of the Israeli

military or its soldiers, emphasizing the righteous actions of Israeli Jews in this war.

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5. Conclusion and discussion

5.1. Risk: False information and information consumption

The Washington Post reported that a "flood" of false letters shaped the outside world's judgment of

the Israeli-Palestinian conflict[13]. Under the Matthew effect, TikTok users' negative emotions

toward Jews could easily become blind, extreme and even out of control in the frequent comparison

between "colonial ambition" and "image construction of the weak". Research by Anthony Goldbloom

has found that for every TikTok video viewed in the United States with a pro-Israel hashtag, 54

videos with a pro-Palestinian hashtag are viewed.[14] The underlying emotional logic of this is, of

course, related to a series of extreme military actions by Israeli Jews, but whether it is entirely rational

judgment and has no other purpose is not easily discerned. Therefore, in the face of more than half of

the negative anti-Jewish sentiment under Chinese hashtags, we should remain sober and carefully

analyze, to avoid being carried by the emotional wave of false information, and even be used by

another wave of people with ulterior motives.

In addition, since the outbreak of this round of conflict, the "# Palestinian-Israeli conflict" has in

many cases become the "traffic password" for video transmission. A large number of videos on

TikTok that are not directly related to the current round of conflict have "deliberately" added the

keyword "Israeli-Palestinian conflict" to the title in order to increase exposure and attract traffic. As

stated in the article "Israeli-Palestinian Conflict 'Reveals' Fundamental Flaws in Social Media",

"People around the world are consuming a lot of information about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict

through social media"[14]. These messages do not reflect the true picture of the Palestinian-Israeli

conflict, but only fuel negative feelings such as incitement to violence and propaganda of hatred.

5.2. Change: Self-deconstruction of Western discourse hegemony

Behind the collapse and subversive change of the image of the Jewish national media is the

self-deconstruction of the hegemonic system of Western discourse. Since the outbreak of the

international financial crisis in 2008, the Western myth created by US imperialism has been

collapsing. In 2023, when the new round of escalation between Palestine and Israel is spilling over,

the double standards of Western politicians and media thoroughly expose the hypocrisy, deception

and duplicity of the Western discourse system, which has been deliberately covered up for a long time,

and the international public opinion dominated by Western values and rules is widely questioned[15].

The emergence of social media represented by TikTok has presented first-hand news of the

Palestinian-Israeli conflict and unfiltered comments from all sides to the public, which has failed the

plan of Western forces to monopolize news discourse and control international public opinion.

Compared with the blocking of Pro-Russian tweets on Twitter and other platforms during the

Russia-Ukraine conflict, TikTok's disclosure of the real media image of Jews has changed and

reshaped the original media ecology and communication pattern of the world. Some of the facts and

truths revealed by TikTok have awakened the international public under digital equality, and TikTok

has become a gravedigger for the hegemony of Western discourse.

In the current period, the old order of public opinion has just been broken, real news details and

unfiltered voices have just been released, and the discourse expression on social media has

temporarily presented a complicated development pattern. However, on the one hand is the

imperialist regime trying to re-strengthen the control of public opinion in terms of policy sanctions,

on the other hand is the camp country forces with different purposes under the surging public opinion

- whether the world public can usher in the turning point of the complete subversion of the hegemony

of Western discourse and whether China can enhance the influence of international public opinion

again, this is both an opportunity and a challenge.

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5.3. Communication: Politics and media, who shaped who?

Media narrative has become the cornerstone of international politics, and the combination of social

media and digital manipulation strategies is a powerful weapon to win this battle[16]. The conflict,

which broke out in October 2023, greatly reduced the media image of Jews through the spread of

TikTok, and Israel lost its public opinion advantage in the social media battlefield of the current

round of Palestinian-Israeli conflict; Similarly, widely distributed videos documenting the

humanitarian disaster in Gaza have given momentum to the Palestinian side, creating more potential

to demoralize its opponents and gain strategic advantage. In the discourse expression of the conflict

on TikTok, the Chinese official media that supports the implementation of the "two-state solution"

did not appear, which has its own national political standpoint considerations, but also reveals China:

In the current international security context, paying attention to the field of social media public

opinion, and timely use of media accounts or social media comments to release information in

cyberspace, which is essential to ensure the security of China's geopolitical space, and be prepared to

fight unconventional wars in the information age.

References

[1] Wang, H. (2021, October 1). As the Israeli-Palestinian conflict spills over into social media, TikTok is becoming the

main battleground for information dissemination. Beijing News. Retrieved June 6, 2024, from

https://m.bjnews.com.cn/detail/1697095344169691.html

[2] Ai, R. (2013). The origin and circulation of the image of "eternal wandering Jew." Journal of World Peoples Studies,

(03), 86-94.

[3] Guo, J. (2024). Exploring the "othering" and "self-otherization" of visual images from the "slanted eyes" in Chinese

and foreign visual arts. Journal of Art Communication, (01), 128-134.

[4] Higham, J. (1955). Strangers in the land: Patterns of American nativism, 1860-1925. New Jersey: Rutgers

University Press.

[5] Nadel, I. B. (1989). Joyce and Jews: Culture and texts. London: The Macmillan Press.

[6] Cheng, S. (2021). Jew, music fan and photographer (Doctoral dissertation, Nanjing University).

[7] Yan, J. (2019). The Jewish identity in the United States in 20th century from Hollywood movies (Doctoral

dissertation, Xiamen University).

[8] Wigerfelt, A., & Wigerfelt, B. (2016). Media images and experience of being a Jew in the Swedish city of Malmö.

SAGE Open, 6(1), 1-11.

[9] Brotherton, D. (2016, February 18). Anti-Semitism more prevalent on social media than you think. The American

Genius. Retrieved June 6, 2024, from https://theamericangenius.com/social-media/anti-semitism-social-media/

[10] Novick, P. (2004). The Holocaust in American life. Boston: Harvard University Press.

[11] Zhao, D. (2023). The Israeli-Palestinian conflict, neoliberalism and imperialist global hegemony. World Socialism

Studies, 8(12), 47-54.

[12] Han, S. (2023). Short video social media and the evolution of digital public diplomacy (Doctoral dissertation, China

Foreign Affairs University).

[13] Xinhuanet. (2023, October 24). The second front of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict: A fierce battle for public

opinion. Retrieved June 6, 2024, from https://www.news.cn/world/2023-10/24/c_1212292984.html

[14] Sonnenfeld, J., & Tian, S. (2023, December 3). The Israel-Hamas war reveals the fundamental flaws of social media.

Time. Retrieved June 6, 2024, from https://time.com/6342140/israel-hamas-war-social-media-flaws

[15] Yang, Y., & Zhang, C. (2024). The logic and realistic aspects of constructing the discourse system of China's

external integration in the new era. Shandong Social Sciences, (03), 145-155.

[16] Rickli, J.-M., & Kaspersen, A. (2016, July 8). The global war of narratives and the role of social media. World

Economic Forum. Retrieved June 6, 2024, from

https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2016/07/the-global-war-of-narratives-and-the-role-of-social-media/

Proceedings of ICADSS 2024 Workshop: International Forum on Intelligent Communication and Media Transformation

DOI: 10.54254/2753-7064/36/2024BJ0060

The Operation of Moe: A Discourse Practice of Cyber

Nationalism

Lingyu Wang1,a,*

1Department of Communication, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen, China

a. wanglingyuuu0001@163.com

*corresponding author

Abstract: Unlike the previous cyber-nationalism events characterized by anger and hatred,

the "Panda Ya Ya" incident highlights a special form of "soft emotion." This paper focuses

on the common representation of this soft emotion in both self-media and official media

discourse practices: moe. Through Fairclough's discourse analysis, the specific mechanisms

of its operation are explored to understand the emotional motivations in cyber nationalism.

The study finds that at the levels of representation and style, the "moe discourse" in the Ya

Ya incident is co-created by self-media and official media as: floating factual evidence,

repeatedly performed legitimacy, and normalized political figures. However, there are

characteristic differences in "time-space representation" and register between the two. The

operation of moe discourse is premised on human participation, with the relationship between

moe objects and humans essentially being "agented agency." Finally, the soft emotion

manifested by moe discourse exhibits more significant network characteristics, relying on

more universal human values, and more closely resembling the fulfillment of emotional needs.

This can be viewed as a new, more powerful "commonality" resource in the development of

cyber-nationalism. However, the operation of soft emotions in cyber-nationalism often

remains in a state of "unfinished" without a directed outcome, becoming a kind of "emotional

machine running idle."

Keywords: moe, cyber-nationalism, soft emotion, discourse analysis.

1. Introduction

"Please don't forget Ya Ya. Don't stop caring about her just because she's old, tormented, no longer

good-looking, and not cute." From February 22, 2023, Weibo self-media and personal accounts began

posting about the topics of panda Ya Ya being "thin" and "begging for food," sparking public debate.

Named "Ya Ya," the panda was sent to the United States as part of a giant panda protection and

research project between China and the Memphis Zoo in 2003. Near the end of 2022, as the 20-year

lease was about to expire, Ya Ya was set to be returned to China. At the beginning of 2023, a netizen

posted a photo on Weibo showing Ya Ya's current condition in the Memphis Zoo, appearing thin and

disheveled, which raised concerns about her health. Netizens called for the relevant parties to bring

her back as soon as possible, creating a wave of public opinion.

Nationalism involves issues of nation-state construction, exploration, and construction of national

and state identity, and the construction and behavior of civic nationalism, addressing both "external"

and "internal" aspects [1]. In the Chinese context, Liu Hailong defines "nationalism" in Chinese

Proceedings of ICADSS 2024 Workshop: International Forum on Intelligent Communication and Media Transformation

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(https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).

cyber-nationalism events as a neutral grassroots nationalism that involves bottom-up identity and

culture, emphasizing "nation-state" rather than Han ethnicity [2]. Furthermore, some scholars

emphasize the shaping of nationalism by the internet as a medium from the perspective of

communication technology, noting that one significant manifestation of this change is the shift of

nationalist events from the top-down approach of the traditional print era to the bottom-up emergence

in the internet era.

However, the Ya Ya incident stands out among many nationalist and cyber-nationalism events. In

previous analyses of cyber-nationalism events, many scholars have mentioned the "strong emotions"

within them, specifically manifested as "anger": "Xiao Gongqin considered nationalism as the world's

strongest and most emotional ideology, with nationalist movements often accompanied by intense

emotional expressions and violent conflicts, making emotional control difficult [3]. " In contrast, the

Ya Ya incident introduced new discourse features, such as "cuteness" and "moe". The concept of

"moe" originated from Japan's anime industry in the 1990s, synonymous with "burning" and

"budding" in Japanese, originally referring to a strong love and fascination with virtual characters in

anime or games, later becoming a general psychological tendency of the public towards cuteness,

innocence, and a desire for protection, with highly subcultural and postmodern attributes [4]. The

unique characteristics of the Ya Ya incident form the basis of this study. By focusing on "moe"

discourse, this paper aims to explore the discourse practices in online nationalism events driven by

soft emotions.

2. Research Methods

This study selected Sina Weibo (hereafter referred to as "Weibo"), the main platform for the event's

fermentation, as the research object, focusing on content published by official media and self-

media.This study employs Norman Fairclough's discourse analysis, which focuses on how texts are

composed of heterogeneous elements, providing a more inclusive analytical framework for analyzing

the loosely structured texts in the Ya Ya incident,based on three modes of social practice of

discourse—Representation, Action, and Identification. The research period ended on April 26, 2023,

covering the complete process from netizens' exposure to Ya Ya's return to China, adequately

reflecting the discourse practices of both media in this cyber-nationalism event. Using "Ya Ya" as a

keyword, combining the "hot" column and "media release" column within each trending topic, the

study selected the texts with the highest popularity from self-media and official media accounts,

totaling 127 text samples. The accounts involved include official media such as People's Daily,

Xinhua Video, China Daily and others, as well as over 50 professional self-media and personal self-

media accounts. Besides textual information, the samples also include 64 pictures and 80 videos,

which are considered in the discourse analysis.

3. Moe in Discourse and Representation

3.1. Time-Space Representation: Strategies and Appeals

The study found that, unlike the continuous temporal and spatial presentation by self-media, Weibo's

official media accounts, as one of the professional media outlets primarily responsible for

disseminating news facts, posted numerous "fresh facts" related to the progress of the Ya Ya incident.

However, they often used "moe" as a tool to reconstruct and represent time and space, embedding the

Ya Ya incident within the context of other events.

The fractured spatiotemporal representation and the continuous spatiotemporal representation

reflect the different levels of refinement in the construction of "moe discourse" by official media and

self-media, and reveal the different strategies and appeals behind them. Regarding the so-called

"concern of netizens," the official media do not provide further explanations about Ya Ya's health

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status but shift the space-time to the past, focusing entirely on Ya Ya's previous state. It can be seen

that the official media have more detailed considerations in content construction, using more complex

and targeted background information and using "moe" expressions to make this deliberate design

relaxed and natural. In contrast, self-media implement "daily guardianship" of Ya Ya's condition,

paying more attention to responding to netizens' real-time concerns about Ya Ya's condition. Even if

there are some strategic factors (such as providing long-term material sources for self-media

accounts), the core is still driven by "appeals"—the related content can only maintain popularity

because of the readers' needs as netizens. However, it is worth noting that the representation of Ya

Ya's condition by self-media is also the result of filtering through "moe discourse." It overlooks the

diversity of panda species' habits [5] and focuses only on displaying eating show footage that better

meets netizens' content consumption needs. This discourse behavior actually reflects a naivety on the

part of both the self-media account operators and the netizens in their "guardianship" appeal for Ya

Ya.

3.2. Evidence Oscillation: The Fictitiousness of "Moe" and the Attenuation of Grassroots

Characteristics

The study found that "moe" is flexibly used by official media to guide trending topics and is employed

to represent different aspects of both the "positive" and "negative" attributes of events.

Both official and self-media use "moe" as oscillating factual evidence, reflecting on the one hand

the fictitiousness of moe discourse, and on the other hand, the attenuation of the grassroots nature in

this online nationalism event. Official media and self-media construct "evidence" with moe discourse,

placing Ya Ya between "pitiful" and "cute," unfolding corresponding "moe imaginations" following

trending topics, with little objective factual support. The fictitiousness of "moe" as a discourse is fully

revealed at this level. According to Weibo's topic hosts, the guidance of trending topics is actually set

by official media. Self-media, following the official media's topic settings, correspondingly use moe

discourse as "positive-negative oscillating" evidence, also reflecting the initial independent "bottom-

up" aspect being integrated into the official narrative and gradually led by entities other than netizens.

Amid the repeated "guarding" and calls of "Auntie is waiting for you," netizens spontaneously

organized a political carnival, and this carnival, with its mild and positive characteristics, was more

widely accepted by official media, receiving new rounds of feedback and promotion, becoming a

"conscious, bounded" carnival. Compared to the violent force that emotions like anger can break

through boundaries, soft emotions seem to become a more controllable public opinion resource in

this event, more accepted and deftly adopted by media, government, and technology platforms. This,

to some extent, highlights the limited nature of the "bottom-up" aspect in online nationalism events

driven by soft emotions.

4. Moe in Discourse and Action

4.1. Animal News: Positive and Sustainable Resources

The soft emotions represented by "moe" seem to be more adaptable to the internet ecosystem,

demonstrating a more vigorous and enduring vitality in events of online nationalism. Through the

operation of "moe" discourse, the Yaya incident permeated into the daily discourse of netizens under

the guise of entertainment and relaxation. Contrary to destructive emotions, "moe" discourse can

propagate through "positive emotions". After the peak period, the Yaya incident continued to extend

its lifecycle through "moe" discourse for a long time. Various animal news discourses essentially

constructed a picture of Yaya's leisurely life after returning to China, in stark contrast to her previous

living conditions. This "later" life presentation, both in terms of the timeline and the production of

"moe" discourse, is nearly infinite. Based on the simplicity of discourse construction (as mentioned

Proceedings of ICADSS 2024 Workshop: International Forum on Intelligent Communication and Media Transformation

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earlier regarding the fictional nature of "moe" discourse) and the audience's "acceptance and

recognition" (according to the 2021 Kuaishou Pet Ecology Report, "cute pet" videos have become a

major content segment with peak daily views exceeding 1.2 billion), "moe" is easily reproduced under

the strong agenda-setting of official media. Invisibly, the narration of the event becomes imbalanced,

gradually deviating from the initial revelation of the truth and drifting towards an unbounded realm

due to the fictional nature of "moe" discourse itself. It is noteworthy that the "moe" discourse

constructed by official media often harbors deeper register structures, implicitly containing more

speech functions such as "suggestions" and "requests." These speech functions persist under the guise

of "animal news," exerting effects beyond a single, explosive collective excitement.

4.2. The Call of Moe: Beyond Interpretation and Purpose

In contrast to typical advocacy or proposal statements, the related discourse from self-media also

exhibits distinct characteristics of a "call-to-action" register. However, unlike traditional call-to-

action registers, the "background explanation" part is supplemented by moe expressions that depict

Ya Ya as an innocent child.

The "moe call" register relies entirely on "appearance," focusing on the touching depiction of

Yaya's living conditions. Based on the fundamental register of the call, the intertextual recurrence of

the existing register in readers' minds serves as a subtle "interpretation," indicating that the part before

the call should be a factual background review. Thus, at this point, "moe" somewhat blurs the

boundary of "interpretation" with "appearance," bypassing evidence and logic to directly reach the

attitudes and behaviors of netizens. Being "cuteness-struck" becomes the core trigger for participating

in the online nationalism event.

Here, the "moe" discourse exists beyond interpretation and rationality, driven by netizens'

emotions, which can even be seen as a need. In this context, soft emotions and hard emotions often

blend and parallel. In self-media's "moe call," the transition from being "cuteness-struck" to "hatred,"

"opposition," and "anger" further induces netizens to participate in related protection actions.

However, the behavior of netizens moved by the call often remains at the level of "retweeting on

Weibo" or "original posts plus sharing on other social media." Unlike events of online nationalism

like "Diba Expedition," the "moe call" does not specify detailed action plans or collective goals,

evolving into a scattered, "self-entertained" emotional expression. It quickly mobilizes netizens'

emotions but does not seem to have a clear vision for the next steps. The fuzzy and vacant end of the

call chain is wrapped in the compassion and national sentiment evoked in netizens, repeatedly

produced and consumed.

5. Moe in Style and Identification

5.1. The Moral Path of Moe: The Performance of Legitimacy

In the discourse practice of the Times Square display, "moe" language provides a near-demonstrative

emotional experience in a non-violent manner. Unlike hard-edged nationalist events, the protest in

Ya Ya's case is indirect and implicit, constructing the act of "demonstration" through "moe" discourse.

This form of demonstration is somewhat concealed and shared among those with the same national

identity, losing its effect in the physical world—it should be directed at the object, aiming to convey

and intimidate. Without clear understanding from the target, it turns into a self-directed demonstration,

a form of emotional satisfaction equivalent to violence.

Both social media and official media use "moe" discourse to construct their legitimacy, leading to

calls and demonstrations that seem to be pure performances. These "moe" discourses immerse

themselves in realizing logic, moral positions, and legitimacy through repeated performances, often

constituting the entire meaning.

Proceedings of ICADSS 2024 Workshop: International Forum on Intelligent Communication and Media Transformation

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5.2. "Weakening" and "Selfing": The Extraordinary Becoming Ordinary

The personification of Ya Ya has been repeatedly mentioned in prior analyses; however, Ya Ya's

identity in these discourses has not been clearly identified. In the later stages of the event, the term

"escort" appears in many social media and official media discourses, revealing a sense of Ya Ya's

"extraordinary" status. "Escort" means "to accompany and protect to a certain place, ensuring

personnel or goods are not harmed along the way," indicating that Ya Ya is not categorized as "goods"

but as a "personnel." Historical references, such as in "Romance of the Three Kingdoms," where "Cao

Song wanted to travel, and Tao Qian personally sent him out of the city, specially sending Colonel

Zhang Kai and 500 soldiers to escort," illustrate that those "escorted" often hold high status, typically

linked to political identity. Thus, a fact often overlooked is that from the beginning "living in

America" to being "escorted," Ya Ya has always had significant political implications in this event.

To some extent, Ya Ya is also a political representative.

However, this political role's "extraordinary" nature is diluted by Ya Ya's animal identity as a

panda and further cloaked by "ordinary" through social media and official media's "moe" discourse

construction. Specifically, "ordinary" is achieved through "weakening." Descriptions of Ya Ya's

endearing appearance by social media and "cloud companionship" published by official media,

establishing a "protection" and "care" relationship between netizens and Ya Ya, shape Ya Ya into a

weak identity object through visual and emotional stimulation of "moe." This resonates with Wu

Ming's definition of "moe" in the Chinese context—"moe" entities are not perfect but have

weaknesses and are real, bridging the connection to the ordinary through Ya Ya's weaknesses and

reality. Additionally, "moe" discourse deepens ordinary identity through "selfing." Social media

frequently refers to Ya Ya as "baby" or "child," and addresses themselves as "relatives" or "aunties,"

transforming Ya Ya into a "family member" close to us. Unlike hard and lofty "extraordinary," Ya

Ya is demoted to a weak status while establishing close relations with the ordinary public, becoming

more attractive through "softness and ordinariness," thus distancing from absolute "extraordinary."

6. Conclusion

The research found that the moe discourse practices of official and social media during this incident

share prominent similarities in terms of reproduction and style but differ in spatiotemporal

reproduction and register:

Table 1: The Practice of Moe Discourse in Online Nationalism during the Ya Ya Incident

Similarities

Differences

Official

Media

Hifting factual evidence､

Performance of legitimacy､

Extraordinary normalization

Fractured representation of space and

time､Animal news

Social Media

Continuous representation of space and

time､the call of moe

The operation of moe discourse also highlights a form of "proxy agency." Cute animals,

constructed by official and social media, became flexible discourse resources in online nationalist

events. The "agency" of the panda Ya Ya as the subject of cute performance is actually false; its

behavioral state is freely woven into political propaganda and emotional appeals by both official and

social media, yet it is objectified and purified through the apparent "agency" of the animal subject.

Wu Ming emphasized the unidirectionality of "cute creatures" at the visual level, introducing the

concept of "soft politics." This study further expands the interpretation of the operational mechanism

of such "soft politics of cuteness." First, the unidirectional power relationship between "cute

Proceedings of ICADSS 2024 Workshop: International Forum on Intelligent Communication and Media Transformation

DOI: 10.54254/2753-7064/36/2024BJ0023

creatures" and the audience is not only manifested visually but also directly in their lack of

subjectivity in event participation. This lack is expressed as a form of "detachment": Ya Ya's role in

the Ya Ya incident is unrelated to Ya Ya itself; as a panda, Ya Ya becomes a floating signifier,

arbitrarily interpreted and spoken of by social and official media in the human world. Therefore, the

strong applicability of cuteness as a political discourse resource is worth caution. Second, the

"cuteness" of "cute creatures" in political events naturally aligns with contemporary imaginations of

the "perfect political figure," characterized by "weakness" and "approachability" beyond authority.

Ya Ya's once weakened subjectivity in the event participation was recognized and acknowledged on

the biological entity of "panda," transforming into a "lovable" political representative. While this

affection radiates to the overall political power, the true political subject behind it remains hidden.

Furthermore, the political implications of "proxy agency" also lie in the relationship between humans

and objects/creatures. How to genuinely endow the actors of objects with a status of "having agency"

and ensure this agency is truly recognized and reproduced will be a more profound issue.

However, the operation of soft emotions in online nationalism often remains in an "incomplete"

state with no clear outcome, becoming a kind of "emotion machine running idle." Owing to the

fictional nature of 'moe' discourse, the related discursive practices gain considerable flexibility and

malleability, such as the "cute-style appeals" in register, the "morality of cuteness," and "protests of

cuteness" in style. However, unlike previous online nationalist events, which typically had strong

(often unattainable) demands and objectives, the demands in the YaYa incident exist in a gray area.

Throughout the event, the online nationalism constructed through national identity and adversarial

sentiments ostensibly demands the return of YaYa by the American side and the homecoming of

YaYa to China. Yet, due to the expiration of the pre-existing agreement with the American side and

the lack of divergent opinions on the matter, this demand does not necessitate "struggle" to be fulfilled.

This is particularly evident in discursive practices such as the self-directed "protests of cuteness" and

"moe appeals" lacking any directives for action. On both the creation and reception levels, soft

emotions can efficiently stimulate national sentiment. However, this "emotion machine" runs idle,

disconnected from the broader "action machine" of online nationalism. In this incident, the soft

emotions represented by 'moe' discourse seem to become repeatedly created and consumed emotional

commodities. Both the netizen community and officials exhibit a strong enthusiasm for "creating

'struggle'" and being emotionally moved by cuteness. The exact nature of the products generated by

this "idle emotion machine" warrants further investigation.

References

[1] Wang, J. (2006). Analysis of Contemporary China's Cyber Nationalism [J]. World Economy and Politics, (02), 22-

29+4.

[2] Liu, H. (2017). Loving the Nation like Loving a Pop Idol: The Birth of "Fan Nationalism" in New Media [J]. Modern

Communication (Journal of Communication University of China), 39(04), 27-36.

[3] Guo, X., & Yang, S. (2016). Meme-Like Dissemination and Consensus Mobilization in Cyber Nationalism

Movements [J]. International Journalism, 38(11), 54-74. DOI: 10.13495/j.cnki.cjjc.2016.11.004.

[4] Yao, W. (2023). The Aesthetic and Cultural Expression of "Moe": Youth's Use of Animal Emojis and Their Visual

Cultural Practice [J]. Journalism & Writing, (02), 96-105.

[5] Zhou, X., Tan, Y., & Song, S. (2005). Preliminary Comparison of Behavior and Habits of Captive Giant Pandas in

Enclosures and Semi-Wild Conditions [J]. Sichuan Journal of Zoology, (02), 143-146+120.

Proceedings of ICADSS 2024 Workshop: International Forum on Intelligent Communication and Media Transformation

DOI: 10.54254/2753-7064/36/2024BJ0023

A Systematic Review of Public Relations Research in the

Context of Artificial Intelligence

Xinyu Zhao1,a,*

1MinZu University of China, Beijing, China

a. zzxy0717@163.com

*corresponding author

Abstract: In the context of the rapid development of artificial intelligence technology, this

article provides a systematic review of public relations research in the context of artificial

intelligence to provide valuable references for future public relations research and practice.

Collect literature data from CNKI, use systematic review methods to select literature that

meets the standards, and sort and summarize it from four dimensions: application background,

application scenarios, challenges faced, and response measures. Research has found that

currently, applying artificial intelligence technology to public relations practice has become

a basic consensus in academia; The paradigm of public relations research in the era of

artificial intelligence has changed; In the short term, artificial intelligence technology will not

completely replace public relations personnel; The measures for responding to public

relations in the era of artificial intelligence can be summarized and divided into two levels:

theoretical and practical. In the future, it is necessary to further explore and improve public

relations theories related to artificial intelligence, construct new analytical frameworks and

research methods to adapt to the changes brought about by technology.

Keywords: Public relations, Digital public relations, Artificial intelligence, Intelligent

technology, Product marketing.

1. Introduction

The development of public relations practice is closely related to technology. After the rapid

development of intelligent technology, the emergence and application of ChatGPT[1]and Sora

[2]released by Open Artificial Intelligence in 2022, as well as a series of artificial intelligence

technologies, have attracted the attention of public relations practitioners and scholars. Academic

circles and industry associations have also held large-scale conferences recently to explore the impact

of artificial intelligence technology on public relations. For example, the 2023 China Public Relations

Development Conference was held in Beijing, focusing on the theme of "high-quality development

of public relations services" [3]. The first China Public Relations Lecture hosted by the China Public

Relations Association was also held in Beijing, delving into the new changes that artificial

intelligence brings to the field of public relations and grasping the new trends in the development of

the public relations industry[4].

Recent research indicates that an increasing number of public relations practitioners are adopting

artificial intelligence technologies such as intelligent robots, Chatgpt, and Sora as tools for

communicating with stakeholders. Empirical research data also indicates that intelligent technology

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(https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).

not only provides additional channels for public relations practitioners to convey information to

stakeholders[5], but also liberates labor resources, allowing public relations professionals to focus

Sponsored by the

Kawai Hayao

Foundation

Shinchōsha only

provides the

publishing platform

Shinchōsha’s internal literary awards cover almost the entire spectrum of Japan’s literary award

system and are highly prestigious. These include the Shinchō Newcomer Prize, which is a public

award for newcomers; the Mishima Yukio Prize and Yamamoto Shūgorō Prize, representing

newcomer awards; and the Kawabata Yasunari Prize, categorized as an achievement award. In

addition, there are genre-specific awards such as the Japan Fantasy Novel Award for fantasy novels,

the Shinchō Mystery Grand Prize for mystery novels, and the R-18 Literature Prize, which is

specifically for works by female authors. While maintaining the high quality of mainstream literary

awards, the publisher continues to explore new awards based on current content trends. This not only

encourages the creation of a wider range of literary forms but also helps the publisher build its brand

and reputation, thus supporting the marketing of each work and every author.

Table 2: (continued).

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124

4.2. The Prestige of Japanese Magazines and Rankings

In addition to mainstream literary awards led by publishers and experts, Japan also has many rankings

driven by readers and sales, marking further exploration in the field. "If judged by the sheer number,

the most successful award in terms of sales today is the Bookstore Grand Prize." The Bookstore Grand

Prize was established in 2003 as a "popular literature prize" by a group of bookstore staff. Any

employee working in a bookstore in Japan, whether full-time, intern, or part-time, is eligible to vote.

In contrast to professional awards, where authors are the primary judges and literary value is

emphasized, the purpose of the Bookstore Grand Prize is for bookstore staff—the group most familiar

with books as commodities and with readers as consumers—to select books that will appeal to the

general public and achieve commercial success.

On the other hand, with the widespread adoption and development of the internet, Japanese

magazines have gradually transitioned to digital and online formats. Major magazine institutions have

set up their own official websites and social media accounts, using online platforms to publish content,

engage in interactive discussions, and attract readers. In addition to traditional distribution channels,

Japanese magazines are also disseminated through bookstores, convenience stores, subway ads,

outdoor advertisements, and other media. These channels provide more exposure and opportunities

to reach potential readers, which is why the current Japanese magazine market remains prosperous.

It covers a wide range of fields including fashion, lifestyle, entertainment, and news, with many

magazines boasting large circulation numbers and vast readerships, giving them significant reach and

influence. For instance, the magazines under Japan’s three major newspapers, Yomiuri Shimbun,

Asahi Shimbun, and Mainichi Shimbun; fashion magazines such as Vogue Japan and Non-no, which

lead the latest trends in clothing, cosmetics, and beauty; and news and entertainment magazines like

Shūkan Bunshun and Shūkan Gendai, which report on social hot topics and entertainment gossip to

satisfy readers’ information needs and curiosity—all enjoy considerable recognition and influence in

their respective fields. Each major magazine holds annual ranking polls based on its content, engaging

readers through interactive voting. Golden Slumbers not only won the 21st Yamamoto Shūgorō Prize,

a mainstream literary award, but also the 5th Bookstore Grand Prize, ranked second in Shūkan

Bunshun’s mystery novel list for the year, and was the second-best book of the year in Da Vinci

magazine, earning a strong reputation among the general public.

4.3. Preferences for Film Adaptations and Cross-Industry Collaborations

The novel Golden Slumbers was first published in 2007, and its Japanese film adaptation was released

on January 30, 2010. Simultaneously, the book was reissued, and to date, sales of the Japanese edition

have surpassed 1.14 million copies. In 2018, the South Korean film adaptation of Golden Slumbers,

based on the novel by Kōtarō Isaka, was also released.

There is a certain correlation between Japanese literary awards and film adaptations. For example,

books that have won the Edogawa Rampo Prize, the Naoki Prize, the Akutagawa Prize, and the Japan

Booksellers’ Award are often favored for adaptation into films or TV dramas. Works that win the

Edogawa Rampo Prize benefit from the prestigious standing of the award in the mystery genre and

the high quality of its winning entries. Many authors who have won this prize have grown into masters

of the mystery genre, and their works are frequently adapted into films or television series. In 1985,

Keigo Higashino won the 31st Edogawa Rampo Prize with Houkago (はうかご), which was later

adapted into a film, thus bringing him into the public eye and launching his career as a professional

writer. Several of his subsequent works, such as Miracles of the Namiya General Store (ﾅﾐﾔ雑貨店

の奇蹟) and Journey Under the Midnight Sun (びゃくやこう), have also been adapted into films or

TV dramas, receiving widespread attention and praise globally. In 2001, Kazuaki Takano’s debut

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novel 13 Kaidan (13 階段), which won the 47th Edogawa Rampo Prize, was adapted into a film due

to its unique subject matter and compelling plot. Other notable examples include Nô Otoko (脳男) by

Urio Shudo and Senseijutsu-teki Satsujin Mahō (占星術殺人事件) by Shūgorō Shimada. These

works, after being adapted for the screen, often retain the essence of the original while attracting a

larger audience through the medium of film.

The Naoki Prize primarily recognizes writers who have made significant contributions to popular

literature, and its wide readership has led to many of its award-winning works being successfully

adapted into films or TV dramas. These adaptations span various themes and styles, ranging from

mystery and suspense to social realism, love stories, and historical epics. For example, the popular

TV drama Hanzawa Naoki (半沢直樹ｼﾘｰｽﾞ), directed by Katsuo Fukuzawa and starring Masato

Sakai and Aya Ueto, is based on Jun Ikeido’s Naoki Prize-winning novels Ore-tachi baburu nyūkō-

gumi (ｵﾚたちﾊﾞﾌﾞﾙ入行組) and Ore Tachi Hana No Baburu zǔ (ｵﾚたち花のﾊﾞﾌﾞﾙ组). This drama

became a sensational hit in Japan. Keigo Higashino’s The Devotion of Suspect X (容疑者 Xの献身)

and Shion Miura’s Tada's Do-It-All House (まほろ駅前多田便利軒) are other standouts among

Naoki Prize-winning works. Their adaptations have not only achieved great success in Japan but also

gained considerable recognition and influence internationally.

The Akutagawa Prize, Japan’s most prestigious award for pure literature, is known for its literary

merit and artistic depth, with many of its winning works being adapted into films, presenting their

unique styles and profound themes in a more accessible visual format for readers and viewers alike.

Notable examples include Kazoku Cinema by Yu Miri (1998), Buta no mukui (豚の報い) by Yūki

Hiyama (1999), Gerumaniumunoyoru (ｹﾞﾙﾏﾆｳﾑの夜) by Kazuki Hanamura (2005), Snakes and

Earrings (蛇にﾋﾟｱｽ) by Hitomi Kanehara (2008), Kueki Ressha (苦役列車) by Kenji Nishimura

(2012), Tomogui (共喰い相残) by Shinya Tanaka (2013), and Spark (火花ひばな) by Naoki

Matayoshi (2017), all of which garnered widespread attention and acclaim.

In addition to the aforementioned mainstream literary awards, the Japan Booksellers’ Award,

chosen by representatives of bookstores across Japan (including online bookstores), has also seen its

winning works frequently adapted into films due to their surging popularity. For instance, Hitsuji To

Hagane No Mori (羊と鋼の森), which won first place in the 2016 Japan Booksellers’ Award, was

adapted into a film directed by Kōjirō Hashimoto, with a cast that included Kento Yamazaki and

veteran actor Tomokazu Miura. Nagi’s Soshite, Baton Wa Watasa Reta (そして､ﾊﾞﾄﾝは渡された),

the 2019 winner of the Japan Booksellers’ Award, was adapted into a film starring Satomi Ishihara,

Kei Tanaka, and Mei Nagano, released on October 29, 2021, in Japan. The 2020 Japan Booksellers’

Award-winning novel My Beautiful Man (美しい彼) by Nagira Yū was adapted into a TV drama

starring Riku Hagiwara and Yūsei Yagi from FANTASTICS from EXILE TRIBE, which premiered

on MBS on November 18, 2021.

Moreover, many other literary award-winning works, such as those that have won the Mishima

Yukio Prize and the Yoshikawa Eiji Literary Prize, have been adapted into films, further expanding

their influence and reach through various media platforms and spreading the charm and value of

Japanese literature to a broader audience.

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5. Discussion

5.1. The Relationship Between the Literary Award System and the Marketing of Authors

and Their Works

Japan’s current literary award system can be broadly divided into two categories. One category

consists of mainstream literary awards hosted by publishers and various writers’ associations, such

as the Akutagawa Prize and the Naoki Prize. The other category includes rankings or awards

generated spontaneously by the public’s votes, such as the Japan Bookstore Prize and various annual

lists from magazines and websites. Thus, the entire literary award system is tree-like in its

development, centered around mainstream literary awards while allowing various types of literature

to explore and voice opinions, enriching both popularity and interest while ensuring the high quality

of mainstream literature.

Currently, the domestic literary award system shows signs of stagnation. Well-known awards such

as the Lu Xun Literary Prize, the Mao Dun Literary Prize, and the Lao She Literary Prize all belong

to mainstream literary awards. Although there are also awards targeting specific literary fields, such

as the Galaxy Award for fantasy literature and the Fu Lei Translation and Publishing Award for

foreign translations, these still function as "indicators of high culture" like the Chinese Literature

Media Award. Only spontaneous grassroots organizations, such as Douban and various online novel

platform rankings, have emerged, but except for Douban’s recognized quality, others exhibit uneven

standards and have yet to form widely recognized grassroots literary awards.

As judges of literary quality and gatekeepers of reader choices, literary awards play a significant

role in the development of publishers and the marketing of authors and their works. On one hand,

excellent literary awards require long-term brand building and reputation accumulation. However,

high-quality literary awards and rankings can provide feedback to publishers and authors. For

example, Shinchosha has developed a comprehensive literary award system with high-quality awards

such as the Mishima Yukio Prize, the Yamamoto Shūgorō Prize, and the Kawabata Yasunari Prize,

while also establishing new awards like the Shincho Mystery Prize and the R-18 Literary Prize in

response to contemporary needs. This approach maintains award quality while promoting works like

Isaka Kotaro’s Golden Slumbers, allowing it to leverage its high-quality reputation from the start,

attracting substantial media attention and audience recognition.

5.2. Various Forms and Media to Enhance Dissemination and Word-of-Mouth Marketing

Isaka Kotaro himself has a certain level of recognition. Firstly, his works cover a wide range of themes,

feature unique perspectives, and demonstrate profound literary skill. Unlike Haruki Murakami’s

nihilism and detachment or Higashino Keigo’s suspense and exploration of human nature, Isaka

Kotaro’s works are known for their passion, courage, and healing style. This unique stylistic

positioning allows him to stand out among many authors, and all his published works maintain

extremely high standards, laying the foundation for subsequent marketing efforts. After publishing

Golden Slumbers, Shinchosha did not limit its focus to mainstream literary awards; instead, it actively

explored various grassroots awards as well as rankings from magazines and websites, achieving good

results due to their excellent content. This also garnered extensive media attention and coverage in

Japan. At the same time, they actively engaged with readers on social networks, continuously

expanding his readership and increasing interest in his books.

On the other hand, Shinchosha is actively exploring external publishing and film adaptations and

is working to introduce corresponding marketing activities in conjunction with foreign markets. For

instance, in 2016, Nankai Publishing launched a new version of Golden Slumbers. In August of the

same year, Isaka Kotaro attended the Shanghai Book Fair in China, where he engaged in friendly

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exchanges with readers and participated in media interviews. His works have consistently received

positive ratings and reviews on the Douban platform. In February 2022, Isaka Kotaro opened a

Douban account, interacting with Chinese readers and answering their questions in discussion posts.

5.3. Up-to-Date Marketing Strategies

In Japan, Isaka Kotaro is regarded as a writer on par with Haruki Murakami and Higashino Keigo.

However, the impact, influence, and level of discussion surrounding him and his works do not seem

to match the quality of his writings. A review of his entire publishing history and marketing strategies

reveals that due to his early publishing date and only one reissue in Japan, his subsequent marketing

activities display a sense of insufficient momentum. The overall marketing process relies heavily on

traditional literary awards to gain fame, while film adaptations and external publishing further expand

the audience range. However, there is a noticeable lack of engagement with new media technologies

and social media applications both domestically and abroad. Given the author’s considerable fame

and the high quality of his works, it is crucial to consider how to leverage various social media

platforms for promotion and interaction and how to combine online and offline models to refresh

marketing strategies. This is an area for future consideration for both Golden Slumbers and its author,

Isaka Kotaro, in further expanding their influence.

References

[1] Zhang, L. (2014). A study on the reception of Japanese detective fiction in China since the new century [Master’s

thesis, Anhui University]. Anhui University Repository.

[2] Sina. (2010, May 17). Desert gives you an unforgettable feeling. Retrieved from

https://sh.sina.com.cn/book/new/2010-05-17/1116307.html

[3] Liu, J. (2019). Research on the influence and reputation of literary awards [Master’s thesis, University of

International Business and Economics]. University of International Business and Economics Repository.

[4] Yang, J. (2007). Literary awards in the context of cultural consumption. Yangtze River Review, 3, 35–38.

[5] Chen, D. (n.d.). Major literary awards in Japan. Retrieved from https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/15q-Xm5oJe0xTcW-

DsZD6w

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Research on the Marketing Strategies of International

Bestsellers in the Digital Age: A Case Study of It Ends with

Yanhua Qin1, Fengyi Wang1,a,*

1School of Journalism and Communication, Beijing Normal University, No. 19 Xin Jie Kou Wai

Street, Haidian District, Beijing, China

a. 641616822@qq.com

*corresponding author

Abstract: In the digital age, the rapid development of new technologies and new media has

introduced fresh ideas for book marketing by publishers. It has become increasingly

important for publishers to utilize new media and technology, understand the strengths and

preferred content of various platforms, and develop targeted marketing strategies. The

advantages of online marketing, such as timeliness, diversity, strong social interactions, quick

feedback, and the ability to integrate with offline activities, can be leveraged to activate user

engagement, enhance emotional investment from fans, and strengthen the connection

between fans, books, and authors. Using the international bestseller It Ends with Us as a case

study, this paper explores new pathways for marketing bestsellers in the digital era.

Keywords: Digital age, new media, bestseller, marketing.

1. Introduction

It Ends with Us is a popular novel that explores the themes of how to love and be loved. The central

themes of the novel are "female empowerment" and "domestic violence," with the title conveying the

message "It (domestic violence) ends with us."

The protagonist, Lily, witnessed her father abusing her mother during her childhood, leaving her

with deep psychological scars. As a result, Lily grows up with a heightened sense of caution towards

love and marriage. By chance, Lily meets a neurosurgeon named Ryle on a rooftop, and the two fall

madly in love, despite not knowing much about each other, and soon commit to spending their lives

together. Lily believes she has escaped the shadow of her family’s past and that Ryle is the right

choice for her, until she finds herself reliving her mother's experience—becoming a victim of

domestic violence. Lily is both horrified by the parallels between her experience and her mother's,

and desperately hopes that Ryle is different from her father. Although Lily finds domestic violence

completely unacceptable, she continues to forgive Ryle repeatedly after each incident. When Ryle

abuses her for the third time, Lily discovers that she is pregnant. She suddenly realizes that if she does

not make the right choice, the terrible cycle may repeat itself with her child. Finally, Lily bravely

chooses to divorce Ryle and finds love and stability with Atlas, a man she had met and been protected

by since her youth.

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Colleen Hoover, the author of It Ends with Us, commented on Goodreads about the book: "This

book is really heavy. If you rip out most of the pages, it won’t be as heavy. But when you do that, the

book loses all meaning." There is no doubt that the subject of domestic violence is extremely heavy,

but when you have the courage to refuse to sink into the nightmare and bravely jump out of it, a new

life begins for both you and future generations.

Colleen Hoover is a renowned American female novelist. She was born on December 11, 1979, in

Sulphur Springs, Texas, and grew up in the small town of Desceltiaux, Texas. She has won multiple

literary awards, including the Goodreads Choice Award and Best Romance Novel, which are among

the most popular reader-voted awards from the world’s largest online reading community. As

described in Colleen Hoover's personal profile on Goodreads: "I don’t like being confined to one

genre. If you put me in a box, I’ll climb out myself." Her works span various genres, including

romance, emotional novels, and young adult fiction.

Colleen Hoover initially started as a self-published author, releasing her debut e-book in January

2012 through the "Amazon Self-Publishing Program." Within just a few months, the book received

widespread praise and became a viral hit through word-of-mouth and enthusiastic reviews on social

media platforms, solidifying her status as a true internet sensation.

According to Publishers Weekly, Colleen Hoover dominated the top three spots on the 2022

bestseller list. Publishers Weekly even referred to her as the "Queen of the 2022 Bestseller List." [1]

The American film and book magazine Vulture praised Colleen Hoover as a gift to the American

publishing industry from God, noting that her books kept printing presses busy. The bestselling author

who "dominated the charts" in 2022, Colleen Hoover, continued to reign over the 2023 bestseller list

as well.

On the international version of TikTok, a community of book and literature enthusiasts known as

"BookTok" is often referred to as a "bestseller-making machine," and Colleen Hoover is hailed as the

"Queen of BookTok." She is also the most followed author on the book review website Goodreads.

Currently, Colleen Hoover has more than 1.3 million followers on TikTok. In addition to being a

writer, she is the founder of The Bookworm Box, a subscription service that sends books and other

book-related items to subscribers every month. The profits from The Bookworm Box are regularly

donated to various charities.

The publisher of the English edition of It Ends with Us is Atria Books. Since its launch in 2002,

Atria has published hundreds of bestsellers, including a wide range of genres such as commercial and

literary fiction, mystery and thrillers, narrative non-fiction, politics and pop culture, science, personal

development, and spirituality.

Atria is committed to publishing works from a variety of literary styles and cultural backgrounds,

encouraging and supporting innovative and experimental literary works. The publishing house’s

openness to emerging literary styles and themes has made it a preferred partner for many authors. As

stated on their official website, Atria fosters an environment where creativity thrives, best-selling

authors rise to new heights, and the best voices of tomorrow are discovered and nurtured. The

publishing house places great emphasis on the diversity and inclusiveness of literary works, striving

to provide a platform for more diverse authors to publish and shine. Atria has already published many

bestsellers, whose success has not only enhanced the reputation of the publisher but also established

a solid base of loyal readers.

In terms of marketing, Atria Books actively adopts digital publishing technologies and constantly

experiments with new strategies in market promotion. The company makes extensive use of social

media and online platforms to engage with readers while closely collaborating with bookstores and

other partners to promote their works.

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According to data from Goodreads, It Ends with Us was first released on August 2, 2016, and won

the 2016 Goodreads Choice Award for Best Romance Novel. As of April 22, 2024, nearly 3.35

million readers have rated the book, and almost 250,000 readers have written reviews.

According to incomplete statistics from the international market research company NPD Group,

Colleen Hoover sold over 14 million books in 2022. Of the top 25 books on the bestseller list, eight

were authored by Hoover, with It Ends with Us and Verity each selling over 2 million copies. [2] As

reported by Publishers Weekly, Colleen Hoover, who dominated the bestseller charts in 2022,

continued to reign in 2023, with It Ends with Us securing the top spot in English book sales for 2023.

Currently, It Ends with Us has been translated into more than 20 languages worldwide. On Amazon

in the United States, the book has garnered over 240,000 five-star reviews, with a five-star rating

percentage as high as 78%.

A film adaptation of the novel is currently in production, with Hollywood actress Blake Lively set

to star as the protagonist, Lily Bloom.

2. Marketing Strategy of It Ends with Us

2.1. Riding the Wave: Spontaneous Promotion by Readers on Social Media

Most bestsellers rely on two major factors: the author’s fame, which naturally attracts attention, and

continuous exposure of the book through various channels such as television programs. However,

many of today's bestsellers have taken a different path, gaining popularity online before transitioning

to offline success. Slate Magazine believes that social media played a crucial role in the rise of It

Ends with Us. "BookTok" (#BookTok) is one of the most popular book-related topics on TikTok, and

Colleen Hoover is one of the most frequently mentioned authors within this topic.

The trend of book sharing on TikTok began during the COVID-19 pandemic, giving rise to the

"BookTok" channel, which brought emotional comfort and thoughtful reflection to people during

those difficult times. Numerous publishers and booksellers quickly seized this market opportunity,

actively collaborating with high-profile influencers, inviting them to preview new books and promote

them through videos once they were released. For example, Penguin Random House successfully

utilized the BookTok platform to achieve significant revenue growth. Social media marketing and

promotion have increasingly become vital channels for online promotion, playing a key role in

creating bestsellers for the global book sales industry. [3]

BookTok is the hub for book- and literature-related videos on TikTok, where users can share their

favorite books. This form of video sharing has garnered massive attention on the TikTok platform,

and many books have regained exposure through these shared videos, sparking consumer purchases.

James Stafford, TikTok’s Head of Partnerships and Community, believes that BookTok is a

community made up of "creative individuals from around the world who share a common passion for

literature." As of November 10, 2022, videos under the #BookTok hashtag had accumulated more

than 88.3 billion views. [4]

Short videos on BookTok that share good books have propelled many new and great books to

bestseller status, directly influencing the fate of It Ends with Us. Although the book debuted on the

bestseller list in its first week, subsequent sales were lackluster, with weekly sales remaining below

triple digits. It wasn't until the summer of 2021 that sales surged, with an average weekly sales of

17,000 copies for the paperback edition. Notably, during the week of August 14, sales soared to

29,000 copies, once again leading the bestseller trend. This boom was largely attributed to a video

posted on BookTok in March 2021 by a 17-year-old girl named Eloise Hampson, who shared her

emotional experience reading the paperback edition of It Ends with Us. In the video, she gazed at the

book’s pages in melancholy, sighed, buried her face in her hands, and shook as tears flowed

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uncontrollably. The somber background music enveloped not only the girl but also resonated with

countless viewers in front of their screens.

From that moment on, It Ends with Us and Colleen Hoover began to dominate BookTok. Atria

Books quickly seized the opportunity, posting related short videos on their TikTok homepage. With

the strong promotion on social media, It Ends with Us sold 12.5 million copies in 2022 alone. As of

now, the related hashtags on TikTok have garnered over 1 billion views.

2.2. Leveraging Personal Branding: Strengthening Fan Loyalty and Purchasing Power

As a novelist who benefits from the power of the internet, Colleen Hoover, like many non-traditional

authors, places great emphasis on cultivating her personal brand and maintaining close relationships

with her fans.

Hoover’s success is no accident. As early as 2016, she keenly recognized the power of social media

and created a Facebook fan group called Colleen Hoover’s CoHort for her followers. The group has

since grown to over 118,000 members. In this community, which upholds strict "kindness" and

"respect" policies, fans exchange book recommendations, share photos of Hoover's books displayed

in various stores, and arrange to send each other fan memorabilia and special editions of books. In

addition to her active and engaged Facebook group, Hoover has 1.3 million followers on Instagram

and over 870,000 followers on TikTok. She excels at crafting her social media accounts from a

relatable and fun perspective, giving fans the experience of being friends with her.

For Hoover’s publisher, Atria, the explosive growth of word-of-mouth on social media has

validated their decade-long belief in Hoover. In 2012, Atria first signed a two-book deal with her,

which included her self-published debut novel. Ariele Fredman, the publicity and marketing director

for It Begins With Us, mentioned that Hoover’s fans play an important role in her writing. Fredman

noted: "She wanted to give Atlas and Lily a happy ending, and I truly believe she did. Colleen has all

these advocates on social media—on Facebook, Instagram—real romance readers who are her

evangelists."

Colleen Hoover places great importance on readers' opinions and feedback. Atria Books had

originally planned to release a spin-off picture book, but this decision was met with criticism from

the book community and readers. After all, It Ends with Us is a novel about domestic violence—how

can that subject be portrayed with color? Fortunately, Colleen Hoover listened to the criticism, and

the day after the official announcement, Hoover and her publishing team at Atria decided to halt the

project. Hoover apologized on Instagram, saying, "I heard you, and I agree with you. No excuses, no

blaming. I’ve contacted the publisher to let them know I’d prefer we not move forward with it. Thank

you for your respectful discourse and accountability. Nothing but love." [5] This sensitivity to reader

feedback allowed Hoover to avoid a potential crisis. To some extent, Hoover has successfully made

readers feel that she is their friend—someone who listens to their opinions and needs their support.

Hoover’s commitment to personal branding is also reflected in her charitable efforts. Since

publishing her first novel, she has received immense support from her readers, which led her to seek

ways to give back to society. In 2015, Hoover and her family founded The Bookworm Box, which

helps independent authors gain exposure, provides readers with high-quality books, and financially

supports numerous charities. The Bookworm Box hosts an annual book signing event, inviting

hundreds of authors to participate; it also holds an annual auction to raise funds for food banks and

other charitable organizations. To date, The Bookworm Box has donated over $1 million to help those

in need.

Colleen Hoover is not afraid of being "labeled"; she embraces her identity and uses her personal

brand to drive book sales and expand her own business empire. She understands that in today’s social

media-driven and digital era, the power of personal branding is more important than ever before. Thus,

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she has devoted her energy to creating an impressive brand—one that is not just her name but a perfect

combination of her image, values, and style.

2.3. Innovative Approach: Eye-Catching Online and Offline Events Boosting Engagement

and Traffic

Colleen Hoover always knows how to make a splash at her book launch events. She employs various

strategies to stir excitement and anticipation among fans and potential readers, such as exclusive

sneak peeks and interactive countdowns on social media. By involving the audience in the launch

process, she creates a sense of exclusivity and urgency. These efforts elevate the book's buzz to its

peak, significantly increasing pre-orders and laying a solid foundation for her new book to reach

bestseller status.

When marketing her books, Hoover is not afraid to break the mold, consistently hosting unique

and innovative events that capture attention. Whether organizing fan contests, hosting live Q&A

sessions, or collaborating with charitable organizations, she always finds creative ways to engage

audiences and promote her works. These creative marketing activities not only attract readers but also

garner media coverage, further boosting the book's visibility. While promoting her book series It

Begins With Us, Hoover and her marketing team used the rising photo-sharing platform BeReal for

promotion. She encouraged readers to comment for a chance to receive a signed copy of the book,

and 40,500 users responded to the campaign. Although Hoover uses social media as her primary

marketing battleground, she and her marketing team have not neglected offline events; instead, they

seek to bring readers together whenever possible. After the Lily Bloom bookstore pop-up event at

New York’s Rockefeller Center, Waterstones in the UK created a similar immersive experience to

celebrate the book’s release in the UK. These themed events partnered with local creators, including

pop-up workshops where readers could make their own flower crowns, design their own book covers,

and replicate character Lily Bloom’s henna tattoos. Each participating Waterstones store offered

custom tote bags filled with themed merchandise for attendees to take home, encouraging visitors to

become readers and potential long-term fans. Moreover, event attendees could purchase exclusive

merchandise and special editions of the book, drawing countless Hoover fans eager to make purchases.

The accelerated shift of the publishing industry towards online channels is an inevitable trend, and

for some publishers, the role of physical channels has become more about showcasing rather than

direct sales. The display function of physical bookstores compensates for the sense of distance

inherent in online marketing. Bookstores are not only places to sell books but also crucial channels

for cultivating potential readers, strengthening fan loyalty, and building fan communities. No matter

how successful online marketing becomes, offline marketing should not be neglected, and both

Colleen Hoover and Atria Books understand this well.

3. Insights from the Success of It Ends with Us

3.1. Platforms Reshape the Relationship Between Publishers and Book Content Creators

Take the BookTok topic as an example: BookTok has become a significant reference point for

determining which books get published and which books are adapted into films. Since 2020, millions

of books have been sold directly through BookTok, hundreds of trending topics surrounding new

book releases have emerged, and an organic word-of-mouth book marketing structure is taking shape.

BookTok brings together individuals of various identities, including authors, readers, and critics,

forming an independent TikTok community that has transformed the way literary works are published

and redefined the relationship between the publishing industry and book content creators. In the past,

book retailers introduced new authors to readers. Now, publishers learn about phenomenon-level

authors from readers, take note of exciting videos about upcoming books, and compete for regional

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publishing rights. Meanwhile, on BookTok, authors can easily adjust and customize content for

specific niche audiences, bringing their new books to the attention of readers or pushing already

published books back to the top of bestseller lists. Madi Lim, a 23-year-old BookTok user, mentioned

that she posts short book reviews, creates book-related memos, and has launched a BookTok news

section, aiming to help diversify the development of books on TikTok. Lim said, "The only thing we

can truly control is that we keep promoting, diversifying, and personalizing our bookshelves. When

we successfully showcase and elevate other titles and related discussions, just as we did with

'mainstream books' in the past, the publishing world will take notice." BookTok not only fosters

communication between authors and readers but also shortens the distance between the publishing

industry and readers. Readers, in addition to being consumers, also assume the roles of editors and

marketers.

The reshaping of the relationship between platforms, the publishing industry, and content creators

is not limited to the category of popular fiction. In recent years, the rapid development of paid

knowledge services has given rise to many "internet celebrity courses," bringing considerable

economic returns to both platforms and instructors. These general knowledge courses, offered online

and later adapted into books, are not directly written by the authors or derived from their lecture notes.

Instead, they undergo market validation by the online platform and its users, and only after being

deemed worthy of publication by the publisher are they planned, revised, edited, and produced.[6] In

the history of publishing, there have been numerous examples of books adapted from courses or

lectures, or of writing books designed as lecture notes. Today, platform media serve as both

intermediaries between scholars and book publishers, facilitating the flow of knowledge between

instructors and learners, and as initial evaluators for publishers, assessing the flow and quality of

content.

To capitalize on this, publishers can take two main approaches to promote their books, making

effective use of public traffic channels. On the one hand, publishers can invite authors to share short

videos about the book's creative process, inspiration, and behind-the-scenes stories, showcasing the

book’s "readability." On the other hand, publishers can encourage users to share their reading

experiences and insights through short videos, launching related hashtags to highlight the

"writability" of the book, facilitating interaction between authors and readers.

Publishers should regularly update content on social media and platforms, maintaining good

interaction with readers by releasing new book previews, bestseller lists, and book pre-order services.

This can help channel traffic from the public domain to the publisher’s private domain, transforming

traditional public traffic into private traffic and creating a dedicated private traffic pool. Additionally,

publishers can use online accounts to announce offline events such as exhibitions and bestseller

discussion sessions. By relying on physical bookstores and book salons, they can facilitate the flow

of offline public domain traffic into the online private domain.

3.2. The "Mainstreaming Trend" of Romance Novels Strengthens, Becoming a New Driver

for Physical Book Sales

According to Publishers Weekly's 2022 annual bestseller list, the political-themed bestseller Red

Glove sold approximately 240,000 copies, while another bestseller, Confidence Man, which critiques

former U.S. President Trump, sold over 120,000 copies. Publishers Weekly noted that after nearly

three years of the COVID-19 pandemic and an increasingly divided political environment in the U.S.,

readers tend to escape from unpleasant realities through reading. This form of escapism continues

amid the increasingly volatile international situation and declining economic conditions, influencing

the types of bestsellers.

Notably, while BookTok has sparked a passion for reading among young Americans, it has also

led to the gradual "mainstreaming" of romance novels, with sales growth currently limited to authors

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who have gained popularity on the platform. Caroline Hardman, a literary agent at Hardman and

Swainson, stated: "BookTok has greatly fueled the appetite for romance and ‘romantic fantasy,’ so it

has had a significant influence on what publishers are looking for."[7]

The "mainstreaming trend" of romance novels is strengthening, becoming a new driver for the

purchase of physical books in the U.S. The surge in physical book sales, as opposed to e-book sales,

is largely due to the visual nature of BookTok videos. When young people discuss books on BookTok,

they are showcasing physical copies. E-books lack visual appeal and are not suitable for short video

presentations. A Nielsen report surveyed the reading and buying habits of young people in the UK

(ages 14-25). The results showed that YouTube is the main online platform for discovering books

among young people (34%), followed by TikTok (32%), and Instagram (27%).[8] Readers prefer

sharing their handwritten notes in physical books through videos, flipping through pages to showcase

their favorite passages. It’s also common for videos to feature readers filming themselves reading a

book in a single day in front of a bookshelf filled with hundreds of books.

Unlike ordinary book communities, the reader consumption surge driven by BookTok is now

beyond estimation, particularly within the romance novel category. Additionally, BookTok, relying

on its unique social platform attributes and big data technology, has formed a distinct industry chain

in the book market: content creators attract more readers with eye-catching videos, the platform uses

data from these videos to identify reading market trends, readers follow these trends to purchase

books, and stores stock better products based on these trends. This industry chain has created an

efficient revenue stream for bookstores, significantly impacting the sale of physical books. Gail

Macwhinney, Sales Manager of Australia's largest bookstore chain, Dymocks, remarked, "BookTok

has had a tremendous impact on book sales. Last year, at least half of the top ten books in weekly

rankings were related to BookTok, and in the first quarter of this year, eight out of the top ten

bestsellers were popular works from BookTok." Due to the immense popularity of BookTok books,

Dymocks even created a dedicated BookTok ranking list, and many bookstores in Australia now

regard BookTok as a key indicator of book sales trends.[9]

3.3. The Rising Voices of Female Writers and the Trend Toward Diverse Reading

In recent years, the focus on women's issues has continued to gain momentum, and the power of

female lives, female destinies, and perspectives is increasingly being recognized. The voices of

female authors in the literary world are growing stronger. In 2023, female writers dominated the U.S.

bestseller lists, with seven of the top ten books authored by women. Colleen Hoover, who led sales

in 2022, continued to perform exceptionally well in 2023. It Ends with Us sold approximately 48,000

printed copies, surpassing It Begins with Us to become the best-selling book of the year. Hoover's

third novel, Verity, sold over 935,000 copies. Together, these three books sold a total of

approximately 3.4 million copies on Circana BookScan, a data service for book publishers. Rebecca

Yarros' Fourth Wing and Iron Flame sold around 1.2 million and 1 million copies, respectively. The

third female author with a 2023 bestseller was Bonnie Garmus, whose 2022 novel Lessons in

Chemistry just exceeded 1 million copies in sales, thanks in part to the success of the Apple TV+

series of the same name.[10] Overall, 17 of the 25 best-selling print books of 2023 were written by

women. The sensitivity, storytelling, and unique perspectives of female authors increasingly resonate

with consumers, evoking emotional connections from readers.

Additionally, diversified reading is becoming a new popular trend. Readers are increasingly aware

that traditional media often fail to highlight books from other cultures, which can limit their exposure.

Coco, a 26-year-old born in Somalia and currently residing in the UK, noted that as a member of the

"minority" community, she believes BookTok has created an excellent space "where various cultures

can be seen." Initially, most of the books on her shelf were by white authors, but BookTok introduced

her to many great books by Black authors, as well as Kenyan folklore and novels about the history of

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Chinese dynasties. She stated, "BookTok has opened the world for me; I’ll be a Tokker for life!" [11]

The internet and social media have driven cultural dissemination, making it easier for niche and

minority cultures to enter the public consciousness. Readers' desire to understand more about the

world is growing, and diversified reading has become a new trend.

References

[1] Milliot, J. (2023, January 6). Colleen Hoover was queen of 2022's bestseller list. Publishers Weekly.

https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/bookselling/article/91256-colleen-hoover-was-

queen-of-2022-s-bestseller-list.html

[2] Li, Y. (2023, January 12). “Wanghong zuojia” Kelin Hufu huo shi 2022 nian quanqiu zuishou huanying de zuojia

[“Internet celebrity writer” Colleen Hoover may be the world’s best-selling author in 2022]. Baijiahao.

https://baijiahao.baidu.com/s?id=1754767395419330168

[3] Zhang, Q. (2023). Xin meiti shidai de Meiguo yuedu tuiguang yanjiu [Research on reading promotion in the United

States in the new media era]. Science and Publishing, (10).

[4] Shoptop Brand Overseas Think Tank. (2023, October 9). Hangye jiedu | “Kuxi” jiachi, TikTok zhe yilei mu mai le

60 yi! [Industry interpretation | “Crying scenes” helped TikTok sell 6 billion in this category!].

https://www.10100.com/article/28968

[5] Grindell, S. (2023, January 12). Colleen Hoover’s “tone-deaf” coloring book inspired by her novel about domestic

violence won’t be published after all. Insider. https://www.insider.com/colleen-hoover-it-ends-with-us-coloring-

book-criticism-2023-1

[6] Wang, L. (2024). Cong xianshang ke dao changxiaoshu de kuameijie shengchan—xuezhe wangshang tongshi

kecheng gaibian tushu xianxiang tanxi [From online courses to bestsellers: An analysis of the phenomenon of

adapting scholars’ online general courses into books]. Southeast Communication, (3).

[7] Barnett, D. (2023, August 6). I can’t stress how much BookTok sells: Teen literary influencers swaying publishers.

The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/books/2023/aug/06/i-cant-stress-how-much-booktok-sells-teen-

literary-influencers-swaying-publishers

[8] Huang, Y. (2023, August 12). Zai Yingguo, nianqingren de yuedu quwei bei YouTube he TikTok xingsu [In the UK,

young people’s reading tastes are shaped by YouTube and TikTok]. Jiemian.

https://www.jiemian.com/article/9911426.html

[9] NetEase News. (2023, August 2). TikTok shang de changxiaoshu shenqi BookTok nongchao Aozhou tushu shichang

[The bestselling book tool BookTok on TikTok is riding the wave of Australia’s book market].

https://www.163.com/news/article/IB4QMAG200019UD6.html

[10] Milliot, J. (2024, January 8). Women ruled the 2023 bestseller list. Publishers Weekly.

https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/bookselling/article/94047-women-ruled-the-2023-

bestseller-list.html

[11] Maji. (2022, September 2). TikTok wai “juan,” nongchao Oumei chuban shichang [The “competition” outside of

TikTok is shaking up the European and American publishing markets]. The Paper.

https://www.thepaper.cn/newsDetail_forward_19713484

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Information Stratification: An Understanding of Rural

Governance in the New Media Era

Chang Niu1,a, Hongyan Li2,b, Chunfeng Gao3,c,*

1School of Urban Economics and Management, Beijing University of Civil Engineering and

Architecture, Beijing, China

2College of Humanities and Development Studies, China Agricultural University, Beijing, China

3School of Urban Economics and Management, Beijing University of Civil Engineering and

Architecture, No.15, Yongyuan Road., Beijing, China

a. emilyniuniu@163.com, b. leehy2013@cau.edu.cn, c. chayaniu@163.com

*corresponding author

Abstract: Current research on media governance emphasizes the technological aspect of

"information" as a tool but lacks sufficient attention to the digital transformation of

information subjects. This paper aims to focus on the internal information characteristics of

rural governance in the digital age, thus understanding the changes of rural governance

subjects in the information society under new media contexts. Based on more than a decade

of fieldwork in rural areas of Beijing conducted by the research team, this study employs in-

depth interviews and participant observation in a multi-case study, exploring the structural

representation of rural governance from an information perspective. The research reveals that

in the new media era, rural society, under multiple governance bodies, generates

differentiated information stratification, specifically manifesting as instrumental rational

information in the formal governance layer, proxy implementation information in the semi-

formal governance layer, and livelihood-adaptive information in the informal governance

layer. Among these, the authority-driven governance information in the formal layer is the

core part of the rural governance system. The subjects and structures of information under

multiple governance bodies are interconnected and coexist within the internal field of rural

governance, subsequently driving the centralization of formal governance information, the

collaboration of semi-formal governance information, and the alienation of informal

governance information. This leads to the emergence of orderly information stratification

within the multi-layered governance structure. Information stratification deepens the

explanatory pathway of multi-layered governance in rural social studies and proposes new

perspectives for understanding rural governance issues in the new media era.

Keywords: Information Stratification, Multi-layered Governance, New Media, Rural Areas.

Funding Projects: Key Project of the National Social Science Fund "Research on the Role of New Media in Rural Governance"

(21AZD144); General Project of the National Social Science Fund "Changes in Rural Public Cultural Spaces and Governance

Transformation under Digitalization" (22BSH087).

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1. Introduction

Promoting governance optimization through information development is a guiding principle of

Chinese-style modernization. The report of the 20th National Congress highlights that the

modernization of governance capacity is imperative, emphasizing the need to improve information-

based platforms that support grassroots governance. In the new media era, research on grassroots

governance tends to focus on the technological role of "information" but pays insufficient attention

to the digital transformation of the information subjects. As a key feature of current rural social

governance under the rural revitalization initiative, analyzing multi-layered governance from

different perspectives holds significant theoretical and practical value. Scholars have proposed

numerous related concepts in rural governance research, such as composite governance [1],

collaborative governance [2], cooperative governance [3], multi-actor co-governance [4], and

comprehensive governance [5]. Among these, multi-layered governance places greater emphasis on

the stratification of grassroots social governance. For example, in rural poverty governance, a triadic

pattern of formal, semi-formal, and informal governance was identified [6]. This stratified perspective

of governance, based on relationships, differs from traditional perspectives of economic or social

stratification. Traditional views tend to focus on the influence of class on social structure, for instance,

recognizing the interrelated nature of economic factors and social governance structures [7],

suggesting that economic differentiation leads to social stratification, which in turn creates new social

structures [8]. The stratified perspective of multi-layered governance, however, places greater

emphasis on the relationships between governance subjects within the social structure, refining the

understanding of rural governance in the context of the new media era.

In the new media era, information is a crucial component of grassroots decision-making, and

understanding and optimizing information relationships can benefit many aspects of governance,

particularly rural governance within new media contexts. In fact, information as an important lens for

organizational research has accumulated substantial theoretical achievements in fields such as

structural reform and performance governance, especially in studies examining relationships within

specific fields. Urban grassroots governance research suggests that in project-based organizations,

information exhibits a hierarchical structure [9]. With the development and expansion of information

technology, digital transformation has introduced information as a new resource and variable into the

management landscape. These early studies endowed the information perspective with structural

connotations, focusing on the relationship between information structure and decision-making

mechanisms. They primarily addressed two aspects: first, selecting the optimal organizational

decision-making structure for a given information structure; second, examining the optimization

mechanisms of the information structure [10]. From the perspective of network relationships,

information profoundly affects the effectiveness of organizational governance [11], and information

relationships significantly impact the interactions among governance subjects [12]. Stratified

governance of information directly relates to the social, environmental, and economic values

generated by information [13].

In the process of digital transformation, information technology exerts a significant hierarchical

effect on governance subjects [14]. Under the information-based social framework, new

organizational models and fundamental characteristics continually emerge across different fields,

adjusting the interest structures of various subjects within stable institutional frameworks. This holds

great importance for advancing governance modernization in the new media era [15]. Therefore,

exploring rural governance in the digital age from the perspective of information offers unique value.

This study argues that information relationships and governance structures are key variables

influencing rural governance in the new media era. However, the information perspective has rarely

been applied in grassroots governance case studies, particularly in discussions on rural governance.

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Meanwhile, the social structure of traditional rural Chinese villages is characterized by strong

"familiarity," which adds complexity and diversity to multi-layered governance, creating

opportunities to explore the transformation of information subject relationships in the new media era.

Thus, this paper seeks to analyze the internal information relationships in rural governance in the new

media era through empirical data, using this as the research focus to explore new characteristics in

the governance structure of rural society.

2. Research Methodology and Analytical Framework

Over the past decade, the research team I belong to has conducted fieldwork in the suburbs of Beijing,

utilizing questionnaires, interviews, and other methods to explore the relationship between rural life,

village governance, and new media technologies. Considering that the evolution of new media and

township governance is a gradual process, this study employed participant observation and in-depth

interviews, using multi-case and cross-case analysis as the basic logic. Focusing on specific districts

and counties, we selected typical areas for in-depth investigation. The research period was chosen to

be closer to the present, spanning 2017-2022, with data collected in August 2017, July 2019, and

July-August 2022. Surveys were conducted in more than ten townships and villages within the case

study districts, and the main primary data came from the oral narratives of 48 farmers. Based on

interview transcripts totaling over 200,000 words, combined with the team’s long-term field

observation and research foundation, this study explores the technical manifestations and construction

features of rural governance in the context of new media.

The case study area is located in the suburbs of Beijing, primarily composed of townships. Over

the past decade of urbanization and rural modernization, various villages in this region have faced

numerous development scenarios, including land transfers, demolition and relocation, village

renovation, illegal construction control, and industrial withdrawal. Different villages have developed

multiple governance pathways in the process of governance transitions, providing a typical field for

multi-case studies and constructive explanations. From 2011 to 2020, the district government

implemented two phases of a project aimed at improving the comprehensive quality of new farmers,

each phase lasting five years. This project was aligned with changing farmers’ lifestyles, helping them

adapt to the new urbanization scenarios in rural areas by systematically training farmers in a

conceptual framework. The project covered 14 townships within the district. Over the ten-year period,

the research team selected farmer training venues as the primary sites for surveys, combining

questionnaires, in-depth interviews, and participatory observation. Through visits and surveys of

township governments, affiliated villages, and other locations, the team formed a general

understanding of rural and township governance in the area.

In the summer of 2022, the research team once again conducted fieldwork, focusing on more than

ten villages in seven townships. In-depth interviews and participatory observation were conducted

with members of village Party branches and village committees (referred to as the "village two

committees"), key coordinators of village affairs, and farmers involved in village governance. The

interviewees, all farmers, participated in the governance processes of their respective villages. These

individuals not only play an important role in rural information dissemination but also serve as

witnesses and drivers of the transformation of rural social structures. Their ideas and actions in rural

governance directly shape the form of rural governance in the new media era, and they reflect, to a

large extent, the practical implications and developmental trends of rural governance in new media

contexts. In addition, this study also conducted in-depth interviews with township government

officials, ordinary villagers, village staff (such as the teams from science and technology outreach

centers), permanent migrant populations, and other stakeholders, providing first-hand evidence from

different perspectives on rural governance.

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From the perspective of information management and systems theory, stratification provides a

basis for understanding the issue of information hierarchy. This paper adopts the management

systems methodology in governance research, with a hierarchical perspective as the entry point.

Unlike the process perspective, which emphasizes examining different stages of governance, the

hierarchical perspective critiques the traditional process-based analytical approach. The traditional

approach typically involves processes such as planning, organizing, staffing, directing, coordinating,

reporting, and budgeting, while the hierarchical perspective focuses more on the different levels of

management work. It categorizes specific functions into three levels: policy management, resource

management, and project management [16]. Local management capacity can be enhanced from three

dimensions: tools, organizational capacity, and resources [17]. This study links the analytical

dimensions of the hierarchical perspective with the multiplicity of rural governance, constructing a

"tools-organization-resources" framework to analyze and examine governance at the levels of formal,

semi-formal, and informal governance.

Figure 1: Analytical Framework for Multi-layered Rural Governance

This paper approaches the issue of rural governance in the new media era from the perspective of

information relationships, combining it with the explanatory framework of multiple governance. It

focuses on the issues of information and governance structures in rural governance, based on the

perspective of the relationship between governance and information hierarchy. By expanding on

previous studies of multiple governance, this paper shifts the focus to the governance subjects,

making subject stratification the core of multiple governance research, while also extending attention

to the relationship between information and governance, thus exploring governance structures. The

"stratification" at these two levels actually includes the stratification of subjects by information and

the stratification of objects by information. It is important to note that the process of multiple

governance involves a game between different levels of information as well as between different

information groups, which inevitably leads to competition between governance subjects. The

stratification of information subjects and structures in multiple governance is not independent; instead,

it exists in a connected, ongoing manner within the same field, forming a dynamic construction. This

dynamic process not only reflects the multidimensional effects produced by the complex interactions

between diverse sources of information in the context of new media but also highlights the real need

and internal motivation for the participation of multiple subjects in rural governance. Through long-

term, continuous field research, this study will attempt to explain the forms of information

stratification in rural governance, explore the governance logic and ultimate goals behind this

stratification, and provide interpretative pathways within the new media context for the modernization

transformation of rural governance in the new media era.

Formal Governance Layer

Semi-formal Governance Layer

Informal Governance Layer

Tools - Organization - Resources

Rural Governance

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3. The Formation of Information Stratification: The Multiplicity of Information in Rural

Governance in the New Media Era

3.1. The Tool Rationality of Information in the Formal Governance Layer

Governance in the new media era emphasizes the technology, efficiency, and rationality brought

about by "digitalization." On the one hand, rural development requires preferential policies from

public departments, and the formal governance layer of villages must be able to seize opportunities

for project implementation through competition in the "administrative contracting" process. On the

other hand, against the backdrop of urbanization, the formal governance layer must meet the tool

rationality needs of its village, addressing contradictions in the modernization development of the

village and seeking breakthroughs in village construction. The formal governance layer reproduces

information on the tool level, updates information generationally on the organizational level, and

competes for superior information on the resource level, all of which are characteristics of information

stratification formed by multiple governance.

At the tool level, the formal governance layer obtains internal village information through means

such as villager participation and social networks. By discussing in meetings of the village’s two

committees, the formal governance layer forms basic ideas about the tool rationality of village

development and selectively disseminates information into the public domain, thereby transforming

it into new governance rules or plans. Governance information from public departments is screened

by the formal governance layer of the village, which reproduces the texts related to the village.

Research on public departments has shown that the localization of innovative policies comes with

complex local governance performance and institutional change orientations[18]. At the village level,

this information reproduction is characterized by tool rationality and is linked to the authority of the

formal governance layer in rural governance. During the demolition of illegal structures in X Village,

Z Town, the formal governance layer reinterpreted the public department’s governance text and

reproduced the information during the demolition process, transmitting "illegal constructions" as new

public information to the villagers. The villagers readily accepted the information, allowing the public

information to be implemented, and the village was transformed and governed through this process

of information reproduction.

Generational differences in the process of technology diffusion have long been a concern for

scholars. Research points out that in the context of new media, information practices in rural

governance are more closely related to farmers’ age and educational background[19]. At the

organizational level, to make information acquisition and transmission more efficient for the formal

governance layer, villages in different townships of the case study area have gradually replaced their

village cadres. Young forces are being added to the village’s two committees, with some young

entrepreneurs even returning to lead village development. The personnel changes have not only

incorporated newer tool rationality information into the formal governance layer but also provided

technical support for the organization. Youth in each village often put significant effort into receiving,

processing, and transmitting information, especially village affairs information in the formal

governance layer. To ensure the continuity of governance, if the village secretary is older, young

"reserve cadres" need to be cultivated: "Each village has reserve cadres. If a village does not have

(trained) young cadres, (the township) will appropriately assign one, often a department member, to

assist the secretary in handling these tasks" (WS20170816, QYYG20220728).

At the resource level, grassroots government, market departments, research institutions, or social

organizations are sought to bring multiple resources into village construction. In collaboration with

university research teams, X Village in Z Town established a village information governance platform.

This tool-rational "digital governance" model surpassed the three forms of "digital governance

formalism" proposed by scholars in the practice of public governance: "task-completion type,"

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"political coalition type," and "downward assessment incentive type"[20]. It created a "technical

emulation" at the village level to gain an advantage in the "upward" competition for resources. H, a

member of X Village’s committee in Z Town, stated that the village’s two committees must "get

things done" to gain the villagers’ approval. "Getting things done" refers to tangible improvements,

such as turning the village’s former sewage pit into a wetland park through government investment,

building the sports field with funding from the sports bureau, and installing streetlights supported by

a tourism bureau project. "The roads in the village were repaired by the district’s project"

(ZZXH20220720). Whether the formal governance layer can acquire external project information and

maintain an advantageous position in information integration is a tool-rational demand of rural

governance, making the authority-led governance information of the formal governance layer a core

component of the rural governance system.

3.2. Semi-Formal Governance Layer’s Proxy Execution Information

With the advancement of urbanization and new technologies, farmers not only constitute a

socioeconomically vulnerable group but also one that is disadvantaged in terms of information

inequality. As assistants to the formal governance layer, coordinators or assistant officers are the main

personnel of the semi-formal governance layer. Jane Fountain proposed the concept of "technology

enactment," which suggests that "information technology is less adopted or applied by decision-

makers and more enacted by them" [21]. In rural governance, the basic logic of technology enactment

is that the semi-formal governance layer acts as an intermediary to execute the tool-rational

information from the formal governance layer. This proxy role is an extension of the mediated

diffusion of township government information in the new media era [22]. The semi-formal

governance layer typically relies on public and non-public information, such as grassroots

government information, village governance decisions, and general opinions of villagers, to construct

its own approach, using this as the basis for proxy execution in rural governance. In terms of tools,

the semi-formal governance layer is involved in information diffusion, in organizational terms, they

judge the information, and in resource terms, they coordinate information. This reflects the

characteristic of information stratification formed through multi-level governance.

At the tool level, the work of rural coordinators and assistants highlights this group’s significant

role in information transmission. As part of the semi-formal governance layer, coordinators or

assistants commonly use WeChat groups or other group communication methods to disseminate the

decisions of the formal governance layer, which is a prevalent method in rural governance. Beyond

using new media technologies, these informal governance roles often need to execute village-level

information by proxy. A young rural assistant from Q Town mentioned, "We (assistants) are

essentially the secretary’s assistants. Some of the older secretaries, when the township assigns them

work, don’t know how to use a computer. So we still need to step in and complete the tasks for them,

effectively assisting all the village staff by proxy" (QYYG20220728). The transition of rural

governance tools toward digitization and informatization in the new media era has made the flexible

use of information technology a basic skill for the proxy execution by the semi-formal governance

layer.

At the organizational level, many of the rural coordinators involved in semi-formal governance

are experienced local farmers. With the spread of information technology in rural governance in the

new media era, most of them can quickly receive and assess proxy information through new media

technologies and make judgments about its operability, coordinating the execution and feedback of

information within a certain information space. For instance, in B Town, the cultural coordinator from

B Village applied to organize a calligraphy class within the village, saying, "There are quite a few

people in our village who love calligraphy, so the township government suggested holding one in our

village. We applied, and the government approved it, paid for the teacher, and any resident from

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nearby villages could come to learn" (BZBJ20220811). To promote good governance in rural areas,

many villages previously had university graduate village officials assisting with the work, and now

grassroots governments have also assigned rural revitalization coordinators and Party-building

assistants to the villages. These individuals help informal governance organizations improve the

efficiency of proxy execution in rural governance information.

At the resource level, village coordinators typically maintain various WeChat or QQ groups, or in

earlier times, Feixin groups, with township departments and village farmers. Public service

information from township departments is often delivered directly to the semi-formal governance

layer of the village through platforms like WeChat or QQ, and they then coordinate the work in the

village. For example, when organizing a cultural or sports event, the semi-formal governance layer

must execute the public service information from the township department by proxy. "The village

secretary doesn’t seek us out; we go to the secretary first. If there’s an event, the township department

first gathers all the cultural coordinators from each village, like for a dance competition or singing

contest. Then, we consult the village secretary; if they agree, the event proceeds; if not, it doesn’t,

because the funds have to go through the village’s main account, and if the village can’t provide the

funds, it becomes a problem" (QY20170809). Farmers in the semi-formal governance layer mainly

interpret the information from an execution standpoint, conveying event details to the villagers and

gauging their willingness to participate. Although the formal governance layer is not directly involved

in the transmission and reception of this type of information, it plays a decisive role in determining

whether such information can receive resource support.

3.3. Informal Governance Layer’s Livelihood Contingency Information

In the process of modernizing rural grassroots governance, a "community-based" governance model

has become a focal point for some villages [23]. In recent years, some farmers who participate in

village governance neither belong to the two village committees nor take on semi-formal governance

roles. They engage in the daily maintenance of specific village affairs and serve as part of the village’s

informal governance layer. The livelihoods of these farmers are often closely tied to employment

development amidst the rural modernization transition. The semi-formal governance farmers, aside

from the young rural workers selected and dispatched by public departments, typically assist in village

affairs such as finance, women’s federations, and cultural activities, supporting the members of the

two village committees in governance. In contrast, the informal governance layer of farmers has only

recently begun participating in rural governance as part of the modernization transition. While the

semi-formal governance layer adapts information at a practical level, establishes an information

exchange order at an organizational level, and forms cognitive patterns of information at a resource

level, the informal governance layer follows this hierarchical information framework developed from

multi-level governance.

For example, L, a villager from X village in Z town, has a leg disability and has been working in

the village monitoring room since 2018. He is also responsible for signing for all village deliveries.

"In 2018, our village secretary wanted to help me earn some extra income due to my physical

limitations. The secretary asked, ‘How’s your eyesight?’ I replied, ‘My eyes are fine, the problem is

with my legs. My head and heart are fine, and my upper limbs are okay.’ He said, ‘Then why don’t

you start monitoring tomorrow?’ And that’s how I began." (ZZXH20220720). From 8 a.m. to 10 p.m.

daily, with a midday break shared with another villager, L spends most of his time in the monitoring

room. He receives and records dynamic information from the surveillance cameras and signs for

packages. L has even developed his own signature logbook, meticulously recording the daily

deliveries. Although the formal governance layer does not impose strict regulations on the working

process of the informal governance layer, individuals like L tend to carefully manage their work,

viewing the role as crucial to securing their livelihood and minimizing the risk of losing their job.

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The informal governance layer relies on building familiar and trusted information relationships

with villagers. To better utilize information for improving rural service provision and governance,

not only must they have a deep understanding of the information, but it must also be relevant to the

recipients, who need the power and motivation to act [24]. Therefore, at an organizational level, the

informal governance layer has its own organizational setup to ensure information exchange. Within

these small organizations, roles are differentiated, with a clear distinction between those who lead

opinions and those who execute tasks. For instance, in L village of D town, the villagers established

a poetry society in 2014. By 2019, the society had over 80 members and published 12 poetry books,

a poetry collection, and a nursery rhyme album. The society’s members, primarily middle-aged, also

included some elderly people around 80 years old. The group extended beyond L village to

surrounding towns, with most members having only junior or senior high school education, and about

one-quarter of them being women. The society maintained a clear organizational order: "The society

has a chairman, vice-chairman, and secretary-general, all of whom are farmers. The chairman used

to be a village official, and we elected him. There are fewer people from Beijing who work outside,

so most of them work in Beijing but live in the village. The poetry society holds a meeting on the last

weekend of every month to assign tasks and engage in learning and exchange. The task is to write

poetry because we need to publish books. We do everything ourselves—typesetting, printing, and

binding for internal sharing. Most of the funding comes from our own pockets, but we get some

support from the town’s publicity department." (LXDM20190717). Even after the village underwent

demolition and relocation, the poetry society members stayed in touch via WeChat, phone, and other

means to maintain information exchange.

At the resource level, the information resources of the informal governance layer are somewhat

linked to the distribution managed by the formal governance layer. Through their participation in

village governance, the informal governance layer gains access to livelihood information relevant to

their personal development, such as holding informal village governance positions. For instance,

villagers in Q village of Y town staffed the village’s epidemic prevention post and occasionally

worked as day laborers during busy agricultural seasons. After three years of working at the

prevention post, they were still unsure about the exact income they would receive. "(For prevention

duty) there doesn’t seem to be a fixed income. We (the staff) haven’t discussed how much we should

earn, but at the end of the year, the village doesn’t let us work for free. The amount we get depends

on how much the town and village allocate." (YFQX20220809). Similarly, G, a 63-year-old villager,

was approached by the village party committee in 2014 to return to the village and lead villagers in

forest protection work. "Back then, I was thinking I shouldn’t keep working away from home. My

child had just graduated from university and was working. They told me, ‘You don’t need to leave

anymore.’ The village needed me, and I couldn’t refuse. It was close to home, and we were all from

the same village. So, I took the job. In rural areas, it’s hard to work full-time because everyone has

so many things going on. I keep track of everyone’s workdays. If you come in for one day, I mark it

down. I keep an accurate tally and pass it to the accountant, who enters it into the system, and the

forestry company (outsourced by the town) pays the wages." (ZZXH20220718). Though informal

governance layers hold no formal position, they develop a personal understanding of livelihood

contingency information based on resource-related information and carry out governance activities

accordingly.

4. Hierarchical Order of Information: Information Structure in Multilayered Rural

Governance

Hierarchical information is essentially a form of information order and a manifestation of rural

governance practices in the new media era. This hierarchical structure is rooted in rural social order,

formed through rural governance practices shaped by the information society. On one hand,

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information hierarchy is based on the circle-like nature of rural multilayered governance, where

distinct forms of information emerge within formal, semi-formal, and informal governance layers.

On the other hand, rural governance entities demonstrate differentiated group characteristics within

the realm of information practices. This information structure, situated in rural information fields,

gives rise to practical significance that explains the transformation of rural society. Analyzing the

meaning and scope of information hierarchy offers a perspective for understanding governance

practices during this transformation and proposes potential pathways for revitalizing rural

construction in the new media era.

Figure 2: Information Structure in Multilayered Rural Governance

4.1. Centralization of Formal Governance Information

In the era of data governance, the relationship between national governance and rural society

combines both direct and indirect governance [25]. In the process of modernizing rural governance,

formal governance information encompasses the core content of both direct and indirect governance

by the state, playing a guiding role in overall village governance. During the field investigation, the

village affairs information platform in X Village, Z Town, was identified as a distinctive feature of

formal governance, and it is currently being implemented. The village established an intelligent rural

platform in 2019, where village affairs information is gradually entered into the system, and future

updates are handled through this platform. However, interviews with villagers of different age groups

in 2022 revealed that most villagers were unaware of the platform, had no knowledge of its current

use, and had not updated their personal information or accessed village affairs information via the

mobile application designed for the platform.

Research on rural development and e-government indicates that the main obstacles to such projects

include the lack of localized content for rural communities and the insufficient involvement of rural

communities in designing rural information and communication technology initiatives [26].

According to the needs analysis for the establishment of the intelligent platform in X Village [27],

"Currently, most of the transactional work in X Village relies on traditional office methods, with only

a few village cadres from the village committee manually recording statistics. This method makes it

difficult to organize complex matters clearly, leading to low work efficiency. Under this traditional

village affairs management model, there is a lack of an effective communication platform between

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the village committee and villagers. The construction of democracy and the rule of law also lacks a

proper medium, and village affairs disclosure faces significant limitations. Important notifications

are mainly communicated through village broadcasts or by word of mouth between villagers, with no

formal communication channels. The village affairs management approach is evidently outdated for

today’s circumstances." Although the platform aimed to improve the efficiency of village affairs

information dissemination, it did not fully reflect the needs of information recipients, but it did reflect

the demand for the digital transformation of formal governance information, representing a

manifestation of formal governance information centralization.

4.2. Collaboration of Semi-Formal Governance Information

The semi-formal governance layer, as the main executor of various rural information, collaborates on

governance through the use of information tools, the coordination of information organization, and

the transmission of information resources. Many villages, besides the two village committees, have

experienced coordinators who have long been dedicated to managing village affairs. Groups such as

university student village officials, Party-building assistants, and rural revitalization assistants are

integrated into the rural governance organizational structure as key talent elements in the context of

digital villages. They help address information barriers between public departments and the formal

governance layer in rural areas, particularly in governance techniques and information resources.

In the modernized transformation of rural governance, village branches and committees typically

have access to more public information about the village. Meanwhile, the "major families" of each

village have a longer cycle of information accumulation, particularly regarding interpersonal

relationships and family life. Many village conflicts are still mediated by these respected families and

their descendants. In Q Village, H Town, there has always been a mediation committee composed of

three elders from the village’s three major families. "The mediation committee consists of respected

elders in the village. When conflicts arise, people usually go to the village committee first, and if the

village committee can’t resolve the issue, they’ll seek help from the mediation committee. These elders

act as witnesses when they go to different homes to mediate. For major events in the village like

weddings and funerals, the elders are always involved" (HCQD20220725). The semi-formal

governance layer’s role in executing formal governance information further emphasizes the

collaborative nature of semi-formal governance information.

4.3. Alienation of Informal Governance Information

Surveys across multiple villages show that the informal governance layer and farmers who are less

involved in village governance have limited access to public information related to village governance

and lack initiative in obtaining it. There is a noticeable alienation between informal and formal

governance information. According to the head of S Village, C Town, in 2022, the township

government was planning to redevelop the village, with future plans for rural tourism and other

industries. However, most villagers were unaware of this governance information. Over-

centralization in governance typically manifests through the comprehensive exploitation by

governance entities and the "single-track" and "de-emotionalized" nature of governance methods [28].

The informal governance layer also lacks attention to information that affects rural governance. For

example, a representative of an agricultural company in X Village, Z Town, who leased village land,

restructured the traditional agricultural practices and layout of the village, even though he did not

hold an official position in the village. He played a certain role in modernizing the village’s

governance structure, yet villagers paid little attention to the information related to village

development and the industries within the village.

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WeChat groups have provided an online platform for direct interaction between different

governance layers within rural communities. However, from the perspective of ordinary villagers,

beyond the village group chat, which posts notifications to all members, the platform is often used

for practical purposes like "It’s convenient. If our toilet is clogged or broken, we can post in the group,

and someone will answer. It’s quite handy. If someone asks for a phone number, people who know

will provide it. It’s a big group, and it’s convenient" (YFQX20220809). As a widely used new public

media tool in rural governance during the digital era, village WeChat groups provide a platform for

sharing multilayered governance information. However, ordinary villagers tend to receive

governance information passively through the platform and lack active information awareness,

further reflecting the alienation between informal and public governance information in this new

media context.

5. Conclusion and Discussion

Promoting governance optimization through information development is the guiding direction

proposed by China’s modernization. This article focuses on the internal information relationships in

rural governance in the new media era, aiming to understand the manifestations of information

stratification in rural governance within new media scenarios. Based on more than a decade of

fieldwork in Beijing’s townships by the research team, multiple case studies were conducted using

in-depth interviews and participant observation, examining the structural representation of rural

governance from an information perspective. Through qualitative analysis, this study conducted a

comprehensive examination of field data from different types of villages, exploring the interaction

between various actors and the information stratification formed in the digital age and its underlying

governance interaction patterns at the micro level. The study shows that in rural societies in the new

media era, differentiated information stratification emerges based on multiple governance actors.

Specifically, this stratification is reflected in three layers: the formal governance layer’s instrumental

rational information, the semi-formal governance layer’s implementation information, and the

informal governance layer’s livelihood expedient information. These different types of information

form a multi-layered network structure, with the authority-oriented governance information

dominated by the formal governance layer being the core part of the rural governance system. The

subjects and structures of information within the multiple governance frameworks are interconnected

and coexisting in the internal field of rural governance, thus promoting the centralization of formal

governance information, the coordination of semi-formal governance information, and the alienation

of informal governance information. This results in an orderly information stratification within the

multiple governance structures. In different types of rural societies, the "class" characteristics formed

by information stratification and the corresponding identity recognition differ, leading to multi-

dimensionality and dynamism in rural governance in the new media era. Information stratification

deepens the explanatory path for the issue of multiple governance in rural society and offers new

perspectives for understanding rural governance in the new media era.

The analytical framework and conclusions of this article provide an interpretative path for

exploring the structural manifestations of rural governance in the new media era. From a practical

perspective, it offers new materials and perspectives for the integration and optimization of rural

governance in the future. On the one hand, the study elucidates the phenomenon of information

stratification from the perspective of information relations based on multi-village investigations. On

the other hand, by situating the research within the context of multiple governance, it theoretically

supplements the study of "multiple governance" in villages in the new media era. The article argues

that the core of "digital rural construction" as a national strategy lies in promoting rural

informatization development, with rural governance being a crucial component. In the process of

social digital transformation, "information" remains eternal, while "transformation" is temporary, and

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the definition of "information" requires continuous interpretation and experimentation in practice [29].

During this process, the formation of a "multi-layered governance network" becomes possible. How

would the issues of information disconnection, instability in information relations, and structural

tension caused by asymmetric governance information affect rural governance capacity and

potentially lead to changes? This article, following the basic logic of multi-case analysis, provides a

comprehensive examination of governance practices in multiple villages to explore the common

manifestations of multiple governance from an information perspective and the challenges they pose.

Previous studies have shown that with the advancement of modern internet and the introduction of

communication technology as a governance tool into rural grassroots societies, village-level

autonomy shows a trend of dissolution [30], which aligns with the alienation of "informal governance

information" described in this paper. Undoubtedly, "technology" is an important perspective for

examining the issue of rural governance in the digital era, and further discussion on the dilemma of

village-level governance requires attention to both the integration of technology and governance and

the smoothing of governance information and the coordination of governance relations.

Lastly, this topic leaves much room for further research. First, multiple governance offers different

interpretative paths, and the information perspective opens up possibilities for us. Multiple

governance serves as a supplement to single governance and can also be seen as a "superimposed"

model. As an important viewpoint for understanding rural governance, the theoretical space for

further exploration of multiple governance still awaits further verification and discussion. Conducting

classified analysis of governance structures and diachronic exploration of governance scenarios will

help deepen the understanding of the deeper connections between multiple governance and rural

governance. Second, the case studies in this article are based on rural areas in the suburbs of Beijing,

where the research period is long, and the multi-village cases possess a certain level of typicality. The

faster digital growth in mega cities, along with farmers’ wider exposure to new media, provides a

real-world scenario for exploring the interaction between information and governance. Therefore, it

is believed that there is a connection between information stratification and multiple governance. For

rural governance in relatively underdeveloped areas, it is necessary to expand the research field to

verify these findings. Lastly, the digital era provides a context for multiple governance in villages and

serves as a basis for discussing information stratification. In the digital society, different levels of

farmer groups possess their own unique "identities"—as individuals, as members of the governance

community, and as the collective rural population. The new media era not only changes the

relationship between humans and technology but also shapes new relationships between media and

village governance, and between farmers and village governance. The influence mechanism of

information relations in new media and rural farmers’ understanding of their information roles require

further in-depth exploration in future research.

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AI Voice Cloning Technology under Human-machine

Attachment Shared Mechanism Behavior Research

Kejian Meng1,a,*

1Institute of Journalism and Communication, Beijing Normal University, 19 Xinjiekou Wai Street,

Haidian District, Beijing, China

a. 202331021021@bnu.edu.cn

*corresponding author

Abstract: AI voice cloning technology, with its unique anthropomorphic and authenticity

characteristics, successfully replicates human voice and endows it with eternal value, thus

spawning a new mode of human-machine attachment. Based on the SOR model, this study

introduces key variables to reconstruct the voice sharing model and uses structural equation

modeling (SEM) to conduct a deep analysis of 302 questionnaire data. The research results

show that the anthropomorphism and authenticity of technology, as well as users' attachment

emotions, have significant positive effects on sharing behavior, while trust attitude shows a

negative effect. In addition, attachment and trust play intermediary roles in sharing behavior.

Based on these findings, this paper proposes suggestions for eliminating barriers, building

trust, and returning to the user as the main subject to restart the human-machine attachment

relationship, providing a new perspective for the research on the mechanism of voice sharing

behavior under the background of human-machine attachment, aiming to build a closer and

more stable human-machine voice symbiotic relationship.

Keywords: AI voice cloning technology, Man-machine attachment, Voice sharing, SOR

model.

1. Introduction

With the rapid development of artificial intelligence technology, it has made significant

breakthroughs in key fields such as emotional computing, natural language processing and voice

recognition, and gradually established a deeply established emotional bond with human beings,

promoting the expansion of artificial intelligence to a wider range of fields. Among them, AI voice

cloning technology, as an important symbol of technological change, relies on deep learning model

to realize accurate recognition and extraction of voice features, and then generate "new sound" highly

similar or almost consistent with the original sound. The technology shows excellent performance in

nature, fluency and emotional synchronous transcription, and has a high level of humanity and

authenticity characteristics.

Continuous human-machine emotional interaction is the core element of AI voice cloning

technology in the era of intelligence [1]. It has become an indispensable and valuable tool for content

creators and service platforms [2], not only creating new characters for artistsand bringing immersive

experiences to gamers [3] [4], but also revolutionizing the problems of interaction and cross-language

communication among groups with language barriers [5]. At the same time, the technology also relies

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on the user data for model upgrade and iteration, and the man-machine forms a close shared

relationship in the closed loop [6].

Through literature review, a large number of studies mainly focus on machine system design [7]

and human emotional response [8], especially in the research of attachment emotion [9] [10], shared

behavior [11] [12]. For example, some studies show that the internal model of attachment is mainly

composed of the beliefs of self and others, which guides the behavioral response of users by regulating

and influencing emotional intensity [13]; other studies, emphasizing the importance of cooperation

and sharing between human and machine, and compare the relationship between shared behavior and

human and machine to the relationship between sharp spearhead and blunt spear rod [14]. However,

the existing literature considers less about the actual behavioral responses of users after attachment

to new technologies, indicating that future research needs to focus more on the intrinsic connection

between attachment and shared behavior, and in-depth explore the actual behavioral responses of

users after technology adoption to more fully understand the emotional and behavioral dynamics in

human-machine relationships.

In conclusion, this study innovative attachment concept as an organizational structure, and try to

in the stimulus-body-response (SOR) framework, into the AI voice cloning technology of human

nature, authenticity characteristics, and attachment emotion and trust attitude four key variables as

independent variables, while the voice sharing behavior as the dependent variable, to build a

comprehensive man-machine attachment voice sharing model. This paper conducts empirical test

through large sample data and structural equation model (SEM), and aims to provide a new theoretical

perspective and practical guidance for voice creation and technology promotion, and help the man-

machine relationship achieve the goal of more intimate and harmonious coexistence in the era of

intelligence.

2. Literature review and model construction

2.1. Theoretical basis: the S-O-R model

The S-O-R model, developed from Mehrabian and Russell based on consumer behavior theory,

believes that stimulation (S) in the environment will affect an individual's emotion and cognition (O),

and then affect the change of individual behavior (R) [15]. This model has been widely used in many

fields, including smartphone [16], online shopping [17], disease prevention [18], etc.

In the S-O-R model, the stimulus, as the leading variable, similar to the "trigger", can trigger the

emotional or cognitive response of users [19]. In this study, the stimulus factors specifically refer to

the emotional response characteristics formed between human-computer interactions. The

intermediary variable of the model is organism, which represents the intermediate state between

stimulus and response [20], mainly represented by affective state and cognitive state [21]. The

mediation variable in this study mainly refers to the user's emotional experience after the use of AI

cloned voice technology. The outcome variable of the model is reaction, also known as behavior [22],

which represents the individual's response to stimuli, which can be approach or avoidance behavior

[23]. This study focuses on the user's approach to the technology, such as stay, sharing, purchase, etc.

These behavioral responses may become the final form after human-computer interaction [24].

Although researchers of the S-O-R model usually use survey methods to measure user response to

post-stimulus effects [25], studies in specific contexts such as human-computer attachment, and

human-computer attachment as a stimulus to test user response behavior are relatively scarce [26].

Therefore, this study applies the S-O-R model to the mechanism of user shared behavior under

human-machine attachment, trying to explain the relationship between environmental stimuli

(humanlike and authenticity), the internal state of the user as an organism (attachment emotion and

trust degree), and behavioral responses (shared willingness). To this end, this study used a dynamic

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research model to reproduce the psychological contrast and behavioral changes before and after user

use and sharing [27], aiming to fill the shortcomings in the existing literature on user behavioral

response in human-computer attachment situations and provide new theoretical support for

understanding user behavior in human-computer interaction.

2.2. Research hypothesis

2.2.1. Humanoid — Stimulus level

"Humanoid" is embodied in the appearance design of artificial intelligence, facial expressions, social

applications, and interaction and communication with human beings, which makes artificial

intelligence quite similar to human beings in different aspects [28]. For a long time, artificial

intelligence has been discussed under the framework of "individualism" in the methodology,

especially on how to adapt to the non-social environment, the academic circle has launched an in-

depth discussion [29]. The "human-like" characteristics of artificial intelligence provide new ideas to

solve this contradiction, and greatly promote the social interaction between man and machine [30].

Interaction promotion Thanks to the AI voice cloning technology system, it can feedback a specific

language in real time [31], and can simulate real social interaction scenes in only 3-4 seconds [32].

In fact, the voice model forms a closed-loop interaction with the cognitive model, which significantly

improves the quality of social dialogue based on the emotional intelligent interaction model [33].

Moreover, human beings will also project human-like qualities such as autonomy and dependence

to artificial intelligence to meet their basic needs of belonging and security, so as to establish a long-

term attachment relationship with AI[34]. At present, advanced AI voice technology is also designed

as "social agent", and is widely used in related fields [35] with distinct "people-oriented"

characteristics, such as healthcare and personal assistant [36][37], which further promotes the

formation of closer attachment relationship between man and machine [38]. Many studies have shown

that the human-like characteristics of technology are crucial to the establishment of human-machine

trust relationship [39]. When the human-like characteristics are weakened, it will have a greater

negative impact on the construction of human-machine trust relationship [40]. Based on the above

analysis, this study includes the theoretical model and proposed the following hypotheses:

H1a: The humanoid of AI voice cloning technology has a positive correlation effect on authenticity.

H1b: The humanoid of AI voice cloning technology has a negative impact on user trust.

H1c: The humanoid of AI voice cloning technology has a positive correlation effect on user

attachment.

2.2.2. Authenticity — Stimulus level

Authenticity, derived from the Latin word "authenticus" and the Greek word "authentikos", represents

a trustworthy, authoritative, and acceptable trait [41]. Research shows that the "perceived

authenticity" of human beings is continuously regulated by "perceived quality" and "vitality" [42],

which can interfere in users' consumption behavior [43], and has a positive correlation with brand

"loyalty". Specifically, when users have trust and friendly attitude towards a brand with real

characteristics [44][45], their purchase intention and behavior trendswill significantly increase

[46][47] .

In the field of artificial intelligence, considering authenticity is equally important [48]. On the one

hand, the customized services of artificial intelligence can significantly deepen the authenticity of

human perception [49] and gradually develop into new human-machine consumption emotions [50];

On the other hand, users impressed by the "real" scenes shaped by artificial intelligence may even

regard artificial intelligence as potential emotional partners [51]. However, it has also raised users'

questions about the ethics of "trusted" digital partners. Despite similar digital partners, users do not

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necessarily perceive their authenticity [52]. This is the "authenticity" presented by artificial

intelligence, which is mostly "colonized" by the consciousness of designers, full of data doctrine and

monitoring capitalism [53][54], and there is invisibility [55]. At present, there is still a lack of

systematic empirical tests of the "authenticity" measurement in the field of artificial intelligence [56].

Therefore, this study included authenticity in the theoretical model to innovate relevant quantitative

research and propose the following research hypotheses:

H2a: The authenticity of AI voice cloning technology has a negative impact on user trust.

H2b: The authenticity of AI voice cloning technology has a positive correlation on user attachment.

2.2.3. Attachment — Organism level

Attachment theory, first developed by Bowlby [57] and Ainsworth et al [58], describes the intimate

relationship between infants and caregivers, and was later applied to explain patterns of relationships

between adults, covering the dual attachment to the psychological (emotional) and body. Nowadays,

attachment theory has been widely used in the study of human-computer interaction. Human beings

instinctively desire to accompany and expect belonging [59], prompting the two sides to gradually

form a certain relationship or emotional bond [60].

In the past, humans met this instinctive need by interacting with life bodies (e. g., family members,

friends, colleagues, pets) and now interacting with inanimate bodies such as robots or artificial

intelligence [61]. Human beings in the high-pressure environment are more eager for the company of

AI partners [62], and this human-machine closeness mode is similar to the behavior trajectory of

human approaching attachment characters. When the target user interacts with AI and feels

"preference", it will stimulate their attachment to AI [63], that is, the higher the secure human

attachment to AI, the higher the trust [64]. If artificial intelligence shows the willingness to promise

and loyalty to users, it will stabilize and enhance the construction of emotional bond between man

and machine [65]. It can be seen that attachment emotions not only improve the quality of perceptual

experience and information exchange in human-computer dialogue, but also enhance their higher

degree of self-disclosure [66]. Therefore, this study incorporated emotional attachment into the

relationship between users and AI voice cloning technology [67] and makes the following

assumptions:

H3a: Users' attachment to AI voice cloning technology has a positive correlation effect on trust.

H3b: The user's attachment to AI voice cloning technology has a positive correlated effect on voice

sharing behavior.

2.2.4. Trust — Organism level

Trust is a particularly important issue in the field of artificial intelligence. Some researchers define

trust as a kind attitude towards others, and a confidence in the behavior of the trusted person [68]. In

general, users tend to rely on algorithms [69] when performing objective tasks, and under the support

of trust [70], gradually improve the perception and willingness of artificial intelligence [71], so as to

form a specific and solid human-machine attachment style. Obviously, trust is one of the key reasons

why people use and rely on a certain technology [72].

Interestingly, trust is vulnerable to the influence of various factors, including past experience [73],

communication [74] , behavior, especially for involving medical [75], hotel service [76] and other

related areas of users is very obvious, such users often do not believe in artificial intelligence, partly

because the artificial intelligence model of human basic moral prediction and judgment is not

complete, lead to man-machine perception of unequal, thus hindered the trust in the field of moral

related building [77]. At the same time, the positive motivation of users will also significantly affect

the trust relationship between man and machine [78]. In terms of this study, relatively few studies

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explore the relationship between human-computer attachment and trust [79]. Therefore, we included

trust in the research model to expand the theoretical research and propose the following assumptions:

H4: Users' trust in AI voice cloning technology has a negative correlation effect on voice sharing

behavior.

2.2.5. Voice sharing — Response level

"Sharing" is a complex system involving multiple elements including sender and receiver, knowledge

and information, information transmission channel and external environment [80]. Users with high

demand for a sense of belonging and involvement are susceptible to their own attachment emotions

and will take shared behavior as a response [81]. Such activities that rely on human-computer

interaction not only promote the creation of information, but also strengthen the sharing of knowledge

[82][83]. Some researchers have found that users with high frequency of an AI platform can make a

good prediction of the interpersonal relationship and social atmosphere [84]. However, although

users' voice sharing behavior in AI voice cloning technology provides a new way for the operation

mode [85], they still need relevant voice data management standards and safe and effective data

sharing facilities to support [86], so as to ensure the security and effectiveness of voice sharing

behavior. Specifically, when more people participate in sharing information with AI, some users may

feel a sense of exploitation, thus reducing their trust in the technology [87]. It can be seen that trust

also affects users' intention to share information [88].

Through real-time interaction with users, the AI sharing platform constantly "learns" and corrects

data. With its unique personalized and ultra-personalized performance, it can meet the needs of

different users [89]. Therefore, the present study summarized the response part into voice-shared

behavior.

In conclusion, this paper systematically combs the factors that may affect the attachment and

sharing behavior of users to AI voice cloning technology, and provides a corresponding theoretical

basis for the promotion of new technologies and enabling human auditory society. To achieve this

goal, this study constructed a voice sharing model under human-machine attachment under the SOR

framework (see Figure 1).

Figure 1: Behavioral mechanism model of voice sharing under human-machine attachment

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3. Research method and design

The theoretical model proposed in this paper covers five key variables: humanoid, authenticity,

attachment, trust, and voice sharing. In view of the strong subjectivity of these variables and difficult

to quantify directly, this paper chooses to use structural equation model (SEM) to analyze the complex

influence relationship between them in order to verify the research hypothesis. In the specific

implementation process, this paper verifies the above hypothesis about the influencing factors of IBM

SPSS 28.0 and AMOS 28.0.

Considering that the five variables in the research model have relatively mature scales as

references, the authors made an innovative design of the questionnaire in combination with the unique

theme of AI voice cloning technology. The questionnaire underwent two rounds of strict review by

experts, which not only included the basic demographic data of the tested subjects, but also included

multiple scales. Among them, the humanoid scale is adapted from the research results of Park et al.

[90], the authenticity scale refers to Kim et al. [91], the attachment scale is adapted from Han et al.

[92], the trust scale is modified according to Chang et al. [93], and the voice sharing scale is adapted

from Bock et al. [94]. Each variable in the model included three carefully designed measurement

items, plus basic information from manual statistics, and a total of 22 question items were presented

in the questionnaire. In order to ensure the validity of the questionnaire, all variables were strictly

measured in this paper, especially with the words requiring each respondent to fill in according to the

actual situation, and answered using the seven-level Likert scale, from "1 = strongly disagree" to "7

= strongly agree". Before the official release of the questionnaire, 30 users of AI voice cloning

technology were first pre-tested, and the defects and feedback in the expression of the items were

modified and adjusted, and finally the final version of the questionnaire was formed.

Before the official release of the questionnaire, in order to more accurately locate the target user

groups, the questionnaire was widely released to the groups in professional fields such as news

communication, broadcasting and hosting, artificial intelligence, as well as the people in related fields

such as web celebrity bloggers. In addition, given that AI voice cloning technology is a newly

developed technology that is not widely used and understood by the public, a special screening

question is set up in the questionnaire: " Have you ever used AI voice cloning technology?”. If you

choose "Yes", you can continue to fill in the main part of the questionnaire; if "No", skip the main

items to ensure the authenticity and validity of the data collected.

4. Data analysis and model testing

4.1. Descriptive statistical analysis

A total of 600 questionnaires were collected in this round of survey. After excluding 298 invalid

questionnaires (i. e., users who chose "not used" the technology), a total of 302 valid samples were

obtained, which meant that the users of AI voice cloning technology accounted for 50.33% of the

total sample size.

According to the demographic data of the study sample (N=302), there were 160 men, accounting

for 52.98%, and 142 women, accounting for 47.02%. The male-female ratio is basically the same, so

the sample is somewhat representative. In terms of age distribution, 21-30 years were dominated,

accounting for 29.8%, followed by the ages under 20 and 31-40 years. The age distribution is basically

in line with the characteristics of the current AI voice cloning technology users, that is, young people

are the main users of the technology. In terms of academic qualifications, the undergraduate and

junior college respondents dominated, accounting for 35.76% and 37.76%, respectively. From the

professional point of view, the use of students is the most prominent, accounting for 42.05%. In

addition, when investigating the frequency of AI voice cloning technology, it was found that more

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respondents chose to "sometimes use", accounting for 47.35%. In terms of the daily use time, the user

group of about 2-3 hours is the largest, accounting for 35.43%. The details are shown in Table 1.

Table 1: Descriptive statistics of the demographic characteristics of the survey sample (N=302)

4.2. Testing of validity and reliability

To ensure the reliability of the data of this study, the study conducted a rigorous reliability and validity

test. Firstly, through reliability analysis, the Cronbach's α coefficient of the obtained samples was

between 0.745 and 0.999, both greater than 0.7, indicating the overall design reliability of the

questionnaire and high reliability. Second, the KMO value of 0.896 and the p-value of the Bartlett

spherical test approached 0.000 were all statistically significant, further demonstrating the reliability

of the data. In addition to the reliability analysis, the study also estimated and tested the combined

reliability (CR) input. According to the data in Table 2, the CR values are greater than 0.6, and the

AVE values are greater than the recommended minimum value of 0.36, which proves that the high

reliability of the overall internal quality of the questionnaire is ideal, and that the convergent validity

of the structure is acceptable.

Variable

Option

Frequency

Percentage

Sex

Man

160

52.98%

Woman

142

47.02%

Age

Under 20

26.16%

21-30 Years old

29.8%

31-40 Years old

23.18%

41-50 Years old

10.6%

51-60 Years old

4.97%

61 Years old

5.3%

Record of

formal

Schooling

High school and below

12.91%

Specialty (technical secondary

school / junior college)

108

35.76%

undergraduate course

113

37.42%

Graduate student or above

13.91%

Occupation

student

127

42.05%

Enterprise staff

26.16%

professional

17.22%

Government / public institutions

8.61%

other

5.96%

Frequency of

use of AI voice

cloning

technology

Almost not (less than twice a

week)

18.21%

Few (2-4 times a week)

16.23%

Sometimes (5-7 times a week)

143

47.35%

Often (once a day)

10.6%

Always (many times a day)

7.62%

Each time

using the AI

voice cloning

technology

length

Less than 1 hour

8.61%

2-3 Hours

107

35.43%

3-4 Hours

18.54%

5-6 Hours

30.46%

More than 6 hours

6.95%

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Table 2: Model confirmatory factor analysis

Variable

Question

item

Factor load

Cronbach’s

AVE

Humanoid(H)

0.997

0.999

0.997

0.999

1.000

Authenticity (R)

0.762

0.520

0.764

0.680

0.717

Attachment(A)

0.841

0.800

0.586

0.805

0.858

0.561

Trust (T)

0.828

0.909

0.620

0.859

0.907

0.892

Voice Sharing

(S)

0.700

0.745

0.520

0.684

0.742

0.417

Differentiation validity is an important measure of the degree of difference between different

constructs (or variables). It focuses on whether the correlation between each construct and its

corresponding measure items is significantly higher than that between them and the other constructs.

According to Table 3, the diagonal is the square root of AVE, and the values (minimum value is 0.721)

are greater than the correlation coefficient on the off-diagonal (maximum value is 0.681), indicating

that the model has good discriminatory validity.

Table 3: Measures the discriminatory validity of the model

0.999

0.458

0.721

0.470

0.520

0.766

0.422

0.544

0.681

0.787

0.506

0.658

0.491

0.437

0.721

4.3. Model goodness-of-fit and hypothesis testing

In the structural equation model (SEM), the fit degree index of the model is the key factor in

determining the acceptance degree of the research model. In this study, the hypothesis theoretical

model is modified according to the modified value and the corresponding model is established, and

also makes the parameter estimation by using the maximum likelihood estimation method. According

to the data in Table 4, the fitting of the measurement model and the data is shown: χ2/df=2.391<3,

RMSEA=0.068<0.08,GFI=0.918>0.9,TLI=0.974>0.9,CFI=0.980>0.9,NFI=0.966>0.9. It shows

that the measurement model and data in this study have a good fit index, and have a high data and

model fit, which can meet the requirements of subsequent analysis.

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Table 4: Overall fit coefficient

Coefficient

Reference value

Fitted value

x2/df

≤3.0

2.391

RMSMA

<0.08

0.068

GFI

≥0.9

0.918

TLI

≥0.9

0.974

CFI

≥0.9

0.980

NFI

≥0.9

0.966

4.4. Pathway analysis of the structural equation model

Structural equation model (SEM) path analysis is a powerful statistical method for exploring the

causal relationships between variables. Table 5 shows the results of the model path analysis, and β

represents the path coefficient; S. E represents the normalization error; C. R represents the critical

proportional value (if CR is greater than ± 1.96, the path coefficient has reached the 0.05 significance

level); P represents the likelihood to determine the significance of the path coefficient (* p <0.05, *

* p <0.01, * * * p <0.001).

Table 5: Results of the model pathway analysis

Under the framework of SOR (Stimulus-organism-response) theory, this study explores how

humanity and authenticity as stimulus factors affect individuals' trust and attachment emotions, and

eventually form phonological sharing behavior. Based on the pathway analysis in Table 5, the

following variable relationships were obtained. First, at the stimulus level, human-like nature was

significantly positively correlated with authenticity (β =0.519, p <0.001), attachment (β =0.217, p

<0.001), and negatively associated with trust (β = -0.152, p <0.01), assuming Hla, H1b, and H1c were

supported. Authenticity was significantly positively associated with attachment (β =0.698, p <0.001),

and significantly negatively associated with trust (β = -0.577, p <0.001), indicating that the

assumptions H2a and H2b hold. Secondly, at the level of organism and response, attachment and trust

(β =1.469, p <0.001), and voice sharing (β =1.881, p <0.001) were significantly positively related.

Trust and voice sharing were significantly negatively related (β = -1.199, p <0.001), assuming that

H3a, H3b and H4 were true. The path coefficient is shown in Figure 2.

Hypothesis

Way

Assume

verification

results

H1a

Humanoid

→

Authenticity

0.519

0.046

8.344

***

support

H1b

Humanoid

→

Trust

0.217

0.029

3.650

***

support

H1c

Humanoid

→

Attachment

0.152

0.045

3.129

support

H2a

Authenticity

→

Trust

0.698

0.069

6.725

***

support

H2b

Authenticity

→

Attachment

0.577

0.169

4.299

***

support

H3a

Attachment

→

Trust

1.469

0.394

7.030

***

support

H3b

Attachment

→

Voice

sharing

1.881

0.407

6.044

***

support

Trust

→

Voice

sharing

1.199

0.164

5.062

***

support

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Figure 2: Path analysis diagram of voice sharing behavior mechanism model under man-machine

attachment

4.5. Mediation effect detection

The study used structural equation model (SEM) and Bootstrap method for mediation effect analysis,

repeated sampling 5000 times with 95% confidence interval, and explored the complex relationships

between variables, including direct effects, indirect effects and relationships between latent variables.

The results in Table 6 show that the confidence intervals for all effects contain no 0, proving that the

mediation effect exists in this paper, namely, humanity (Effect = 0.7454, p <0.001) and authenticity

(Effect=0.6874, p <0.001) have a significant mediation effect on voice sharing.

Table 6: Bootstrap Results of mediation effect test (N=302)

Intermediary

path

Direct

effect

Indirect effect path

Indigo

effect

The 95% confidence

interval

Gross

effect

LLCI

ULCI

Humanoid

→Voice

sharing

0.2655

Humanoid→Attachment→Voice

sharing

0.1149

0.0608

0.1730

0.7454

0.2570

Humanoid→Attachment→Trust→

Voice sharing

0.1234

0.0645

0.1852

0.3004

Humanoid→Trust→Voice sharing

0.0800

0.0357

0.1319

0.1511

Humanoid→Authenticity→

Attachment→Voice sharing

0.2293

0.1477

0.3107

0.1588

Humanoid→Authenticity→Trust→

Voice sharing

0.2216

0.1379

0.3054

0.1491

Humanoid→Authenticity→

Attachment→Trust→Voice sharing

0.2313

0.1457

0.3160

Authenticity

→voice sharing

0.5995

Authenticity→Attachment→Voice

sharing

0.0879

0.0383

0.1463

0.6874

0.5892

Authenticity→Attachment→Trust→

Voice sharing

0.0982

0.0453

0.1565

0.6228

Authenticity→Trust→Voice sharing

0.0646

0.0224

0.1130

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5. Conclusion analysis

Based on the SOR (stimulus-organism-response) theoretical model framework, this study deeply

explores the influence of AI voice cloning technology on the user's psychological behavior transition,

thus proposing a dual-action model. This model, starting from the unique perspective of user

attachment emotion, provides an important theoretical reference for understanding voice sharing

behavior in the context of human-computer attachment. By the structural equation model, this study

concludes the following conclusions:

5.1. Results analysis

5.1.1. Stimulus level relationship

The results show that there is a significant positive correlation between the human-like characteristics

of AI voice cloning technology and attachment emotions, which is consistent with the study by

Rosenthal-von der Putten et al., who believe that people are easy to form emotional attachment to

artificial organisms [95]. Similarly, the authenticity characteristics is also positively associated with

the presentation of attachment emotions, which is consistent with the study of Fu that authenticity is

a prerequisite for loyalty [96]. AI voice cloning technology can accurately imitate and copy the sound

characteristics of specific individuals, so that users can feel familiar and bound in the process of

human-computer interaction, and then develop attachment to the technology. Attachment has become

an important driving force to stimulate users' voice sharing behavior.

The results showed that there was a significant negative relationship between humanity,

authenticity and trust. The conclusion seems contrary to common sense, often suggesting that more

"human" or "real" technologies should be easier to gain the trust of their users. However, users still

express deep concerns about the privacy, security and information control of the technology of highly

humanoid and real AI technologies. As Osorio pointed out, he believes that the brand management

of technology should be more cautious when deciding when to cultivate authenticity and when to

choose creativity [97], which means that relying on humanity and authenticity alone is not enough to

guarantee users' attachment and trust in technology. Future technologies should fully consider user

needs and concerns to develop effective strategies to promote the generation of shared behaviors

among users.

5.1.2. Organism and response level relationship

Attachment is positively correlated with trust and voice sharing. When users establish a deep

attachment relationship with AI, they expect to meet their own psychological needs through

communication and cooperation with them, and even build a romantic lover relationship between

man and machine. This view is supported by Singh empirical research, the study points out that the

user of virtual intelligent assistant (VAI) trust is an important predictor of their emotional attachment

with VAI, and consumer self-disclosure behavior plays a regulatory role [98], shows that when the

user is willing to disclose their own more information to AI, man-machine emotional attachment has

been further sublimation. At the same time, in the deep interweaving of human-machine emotion,

users will not only take the initiative to take voice sharing behavior, but also actively promote the

expansion and popularization of the technology.

Trust and voice sharing present a negative correlation. Voice sharing often requires users to expose

their personal information and communication content to third-party platforms, which naturally raises

concerns about privacy and security. When users perceive that their information is controlled by the

platform, they may have resistance and avoidance, leading to a continuous reduction in the

willingness to share voice. This finding echoes studies by Wirtz et al [99] and Lu et al [100], who

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reveal the importance of users distinguishing different sources of credibility in virtual interactions.

However, with the evolution of human-computer interaction and the convergence of rich media

elements, the relevant negative impact is expected to gradually weaken. Technological progress can

not only provide better privacy protection measures for users, but also is expected to promote the

gradual improvement of users' voice sharing behavior.

5.1.3. Mediation effect analysis

The results show that humanity and authenticity not only directly have a significant impact on voice

sharing behavior, but also affect users' voice sharing behavior indirectly by affecting their attachment

and trust. The findings highlight the central role of humanoid nature in influencing voice-sharing

behavior. At the same time, users' attachment and trust are interrelated and coupled to each other, and

they constitute an important driving force for the development of voice sharing behavior. Attachment

creates a close emotional link between users and technology, and also provides strong support for the

formation of human-machine trust; which stimulates the willingness of users to participate in voice

sharing behavior. The conclusion also coincides with the study of Tsai et al., who emphasized that

the interpersonal factors of supersocial interaction and perceptual dialogue play a mediating role in

enhancing consumer participation in human-computer interaction [101], indicating that technology

not only attracts users through function and performance, but also its social attributes and

interpersonal interaction ability. In the future, in the design and development of human-computer

interaction technology, more attention should be paid to the human-like technology, authenticity

characteristics and the establishment of the emotional bond and trust relationship between man and

machine.

5.2. Path discussion

5.2.1. Eliminate estrangement, beware of "human-machine lovelorn" phenomenon

With the vigorous rise of digital communication mode, the emotional gap between people is

undoubtedly further deepened. In the face of emotional setbacks and social fears in life, people are

increasingly inclined to seek emotional talk to AI voice functions. This phenomenon has brought dual

impact: on the one hand, the sense of reality, presence and romance created by AI voice cloning

technology may induce human beings to rely too much on the communication with them, thus

gradually weakening the emotional connection with real human; on the other hand, as the emerging

and unpopularized technology, the technical complexity and human adaptability still differ different,

the panic caused by technological change may further widen the gap between man and machine, this

paper is vividly called "man-machine lovelorn".

In the era of intelligence, we should accelerate the education popularization and practical

application of new technologies, improve users' rational and critical thinking ability of AI voice

cloning technology, avoid the psychological gap due to over-dependence, and clarify the relationship

between self and AI, especially whether as a substitute for real lovers. At the same time, system

designers should establish a perfect feedback and insight mechanism to make it more suitable with

human voice habits and thinking mode. In addition, we should actively maintain and expand the social

relationship with real human beings, because good interpersonal relationship is the source of health

and happiness, and deep communication with external people can make people feel rich and full of

their own life, which cannot be replaced by any technology.

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5.2.2. Build trust and walk out of the dilemma of "man-machine sadomasochism"

When building the trust relationship between man and machine, there will always be multiple

challenges such as data risk, technical ethics, and algorithm black box. So far, trust still cannot be

established completely by relying on artificial intelligence itself, and the unilateral efforts of human

beings is easy to lead to the imbalance of human-machine relationship. Once the "sunk cost"

intensifies, it may cause a series of problems such as cyber sadistic love and social withdrawal, casting

a shadow over the seemingly dreamy love between man and machine.

In order to deal with such problems, the optimization and upgrading of the internal algorithm and

model of AI voice cloning technology should be enhanced to ensure the stability and accuracy of the

technology and avoid voice errors and decoding. At the same time, the system should have adaptive

ability, timely response to user language, page interactive feedback, not only to determine the

listening experience and voice quality, also want to the user's expression, customized degree and

adapt to the scene, to reduce the user in voice sharing by receiving negative feedback of "loneliness".

On this basis, gradually enhance the reliability of the system and dependence, whether for

professional voice users get auditory enjoyment, or make voice disorder perception emotional flow,

are technology should achieve the goal, meet the expectations and needs of different users, and in the

value trust, man-machine gradually into intimate community.

5.2.3. Return to the main body and restart the human-machine attachment relationship

With the development and popularization of artificial intelligence, the relationship between man-

machine is changing quietly. Man, once seen as the master of AI, has gradually turned into a partner

and a partner with AI. However, this technological change is not without challenges. The ethical

issues it brings, such as data hegemony and algorithmic dictatorship, are like an undercurrent hidden

under a calm sea, which can cause unpredictable "disasters" at any time. This makes us deeply aware

that the automatic decision-making of AI voice function cannot exist in isolation from human ethical

guidance.

Return to subject consciousness, does not mean that promoting personal centralism, but to seek

the perfect integration between "subjectivity" and AI "intelligence", realize a new value beyond the

two alone, this concept and our country in the global artificial intelligence governance initiative

advocated by the "people-oriented" thought is closely linked. In the new era of human-machine

collaboration, human beings need to re-examine and emphasize their own subject value, keep a clear

mind and a firm position, and enhance their ethical awareness and intelligent literacy. At this time,

the true and false discrimination of the love between man and machine will become no longer

important, but more important is the self-awareness and growth of human beings born from love. It

is believed that this will be a profound "two-way rush" between human beings and AI voice cloning

technology, working together to create a better future of the voice society.

6. Prospect and limitation

From the unique perspective of human-machine attachment, this study gives new insights to the

sharing behavior of AI voice cloning technology, and also provides valuable reference for the

promotion and marketing strategy of new technologies. Compared with the traditional technology

sharing mode, the sharing behavior of AI voice cloning technology from the perspective of human-

machine attachment is more driven by emotion. This driving force comes not only from the realism

and flexibility of the "sound" given by technology, but deeper, from the deep and unique attachment

links established between man and machine.

Looking ahead, the communication between people and AI is expected to be an important

complement to interpersonal communication, but that does not mean that "we expect less from each

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other". Instead, we should look at technology in a more sober and prudent manner, and to shape and

apply it in a way that respects ourselves and values humanity. When we talk to AI voice cloning

technology, we should make sure that the technology is truly "for our use" and becomes an "extension

of ourselves", " rather than replacing or weakening our real existence. At the same time, we are also

full of expectations, hoping that this "rose" of emotion between man and machine can blossom more

gorgeous and benefit a wider audience.

In fact, the phenomenon of "voice sharing" in this study is not only a sharing of technology, but

also a reflection of "spiritual resonance" and "soul resonance", which is similar to the process of

choosing our future "partner" in real life, which involves deep emotional connection and resonance.

Therefore, we have reason to believe that in the future of technological development, the attachment

between man and machine will play an increasingly important role, bringing more warmth and color

to life.

This study also has some limitations. First, based on the S-O-R perspective, without considering

the effects of non-cognitive factors such as personal habits and ethics, future research can focus on

this to refine the model. Secondly, the questionnaire survey may not be able to comprehensively

summarize the phenomenon. The future research can supplement the qualitative research methods,

such as in-depth interview or observation methods, to improve the objectivity and scientificity of the

research. Finally, the data of this study are cross-sectional, which cannot demonstrate the dynamic

process of variables, and future studies need to add longitudinal design to reveal the dynamic

evolution of behavior.

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Analysis of the Causes and Mitigation Paths of Artificial

Intelligence Anxiety among Journalism Practitioners

Kewen Liang1,a,*, Kaidong Dong1,b

1School of Journalism&Communication, Guangzhou University, Guangzhou, 510006, China

a. 15920862778@163.com, b. dkdo1234@163.com

*corresponding author

Abstract: The transformation of news media into intelligent media is in the ascendant, and

artificial intelligence (AI) technology has brought news practitioners into the era of intelligent

production, but also brought them the psychological worry of AI anxiety. The study analyses

the causes of AI anxiety among news practitioners from three aspects: the dissolution of their

professional concepts, the prevalence of professional substitution, and the polarisation of

professional skill requirements, and proposes a path to alleviate the problem by balancing

self-efficacy and psychological expectations through scientific cognition, promoting the

human-machine symbiosis model in the field of journalism through multi-party collaboration,

and providing special support to improve the protection of news practitioners' profession.

Keywords: artificial intelligence, journalists, psychological anxiety, media convergence.

1. Introduction

Since the 21st century, data, algorithms and arithmetic power, as the three basic elements for the

development of artificial intelligence, have been developed unprecedentedly, and artificial

intelligence technology has become an important intermediary between human beings and the

environment. In the field of news dissemination, the coupling of technology and media has laid the

foundation for the realisation of "Smart Media", which is a form of intelligent matching of

information and user needs. Artificial intelligence technology is constantly involved in all stages of

the news dissemination process, promoting the transformation and reshaping of news media

organisations, but also exacerbating the AI anxiety of news practitioners. Artificial Intelligence

Anxiety (AI Anxiety) in the overall emotional manifestation of anxiety or fear, can inhibit the

individual interaction with artificial intelligence[1] .

Technological change creates stimuli to human emotions and cognition, and when individuals are

exposed to positive (negative) stimuli, their emotions will rise (fall) rapidly[2] . Among them, in the

short term, due to the lack of clear understanding and cognition, individuals are more likely to develop

negative resistance behaviours towards new technologies[3] . Compared to the speed of technological

development, human beings are relatively slow to adapt, making it difficult for them to keep up with

the technology at all times, which can easily lead to anxiety. Under the market requirements of "new"

and "fast", the journalism industry relies heavily on AI technology for the convenience of material

collection, automatic generation and personalised distribution, but it also creates a paradox in the use

of technology[4] . The rapid iteration and diverse forms of AI technologies have caused a decline in

the emotions of journalists and increased the AI anxiety of journalists.

Proceedings of ICADSS 2024 Workshop: International Forum on Intelligent Communication and Media Transformation

DOI: 10.54254/2753-7064/36/2024BJ1007

(https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).

168

The psychological impact of artificial intelligence on employees has received increasing attention,

but it is mostly gathered in the fields of human resource management and pedagogy. In the field of

journalism and communication, the research on the impact of AI technology on news practitioners is

mainly centred on the adjustment of the news production process, professional role adjustment and

other levels, and the research from the micro level of psychology is relatively weak. As the

communicators, recorders, promoters and watchmen of the society, news practitioners need to solve

the contradiction between the application of AI and self-adaptation. Based on this, this paper focuses

on analysing the psychological causes of AI anxiety among news practitioners and exploring the path

to alleviate their AI anxiety, with a view to achieving human-machine symbiosis and promoting the

harmonious progress of news media and AI.

2. The causes of AI anxiety among journalists

The impact of previous technological revolutions on journalists can be compensated for by the

creation of new jobs, most of which can be filled by journalists with skills training and education.

However, the impact of the development of artificial intelligence technology presents new features

that are different from those of the past, which fundamentally and significantly reduce the demand

for jobs and personnel in the field of journalism. In the process of the rapid development of AI,

through the mapping of the phenomenon of AI anxiety among journalists, the essence behind the

phenomenon of anxiety can be analysed in terms of the dissolution of professional concepts, the

prevalence of professional substitutes, and the polarization of the requirements for professional skills,

so as to better "prescribe the right medicine".

2.1. Dissolution of career philosophy

2.1.1. Lack of self-efficacy and dilution of professional identity

Self-efficacy refers to an individual's perception of self-confidence or ability to perform a task, and

can influence an individual's cognition, emotion, and motivation[5] . The intelligent transformation

of media is being carried out in an orderly manner, and the depth of human-computer interaction has

weakened the self-efficacy of news practitioners to a certain extent. On the one hand, the application

of AI technology in the news industry has brought new challenges to news practitioners, resulting in

a decrease in their work control, a decrease in the recognition of their self-competence, and a

weakening of their sense of self-efficacy. On the other hand, the "human-like" ability of AI

technology also makes journalists feel less self-worth, and their emotions tend to be negative, further

reducing their self-efficacy.

Self-efficacy affects an individual's choice of environment and his or her sense of value in that

environment, which can trigger anxiety[6] . The higher the self-efficacy of journalists, the more

confident they are in their own professional value and work ability, and the stronger their professional

identity. In the AI news production environment, journalists with low self-efficacy tend to be more

self-doubtful and feel highly nervous, easy to underestimate their own ability and constantly

presuppose potential difficulties, and are more likely to produce negative avoidance psychology in

the cognitive, attitudinal and behavioural levels of professional identity. Self-doubt caused by self-

efficacy loss and avoidance caused by professional identity dilution form a vicious circle, causing

journalists' perception of self-worth to plummet and generating serious anxiety.

2.1.2. Floating psychological expectations and a sense of professional belonging

Anticipation, or "advance mental preparation for a potentially negative event," is effective in reducing

the emotional impact of a negative event, but the anticipation process itself can lead to the activation

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of emotionally relevant neural circuits and the subjective experience of anxiety, and overly negative

anticipation can also affect the subject's emotional cognition. towards things, thus creating anxiety[7] .

The development of digital media has led to the "liquefaction" of journalistic identity and the

journalistic community[8]. The professional boundaries of journalists have been lost, and the

journalistic community and the public have become intertwined. Artificial intelligence technology

not only accelerates the process of "liquefaction" of journalism, but also makes the human-computer

relationship undergo a fundamental transformation from instrumental parasitism to competitive

symbiosis[9]. The subjectivity of journalists has been unprecedentedly challenged, and under the

influence of negative psychological expectations, the sense of professional belonging is weakened,

and the anxiety is formed.

On the one hand, AI technology makes it more difficult for journalists to adapt in the workplace

and makes them lose their autonomy. The "liquid" journalism in the AI environment requires

members of the journalism profession to have the ability to adjust their behaviours parallel to or even

beyond the technological updates, however, the competition for journalists' careers has become more

intense in the midst of the dramatic changes in the media, and journalists are facing "obsolescence"

because they have difficulty in adapting to the speed of the technological updates in the human

domain. "However, the competition for journalists' careers has become more intense in the media's

dramatic changes. On the other hand, anxiety is often born from the unknown. In the highly mobile

AI environment, the intervention of AI technology has increased the unknown factors and working

difficulty of the working environment, which makes news practitioners begin to change and unknown

mental overload to bear the work pressure, always in a "suspended" state.

2.2. Occupational substitution for universal

2.2.1. "Pervasive communication" is all over the place, and attention is being diverted away

from its resources.

"Ubiquitous communication" refers to ubiquitous network-based, personalised communication for all,

many-to-many and one-to-one at the same time, both "with" and "without" the crowd. It is both

"crowded" and "crowdless", both from everyone to everyone and on a one-to-one basis[10] . In the

Internet, which is the largest news distribution centre nowadays, the public can not only divide the

communication power of professional news practitioners, but also further weaken the advantages of

professional news practitioners under the production assisted by AI technology, so as to realise double

innovation in terms of "quantity" and "quality". Innovation.

On the one hand, the coupling of the Internet environment and artificial intelligence technology

has simplified the production and dissemination of information, and the "right" of the general public

to disseminate information has been transformed into "power". With the development of mobile

terminal equipment and intelligent media platforms, ordinary users can obtain information on the

Internet with high density, focused topics, and a wide range of information sources, and information

superiority is no longer the exclusive right of news practitioners. With the superposition of rich

information resources and AI-assisted content production tools, the main body of content production

in the news field is expanding in a honeycomb fashion, and "pan-crowd communication" can be

realised. On the other hand, AI can improve the quality of content production by ordinary users.

Compared with professional news practitioners, the general public has the advantage of "first scene",

but it is difficult to compare the quality of information production, but in the artificial intelligence

technical support for pictures, videos, text, posters and other "one-click generation" software can

make up for the quality of content production to a certain extent. With the technical support of AI,

"one-click generation" software for pictures, videos, texts and posters can, to a certain extent, make

up for the shortcomings of the general public in the quality of content production.

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2.2.2. Frequency of "skilled unemployment" and expansion of the jobs crisis

"Technological unemployment" refers to the phenomenon of unemployment brought about by the

impact of technological progress, in which technology becomes more and more advanced and

gradually replaces human labour, reducing the demand for labour in society and leading to an increase

in the number of unemployed people. The rapid development of artificial intelligence technology has

once again aroused social anxiety and anxiety about "technological unemployment". In the news

production stage, AI software platforms and natural language generation technology are combined to

generate news by converting raw data into comprehensible language[11] . In the news distribution

stage, AI conducts large-scale retrieval of Internet data based on user behavioural labels and matches

user profiles and information clustering to form personalized distribution, greatly enhancing the

arrival rate and dissemination effect of news information and forming a highly personalized "My

Daily". At the news gatekeeping stage, AI carries out statistical analysis of news authenticity based

on accuracy, certainty and other indicators on the basis of data mining technology through image

recognition, voice recognition and other technologies[12] . At the same time, the accuracy of the AI

system audit is further improved through the establishment of relevant databases, which is not only

able to identify and deal with existing information risks, but also facilitates early warning through big

data analysis. Artificial intelligence machines involved in the field of news dissemination, the logic

of news work with algorithmic technology changes[13] , more and more common to news

practitioners to form a labour force replacement.

In 2020 Microsoft had a strategic restructuring of its staff with journalists and editors as the main

targets for layoffs, and said it would increase its efforts to replace human news editors with AI

technology in the future[14] . As the media continues to interface with AI technology, the

replaceability of journalists continues to increase, the uniqueness and legitimacy of their previous

work philosophies and modes of practice in the industry continue to diminish, and journalists in AI

machine-produced environments are exposed to professional shortcomings. Artificial Intelligence

increases unemployment until a certain level of inflation is reached, and then its effect will

diminish[15] . The current development of AI is still in the period of inflated expectations of

technological development and is far from reaching maturity. The participation of AI machines in the

field of journalism has exacerbated the situation of technological unemployment among journalists,

whose job and life stability is threatened and whose anxiety has skyrocketed.

2.3. Polarisation of occupational skill requirements

2.3.1. "Data-only" appraisal, burnout is a common occurrence

Artificial intelligence and related technologies in the news production process not only as the news

practitioners of the "competitor" to participate in the job "competition", but also incarnated as the

"assessor" hostage to the news practitioners of the performance appraisal. performance assessment.

Various traffic indicators are tightly controlled, from the platform to the news organisation, and then

dispersed to each news practitioner. Quantitative data such as the number of reads, likes, comments,

retweets, and followers gradually occupy an important position in the media's assessment, and traffic

indicators such as "100,000+" have become an important criterion for the success of news products.

Although news practitioners are able to fight for a larger living space under the refined digital

directives through self-fighting, most practitioners are neither able to fight nor escape[16] , and low

work efficiency, negative work attitude, and burnout have emerged under the prolonged high-pressure

work, which has sowed the seeds of increased AI anxiety among news practitioners.

Firstly, highly accurate quantitative indicators seem to be fair, but in fact they can only reflect the

quality of news products to a limited extent. A series of external factors, such as news categories and

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topics, significantly affect the assessment results of news products, and news practitioners have

limited control over the data assessment of news products, so it is difficult to fully reflect the

contribution of news practitioners to news products and their personal value, which is easy to

discourage news practitioners in the long run. Secondly, under the traffic data assessment, even if the

same cost of socially necessary labour time, the user's preference will still lead to the difference in

traffic data, which is directly projected to the performance appraisal and salary income, journalists

are more inclined to choose those topics and contents that attract traffic[17] , which not only damages

the quality of news products, but also strikes the professional beliefs and aspirations of news

practitioners, and impacts the "imagination of fame" of news practitioners. This not only damages the

quality of news products, but also strikes the professional beliefs and ambitions of news practitioners,

affecting their "imagination of fame" and reducing them to "digital workers".

2.3.2. "Competition intensifies as 'all-round journalists' battle it out

With the development of the times, the connotation of the concept of "all-round reporter" is also

changing, from the traditional core skills of "gathering, writing, editing and commenting" to the

current technological, intelligent and digital skills are constantly changing and superimposed. The

news industry's demand for practitioners to be "all-rounded" has spread from the journalism

profession to news practitioners in various positions. The new skills in the field of journalism in the

artificial intelligence environment are not only difficult to master, but also fast iterative and highly

replaceable, so journalists are in a long time in the professional skills dilemma, with serious mental

and emotional wear and tear, and the de-personalisation is accompanied by a sudden drop in the sense

of personal achievement. In the face of ever-changing technology and white-hot competition,

journalism practitioners' professional anxiety is deepening.

On the one hand, the development of artificial intelligence technology promotes the progress of

the media industry, and at the same time, it also puts forward higher requirements for the skills of

news practitioners. Nowadays, journalists not only need to use a variety of devices to obtain graphic

and video news materials, but also need to produce text, pictures, videos and other corresponding

forms of news content according to a variety of communication channels. In addition, with the rise

of self-media and short-video platforms, journalists are also required to master skills such as planning,

management, distribution and live broadcasting in order to adapt to the development and demand[18] ,

and the competition among journalists is further intensified by significant layoffs in the journalism

industry under the process of intelligentisation. However, journalists are required to have

comprehensive skills, but with limited energy, most of them are in the embarrassing situation of

"being good at everything, but not good at anything", and are caught in a skills dilemma. On the other

hand, despite the fact that journalists put a lot of effort into learning various skills in order to fulfil

the requirement of being "all-rounded", the skills of journalists often appear to be "weak" with the

involvement of AI technology. NewsGPT, the world's first platform to generate news stories entirely

by AI, does not involve any journalists, claims to be "unbiased", and is able to provide viewers with

accurate and reliable news 24 hours a day, 7 days a week[19] , which is virtually impossible for

human journalists to match in terms of efficiency.

3. A path to alleviating AI anxiety among journalists

In the era of smart media, traditional journalists are frequently threatened and challenged by AI

technology, and the phenomenon of AI anxiety is widespread. To adhere to human subjectivity in the

wave of AI development and reduce the "side effects" brought by AI, it is necessary to put forward

targeted suggestions from three aspects: scientific cognition, promotion of human-computer

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symbiosis mode, and sound industry protection, so as to help news practitioners better adapt to the

new environment of AI intervention.

3.1. "Heart Strengthener": Scientific Cognition Balances Self-Efficacy and Psychological

Expectations

Emotional factors are the subjective causes of anxiety, and the first cognition of news practitioners

on AI technology obtained through their feelings has strong subjective colours, and is inevitably

susceptible to the influence of emotional factors and priority effects, which makes it difficult to

comprehensively and objectively view things. Therefore, in the process of coping with AI anxiety,

news practitioners should set up a scientific cognitive model and psychological guidance mode,

overcome the influence of stereotypes and fear, enhance the ability to comprehensively and

objectively view things, and comprehensively view the application of human intelligence technology

in the field of journalism with scientific and systematic thinking, so as to alleviate the source of AI

anxiety by injecting a "cardiotonic agent".

On the one hand, news practitioners should establish a scientific knowledge of AI technology and

the professional field of news communication. First of all, news practitioners can increase their

understanding of career-related AI technology, in addition to using search engines to obtain

authoritative AI information for knowledge accumulation, but also by participating in online and

offline discussion groups, expert consultation and other ways of learning to form a scientific and

technological view of AI. Secondly, rationally recognise the limitations of AI technology in the field

of news dissemination and establish a correct professional cognition. Although with the birth of the

super artificial intelligence ChatGPT, artificial intelligence technology has been transitioned to

"strong intelligence", but the overall situation is still in the category of "weak intelligence", news

practitioners in the field of innovation, abstraction, value judgement, humanistic care, still have

irreplaceable advantages. Journalists still have irreplaceable advantages in the fields of innovation,

abstraction, value judgement and humanistic care. Therefore, journalists should consolidate their

professional skills to avoid the short board effect, and at the same time, they should also outline their

own strengths and avoid their shortcomings. In this way, self-efficacy can be enhanced through the

optimisation of self-confidence and competence.

On the other hand, news practitioners should also take the initiative to adopt psychological

counselling modes to cope with the psychological pressure brought by AI. First, they can seek

professional psychologists to practice psychological methods to alleviate the anxiety brought by AI

technology with a defensive psychological model, such as positive imagination method and cost-

benefit analysis, to mitigate the impact of negative emotions. Secondly, communication and exchange

with fellow news practitioners can improve the understanding of the industry and environmental

perception under the application of AI, and balance the gap between reality and psychological

expectations; thirdly, news practitioners can reduce cognitive dissonance by adjusting their long-term

and stage-by-stage career planning to cope with the distress brought about by AI technology in a

positively confrontational way. Thus, the impact of negative expectations can be reduced and the

sense of professional identity and industry belonging can be strengthened.

3.2. "Power Needle": a multi-party effort to advance the human-computer symbiosis model

in journalism

At this stage of the intelligent revolution wave, the deep integration of artificial intelligence and news

media field has been unstoppable, the deep integration of media is inevitably inseparable from the

symbiosis of human and artificial intelligence technology. Relying only on the news practitioners

unilateral psychological adjustment is far from enough, but also from the industry, organisations,

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departments, multi-party linkage initiative to deal with artificial intelligence technology, multi-level

construction of artificial intelligence symbiosis mode in the field of news, news practitioners and

artificial intelligence technology mutual empowerment to play the "power needle".

Firstly, at the macro level of the news industry, the construction of the institutional system for

promoting AI media should be strengthened. Through deepening exchanges and cooperation with

government departments, new media organisations, Internet enterprises and user groups, a more open

and inclusive ecological environment for AI in the news media field should be constructed to guide

AI towards good development and create a good macro environment for news practitioners to adapt

to the development of AI. At the same time, it should also strengthen the collaboration between the

news media and artificial intelligence technology platforms, and leverage each other's strengths to

achieve mutual benefit. Commercial attributes of the AI platform enterprises to empower the news

media, to bring technology-related talent, management and other assistance, and social attributes of

the news media can also amplify the positive social impact of intelligent technology for the AI

platform enterprises, to achieve mutually beneficial development of the two sides, and to enhance the

ability and willingness of news practitioners to collaborate with man-machine in their work.

Secondly, at the meso-organisational level, news media organisations can introduce advanced

equipment and regularly carry out training courses on AI topics to provide professional advice and

practical opportunities for news practitioners, so as to gradually accumulate experience in assisting

with AI. Exchange sessions can also be held between media organisations to increase exchanges

between journalists from different organisations, thus enhancing their mastery of and adaptation to

AI technology, and activating the motivation and competitiveness of journalists in the application of

AI technology.

Finally, at the micro level of internal departmental management, emphasis should be placed on the

construction of an environment of humanistic care within the department, to enhance journalists'

sense of professional belonging and sense of work value, so that they can have more positive

expectations and confidence in the unknown work challenges in the future, and to facilitate journalists'

anxiety relief in the complex environment invaded by AI. In addition, departmental managers should

also actively explore the advantages of talents, flexibly arrange the division of labour and duties of

departmental personnel, let those who are quicker to adapt to AI technology share their experiences,

and give those who are slower to adapt to AI time to learn in work arrangements, so as to assist the

department as a whole in gradually increasing its adaptability to AI technology.

3.3. "A Piece of Mind": Specialised Support for Sound Industry Protection for Journalists

Journalists' artificial intelligence anxiety is interdependent with their economic and social status

anxiety. With the development of social economy, news practitioners in the "olive" society gradually

showed a trend of transferring from the upper middle level to the middle or even the lower middle

level[20] , AI is involved in the formation of a new round of impact on the economic income of news

practitioners. At the same time, under the background of AI news production, "news useless theory"

has emerged, and the social status of news practitioners as "uncrowned king" has faded, and the

anxiety of social status has deepened. Therefore, in order to cope with the increasing economic and

social status anxiety of journalists under the trend of artificial intelligence, the Government and the

industry should join hands to further improve and perfect the system of protection for journalists, and

implement both negative and positive protection measures.

On the one hand, news as an important force for social development, the negative protection of the

unemployed in the news industry is indispensable. The government should increase unemployment

insurance and social support for the news industry, under the premise of solving their basic living

problems, the unemployed news professional support for secondary employment, business start-ups,

reduce the waste of professional journalism resources, and refine the negative security system for the

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unemployed news practitioners. Secondly, medical assistance and related medical protection should

be provided to those journalists who are suffering from occupational anxiety and have developed

psychological illnesses as a result, so as to provide them with dual protection at both the material and

spiritual levels. Negative security for the industry not only provides effective protection and support

for the unemployed in the journalism industry, but also gives working journalists a shot in the arm,

easing their potential occupational anxiety.

On the other hand, the integration of the journalism industry with the field of artificial intelligence

is a general trend, and from the perspective of long-term development, the State has assumed the

responsibility for universal skills training and guidance between journalism practitioners and AI

technology, and has practised positive safeguards to improve journalism practitioners' anxiety about

AI and their living environment. The state can set up special training support funds for journalists'

training on AI reform and increase spending on journalists' employment security, which will help

journalists better adapt to the working environment of AI technology and indirectly reduce their

anxiety by easing the economic pressure on the news media.

4. Conclusion

In the context of the era of artificial intelligence, the integration and transformation of news media

has entered a deep-water period, and it is urgent for news practitioners to actively transform to fit the

new environment of news media in the era of artificial intelligence. Among them, psychological

adjustment is a crucial part of news practitioners in the transformation of media intelligence. The

psychological health of journalists is not only related to their own career development, but also to the

development of the news communication industry and the construction of social spiritual civilisation.

Therefore, paying attention to the anxiety of news practitioners in the critical period of media

intelligent transformation is a proper way to positively face the changes and challenges brought by

new technologies to the news field, and also a realistic requirement to help the transmission of the

socialist core value system.

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Analysis of Editorial Planning and Insights from

International Bestsellers in the Age of Intelligence

Yanhua Qin1, Yifan Li1,a,*

1School of Journalism and Communication, Beijing Normal University, No.19 Xinjekouwai Street,

Haidian District, Beijing

a. 372766468@qq.com

*corresponding author

Abstract: In the era of intelligence, the book publishing industry is experiencing new vitality

but is also facing challenges such as severe homogenization and increasing competition.

Taking the British bestseller The Thursday Murder Club as a case study, this paper conducts

an in-depth analysis of the book series' publishing timing, editorial planning, and marketing

strategies. Through this case study, the paper summarizes successful experiences and insights

into creating professional bestsellers, offering references and suggestions for the publishing

industry to address market challenges and launch bestsellers. The study points out that the

publishing industry should pay attention to trends and changes, accurately grasp market

demand, adjust marketing strategies promptly, and emphasize collaboration and joint

promotion.

Keywords: Bestseller, Book Planning, Book Marketing, Insights.

1. Introduction

The Thursday Murder Club series, written by Richard Thomas Osman at the age of fifty, is his debut

work. This series represents a new style of "Cozy Mystery" and has released four books so far: The

Thursday Murder Club (published in 2020), The Man Who Died Twice (published in 2021), The

Bullet That Missed (published in 2022), and The Last Devil to Die (published in 2023). Upon its

release in September 2020, the first book of the series consistently held the top position on the UK

Amazon book charts, ultimately becoming the best-selling new book in the UK for 2020 after just

three months of sales. It surpassed even Barack Hussein Obama’s highly anticipated memoir A

Promised Land and remained at the top of The Sunday Times bestseller list for sixty weeks (twenty-

nine weeks for the hardcover edition and thirty-one weeks for the paperback edition)[1]. This series

became the fastest-selling crime fiction debut in history. The series set a record for being the fastest

to reach one million copies sold in the UK, with global sales exceeding eight million copies. Not only

in the UK but also in Japan, a country recognized as a stronghold of mystery fiction, the Thursday

Murder Club series was selected for the overseas mystery novel rankings for two consecutive years.

Renowned game designer Hideo Kojima also mentioned the Thursday Murder Club series on social

platforms and in his annual book recommendations[2]. According to the UK Official Top Book

Rankings, the fourth book in the series, The Last Devil to Die, sold 64,526 copies in its first week,

and its sales exceeded 200,000 copies within two weeks. Osman's series has topped the UK Official

Top Book Rankings for original fiction fifty-eight times[3]. Currently, the film rights for The

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Thursday Murder Club were auctioned by 14 film companies, with Amblin Entertainment ultimately

securing the rights. Amblin is co-led by world-renowned director Steven Allan Spielberg and is also

a flagship production company with Alibaba Pictures as a shareholder[1]. The series has been sold to

43 countries and regions and has received numerous major awards, including the British National

Book Award for Best Author of 2021, the Nielsen Platinum Sales Award, the 2021 Edgar Award for

Best Novel, and the 2021 Left Coast Crime Award for Best Debut.

The Thursday Murder Club series gained widespread popularity among readers worldwide

immediately after its release. Its success can be attributed to the "cozy mystery" writing style, the

detailed and nuanced character development, the cleverly crafted plot, and the vivid and elegant

language. Additionally, the author's professional background, extensive promotional activities, and

the evolving reading habits of the audience played key roles in its success. These combined factors

made the series a work that is both entertaining and artistic, earning the approval of a large readership.

This paper will focus on analyzing the strategies employed in the timing of publication, editorial

planning, and marketing promotion of the Thursday Murder Club series to provide valuable insights

for publishers aiming to create bestsellers.

2. Timing of Publication: Offering Comfort Through "Cozy Mystery" During the

Pandemic

Although the COVID-19 pandemic had a profound impact on society, the restrictions and reduced

social activities caused by the pandemic led people to seek entertainment and escape through reading.

Consumers tended to engage more in reading during the pandemic[4]. Fiction, in particular, saw a

rise in readership. According to a Nielsen Book survey, people read more "crime/thriller/adventure

books" during the pandemic, driven primarily by the desire for entertainment and an escape from

reality[4]. With this increased interest in reading, the Thursday Murder Club series was released at

just the right time. Against the backdrop of the pandemic, when people were generally in need of

comfort and emotional relief, the author stood out by adopting a "cozy mystery" style that was

different from traditional suspense and crime novels. The mystery genre was no longer solely about

elaborate crime plots; it could also convey warmth. This unique blend of surface-level "coziness"

with "hardcore" mystery elements gave the novel a distinct charm.

Firstly, "cozy mystery," as a writing style, emphasizes a gentle progression of the plot, harmonious

relationships between characters, and a light, enjoyable reading experience. In The Thursday Murder

Club, the author skillfully incorporates this style, making the story full of healing power amidst the

tension and excitement of the mystery. The author not only focuses on the logic and coherence of the

investigative process but also maintains tension and appeal through clever plot twists and suspense.

This design satisfies readers’ curiosity and desire for knowledge while allowing them to experience

the warmth and positive energy conveyed by the story. This style aligns with the sense of peace and

tranquility that people craved during the pandemic, which contributed to the wide appeal of the book.

Furthermore, the author excels at using language to create atmosphere and evoke emotions. The prose

is both concise and poetic, with a rhythmic flow that evokes the tranquility and beauty of the British

countryside. The author also employs detailed psychological descriptions and lively dialogue to

vividly portray the emotional changes and inner conflicts of the characters, allowing readers to deeply

empathize with their joys, sorrows, and conflicts.

Secondly, the plot design of this series breaks away from the traditional framework of mystery

novels, incorporating innovative elements into the foundation of British "cozy" mystery. Traditional

detective novels often center on complex cases and intricate reasoning, while typical British mysteries

rarely involve highly complicated cases or serial murders, as this contradicts the realistic style of

British detective fiction. In The Thursday Murder Club series, on one hand, the protagonist group

consists of retired elderly individuals—a relatively rare focus in the mystery genre. The elderly

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detectives defy the stereotype of young, handsome, and intelligent sleuths, offering readers a fresh

and intriguing perspective. These elderly characters come from diverse backgrounds and possess

various skills, forming a rich and colorful ensemble. This diverse character setup adds depth to the

story and offers more possibilities for plot development. On the other hand, the number of cases

involved in the story pushes the limits of the cozy mystery genre. The cases are intertwined, and

through the joint exploration of the four-member detective team, they eventually converge into a

tightly woven whole, creating a plot structure more intricate than most traditional British mystery

novels.

Lastly, the author presents warmth in character development. Each of the four main characters is

distinct, with their personalities, experiences, and values portrayed through nuanced descriptions.

These characters are not only vividly individual but are also closely bonded, with their friendships,

familial ties, and shared courage in the face of adversity serving as essential driving forces for the

plot. This approach to character development allows readers to delve deep into the inner worlds of

the characters, fostering empathy and emotional connection. In an interview, the author mentioned,

"Some famous detectives are deliberately portrayed as cold and distant, but that was never my

intention with my characters. I wanted The Thursday Murder Club to be more relatable and charming

so that readers could care about the characters just as much as they care about the mysteries

themselves. Each of them has their own subplot, and I have endless fun imagining what they will do

next"[5].

In summary, the success of The Thursday Murder Club series is largely due to its ability to

precisely capture the specific needs of readers in the context of the pandemic. By breaking away from

the traditional framework of mystery novels, the author skillfully combines mystery elements with

themes of elderly life, friendship, and family warmth, creating a story world that is both thrilling and

touching, prompting readers to reflect on life and values.

3. Editorial Planning: Close Collaboration Between Editor and Author to Refine the Plot

The success of a book is closely linked to meticulous and detailed editorial work. This involves

careful collaboration between the author, the literary agent, and the editor to polish the plot, ensuring

coherence and appeal. Through this editorial process, the story becomes tighter and more engaging,

making it easier to capture and maintain the readers’ interest.

Firstly, the deep trust and collaboration between agent Juliet Mushens and the author played a

crucial role in both the creative process and subsequent publishing negotiations. Mushens not only

acted as the author’s literary agent but also served as his literary advisor, offering valuable suggestions

and guidance. After the author completed the first draft, Mushens found the manuscript overly

complex and suggested "extracting" some plot lines to "ensure readers can always solve the

mysteries"[4]. Osman took this advice and reduced the manuscript by about 20,000 words. The agent

also actively assisted the author in publishing negotiations, contacting various publishers to ensure

the best possible promotion and distribution of the work. Additionally, the literary agency took

responsibility for facilitating communication and coordination between the author, the publisher, and

other stakeholders during the publishing process to ensure a smooth workflow.

Secondly, Viking Press, the book’s publisher, played an equally indispensable role by having its

professional editorial team meticulously refine the work, enhancing its quality and literary value.

Katy Loftus, a perceptive editor who places a strong emphasis on quality, was in charge of reviewing

and editing submissions to the publisher. When the agent submitted the novel, Loftus was one of the

editors who received and evaluated it. Loftus showed great interest in the novel and suggested that

the author further streamline the story by removing a specific plotline. Osman accepted this editorial

feedback and made revisions. Although the author’s celebrity status certainly helped boost book sales,

the editor remained focused on the quality of the novel itself rather than relying solely on the author’s

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fame. Through the detailed and careful collaboration between the editor and the author, the content

quality of the book was significantly improved.

4. Celebrity Effect: The Author's Fame and Influence Boost Book Promotion

The author of The Thursday Murder Club series, Richard Osman, is a well-known British television

presenter, producer, comedian, director, and novelist. He gained fame as the creator and co-host of

the BBC television quiz show Pointless. In the opening of The Thursday Murder Club, Osman subtly

references his own experience by mentioning that Joyce, one of the characters, had previously

participated in a quiz game. Osman had always dreamed of becoming a writer, and in midlife, he

realized this dream with the publication of his debut novel The Thursday Murder Club, which earned

him the British Book Awards' 2021 Author of the Year. He is now one of Penguin Random House’s

globally featured authors, with sales comparable to Dan Brown and J.K. Rowling. With his

established reputation in the UK, Osman possesses strong writing and storytelling abilities, and his

celebrity status naturally boosted the promotion and marketing of his books. A Guardian report

pointed out that in 2020, the popularity of quiz shows, including Pointless, rose significantly, which

may have further increased public awareness of Osman during this time, indirectly contributing to

the boost in book sales [4].

Firstly, the author's fame brought greater exposure to the book. Even before the release of The

Thursday Murder Club, the media and readers were already filled with anticipation and attention

toward Osman’s new work. This ensured that the book received significant exposure during the

promotional phase, attracting the attention of many potential readers. Moreover, there was a

considerable overlap between Osman's fanbase and the potential readers of his novel. A study on the

U.S. crime and mystery book market revealed that 47% of readers are aged 55 and above[4]. Similarly,

the viewership of daytime television shows like Pointless also tends to be older; one report indicated

that approximately 80% of the show's audience is aged 55 and above[4]. Therefore, the target

audience for the book aligned well with the audience of Osman’s show, significantly increasing the

book’s visibility and drawing in readers to buy and read the book. Once the book was released, the

author’s celebrity status made it easier for retailers and the media to spotlight the book, helping it

reach bestseller lists and further enhancing its visibility and sales.

Secondly, the celebrity effect earned the book more trust and recognition. As an experienced media

professional, Osman demonstrated strong professional skills and a solid foundation throughout the

creative process. His years of work in the media industry provided valuable insights that aided in the

writing of his debut novel. Osman employed sophisticated plotting techniques, gradually advancing

the storyline, which kept readers engaged and filled with anticipation as they progressed through the

book. Additionally, he excelled at character development and psychological portrayal, making the

characters more three-dimensional and fully realized. Through detailed descriptions and lively

dialogue, Osman infused the story with a sense of reality and vibrancy, making it feel authentic and

relatable.

Osman’s celebrity status also brought abundant resources to the table. During the book's publishing

and promotion process, his fame opened doors to more collaborative opportunities and resource

support. For instance, he gained early recognition from literary agents and several publishers, which

raised public expectations for his book's sales and helped ensure the novel's smooth publication.

Through his social media platforms, Osman engaged directly with readers, sharing insights into the

writing process and his reflections on the book, which further strengthened his connection with

readers. This engagement inspired many of his fans to purchase the book. Additionally, he invited

other celebrities or experts to write endorsements or promote the book, further expanding its reach

and attracting a broader audience.

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5. Marketing and Promotion: Comprehensive Promotional Campaign Throughout the

Book's Publication Process

In addition to the book's inherent quality, which attracted readers, the marketing team played a crucial

role in its promotion. They devised detailed promotional plans and adapted strategies as needed,

conducting targeted campaigns for specific audience segments. A mix of online and offline

approaches was employed to increase the book's visibility. The flexible use of diverse marketing

strategies greatly contributed to the book's success, yielding excellent results with relatively little

effort.

Firstly, thorough preparatory work was carried out for the promotion. First, focus on pre-sales.

The quantity of pre-sales is critical in securing a book’s place on the bestseller list and further

capturing readers' attention. The marketing team adopted various methods during the preparation

phase to ensure substantial pre-sale numbers for the book. They accurately timed and crafted public

relations activities by arranging and optimizing key interviews in advance. For example, they

scheduled interviews with media outlets like The Sunday Times, the BBC, and the British talk show

The One Show, effectively increasing the book’s visibility and driving reader pre-orders. The team

did not only focus on traditional media such as newspapers and television interviews but also actively

utilized online platforms to showcase the book's appeal and the author's charm. Second, pre-

established marketing plan. The marketing team initiated promotional efforts as early as May 2019,

one year prior to the book’s official publication. They set detailed long-term promotional goals,

including driving the novel to the top of The Sunday Times bestseller list for hardcover fiction and

selling 100,000 copies by the end of 2020. This ensured that the promotional activities had a clear

direction. Early in the campaign, the team also conducted research on public perceptions of Osman.

They determined that one of the main challenges would be transitioning Osman from a television

celebrity to a respected author, thereby gaining recognition for the quality of his writing. Despite the

widespread lockdown in the UK in March 2020 due to the pandemic, the early start of the marketing

efforts and the strong rapport established between the marketing team and the author allowed for

smooth communication and timely adjustments to the marketing plan, ensuring the effectiveness of

the promotional activities.

Secondly, emphasize the role of book reviews in shaping the book's reputation. Before the book's

pre-sale, over a hundred employees at Viking Press had already read and discussed the manuscript's

quality. Additionally, the marketing team sent numerous early printed copies to industry insiders.

This meant that, beyond those involved in the early-stage rights acquisition, hundreds of people

within the industry had read the book before its official publication. These individuals expressed their

love for the book through social media platforms like Twitter, attracting both retailers and potential

future readers, which positively impacted early book sales. Furthermore, in 2020, due to the pandemic,

the public experienced heightened anxiety, depression, and other negative emotions. The marketing

team adapted their promotional strategy to reflect this shift in public sentiment, emphasizing themes

of kindness, joy, and escapism. By adjusting the promotional message to highlight the book’s positive

themes and values, the team garnered numerous positive reviews. The Daily Mail called Osman an

"exciting new talent in crime fiction," while The Daily Express described the book as "one of the

most delightful books of the year," further boosting the book's visibility and recognition.

Finally, target key audiences and important moments for promotion. First, the marketing team

focused on clearly identifying segmented audiences and applying different promotional strategies.

Although the book's target audience was defined broadly as "everyone," the team divided the market

into two specific segments. The first group consisted of Richard Osman's core fanbase, for whom the

primary strategy was sharing book-related information through Osman's social media accounts,

engaging his loyal followers. The second group comprised general crime fiction readers, who were

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targeted through more traditional methods such as review articles and bookstore events. In practice,

the promotional activities combined both online and offline efforts. Online events attracted various

reader groups, while in-person author signings were organized in regions with many independent

bookstores, allowing Osman to engage with readers face-to-face, enhancing interaction and

connection. Second, the team made timely adjustments to their promotional strategy, seizing critical

moments for promotion. As initial sales success was achieved, the team continuously set new goals

and adapted their strategies to maintain momentum. By maintaining close communication with media

outlets, they were able to sustain book sales growth. For example, they launched targeted promotions

during the sales peak before Christmas, capitalizing on the key holiday period to ensure continued

sales growth. Additionally, as the pandemic led many readers to purchase books locally, the

marketing team provided customized promotional materials for different brick-and-mortar bookstores,

including posters, bookmarks, and display stands, helping to boost in-store sales.

6. Conclusion

The marketing team for The Thursday Murder Club demonstrated characteristics such as precise

timing, flexibility in responding to challenges, a combination of online and offline strategies, a focus

on building reputation, and continuous promotion of sales, all of which laid a solid foundation for the

successful promotion of the book. Osman's celebrity effect also played an important role in the

success of The Thursday Murder Club. His fame, influence, and resource support greatly facilitated

the promotion and sales of the book, providing significant advantages. These aspects offer valuable

references for the publishing industry.

First, it is crucial to precisely grasp market demand. In today’s era of information explosion,

readers' preferences are increasingly diverse. How to accurately capture market demand and launch

book products that meet readers' needs has become a major challenge for the publishing industry. The

success of the Thursday Murder Club series is precisely due to the accurate grasp of market demand.

The author and the publishing team keenly captured the readers' love for detective novels, as well as

the audience's pursuit of a light, enjoyable reading experience during the pandemic. Through the

unique "cozy mystery" style, the series met readers' reading needs. Therefore, when planning book

products, it is necessary to conduct in-depth market research to understand readers' real needs. On

this basis, attention should be paid to shaping vivid character images and the ingenuity of plot design.

By creating lively characters and captivating storylines, publishers can attract readers’ attention,

enhance the artistic value and market competitiveness of the work, and ultimately launch works with

greater market potential.

Second, it is essential to adjust marketing strategies in a timely manner. Marketing teams need to

possess the flexibility to respond to challenges. During the promotion process, when faced with

challenges from competitors or market changes, teams should swiftly adjust their strategies and

conduct targeted promotional activities. For example, expanding influence through social media,

online forums, and other channels can help establish closer connections with readers. Simultaneously,

organizing offline activities such as book signings and reader meet-and-greet events can provide

readers with opportunities to interact with the author in person, enhancing their sense of participation

and belonging. It is also crucial to seize key promotional opportunities, such as holidays and reading

festivals, by releasing relevant news and hosting celebratory events to further boost the book’s

visibility and attention. These efforts continuously stimulate readers' purchasing desires and ensure

that the work reaches a broader audience of potential readers. Additionally, during the book’s

publishing and promotion phases, it is important to fully leverage the author's celebrity effect to

effectively enhance the book’s popularity and sales, thus contributing to the prosperous development

of the book market.

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Third, collaboration and joint promotion are essential. Throughout the entire publishing process

of The Thursday Murder Club, the author worked closely with partners such as the agent, publisher,

and bookstores to jointly formulate promotional strategies, achieving resource sharing and

complementary advantages. First, the cooperation between the author and the agent was the

cornerstone of the book’s success. The author provided captivating story content and deep character

development, while the agent, with their keen market insights and extensive industry experience,

offered valuable advice for the book’s publishing and promotion. Second, the publisher played a

crucial role in the book’s publishing and promotion process. In addition to handling the editing, design,

and printing of the book, the publisher leveraged its professional marketing team and extensive

channel resources to provide strong support for the book’s promotion. They worked closely with the

author and the agent to co-develop promotional strategies and carried out promotion through various

channels, such as social media, online bookstores, and physical bookstores, ensuring the book reached

a wider readership. Moreover, bookstores, as important sales channels, actively participated in the

book’s promotional activities. By hosting book signings, reader meet-and-greet events, and other

activities, bookstores provided opportunities for interaction between the author and readers, further

increasing readers' interest in the book and their desire to purchase it. In the process of collaboration

and joint promotion, all parties fully utilized their respective strengths to achieve resource sharing

and complementary advantages. The author provided high-quality content, the agent offered

professional market advice, the publisher supplied strong channel support and a marketing team, and

bookstores provided direct sales channels and opportunities for reader interaction. This cooperative

model broke down the barriers of traditional publishing practices and promoted deeper collaboration

and resource sharing among all parties. Such a model not only applies to the promotion of a single

book but can also be extended to the promotion of an entire series or even the development of cross-

media products.

In the future book publishing market, the publishing industry should actively learn from the

successful experience of The Thursday Murder Club series, continuously innovate and improve its

operational models and product strategies. By gaining a deeper understanding of readers' needs and

preferences, publishers can release more works that meet market demands and possess artistic value.

By optimizing marketing strategies and promotional channels, publishers can expand the influence

and market share of their works. Through cross-industry collaboration and brand building, they can

enhance the commercial value and market competitiveness of their works. Strengthening interaction

and communication with readers is also essential to build closer relationships, laying a solid

foundation for long-term development.

At the same time, the publishing industry should pay attention to industry trends and changes,

continuously adapting to and leading market trends. With the advent of the intelligent era, readers'

habits have shifted, and the publishing industry should actively explore intelligent transformation and

innovative development paths. By utilizing new technologies and methods, the industry can enhance

the dissemination of works and improve the reading experience.

References

[1] Zhōnghuá Dúshū Bào. (2022, March 11). The Chinese edition of "The Thursday Murder Club" to be released in

April [EB/OL]. Retrieved September 29, 2024, from http://www.xinhuanet.com/book/20220311/

9704c4c730864e299b716ecd4ce4d628/c.html

[2] Guójì Jūn. (2023, December 23). "The Thursday Murder Club: The Man Who Died Twice" selected for Douban’s

annual mystery and suspense list [EB/OL]. Retrieved September 29, 2024, from https://www.toutiao.com/article/

7315675005478748722/

[3] O'Brien, K. (2023, September 29). The official UK Top 50: Osman maintains satanic hold on chart: The latest in

Osman's Thursday Murder Club series may yet become the bestseller of the year [EB/OL]. Retrieved September 29,

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2024, from https://go.gale.com/ps/i.do?id=GALE%7CA767148602&sid=googleScholar&v=2.1&it=r&

linkaccess=abs&issn=00067539&p=LitRC&sw=w&userGroupName=anon%7E3e716b01&aty=open-web-entry

[4] Barker, D., & Mitchell, C. (2022). The Thursday Murder Club: Launching a megabrand author–a publishing case

study. Logos, 33(1), 7-22.

[5] Xīnjīng Bào Shūkān Zhōupíng. (2023, March 6). "I’m a superfan of Agatha!" | Interview with Richard Osman,

author of "The Thursday Murder Club" [EB/OL]. Retrieved September 29, 2024, from https://book.douban.com/

review/15023296/

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Reshaping the Sound Landscape: The Application and

Development of AI in the Sound Creation of Chinese

Podcasts in the Era of Intelligent Media

Lingyu Kuai1,a,*

1School of Journalism and Communication, China West Normal University, No.1 Normal

University Road, Shunqing District, Nanchong City, Sichuan Province, China

a. 2911472972@qq.com

*corresponding author

Abstract: With the rapid development of intelligent media technology, AI has greatly

enriched the creation means and expression forms of Chinese podcasts and reshaped the

diversity and personalization of speech synthesis, audio editing and content generation,

through the diversity and personalization of sound landscape. Through the specific

application cases of AI in the creation of Chinese podcast voice, this paper analyzes its

positive effects in improving the efficiency of creation, optimizing user experience and

promoting the development of the industry, and looks forward to the future development trend

and challenges, aiming to provide valuable reference and inspiration for the development of

the field of Chinese podcast.

Keywords: artificial intelligence, Chinese podcast, AI technology, sound landscape.

1. Introduction

With the rapid development of intelligent media technology, we are living in an era of information

explosion and diversified communication channels. Smart technologies are revolutionizing routine

practice, affecting consumers, creators, and industry leaders. Similarly, AI technology is

revolutionizing media products, including Chinese-language podcasts. As the number of users and

programs grow across the board, podcasts are growing into an important force in the content track.

According to the ListenNotes of the global podcasting industry, the number of Chinese podcasts

increased sixfold in the three years from 2020 to 2023.[1] In China, Chinese podcasts, as a new form

of audio media, have gradually won the favor of the majority of listeners with their unique content

charm and flexible way of communication. However, in the face of the increasing content demand

and the audience's desire for personalized experience, the traditional voice creation method has been

difficult to meet the market demand. In this context, the rise of artificial intelligence (AI) technology

has brought unprecedented opportunities and challenges to the sound creation of Chinese podcasts.

With its powerful data processing ability, efficient automated operation and innovative creation mode,

AI is gradually penetrating into every link of Chinese podcasts, from speech synthesis to audio editing,

from content generation to personalized recommendation, showing great application potential.

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2. From digital to intelligence: the encounter and symbiosis of AI technology and podcast

voice creation

2.1. Definition of relevant concepts

Podcasting (Podcast) is a form of digital media in which users can download or stream audio files

over the Internet. This form first appeared around 2004 and initially became popular as a combination

of "iPod" and "Broadcast". Before the concept of podcasting returned to the Chinese Internet in 2020,

audio books and pay-for-knowledge audio had already blossomed into people's lives. The difference

between Chinese podcast and audio books and paid knowledge audio is that it is not reading to users,

nor a paid voice course, but mainly about the conversation and sharing of one or more anchors, and

the cultural topic is the mainstream content in the current podcast. With the change of the scene and

the blessing of the technology, the current Chinese podcast is more like a kind of network audio based

on individual expression and the output of personal views. With the introduction of artificial

intelligence technology, audio and podcast programs, as the accompanying consumption experience,

enter the market with intelligent appearance.[2] In China, 2016 is known as the first year of the

outbreak of podcast and other audio streaming media, formed the "Himalaya FM", "Litchi FM" and

"Dragonfly FM" three applications the situation, they strengthen the deep connection with intelligent

speakers, make full use of artificial intelligence technology from digital podcast to intelligent podcast.

Recently, as a hot application in the field of artificial intelligence, ChatGPT has attracted wide

attention from all walks of life. Today, AI is deeply applied in the audio industry, significantly driving

audio content retrieval, content recognition, and content generation. Such as AIGC audio creation,

AI anchor + AI continuation, ASR automatic voice recognition, SP audio processing, content

recommendation, content authentication, etc. The core strengths of the AI-enabled audio industry

include accuracy, high efficiency, customization, and accessibility. The new scene of audio

communication under 5G and AI technology has formed an effective connection with the industrial

chain. With the superposition of AI technology and the 5G era, the production and accurate

distribution of content through user data mining has become the norm in the development of the

current cultural industry.[3] Based on the rise of automatic language recognition, accessibility, cloud

computing technology and natural language processing technology of intelligent speakers and voice

assistant, the use of algorithm model and machine technology iteration to improve the accuracy of

semantic recognition, but also can draw portraits according to user background data and accurately

distribute audio information.[4] AI in the integration of text recognition, voice broadcast application,

so that the audio book product content scene design has an advanced breakthrough and upgrade. At

present, the development and wide application of artificial intelligence (AI) have brought new

opportunities for the development of sound media.

2.2. The development of AI technology in enabling podcasts

Beginning. AI technology has begun initial attempts in audio processing, but it has not been directly

applied to podcast content creation. At this stage, AI technology is mainly used for the research and

development of basic technologies such as speech recognition and speech synthesis. In the market,

the application of AI technology in the field of podcast is still in the cognitive stage, most people hold

a wait-and-see attitude towards its potential value, and no AI technology has been directly applied to

the creation of podcast content, but the application of AI in voice assistant, intelligent speaker and

other fields has laid the foundation for the subsequent podcast integration.

Fusion exploration stage. AI technology began to deeply integrate with podcast content creation,

such as using AI to generate podcast content, auxiliary editing, personalized recommendations, etc.

At this stage, the podcasting content generated by AI technology, although limited in number, marks

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the substantial application of AI in the field of podcasting technology.podcast.ai Is a podcast

generated entirely by AI that digs into a new topic every week. In October 2022, an audio

conversation between renowned American podcast host (Joe Rogan) and the late Apple founder Steve

Jobs sparked a heated discussion on the Internet.[5] In the 20-minute podcast, the two explored

multiple topics, including Jobs's college experience, insights into computers, and personal beliefs.

The podcast audio was launched by podcast.ai, and to generate it, podcast.ai used Jobs' biography and

all the online recordings about him, heavily trained through the Play.ht AI language model. In

addition, the show host Logan's voice is also generated by AI.podcast.ai The AI podcast is a new

exploration of generative AI in the field of voice.

Continued the development stage. With the maturity of technology and wide application, users

gradually accept and get used to the application of AI in the field of podcasting. The application of

AI technology in the field of podcasting is increasingly mature, and significant progress has been

made in speech synthesis and natural language processing. AI plays an important role in the creation,

distribution and promotion of podcast content and other aspects, such as automatic generation of

podcast scripts, intelligent clips, personalized recommendations, etc. During this period, AI synthetic

anchors gradually came into people's vision. These anchors can not only imitate the voices,

expressions and movements of real people, but also interact and talk in real time. It has been widely

used in news broadcast, product introduction, online education and other fields. While these cases are

largely focused on news and entertainment, their success provides strong support for the further use

of AI in podcasts. In July 2023, the domestic podcast program "Dazhong and Xiaoya" released a

podcast completely AI-generated plots and voice, which received more than 5,000 times on the small

universe. Some comments in the comment section said that the AI-generated voice was mistaken as

the two anchors' "bad emotional state". In the podcast App small universe, the "Hacker News" account

produced a program with the voice of "Xiaoxiao", which won the love and reward of the majority of

listeners. Xiaoxiao is a woman in Azure's TTS (text to voice) voice library, Microsoft's cloud service

platform.

3. Application: the collision of AI technology and Chinese podcast creation

3.1. Audio editing and processing

AI technology can automate the processing of large amounts of audio data, significantly improving

editing efficiency. Through preset algorithms and models, AI can quickly identify key parts of audio,

such as human voice, background sound, noise, etc., and make accurate editing to reduce the tedious

and time-consuming of manual operation. In the process of creation, podcast creators will encounter

many problems such as mouth addiction, breath mouth and saliva sound in the program. If you need

to listen to all the long audio content every time, it will be time-consuming and laborious. AI

"intelligent detection" function can help creators to detect mouth bite, identify air mouth, and delete

the unnecessary bite bite, not having to edit word by word, saving a lot of time. At present, there have

been a number of intelligent audio editing software based on AI technology on the market, which can

automatically identify the key parts of the audio, and provide one-click editing, automatic mixing and

other functions, greatly reducing the threshold and difficulty of audio editing. For example,

Ximalaya's intelligent creation tool "Cloud clip" created by AI technology has launched many new

functions, which greatly reduces the threshold of audio podcast content creation and improves the

creative efficiency."Cloud editing" is a powerful online multi-track editing and light application,

which integrates intelligent volume, intelligent music, audio to text editing, AI segmentation,

intelligent detection, one-click film and other functions.[6] In the past audio clips, one or two hours

of audio content needs to be heard from beginning to end, while listening and editing, which greatly

consumes the creator's time. Cloud editing is also equipped with the function of "intelligent music

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and intelligent volume", which facilitates creators with difficulty in choosing to select music with

with a key, and fade in and out to improve the creative efficiency.

3.2. Text conception and creation

AI technology can help creators generate content, especially in text-to-voice translation. Creators

simply input text, and the AI can automatically generate synchronized voice content, greatly saving

time for recording and editing. In addition, AI can also adjust the expression mode of speech

according to the emotion and context of the text, so that the dubbing is more in line with the needs of

the content. This technology not only improves the efficiency of creation, but also lowers the

threshold of content creation, enabling more people to participate in the creation of Chinese podcasts.

AI technology also helps podcast creators generate scripts and conceive program content, such as

the "AI segmentation" feature to improve creation efficiency, and is one of the smart technologies

that are highly praised by podcast creators. The audio content created by the podcast master contains

a large amount of high-density non-visual information. The "AI segmentation" function automatically

segments it according to the audio content, and generates a text summary outline for each audio

segment. The creator no longer needs to spend time and effort to manually edit and organize, realizing

the "shownotes" freedom. More than that, for text writing ability, but because of various reasons is

not convenient to use voice expression creators, AI editing software and "text to voice" function, such

as TTS (Text-to-speech, speech synthesis) technology, the Himalayan cloud clips can help through

AI creators turn text into voice, for text works to audio track clear technical barriers, let more text

creators to join audio and podcast creation field.

3.3. Sound editing and optimization

The basic principle of conversion from text to speech (TTS) is that AI technology converts the input

text content into natural and smooth speech through deep learning algorithm. This process includes

multiple steps such as text preprocessing, speech feature extraction, speech waveform generation and

so on. Through deep learning algorithms, AI technology can simulate realistic human voices,

providing a variety of voice choices for Chinese podcasts. This technology is not limited to the

generation of a single timbre, but also can adjust the intonation, speed and emotion of the sound

according to the needs of different scenes and characters, so as to make the content creation more

vivid and personalized. For example, the creator function of "Xi Rhyme Workshop" launched by

Himalaya platform provides more than 40 tones for creators to choose, so that one person can

complete the rich audio programs of multiple character emotions.

As AI-generated voice and cloned voice become more and more real, some content creators are

using AI technology to produce highly updated and informative voice broadcast content. For example,

the anchor of the podcast program "Crossroads" once revealed in a program that an AI information

program called "Fast Dao Radio Station", which was managed by the co-founder, only writes the

script, and the voice part is completed by AI. The effect is quite natural. In the production of Chinese

podcasts, the creator can directly input the script or copy into the AI voice synthesis system, and the

system can quickly generate the corresponding voice content. This has greatly improved production

efficiency, especially for podcasts that require a lot of dubbed content. AI technology can also play

an important role in the post-production process of Chinese podcasts. Through the analysis and

processing of audio data, AI can automatically identify and eliminate noise and noise, and improve

the clarity and quality of audio. At the same time, the AI can also mix, balance the audio and other

processing operations to make the sound effect more perfect. The application of these technologies

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not only reduces the burden of post-production, but also improves the overall quality of Chinese

podcasts.

3.4. Personality recommendation and interaction

Podcast program is a choice of content consumption, but due to the linear voice playback

characteristics, trying to retrieve and locate their favorite podcast column is a troublesome problem

for listeners. AI technology can be used to analyze the content of podcasts and provide insights into

the topics discussed, the emotions expressed and the overall tone of the podcast, helping podcasts

understand their audience and improve the content they produce. In addition, AI technology can

collect and analyze data on user listening behavior, preferences, history, etc., so as to build

personalized portraits of users. Based on these portraits, AI can recommend Chinese podcasts that

suit their tastes and accurately push personalized content, which can help podcasts reach a wider

audience and increase content engagement. For example, in order to help lost in the sound view of

the audience accurately search and locate the content they are interested in, technology company

Dexa launched a new podcast retrieval AI tool, let the user can ask questions about the robot, and

then get the relevant podcast abstract and links, directly into the "most want to hear" progress node.

The emergence of Dexa not only makes the search experience easier for podcasting listeners, but also

opens up new possibilities for the development of the podcasting industry.

The AI system can monitor user feedback and interaction in real time, such as click-through rate,

completion rate, comments, etc., and dynamically adjust the recommendation strategy according to

these data. This dynamic adjustment mechanism helps keep the freshness and diversity of

recommended content, while improving long-term retention. For example, Google has launched an

independent podcast app, based on the complex algorithm and huge data support, which can not only

recommend popular podcasts for users, but also provide accurate personalized recommendations

according to personal preferences and listening habits. AI technology can also support the podcast

platform to build closer community relations through data analysis, and provide suggestions and

directions for community construction for the platform by analyzing the interaction mode and

relationship network between the users. AI technology can conduct emotional analysis to identify the

emotional reactions and attitudes of users when listening to podcasts, which can help podcast creators

understand the emotional needs of the audience, so as to adjust the content and style of the creation,

and improve the appeal and resonance of the program.

4. Worry: AI technology enables the problem of Chinese podcasts to be created

4.1. Technical bottleneck and breakthrough problem

Despite significant advances in natural language processing, there are limitations in the understanding

of complex contexts and deep implications. The podcast content generated by AI technology is often

imitated based on the existing data in the large language model, and it is difficult to produce

independent, creative and unique content. This imitative content may be novelty to meet the

audience's need for novelty and diversity. For example, the creation of literature and talk show

podcasts all need the true feelings and unique perspective of the creators, while AI technology is still

difficult to completely replace the human ability in emotional expression, creative conception and

other aspects. Therefore, the podcast content generated by AI may be insufficient in creativity and

inspiration, which can easily lead to the podcast content in semantic expression, and may even appear

logical confusion.

In addition, how to ensure the seamless connection of human-machine collaboration between AI

technology and human creators is an important issue. At present, AI technology may not fully

understand the intentions and needs of human creators, leading to barriers to communication and

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collaboration in the creative process. The complexity and high threshold of AI technology may limit

its popularization and application in the creation of Chinese podcasts, and many creators may be

unable to fully use AI technology to improve their creative efficiency and quality due to the lack of

relevant technology and knowledge.

4.2. Content bubble and authenticity test

For many creators, their voice is their only identity, and the podcast voice is one of the most valuable

resources for podcast creators. Since AI technology relies on a large amount of data for training, the

content it generates may tend to imitate existing successful cases or popular elements, resulting in

serious homogenization of podcast content and lack of novelty and diversity. Although AI technology

has made significant progress in natural language processing, there are still limitations in

understanding complex context and deep meaning, which will lead to AI generated podcast content

is not clear, accurate in semantic expression, and even logical confusion.

AI voice generation is a double-edged sword that brings both convenience and risk to creators,

because their voices can be abused by unauthorized users, causing the spread of misinformation. A

foreign podcast show The Joe Rogan Experience has invited guests from all walks of life to have an

in-depth dialogue. But in May, someone used artificial intelligence technology to create a fictional

podcast that mimicked the conversation between the podcast's host and some guests who had never

appeared on his show. The podcast, called Joe Rogan AI Experience, was produced by an Australian

creative director, Hugo, who uses a text-to-voice platform that can clone any voice, and a ChatGPT-

based conversation generator. In addition, Hugo produced several other episodes of podcasts

mimicking guest conversations between Joe Rogan and Andrew Tate, and Steve Jobs. Hugo said he

hopes to demonstrate the development and potential of AI technology, and to be alert to the dangers

of fake content. Podcasts as public media, wrong content may bring serious consequences, leading to

large-scale dissemination of misinformation. AI technology can generate realistic podcast content,

but it also brings the challenge of authenticity discrimination. It may be difficult for listeners to

distinguish AI-generated content from reality-created content, which not only affects the authenticity

of podcast content, but also impacts the originality of podcast creators.

The strong IP attributes of the podcast sound content, as well as the highly personalized expression,

are also issues that creators need to carefully consider when using AI to generate voice. These features

require AI not only to convey information, but also to be able to imitate human emotions and

intonation and build emotional connections with the audience. For creators who can freely express

their views through oral English, a unique accent or intonation can instead form a differentiated

advantage that helps to shape the creator's personal style. For example, in the AI podcast experiment

of "Big vulgar and Small Elegant", many netizens feedback that the AI generated voice "reading" is

obvious. In terms of sound generation, podcast content production pursues not only smooth reading,

but also emotional emotion through sound, and enhances the immersion and emotional resonance of

the audience. From Jobs' "Resurrection" podcast to the AI podcast experiment, one of the main

controversies facing AI-generated voices is the lack of human voice cadence and emotion, such as

the monotony and mechanization of sound.

4.3. Copyright dispute and attribution issue

As the popularity and application of AI technology expands, the number of AI-generated podcast

content will increase significantly. This means that once the infringement occurs, the scope and scale

of the infringement will be expanded accordingly, bringing greater challenges to copyright protection.

The copyright ownership of the podcast content generated by AI technology is still controversial. On

the one hand, some argue that the content generated by AI should be attributed to developers or

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technology providers, because they create the algorithms and technologies that generate the content.

On the other hand, it is also believed that the copyright of the generated content should belong to the

actual users or creators of the content, especially when they have done a lot of editing and

personalized creation on the basis of AI generation. At the same time, when generating the podcast

content, the AI may unconsciously learn from or imitate the existing original works, leading to the

infringement of the copyright of others. Because AI technology works by learning and mimicking

large amounts of data, it is difficult to completely avoid similarity to existing works.

The rapid development of AI technology makes the technical means of copyright protection face

new challenges, and the traditional copyright protection methods may be difficult to effectively cope

with the complexity and diversity of the content generated by AI. The existing copyright legal system

may not be fully adapted to the new situation and new problems brought about by AI technology. For

example, how to define the originality of AI generated content, how to determine the subject of

infringement, etc. In recent years, with the wide application of AI technology, the number of related

its voice was imitated by AI technology and used commercially. The court held that if the voice

generated by AI is identifiable, it should be protected by law. Therefore, the court ruled that the

defendant company to use its voice without the consent of the plaintiff constitutes infringement, and

needed to compensate the infringed for the economic loss of 250,000 yuan and apologize. In the field

of AI creation, copyright ownership and infringement are complex and changeable. The copyright

ownership of AI-generated content also involves AI platforms, creators, material providers and other

aspects, which requires detailed legal analysis and judgment. For podcast creators, understanding and

following relevant laws and regulations, respecting originality, and making rational use of AI

technology are the key to avoid copyright disputes. At the same time, the platform also needs to

establish a sound copyright protection mechanism to actively prevent and timely stop infringement

acts.[7]

4.4. Ethical imbalance and blurred subjectivity

The ability of AI technology to mimic and generate content similar to human creation has sparked an

ethical controversy over whether AI-generated content constitutes original content. While AI is able

to create novel content, it is often based on existing data sets and algorithmic logic, lacking inspiration

and unique perspective for human creation, which may lead to a redefinition of the concept of

originality and the ambiguity of the identity and rights of creators. AI is still limited by its algorithms

and training data in terms of innovation. It may not be able to think creatively across fields, like

humans, or to generate completely novel ideas without explicit guidance. How to balance the

auxiliary role of AI technology with the subjectivity of human creation, and ensure the diversity and

innovation of podcast content, are all issues that should be thought about.

The improved autonomy, versatility and understanding of AI make AI show the ability of

"humanoid" and "superman" in language understanding, content generation and social service tasks,

but at the same time, it also brings the problems of error or false information, algorithmic

discrimination, ability risk and abuse. The decision-making process of AI technology is often

complex and difficult to explain, resulting in a lack of transparency in the generation process and

results of Chinese podcast content. Listeners may have difficulty understanding the algorithmic logic

and data sources behind the content. Intransparency can trigger a crisis of confidence, making

listeners question the authenticity and impartiality of the podcast content. When AI-generated

podcasts go wrong (such as privacy violations, misleading listeners, etc.), liability is often difficult to

define. In addition, the training and application of AI technology requires a large amount of data

support, which may contain personal privacy information. If the data protection measures are not in

place, it may lead to the risk of privacy leakage. Privacy leakage may infringe on personal rights and

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interests, causing a crisis of social trust.[8] The AI system may be the target of hacker attacks,

resulting in illegal acquisition or tampering of data, which will pose a threat to the authenticity and

security of Chinese podcast content. AI technology may inherit the bias and discriminatory

information in the data when learning and generating content, which may be unconsciously reflected

in the podcast content, causing unfair treatment to specific groups, such as problems involving social

contradictions and gender ambiguity, which will negatively affect the values and perceptions of

listeners.

5. Development: the optimization of Chinese podcast voice creation enabled by AI

technology

5.1. The road to compliance: the legal framework guarantees the podcast creation

With the continuous development of AI technology, the existing laws and regulations may not fully

adapt to the new technology environment. Therefore, it is necessary to timely revise and improve

relevant laws and regulations, such as the Copyright Law and the Personal Information Protection

Law, to better protect the sound rights and interests and personal privacy. In 2019, the —

Development of Responsible AI, proposed in 2019, stressed that respect for privacy, security and

control as an important principle of AI. The Civil Code also stipulates the authorization and protection

of the voice of natural persons, establishes the legal status of the right of voice, and provides a more

solid legal foundation for sound creation.

It is the only way to promote the healthy development of Chinese podcasts to define the copyright

ownership of AI-generated content and regulate the copyright authorization and protection of sound

products. First of all, the scope of sound rights and interests should be defined, and sound rights and

interests should include exclusive rights of sound recording, exclusive rights of sound use, exclusive

rights of sound disposal and the protection of sound interests. [9] The clear definition of these rights

can help to regulate the use of AI in sound creation. Secondly, the use of AI generated sounds should

be regulated, and the recognition standards of AI generated sounds should be formulated. In view of

the particularity of AI technology, the recognition standard of AI generated sounds should be

formulated, and which AI generated sounds are identifiable, so as to be included in the scope of legal

protection. These criteria can take into account the similarity of timbre, intonation, rhythm, and the

recognition ability of the general public or related field audience. In addition, the introduction of

technical means for infringement monitoring can better make the intelligent creation of Chinese

podcasts on the security chain, such as the use of blockchain, digital watermark and other technical

means to identify and track the sound generated by AI, so as to quickly locate the source of

infringement and collect evidence in case of infringement.

5.2. Autonomy and sharing: the self-discipline convention to maintain the development of

the industry

AI technology is not a shield and an umbrella for infringement. Faced with the dilemma of the use of

AI technology standards, the industry should jointly formulate and establish industry standards and

norms to ensure that the AI generation and auxiliary creation of podcast content reaches a certain

professional level and audience acceptance. Through the establishment of industry self-regulatory

organizations, the formulation and implementation of self-discipline standards, standardize the scope

of AI technology use, authorization methods, copyright ownership and other key issues, and jointly

maintain the healthy and orderly development of the Chinese podcast industry. For example, on July

15,2024, SPai, together with many podcast anchors, launched the "Chinese Podcast Voice Data Set"

project, aiming to provide high-quality data sets authorized by anchors for the AI industry. This

project will not only provide valuable resources for the training of TTS (text-to-speech) and ASR

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(speech-to-text) large models, but also play an important role in the emotional dimension training of

multimodal large models. Through this project, anchors will be able to gain profits in the licensing

process, share the dividends of the rapid development of the AI industry, and curb the infringement

of content copyright by some enterprises and developers. Through the joint participation of many

podcast anchors, AI is used to evaluate the quality of podcast content, provide creative suggestions,

and AI to assist content promotion decisions, help generate the promotion caliber and materials in

various platforms, and promote the development of voice generation technology to a more natural

and closer to the real human dialogue. At the same time, it can also build a AI technology resource

sharing and data protection platform to promote the exchange and sharing of technological

achievements, experience and lessons. Through the construction of the platform, the risk cost of the

podcasting industry can be reduced, and the efficiency and competitiveness of the whole industry can

be improved. The industry can also safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of the originator and

the fair playing field of the industry.

5.3. Value return: humanistic rationality guides sound creation

In 2020, at a symposium of scientists, General Secretary Xi Jinping put forward the lofty concept that

scientific and technological innovation must be oriented to people's lives and health. The purpose of

scientific and technological innovation is to serve the people, which is the fundamental purpose of

developing scientific and technological undertakings. People-centered means that technology is not

an external blessing, but to help realize the internal connection between content and people, and the

cultural behavior of participants. All parties in the field of AI should adhere to value rationality,

establish science and technology ethics, and guide science and technology to be good, that is, the

development of science and technology should be people-oriented, benefit mankind, and solve the

problem of sustainable development with science and technology.[10] Through the regulatory

algorithm bias to achieve technology naturalization, adhere to the intelligent communication ethics

to reconstruct the man-machine relationship, fundamentally solve the information security problem

from the system, and boost and standardize the healthy development of AI technology and audio

industry.

Although AI technology can efficiently generate and process audio content, humanistic care and

emotional connection are difficult to completely replace by AI. In the sound creation of Chinese

podcasts, the humanized and emotional expression should be emphasized, and the real and warm

emotions should be transmitted through the sound, so that the audience can feel the emotional

resonance between people. In the process of AI enabling Chinese podcast sound creation, we should

focus on improving the quality of content. By optimizing the presentation mode of audio content,

improving the fluency of playback, increasing interactive functions and other ways, users' auditory

enjoyment and participation are improved. At the same time, pay attention to user feedback and

demand changes, timely adjust and optimize the product strategy and service mode. Establishing an

effective user feedback mechanism is an important means to ensure the user experience. By setting

up a customer service hotline, online message board, social media interaction and other ways, we can

collect user opinions and suggestions, and timely respond to and process user feedback. This helps to

understand user needs and market trends, and provide strong support for product optimization and

upgrading. In addition, strict audit and screening mechanisms can be used to ensure that the audio

content generated by AI conforms to the mainstream social values and moral standards, and to avoid

the dissemination of vulgar, false and misleading content. As an important carrier of cultural

communication, Chinese podcasts should assume the responsibility of guiding the positive value. In

the process of content creation, attention should be paid to transmitting positive energy, promoting

social integrity, and guiding the audience to form positive values and attitudes towards life. The

expected Chinese podcast content in the future needs to match with the development of new

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technology and its own cultural mission, make a deep value transformation, and return to the thinking

and attention of the deep connection between audio and people.[11]

6. Conclusion

Under the diversified development of technology empowerment and man-machine symbiosis, the

discussion of human subjectivity is gradually weakened, and people need to gradually find the

equilibrium state of "man-machine coexistence" in the way of technology evolution.[12] By taking

positive actions to address the risks associated with the technology, the parties work together to ensure

that it is used in a responsible and ethical manner. The introduction of AI technology greatly enriched

the sound of Chinese podcast creation means, through deep learning, natural language processing and

audio generation and other advanced technology, AI can not only simulate the realistic voice, also

can adjust speed, intonation, tone according to demand, make the podcast content more joint style

and audience demand. The application of AI in the sound creation of Chinese podcasts has promoted

the innovation and development within the industry. However, the application of AI in the sound

creation of Chinese podcasts is not plain sailing. The limitations of technology, ethical considerations

and audience acceptance all need to be in-depth discussed and solved. To maintain the awe of

technology, constantly reflect and examine the role and positioning of AI in sound creation, to ensure

the healthy development of technology and the harmonious coexistence of human civilization, which

is also the future of artificial intelligence technology to empower the Chinese podcast industry.

References

[1] Future period | Digital age to social, is it imagination or castles in the air? Sina News. Retrieved from

https://cj.sina.com.cn/articles/view/5044281310/12ca99fde02001wlc5

[2] Gao, H. (2022). The ternary fusion and harmonious development of "human and machine objects" in intelligent

communication. Young Reporter, (16), 28-30.

[3] Lan, G., Guo, Q., Wei, J., et al. (2019). 5G + intelligent technology: Building a new intelligent education ecosystem

in the era of "intelligent +." Journal of Distance Education, 37(03), 3-16.

[4] Liu, Z. (2019). The causes of the rise of mobile audio from the perspective of media. News Front, (24), 36-38.

[5] Meng, W. (2021). The outlet of intelligent communication of audio media. China Radio, (12), 25-29.

[6] Podcast video trend is rising, sound marketing to expand new boundaries? Interface News. Retrieved from

https://www.jiemian.com/article/822489.html

[7] Sun, Y. (2020). How to avoid the risk of infringement. Invention and Innovation (Big Science and Technology), (11),

30-31.

[8] The 2023 Himalayan Creators Conference was held, and the podcast became the new blue ocean for content

creation. Sina Finance. Retrieved from https://finance.sina.com.cn/tech/roll/2023-02-15/doc-

imyfukur2310286.shtml

[9] Wang, S. (2023). Interpretation and application of voice protection in the Civil Code. Laws, (06), 35-44.

[10] Xie, X., & Gao, J. (2021). Evolution mechanism and advanced mode of cultural industry driven by AI technology

and system. Social Science Research, (02), 104-114.

[11] Yin, L., & Zhu, D. (2019). Intelligent development of sound media — New terminals, new applications, and new

relationships. China Radio, (04), 31-35.

[12] Yu, J. (2023). The leakage and management of readers' privacy in the meta-cosmic environment — Based on the

theoretical perspective of power trust of information flow. Library Research, 53(04), 10-19.

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Analysis of Marketing Strategies for Bestselling Books in the

Context of Publishing Convergence: A Case Study of The

Fugitive Artist

Yanhua Qin1, Yuli Hou1,a,*

1School of Journalism and Communication, Beijing Normal University, No. 19 Xin Jie Kou Wai

Street, Haidian District, Beijing, China

a. 1963718151@qq.com

*corresponding author

Abstract: Driven by the dual forces of the digital wave and global trends, the publishing

industry is undergoing unprecedented transformation, with publishing convergence becoming

the new norm for industry development. In this context, the deep integration of traditional

publishing and digital publishing has not only reshaped the methods of content production,

distribution, and consumption but has also raised the bar for marketing strategies of

international bestsellers. The Fugitive Artist, a fictional literary work that has made a global

impact, owes its success not only to its profound literary value and captivating plot but also

to its precise and innovative marketing strategies. This provides a valuable case for the market

promotion of international bestsellers. This paper aims to analyze the marketing strategies of

The Fugitive Artist in the context of publishing convergence, exploring how the book stood

out in a complex and ever-changing market environment, and offering insights for the

international promotion of similar works from China.

Keywords: Publishing convergence, international bestsellers, marketing strategies, The

Fugitive Artist.

1. Introduction

With the widespread use of the internet and the rise of social media, the speed and reach of

information dissemination have reached unprecedented heights, bringing both new opportunities and

challenges to the publishing industry. For the book industry, on one hand, the spatial and temporal

boundaries of traditional publishing have been largely broken, and digital technology has lowered the

threshold for content creation and distribution, allowing more excellent works to reach a broader

range of readers more quickly. On the other hand, the explosion of information has led to a scarcity

of attention, making book marketing face a more competitive environment. In this context, how to

effectively integrate online and offline resources and innovate marketing strategies has become the

key to the success of international bestsellers.

The Fugitive Artist, a literary work that blends suspense, adventure, and human exploration, has

attracted global readers' attention since its publication with its unique narrative style and profound

thematic ideas. The success of its marketing strategy lies not only in the precise targeting of its reader

base but also in its deep understanding and flexible utilization of the publishing convergence trend.

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(https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).

195

This paper will analyze the marketing strategies of The Fugitive Artist from multiple perspectives to

reveal the logic behind its marketing strategies and to provide useful references and guidance for the

international marketing practices of Chinese books.

2. New Trends in Book Marketing under the Background of Publishing Convergence

The concept of publishing convergence traces back to media convergence. Media convergence refers

to the phenomenon where different forms of media intertwine, influence, and integrate with each

other, presenting a multifunctional and unified system. This includes the interaction between

traditional media and digital media, as well as the integration and interaction among different digital

media[1]. Klaus Bruhn Jensen argues that media convergence is not just a technological integration

but also a comprehensive phenomenon that involves cultural, social, and economic dimensions[2].

As a cultural industry that carries knowledge and content, the publishing industry is expected to

exhibit entirely different patterns in production, marketing, and impact under the trend of media

convergence compared to traditional publishing. For example, Qin Yanhua and Lu Yingyong pointed

out that the deep integration of various media in the publishing field through content, channels,

platforms, terminals, operations, and management has greatly enhanced the dissemination, influence,

and competitiveness of publishing[3].

Books are one of the key products of the publishing industry, and book marketing refers to the

series of strategies and activities carried out throughout a book’s entire lifecycle to promote its sales

and dissemination. The goal is to meet readers’ needs, enhance the market visibility and influence of

the book, and ultimately achieve sales objectives. The marketing process transforms cultural content

into economic gains, serving as a guarantee for the smooth operation of publishing entities and

individuals, ensuring a virtuous cycle. Under the background of publishing convergence, several new

trends have emerged in book marketing: First, with more participants involved in book marketing,

the process and stages have become more complex, requiring more cautious development of

marketing strategies. Second, readers play a decisive role in determining the success of book

marketing. Therefore, publishing units are paying more attention to readers’ experiences in the design

and dissemination of books. Lastly, book marketing shows a trend toward cross-industry

collaboration. The convergence of publishing institutions and various cultural organizations has

resulted in more diverse forms of publishing products and enriched sensory experiences. On the

international marketing level, new media technologies have transcended the boundaries of time and

space, making it possible for quality books from different countries to reach distant audiences across

oceans. These new trends and opportunities demand that publishing professionals adapt to the times

and explore new ways of marketing books internationally.

3. Overview of The Fugitive Artist

3.1. Book Summary

The Escape Artist is a non-fiction work that tells the story of a Jewish man’s escape from the

Auschwitz concentration camp. During World War II, Auschwitz, a notorious concentration camp

established by Nazi Germany, primarily imprisoned Jews and other individuals deemed "enemies,"

subjecting them to various inhumane tortures. The protagonist, Rudolf Vrba, a Jewish man, endured

two years of extreme suffering and torment in Auschwitz. However, he was not defeated by despair

but instead sought an opportunity to escape. Over a long period, he carefully observed and planned

within the camp, searching for possible opportunities and routes for escape. Finally, through his

intelligence and courage, he devised what seemed like an impossible escape plan. On a dark night in

April 1944, he cleverly avoided the guards' watchful eyes, crossed the camp’s defenses, and began

his arduous journey to freedom.

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During the escape, Rudolf faced not only the Nazis' relentless pursuit but also harsh natural

conditions. He had to overcome hunger, exhaustion, and illness. Together with his companion Fred

Wetzler, they crossed mountains and rivers, narrowly dodging bullets from German soldiers. After a

grueling journey, they finally managed to evade Nazi capture and gained their freedom. They secretly

carried out the first-ever comprehensive report on Auschwitz, which was delivered to Franklin D.

Roosevelt, Winston Churchill, and the Pope. Vrba became one of the first Jews to escape from

Auschwitz and gain freedom, achieving what seemed an impossible feat. He alerted the Allies to the

atrocities committed at Auschwitz, exposing the death camp’s horrors to the world, and warned

Europe’s remaining Jews of the fate awaiting them. However, many people, including some Jews,

found it hard to believe such an extraordinary story. Through their efforts, Rudolf and his companion

revealed the harsh truth.

In this book, the author uses extensive archives, testimonies, and interviews to recreate this

thrilling historical event. It not only describes the escape process but also deeply explores Vrba’s

psychological and emotional journey as an individual. Through these real historical events, the book

shows readers how, in the face of extreme conditions and a lack of information, humans can maintain

hope and faith, ultimately achieving self-redemption.

3.2. Author Biography

The author of The Escape Artist, Jonathan Freedland, is a British journalist and broadcaster. He also

serves as a weekly columnist for The Guardian, where he edits the comment section and chairs the

editorial board. Jonathan's parents were both Jewish, and he is the youngest child in his family. His

father was a biographer and journalist. As a child, Jonathan regularly accompanied his father in

broadcasting work, which cultivated his love and interest in writing. Later, Jonathan attended

Wadham College at Oxford University, where he studied philosophy, politics, and economics, and

served as editor of the student newspaper. In 1990, he joined the British Broadcasting Corporation

(BBC) as a news reporter and later wrote for various newspapers, including The Times, The

Washington Post, The Guardian, and The New York Times.

Jonathan has received numerous awards for journalism and writing, including the George Orwell

Prize for Journalism, the David Watt Prize, the Orwell Special Prize, and "Critic of the Year." He was

also named "Columnist of the Year" in 2022 and was the only male finalist for the Baillie Gifford

Prize that same year. To date, Jonathan has published twelve books, including three non-fiction works

and nine novels. Eight of these novels were published under his pen name, Sam Bourne. Some of his

notable works include The Third Woman, Bring Home the Revolution, and The Righteous Men.

Jonathan currently lives in London with his wife and two children. In addition to his journalism career,

he enjoys writing thrillers in his spare time.

3.3. Publishing Institutions Overview

The Escape Artist was published by two major publishing companies. It was first released in the UK

by John Murray Publishers in June 2022, and later, HarperCollins Publishers acquired the rights and

published the book in October 2022.

3.3.1. John Murray Publishers

John Murray Publishers was founded in 1768 by Scottish publisher John Murray. Initially, the

company focused on religious and educational books but soon expanded into the fields of literature

and science. It was also the first publisher to release a mass-market cookbook. John Murray II took

over the company in 1793, ushering it into a golden age of rapid development. The company was

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managed by the Murray family for seven generations until it was acquired in the early 21st century

and is no longer family-owned.

John Murray Publishers has released works from many renowned authors, including Charles

Darwin’s On the Origin of Species, Jane Austen’s Emma, Arthur Conan Doyle’s The Adventures of

Sherlock Holmes, John Betjeman’s Collected Poems, and Patrick Leigh Fermor’s A Time of Gifts,

hailed as one of the "greatest travel books of the 20th century." Other famous authors associated with

John Murray include Lord Byron, Charles Lyell, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Herman Melville,

Edward Whymper, Thomas Malthus, and David Ricardo.

Today, John Murray Publishers offers a diverse range of works, including literary fiction, narrative

non-fiction, science, history, biography, memoirs, travel, and nature writing. Their high-quality

literary and non-fiction works are especially well-regarded, earning the company an excellent

reputation in the global publishing industry. John Murray Publishers maintains an innovative spirit,

supporting and promoting forward-thinking authors and works, while focusing on building long-term,

trusting relationships with authors. The company places a strong emphasis on cultural and social

contributions and regularly hosts literary salons and discussions, providing a vital space for the

exchange of ideas and creative exploration. Through book clubs and online communities, they also

engage readers, encouraging them to share reading experiences and reviews, fostering a vibrant

reading culture.