Xiaofeng Dai

Department: Information Design
Website: xiaofengdai.net

News without News

The credibility of the press in China is diminishing because
it is increasingly controlled and censored. Not only the
government has an interest in steering public opinion, parties
with an economic interest also benefit from managing the
information stream. Often, the readers’ comments sections
contain more actual information than the articles themselves.
It is here that people can come to an informed opinion,
as these contributions counter and complement the biased
and utilitarian news production. Xiaofeng Dai has devised
an insightful way to visualise which topics are being debated
among users of online media and newspaper websites.
His live feed offers structure in the multitude of discussions:
in a simple white on black environment, it places the comments
on the most hotly and recently debated articles in a bigger
space and font, so users can easily find and manipulate what
is worth reading now. The site takes a neutral stance and
the presentation is directed only by the popularity of the media
featured in the feed.

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