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The Transition of Worldviews: Collective Information Behavior During the 2006 Thai Coup D’´Etat

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The Transition of Worldviews: Collective Information Behavior During the 2006 Thai Coup D’´Etat The Transition of Worldviews: Collective Information Behavior during the 2006 Thai Coup D’´etat Songphan Choemprayong A dissertation submitted to the faculty of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the School of Information and Library Science. Chapel Hill 2010 Approved by: Paul Solomon, Advisor Barbara B. Moran Barbara M. Wildemuth Claudia Gollop Laura N. Gasaway Copyright c 2010 Songphan Choemprayong Some Rights Reserved CC BY: $\ C (This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 license.) ii Abstract SONGPHAN CHOEMPRAYONG: The Transition of Worldviews: Collective Information Behavior during the 2006 Thai Coup D’´etat. (Under the direction of Paul Solomon) This study explores the way in which people sought and shared information during a socio-political crisis, using the September 19, 2006 coup d’´etat in Thailand as a case study, where the traditional flow of information and communication was interrupted. Using Chatman’s notion of small world and Merton’s Insider and Outsider conception as major theoretical frameworks, this study particularly focuses on collective information behavior and the roles of insiders and outsiders in this disruptive situation. Exploratory qualitative methods were applied, including document analysis and semi-structured in- terviews. The document analysis covers coup-related public online documents (i.e., blogs, photos, videos, and Wikipedia entries) created and/or uploaded during Septem- ber 19 to September 23, 2006. Sense-Making Methodology (SMM), including the Micro- Moment Timeline interview approach and SMM question roster, was used to frame the interviews. The interview informants were selected using two methods: eight from ex- treme case selection (whose content was most visible, commented, viewed, ranked during the coup), and four from a snowball sampling technique. The data analysis used both deductive and inductive coding techniques. The findings explain how people sought and shared information in order to make sense of the situation as well as to serve other motivations (e.g., to persuade others, to be part of a history, and to entertain). Some factors influencing information behavior during that period were examined including individual (i.e., emotion, memory, and physical capacity), collective (i.e., to know bet- ter and faster, to achieve particular goals, to feel secure, and to be encouraged), and contextual constructs (i.e., time and place). In addition, this study found that there iii was still a strong form of the Insider among those who were in Thailand during that time, confirming the applicability of Chatman’s small world. However, there was also evidence of the Outsider, especially highlighting the eminent roles of converted members – insiders-out and outsiders-in – in terms of bridging worldviews. This study supports a call to reconsider threats from censorship as a derivative form of information poverty as well as revisit the creation and adjustment of social norms, and the sense of excitement in the context of information behavior in socio-political crisis. iv To my mother, Bunma, and my brother, Songwit. Without your sacrifice and belief in me, my life would not have come this far. v Acknowledgments Writing a dissertation is a long hard-working process. Throughout this entire journey, I have received tremendous supports from numerous wonderful individuals. It is very hard to mention all of their names to show my appreciation. First of all, I would like thanks Paul Solomon, my advisor, who has guided this part of my intellectual expedition from the beginning to the end. I also would like to thank all of my committee members, Barbara Moran, Barbara Wildemuth, Claudia Gollop, and Lolly Gasaway, for their valuable suggestions and comments. In addition, I also would like to thank you Paul Mihas for helping me with NVivo troubleshooting. Without all of the interview informants who shared their amazing stories to me, this work would not be completed and colorful. I would like to show my gratitude and respect to them all. I also would like to thank Natta Akapaiboon for alloting her valuable time (from writing her own dissertation) to be a second coder. Furthermore, I would like to thank Joey Carr, Dana Hanson-Baudalf, and Carolyn Hank who helped me with editorial works as well as being great social supports. Everyone at SILS, including my fellow doctoral students, faculty members, and ad- ministration and service team, deserves my appreciation. In addition, it is a grateful to have a large social support group, a Thai community at UNC-CH. Without the inspiration of Krich and Prapavadee Suebsonthi, my great mentors at Suranaree University of Technology, I would not have decided to get a doctoral degree. Finally, I am greatly in debt to my family for their love, support, and understanding. Because of them, I had the courage to finish this work. vi Contents List of Figures xi List of Tables xii 1 Introduction 1 1.1 StatementofProblem ............................ 1 1.2 ResearchQuestions .............................. 8 1.3 ContributionsoftheStudy.......................... 8 1.4 ScopesandDefinitions ............................ 10 1.4.1 Political Crisis . 10 1.4.2 CoupD’´etat.............................. 12 1.4.3 Collective Information Behavior . 13 2 Literature Review 14 2.1 TheSmallWorldoftheInformationPoor. 15 2.1.1 Information Behavior of the Information Poor . 15 2.1.2 The Development of the Small World Concept . 16 2.2 Insiders’ and Outsiders’ Information Behaviors . .... 27 2.2.1 From Sociology of Knowledge to Information Behavior . 27 2.2.2 The Insider/Outsider and Small World in Social Structure Terms 28 2.2.3 TheInsider .............................. 30 vii 2.2.4 TheOutsider ............................. 31 2.2.5 Transition of Worldviews . 32 2.3 Political Information Behavior . 35 2.3.1 Political Context . 35 2.3.2 Psychological Factors Related to Political Information Behavior . 37 2.4 Seeking and Sharing Information During Crisis . 44 2.4.1 From Irrational Behavior to Rational Action . 45 2.4.2 Emotion................................ 47 2.4.3 Rumor/Informal Communication during a Crisis . 49 2.4.4 Roles of Mass Media in Communication during Crisis . 54 2.4.5 Roles of ICTs in Communication during a Crisis . 56 3 Research Methodology 59 3.1 QualitativeMethodology ........................... 59 3.2 The Insider and Outsider Perspective . 61 3.3 Sense-MakingMethodology . 63 3.4 ResearchDesign................................ 66 3.4.1 DocumentResearch.......................... 68 3.4.2 Interviews ............................... 71 3.4.3 DataAnalysis............................. 80 3.4.4 WritingtheResearchReport. 85 3.5 Trustworthiness ................................ 85 3.5.1 Credibility . 85 3.5.2 Transferability............................. 86 3.5.3 Dependability and Confirmability . 87 viii 4 Seeking and Sharing during Disruptive Moment 88 4.1 WhenIHeardabouttheCoup. 88 4.1.1 FirsthandExperience. .. .. 88 4.1.2 MediaExposure............................ 91 4.1.3 WordofMouth ............................ 93 4.2 MakingSenseoftheSituation . 96 4.2.1 MakingSenseofObstaclesorGaps . 96 4.2.2 SenseMakingofBridgingtheGaps . 105 4.2.3 Support ................................ 119 4.2.4 RecreationandEntertainment . 120 4.3 RolesofInformationSourcesandChannels . 122 4.3.1 MainstreamMedia .......................... 125 4.3.2 Firsthandexperience . 127 4.3.3 Cellular Communication . 129 4.3.4 Internet ................................ 131 5 Constructs Related to Information Behaviors during the Coup 146 5.1 Individual Characteristics . 146 5.1.1 CognitiveandAffectiveConstructs . 146 5.1.2 PhysicalCapacityandResources . 160 5.2 Collective Information Behavior during the Coup . 162 5.2.1 ToKnowBetterandFaster . 162 5.2.2 To Achieve Particular Goals/Tasks . 165 5.2.3 ToFeelSecure............................. 167 5.2.4 ToBeEncouraged .......................... 168 5.3 ContextualConstructs: TimeandLocation. 169 ix 6 Roles of Insiders and Outsiders 173 6.1 TheInsider .................................. 174 6.2 TheOutsider ................................. 182 6.3 BridgingtheTwoWorldviews . 190 7 Conclusion and Discussion 199 7.1 SummaryofResearchFindings . 199 7.2 Information Behavior during Political Crisis . 206 7.2.1 Censorship as Derivative Form of Information Poverty . 206 7.2.2 Collective Information Behavior during the Coup . 209 7.2.3 Reconsidering the Outsider in a Disruptive Context . 211 7.3 Limitations and Challenges of Research Methods . 219 7.3.1 DocumentAnalysis .......................... 219 7.3.2 Interviews ............................... 223 7.4 Implications for Future Research and Practice . 226 Appendices 229 A.FactSheet .................................... 229 B.InvitationLetter................................. 239 C.InterviewQuestionRoster . 245 D.Codebook .................................... 256 E.SamplesofMemo-notes . .. .. 303 F. Thailand: Political and Information Infrastructure . ..... 309 References 367 x List of Figures 2.1 Theoreticalframeworkofthestudy . 15 3.1 Sense-Makingmetaphor ........................... 64 3.2 Data collection and analysis processes. 67 3.3 Coding categories of small world membership . 81 4.1 Windows Live Messenger screen shot during the coup . 136 F.1 The vicious cycle of Thai politics . 327 F.2 Estimated Internet users in Thailand from 1992–2007 . 358 F.3 Estimated Internet users in Thailand per 100 populations
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