Professional Affiliation

Associate Professor, University of Texas at Austin

Expert Bio

Dr. Wenhong Chen is an associate professor of media sociology, founding co-director of the Media and Entertainment Industries Program, and distinguished scholar, the Robert Strauss Center for International Security and Law, at the University of Texas at Austin. Her research has focused on digital media technologies in entrepreneurial and organizational settings in the global context. Dr. Chen has more than 80 publications, including articles in top-ranked journals in the fields of communication and media studies, sociology, and management. She received the William F. Ogburn Mid-Career Achievement Award in 2016. Her research has also received awards from the Academy of Management, International Communication Association, and International Association of Chinese Management Research. Dr. Chen is the lead editor of the book Networked China: Global Dynamics of Digital Media and Civic Engagement. Dr. Chen’s work has been reported by media in the U.S., China, and Canada. She is conducting a comparative project on U.S.-China AI policies and practices.

Wilson Center Project

Paper Tiger, Fat Dragon: A Comparative Study of U.S.-China Policies and Practices on AI, Big Data and Cloud Computing

Project Summary

This project aims for a comparative analysis of the formation, patterns, and impacts of US-China AI policies and practices in two distinct yet intertwined institutional, cultural, and ecological contexts. Drawing on literatures in sociology, communication, and management, this project develops a transdisciplinary theoretical framework of political economy, competitive state, and comparative policy studies from a network perspective. Thick data will be collected via a comparative mixed-method design of ethnographic observations, interviews, digital trace data, publicly accessible government and corporate documents as well as media reports. This project is highly relevant to contemporary US-China policy, illustrating the emerging and evolving AI policymaking process in the two countries.

Major Publications

Chen, W., & Reese, S. (Ed.). (2015). Networked China: Global Dynamics, Digital Media and Civic Engagement. Routledge.

 

Chen, W. (2018). Abandoned Not: Media Sociology As A Networked Transfield. Information, Communication & Society, 21(5), 647-660. doi:10.1080/1369118

 

Chen, W. (2015). Mediatizing the network model of cultural capital: Network diversity, media use, and cultural knowledge along and across ethnic boundaries. Social Networks, 40(1), 185-196. doi: 10.1016/j.socnet.2014.10.003