Human Flesh Search Engine: Author

Vincent Capone began work on researching Human Flesh Search while working on his undergraduate honors thesis during his time at the University of Massachusetts Amherst (2005-2010), working on his Bachelor of Arts in History. His interest for Chinese history was piqued during his first semester on campus when he enrolled in the university's History of China I course, taught by the professor who would later become his thesis adviser. Following this course he began to immerse himself in Chinese history and began taking Chinese language courses. After his sophomore year he took a year off to participate in an English-teaching program in Beijing, China and worked as an ESL instructor from 2007-2008. Following his amazing time in China where he was able to learn more about the culture and society, he started back at UMass Amherst and spent the following two years finishing his degree and started to delve into the Chinese internet as a China-watcher.

Vincent recently graduated from the University of Massachusetts Boston with a Masters degree in History and Archival Methods.

Vincent has presented his research on the Human Flesh Search Engine at the UMass History Graduate Student Association's first research conference titled, "The Value of Historic Work." He also taught a course at UMass Boston's OLLI Institute pertaining to the Chinese Internet titled, "How the Internet has Changed Political Participation in China."

On the Web:

Teaching Portfolio

Read Vincent's contributions over at Tea Leaf Nation

PowerPoint presentation slides from Vincent's OLLI course entitled "How the Internet has Changed
Political Participation in China."

LinkedIn - LinkedIn page

Chinese History in Public Schools - A teaching proposal written for an undergraduate Public History course that uses research and data polled from volunteers to stress the need to increase the importance of expanding the amount of Chinese history and culture taught in public schools. Includes research data and feedback, the lack of Chinese historical emphasis in the MA public school framework, and a course curriculum on Chinese history written for a contemporary Chinese history undergraduate course.

What is Human Flesh Search?

Human Flesh Search (HFS) is a recent, unique phenomenon on the Chinese internet. Comprising thousands of forum, entertainment, and social media websites and mobilizing the overwhelming number of Chinese internet users, HFS is able to quickly find obscure information and identify seemingly anonymous internet personalities. Through clever investigative work, online vigilantes hunt down an individual's identity with the goal of bringing about "justice" - often getting the individual fired, shamed, or simply punished. Those exposed through the search engine lose all anonymity, with personal information displayed to people all over the world. On the other hand, those who seek and reveal this information have the luxury to hide behind aliases. As the internet in China continues to expand and become accessible to a wider net of the Chinese population, it is argued that the power of HFS will need to be reined in.

Contact

If you would like to contact me for any reason, or have come across a relevant article or piece of research on the subject matter, please feel free to e-mail me.

Email: vincentcapone@gmail.com

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