Research On Identity Of Hearing Impaired People In Chinese Network Community

In recent years,the development of information and communication technology(ICT)has had a significant impact on communication of the hearing impaired.After the rise of internet,some visual information dissemination have provided the hearing impaired with new information experience.As for Barrier-free communication,ICT has affected the hearing impaired through technical support and communication services according to previous studies.The hearing impaired is giving more public expression and social behavior through the use of new media,which can be clearly observed in the network community.As a special group,behaviors in hearing impaired network community directly or indirectly reveal their identity.They discuss identity problem with members in the community,affecting each other’s identity.These positive behaviors further stimulate the desire and potential to change their living conditions,thereby enabling them to participate in actions such as "subtitle movement" and "policy opinion collection".Some professionals with deaf association status play an important role in the community.The process of empowering new media to vulnerable groups is realized in such exchanges.The research uses qualitative methods of text analysis,participatory observation and in-depth interview,and studies the deaf people online forum,the QQ deaf communication group to analyze the interpersonal behavior and identity problem.Following are main conclusions:1.Information communication technology provide the hearing impaired with a network of diverse media platform.The forum which sets membership level through website structure helps to form a strong,deeply involved relationship,while QQ platform with flat design causes relatively simple and loose relationship.The live broadcast community allows identity exchange between communicator and audience,so that community members take turns to become communication center.2.The identity of hearing impaired people is mainly divided into four types:hearing identity,marginal identity,deaf identity and bicultural identity.But identity problems in communication also include identity anxiety and identity choice.The identity of the hearing impaired varies in different network community.Among them,the deaf online forum members are most concerned about the identity problem.QQ group identity in the daily communication issues is not prominent.And members of the live broadcast community using sign language are more likely to acknowledge deaf identity.3.In community,the network empowerment is mainly reflected in the personal expression level,while the rights appeal and mobilization function are relatively less obvious.Hearing impaired groups using the network to communicate have to overcome technical barriers,and be skillful with Internet,The participation of semi-officials is an important driving force,for they provide a connection with the system and help to convey information to the system.