Social Sciences in China (Chinese Edition)

No. 4, 2024

Textualization and Intertextuality of Subjects in Online Crowd Communication

(Abstract)

Sui Yan and Yang Chao

The subjects in online crowd communication refer not to those embodied in the physical world but to textualconstructs formed by texts. Such textual subjects exhibit a distinct subjectivity separate from embodied entities, existing as textual incarnations as opposed to corporeal entities. They do not serve as stable bearers of responsibility but rather as flexible “textual beings” that can be edited and copied. Once detached from their original context, they crystallize into fleeting moments of time, becoming floating fragments of “amber” within the internet. However, textual subjects do not truly disappear but persist indefinitely in the digital realm, awaiting reawakening from obscurity and forming new intertexts and infinite interpretations with other texts. In online crowd communication, textual subjects randomly connect with each other in an omnidirectional manner, re-establishing links with the intervention of algorithms and proliferating indefinitely through multiple negations. While promoting dialogues among diverse subjects, this dynamic leads to a fluid relationship among textual subjects, creating a complex and evolving intertextuality.