Cyberactivism and nationalistic communicative actions of publics: framing and agenda-building over Wikipedia in international disputes

Different from other information processing theories, the Situational Theory of Problem Solving (STOPS) proposes that the underlying goal of communication is problem solving rather than decision making. Whether and how individuals become engaged in the processes of information acquisition, selection and transmission depends on whether they find an issue to be problematic (problem recognition), perceive to be involved in the issue (involvement recognition), feel constrained about resolving the issue (constraint recognition) and have the applicable knowledge to deal with the issue (referent criterion). Using the Wikipedia page of "Senkaku Islands dispute" as a case, the present study seeks to examine how individuals become motivated to engage in communicative actions to co-construct an agenda about an ongoing international dispute between the Chinese and Japanese governments. Based on data collected using textual and content analysis of the "article" page, the "talk" page, the "view history" page, the "references" section, the "sources" section and the "external links" section, the present study seeks to redefine both the independent and dependent variables in STOPS and discusses the significance of Wikipedia, as an international platform for the co-construction of agendas, for the expression of nationalistic sentiments towards international disputes.