From Ruby to Post-Wuby Generation in Hong Kong, Empower Ourselves Through Internet

Few weeks ago, there was a new video posting on Youtube, which was about a complain toward HKCEE Use o f English examination, recorded by a 16-year girl, Ruby (Wuby), In the clip, we could find what ruby complain of the examination officer, candidates or even about the English level of Hong Kong people are. However, the content of the video in this case actually is not really essential for my review, yet through this clip, and the reaction in the forum, Facebook, or other virtual communities, we could realize that how influential the Web2.0 generation toward Hong Kong traditional society, and also Ruby initiate a new self-expression in Hong Kong.

These years, Internet, the virtual community reshapes our life rapidly, opposing a new threat to the traditional community, such as traditional media. Once we step into the Web2.0 generation, Stepping to the stage of Web 2.0, the sense of the virtual community has been strengthening, which also empower ourselves. “Web 2.0, the term is current and can be purposefully used to denote a number of characteristics concerning the storage, creation and dissemination of information, opinion and comment, and to identify process, which is interactive and to an increasing degree egalitarian.” (Watson, 2008) For example, Web 2.0 includes web-based communities, web applications, social-networking sites, video-sharing sites, blog, etc. In ruby case, we could find that how rapidly the user of the internet response to the video, such as they can directly reply to the post in forum, in Youtube, or they also share it in Facebook, or other virtual community, which keep on creating new thoughts or replying to this case, and also forming a force toward to this event. This force not only can draw the public attention, but also can inviting more people to join to discuss it. From the local newspapers, such as ApplyDaily, OrientalDaily, there were also some news reporting this clip. This news not only can reflect that web 2.0 posing a new power relation toward the traditional media, but also proving the public value of virtual community.

Moreover, user-friendliness is one of the main reasons that Web 2.0 empower ourselves. Nowadays, people can inter-link post, pictures, video among Youtube, Facebook, Twitter, or other Web 2.0 website, whenever they can log into the Internet. “Upon a technology that is unlike print and unlike the electronic media of the first age: it’s cheap, flexible, readily available, quick” and, because narratives can, with ease, incorporate sound and vision, there is the potential- in such “phenomena as “desktop broadcasting”, widespread citizen camcorder “reporting”, and digital film-making” for narratives to transgress” “ the constraints of broadcast monopolies”.(Blood, 2005) In ruby case, nowadays, we do not have to stay at home, connecting to the internet, but we can get online everywhere by our mobile device. This convenience benefits us to update and response to the event on the Internet. It’s also one of the reasons of the popularities of Ruby Case.


Last but not least, after ruby posing a clip to Youtube, we could find that there are more people, who also upload their self-record clip to Youtube to express themselves. Even it’s not a new issue to upload self-record clip to express ourselves in some foreign countries, such as US. In fact, this is a new phenomenon in Hong Kong. This way of expression somehow shows the empowerment of us when using Internet.