Little Rice

November 9, 2015
In this bite-size but substantive case study, Shirky (Cognitive Surplus) explores Xaomi, Chinese company, which has a reputation as "the most valuable startup ever" having grown to be the third largest producer of smart phones worldwide in only five-years. But rather than focus on the business practices or startup culture of the company, Shirky uses Xaomi's story as a "lens that makes the importance and contradictions of modern China easier to see." Most prominently, Xaomi represents China's influential and growing place on the global economic stage. With an increasing middle class, China is now the world's biggest producer and consumer of mobile phones, and Xaomi counters the image of China as only the cheap producer of Western-designed products. However, these networked devices also illuminate the tensions between China's open market and its closed political system. As more and more citizens purchase smartphones, the nominally communist government finds it more difficult "to maintain the desired equilibrium between elites, where access is tolerated, and the general public, where it is feared." The future of China is a difficult one to predict, Shirky readily admits. In many ways, though, Xaomi offers hints of what may come to bear, and its successes and failures are quite significant.

August 15, 2015
A compact report on the world's biggest economy, told through the story of the third-largest global manufacturer of smartphones. Prominent technology writer Shirky (Journalism and Interactive Telecommunications/New York Univ.; Cognitive Surplus: Creativity and Generosity in a Connected Age, 2010, etc.) spent a year in Shanghai researching the hyperlucrative communications market, which has exploded in popularity and demand. This has created an unmatched "teledensity" rate: even poverty-stricken populations retain a mobile phone penetration factor of upward of 58 percent-three phones for every five people. Building on this data, the author focuses his attention on the booming startup software firm Xiaomi Tech ("little rice" in Mandarin) since its unassuming Beijing inception in 2010 by now-billionaire Lei Jun. Much more than just another Chinese export operation, Shirky contends that this industry innovator not only offers flexibility and freedom from an autocratic society, but openly challenges modern China's closely scrutinized governmental control over its citizens' online activities. Documenting a guided tour of the company's offices, the author concisely documents Xiaomi's beginnings from offering carefully prototyped consumer hardware to its MIUI operating system. Shirky also viewed the firm's intricate cluster of "advertising" programmers, who were busy producing unique internal tools to communicate with users. The company soon branched out to further embrace and capitalize on the colossal smartphone revolution with its Mi-phone series, alongside advanced industrial design and online services. Shirky condenses both the history of the "Chinese Dream" and more contemporary notes on Chinese commerce and politics without criticism, leaving the determination up to readers whether the direction technology is taking consumers, both inside and outside of China, is beneficial or otherwise. Still, as Xiaomi continues to openly compete with other world-class designers and electronic originators, the Chinese-borne caveat remains that "the forces of conservatism and corruption always threaten to freeze progress." A compact, accessible, and intelligently delivered update on China's evolving economic and political front via one particularly accomplished electronics venture.

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October 1, 2015

Shirky (Distinguished Writer in Residence, Arthur L. Carter Journalism Inst.; arts, Interactive Telecommunications Program, both at New York Univ.; Wikimedia Foundation board member; Here Comes Everybody) explores the China-based Xiaomi, a growing leader in mobile phone design and manufacturing. Particularly interesting points in the discussion are the global implications of a "Chinese Dream" within the context of state sponsored capitalism. This dream, as explored by Shirky, is notably vague, often trying to equate the achievement of personal wealth with national greatness. It is within this emerging consumer culture that Xiaomi has become the third largest maker of mobile phones in the world; while the typical narrative of smartphone and hardware dominance places the design of smartphones outside of China, with Xiaomi's growth as a hardware designer and manufacturer, the company is set to have a worldwide impact. Shirky investigates the rise of the Xiaomi start-up culture, documenting the business's early success with customized versions of Android and reliance on test users' feedback. VERDICT Recommended for those who enjoy reading about how mobile technology works and particularly in exploring its impact on global business.--Jim Hahn, Univ. Lib., Univ. of Illinois, Urbana

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