David Kurt Herold PhD

Associate Professor

David Kurt Herold obtained both his Bachelor and his PhD at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) in London, UK. He has taught at universities in Hong Kong from 2007-2020, before joining the department of Media and Communication in January 2021.

David has published widely on the intersections between the online and the offline and the impacts they have on each other - in politics, society, and education. His two edited volumes on the Internet in China have been very well received and are widely cited (2011-"Online Society in China: Creating, celebrating, and instrumentalising the online carnival" and 2014-"China Online: Locating society in online spaces").

Between 2008 and 2011 a team under David's leadership created a virtual university campus in the 3D online world Second Life for the Hong Kong Polytechnic University, which was used by over 4,000 staff and students.

ORCID:
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6785-8250

Google Scholar:
https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=ZqwuGkQAAAAJ


  • BA - SOAS, London University, 1997
  • PhD - School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), London University, 2006


  • Adjunct Teaching Fellow Media And Communications, HK Baptist University, 2019-2020
  • Visiting Assistant Professor Media and Communications, City University of HK, 2019-2020
  • Assistant Professor for Sociology and China Studies, HK Polytechnic University, 2007-2019


  • China's (digital) encounter with the world
  • Digitisation of Society
  • China's Internet
  • Online-offline crossovers
  • Humans and the digital world


  • Herold, D.K. (2018). Xi Jinping’s Internet: Faster, Truer, More Positive and More Chinese. China: An International Journal 16(3), 52-73.
  • Herold, D.K. (2015). Whisper Campaigns: Market risks through online rumours on the Chinese Internet. Chinese Journal of Social Work, 8(3), 269-283. doi: 10.1080/17525098.2015.1082493
  • Herold, D.K., & de Seta, G. (2015). Through the Looking Glass: Twenty years of Chinese Internet research. The Information Society 31(1), 68-82. doi: 10.1080/01972243.2014.976688
  • Herold, D.K. (2012). Escaping the world: A Chinese perspective on Virtual Worlds. Journal of Virtual Worlds Research, 5(2). See: https://journals.tdl.org/jvwr/article/view/6206/6040
  • Chow, M., Herold, D. K., Choo, T.-M., & Chan, K. (2012). Extending the technology acceptance model to explore the intention to use Second Life for enhancing healthcare education. Computers & Education, 59(4), 1136–1144. doi:10.1016/j.compedu.2012.05.011
  • Herold, D.K. 2010. Mediating Media Studies – Stimulating Critical Awareness in a virtual environment. Computers & Education 54(3): 791-798. (DOI 10.1016/j.compedu.2009.10.019)


  • Herold, D.K. (Ed.). (2012). Proceedings of the SLACTIONS 2011 Research Conference: Life, imagination, and work using metaverse platforms, HK Polytechnic University November 18th, 2011. Hong Kong: CoreSL, Department of Applied Social Sciences, HK Polytechnic University.


  • Marolt, P., & Herold, D.K. (Eds). (2014-Hardback; 2017-Paperback). China Online: Locating society in online spaces. London and New York: Routledge.
  • Herold, D.K., Sawhney, H., & Fortunati, L. (Eds). (2012-Hardback; 2017-Paperback). Understanding creative uses of ICTs: Users as social actors. London and New York: Routledge.
  • Herold, D.K., & Marolt, P. (Eds). (2011-Hardback; 2013-Paperback). Online Society in China: Creating, celebrating, and instrumentalising the online carnival. London and New York: Routledge.


  • Herold, D.K. (2018). Food Risks? What Food Risks? – Gaps between Perception and Performance in Chinese Food Consumption Practice. In Augustin-Jean, L., and Poulain, J.-P. (Eds.), Risk and Food Safety in China and Japan – Theoretical Perspectives and Empirical Insights (pp. 181-197). London and New York: Routledge.
  • Herold, D.K. (2017). Layers of Racism: ChinaSMACK and the failure of cross-cultural communication. In Buccitelli, A.B. Race and Ethnicity in Digital Culture: Our Changing Traditions, Impressions, and Expressions in a Mediated World (pp. 265-282). Santa Barbara: Praeger.
  • Herold, D.K. (2016). The blended lives of young Chinese online. In L. Hjorth, & O. Khoo (Eds), The Routledge Handbook of New Media in Asia (pp. 189-198). London and New York: Routledge.
  • Jin, G., & Herold, D.K. (2014). Gold farmers and water army: Digital playbour with Chinese characteristics. In P. Marolt, & D.K.Herold (Eds), China Online: Locating society in online spaces (pp. 111-124). London and New York: Routledge. See: http://www.routledge.com/books/details/9781138809291/
  • Herold, D.K. (2014). Users, not netizens: spaces and practices on the Chinese Internet. In P. Marolt, & D.K.Herold (Eds), China Online: Locating society in online spaces (pp. 20-30). London and New York: Routledge. See: http://www.routledge.com/books/details/9781138809291/
  • Herold, D.K. (2012). Digital na(t)ives: Discourses of exclusion in an inclusive society. In E. Loos, L. Haddon, & E. Mante-Meijer (Eds), Generational use of new media (pp. 71-87). Farnham and Burlington: Ashgate.
  • Herold, D.K. (2012). Imagining China: Online expatriates as "Bridge Bloggers" on the Chinese Internet. In L. Fortunati, R. Pertierra & J. Vincent (Eds), Migrations, diaspora and information technology in global societies (pp. 243-256). London and New York: Routledge.
  • Herold, D.K. (2012). Rage and reflection - Chinese nationalism online between emotional venting and measured opinion. In P.-L. Law (Ed.), New connectivities in China: Virtual, actual, and local interactions (pp. 23-35). Berlin, Amsterdam, and New York: Springer.


  • 2016. Xi Jinping's Internet: Faster, truer, more positive and more Chinese? Paper given to the International Conference on China's Neo-Socialism under Xi Jinping held at the East Asian Institute, National University of Singapore, August 18-19, 2016.
  • 2016. The context of cultural diversity. AND Social Media in Asia. Papers presented for the workshop "Issues in the study of Social Media today" held at the Institute of Advanced Studies, University College London, February 29-March 1, 2016.
  • 2014. Whisper Campaigns: Market risks through online rumours on the Chinese Internet. Paper given to the workshop "Markets and safety risks: Rising threats and potential outcomes in an internationalizing world" held at the HK Polytechnic University, May 2-3, 2014.
  • 2013. Users not netizens: China's wangyou and the gaze of the observer. Keynote paper given at the conference "Open spaces and closed doors: The Internet in China, held at the University of Lund, Sweden, November 25-26, 2013.
  • 2012. China's iconic blogger Han Han. Seminar Paper to the East Asia Institute, National University of Singapore, April 24, 2012.
  • 2012. A (Not So) Fierce Dragon: China's Rulers and Citizen Activism. Invited Paper for the Conference on Modes of Activism and engagement in the Chinese Public Sphere, Asia Research Institute, National University of Singapore, April 26-27, 2012.


  • Herold, D.K., 2017, Principal Investigator, A life less ordinary: The domestication of ICTs into everyday life practices, HK$105,000.
  • Herold, D.K., 2016, Principal Investigator, Living in the World: Event Awareness among Young University Students in HK, HK$105,000.
  • Herold, D.K., 2015, Co-Investigator, The effectiveness of learning field triage skills in a web 3D game-based virtual world, HK$603,750.
  • Herold, D.K., 2015, Principal Investigator, An exploration of the practices of ordinary Internet users in China, HK$81,270.


  • Since 09/2015 Member of the Editorial Board for the journal Asiascape: Digital Asia, Brill. See: http://www.brill.com/products/journal/asiascape
  • 5/2017 – 6/2019: Member, Faculty Board
  • 8/2015 – 8/2017: Member, Departmental Staffing Committee
  • 8/2013 – 7/2016: Programme Leader MA Social Policy and Social Development
  • 8/2009 – 7/2013: Programme Leader Minor Degree in China Studies


  • COM333-Artificial Intelligence and Big Data in Society


  • Social Science Theories
  • Contemporary Social Theories
  • Qualitative Research Methods
  • Research Methods in Media/Comm Studies
  • Advanced Research: Ethnography
  • Media and Society
  • The Chinese Internet
  • Cyber-culture in Contemporary China
  • Internet Communication
  • Introduction to Social Media


  • ICA
  • IAMCR
  • EASST
David Kurt Herold