Making sense of danmu: Coherence in massive anonymous chats on Bilibili.com

Abstract

<jats:p> Although coherence has been widely studied in computer-mediated communication (CMC), insufficient attention has been paid to emergent multimodal forms. This study analyzes a popular commentary system on Chinese and Japanese video-sharing sites – known as danmu or danmaku – where anonymous comments are superimposed on and scroll across the video frame. Through content and multimodal discourse analysis, we unpack danmu-mediated communication analyzing the newest interface (on Bilibili.com), the comments, the interpersonal interactions and the unusual use of the second-person pronoun. Results show that despite the technological constraints (hidden authorship, unmarked sending date and lack of options to structure comments), users construct order in interactions through repetition, danmu-specific expressions and multimodal references, while using playful language to make fun. This study provides an up-to-date analysis on an increasingly popular CMC medium beyond well-studied social networking sites, and broadens the understanding of coherence in contemporary CMC. </jats:p>

Can Watching Online Videos Be Addictive? A Qualitative Exploration of Online Video Watching among Chinese Young Adults

“…The present study identified a number of types of online video watching that have not been sufficiently investigated in previous studies, including: videos with Danmu comments (i.e., comments floating across the screen while the online video is playing), videos with auto-tune remix-themed content (i.e., videos containing repetitive audio or videos clips usually with funny film editing), and rustic videos (videos with corny jokes usually filmed in the countryside). Danmu comments have previously been studied from a linguistics perspective [ 32 ], but were not associated with potential addictive or problematic internet use. Participants in the present study expressed diverse behaviors towards Danmu.…”

“…Another emerging Chinese video platform is Bilibili, which contains both short-form videos and other more regular videos. Zhang and Cassany investigated the scrolling commenting system on Bilibili (called ‘Danmu’ comments in Chinese), which float across the online video frame while playing [ 32 ]. They found that video watchers used repetitive or specific expressions and funny words to interact with each other on Danmu while watching.…”

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