• Journal of the Korean Geographical Society
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• v.48 no.3
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• pp.366-386
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• 2013

This paper analyzes the drought and restriction on water supply in Taebaek City during the winter season in 2008 using Actor-Network Theory. Actor-Network Theory emphasizes and brings into view the role and act of non-human actors as well as human actors in various environmental issues. The fact that only Taebaek experienced restriction on water supply for 88 days although the winter season drought in 2008 affected the whole nation, requires a synthetic analysis of both human and non-human actors and their relationships and networks embedded in Taebaek City at that time. This paper shows that both human and non-human actors including Taebaek City Hall, Korea Water Resource Corporation, Taebaek citizen, the water supply facilities, Gwangdongdam, obsolete water pipes, the topography of Taebaek, soil, the change of industry, and population interact one another transforming the geography of water in Taebaek. This study helps to understand the complex processes related to drought disasters at a specific local scale and to provide appropriate measures to drought.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.391-404
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• 2022

Actor-network theory (ANT) pays attention to the relational effect between human and non-human actors, and transforms numerous networks between these actors by treating non-humans as human-like actors. This paper investigated various non-human actors related to the context before and after the introduction of NCS-based curriculum through ANT. This approach is because as a new system is introduced, the impact on the existing network and conflict situations can be looked at more closely. To this end, the researcher reviewed data from October 2014, when S College discussed whether to introduce an NCS-based curriculum, to February 2017, when practical operation was carried out and graduates were produced. In order to understand ANT theory, we analyzed based on the four stages of translation as claimed by Callon in the ANT theory. As a result, some meanings were confirmed in the case of reforming the curriculum of S College where the NCS-based curriculum was introduced. First, it is an in-depth analysis of the situation surrounding the curriculum, which has been overlooked by research on the existing curriculum. Second, it contributed to interpreting the 'hidden meaning' beyond the 'superficial meaning' of the curriculum within the university. Third, it was possible to indirectly check the conflicts and conflicts with the existing system that appeared in the process of introducing the new system to the College.

• Journal of Science and Technology Studies
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.1-40
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• 2019

Built upon ethnographic method such as participant observation and in-depth interview, this study analyzes the material culture of electronic flower auctions at Yangjae Flower Market. From the viewpoint of Actor-Network Theory(ANT), this research examines how human actors like dealers and auctioneers interact with nonhuman actors such as market devices and these interactions form networks called "agencement." This research is focused on three main objectives: first, to study how the performance of auctions - i.e. the interactions between auctioneers and dealers - change in the wake of new market devices in the auctions; secondly, to look into what changes artifacts bring to the social relationships between auctioneers and dealers; lastly, to analyze the influence of new market devices on auction price in the market. The results of this research are as follows. First, the appearance of new market devices generates changes in the performance of auctions, which means the change of 'agencement' of flower auctions. Direct interactions between auctioneers and dealers turned into indirect interactions through new market devices. Moreover, the changes in the agencement brought changes to the identity of auctioneers and dealers. Secondly, the new agencement caused by the inflow of new market devices formed the trust between the devices and human actors, which gave rise to the trust in electronic auction and in counterpart actors as well. In addition, new market devices lowered direct interactions between auctioneers and dealers and thus made more equal relationships between the two than before. Lastly, market devices like trading screen reduced the leverage of auctioneers by providing dealers with bidding information previously possessed by auctioneers much openly and dealers were able to decide auction prices in more reasonable and dispassionate manner. Economic agency, power, trust, price, and information in the market is material and sensory.

• Journal of the Korean Geographical Society
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• v.51 no.5
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• pp.613-632
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• 2016

The recent diagnosis of the Anthropocene challenges public understanding of nature as a pure and singular entity removed from society, as the diagnosis confirms the earth-changing force of humans. In geography, the nature-society divide has been critically interrogated long before the diagnosis of the Anthropocene, developing several ways of theorizing nature-society relations. This paper introduces a new frontier for such theoretical endeavors: more-than-human geography. Inspired by the material and performative turn in geography and the social sciences around the 2000s, more-than-human geographers have sought to re-engage with the livingness of the world in the study of nature-society relations. Drawing on actor-network theory, non-representational theory (NRT) and vitalism, they have developed innovative ways of thinking about and relating to nature through the key concepts of 'nonhuman agency' and 'affect'. While more-than-human geography has been extensively debated and developed in recent Euro-American scholarship on cultural and economic geography, it has so far received limited attention in Korean geographical studies on nature. This paper aims to address this gap by discussing the key concepts and seminal work of more-than-human geography. I first outline four theoretical strands through which nature-society relations are perceived in geography. I then offer an overview of more-than-human geography, discussing its theoretical foundations and considering ontologies, epistemologies, politics and ethics associated with nature-society relations. Then, I compare more-than-human geography with political ecology, which is the mainstream critical approach in contemporary environmental social sciences. I would argue that more-than-human geography further challenges and develops political ecology through its heightened attention to the affective capacity of nonhumans and the methodological ethos of doing a careful political ecology. I conclude by reflecting on the implications of more-than-human geography for Korean studies on nature-society relations.

• The Journal of the Convergence on Culture Technology
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• v.9 no.3
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• pp.1-10
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• 2023

The purpose of this study is to explore ways to nurture creative and fusion-type talents centered on ANT. In order to nurture creative and convergence-type talents centered on ANT, first, it is necessary to utilize Kao's Law in the network formation stage. Second, it is necessary to utilize the strong power of weak ties in the network formation stage. Third, in order to cause a stir in the stage of raising questions among the four stages of translation, the ability to ask questions must be developed. Fourth, education in various creative problem-solving techniques is needed to throw a stir. Fifth, in order to successfully intervene in the second stage of the four stages of translation, the stage of attracting attention, communication and critical thinking skills must be trained. Suggestions for follow-up research are: First, it is necessary to compare and analyze the four stages of translation and the stage of the creative problem-solving model presented by ANT. Second, it is expected that there will be follow-up studies that apply specific cases centering on ANT.

• Journal of Science and Technology Studies
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• v.13 no.2
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• pp.71-110
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• 2013

As a patient has recently been recognized as not a passive object but a subject of medical services, various attempts are being made to strengthen the status of a patient. Medical communication which has been led by a doctor so far is being made with a focus on a patient due to sovereignty of a consumer and activation of medical information. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the process to strengthen the status of a patient as a consumer of health care service through a patient association and consumer movement as medical information becomes public. As the patient centered medical service is creating a variety of health care service market using IT technologies, it has contributed to the improvement on asymmetry of medical information. As the expansion of IT fusion health care market is bringing the fundamental change into the traditional relationship between a doctor and a patient, the medical service market is being re-organized. A patient centered medical service such as expansion of mobile health care model led by a patient is being accelerated.

• Journal of Korea Game Society
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• v.16 no.5
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• pp.7-22
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• 2016

The risk is subjectively perceived by the subject to judge. In the case of the game, game organizations and watchdog groups also recognized differently occurrence probability and intensity of risk to form a physical relationships of the game with each. Thus, we look only at the risk of their own subjective opinion, the fundamental solution is not possible. In this paper, we conducted a study on the form, occurrence point, and generating processes of risk by analyzing the physical components that make up the network of the game based on ATN in order to confirm definitely the substance and the presence of the game risk. In view of ANT, the game and humans constitute a network through their ability to act as each actor. If the gamer does not clearly recognize the nature of the ability to act of the game, the reverse control and the excess flow occur through remediation properties of the game. Therefore, it requires a more in-depth study in the future with respect to complex structure and relationships of the game-gamer network.

• Journal of the Economic Geographical Society of Korea
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.420-436
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• 2014

Regional communities have recently tried to change themselves in order to cope with rapidly changing circumstances. Giving attention to their strategic responses as well as consequences as a result of their countermeasures, this study attempts to suggest a theoretical framework to analyze the process of locality reconstruction in a dynamic and comprehensive way. To achieve this purpose, after figuring out the previous studies' methodological and theoretical limitations, we suggest that locality should be understood as a outcome of the mutual interactions between local, state, and global scale networks.

• Journal of International Area Studies (JIAS)
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.129-153
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• 2010

The guiding research question of this paper is to discover 'why the UK could not develop a general structure in which transnational corporations were born during the end of the 19th ~ beginning of the 20th century like other countries'. In response to this question, although acknowledging its imperfections, the author would like to explore the causality in the context of 'Social Construction' which is reflected in the attributes of British society. As such, researchers are strongly recommended to take into account the actors' interests and the increased value effect of events which is driven by control power. This paper concludes that: firstly, not only was contempt for industrial capitalism prevalent in British society, the British government was unable to recognize the necessity of promoting policies for the development of transnational corporation. In addition, the increase in the clout of commercial-financial capitalists in the city of London along with the expansion of gentlemanly elites interfered with the transnationality of British companies. Secondly, the foundation of the political and economic structures in the UK experienced continuity and challenge simultaneously. Since the 1850's, the British social structure has been progressively characterized by the strengthening power of the commercial-financial elites in London, which resulted not in the transnationality of manufacturing but that of financial services. Finally, the configuration of the social network driven by the British elites consists of the actors' interests and control power in association with severance and connection. Unlike the complementarity of interests, in the initial stage, intended connection based on voluntary motivation between gentries and commercial-financial elites occurred in terms of control power. However, ultimately, the holding of power was transferred to the commercial-financial elites excluding the industrial capitalists and resulted in the reconfiguration of the social network.

• Journal of Technology Innovation
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• v.23 no.3
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• pp.137-167
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• 2015

Based on the stakeholder theory, this paper analyzes a clash of standards in Korea's Electric Vehicle(EV) market, particularly between an EV charging standard and a smart grid communication standard in 2012~2013. For charging, EV is connected with the electric power grid and simultaneously exchanges data regarding the charging status. When EV is connected with the power grid, a clash between two standards may arise. It actually happened when BMW entered into the Korean EV market with the DC Combo charging system. In that course, the frequency interference occurred between the EV data communication technology adopted by BMW and the AMI(Advanced Metering Infrastructure) for the smart grid system in Korea. Standardization of Korea's EV charging systems was required to solve this problem. However, it had been delayed due to the confrontation between various stakeholders involved in the process of standardization. It lasted until the DC combo was accepted as one of the Korea EV charging standards(KSAE SAE 1772-2040, 2014.1) by KSAE(The Korea Society of Automotive Engineers) in January 2014. This is an interesting case in the age of convergence. As it deals with the standard competition not among EV standards, but a clash between the EV industry and the smart grid, i.e. electric power industry, it addresses the necessity to consider standardization processes between different industries. This study draws on the stakeholder theory to analyse the dynamics of the standard clash between EV charging systems and the smart grid system, which is a unique example of standard clash between different industries. We expect such clashes to increase in the age of convergence.