• Cartoon and Animation Studies
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• s.51
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• pp.181-201
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• 2018

The cartoon industry in Korea has continued to decline due to the contraction of published comics market and decrease in the number of comic books rental stores until the 2000s when it rapidly started to experience qualitative changes and quantitative growth due to the emergence of webtoon. The market size of webtoon industry, valued at 420 billion won in 2015, is expected to grow to 880.5 billion won by 2018. Notably, most cartoonists who draw cartoon strips are using digital devices and producing scripts in data, thereby overcoming the geographical, spatial and physical limitation of contents. As a result, a favorable environment for the creation of local ecosystems is generated. While the infrastructures of human resources are steadily growing by region, cartoon industries that are supported by the government policy have shown good performance combined with factors of creative infrastructures in local areas such as webtoon experience centers, webtoon campuses and webtoon creation centers, etc. Nevertheless, it is true that cartoon infrastructures are substantially based on a capital area which leads to an imbalanced structure of cartoon industry. To see the statistics, companies of offline cartoon business in Seoul and Gyeonggi Province make up 87%, except for distribution industry. In addition, companies of online cartoon business which are situated outside of Seoul and Gyeonggi Province form merely 7.5%. Studies and research on local webtoon are inadequate. The existing studies on local webtoon usually focus on its industrial and economic values, mentioning the word "local" only sometimes. Therefore, this study looked into the current status of local webtoon of the present time for the current state of local cartoon ecosystem, middle and long-term support from the government, and an alternative in the future. Main challenges include the expansion of opportunities to enjoy cartoon cultures, the independence of cartoon infrastructure, and the settlement of regionally specialized cartoon cultures. It means that, in order to enable the cartoon ecosystem to settle down in local areas, it is vital to utilize and link basic infrastructures. Furthermore, it is necessary to consider independence and autonomy beyond the limited support by the government. Finally, webtoon should be designated as a culture, which can be a new direction of the development of local webtoon. Furthermore, desirable models should be continuously researched and studied, which are suitable for each region and connect them with regional tourism, culture and art industry. It will allow the webtoon industry to soft land in the industry. Local webtoon, which is a growth engine of regions and main contents of the fourth industrial revolution, is expected to be a momentum for the decentralization of power and reindustrialization of regions.

• Cartoon and Animation Studies
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• s.20
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• pp.15-29
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• 2010

Art & Culture Education for improving quality of life and cultural empowerment through the enjoyment of culture and the arts has spread as a variety of programs. However, Art & Culture Education in school has problems in the aspect of functional and superficial contents and ways of class. To achieve the ultimate purpose of Art & Culture Education and to take place as a effective education, quantitative growth in addition to qualitative depth should be considered. The purpose of this study is to develop the integrated Art & Culture Education model in elementary school curriculum using short animations of Korea, for improving the quality and vitalization of Art & Culture Education. For the interdisciplinary education short animation can be an effective asthetical teaching material, which transmits the world view, personality, social and historical reflection of the director. (2003) is a modern interpretation of a myth, which is Woncheongang Bonfuri from Cheju, and folkore paintings. This film can be such a stuff for the interdisciplinary class Korean and Ethics that language intellect and reflection intellect can be motivated. Moreover the thoughts and feelings about the film can be formulated in text, toon, painting that students can extend their language intellect and space intellect. communicates typically korean emotion and nature with its rural atmosphere and boy figure. With this film we can deliver a interdisciplinary class of science and art.

• The Research Journal of the Costume Culture
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• v.13 no.6 s.59
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• pp.919-933
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• 2005

This study goes into the field of CosPlay that takes place in Korea, and directly observes the people who engage in CosPlays. Based on in-depth interviews, this research identified the reasons why the CosPlay aficionados participate in this practice and their cultural preferences. Ethnography methodology was used to understand the behavior of the cultural entities of CosPlays. Moreover, this research attempted to understand their daily formalities through their own perspective and language instead of superficial language. In general, CosPlay form that they manifest is classified into two main categories: those who enjoy posing by becoming their favorite characters and those like to wear the clothes of their favorite characters and go up on the stage to perform an act of animation or game where the applicable character appears. Some of these groups are: 1) 'Bishojo CosPlay' that CosPlays mostly Bishojo cartoon characters and wants to just stand out, 2) 'Aekyo' group that CosPlays merely for the sake of the enjoyment of wearing costumes instead of having the mania-like characteristics, 3) 'CosPlayer Group' who enjoy doing organized team CosPlay in order to present a performance, 4) 'J-Rock CosPlay' group that CosPlay Japanese visual rock groups and prepare to be among a professional CosPlay team, and 5) 'People related to Cospre.com' who try to make CosPlay rooted in as one of new cultures.