• Journal of Contemporary Eastern Asia
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.43-58
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• 2020

This study examines media used for information in the East Asian countries of China, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, and Singapore, using data from the World Values Survey. The sharing of Confucian culture may lead to a uniform media structure across these nations. Another possibility is technological determinism, which would also lead to similarity across nations. However, it is possible that countries are at different stages of technology development and will eventually become more similar. An opposing notion is that differences in other values among nations predict digital media use. To examine the evidence considering these possibilities, we factor analyze each population's use of nine traditional and digital media to see how similar the structures are. What results is a three-dimensional solution for four out of five countries, except Singapore, which has a more simple two-dimensional structure. Analysts regard Singapore as the most digitally connected society, which raises the question as to whether it is higher on a technological development trajectory, to which other countries may transition. Perhaps a more simple media use structure is an adaptation to increasing information load. As well, as mobile devices have become a primary means of accessing the range of traditional and social media, it may have an expanded role in reducing media channel entropy. In terms of frequency of media use, Singapore is highest, while China is the lowest. Singapore stands out in high mobile use, and China for low Internet use. There appear to be developmental differences across the nations. Regressions on Internet use for 18 values indices find different values predictors in the East Asian countries, ruling out Confucianism as producing similar media patterns.

• Journal of Science and Technology Studies
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.41-79
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• 2017

The fourth industrial revolution, which is all the rage in recent years in South Korea, comes from Klaus Schwab's book. Schwab claims that recent rapid technological innovation has inevitably determined the future of our society, and regulations on related policies need to be relaxed. The debate on the Fourth Industrial Revolution in the Korean society is also centered on deregulation policies. In particular, it is strongly argued that personal data protection regulation should be relaxed in a big data environments. The Science and technology studies has long criticized technological determinism. The future of technology can be changed by the will of regulatory authorities and the intervention of civil society. In this article, the author examines various discussions at home and abroad around the deregulation of data protection, including de-identification of personal data. Through this, the author criticizes the way of accepting the fourth industrial revolution theory, and draw its implications for the Korean society.

• Archives of design research
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• v.20 no.1 s.69
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• pp.189-202
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• 2007

This study was carried out to forecast the future paradigm of design from the perspective of change in social environment within which design evolves through the process of birth, growth, development, and decline rather than changes within design itself. In general, before man takes an action, he sets the aim with mental and conceptual value decided internally and he considers various tools and means in his circumstance externally. Then he decides his action based on the most resonable and economic way. This is the mechanism by which all the living subjects including the human being survive and evolve within the given environment. In this respect, the future of design can be also explored and speculated in terms of change of man's mental value and the technology in future (this view is the same with what socio-culturalists see both cultural and technological determinism as a major factor for social change). Based on the view above, the present study extracted major keywords for a possible change of future design based on keywords on the present mental value and norm, and the materialistic technology and economy.

• Korean journal of communication and information
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• v.48
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• pp.25-45
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• 2009

The convergence of broadcasting & telecommunication is not a reality by itself, but recognized as a reality by the discourse which defines and explains it. It is the premise from which this article aims at studying how the discourse on the broadcasting-telecommunication convergence is formed, practised and transformed. This study compares the case of France with the case of Korea in order to show how the same discourse can engender different consequences and evolve in a different way in different socio-political situations. The discourse of the convergence was born as a scientific knowledge in the reports of the European Commission and OECD, and accepted as an important object generating social debates. Then, the discourse faces the resistance of pre-existent discourses in France, while it spreads without clash in South Korea. The French discourse results in a horizontal regulation of contents and networks, while the Korean discourse creates a unique regulator for both traditionally distinguished sectors. Finally, unlike France, the scientific discourse of the convergence in South Korea is transformed into even a political, imaginary or utopian discourse.

• Educational Technology International
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• v.13 no.2
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• pp.257-281
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• 2012

This study aims to examine individual perceptions and lived experiences of the Net generation of student teachers and the previous generation of teachers about their technology use in education. The participants of this study include 106 pre-service teachers and 50 in-service teachers from one teacher education university in Korea. Employing a mixed methodology, we first empirically examined the participants' perceptions toward multiple variables related to technology use in education, namely (a) past ICT experiences in schools, (b) personal computer use, (c) constructivist belief, (d) computer efficacy, (e) attitude toward computer in education, and (f) prospective computer use. In addition, we conducted face-to-face interviews with selected participants for the in-depth investigation of their lived experiences about technology use, beliefs, and attitude. Results indicate that there are significant differences between in-service and pre-service teachers in their prior experiences with technology in schools. However, the pre-service and in-service teachers did not differ significantly in their beliefs, attitude and other technology-related variables, which may indicate the danger of generational determinism in the Net Generation debate. The analysis of interview narratives revealed two major themes about the interplay of one's agency and structural changes in the participants' lived experiences with technology use in education: (a) transition from negative past experiences to opportunities for positive computer use, and (b) attitudes formation and change through apprenticeship experiences and structural influences. In conclusion, this study suggests that the Net Generation debate should move beyond dichotomous or techno-centric thinking. There is a critical need to pay more attention to develop deeper understandings of the fundamental diversity existing within the generation itself. Implications for teacher education are also discussed.

• Journal of Science and Technology Studies
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• v.6 no.1 s.11
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• pp.31-52
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• 2006

This paper aims to analyze the rise and decline of Seattle Community Network(briefly SCN), an electronic community network based upon Seattle, U.S. from the perspective of 'social shaping of technology' theory rather than that of technological determinism That is, this paper focuses on the social processes of the evolution of SCN. And this paper considers SCN as one important element of the 'network society', a concept manufactured by Manuel Castells. SCN was built successfully over 10 years ago by some progressive local activists and volunteers. The main purpose of building SCN at that time was said to make local community stronger with the help of advanced information technology. This can be understood that the founders of SCN tried to shape the direction of network society development based on civil society's values including public access and commitment to democracy rather than those of private companies. After some years of successful working, however, SCN started to decline. The expansion of internet services and the booming of dot.com companies in the late 90's were the main factors that made SCN decline. In conclusion, it can be said that the socia-economic factors rather than technological factors gave birth to the rise and decline of SCN.

• Journal of Popular Narrative
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.361-395
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• 2019

This paper take a media archaeological approach to cinema transformed into a narrative medium during its transitional period, 1903-1915. To accomplish this, I will explore the question of as which narrative medium cinema was imagined and also how it was institutionalized as a narrative medium with authorship. I will explain that the imaginary and real ideas and changes on cinema resonated with each other on the foundation of its technological aspects such as indexicality, 23 frames/sec. and montage. It was during the transitional period that cinema was transformed from a medium representing spectacle to a medium of narration. The establishment of the American film copyright law in 1912 was an institutional, real outcome from the contemporary understanding of cinema as a narrative medium. At the same time, various ideas emerged that led to imagining of cinema as a complete narrative medium, incomparable to any other. From a media archaeological perspective, the imaginary ideas of media resonate with their actual course of development. These imaginary ideas are not just imaginary, but rather reflect the contemporary desire for the medium. This paper looks into the transitional period based on this media archaeological point of view. To this end, this paper will briefly introduce the notion of media archaeology as a media theory and then discuss Eric Kluitenberg's concept of 'an archaeology of imaginary media' and its methodologies. Second, it will explore literary and cinematic imagining of cinema as a powerful medium of storytelling, while discussing the ways in which cinema's technological characteristics played a decisive role in these imaginings. Also to show the techno-deterministic role of cinema in the real world, this paper will explore how its technological characteristics were considered as an important element in the processes through which America's first motion picture copyright was institutionalized in 1912 after two historical copyright cases: one is Edison v. Lubin in 1903 and Kalem v. Harper Brothers in 1909. Ultimately, this paper will lead us to an understanding of the history of cinema as a medium and its developments in more multi-layed way, as communication between the real and imaginary, and give us perspectives toward what cinema is.