• Asia pacific journal of information systems
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.117-144
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• 2008

Lots of virtual communities and online businesses presently derive their primary sources of revenues through advertising, but nevertheless are plagued with marginal profitability though they might possess a significant user base. In the light of the need for an efficacious business model, there have been recent insights of an online community in particular reaping profits through an innovative and lucrative revenue generation method that earns by selling digital items. There have been some obvious evidences (e.g., Cyworld, SecondLife, Habo Hotel, etc.) that online communities can be profitable through their unique business model of selling digital items. However, there is lack of understanding about the motivation of purchasing digital items. This study tries to identify the main motivators of digital item purchases based on social/individual identity theory and self-presentation theory. "Digital items", otherwise known as "virtual assets", may include online avatars, accessories for the avatars, decorative ornaments like furniture, digital wallpapers, skins, background music and virtual weapons used for Internet games. These digital items are employed by users for representation and articulation in the online space, especially to create and enhance their online profiles in web pages and games. Prices for digital items typically range from a few cents to a few dollars each. Based on the theoretical framework like social identity theory and self-presentation theory, we developed the research model and proposed seven hypotheses. An analysis of 225 members of Cyworld found that digital item purchase intention in virtual world is affected by both members' need for self-presentation and need for affiliation. We also found that the need for self-presentation is significantly increased by innovativeness of members, community group norm, and community involvement. We concluded that the need for self-presentation could be a key variable for profitable business model in online community service industry. However, neither individual self-efficacy nor the need for affiliation significantly influenced the need for self-presentation which triggers purchase intention of digital items. In term of the theoretical and practical contribution, this study can be a pioneering empirical research that investigates the purchase intention of digital items based on social identity theory and self-presentation theory in the online context. Also, the findings of our study are valuable and practical for practitioners in the market who wish to adopt or improve the business model of selling digital items in an online community. From the findings, it can be seen that innovativeness of users, community group norm, and community involvement are three significant factors that influence need for self-presentation of users which ultimately leads to their intentions to buy digital items. These findings put forth that virtual community providers and online businesses selling digital items should prioritize their efforts and focus on these three factors if they want to increase the sales of these digital items and generate greater revenues. This study provides important implications for academic researchers and practitioners to understand why the community members pay money for their digital items in virtual world and how the practitioners can increase the sales of digital items in an online community. A couple of limitations of the study and future research directions are also discussed.

• International Commerce and Information Review
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• v.4 no.1
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• pp.107-128
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• 2002

In order to clarify the relationship between the Internet utilization of the Korean small export firms for export marketing and it's performance, first, a research model and hypothesis have been made on a theoretical basis. This research hypothesis has been examined through gathering survey data and a statistical analysis based on MANOVA. The conclusion, as well as the main point of this thesis, is that, in most cases, there was a significant statistical connection between the variables of export performances and Internet-utilized export marketing strategies, which are both based on the classical AIDA model of effective hierarchy of communication for sales and advertising. This conclusion brings forth a substantial topic as well as provides meaningful implications for the Korean small export firms when putting together a marketing strategy using the Internet. It is also hoped that this will come as a reference for other researchers henceforth. However, there is an issue of lack of representativeness when considering that the samples were chosen on the basis of the convenience sampling method. Another issue may be that a portion of the subjects were not related to actual trade, but were, in fact, Web masters who operated e-trade systems. Furthermore, there are also numerous problems of missing data, and 6 out of the 8 main hypotheses possessed the issue of fitness level with the data. Therefore, in order to enhance both the representative and fitness levels of the data of further research for this topic, future respondents will have to have special trade knowledge, as well as technical knowledge of e-trade. However, unless the Internet begins to greatly contribute to export marketing of corporations, this type of enterprising spirit by corporations in gathering suitable respondents will not surface. Although not used in examining the hypotheses of this particular thesis, the relationship between competitive and circumstantial variables, which were added to the upcoming survey, and export performances will soon be analyzed and announced in order to atone for some of the standards this thesis fell short of.

• 대한공업교육학회지
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• v.31 no.2
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• pp.233-256
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• 2006

The purpose of this study was to analyse between foreign curriculum and our high school industrial technology subject-matter curriculum, to review trend and stream of curriculum revision, and purpose and content system of subject-matter. This study was conducted through reviewing literature; research reference, journal, book, and Web materials. in this study, comparative target country was restricted to Japan, U. S. A., U. K., and N. Z., Australia that administer to similar subject with our industrial technology subject-matter. The major finding of this study were as follows: 1. A similar subject-matter with our industrial technology subject0matter was Japan' 'foundation of industrial technology' and 'project research', U. S. A.' 'technology' and etc, U. K.' 'design and technology', and N. Z.' 'technology', 'New South Wales in Australia' design and technology'. 2. The result of analysis to purpose and strength of subject-matter, our' industrial technology subject-matter was oriented to knowledge, understanding and career search in industrial area. but, the other was emphasized technological problem solving by process-based method with thinking and action. 3. In the curriculum content, our country was treat to content area of a broad industrial world. on the other hand, Japan; relationship between human and technology, environment, process technology and product technology, project research. U. S. A.; technology content standards by knowledge, process and context, U. K., N. Z., and Australia were focused 'design process'. Based on above results, the recommendation can be established as follows: 1. A study on the implementation of industrial technology curriculum. 2. A study on the perception and need assessment of expert and stakeholder about purpose and content system. of industrial technology subject-matter.

• Journal of the Korea Convergence Society
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• v.13 no.5
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• pp.313-325
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• 2022

The purpose of this study is to examine the changes in the elderly healthcare app market through text mining analysis and to present basic data for activating elderly healthcare apps. Data collection was conducted on Naver, Daum, blog web, and cafe. As for the research method, text mining, TF-IDF(Term frequency-inverse document frequency), emotional analysis, and semantic network analysis were conducted using Textom and Ucinet6, which are big data analysis programs. As a result of this study, a total of six categories were finally derived: resolving the healthcare app information gap, convergence healthcare technology, diffusion media, elderly healthcare app industry, social background, and content. In conclusion, in order for elderly healthcare apps to be accepted and utilized by the elderly, they must have a good diffusion infrastructure, and the effectiveness of healthcare apps must be maximized through the active introduction of convergence technology and content development that can be easily used by the elderly.

• Asia pacific journal of information systems
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.27-55
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• 2008

Due to the increasing and intensifying competition in the Internet shopping market, it has been recognized as very important to develop an effective policy and strategy for acquiring loyal customers. For this reason, web site designers need to know if a new Internet shopping mall(ISM) will be accepted. Researchers have been working on identifying factors for explaining and predicting user acceptance of an ISM. Some studies, however, revealed inconsistent findings on the antecedents of user acceptance of a website. Lack of consideration for individual differences in user ability is believed to be one of the key reasons for the mixed findings. The elaboration likelihood model (ELM) and several studies have suggested that individual differences in ability plays an moderating role on the relationship between the antecedents and user acceptance. Despite the critical role of user ability, little research has examined the role of user ability in the Internet shopping mall context. The purpose of this study is to develop a user acceptance model that consider the moderating role of user ability in the context of Internet shopping. This study was initiated to see the ability of the technology acceptance model(TAM) to explain the acceptance of a specific ISM. According to TAM. which is one of the most influential models for explaining user acceptance of IT, an intention to use IT is determined by usefulness and ease of use. Given that interaction between user and website takes place through web interface, the decisions to accept and continue using an ISM depend on these beliefs. However, TAM neglects to consider the fact that many users would not stick to an ISM until they trust it although they may think it useful and easy to use. The importance of trust for user acceptance of ISM has been raised by the relational views. The relational view emphasizes the trust-building process between the user and ISM, and user's trust on the website is a major determinant of user acceptance. The proposed model extends and integrates the TAM and relational views on user acceptance of ISM by incorporating usefulness, ease of use, and trust. User acceptance is defined as a user's intention to reuse a specific ISM. And user ability is introduced into the model as moderating variable. Here, the user ability is defined as a degree of experiences, knowledge and skills regarding Internet shopping sites. The research model proposes that the ease of use, usefulness and trust of ISM are key determinants of user acceptance. In addition, this paper hypothesizes that the effects of the antecedents(i.e., ease of use, usefulness, and trust) on user acceptance may differ among users. In particular, this paper proposes a moderating effect of a user's ability on the relationship between antecedents with user's intention to reuse. The research model with eleven hypotheses was derived and tested through a survey that involved 470 university students. For each research variable, this paper used measurement items recognized for reliability and widely used in previous research. We slightly modified some items proper to the research context. The reliability and validity of the research variables were tested using the Crobnach's alpha and internal consistency reliability (ICR) values, standard factor loadings of the confirmative factor analysis, and average variance extracted (AVE) values. A LISREL method was used to test the suitability of the research model and its relating six hypotheses. Key findings of the results are summarized in the following. First, TAM's two constructs, ease of use and usefulness directly affect user acceptance. In addition, ease of use indirectly influences user acceptance by affecting trust. This implies that users tend to trust a shopping site and visit repeatedly when they perceive a specific ISM easy to use. Accordingly, designing a shopping site that allows users to navigate with heuristic and minimal clicks for finding information and products within the site is important for improving the site's trust and acceptance. Usefulness, however, was not found to influence trust. Second, among the three belief constructs(ease of use, usefulness, and trust), trust was empirically supported as the most important determinants of user acceptance. This implies that users require trustworthiness from an Internet shopping site to be repeat visitors of an ISM. Providing a sense of safety and eliminating the anxiety of online shoppers in relation to privacy, security, delivery, and product returns are critically important conditions for acquiring repeat visitors. Hence, in addition to usefulness and ease of use as in TAM, trust should be a fundamental determinants of user acceptance in the context of internet shopping. Third, the user's ability on using an Internet shopping site played a moderating role. For users with low ability, ease of use was found to be a more important factors in deciding to reuse the shopping mall, whereas usefulness and trust had more effects on users with high ability. Applying the EML theory to these findings, we can suggest that experienced and knowledgeable ISM users tend to elaborate on such usefulness aspects as efficient and effective shopping performance and trust factors as ability, benevolence, integrity, and predictability of a shopping site before they become repeat visitors of the site. In contrast, novice users tend to rely on the low elaborating features, such as the perceived ease of use. The existence of moderating effects suggests the fact that different individuals evaluate an ISM from different perspectives. The expert users are more interested in the outcome of the visit(usefulness) and trustworthiness(trust) than those novice visitors. The latter evaluate the ISM in a more superficial manner focusing on the novelty of the site and on other instrumental beliefs(ease of use). This is consistent with the insights proposed by the Heuristic-Systematic model. According to the Heuristic-Systematic model. a users act on the principle of minimum effort. Thus, the user considers an ISM heuristically, focusing on those aspects that are easy to process and evaluate(ease of use). When the user has sufficient experience and skills, the user will change to systematic processing, where they will evaluate more complex aspects of the site(its usefulness and trustworthiness). This implies that an ISM has to provide a minimum level of ease of use to make it possible for a user to evaluate its usefulness and trustworthiness. Ease of use is a necessary but not sufficient condition for the acceptance and use of an ISM. Overall, the empirical results generally support the proposed model and identify the moderating effect of the effects of user ability. More detailed interpretations and implications of the findings are discussed. The limitations of this study are also discussed to provide directions for future research.

• Information Systems Review
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.161-179
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• 2009

Nowadays an increasing number of Internet users are running individual websites as Blog or Cyworld. As this type of personal media has a great influence on communication among people, business comes to care about Network Effect, Network Software, and Social Network. For instance, Cyworld created the web service called 'Minihompy' for individual web-logs, and acquired 2.4milion users in 2007. Although many people assumed that the popularity of Minihompy, or Blog would be a passing fad, Cyworld has improved its service, and expanded its Network with various contents. This kind of expansion reflects survival efforts from infinite competitions among ISPs (Internet Service Provider) with focus on enhancing usability to users. However, Cyworld's Network Effect is gradually diminished in these days. Both of low production cost of service vendors and the low searching/conversing costs of users combine to make ISPs hard to keep their market share sustainable. To overcome this lackluster trend, Cyworld has adopted new strategies and try to lock their users in their service. Various efforts to improve the continuance and expansion of Network effect remain unclear and uncertain. If we understand beforehand how a service would improve Network effect, and which service could bring more effect, ISPs can get substantial help in launching their new business strategy. Regardless many diverse ideas to increase their user's duration online ISPs cannot guarantee 'how the new service strategies will end up in profitability. Therefore, this research studies about Network effect of Cyworld's 'Minihompy' using System-Dynamics method which could analyze dynamic relation between users and ISPs. Furthermore, the research aims to predict changes of Network Effect based on the strategy of new service. 'Page View' and 'Duration Time' can be enhanced for the short tenn because they enhance the service functionality. However, these services cannot increase the Network in the long-run. Limitations of this research include that we predict the future merely based on the limited data. We also limit the independent variables over Network Effect only to the following two issues: Increasing the number of users and increasing the Service Functionality. Despite of some limitations, this study perhaps gives some insights to the policy makers or others facing the stiff competition in the network business.

• Science of Emotion and Sensibility
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.87-102
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• 2017

With increasing interest in 3D printing, the interest in the 3D modelling training that should precede the 3D printing is increasing. However, the existing 3D modelling software is developed mostly by foreign brands. Thus, the interfaces are all in English. 3D modelling software training for Korean novices who are not familiar with these terms has constraints. This study aims to explore what to consider when developing a Korean model for 3D modelling educational software for 3D printing in the face of such reality. For this goal, after having novices with no experience in 3D modeling to perform a house building task using either 12D Design or Tinker CAD, we conducted a survey. It was found in the result that more users favored Tinker CAD over 123D Design, and the errors involved while working with the Tinker CAD were less than those with the 123D Design, and the ratio of people who completed the task with the Tinker CAD was higher than that with the 123D Design. In general discussion, an introductory level educational 3D modeling software development is proposed which utilize characteristics of Tinker CAD (easy modelling is possible by three-dimensional figures) and web-based method. Also, a beginner/intermediate level educational 3D modeling software development is proposed which utilize characteristics of 123D Design (with finer measurement manipulations and figure alignment) and Windows-based method.

• Journal of Korea Technology Innovation Society
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• v.13 no.4
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• pp.680-699
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• 2010

In this paper, we attempted to analysis and track dynamic properties of the interdisciplinary relationship between scientific research areas in energy field using bibliometric analysis. We created network maps with SCs (subject categories) defined from $WoS^{\circledR}$ (Web of Science, Thomson Scientific ISI, Philadelphia, USA) using co-occurrence analysis method in order to identify overall disciplines directly linked with energy fields and investigate the change of interaction between SCs as a function of time. From the results of this study, thermodynamics, fuels, chemistry/chemical engineering, and electrochemistry have differentiated into more specific disciplines while the strength of interaction with energy field gradually has increased. Meanwhile, "nuclear physics" was developed to "nuclear science & technology" toward applicable target sector and also the interaction of "environmental science" with "energy generation area" among various energy disciplines recently showed the radical increase as compared with the values of 4 years ago. Finally, through combinative reviews of today's energy policy established by South Korea government, this study will give a help for keeping up with national energy agenda meeting the diverse characteristics of academic disciplines of energy field. In addition, our results support that the use of such network analysis based on bibliometric analysis to discern shifts in academic R&D strategies and target sectors.

• Archives of design research
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• v.17 no.3
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• pp.133-146
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• 2004

Diagrams have been deeply and widely used for supporting effective communication relating to design information and knowledge in most design fields. The results show that their role expands to "developmental design material" increasing the principle and method of design process. It's recent trend that Digital-Diagrams are aggressively used in multimedia design fields such as web contents, interactive movies and DVD Titles in order to support user's information understanding more effectively and to stimulate user's participation in information acquiring process. This study aims to clarify the essence of digital diagram corresponding to infographic material in multimedia design and application of multimedia contents development process . This study purpose leads to argue the substance of Digital-Diagrams as one of infographic types and identity of Digital-Diagrams which is relatively compared to existing Diagrams. Eventually, this study examines the application issues of Digital-Diagrams in multimedia design process. Regarding the identity of Digital-Diagrams, they are functionally utilized depending on hypertext based on language forms and interactivity based on graphical forms as core attributes. Therefore, they semantically enlarge user s information understanding by segmenting hierarchy of information expression and rather support user s acquisition of information control ability. Relating to multimedia design process, Digital-Diagrams are used by information designers and navigation designers as method for ‘modeling for realization based on information acquisition support for information-users. Especially, the study results show that the applications of Digital-Diagrams are performed for information representing methods for information designers and embodiment of useful functional factors of interface for navigation designersgation designers.

• Journal of Korean Society of Steel Construction
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• v.26 no.1
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• pp.43-53
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• 2014

A single plate connection(SPC) consists of a plate welded to the columns and bolts connected to the beam web. The SPC is widely used for a simple shear connection of steel structure because it is easy-to-fabricated, easy-to-installed and economical. The conventional SPC is used for 2 to 12 bolts in a single vertical row. It is designed to limit the plate thickness by bolt diameter to obtain flexible and ductile connections. The design strength for eccentric shear shall be the lesser of the shear strength of bolts or bearing strength of plate and when the design strength is decided by edge distance failure, the results can be very conservative. Although the research on special solution for 'weak-plate/strong-bolt' model with 2 to 4 bolts has been conducted by L. S. Muir, and W. A. Thonton, 2004, study on generalized design procedures did not conduct. This study proposed design procedure for evaluation of the design strength of eccentric shear bolt groups on a single plate connection based on the actual edge distance and the direction of bolt reaction forces by using elastic vector method(EVM) and instantaneous center of rotation method(ICM).