INFORMATIZATION OF A NATION: A CASE STUDY OF SOUTH KOREA'S COMPUTER GAMING AND PC-BANG CULTURE by Kym Stewart BA, University of A1 berta, 1996 Thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts In the School of Communication O Kym Stewart 2004 SIMON FRASER UNIVERSITY July 2004 All rights reserved. This work may not be reproduced in whole or in part, by photocopy or other means, without permission of the author APPROVAL NAME: Kym Stewart DEGREE: TITLE OF INFORMATIZATION OF A NATION: A CASE STUDY THESIS: OF SOUTH KOREA'S COMPUTER GAMING & PC-BANG CULTURE EXAMINING COMMITTEE: CHAIR: Dave Murphy, Instructor Prof. Steve Kline Senior Supervisor, School of Communication, SFU Prof. Catherine Murray Supervisor, School of Communication, SFU Prof. Stig Hjarvard Examiner Professor, Department of Film and Media Studies, University of Copenhagen Partial Copyright Licence The author, whose copyright is declared on the title page of this work, has granted to Simon Fraser University the right to lend this thesis, project or extended essay to users of the Simon Fraser University Library, and to make partial or single copies only for such users or in response to a request from the library of any other university, or other educational institution, on its own behalf or for one of its users. The author has further agreed that permission for multiple copying of this work for scholarly purposes may be granted by either the author or the Dean of Graduate Studies. It is understood that copying or publication of this work for financial gain shall not be allowed without the author's written permission. The original Partial Copyright Licence attesting to these terms, and signed by this author, may be found in the original bound copy of this work, retained in the Simon Fraser University Archive. Bennett Library Simon Fraser University Burnaby, BC, Canada ABSTRACT In an attempt to prepare its public for the computer age and stimulate the information economy, the Korean government has encouraged mass, inexpensive Internet access. Governmental programs have targeted equalization of access and computer enhanced training through policies supporting development of the gaming industry. The goal of this study was to assess the impact of these public initiatives on students' patterns of new media use at home and at the PC-Bang. The research involved participatory observations at 30 PC-Bangs, numerous interviews as well as media audits administered to 1467 school-aged students, 870 university students and 61 7 mothers of grade four students. The success of these policies is evidenced in the fact that 77% have access to network media, predominately (80%) broadband access. However, there is little evidence that Korean youth use this technology for educational purposes. The study further suggested that the Korean youth favoured new media as an entertainment source spending the most time playing game, chatting and emailing online. Their enthusiasm was so great that some Korean youth reported that new media had become a disruptive entertainment source leading to excessive use and displacement of sleep, homework and time with friends. The media audit results also revealed a classic gender divide in media use patterns; male students preferred to play games, especially at the PC-Bangs, while female students tended to use computers at home for non-gaming activities such as chatting and emailing. Confronted by signs of children's changing entertainment practices, mothers were not particularly concerned about the amount of time their children spent with new media, but they did desire more educational experiences for their young children. The study suggested that although Korea has pioneered a novel pathway to the information society, it is a long way from universal access and may not be achieving the information worker training goals, though it may be further creating risks of excessive use. iii DEDICATION To Dana and Tayme with all my Love. This thesis would not have been possible without the kindness and support of many people. What an amazing experience I had in Korea. If not for the years of research experience in the SFU Media lab, I would never have been able to fulfil such a dream. Thanks, Steve, for all the amazing research opportunities you have given me and for the kindness and patience you have always shown, and most importantly, for believing in me and championing to get me into the program... then helping me to get out. I would also like to thank Catherine who I have been fortunate enough to have taken many classes from and who has always been inspirational. It was also a pleasure to have an international external advisor and I would like to thank Dr. Stig Hjarvard for taking the time to be on my committee, I really appreciated it. My Korean experience would not have been the same without Dr. Park. My family and I cannot thank you enough for not only providing my family with a means of sustenance while in Korea, but for being a tremendous asset in my research with all your language, content and financial support that made my project a reality. Thanks to your family for providing us residence during our numerous visits to Seoul and thanks to your graduate students for all their hard work and support during the media audit phase of the project. I would also like to thank Kyung-ah, Jae-hoon, Bo-min and Bo-Kyoung, Master Choi, You-Jin and her family and Sung-won and his family for making our Korean experiences the most wonderful of our Lives; you have become more than friends to us and we will always think of you as family. I would also like to thank all of my friends in Canada. Thanks to my late night SFU companion, Kathy, and her family for letting me become a part of their family during many long nights at the lab. Thanks to the techies and Media Lab gang, Dave and Chris who helped with my problems, listened and made working at the media lab a lot of fun; Shane and Trent, my Edmonton connections; Woosang for his translations and Marian, Gillian, Ian, David, Flo, Sarah, Maria, Ann-Marie and everyone else who lent a comforting ear. I would also like to thank Evelyn, Lucie and Neena for putting up with my numerous questions and panic attacks. It will be hard to leave my Communication family. Finally, thanks to my family; my Mom, Dad, Scott and Vanessa for your love and support throughout the many, many years of university; my amazing extended family, The Babas, grand-parents , the Stein family, Irene and the Stewart gang for the interest and enthusiasm for my love of education. And most of all I have to thank Dana and Tayme, who have only travelled to Korea with me, but who have been the most incredible supporters of my work. I love you two so much and really couldn't have done this without you- Sa-lang-hey-yo. TABLE OF CONTENTS Approval ............................................................................................ii Abstract ............................................................................................ iii Dedication ......................................................................................... iv Acknowledgements ...............................................................................v Table of Contents ............................................................................... vii List of Tables ..................................................................................... ix INTRODUCTION .................................................................................... 1 Korea's historical march .......................................................................2 Traditional merges with the modern .........................................................4 Economic crisis; the re-evaluation of Korean information society strategies .......... 5 The PC-Bang; Korea's unique public market ................................................7 Korea the 'Online game capital of the world' ..............................................9 CHAPTER ONE: The Coming Information revolution ..................................... 12 The Third Wave .................................................................................13 Paths to the Information Society .............................................................14 Japan's road to the information society ....................................................14 Knowledge-based information workers ......................................................15 Impact of the computer .......................................................................16 Information explosion and the telecommunication era ................................... 17 American's National Information Infrastructure strategy ................................19 Bridging the Digital Divide ....................................................................20 CHAPTER TWO: Towards Modernity; Information Society Comes to Korea .......... 23 Role of Mass Media in Korea's modernization phase ......................................23 Korea's New Military Regime; industrialization begins ...................................25 Korea's Computer phase (1 978-1986) .......................................................28 Pressure to produce information based workforces .......................................28 Korea's Networking Phase (1987 to 1996) ..................................................29 Economic recovery a period of re-evaluation and new steps forward ..................36 PC-Bangs; the Korean Public Market .........................................................41