Informatization of a nation : a case study of South Korea's computer gaming and PC-Bang culture

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 i n the fact that 77% have access t o network media, predominately (80%) broadband access. However, there i s l i t t le 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 t o 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 t o 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

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