1. 2004. 5. 22 - 24 Haejoang Cho Department of Sociology, Yonsei University Youth, Internet, and Alternative Public Space Urban Imaginaries: An Asian-Pacific Research Symposium Lingnan University, Hongkong

2. -How does the Internet change cityscapes? -Who are the active agents, or the major force, behind such changes? -What is happening in South Korea, which has been one of the major experimental sites of digital evolution since the 1990’s? Questions:

3. 1. Korea, Asia and the Internet - Connectivity and usage (current status) 2. Youth and Modernity - What happens when dissatisfied youth meet the Internet? (Temporary Autonomous Zone) 3. Cyber Space as an Alternative Public Zone? -Cyber democracy -Creating Alternative Public Space

4. 1.1 Korea, Asia and the Internet Canada & USA 183 Europe 186 Asia 168 Latin America 33 Middle East 5 Africa 6 Total 580 (Feb. 2003, www.nua.ie ) Current Status of Internet Usage Population in millions; data from K. Chon “Broadband Networks”

5. 1.2 Korea, Asia and the Internet Economy Subscribers Per Capita Per Household Growth Rate Korea 11 million 24% 80% < 10% Hong Kong 1.2 million 17% ~ 30% Taiwan 3.1 million 13% ~ 30% Canada 2.5 million 11% 36% ~ 20% Japan 13 million 10% 35% ~ 80% USA 21.5 million 8% 20% ~ 20% Singapore 0.3 million 7% ~ 20% China10 million1% ~100% Remark: China is catching up, its big cities in particular. Korea, Japan, Canada and Sweden are leading in FTTH/FTTB/LAN. Broadband Access (2003)

6. 1.3 Korea, Asia and the Internet (1) Broadband Is Fully Deployed - 80% of households - Dialup has become almost obsolete - Broadband is a social infrastructure like the telephone, automobile or television (2) Mobile and Wireless - Mobile Internet is taking off - Major deployment of wireless LAN Country Report - Korea

7. 1.4 Korea, Asia and the Internet Country Report – Japan (1) Fast Growth in 2002~2004. 3 millions --> 8 millions (--> 11 millions in 2003) Tough price competition (~ $20/month) (2) Mobile Internet 50% penetration 2.5G/3G are taking off

8. 1.5 Korea, Asia and the Internet Country Report – Greater China (1) Internet is taking off in China 90 million in 2003 (2nd after the USA) Expected to overtake the USA in 2005~2006 (2) Broadband is taking off in major cities. (3) Hong Kong and Taiwan are following the Korean pattern ( ~60% penetration and taking off).

9. 1.6 Korea, Asia and the Internet Major application : case of Korea (1) Killer Applications - First Wave - Heavy Internet users (always on) (2) Killer Applications – Second Wave - Adult content - Stock exchange (Day Trader) - Online games (3) Killer Applications - Third Wave - Broadband Portal - Education - Music - Movies - Television Programs

10. 2.1 Youth and Modernity When do young people rise up as a powerful social group against the establishment? : GNP $10,000 / consumer society / pop culture… # Searching for new values: the counter-culture movement of 1960’s – 70’s USA (rock music, hippies, squatting) # Appropriating consumer/popular culture: ‘New Species’( 新人 類 ) in 1980’s Japan (‘mania’, j-pop, clubs, fashion, piercing, freeta) # Appropriating the Internet : ‘Netizen’(net+citizen) in 2000’s South Korea (pc-bang, chatting, cyber community, ‘cy-holic’)

11. 2.2 Youth and Modernity Korean Youth Move Smoothly into Wide Open Cyber Space (like western cowboys!) - No Need for Direct Confrontation with Adults - No Need to compete for limited goods # Major Population Wired (1) Ex-Student Activist Youth (2) Most Students (including middle schoolers) who want get away from a rather backward school system (3) The proliferation of 白手 (jobless bums) after the 1997 Asian financial crisis

12. 2.3 Youth and Modernity The Evolution of Cyber Space in Korea 1994: Internet Public Service (Dacom) 1997: E-mail (Daum – hanmail) 1999: Portal Sites, BBS and Communities (Daum-Café, Freechal-club) 2000: Chatting & Alumni Communities (Sayclub, Iloveschool, Damoim) 2001: Digital Convergences (Napster – mp3 p2p program, Avatar, MSN messenger, ICQ, digital camera boom) 2002: Making Sites for the Production of Common Sense/Knowledge (Naver- 知識 in) 2003: Mini home-pi & Blog (Cyworld, Naver-blog)

13. 3. Cyber Space as Alternative Public Zone 1.Cyber Democracy - Emancipatory politics vs. Life Politics (Giddens) 2.Creating Alternative Public Space - Cultivating the Sensibility of (late) Modernity

14. 3.1 Cyber Democracy Netizens Facilitating Democracy from the Bottom-up 1)2002 World Cup Street Festivals which Open up a People’s “Agora” (Public Forum) 2)ROHSAMO (people who fervently support candidate Roh) Kindles an Environment that Invites Young People to Participate in Politics 3) Alternative Media (from Ddanzi, ohmynews to MediaMob) Parody the News, thereby Decentralizing Knowledge Flow 4) Extensive Knowledge-Searching, and Making Common Sense Knowledge among Voluntary Netizens (Naver, Empas)

15. 2002 World Cup Street Festivals

16. Rohsamo (meeting off-line)

17. Rohsamo (On-line Web Site)

18. The First Parody News Media (Ddanzi)

19. Blog-Based Media by Citizen Reporters

20. Experts May Not Know But We Do !!

21. 3.1 Cyber Democracy Emancipatory Politics Led by the 1980s Students’ Movement Generation(386 generation) An Attempt to Complete the ‘Modern Project’ of Nation Building from the Bottom-up Encourages the Asking of Previously Un-asked Questions (and move beyond the Cold War era)

22. 3.2 Creating Alternative Public Space Cyworld (www.cyworld.com) & Cy-holicwww.cyworld.com - Emergence of the 6 million mini home-pi created a huge friendly public space connected throughout. - Characteristics of Cyworld Mini home-pi: 1)Easy to make 2)Menu : Diary, Album, Self Gallery, Jukebox, BBS, Visitor’s Notes, 1 寸 (Close Friends) Management 3)DOTORI : Cyber Money (Avatar clothes, music, gifts, furniture, flower, cars… ) 4)Mini-me : Avatar, Mini-room: the room where Mini-me lives 5)Many selection items which allow for creativity and variation 6)Big Brother’s Rating System – “Kind,” “Erotic,” “Karma,” “Famous,” “Friendly”

23. Cyworld Mini Home-pi Main Page

24. List of connected 1 村

25. Couple Mini Home

26. Exhibiting Personal Tastes : Food

27. Exhibiting Personal Tastes : Fashion

28. Exhibiting Personal Tastes : Music

29. 3.2 Creating Alternative Public Space “I feel great having a room of my own. Where I can write my stories, my feelings and invite my friends.” (Eun) “Once you go ‘random home-searching,’ you can find someone you know through only two or three degrees of separation. I find that lots of people worry about the same things that I do. It’s a small world.” (Young) “I have forty people listed in my ‘1 寸 ’ category. They are all deeply caring friends who will help me anytime.” (Han) “I quit being a Cy-holic. I can’t get any privacy there at all. Besides, it’s too time consuming.” (Won)

30. 3.2 Creating Alternative Public Space * The Multi-functions of a Mini-Home 1)Enabling the formation of a modern legislative ego : an independent, active, creative self 2)Maintaining social relations / accumulating social capital 3)Cultivating an understanding of others’ private lives as well as social etiquette and niceties 4)Providing a sense of security and belongingness / acting as a protective shelter 5)Fostering popular culture and the Internet culture industry

31. 1) From an Anonymous Violent Cyber Space to a Friendly Village– to a Post-modern Mega- Complex of One-Room Apartments?? (increase of 廢 人 ’useless bums’, parasite singles– 20:80 society) 2) Cultivating a Modern (expressing one’s self) / Late Modern (becoming a playful being and reflexive individual, while taking care not to be harmful to others…)/ or Postmodern Sensibility ( Consuming Images of Self and Others in a Society of Spectacle--Voyeurism, Stalking, Exhibitionism...) ?? 3) The Life Politics that Circumscribe Emancipatory Politics Research Questions

32. -- Considering this Phenomenon of Learning within the Parameters of an Extreme Time- Space Compression -- Comparative research on youth movements in the context of modernization in Asia is necessary -- Research might yield cultural transformations IF this research is done by young people themselves