Progress is being made by way of reshaping the analysis portion of my DH research project. Initially, I thought: How does internet usage bridge the digital divide in the South Korean Republic? While I am maintaining this question, it is an indication of the idea that internet usage has bridged the digital divide in South Korea. However, after careful consideration of a particular source (CNET), it appears that it works both ways.

Because even in its rapid stage of growth, in 2004 for example, at a 7.2% national increase from the previous year, urban men were more likely to be internet users than women (74.4% verses 62%, respectively), and women in rural areas were least likely to be internet users at all.

When speaking of 2004, one has to remember that internet access has significantly increased since then, from 72.7% to 85.7% of the population (internetlivestats). At such a large percentage of connection, it is safe to say that the South Korean digital divide has been bridged. This is further supported by the fact that if one YouTube searches: “South Korea Digital Divide”, there are very limited results. This is because it is a predominantly non-existing issue. Today, the problems concern countries that are far less advanced than the progression that South Korea has achieved.

With a closer implementation of sources, the additional questions to consider are: “How did South Korea bridge its digital divide?” Perhaps, “How can less developed countries learn from South Korea, and gradually bridge their own digital divides?”

In working through these questions, I have begun making a video artifact that demonstrates this analysis using a combination of visual graphics, media, and documentary sources. It also includes text captions, providing for the direction and flow of the overall video. Argumentation and important points will also be addressed using text captions. Visual graphics stem from various websites, including: internetlivestats, worldbank.org, and MarketLine’s financial overview of South Korea’s Internet usage and profits of 2015. It includes charts, graphs, and network maps of driving forces of internet comsumption. Media includes different newstations (ABC, CNN, CBS, BBC), which are most fitting to the topic(s) at hand by way of modern reporting and real world relevance. Documentaries are difficult to find, as are newscasts actually, because the implementation and transformation of a digitally divided South Korea and its more developed, connected state happened in under 20 years (1995 to 2015). Due to such a unparalleled rapid but nonetheless, fascinating transformation, some of my video material is proving difficult to find. However, I am confident I will be able to find further relevant media and documentary sources in the coming days.

References

Myung, S. E. (2004, August 11). South Koreans face digital divide. Retrieved November 28, 2016, from https://www.cnet.com/news/south-koreans-face-digital-divide/

South Korea Internet Users (2000-16) - http://www.internetlivestats.com/internet-users/south-korea/

1995-2015 Statistics available at: Korea, Rep. - http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/IT.NET.USER.P2?locations=KR&name_desc=false