Digital Korea is a study of the most advanced country for digital convergence, South Korea. Much of what we see in South Korea today sounds like science fiction - but forms the solid reality of life in South Korea today. Thus, it is a great source of ideas and insights which we can learn from. The book discusses a country where every household internet connection has already been upgraded to broadband; where 100 mbit/s speeds are already sold and gigabit speeds already coming; where every phone sold is a cameraphone; where three out of every four mobile subscriptions is a 3G connection; where cars and PCs and mobile phones now ship with in-built digital TVs; where 42% of the population maintain a blogsite and four out of ten have created an avatar of themselves; where over half of the population pay with cellphones and 25% of the total South Korean population have participated inside a multiplayer online game, in fact inside the same multiplayer online game. The stories from South Korea are each more amazing than the last. 50,000 citizen journalists write the national Ohmy News newspaper. While Second Life fascinates western media for its 2 million users, South Korean Cyworld has 20 million users. While we tend to view the 8 million active users of the World of Warcraft as a milestone in massively multiplayer online games, South Korean Lineage already has 14 million active gamers. And perhaps most telling of all - the South Korean government is convinced every Korean home will have a household robot within ten years. Household robots? Not just cleaning our homes and providing security, but reading bedtime stories to our kids and helping them with their homework too. Digital Korea includes chapters on all these issues and more with the state-of-the-art latest products and services described in detail. This is one of the first attempts to understand the current state of digital convergence, ubiquitous computing and the information society that is South Korea. The book is called simply 'Digital Korea', but its subtitle is long as the stories in the book are so wide-reaching: Convergences of broadband internet, 3G cellphones, multiplayer gaming, digital TV, virtual reality, electronic cash, telematics, robotics, e-government and the intelligent home. The research for the book took a long time as so many different fields had to be covered. But the resulting book is now the most up-to-date view of that exact point where science fiction meets science fact. What happens when virtual reality meet the real world, with wireless reach and broadband speed? The book is packed with statistics and case studies and Tomi's famous "Pearls". As an interesting method, they have also often placed two rival statistics side-by-side, such as "In 2006 in USA 10% of music sales was digital" accourding to IFPI, and next to it on the opposing page "in 2006 in South Korea 57% of music sales was digital" also according to IFPI. This kind of comparisons help illustrate just how much of a lead South Korea has been able to pull.
New! Introducing the tech.book(store), a hub for Software Developers and Architects, Networking Administrators, TPMs, and other technology professionals to find highly-rated and highly-relevant career resources. Shop books on programming and big data, or read this week's blog posts by authors and thought-leaders in the tech industry. > Shop now |
Book Description
Product Details
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images? |
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
As the insanely long title would imply, Digital Korea basically showcases the Korean status of digital everything. Though covering a remarkably wide range of topics ranging from robots to e-government, most focus revolves around the various incarnations of mobile and Internet. It soon becomes clear - painfully clear - that on most fronts, the term "information society" is nothing but a word for example in Finland. In Korea it's a reality today; or, well, yesterday since books on such quickly developing topics tend to be old information by the time they're out of the press.
The book is bubbling with various statistics, both generally about the digital state of the world and specifically about Korea. Some are very interesting in the way they highlight the vast difference between the developmental stages of Korea versus other countries - like the fact that 98.5% of the handsets in Korea were mobile Internet-enabled already in 2005. Some other statistics are borderline obscure but insightful in other ways; for example the fact that according to BDDO, 60% of cellphone users globally take their phone to bed with them - physically to bed, not just on the nightstand!
In addition to the statistics bits, there are lots of other gems in terms of services covered, use cases and anecdotes of life in Korea. The most dominant online services like Cyworld are given quite a bit of coverage and each chapter winds up with a case study. Some of the gems of information to take home are not technological either, like the cellphone code of conduct from KTF.
As insightful, fascinating and good reading as Digital Korea is - and it is all that - there are some problems with the book ranging from minor to major.... Read more ›
The book is bubbling with various statistics, both generally about the digital state of the world and specifically about Korea. Some are very interesting in the way they highlight the vast difference between the developmental stages of Korea versus other countries - like the fact that 98.5% of the handsets in Korea were mobile Internet-enabled already in 2005. Some other statistics are borderline obscure but insightful in other ways; for example the fact that according to BDDO, 60% of cellphone users globally take their phone to bed with them - physically to bed, not just on the nightstand!
In addition to the statistics bits, there are lots of other gems in terms of services covered, use cases and anecdotes of life in Korea. The most dominant online services like Cyworld are given quite a bit of coverage and each chapter winds up with a case study. Some of the gems of information to take home are not technological either, like the cellphone code of conduct from KTF.
As insightful, fascinating and good reading as Digital Korea is - and it is all that - there are some problems with the book ranging from minor to major.... Read more ›
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
A very detailed view of South Korean ubiquitous digital convergence and trends
September 6, 2007
If you want to know what services and trends are likely to be adopted by western mobile users in the next 5 years and why then read this book. From Government policy to digital youth to professional gamers, all aspects of the digital revolution are covered and dissected. It's not just a book of detailed stats and case studies but a guide to the how & why of convergence across all aspects of services and industry in South Korea and why it's working. I would highly recommend this book to anyone with an interest in shaping digital futures and trends in the mobile and media sectors.
3 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Amazon Verified Purchase
This books contains some interesting facts on the level of technology penetration in South Korea and on the ways technology is used in everyday life. The premise is that South Koreans use technology in a way that is several years ahead of other countries and that technological devices are much more integrated into daily life. The facts are presented one after the other and many ideas are repeated, with no analysis.
The English grammar, sentence structure, and editing are atrocious, so it is an annoying read. It does not contain technical details about how these digital devices are integrated. This book may be a helpful resource if you are trying to get a feel for S. Korean culture. However, without analysis or narrative structure, it left me feeling I had more knowledge but not much more understanding than before I read it.
This book misses the opportunity to answer "so what" about S. Koreans' relationship with technology and what it does (and doesn't) mean for the digital future in other countries.
The English grammar, sentence structure, and editing are atrocious, so it is an annoying read. It does not contain technical details about how these digital devices are integrated. This book may be a helpful resource if you are trying to get a feel for S. Korean culture. However, without analysis or narrative structure, it left me feeling I had more knowledge but not much more understanding than before I read it.
This book misses the opportunity to answer "so what" about S. Koreans' relationship with technology and what it does (and doesn't) mean for the digital future in other countries.
Amazon Verified Purchase
While the monoculture of South Korea is much different to Western cultures, they are at the epicenter of the convergence of the Internet, Telecommunications and Broadcast TV. Not everything that works within the South Korean culture will necessarily translate but publishers around the world ignore the rapid developments in this country at their peril. To get a some excellent insights into the digital culture of South Korea read Digital Korea and use it to carefully and intelligently to apply appropriate developments around digital convergence in S. Korea to your media properties.
Anyone who has been to Korea recently can attest to the digital integration of the society. For everybody else - this book is a must-read, you can get a sense of how the information society and digital information are so intertwined in Korea. Tomi and Jim do a good job of bringing out the unique perspectives through case studies and stats.
Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store
If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store.
Learn more
