Media Technologies For Work And Play In East Asia

Media technologies for play have become major industries in Japan and South Korea. Even in North Korea, citizens bypass the state to enjoy popular culture. At the same time, corporations and governments encourage people to produce economic values through play. The first comparative study of media technologies in Japan and the two Koreas, this book illuminates the peculiar geopolitical relations between the three countries through their development and use of digital technologies. Drawing from political economy, cultural studies and technology studies, this book will be essential reading for researchers and students of media technologies and popular culture in Northeast Asia.

This book is the first comparative study of media technologies in Japan and the two Koreas which illuminates the peculiar geopolitical relations between the three countries through their development and use of digital technologies, drawing from political economy, cultural studies, and technology studies.

This new textbook is a timely and interdisciplinary resource for students looking for an introduction to Korean popular culture, exploring the multifaceted meaning of Korean popular culture at micro and macro levels and the process of cultural production, representation, circulation and consumption in a global context. Drawing on perspectives from the humanities and social sciences, including media and communications, film studies, musicology, cultural studies, sociology, anthropology, history and literature, this book provides a comprehensive and up-to-date overview of Korean popular culture and its historical underpinnings, changing roles and dynamic meanings in the present moment of the digital social media age. The book’s sections include: K-pop Music Popular Cinema Television Web Drama, Webtoon and Animation Digital Games and Esports Lifestyle Media, Fashion and Food Nation Branding An accessible, comprehensive and thought-provoking work, providing historical and contemporary contexts, key issues and debates, this textbook will appeal to students of and providers of courses on popular culture, media studies and Korean culture and society more broadly.

This book provides a comprehensive, easy-to-understand introductory guide to information, offering students the critical tools they need to shift their positioning from consumers and users to creators and critics. Searching, accessing, and using information are central to most daily lives. Yet, many users are not able to define what information is, identify who controls information, and create information to achieve a common good. In this book, Micky Lee teaches readers to critically interrogate key issues such as the categorization of information and knowledge throughout history, what digital divides are, why information is gender and race biased, how governments and corporations control citizens and consumers, as well as how we can resist unbalanced power relations. Readers will not only be able to relate these issues to "old" technologies, such as writing and printing, but will also be able to examine futurist technologies through the lenses of these enduring issues. A thoughtful and comprehensive overview, this is an ideal book for students and scholars of media studies, information and society, and communication and technology.

The desire of the people of Taiwan and Hong Kong to exercise democratic self-rule, fully embody their local identities, and become global citizens challenges the big-power politics between China and the United States. Occupying a critical stance on the margins, the local perspectives and international relations of these two cosmopolitan and postcolonial societies challenge both narratives centered on China and those focused on the U.S.–China power struggle. Taking a culture-centered approach to the communicative process of “glocalized resistance” in an era of rising nationalisms, the chapters in this volume address topics ranging from the rhetoric of political leaders and the language games of mass protesters on social media to resistant street performance. These chapters showcase the geocultural identity-in-the-making of the Taiwanese and Hong Kong people and offer insights into societies under imminent threat by an aggressive neighbor.

This edited collection brings in multiple scholarly perspectives to examine the impact of the pandemic and resulting government policies, especially lockdowns, on one particular cultural sphere: games. The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted virtually every aspect of our lives, regardless of where we live. In the initial months, many industry reports noted the unexpected positive impact on online digital game sales. Games were not just lockdown-proof, but boosted by lockdowns. Stay-at-home orders triggered a rush toward games as an alternative form of entertainment, and the ubiquity of mobile phones allowed wider than ever participation. Gaming and Gamers in Times of Pandemic studies how the COVID-19 pandemic affected game players, game developers, game journalists and game scholars alike in many other ways, starting with the most direct – illness, and sometimes death. Some effects are temporary, others are here to stay.

Digital Media in East Asia sees digital media as an important element in the integration of South Korea, China, Japan and Taiwan, with economic/commercial interaction now being accompanied by regional sharing of content and services. It argues that the underappreciated scale of East Asian activity in this key sector is setting up the region as a global leader in the new economy, quietly building global dominance in manufacturing, digital implementations and, most recently, digital content production. The book also argues that the rise of prominence reflects the still active presence of national governments in East Asia in selecting and promoting commercial success in emerging industries. The combination of infrastructure development, regulation, investment, training and promotion used by each of the national governments in the study has produced impressive national and regional integration across manufacturing, service, government and education. The national innovation strategies of the East Asian governments have, in sum, produced impressive results, sparking widespread private sector investment and the development of sizeable content production communities. Of particular importance is the reality that linguistic and cultural barriers are keeping most of the digital content within East Asia, the world's fastest growing market for digital materials, a process that is re-enforcing the developing cultural ties within the region. Digital Media in East Asia makes significant contributions to East Asian studies (Korea, Japan, Taiwan and China), the scholarship on national innovation, and to debates about the economic, social, cultural, and political importance of digital media. As such, it will be of value in media studies/cultural studies collections, and will be of interest to scholars of Asian business, political science, national innovation, and political economy.