Over the past several months I've been working on a short book, and I'm pleased to tell you that it is now available through Amazon's Kindle Direct publishing program. The book is entitled Telecommunications and Transformation in Korea: A Personal Perspective. (click on the cover graphic at left to see a larger version) It is more of a personal story than an academic publication, and it also represents a conscious effort on my part to try out the e-book genre. In an important sense, the book simply expands upon thoughts that I've already published in this blog.A word of warning to those of you who follow this blog. I'm still working out some of the fine points of personal digital publishing, so I welcome any and all comments that you might have about the content and formatting of the e-book. I will make an effort to respond promptly to all serious comments and criticisms.
My plan is to use this blog as a venue for dialogue with readers about the book. So, let me know what you think!
Thank you for the excellent book, and that you for making it reasonably priced!
ReplyDeleteAs a South Korean tech writer, I have been looking for a book that has exclusively dealt with the development of ICT industry and related social changes in my country and this is the book finally I have. After reading it, I have been amused by the three factors. First, I like its journalistic or personal story included approach that helps me to read the book better and I assume this writing style will benefit the others as well. Secondly, I like the part where the author analyzes the political psychology behind South Korean population's feeling towards Park's dictatorship and its pros and cons. The kind of dual feeling we have towards ex-President Park has been not much appreciated by many Western pundits. Lastly, I like the part that it tries to link the current digital development with the earlier telecommunication infrastructure building. It effectively shows the legacy of state-led development in South Korean digital environment.
ReplyDeleteNevertheless, there are some shortcoming or limits which would be better supplanted later. Firs of all, Kilnam Chon, the Founding Father of Korean Internet, and his disciples many of them are leading Korean Internet-related technological, social and business developments are not mentioned at all in the book. It is a huge loss to its credibility considering that how much Professor. Chon has shaped the Korean Internet development.
Secondly, the book should also have paid attention to Real Name Verification Law and other authoritarian Internet laws in South Korea and how that juxtaposition of draconian rules and liberal online political movements have clashed over the past years. Furthermore, it needs to deal more with the recent South Korean use of social media for political changes and the current debates on Net Neutrality in South Korea.
Finally, there is the most important point regarding its future political and social ramifications. the part that I most like is its full analysis of the possible impacts of digital technology for North Korea. Regarding that point, however, I think that we also need to concern what kind of the Internet the North will have. It would be free and open or censored and closed? By addressing this question, what I meant is our thinking must be deeper than just delivering and installing digital technology there. We must care about political/social contexts (as the author consistently asserts) that bring the best/worst possibilities from those new innovations.