Page 284 - Culture Technology Communication

“Culture,” Computer Literacy, and the Media 267

Interest in the Internet and CMC may not entirely explain the
popularity of Cho˘psok because at heart the film is a melodramatic
love story that was the first of a series of such films in Korea. A bet-
ter example of the influence of CMC on the arts is the Ttangji Ilbo,
˘
an on-line parody of the on-line Choso˘n Ilbo developed by Kim Ojun
(Ttanji Ilbo 1998). The word ttanji in the title refers to a move in tra-
ditional Korean wrestling (ssiru ˘m) in which the opponent is blocked
and twisted to move in the opposite direction. By turning events on
their head, the Ttanji Ilbo takes a sarcastic look at events through
wry humor and photo manipulation. By modeling itself after on-line
Choso˘n Ilbo, the Ttanji Ilbo also takes a critical look at how estab-
lished media package information for on-line consumption. By pre-
senting a humorous, but obviously “twisted” version of the news, the
Ttanji Ilbo forces readers to question the accuracy of on-line editions
of established newspapers. In addition to the Web site, contents from
the Ttanji Ilbo have been published in a series of books. The Ttanji
Ilbo has received considerable media attention and the Web site and
books are popular with college educated persons in their twenties
and thirties. To understand the humor of the Ttanji Ilbo to the full,
however, readers need to be familiar with the on-line Choso˘n Ilbo
and other on-line papers; the popularity of the Ttanji Ilbo Web site
and books suggests that they are.

First Impressions, Questions
From the above survey of difference and similarities in media and
art perceptions of the Internet and CMC, Korea is clearly more en-
thusiastic about the Internet as a tool for communication and in-
formation exchange. The higher level of public interest and
enthusiasm in Korea indicates a more positive stance toward CMC
than in Japan. Despite Japan’s reputation as a technological pow-
erhouse, the Japanese media and the public harbor doubts about
CMC, though, as is evident from the number of introductory TV
programs on the Web, they have shown interest in the Web as a de-
liverer of information. The Japanese public has been quick to em-
brace other forms of electronically mediated communication, such
as the fax and the mobile phone, but not CMC. The important
question from this comparison between Japan and Korea is why
large segments of the Japanese media and public lack enthusiasm
for or are openly critical of CMC. Or, to reverse the question, why