Page 285 - Culture Technology Communication

268 Robert J. Fouser

are Koreans so enthusiastic about CMC, despite having more lim-
ited financial resources?

Explaining the Differences: Two Theories
To answer the above questions, I will posit two theories and evaluate
them against evidence from writings about CMC in Japan and Korea.
The first theory I will call the “culture theory.” This theory holds that
distinct cultural differences between Japan and Korea lead to differ-
ences in the reception of CMC. This theory is the “made-for-CMC”
equivalent of the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis that places culture at the
center of the debate. The second theory I will call the “computer-
literacy theory.” To this theory, the difference between the two na-
tions is a practical issue of differences in computer literary, including
typing ability, that affect the image of computers, and hence CMC, in
society. This theory takes into account a variety of other practical con-
siderations, such as the cost of computers and on-line time, space in
the home for computers, distribution of computers in offices, and the
diffusion of competing communication technologies.
In evaluating these theories for Japan, I draw heavily on a four-
nation (Japan, Korea, the United States, and Singapore) survey of
attitudes toward electronic communication, entitled “Comparative
International Study on Electronic Information and Communication,”
conducted by the Nomura Research Institute in September to No-
vember of 1997 (Nomura Research Institute 1998). The survey was
conducted in 100 different places in each of the four countries. Re-
searchers interviewed a random sample of 500 adults in Korea, the
United States, and Singapore and 1,409 adults in Japan. Subjects
were equally distributed between men and women and were limited
to the ages of fifteen to fifty-nine. The data for Japan were collected
in September 1997 and for Korea, the United States, and Singapore,
in a two-month period from October to December 1997. The rela-
tively large sample size and the imposition of similar controls across
the four countries give the results considerable validity.
For the culture theory to be valid, there would have to be some-
thing in Japanese culture that put it at odds with the Internet and
CMC. Much Japanese writing on CMC focuses on problems such as
hacking, abusive language, and social alienation. A September 1997
article from AERA focused on the “rudeness” of e-mail (Itami 1997).
The article called attention to flaming on mailing lists and casual
language in messages. It quoted several persons who argued that