MSD, Mobile Special District
Recently South Korea’s has unveiled its plan to become the leader of the global mobile industry.
As an integral part of the Mobile Number One (M-1) Project, The Ministry of Information and Communication (MIC) plans to build the Mobile Special District (MSD). It’s going to be a ”mobile paradise” where, according to Ho-ick Suk, MIC Assistant Minister, ”all existing and burgeoning mobile technologies in this planet will be used” to create a a free technology zone that will create a new mobile environment. It will play the role of test-bed for up-and-coming wireless platforms” (See Korea Plans to Build `Mobile Paradise’). Different technologies will be fully integrated in MSD in the following order:
2007: GSM
2008: DVB-H
2009: TD-SCDMA
2010: 4G
MIC’s got a budget of 460 million Won (apx. AUS$66,247,000) for this project, which of course means that the actual cost will be a lot more than that. Still suffering from the Asian Crisis (whether the government wants to admit it or not), this is not an insignificant amount of money for Korea; but MIC claims that this investment will secure 50% of global mobile terminal core-parts market, 30% of terminal market, and 15% of 3G system market. I don’t know how ambitious this sounds to others, but I think this is a highly feasible plan, considering the enormous technological developments Korea has achieved in recent years.
Who would’ve thought that this tiny largely unnoticed place sandwiched between two giant powerhouses - namely China and Japan - could achieve the highest broadband penetration rate in the world? I remember back in my high school days, our teacher asked us which country Sony was from. Everyone knew the answer of course. Japan. But when it came to Hyundai, people went silent until someone yelled out “Japan,” to which a few responded with nods in agreement. But now companies like Samsung and LG are changing the scene. Korean mobile phones are recognised and popular for their functional quality and design. One evidence would be the film “Elizabethtown,” in which Orlando Bloom and Kirsten Dunst are seen with a Samsung Anycall and LG Cyon respectively; that wasn’t a product placement (the actors try hard to cover the logos with their fingers etc, but it doesn’t work all the time ;) ).
Korea was the first country in the world to launch DMB (Digital Multimedia Broadcasting) services. Korea is also the birth place of WiBro (Wireless Broadband), which is expected to be commercially available within a few months in Korea. These kinds of radical technological developments is one of the main factors that make Korea such an interesting research subject in so many different realms including media, communications, psychology, and sociology. A lot of people are still baffled and stunned as to why and how the Korean Wave came about and remains persistently strong. But when you think about it, the answer is simple: its techno-social development. The virtual reality is no longer a separate imagined reality in Korea; it’s intrinsically inter-related to the reality itself, and the distinction between what is virtual and physical is becoming more and more blurry every moment. People are constantly exposed to media, and virtually become the media itself. When that happens, the cultural productivity and developmental rate naturally increases. Yes, it is a global phenomenon. But in Korea, this socio-cultural shift is a lot more acutely manifest and experienced. It’s unbelievable.
My PhD thesis will be a triangulation study of Japan, Korea, and China. I plan to focus on the role of mobile media and technologies in shaping (youth) culture within each nation and the East Asian region. I’m really excited about what I’m doing and am going to do, but I do feel that I need to have a broader network where I could share information and get help from people who know a lot more than I do. Sometimes it so scary to think how little I know. Just how much can you learn within a three years (and a bit)? I know that I will always be a curious person, so will always be searching and researching. And I hope what I do will somehow benefit the world. Brad Haseman, an associate professor at QUT whom I like and respect very much, always says that PhD is only the starting point - when you need to train and prepare yourself for greater and amazing research that you’re going to do in the future. I do agree but sometimes it does feel pretty scary and ridiculous to be here in Brisbane, so far away from all these unprecedented radical transformations happening everywhere but here.
Anyway, back to the point. MSD. Very exciting. Korea. Very exciting.
My research? Very exciting. Definitely for me. Hopefully for you, too.
June 1st, 2006 at 1:21 pm
“Everywhere but here” - I’ve given some thought to this problem, i.e.: is there anything happening here that’s actually unique to Brisbane? Zoe Butt of the Queensland Art Gallery says we have the only art collection in the world with the theme of “Contemporary Asian Art”. Maybe there’s something there you can leverage.
June 6th, 2006 at 11:34 am
hi mitchell. yeah, definitely. i believe that brisbane has certain aspects (especially those of cultural nature) that are very unique to brisbane. in terms of my current research, though, i’m trying to take a tehno-social/techno-cultural approach, which involves both technological, social, and cultural efficacies/capitals. compared to other developed and some developing countries, australia, in general, doesn’t seem to have enough of these.
June 8th, 2006 at 9:08 am
Perhaps you could study the Internet and mobile-phone culture of East Asian *visitors* to Brisbane (tourists, students)? That is, their techno-socio-cultural practices while they’re here? (Or even those of Brazilians, the colonizers of Orkut, resident in Brisbane; if you want a really unusual focus.)
June 12th, 2006 at 12:18 pm
i’ve actually thought about that approach but then decided to focus on china, korea, and japan - i’ll be looking at each of these countries indivually and together as a region. if there are some extended opportunities (and i hope there will be) it would be really interesting to do a comparative study with the case/s in australia, especially with transnationals.