Oh my News [I'm looking at the English-language International site] is a remarkably successful model of citizen journalism. Before addressing the journalism side of things, I think it is interesting to consider how tech-savvy South Korea is as a society. Access to broadband in SK is so widespread it is enough to make an Australian weep.
A friend of mine, Ms A. Rassall, has spent a lengthy stay in South Korea, and these are some of her observations of its cyber-assimiliated society:
The best bits were the technomarts…floors and floors of gadgets sometimes 8-10 stories high. One for cameras one for computers one for phones with tv screens on the top so people could receive the free broadcast straight to their mobiles. It was totally surreal to be on the trains every day and to be the only one not watching tv. In idea it’s forward thinking I guess, but in practise it feels old school because the phones are often larger than we’re used to seeing and it feels a bit like an episode of lost in space.
