This symposium was held to present the third year research outcomes of ‘Digital Convergence-Based Future Studies’, which has been conducted by KISDI under KCC sponsorship, and in-depth discussions followed to examine a convergence society and its development, and to explore future direction and strategies based on accumulated experience and expertise.

Session 1 ‘The Past, Present and Future of Convergence’ was moderated by KISDI Executive Director Kuk-Hwan Jeong and consisted of presentations by Prof. Jong-Kwan Lee of Sungkyunkwan University and Prof. Mun-Jo Kim of Korea University and discussions with Prof. Sung-Do Kim of Korea University and Prof. Pil-Gi Hong of Seoul Digital University.

Prof. Jong-Kwan Lee, the first speaker, talked about ‘Storage and Memory in Smart Era’ and warned that the perfect memory provided by technologies discourages not only humans’ memory capacity but their creativity and imagination.

The next speaker, Prof. Mun-Jo Kim stressed, under the title ‘Social Development in Convergence’ that at a time when groundless and questionable rumors are spreading on the Internet, we need ‘social persuasion’ through online communication channels to promote social development in a convergence society.

Session 2 ‘Development Direction for A Convergence Society’ was moderated by Prof. Ji-Soon Lee of Seoul National University and consisted of presentations by Prof. Seok-Jin Ryu of Sogang University, Prof. Nam-Jae Jo of Hanyang University, and Prof. Wook-Jin Baek of Seoul National University of Science & Technology and discussions with Prof. Yun-Jung Jeong of Pai Chai University, Prof. Mi-Yong Lee of Kunkuk University, and Prof. Deok-Jin Jang of Seoul National University.

Prof. Seok-Jin Ryu, under the title ‘Hybrid Democracy’, unveiled the survey results that 8% of voters preferred representative democracy and 14.6% direct democracy whereas 77.4% opted for participatory and deliberative democracy. He added that consideration for ‘Hybrid Democracy and Convergence Governance’ is needed.

The next speaker, Prof. Nam-Jae Jo made a presentation on ‘From Transaction to Communication’ and empathized that convergence-based communication skills determine the competition in network ecosystems of industries and empirical studies show that businesses effectively using communication functions and mobility of digital convergence media become a winner in the competition.

Prof. Wook-Jin Baek said, under the title ‘Smart Galaxy’, that Apple represents ‘Top-Down Convergence’ whereas its users create ‘Bottom-Up Convergence’ which promotes communication, transmission and transformation between devices, software, and content. And current convergence, he added, is characterized by interaction between convergence and divergence, territorialization and de-territorialization, and agreement and contradiction.

Plenary discussion followed with discussants of Prof. Ji-Soon Lee, Prof. Mun-Jo Kim, Prof. Wook-In Baek, Prof. Jong-Kwan Lee, Dr. Ho-Yeong Lee, Prof. Nam-Jae Jo and Dr. Joo-Seong Hwang.

As Korea is at the threshold of a mature digital convergence society, this symposium provided a meaningful opportunity to explore the direction and strategies for future development with an interdisciplinary approach.

Contact:  Senior Researcher Ji-Yeon Yoo of Convergence and Future Research Division (Tel: 02-570-4238)