On May 23, 2024 the research team presented the preliminary results of the project development in the Center for Hallyu Studies at Seoul National University at the Conference "Mapping and Theorizing Hallyu", organised by the Project Advisor, Professor Seok-Kyeong Hong. Dr Natalia Grincheva convened the Panel "Hallyu Ripples in a Connected World: Mapping Diffusion and Impact" which opened the conference by sharing insights from the four mapping trajectories of the project. The first presentation by Dr Grincheva "Demystifying Hallyu's Global Reach and Appeal: Experimenting with Big Data to map Hallyu Soft Power" presented the framework of Hallyu soft power mapping. She also featured demonstrations of several layers of the Soft Power Visualization Map. Professor Dal Yong Jin shared his insights on the Digital Hallyu Mapping in his presentation "Digital Hallyu: the convergence of digital technologies and popular culture." Dr HwaJung Kim followed the Panel discussion presenting preliminary findings of Anti-Hallyu Mapping through her presentation "Critical Junctures of the Negative Hallyu." Finally, Dr Youngaah Koh shared her Cultural Policy Impacts Visualization Map of the timeline of Korean investments in creative industries in correlation with economic impact from the global media exports in her presentation "Korean Wave and Public Policy: Examining State's Role In the Transnational Cultural Phenomenon".
The visit to Seoul on May 23-24 engaged Korean government officials and policymakers in productive focused conversations to explore the value of data-driven research, machine learning, predictive analytics and geo-visualization for a more strategic and informed policy making and analysis. Specifically, the team shared their project insights with top management from such government agencies as Korean Foundation for International Cultural Exchange, Korea Culture Information Service, and Cultural Cooperation Division at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The team also shared the preliminary projects results with multiple creative producers in the industry sector, which included digital media startup Space Oddity, World K-pop Center and the Social Intelligence Lab Ars Praxia who designed and are running the K-Wave Big Data platform for KOFICE. These site visits and demos across government and creative sector provided a valuable platform for demonstrating innovative methodological advances in Hallyu research by sharing how mapping Hallyu Soft Power, Anti-Hallyu Movement and Cultural Policy Impacts expands traditional research on the Korean Wave, covering existing gaps and provoking new research questions.
Read a teaser blog article here
You can read about the Hallyu Mapping Forum in Seoul Report prepared by research students below.
Click to Read the Report