ABSTRACT
South Korea1 is undeniably one of the most advanced countries in the world regarding the wide availability and use of information technology (IT). In less than two decades, the Internet and Internet culture has become a part of most Koreans’ daily lives. Korea’s IT advancement has occurred at an alarming speed indeed, outrunning the thirty-year rule, which states that it takes about thirty years for a new idea to be adopted and to settle in.2 Research on Korean Internet communities and Internet culture is growing, particularly regarding blogs and other sole-authored media on the Internet. Even with the growth in research, however, it is challenging to keep up with the speed of advancement and changes in IT, Internet communities, and their cultures. Furthermore, most research on the Korean Internet is published in Korean and thus has limited opportunities to be shared worldwide. Therefore, this chapter aims to introduce the current trends in Korean Internet communities, culture, and research.
