Republic of Bloggers

Offsite Event: The Korea Society
950 Third Ave., 8th Fl., New York, NY 10022

Introductory remarks by Devin T. Stewart, Director, Editor, Global Policy Innovations program, Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs

Speakers:
Wendy H. K. Chun, Assistant Professor of Modern Culture and Media, Brown University
Tobias Harris, Publisher, ObservingJapan.com; freelance blogger and journalist
Samuel Jamier, Senior Program Officer, Contemporary Issues & Corporate Affairs, The Korea Society
Stuart Thorson, Professor of Political Science, Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, Syracuse University
David Weinberger, Author, Fellow, Harvard Berkman Center for Internet & Society

Moderated by Daniel B. Levine, The Korea Society

With some of the highest rates of broadband and wireless Internet penetration in the world, Korea and Japan are home to thriving online communities that affect politics, shape public opinion, and forge new forms of social bonding. In Korea, the net has empowered citizen journalism and created a new national pastime of “massively multiplayer online games.” According to the Washington Post, more blogs are written in Japanese than in English, despite the fact that English speakers outnumber Japanese speakers by five to one. Both countries are bastions of participatory Internet use, but what accounts for subtle differences in user attitudes and behavior? In addition to exploring the challenges and lessons learned by people blogging about Korean and Japanese society and politics, the panel discusses how the peculiarities of Japanese and Korean political and online cultures affect participatory democracy in those countries, and whether these experiences will be a bellwether for the global community.

This program takes place in conjunction with the ongoing, two-year, Ethical Blogger (http://ethicalbloggerproject.blogspot.com/) project conducted by Brown University’s Watson Institute, the Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs, Demos, NYU’s Center for Global Affairs, and Oxford University’s Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism.

Agenda:
6-6:30 pm Registration
6:30-8 Panel discussion and Q&A
8-8:30 Reception

Admission: This event is open to the public, but advance registration is required. The admission rate for individual members of Japan Society, The Korea Society and The Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs is $10. Nonmember admission is $15. Please register online at

http://www.koreasociety.org/contemporary_issues/contemporary_issues/the_republic_of_bloggers.html

or contact Samuel Jamier at The Korea Society at 212-759-7525 ext. 358.

Co-organizers