Seoul’s Digital Media City: A history and 2012 status report on a South Korean digital arts and entertainment ICT cluster

Abstract

This article provides a history and status report of the development of the nearly completed Digital Media City (DMC), a South Korean entertainment and digital contents ICT (information and communication technology) cluster planned with considerable western input at the turn of the 21st century. Using an ethnographic mixed method methodology, this research analyzed the gap between DMC as originally envisioned and the results to date, investigating the user communication practices that DMC supports and constrains. The study found that while the technological infrastructure at DMC makes it possible for residents to engage in new activities as well as different ways of doing standard activities, the original vision of DMC as a Global Creative Cluster was a result of temporary IMF-mandated liberalization. Because of the return to traditional South Korean cultural values and economic nationalism, the ICT has not been implemented as planned.