Doctoral Dissertation Research: Bodies, Computers, and Productivity in South Korea

在Keith M. Murphy博士的指导下，加州大学欧文分校的博士生Stephen C. Rea将在两个看似不同的领域——信息技术（IT）领域和电脑游戏文化——研究躯体技能和日常电脑使用之间的关系。该研究将在韩国的IT工作者和电脑游戏玩家中进行，这两个群体在操作电脑时使用相似的身体、技术和社交技能，但他们的社会地位却截然不同。IT工作者因对韩国经济发展做出的贡献而受到称赞，而电脑游戏玩家通常被认为是懒惰和没有生产力的，因此被贴上了“垃圾人”的标签。韩国是进行这项研究的理想地点，因为计算机技术在工作和休闲活动中占主导地位。该研究将通过使用传统和创新的社会科学研究方法来解决这些问题，包括：参与观察韩国IT工作者和电脑游戏玩家的日常生活；人种志的访谈;韩国媒体技术档案档案研究；以及IT工作者和游戏玩家使用电脑的分析录像。这些方法将有助于回答以下问题：培养或消除特定的身体、技术和社会技能，以及关于这些实践的话语，如何影响生产力的文化概念以及个人与计算机之间的适当关系。本研究具有重要的意义，因为它将进一步科学地理解后工业经济中工人的技术社会化；计算机技术在日常生活中的作用；以及围绕生产力文化概念的话语和实践对人类身体发展的影响。支持研究也支持了研究生的教育。

University of California at Irvine doctoral candidate, Stephen C. Rea, supervised by Dr. Keith M. Murphy, will investigate the relationship between somatic skill and everyday computer use in two seemingly distinct realms: the information technology (IT) sector and computer gaming culture. The research will be conducted in South Korea among IT workers and computer gamers, two groups who utilize similar physical, technical, and social skills in the operation of computers, but who have radically different social statuses. Whereas IT workers are praised for the contributions that they make to the growth of the South Korean economy, computer gamers are often regarded as lazy and unproductive, garnering the label of "pye-in," a slang term meaning "garbage people." South Korea is an ideal location for this research because of the intensity with which computer technology dominates both work and leisure activities.The study will address these issues through the use of traditional and innovative social scientific research methods, including: participant observation with South Korean IT workers and computer gamers in their everyday lives; ethnographic interviews; archival research in South Korean media technology archives; and analytical videography of IT workers and gamers using computers. These methods will help answer questions about how the cultivation or eradication of specific physical, technical, and social skill sets, as well as the discourses about such practices, impacts cultural concepts of productivity and of the appropriate relationship between individuals and computers. This study is important because it will further scientific understanding of the technological socialization of workers in post-industrial economies; the roles of computer technology in everyday life; and the effects of discourses and practices around cultural concepts of productivity on human physical development. Supporting the research also supports the education of a graduate student.