Essay Contest Result

What do you do if you have anything you want to know about in your daily life? Living in the information era, you will naturally enter search words on the Internet portal sites. Then what will be the sources of the search results that come up before our eyes most frequently? They will be 'encyclopedias of knowledge' which provide concise and accurate answers. This shows that Internet encyclopedias are an important medium that affects our perception, and more importantly, first impression, of things.

But the reality is that foreigners often encounter a barrier when they search for information about Korea on Internet encyclopedias of their own country. I searched "hanok," the traditional Korean house, in the "Baidu Encyclopedia," the most popular encyclopedia among the Chinese, and found only a 500-word article and three photographs. The hanok document in the Chinese version of Wikipedia also has only an 80-word article and six photos. This alone is too little information to get the Chinese to fairly understand Korea. They may just think that hanok is probably similar to the traditional Chinese house.

The Academy of Korean Studies has worked hard to make abundant introductory materials on hanok. Unfortunately, many people do not know about it. The Chinese version of "Cultural Landscape of Korea" includes content about the location, structure and ondol of hanok, and the social culture associated with the traditional house. The entire volume of "A Cultural History of the KOREAN HOUSE," an English book, introduces details of hanok. I would like to suggest to supplement Internet encyclopedias with the understanding Korea materials made by the Academy of Korean Studies. Details of my suggestion are as follows.

First, it would be good for the Academy of Korean Studies to work with overseas Internet encyclopedias to produce credible documents related to Korea. Regarding China's Baidu Encyclopedia, most of its documents are written by netizens, but documents in some specialized fields are authored by specialists from such institutions as the National Museum of China and the Chinese Academy of Sciences. This cooperative relationship between Internet encyclopedias and specialized institutions help the public acquire specialized and reliable information. If the Academy of Korean Studies supplements overseas Internet encyclopedias with its understanding Korea materials in foreign languages, it would greatly help address problems such as lack of information and errors. I think this is a necessary, elementary task to help people around the world get a fair understanding of Korea.

Second, besides supplementing each Korea-related document, it is important to build a network of association between documents. For example, Chapter 3 of "Korean Confucianism (Understanding Korea Series No.3)" introduces renowned Korean Confucian scholars such as Jeong Mong-ju, Jeong Do-jeon, Kwon Geun, Seo Kyeong-deok, Yi Hwang, Yi I, and Jeong Yak-yong. Each of these scholars who formulated a philosophical system of Korean Confucianism has a different individual thought, but their thoughts are not unassociated. Those who want to know about one scholar's thought and idea or understand Korean Confucian philosophy in general have to understand the viewpoints of various scholars. Accordingly, the document on Yulgok Yi I can be accompanied by a "related document" on Yi Hwang, whose idea confronted Yi I's. Mind maps or tree diagrams can be used to show the relationships of documents. In this way, we can reflect the connection and system of understanding Korea materials, which will help people fairly understand Korea beyond isolated perceptions.

Third, it would be worth trying to create an interesting picture, video, or special feature for encyclopedias. Animation can show how hangeul, the Korean alphabet, was created; past and present of Seoul can be shown in video; feature story can be made about the historical origin of friendly exchanges between Korea and China, including Silla students who studied in China, in commemoration of the 30th anniversary of diplomatic relations between the two countries. The three proposals I made above are based on the contents of the understanding Korea materials "Hangeul" (UKS No.1), "Seoul" (UKS No.4), and "Korean Education" (UKS No.9), respectively. Contents made in different formats other than written documents can better deliver the message. China's Baidu Encyclopedia is already producing such novel contents, and many people are using them. Pictures, videos and features in encyclopedias are effective means to promote the understanding Korea project.

I have proposed to supplement overseas Internet encyclopedias with the understanding Korea materials of the Academy of Korean Studies. In today's information era, Internet encyclopedias are an important 'textbook' that teaches people about Korea. Rather than keeping the understanding Korea materials within the website of the Academy of Korean Studies, they may as well be put into Internet encyclopedias to which anyone can have easy access. I believe that the understanding Korea materials provided by overseas Internet encyclopedias will help foreigners take the right first step to have a fair perception of Korea.