Of holiness and mobiles: a conference paper

Ever wondered how spirituality and technology mix? One occasion that made me think about the relationship between the two was in India when I met a holy nun - with a cell phone. Why an earth did I feel there was something wrong with the picture? If you're interested, go read my conference paper titled At the Intersection of Technology and Holiness: Reflections Inspired by a Jain Nun and Her Cell Phone presented at the Digital Religion conference last June in Turku, Finland.

Pic source: Images of Asia

Update on my research: Dokdo Island dispute and Korean mobile youth

Here's some stuff I've been working on lately.

Dokdo Island Dispute: Korean Reconstruction of History and National Identity in User-Created Content Media.

• A paper for Digital Memories Conference, 17-19 March, Salzburg. Introduces the Dokdo Island dispute and its representation in cyberspace by Koreans. Discusses nation-building and revision of history in user-cretead content media.
• Introduces the Dokdo Island dispute and its representation in cyberspace by Koreans. Discusses nation-building and revision of history in user-cretead content media.

Read the paper.

A Modern Fetish: The Value of the Mobile Phone in South Korean Youth Culture

• A paper to be presented for IADIS Multi Conference on Computer Science and Information Systems, 17 – 23 June 2009, Algarve.
• Based on observational data produced by a group of communication students at Seoul National University and presents the students’ observations on mobile phone use in the public and urban context of Seoul area as well as the students’ personal reflections on the subject. The paper further discusses the mobile phone as a an element contemporary modern society.
• An extended version of this paper including quantitative data on Korean youth and their new media use will appear in my chapter 'Keeping in Touch: Notes on the Mobile Communication Culture of Korean Youth' in Sonja Kangas' (ed.): Communication Acrobatics.

Check out the draft sent for review.

In April I will also attend 3rd IEEE/ACM International Conference on Information and Communication Technologies and Development (ICTD2009) to get to know the latest trends and players in ICT in Doha, Qatar.