The Republic of Bloggers April 10, 2008

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 project conducted by Brown Universitys Watson Institute, the Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs, Demos, NYUs Center for Global Affairs, and Oxford Universitys Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism.

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

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

Event submitted by Eventful.com on behalf of ShogoKawada.