The Korea image of K-pop fans

South Korean popular culture has gained global exposure in recent years. Korean popular music, films and television dramas are increasingly consumed by international audiences that do not seem to share any other connections to South Korea. The wave of Korean popular culture is particularly visible on social networking sites and digital media. This master’s thesis aims to find out about the images foreign fans of Korean popular culture, especially Korean pop music, have of South Korea. The fans’ media practices are also studied, as media strongly impact place image formation. This thesis focuses on the ways Korean pop music is connected to place image construction and reproduction. The data for this thesis was collected via half-structured thematic interviews with nonKorean listeners of K-pop, Korean pop music. Almost all the interviewees were western and under 30 years old. The interviews were conducted both in South Korea and in Finland. The interview data was transcribed and analysed with qualitative methods. The qualitative content analysis of the textual data was guided by the concepts of place image, place branding and media geography as well as the study objectives. The fans of K-pop consider South Korea as an independent and modern nation. The images of Korea focus on the urban and the capital of Seoul. The rapid modernisation of Korea is visible on the people, as there is a generational gap between young and old Koreans. The ideas of the masculine are different in Korea because aesthetic beauty is expected from everyone. The fans consumption of K-pop related media is focused on digital platforms. The fans are active and they form fan communities online. K-pop is seen as a highly produced genre that is controlled by large Korean entertainment companies. The companies mould the K-pop stars and music to be as commercially successful as possible. K-pop has some Korea markers, but the genre has become more placeless with the global success. The increasing placelessness of K-pop and the activity of the fans can help to deconstruct the place hierarchy of global popular culture and make it more diverse.Eteläkorealainen populaarikulttuuri on levinnyt maailmalla viime vuosien aikana. Korealaista populaarimusiikkia, elokuvia ja televisiosarjoja kuluttaa yhä enenevissä määrin kansainvälinen yleisö, jolla ei vaikuta olevan muita yhteyksiä Etelä-Koreaan. Korealaisen populaarikulttuurin aalto on erityisen selkeästi esillä sosiaalisessa mediassa ja digitaalisilla alustoilla. Tämän tutkimuksen tavoitteena on valottaa korealaisen populaarikulttuurin ja erityisesti korealaisen pop-musiikin fanien Korea-mielikuvia ja - käsityksiä. Myös fanien mediakäytöt ovat tutkimuksen kohteena, sillä media vaikuttaa suuresti paikkamielikuvien syntyyn. Tämän tutkimuksen keskiössä on korealaisen popmusiikin yhteys paikkamielikuvien ja -käsitysten tuotantoon. Tutkimuksen aineisto on kerätty puolistrukturoiduilla teemahaastatteluilla ei-korealaisten K-pop-fanien kanssa. Lähes kaikki haastateltavat olivat länsimaisia ja alle 30-vuotiaita. Haastattelut tehtiin Etelä-Koreassa ja Suomessa. Haastatteluaineisto litteroitiin ja analysoitiin laadullisten menetelmien avulla. Tekstiaineiston laadullista sisällönanalyysiä ohjasivat tutkimuksen pääkäsitteet (paikkamielikuva, paikkamarkkinointi ja mediamaantiede) sekä tutkimustavoitteet. Fanit pitävät Etelä-Koreaa itsenäisenä ja modernina valtiona. Mielikuvat Koreasta keskittyvät kaupunkiympäristöön sekä erityisesti pääkaupunki Souliin. Korean nopea modernisaatio näkyy ihmisissä, sillä nuoria ja vanhoja korealaisia erottaa sukupolvien välinen kuilu. Maskuliinisuuden käsitykset Koreassa ovat erilaisia, sillä esteettistä kauneutta vaaditaan kaikilta ihmisiltä. Fanit kuluttavat K-poppiin liittyvää sisältöä pääosin digitaalisen median alustoilla. Fanit ovat aktiivisia ja he muodostavat faniyhteisöjä verkossa. K-poppia pidetään vahvasti tuotettuna genrenä, jota kontrolloivat suuret korealaiset viihdeyritykset. Nämä yritykset muokkaavat K-pop-tähdistä ja musiikista mahdollisimman myyvää. K-popissa on piirteitä, jotka liittävät sen Koreaan, mutta genrestä on tullut paikattomampaa globaalin menestyksen myötä. K-popin lisääntyvä paikattomuus ja fanien aktiivisuus voivat auttaa globaalin populaarikulttuurin paikkahierarkian purkamisessa sekä lisätä monimuotoisuutta

The Psychosocial Reality of Digital Travel

This open access book takes a fresh look at the nature of the digital travel experience, at a time when more and more people are engaged in online social interaction, games, and other virtual experiences essentially involving online visits to other places. It examines whether these experiences can seem real to the virtual traveller and, if so, under what conditions and on what grounds. The book unpacks philosophical theories relevant to the feeling of being somewhere, emphasising the importance of perception and being-in-the-world. Notions of place are outlined, based on work in tourism studies, human geography, and other applied social fields, with an aim to investigate how and when different experiences of place arise for the traveller and how these relate to telepresence – the sense of being there in another place through digital media. Findings from recent empirical studies of digital travel are presented, including a survey from which the characteristics of “digital travellers” are identified. A review of selected interactive design trends and possibilities leads to the conclusion, which draws these strands together and looks to the future of this topical and expanding field

An Action-Based Approach to Presence: Foundations and Methods

This chapter presents an action-based approach to presence. It starts by briefly describing the theoretical and empirical foundations of this approach, formalized into three key notions of place/space, action and mediation. In the light of these notions, some common assumptions about presence are then questioned: assuming a neat distinction between virtual and real environments, taking for granted the contours of the mediated environment and considering presence as a purely personal state. Some possible research topics opened up by adopting action as a unit of analysis are illustrated. Finally, a case study on driving as a form of mediated presence is discussed, to provocatively illustrate the flexibility of this approach as a unified framework for presence in digital and physical environment

The Psychosocial Reality of Digital Travel

This open access book takes a fresh look at the nature of the digital travel experience, at a time when more and more people are engaged in online social interaction, games, and other virtual experiences essentially involving online visits to other places. It examines whether these experiences can seem real to the virtual traveller and, if so, under what conditions and on what grounds. The book unpacks philosophical theories relevant to the feeling of being somewhere, emphasising the importance of perception and being-in-the-world. Notions of place are outlined, based on work in tourism studies, human geography, and other applied social fields, with an aim to investigate how and when different experiences of place arise for the traveller and how these relate to telepresence – the sense of being there in another place through digital media. Findings from recent empirical studies of digital travel are presented, including a survey from which the characteristics of “digital travellers” are identified. A review of selected interactive design trends and possibilities leads to the conclusion, which draws these strands together and looks to the future of this topical and expanding field

Politics of coalition at Standing Rock

My research examines the politics of coalition surrounding the 2016-17 Standing Rock movement, led by Oceti Sakowin Tribal members, on the borders of the Standing Rock Reservation in North Dakota to stop the construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL). The movement resisted the pipeline in the name of water protection, Indigenous sovereignty, protection of sacred burial grounds, treaty rights, climate justice, and more. Approximately ten months into the movement, it was halted by the US federal government and the pipeline was installed. This study engages with a range of qualitative methods, including in-depth interviews with activists and content analysis of documents from TigerSwan, a private military and security contractor hired to surveil the movement. Findings show that for activists in the camps, placework, or place-based protest, strengthened coalition work across social differences, and enacted a "call and response" form of politics, based on shared callings to protect and shared critical responses to settler colonial-capital culture, specifically dispossession of land and property. Challenges in coalition work amongst activists were rooted in US settler colonial-informed racialized hierarchies of power, which perpetuate white supremacy and privilege. Finally, the militarized coalitional responses of public and private forces, specifically the use of racialized ideologies, militarized tactics and operations, and overt violent actions and arrests, was excessive, generated a diffusion of accountability, and inflicted harm and trauma upon activists at Standing Rock.Includes bibliographical references

Man, environment and place identity

The Egyptian built environment has been influenced by different forces and cultural baggages carried by the international mass media and technology. This has resulted in serious change in people's attituude and the common sense they share towards the architectural identity of their places. People became unable to associate themselves with clearly defined quality of buildings or spaces. Nowaday, the experience of aesthetic values is created by inauthentic architectural features and solutions leading to a sense of alientation and lack of belongings.The thesis's message is that in order to produce appropriate design solutions it is crucial and inevitable to consider their context. This is seen as an amalgamation of multiple physical and deep structured factors interacting within an inseparable whole. It is also important to re- establish that contrary to what is seen in the literature, these factors are not arbitrary but operate within a specific system of intricate and highly complicated network of interrelated relationships. In order to verify such notions the thesis came out with its own Model to identify the various components involved in the system and most importantly define the structure of their relationships. This was an outcome of an extensive research and analysis of the Egyptian culture through its history and its ecological and social backgrounds. This thesis has made reference to many views and theories within Man -Environment area which were initially produced either independently from each other or been put in a way which lacks coherence. As a result many of these theories have been re- examined and critically analysed to conform to the objectives and requirements of the Egyptian context. This study has suggested that credibility of any theory of environment is achieved only when both physical and subjective forces are seen within their own system.In order to make such notions available and accessible within the Architectural language, the concept of identity was chosen as it forms one of the most popular terms with concerns many architects as well as the ordinary people generally and in Egypt in particular. Identity was seen as an abstract of the multiple forces within that whole. It can be seen also as a holistic tool of evaluation and testing. The thesis has argued in its concluding section that disturbances in these systems will lead to damage to the sustainability of societies which will lead to perceived change in identity. Therefore, in order to maintain sustainability it is important to study the system which includes the cultural and ecological dimensions of each particular society. One may notice the emphasis now given to the physical criteria as inappropriate approach. This is because many of the cultural manifestations and features are products of peoples awareness of functional aspects such as climate, local resources, topography which became symbols and cultural values defining identity of that society.Seen from this point of view the thesis has benefited very much from the concept of identity in shading light on numerous issues which are in particular related to architecture in my country. This however was done through evoking awareness of the Egyptian character leaving the translation of identity to the architects themselves. My idea was that having done this architects will find extremely rich source of inspirations for innovative and creative designs which are nostalgic to the culture of their society

PLACE AND DIGITAL SPACE

The intersection of philosophies of space and technology is a fecund area of inquiry that has received surprisingly little attention in the philosophical literature. While the major accounts of space and place have not considered complexities introduced by recent technological developments, scholarship on the human-technology relationship has virtually ignored the spatial dimensions of this interaction. Place and Digital Space takes a step in addressing this gap in literature by offering an original, phenomenological account of place and using this framework to analyze digitally mediated spaces. I argue that places are continually evolving, internally heterogenous, and spatially distinct meaningful wholes with indeterminate boundaries. The emergence and ongoing reconstitution of places require repeated bodily engagements, which occur in the context of other places, in relation to the engagements of others, and against the background of social practices and cultural norms. I then show how spaces mediated by digital technologies, particularly augmented reality (AR), are fundamentally different from ordinary places. The increasing use of AR, I argue, poses an unprecedented challenge to the way we interpret, engage with, and have collective experiences of everyday places. Finally, I identify ethical questions raised by the interpretation of spaces by artificial intelligence, by the unauthorized augmentation of places, and by the possibility of a few companies with big data dominating the virtual modifications of public places

Off the Orbit: Works of Art for Long-Term Space Travellers. Outline of a novel artistic practice

Full version unavailable due to 3rd party copyright restrictions.This research combines the arts with human spaceflight. The aim of the investigation is to identify the aesthetic parameters for display in works of art on extended crewed missions. The study claims that, within the research area of human spaceflight, novel working methods should be developed that can integrate the artist into the scientific process. The extraordinary challenges of extended space exploration not only concern technical and human-bodily aspects, they will also affect the enormous psychological and psychosocial restrictions the spacefarer will face. These limitations are due to the unusual distance and the long timeframes; the future explorers will live confined and isolated within the habitat environment far away from their place of origin. In addition, the consequences of sensory deprivation caused by the high-tech indoor habitat, the emptiness of outer space, the effects of social monotony and limited contact with home will dominate their life in the extreme environment and the emotional state of the future explorer. Many cultural techniques for recreation and stress mitigation are already in use or will be tested in human spaceflight in the near future. However, in this context the implementation of works of art has not been evaluated. The production of works of art for future astronauts represents a new research area. From the artistic perspective, creativity will expand in an unusual manner. Artists will not only have to develop significant metaphors, they will also be confronted with an unknown responsibility, because the confined and isolated astronaut will become the exclusive audience and user of their works. Furthermore, works of art must follow the particular demands of verifiability, safety, and reliability. These specific conditions will give the artistic work a unique meaning which makes the work a part of the life-sustaining system. The outcome will be an experiment that combines both artistic and scientific strategies

Kurdistan: A Land of Longing and Struggle Analysis of ‘Home-land’ and ‘Identity’ in the Kurdish Novelistic Discourse from Turkish Kurdistan to its Diaspora (1984-2010)

A comparative analysis of 100 Kurdish novels (written in Kurmanji dialect) examines how Kurdistan, the homeland of Kurds and Kurdish identity, is constructed within the territory of Turkish Kurdistan and in its diaspora. Stateless, mostly displaced and constantly in movement, Kurds lack a real territorial homeland, yet base their national identity on the notion of Kurdistan as their mythical homeland. Kurdish novelistic discourse suggests that definitions of Kurdish identity and ‘home-land’ are relative, depending on ideology and personal experiences, and that ‘Home’, ‘homeland’ and ‘landscape’ as social constructs, are not static entities but change constantly over time. A humanistic geographical approach sees literature, particularly the novel, as an instrument of geographical inquiry into a society or a nation. Using that model, and employing textual and contextual approaches, the study shows how and why the nation/society is constructed and clarifies the sense of home-land and identity embedded in the texts. The novelistic discourse in which ‘home-land’ becomes an ideological construct is mainly shaped by the political views of the novelists. However, compared to the novelistic discourse in Turkish Kurdistan, the Kurdish diaspora novelists have gathered around more diverse ideologies and politics that have led to diverse ‘home-land’ images. The novelistic discourse in Turkish Kurdistan also offers more nostalgic elements whereas diaspora theorists and scholars had identified these as exclusive to the literary works in exile. It can be concluded that feelings of nostalgia are invoked as much by the reality of living in fragmented territory and in a situation of statelessness, oppression and domination, as they are when living at a distance, removed from such experiences. In other words, although living in home territories, the literary characters still experience a sense of migration and detachment from home, which is infused with alienation and loneliness as if they are physically away from their homeland