아줌마와 그들의 디지털미디어 사용에 관한 이야기, The story about ajummas and their use of new media (e.g. smartphones)
오늘 병원에서 겪은 일.
내 뒤의 할머니는 병원안에서 할아버지를 잃어버렸고, 할아버지를 찾아달라며 안내데스크에 부탁했다. 얼마 지나지 않아서 보안업체 직원이 할머니곁에 와서 할아버님의 인상착의에 대해 여쭤봤다.
“키가 좀 크고, 머리가 희끗희끗하고 파란 점퍼를 입고…” 할머니의 설명이 이어졌고 보안업체 직원은 알겠다고 자리를 떠났다가 이내 곧 다시 돌아와서는,
“할머니, 혹시 할아버님 사진 갖고 계세요? 저한테 지금 카톡으로 보내주세요!” (전화번호를 알려드리며)
그렇게 받은 할아버님의 사진을 그 자리에서 바로 병원안의 모든 보안업체분들에게 보냈고, 할머니께
“조금만 기다리시면 할아버님 찾아드릴겁니다. 걱정마세요”
그렇게 시간이 얼마 되지 않아 정말 할아버님을 모시고 또 다른 보안업체 직원분이 오셨다. 정말 다행이다. 이럴때 스마트폰이 참 좋구나.
Now you can watch this Digital Ppal-let-ter video on YouTube as well.
I just uploaded.Please enjoy watching Digital Ppal-let-ter!
디지털 빨래터 비디오를 이제 유툽에서도 볼 수 있습니다!
많이 봐주시고 더 많이 즐겨주세요!
Digital Ppal-let-ter is a new digital space where the wash place before the 1960s and a Kakao Talk group chat room in 2015 coexist together. As an imaginary space that has been planned and created based on interdisciplinary research and creative concept of thinking, I have carefully considered how to present the concept of Digital Ppal-let-ter to audiences. Initially I planned for Digital Ppal-let-ter to be exhibited in a gallery or other space in the form of an installation. However, the plan changed to using video due to the difficulty of installing a reproduction of a wash place and the Kakao Talk group chat room. Through the video, the audience can experience the wash place prior to the 1960s with village women and a Kakao Talk group chat room in 2015 with Smart Ajummas at the same time.
The project will also encourage audiences to reconsider the communal spaces, the ways of communication and the communities of middle-aged married women, ajummas, in Korea from the past to the present. Furthermore, it can be expected that this opportunity will increase interest in ajummas and their ways of communication among audiences and the general public. Hence, both the creative project, Digital Ppal-let-ter, and the research project, Smart Ajumma, will awaken thoughts and value about the existence of ajummas and their unique way of communicating that has gone unnoticed.
Through various and deeper ways of study such as an academic research (e.g. literature research) and qualitative/quantitative research (survey and deep focus group interview), I could realise and identify who ajummas are and their behaviour of mobile communication through using smartphones in their daily lives. Digital Ppal-let-ter project is a part of Smart Ajumma research project that expresses my research findings and interpretations metaphorically through a video humorously but the stories are still based on academic research in order to avoid losing the purpose of this research project.
I was amazed through enjoying this research project for last few years. Ajummas in Korea, they actually have their own communal spaces and keep doing communication with each other by their own ways. We didn’t know about their communal spaces and their ways of communication because we just stared at them rather than looking inside deeply.
After I found that there are communal spaces for ajummas’ own through doing field research, I could keep continuing this creative research project. And I thought about Ppal-let-ter (wash place)!
Of course, there are many countries had wash places but a wash place in Korea can be considered as a characteristic place than other countries’. As I mentioned so many times, a wash place in Korea is more likely a women’s communal space before 1960s. There are sill wash places in Korea but those places haven’t been used as a wash place for a long time. They rather became tourist spots today because we have washing machines at home to do our laundry instead of going to wash places regularly.
Whereas, going to the wash place regularly was a matter of course for village women (or ajummas) not only doing their laundry, but also meeting other village women (or ajummas). In other words, the wash place was a place for ‘socialising’ and ‘communicating’ for middle-aged and married women in Korea during 1960s.
They don’t have an appointment with each other, but they could meet someone whenever they visit the wash place. So it was possible to have conversations with each other about various topics from complaining patrilocality to boasting their children. The wash place functioned as more than ‘wash place’, rather it played a role as a women’s communal space. Thus, I got inspired by this important but being forgotten wash place to start doing my creative project so called as ‘Digital Ppal-let-ter’.
Even though there are various types of women’s communal spaces such as hair shops and jjim-jil bang (sauna), the reason why I chose a wash place as a key space to do my creative project is because I thought a wash place is one of women’s communal spaces and it has sentiments of Koreans and Korean culture.
In the late 18th century, ‘the wash place’ by Hong Do Kim shows how a wash place in Korea could be a women’s place even though there were no law and regulations that prohibited men from coming to a wash place.
Through survey and focus group research, Kakao Talk’s group chat room was the most preferred way of mobile communication among ajummas. Some of interviewees responded that they purchased smartphones only for using Kakao Talk’s with their friends and family. Like this, Kakao Talk’s group chat rooms were now newly used as communal spaces or the ways of communication today.
Of course, Kakao Talk is one of mobile chatting applications that anyone can use freely. However, I discovered that Kakao Talk’s group chat room in 2016 and the wash place in the before 1960s have much analogy with each other in many ways. (I already wrote about the 6 similarities between wash place and Kakao Talk’s group chat room in my blog)
These two dissimilar places that came from totally different time are very much similar with each other. This makes me so exciting.
These two places are dissimilar, it is so true. However I realised that they are very much similar with each other at the same time. We’re now using smartphones and the use of smartphones allow us to do many things that we never imagined in pre-smartphone era.
I think ajummas in Kakao Talk’s group chat room and their communication in mobile space are not an entirely new things that could be possible due to the development of new technologies. Maybe, they’ve been communicating with each other in their own communal spaces by their own ways of communication.
In other words, the wash place in the before 1960s was not disappeared at all, rather I consider the wash place continues to exist with us in the shape of Kakao Talk’s group chat room.
We’re now using different communicative tools and methods. And we’re communicate in dissimilar communal spaces compared with pre-smartphone era. Even though many things had been changed, we shouldn’t forget one thing that middle-aged and married women in Korea have been communicating continuously regardless communicative tools, methods, time and spaces.
Digital Ppal-let-ter is not a new thing at all. It is a women’s communal place today.
The communicative method (from face-to-face to mobile communication), communicative tools (from direct dialogue to smartphones) and communal spaces (Ppal-let-ter (wash place) to Digital Ppal-let-ter (Kakao Talk’s group chat room) are changed, I expect that communication among ajummas will be evaluating continuously with their own ways.
Thus, a discovery of Digital Ppal-let-ter is very important and it must continue to research how this Digital Ppal-let-ter will developing or changing in the future. We shouldn’t be overlooked ajummas in new media and communication research. They’re one of unique female group in Korea and we’re ready-to-be ajummas in the future as well.
I found a painting from the late 18th century during Jo Seon Dynasty, when it was very Confucius society in Korea. The painting by Hong Do Kim (see above) is about the wash place. The most represent characteristic of his painting was “true-view landscape painting”. He illustrated the everyday lives of ordinary people in his paintings. In this painting, he actually satirised “scholar gentleman class’s Confucian society”. There are various paintings about the wash place in Korea but I chose his work because I thought this painting describes the wash place of the past vividly.
This painting is about the wash place, but as you can see, that guy (yang ban, scholar gentleman class) is looking at the women secretly hiding behind the rocks because he wanted to know what happens in the place of only women are allowed. In the late 18th century in Korea, (actually it was called Jo Seon Dynasty), these scholar gentleman class were usually known as being respectable and being laid off women. This painting is about the wash place, but at the same time it is actually about satirising the voyeurism of ‘scholar gentleman class’s Confucius society’ in Korea.
Also, it can be emphasised that the wash place was a space of women where men were prohibited to come tacitly. This painting is supposed to be one of the relevant references to support the idea that the wash places were women’s space where men are restricted to come in except children.
How the idea of wash place can be applied to the research project of Smart Ajumma? Wash place is rather relevant to link to the concept of mobile communication in Kakao Talk group chat rooms by ajummas through the usage of smartphones. A space of wash place is regarded as the equals of Kakao Talk group chat room. And both village women before the 1960s and ajummas in 2015 take the same duty of various houseworks for their family such as washing clothes. In addition, several similarities were found between village women of wash place before 1960s and ajummas of Kakao Talk group chat room in 2015.
Here are 6 similar points that were discovered.
1. Tranformation: transformable spaces depending on the purpose.
2. Keep in touch: to keep their relationship through continuous communication
3. Women’s place
4. A notice board: Information intersection
5. A bridge: pre-meeting to post-meeting
6. Pop-up communication: they don’t have an appointment for the meetings but they know they can meet with each other in the wash place and Kakao Talk’s group chat rooms.
The other five similarities between Kakao Talk’s group chat room and the wash place were mentioned many times in previous posts. So I don’t mention about the other five similarities between Kakao Talk’s group chat room and the wash place in this post.
In the post about ‘Kakao Talk vs Wash Place‘, I wrote what wash place worked as women’s communal place in Korea and how Kakao Talk and wash place could be similar with each other even though these places are located in dissimilar space and time. Kakao Talk’s group chat room of ajummas is located in the mobile space where we cannot do actual visit, whereas wash place was the actual place where village women could visit. In other words, wash place is a physical space and Kakao talk’s group chat room is a non-physical space that is located in the third space.
However, I think these two different places are very much alike with each other. In my research, I found six similarities between Kakao Talk’s group chat room in 2016 and wash place in 1960s. One of those similarities is both Kakao Talk’s group chat room and wash place act like a bridge between pre-meeting to post-meeting. Here is what one of my interviewees told about Kakao talk’s group chat room during having focus group interview. She explained how Kakao talk’s group chat room works for meetings with her friends.
R Hwang:
Chatting in group chat room is also like an epilogue. After the actual meeting we can review about the meeting. And we suggest ideas for next meeting as well.
Like Kakao Talk’s group chat room, wash place in 1960s was also a bridge that connected previous meetings to following meetings. When village women came to wash place, they continued to talk about stories last time and they maybe meet again for the next time again in this same wash place. They probably didn’t make a confirmed appointment of meeting in wash place, but they could meet with each other again in wash place for the next time because these village women had to come to wash place for doing their laundry regularly. For this reason, Kakao Talk’s group chat room among ajummas and wash place in 1960s among village women are like a bridge that connect to the previous meeting to the following meeting.
After survey and Focus group interview, I suddenly realised that Kakao Talk can be a women’s communal space in these days. Of course Kakao Talk is not designed for only women and many people use it every day regardless of the age and genders. However, their group chat rooms, the chat rooms for ajummas where they’ve created and they’re involved in. That can be a women’s communal place, I reckon. So I started to find a women’s communal spaces. Hair shop, Sauna, etc. But I want to find a ‘Korean’ women’s communal spaces. For this reason, I found the wash place.
Of course, every country has or had the wash place. But, Korean wash place was a bit different from any others’. We don’t have to go to the wash place to do laundry today due to almost every house have technologically developed and upgraded washing machines. Or there are coin laundry shops nearby our houses. Whereas, back in 1960s, going to the wash place and doing the laundry is must do thing for women in Korea. And this wash place was like a multiplex where women not only do their laundry but also meeting others and even taking bathes.
They don’t make an appointment for meetings, but they expected to meet someone whoever they go to the wash place and of course they could meet someone in that place. As a social place, women in Korea they could share useful information or sometimes just mundane gossips about their mother-in-law, etc.
Thus, wash place for women in Korea during 1960s was not a place only for doing their laundry. It is more like a communal space at that time. Wash place during 1960s in Korea was considered as a ‘women-only communal space’ even though there was no law and regulations that prohibited men to come in.
Yes, there are so many things that I would like to talk about Kakao Talk (Ka-Talk). And plus, the relationship between Kakao Talk and Ajumma is much more interesting to talk about. Through survey and focus group interview, I realised that Kakao Talk became one of the key mobile communication apps among ajummas in Korea. More than 95% of ajumma participants responded that they’re using Kakao Talk the most among various other apps on their smartphones. They were allowed to choose multiple answers for the question of ‘Which applications do you use the most’ in the survey. Anyway Kakao Talk ranked the top application among ajumma participants for my research. They use the Kakao Talk mostly due to its convenience and instantaneity. They usually use the group chat room where many people can talk together in the same place at the same time. I can’t say all of ajummas in Korea are now using Kakao Talk as their primary communicative application, but I can say that some of ajummas bought smartphones to use Kakao Talk. My mom also did.
So, ajummas are having communication in both offline (e.g. cafe, restaurant, etc.) and online (e.g. Kakao Talk’s group chat room, blog, etc.). This means that their spaces for communication are extended from offline to online (mobile). And at the same time, they do have more opportunity to meet their contacts (friends or family) through various spaces (offline/online) without having barriers of time and space today. In other words, Kakao Talk’s group chat room allows ajummas to keep having their offline meetings continuously even though they cannot meet with each other face-t0-face. Also the communication in Kakao Talk’s group chat room leads ajummas to plan to have following offline meetings. So Kakao Talk’s group chat room is like a bridge which links between offline meetings and online meetings and pre-meetings and post-meetings.
So now you know or you got an idea what Kakao Talk is through reading a previous post, ‘Kakao Talk and Ajumma (1)‘. I know it might be hard to understand what it is exactly before you actually use that application. If you know more about Kakao Talk, you should try to download Kakao Talk app and use it. It is a global and free service so anyone can use it through their smartphones. But I’m sure that using Kakao Talk in Korea have more various options (such as Kakao Shop, Kakao Pay etc.) that bring you to have a lot of fun. Anyway, try to use Kakao Talk first, I recommend.
Today, I want to talk about Kakao Talk more deeply. Having communication through using Kakao Talk is pervasive in Korea because it is a sort of main tool for communication in our everyday practices. In short, we communicate with each other on Kakao Talk everyday. So we say “Let’s do Ka-Talk!”, “Send me Ka-Talk!” or “See you in Ka-Talk!” etc.
Koreans love abbreviations and we call Ka-Talk instead of Kakao Talk. And when you see the sentence of “Let’s do Ka-Talk!”, you can tell ‘Ka-Talk’ is a kind of act. Ka-Talk in this case means ‘doing communication in Kakao Talk’s chat room’ or ‘we will talk about something in our Kakao Talk’s chat room’, etc. Thus the word Ka-Talk means not only one of applications, but also an actual action of having mobile communication in Kakao Talk’s chat room through using their smartphones.
In my experience, I could be connected to my parents and friends all the time because of using Kakao Talk. Even though we were physically separated from each other, we could still be together technologically or mentally in the third space (e.g. Kakao Talk’s chat rooms). Compared with few years ago when there were no smartphones or Kakao Talk’s, (pre-smartphone era, I named) I had to buy international phone card to call my parents in Korea every time. This (sort of) traditional way of phone call communication restricted our time and space whenever we have a talk on the phone. However, Kakao Talk sets us free from the barriers of time and space whenever we have conversations on Kakao Talk’s chat rooms. This means that we can do mobile communication on Kakao Talk’s chat room regardless of time and space if there is wifi connection. And it is free.
For next post, I will talk more about how ajummas use Kakao Talk with their family and friends.
Have you heard about Kakao Talk? For me and Koreans Kakao Talk is an inextricable mobile communication app today. Kakao Talk is an application for smartphones which allow people to have instant mobile chatting without having barriers of time and space. If there is wifi connection with your smartphones, you can have message chatting, voice chatting, video chatting and sending various types of files (e.g. photos) in your chatting rooms. Kakao Talk is similar to WhatsApp , but Kakao Talk has more functions than WhatsApp. For example, Kakao Talk has Kakao Shop (buy gifticon), Kakao Pay, Kakao Style, Kakao TV, Kakao Taxi (you can call taxi through your Kakao Talk app whenever you need to take a taxi) and etc.
Various brands of ice cream shops you can choose and send gifticon through using Kakao Talk to your friends or family.Gifticon has a diverse selection to choose from such as a range of clothes, accessories, foods, e-coupons for cafes or restaurants etc. People who receive gifticon from their friends through Kakao Talk, can simply show the e-code of those gifticon to the counter of the shops when they want to use them.
Kakao Talk is a one of apps for mobile communication on smartphones. Kakao talk allows people to have constant mobile communication whenever they need and wherever they want to communicate with their contacts. It becomes a huge mobile communicative tool for Koreans. Group chat rooms are good example to explain how Kakao talk became a major mobile communicative application for Koreans. For example, companies have mobile meetings on their group chat rooms, family discusses their next meeting on their group chat rooms and especially ajummas love group chat rooms! Through using group chat rooms in Kakao Talk, people can do ‘group chatting’ with their friends or colleagues easily. They don’t have to send the same messages to each person one by one.
Y Kim:
Yes, Kakao Talk’s group chat room is so convenient to organise meetings with friends.
J Han:
All I need to do is just create a group chat room. And then it is very easy to send a message to everyone at once! It’s so easy!
According to the interview above, the main reason to use group chat room of Kakao Talk was for sending messages to several friends at once and organising meetings as well. As it is easier to send the messages to everyone who are in the same group chat room, it is convenient to organise meetings without hassle rather than send the same messages to each person separately. Besides, people in the group chat room can discuss or manage together to set a place and time for a meeting with ease. This means that, everyone can see the content of conversation at one view and even though they might miss the conversation, people can come back to read those conversations at any time with their smartphones. The advantages of using Kakao Talk’s group chat room attracts ajummas who used to call to each friend to organise the regular meetings.
The beginning of every month, my mom’s smartphone gets busy because of Kakao Talk’s alarming sound. Her friends send Kakao Talk messages endlessly to organise their regular meeting. My mom wasn’t familiar with using her smartphone and Kakao Talk before. But now she is an expert of Kakao Talk! She purchased another cute emoticon for Kakao Talk few days ago. She told me that her friends got so many emoticons so my mom also want to buy another new released emoticon to send her friends in the group chat room. How cute she is! And how cute our ajummas are!
스마트 아줌마 Smart Ajumma 