Chee, Florence | Canada

Chee, Florence | Canada

Florence Chee is a PhD Candidate in the School of Communication at Simon Fraser University Vancouver, Canada. With a background in Anthropology, Communication, and Computer Science, she has combined her interests in ethnographic research, which investigates the global contexts of sociotechnical transformation and the evolution of online games as a cultural industry. She has conducted fieldwork in Asia, Latin America, and the Middle East and one may find her work in places like Games and Culture: A Journal of Interactive Media (SAGE), Popular Communication: The International Journal of Media and Culture (LEA), and most recently, the book Gaming Cultures in Asia-Pacific (Routledge).
 

 

Project at IAS-STS: Communication Infrastructures and Changing Social Dynamics in Asian and European Contexts

This proposal describes a research study that examines the use of information communication technologies (ICTs) and the changing social dynamics amidst the impacts of transnationality in Asian and European contexts. In particular, I wish to look at the relationship between the space in which media use occurs, and how social choices are influenced by local culture. In my research to date concerning the Korean media ecology, these relationships have appeared to be very much shaped by local culture, social structure and infrastructural factors. The findings in my research have pointed to differing ideas with respect to the perception of online games and gamers, including what has typically motivated people to play and congregate in spaces such as the Internet café. Building on my ethnographic research of Internet café users and self-professed “game addicts” in Korea (and also shorter investigations in Japan, Singapore, India, and the United Arab Emirates), I wish to add the European context, in this case Austria, as a site of sustained inquiry regarding the local culture and technology use. My goal is to build an increased understanding of cultural factors in the evaluation and implementation of technology and their associated societal consequences. Furthermore, I attempt to link the government policy initiatives, industrial relationships, and social history that, I argue, have been instrumental in driving the frenetic pace of technology use-culture in places like contemporary Korea. Using my research in other field sites as a template, I would examine the Austrian media ecology and identify ICT use venues such as Internet cafes, user homes, or in between.
 


 

Selected publications

Journal articles:
Jin, Dal Yong, and Chee, Florence. (2008). “Age of New Media Empires: a critical interpretation of the Korean online game industry.” Games and Culture: A Journal of Interactive Media. Thousand Oaks, Ca: Sage Publications. Vol. 3(1), pp. 38-58.

Chee, Florence. (2006). “The games we play online and offline: making Wang-tta in Korea.” Popular Communication: The International Journal of Media and Culture. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Inc. Vol. 4(3), pp. 225-239.

Book chapters:
Jin, Dal Yong, and Chee, Florence. (2009). “The Politics of Online Gaming.” In L. Hjorth and D. Chan (Eds.), Gaming Cultures in the Asia-Pacific Region, Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group, pp. 19-38.

Chee, Florence, and Smith, Richard. (2007). “Online gamers and the ambiguity of community: Korean definitions of togetherness for a new generation.” In M. Consalvo and C. Haythornthwaite (Eds.), AOIR Internet Annual, Volume 4, New York: Peter Lang Publishers, pp. 165-184.

Chee, F., Vieta, M., and Smith, R. (2006). “Online gaming and the interactional self: Identity interplay in situated practice.” In J. P. Williams, S. Q. Hendricks & W. K. Winkler (Eds.), Gaming as Culture: Essays on Reality, Identity, and Experience in Fantasy Games. Jefferson, NC: McFarland Publishing, pp.154-174.