Supporting Hallyu (the Korean Wave) exports and policies by analyzing foreign news data

- The Korean Culture and Information Service signs a business agreement with the Korea Culture Information Service Agency
to provide free public access to foreign news trends and other data on Hallyu through KCISA’s Culture Big Data Platform

Photo. The foreign news data on Hallyu page on the Culture Big Data platform

On December 26, 2022, the Korean Culture and Information Service (KOCIS) of the Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Tourism signed a business agreement with the Korea Culture Information Service Agency (KCISA) designed to facilitate the analysis of overseas news on Korean culture and public access to the results.

The two organizations have been seeking means to cooperate on the analysis of overseas news and expand access to the related findings. As a result of this business agreement, the data obtained from the analysis of foreign news on Hallyu will be available on the KCISA’s Culture Big Data platform. The two organizations agreed to expand their cooperation to analyze foreign news articles on Hallyu and build visual data, pursue the advancement of Hallyu and other cultural industries, and contribute to the data economy.

Identifying demand for data on foreign news analyses through interviews with domestic and overseas experts

The two organizations held their first working-level meeting in March 2021 and established a consultation group to discuss measures to provide public access to data obtained through the analysis of foreign news articles on Hallyu and convert them into policies. In January 2022, the group interviewed officials in charge of Hallyu-related affairs at five departments at the Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Tourism and external experts to estimate the demand for data on Korean culture and Hallyu and determine a direction for data analysis. A total of 30 reports analyzing news articles were published from February through November 2022. The key weekly data related to foreign news trends was listed on the first page of each report along with a summary of the weekly analysis of foreign news on Hallyu. The reports are available as downloadable material on the Culture Big Data platform.

News articles collected by the 33 Korean Cultural Centers in 28 countries will be used as resources to support industrial, policy, and academic goals

Through a database established in 2009, KOCIS has been compiling foreign news articles collected by the 33 Korean Cultural Centers located in 28 countries around the world. The KCCs have accumulated some 273,000 news articles over ten years, about 25,000 of which are related to Korean culture and/or Hallyu.

The weekly key data on foreign news trends provides the results of an analysis of 120-130 news articles on average in the form of word clouds on preferences and features related to Hallyu and Korean culture by region and theme. This data is expected to be of great value to industrial, policy, and academic undertakings, among other efforts.

“KOCIS is committed to using its analysis capacity to create and provide access to a range of useful data,” said Choi Gang, Head of the Foreign News Analysis Team at KOCIS. “We will continue to analyze overseas news on Korean cultural content and render the findings into useful data for Korean content exporters and government policymakers.”

“We have successfully created a cooperative relationship with KOCIS and laid a foundation to analyze foreign news trends on Hallyu and create useful data for the Hallyu industry. Our agency will remain committed to supporting the advancement of the culture industry by creating and providing access to new data on Hallyu,” said Lee Gwon-su, Director of the Culture Big Data Division at the KCISA.

About the Culture Big Data Platform the Culture Big Data Platform run by the Korea Culture Information Service Agency (www.bigdata-culture.kr) maintains a big data center with participation by public and private organizations. It is designed to create a virtuous cycle of analyzing and using big data on Korean culture by providing access to high-quality data in the areas of the Korean Wave (Hallyu), books, sports, accommodation, food, and other cultural products. The Culture Big Data platform was launched in 2019 and won first prize in a big data platform and network building project competition hosted by the Ministry of Science and ICT.

(Source)

https://www.kocis.go.kr/bodo/view.do?seq=1043703&page=1&pageSize=10&photoPageSize=6&totalCount=0&searchType=null&searchText