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Electronic documents are becoming increasingly popular in various industries and sectors as they provide greater convenience and cost-efficiency than physical documents. PDF is a widely used format for creating and sharing electronic documents, while HTML is commonly used in mobile environments as the foundation for creating web pages displayed on mobile devices, such as smartphones and tablets. HTML is becoming a more critical document format as mobile environments have been raised as the primary communication channel nowadays. However, HTML does not have the standard content integrity feature, and an electronic document based on HTML consists of a set of related files. Therefore, it has a vulnerability in terms of reliable electronic documents. We have proposed Document HTML, a single independent file with extended meta tags, to be a reliable electronic document and Chained Document, a single independent file with a blockchain network to secure content integrity and delivery assurance. In this paper, we improved the definition of Document HTML and researched certified electronic document intermediaries. Additionally, we designed and validated the electronic document distribution service using Enhanced Document HTML for real usability. Moreover, we conducted experimental verification using a tax notification electronic document, which has one of the top distribution volumes in Korea, to confirm how Document HTML provides a content integrity verification feature. Document HTML can be used in an enterprise that must send a reliable electronic document to a customer with an electronic document delivery service provider. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Korea, more than 99% of human and property damages caused by natural disasters are flood damages caused by heavy rains and typhoons. At this time, disasters such as heavy rain or typhoons cause flooding, which causes considerable damage. In order to reduce such damage, it is necessary to predict floods in advance and make quick evacuation decisions so that people and property exposed to flood damage can be evacuated. To this end, this paper proposes a system that can manage floods in real time by using a pretrained water level prediction model using LSTM and GRU. The flood management system is implemented based on a web page using Spring, and flood monitoring can be conducted 24 hours a day without the need for manpower by automating flood monitoring through the system. If this is applied, it is believed that flood damage can be reduced by giving an evacuation order to people exposed to floods in advance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aims to examine the content of health promotional web sites in two culturally distinct countries, the USA and South Korea, by investigating the level of interactivity and types of advertising appeals presented on antismoking web sites. Design/methodology/approach - Antismoking web sites in the two countries were collected through the three major search engines (msn, Yahoo and Google) using relevant keywords. The final sample contained a total of 89 web sites (USA = 67, South Korea = 22) that met the condition of promoting antismoking behavior rather than just selling antismoking products. Three bilingual coders were hired for the analysis. Findings - The South Korean antismoking web sites presented significantly higher levels of interactivity than their USA counterparts. By contrast, there is hardly any differentiation between the two countries in the amount of advertising appeals used on the health web sites. Research limitations/implications - Even though antismoking is certainly an important global issue, the findings related to antismoking web sites may not be generalizable to various other health-related topics. Future research should replicate our findings on interactivity and advertising appeals in the context of various health issues. Practical implications - To cross-cultural researchers, the results provide more theoretical and practical rationales for cross-cultural differences beyond such well-known typologies as Hofstede's Individualism/Collectivism and Hall's high-low context. Originality/value - This study provided at least two useful findings for practitioners and researchers: better definition of the roles of cultural differences in the level of interactivity and the types of advertising appeals in promoting health information online and a broadening of the scope of cross-cultural advertising research to health promotional contexts online. Keywords Worldwide web, Cigarettes, Advertising media, Cross-cultural studies, United States of America, South Korea Paper type Research paper [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The web is a global phenomenon and its reach and influence ignores political and culturaI boundaries. However the web's global presence and easy accessibility does not also mean there are no issues related to the understanding and interpretations of its content. Of particular interest to us is to find out whether there is any effect of culture on web design. In this paper, we report on our research into the identification of elements that can be attributed to culture on website design. We examined and compared South Korean and UK's charity websites and identified these elements of the websites. The findings suggest that there are some differences and preferences in the website design that are mostly related to whether the websites employ multimedia and provide facilities for user input. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents results of an investigation into political communication expressed by links connecting politicians’ web sites with the sites of other political actors in South Korea. Additionally, this study examines whether a set of socio-demographic variables for web site producers is associated with linking behavior. Both traditional methods and social network analytical techniques are employed to investigate linking patterns between sites. Perhaps unsurprisingly, members of the South Korean National Assembly linked most to party web sites, and linking patterns did not change between 2003 and 2004. Out of a range of demographic variables investigated, the only ones that related significantly to linking practices were party affiliations and friendship networks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Destination Marketing Organization (DMO) websites serve as hubs for disseminating information to tourists and communicating with destination stakeholders via a system of hyperlinks. These websites and their hyperlink structures potentially reflect cultural variations among societies and, therefore, differ in what tourists from other cultures might expect in terms of the information search process, affecting early impressions about the destination. The study compares the hyperlink structure of official DMO websites of South Korea, the United States, and Germany and examines whether the ways of organizing and distributing tourist information are reflective of cultural variations. The collected data were examined using the blockmodeling technique. The main differences among the three networks were found in structural properties and the ways tourist information was distributed. Cultural dimensions can explicate the different patterns of information flow. The findings contribute to the literature on how hyperlinked information can be leveraged to the benefit of tourists. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recently, as the pandemic COVID?19 has been spread worldwide, international research cooperation has come to the fore to overcome the crisis and develop treatments. Currently, in Korea, with the support from the Ministry of Education and the Korea Research Foundation, the International Research Cooperation Information Center operates an online service system for international research cooperation as a venue for sharing results among international research cooperation researchers and invigorating such research. However, since Korea's performance in international research cooperation is still poor, actively pursuing measures to improve professionalism and diversity based on international cooperation is deemed necessary. Therefore, in this study, factors influencing the level of satisfaction with international research cooperation online service systems were identified, and measures to increase the satisfaction of international research cooperation online service were proposed based on the analysis results. Design of the system quality factors, accuracy and consistency of the information quality factors, and professionalism of the service quality factors were verified to have a significant effect on the satisfaction with international research cooperation online service systems. Accordingly, further strengthening the aspects of design, accuracy, consistency, and professionalism was proposed as a way to increase the satisfaction of international research cooperation online service systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study is a cross-cultural examination of interactivity on U.S., U.K., Japanese, and South Korean corporate Web sites. Each Web site was content-analyzed for use of various interactivity functions. Using cultural difference criteria of high versus low context, power distance, and individualism-collectivism, this study compares three dimensions of interactivity on the Web sites of each country's top 50 advertisers. Twenty-five interactivity functions/indicators, classified into three interactivity dimensions, were used in the final data analysis to test three research hypotheses, Our findings indicate that Western Web sites tend to emphasize consumer-message (HI) and consumer-marketer interactivity (H2), whereas Eastern Web sites highlight consumer-consumer interactivity (H3). Implications of the findings and suggestions for future research are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigates the emotional content of facial images of South Korean politicians. The data were drawn from official websites of 18th National Assembly members. We categorized facial expressions (smiling, frowning, and no expression) by using photos on the websites. The smiling image was the most prevalent facial expression regardless of the socio-political-demographic attributes of the politicians. The existence and strength of the smiling image had significant positive correlations with the politicians' web visibility. Opposition parties were significantly more likely to show frowning or expressionless images than the ruling party. The more experienced politicians were more likely to continue their use smiling images than similarly aged politicians with less experience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Diverse types of news websites compete with one another to attract Internet users’ attention. This context raises the following questions: Do different news websites update their content on a real-time basis to attract users? What is the status of immediacy in online media? This study casts doubt on the notion that vast amounts of instantly changed news circulate among online media. This doubt asserts that the immediacy of online news is a myth because it reflects only the beliefs of researchers, journalists, and users. Further, this myth ignores the fact that institutional practices govern the news production activity of news websites. This mythological nature of immediacy has not received sufficient attention in previous research. This study tracks news websites in South Korea, a leading country in broadband penetration, to demonstrate this mythological status of immediacy. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This study investigates the process involved in developing a medical tourism industry in South Korea as a case country, one of the fastest growing countries with strong potential in the medical tourism industry. It analyzed 252 articles on medical tourism posted on the websites of the Korean Tourism Organization and the Korean International Medical Association. Both sources are highly representative portal websites for medical tourism in the country. The article aims to enhance understanding of medical tourism as a new growth industry while identifying its key developmental characteristics and makes valuable suggestions for the industry that can be reflected to other countries. The study contributes theoretically and practically by examining the unique and updated characteristics and process of positioning of this recently emerging field in the global tourism industry. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This study explored information and communication technology (ICT) uses for protest politics, focusing on the case of a 2008 protest in Korea. Based on a survey of citizen activists (N = 322), it examined informational and coordinative uses of eight different ICTs for protest participation. The results indicated that heavy, moderate, and nonprotesters were differentiated, particularly regarding the use of Web sites of social movement organizations (SMOs), mobile phone, and e-mail. Across all types of protesters, the portal site was the most prominently utilized tool, while online micromedia showed little contribution. The findings call for the reconsideration of the waning role of SMOs in contemporary protest politics, and the differentiation of the public-oriented ICT from the private use of ICT regarding its contribution to expand civil society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With strong government support for the convention industry, several international-scale convention centers have been established in major cities in Korea. The convention centers have developed Web sites as an online marketing tool for meeting planners. The purpose of the study is to identify and compare the current performance level of the Korean convention centers' Web sites and to provide useful strategies to improve Web site performance. The results revealed that the Korean convention centers should improve the customer- and marketing-related aspects on their Web sites among four perspectives in Web site performance evaluation. Recommendations are made on how the Korean convention centers can improve the effectiveness of the Web sites. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a study that compares the web-based tax filing systems of Turkey and South Korea. It notes that user satisfaction had been used as a basis for the comparison. It mentions the use of tax filing systems and their usability parameters as well as the preparation of survey instrument for measuring user satisfaction in both countries. The study reveals that the users of web-based tax filing systems of both countries felt differently in various factors including adequacy of the amount of information, help service and ease of work. It also suggests the significance of electronic tax filing for enhancing convenience and cutting down transaction costs.

Purpose - The purpose of this study was to compare major corporations' web sites both in the USA and in South Korea to identify the differences in features posted on their home pages and to examine the relationship between the features and the theoretical public relations model. Design/methodology/approach - Content analysis of two countries' 30 corporate web sites based on Grunig's public relations model. Findings - The two countries' corporations predominantly practised press agentry and a public information model from the perspective of a public relations theoretical model. In general, US corporations post more promotional and informative information related to products or services than South Korean corporations. Research limitations/implications - Future studies of the world wide web should be extended to public relations practitioners, who are making and maintaining the web sites. Practical implications - It appears that many corporate home pages, in both countries, have not made use of the powerful tool of two-way communication for monitoring what others are saying about the corporations, since most corporations are more likely to focus on displaying one-way promotional features than on building relationships between organizations and their public. Originality/value - Although the world wide web is a new communication medium, it appears that public relations practitioners still see media relations and image building as the most prominent responsibilities of public relations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using discriminant function analysis, this study identifies both professional and cultural factors that distinguish source-reporter relations in South Korea and the United States. Some 339 public relations practitioners and journalists in Korea and the US were surveyed regarding 20 types of offline and online source-reporter interactions (i.e. telephone contact, fax/mail/wire/courier news releases, interviews, press conferences, private meetings, email news releases, multimedia press kits, homepages, website press-rooms, etc.) in terms of usefulness, influence, credibility, ethics and professionalism. Particular attention was given to online media relations. Overall, email news releases, online inquiry, homepages and website pressroom were evaluated highly as useful, influential, credible, ethical and professional. Particularly, email news releases were rated as useful and influential, whereas the website pressrooms were highly evaluated as credible, ethical and professional. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Determines the hyperlink-affiliation network structure of Web sites in South Korea. Factors influencing network structure; Pattern of affiliation in the Web; Complexity of the Internet infrastructure.