PhD candidate’s paper among best at conference
Moonki Hong’s work named Top Ten of all entries
Moonki Hong, a doctoral candidate in the Department of Communication, brought honor to the university and the department at the recent International Communication Association conference in the interactive paper category.
His paper on "Intercultural Differences of the Web Marketing Strategy" was named one of the Top Ten at the annual conference. He learned after the conference ended that his paper was ranked No. 5.
“The interactive paper session at the ICA has become an important part of the conference” said Dr. Steve McDowell, department chair and a conference participant. “The top ten interactive papers are selected from among the top papers submitted by each division to the interactive session, so this award recognizes an important contribution."
Hong compared the marketing strategies of car manufacturers in the United States and South Korea, based on four major categories: attracting, informing, positioning, and delivery. What he found was that American cultural perspective stresses the individual and the Korean cultural perspective stresses the collective, which results in different approaches in each country.
“In observing the Web designs, the Korean market uses more the attracting and delivery categories, while the American market uses the informing category,” Hong said.
“Taken together, it means the Web designer needs to consider not only the market characteristics but also the cultural differences,” he said.
Before coming to Florida State University in 2003 to pursue his doctorate, Hong worked as a press aide and speechwriter for a congressman in South Korea. He received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Korea and expects to graduate in either August or December.
His doctoral dissertation is titled, “Tracking the Effects of Risk and Protective Factors on Youth Smoking for Audience Segmentation,” which blends his interests in public health issues and Internet technology.