B Y  K E V I N   S A N G W O O K   L E E
Unaffiliated STC Member

My name is Kevin Sangwook Lee and I am working as a part-time manager in the Technical Management Department at JoongAng In Jae Co. in Seoul, Korea. As overseeing the Technical Management Department, I am in charge of planning, designing, and developing all paper-based documents such as flyers, proposals, contracts, instructions, manuals, and customer FAQs and on-line documents such as web sites and kiosk. I am especially paying great attention to user-interface design and usability testing to maximize the usage of available end-user help tools.

I am Korean. However, I started to live in U.S. from my high school year. graduated from Mercer University in Macon, GA with B.S. degree in Technical Communication. Currently, I left Oregon State University for a temporarily absent while I was pursuing M.S. degree in Scientific and Technical Communication. I plan to pursue M.S. in Information, Design, and Technology (IDT) at Georgia Tech in 2001.

In Korea, the tech writing or communication community isn't even formed yet. Many managers and companies throughout the tech-related community have not recognized the benefits of technical communication. English majors are mostly working as major tech writers translating business contracts and writing proposals, on-line helps, manuals, and instructions. Many graphic designers are also working as either tech writers or information designers in developing web sites, creating multimedia CD-ROMs, and designing contents for kiosks.

Since there's no tech writing major or technical communication major established in all colleges throughout Korea, it is very difficult to emphasize a great need for tech writer/communicator to employers in Korea.

Beginning early in 1999, the government started a new plan, The Speed Project 21, to install high-speed Internet/phone cables in every households and business sectors. Internet access is becoming very common in major cities in Korea. A minimum speed of 56 Kbps and a maximum speed of 128 Kbps modem are used to connect to the Internet. There are many service providers competing with each other to attract users and they are lowering the cost for using the service. For example, the cost for Internet access is now very cheap: less than $1 per month using a 56 Kbps line. It is very easy to be connected to the Internet: most apartment buildings are equipped with Internet cable with a standard speed of 128 Kbps.

Nowadays, a new modem, ADSL (Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line, 8 Mbps), is on the service for prospective companies and personal users. This system is very popular among small businesses and personal users who are accessing the Internet in shopping malls, listening to music, e-commercing, and so on.

The computer manufacturers are lowering the cost for their desktops in order to meet customer demand. Manufacturers expect to have big sales to customers who want to take advantage of the fast Internet access available at home with an inexpensive computer system. The cost for desktop computers are subsequently lowered -- a desktop with 6 GB hard, 32 MB RAM, 56 Kbps modem with Internet access, 17 in. color monitor, and various free software is only $700. Most of computers with the same specifications were selling at $1000 only a few months ago. More and more, customers are looking for a low-cost and high-powered computer and the manufacturers are lowering the cost to meet the demand everyday. I think the computer industry in Korea has a very promising future.

I use many publishing tools such as FrameMaker, PageMaker, MS Word, and PowerPoint. As graphic tools, I use Photoshop, Corel Draw, Illustrator, Freehand, and Dimension. For on-line publishing tools, I use Dreamweaver, Flash, JavaScript, RoboHELP, mTropolis, and PageMill. The computers at my company are all Windows PCs with 17 in. color monitors, 6 GB hard drives, 32-64 MB RAM, and 56 Kbps modems.

The pay for tech writers and communicators are not specified in Korea. I can't make a comparing between the pay for tech writers and communicators in U.S. and those in Korea due to the currency rates. However, I could tell you how the pay for English major people and graphic designers who are working in the similar environment as tech writers and communicators do. The overall pay for the entry-level is around 100,000 to 120,000 won per month (about $1,000 US dollars). After the economy crisis in Korea, the overall salary went down by as low as 5% to as high as 20%.

Fall 1999
Volume 2, # 4