In Spring 2021, I was part of a research project to investigate the motivations for and appeals of reading Webtoon - an online digital comic s platform. We were interested to understand Webtoon's constant and rapid growth in global recognition since its official United States launch in 2014.
Webtoon is an online digital comics platform where creators from all over the world share their visual storytelling sequentially. It has constantly and rapidly grown in global recognition since the official United States launch in 2014, providing both web-based and mobile platform services. Internationally, its impact has been significant; across 60 different countries, Webtoon now has 55 million global users monthly with 100 billion views annually.
Our goals in this project were:
to identify readers' motivations for reading Webtoon.
understand artistic and sensory appeals of the platform.
I worked alongside with two professors in information science to design, develop, and revise the focus group questions. I led the recruitment of focus group participants. I also participated in conceptualizing the paper, data collection, data storage, data analysis, rewriting - original draft, reviewing and editing.
Readers' Advisory (RA)
Uses and Gratification (U&G)
Two Zoom online focus group sessions to understand the motivations for and appeals of Webtoon reading
Seven participants (three and four in each session)
90 minutes long
Initial focus group questions were created based on the literature review and domain analysis then shared with four experts (two of cultural studies and two of second language learning) to receive their feedback
•Relaxation
•Emotional affirmation
•Reading habits
•Creating an identity as a reader
•Aesthetic appreciation
•Ease of access
•An immersive experience with sound and music
•Interactive communications among authors and readers
•Appreciation of diversity
Hyerim, C., Adkins, D., & Ngoc‐Minh, P. (2022). “I only wish that I had had that growing up”: Understanding
Webtoon’s appeals and characteristics as an emerging reading platform. Proceedings of the Association for
Information Science and Technology, 59(1), 44-54.