Information literacy in South Korea: similarities and differences between Korean and international students’ research trajectories

Abstract

ABSTRACT Work on students’ information literacy and research trajectories is usually based on studies of Western, English-speaking students. South Korea presents an opportunity to investigate an environment where Internet penetration is very high, but local Internet users operate in a different digital ecosystem than in the West, with services such as Google and Wikipedia being less popular. The current study is aimed at expanding a small body of research about Korean students’ behaviour regarding how they perceive and use various online research platforms, and in doing so exploring how they differ from non-Korean students, more commonly studied in similar literature. First, we explore what sources students use for study- or work-related assignments as well as personal needs and interests. Second, we look at how they evaluate and use those sources. We find that Korean students use Wikipedia but less so than their peers from other countries, despite their recognition that Wikipedia is more reliable and comprehensive than the alternatives. Their preferences are instead affected by their perception of Wikipedia as providing an inferior user experience and less local content than competing, commercial services, which also benefit from better search engine result placement in Naver, the search engine dominating the Korean market.