Digital Resilience for What? Case of South Korea.

Abstract

Resilience has become an emerging topic in various fields of academic research. In spite of its widespread use, there remains conceptual confusion over what resilience means particularly in multi-disciplinary studies including the field of ICT and Development. With the potential of digital technology, research is needed to critically question what key socio-institutional values related to resilience are being strengthened, for what and for whom through the different conceptualizations of resilience. In this study, we conduct an interpretive case study on South Korea’s response to the pandemic and construct a chronological narrative to identify key aspects of digital resilience. We identify agility, diversity, and plurality - enabled by active roles of various stakeholders, including citizens, research communities, and private sector - as keys to digital resilience to the pandemic. Findings from the case of South Korea provide implications to ICT4D research while discussing how developing countries, where a national single window platform is typically implemented with greater level of homogeneity, achieve digital resilience with inclusive innovation with plurality of diverse platforms.