A Preliminary Study of the Perceived Usefulness of Media between Expert andNewcomer in Volunteer Service: Comparisons of Japan and Korea

Sanha Kang
Chonnam National University,
Republic of Korea
sanhak2@naver.com

Kenji Ogura
Nihon-fukushi UniversityJapanoshimizu23@gmail.com

Megumi Siti Hino
Nihon-fukushi UniversityJapanhinome87@gmail.com

Daeun Moon
Chonnam National University,
Republic of Korea
dumun1@nate.com

Jewoong Moon
Chonnam National University,
Republic of Korea
jewoong.moon@gmail.com

Abstract: This study was to conduct a preliminary survey to identify how a user could differently
perceive the usefulness of SNS for volunteer activities between Japan and Korea. The role of mobile media
has been increased to share information and ideas. It facilitates the communication as well as shares
experiences. Particularly this study focused on how social service volunteers utilized the mobile device.
Initial research interest was to delineate how many volunteer projects utilized mobile media such as
Facebook and micro-blog in order to engage participants. Although the usefulness of mobile media canhave a considerable impact on volunteer activities, level of perceived usefulness can be different fromlevels of expertise and cultural basis. In other words,, expert volunteer and newcomer have different
perspective for applying mobile media in their volunteer society. Community of practice is a theoreticalframework to explain how members of community shares knowledge, commitments, and ownership. This
research will focus on the different perceptions of using mobile media between expert and newcomer. For
this study in-depth interview method will applied for each country based on qualitative analysis.
Keywords: community of practice, perceived usefulness, volunteer activityIntroduction
The purpose of this study is to compare the usage of media such as Facebook, Twitter, Blogs, and so on, in
the field of volunteer work in the community of practice. A ‘community of practice' is an approach by people whotake part in the work of the practice and learn to some extent as a co-participant in the work of the organization(Wenger, 1998). Learning from them is partially social activity as they interact with other co-workers. From thevolunteerism point of view, People use them not only to make friends and to kill time within community
participating volunteer program but it is also new trend for some organizations or companies (Bingham et al. 2010).
In this case, Wenger (1998) explained that these relationships are mutual engagement that binds members together
into a social entity. Volunteer organization had similar structures related to community of practice. Especially, using
mobile media is increasing within members of volunteer for effective activity. In this perspective, this research could
draw in-depth implications for finding our patterns using mobile media between members of volunteer community.

MethodParticipant Information & Research Design
This research was conducted by interviewing four university students, 2 South Koreans and 2 Japanesestudents, who had some experiences in volunteer work inside or outside their countries. Demographic informationof interviewees was labeled in Table 1. Participants from each country, one in each country had a lot of experience
volunteering and the other two lacked experience in volunteer work. Two Korean participants belonged to university
club called ‘HUMAN SCHOOL’ directing international volunteer program. Japanese one had major at international
welfare development. They had curriculums which is doing volunteer program regularly.
Table 1. Summary of demographic information of interviewees

KoreanExpertAge: 23 years old
Gender: Female
Career: 3 years

Newcomer
Age: 24 years old
Gender: Male
Career: 6 months

Japanese

Age: 21 years old
Gender: Female
Career: 2 years

Age: 18 years old
Gender: Female
Career: 6 months

The Interview
Open-ended questions were used to explore extensive information followed by probing more closed
questions for clarification. Questions were extracted from construct by related reference in terms of community ofpractice, especially, focused on usage of mobile media. The interviews were video-taped, fully transcribed andanonymized. Each participant was given approximately forty-five minutes. Coding of each transcription identified
both descriptive and interpretive meaning. After further coding of the remaining interviews, all transcripts werere-read and a preliminary writing-up made of the findings.

ResultCommunication & Data Recording
The results were drawn from the table described in Table 2 and Table 3. Newcomer were using mobile bymeans of tools for communication between members. They were frequently used mobile media such as KakaoTalk,Facebook, and Twitter for chatting within group members. Although they felt high perceived usefulness of mobilemedia, they didn’t recognize diverse ways using media in volunteer works. Korean and Japanese participants justfocused on social networking. Furthermore, they were also used media for data recording because this record could
give adequate information whenever appropriate.

Instructional Material
Expert volunteer were using mobile in multiple ways with a plenty of diverse experience. Especially,
Korean participant acknowledged usefulness of media when they are operating education programs. She said thatshowing PowerPoint or animation make learners to pay attention to materials. And Japan volunteers were using
mobile media for advertising their organization. They built groups in Facebook or micro blog for facilitating
newcomer’s participation and advertise other people by encouraging positive aspect of volunteer activity.
Table 2. Comparative Table between Korean and Japanese of usage of mobile media
ExpertNewcomerKoreanJapanese

Social networking: Chatting, Teammeeting
Instructional materials: Showing
presentation as visual stimulus
They feel positive about using mobile
media for voluntary service.
They can recognize higher levels ofperceived usefulness than newcomer.

Communication tools between
members

Data recoding for compiling
dataTable 3. Summary of similarity and difference in perceived usefulness between Korean and JapaneseJapan andSimilarity
Difference
Korea

Experts focused on using media
for extra-activity in theircommunity

Newcomers depend on using
media for strong relationship witheach other.

ExpertNewcomerJapanese experts focused on usingsocial networking with mobile
media rather than Korean ones.

Korean newcomer pay attention toincrease own ability for enteringcore members in groups rather thanJapanese ones.

Discussion
Implication
Results from interviews gave three implications about research in terms of community of practice. At first,
expert members had diverse ways to using mobile media. Expert member and newcomer had significant empiricalgap due to compiled knowledge conducting practical volunteer programs. While expert members are using
instructional materials, newcomer only communicates within members using mobile media. Because expert member
had already prior experiences which were trying to do volunteer program effectively. So these experiences madethem facilitate how to use mobile media in their community’s work. In other word, expert member retained
knowledge in “living” ways and manner that responds to local circumstances and thus is useful to practitioner.
Second, Newcomer put emphasis on tools for communication. Because newcomer might not have relationship within
members yet, so they used mobile media for sufficient communication between co-workers as legitimate peripheral
participation in community. In addition, Newcomer also used media for data recording. The reason why newcomer
concentrates this work is for compiling knowledge related to volunteer experiences because they had no priorknowledge for doing volunteer program. Within framework of community of practice, newcomer learns the practicein concrete terms from volunteer organization by recording specific information (Wenger, 1998).
Literature Reference
Wenger, E. (1998). Communities of practice: Learning as a social system. Systems thinker, 9(5), 2-3.
Bingham, T., Conner, M., & Pink, D. H. (2010). The new social learning: A guide to transforming organizations through social
media: Berrett-Koehler Publishers.