by Matthew Weigandmatthew@ittimes.co.kr
In any new technology, it is easy to tell where the various ideas in the technology originated based on the language of the terminology. Moon Cheol-hee, professor at the School of Display Engineering at Hoseo University, is also a member of the Korea Information Display Society in charge of the standardization of flat panel display terminology in Korea. His work is a sure sign of Korea solidifying its lead as the leader in display technologies in all their forms.
Professor Moon said about display standardization in general that currently there are many confusing factors internationally in the flat panel display industry. But many different representatives of the industry have bi-monthly meetings where they discuss current issues of confusion and create more clarity between the international display industry members.
Terminology is Dr. Moon's specialty, and his job is not easy. But what exactly does he do He said that he started in 2003, working for a government enterprise. "We are trying to establish flatpanel display national standards in accordance with international ones," he said. The International Electrotechnical Commission, or IEC, defines the international standards for all electronic and technical devices. Dr. Moon works together with their administration to create national standards for the Korea display industry, and to translate the technical terms into Korean. Most of the old terminology is derived from materials science or physics, and is in English. Some of the newer terms are Japanese, and some of the newest are native Korean words.
But Dr. Moon does not simply translate and explain IEC terminology. "The IEC terminology book also has some brief definitions, but it is too brief to understand for general people," the professor explained, "so we tried to add more detailed explanations for each terminology. We established the KS, the Korean Standard." The KS's purpose is to unify the differences in terms in the Korean peninsula and to provide the most detailed list of explanations for general use in the display industry.
"Most of the terminology is the same, but in different fields of the display industry, they have different definitions and different ways to explain the terminologies," the professor went on to say. "So we thought that we have to unify the terminologies into one book, and one terminology." The KIDS publishes one book with several definitions for the same term, depending on whether it is used in PDP, LCD, OLED or FED technologies. The book is also divided among those four categories.
The professor said that about 50 companies in Korea, including larger companies such as LG and Samsung and medium-sized and smaller companies are using the organization's definitions and regularly wait for new editions of the book. Usage of these books removes many management problems and difficulties in manufacturing selling and purchasing. Companies can reliably define their products so that they can market their components to other companies. This is basically the language of business, not the language of marketing.
The work that Professor Moon is doing is unique to the Korean peninsula. There are no other organizations that unify the terms between display subindustries or expand on the terms to give more easily understood explanations in any other countries. This is a sign that Korea is pulling ahead of other countries in the technology industry. Moon pointed out that "if there is the same kind of book [in other countries] we would just need to translate it into Korean, but there is no other book."
This year is the last year for the publication of this book, since it has been subsidized by the governmental BK21 program.
