A Frontline Driver at Crossroads

c 2011 The Korean Society of Medical Informatics has been recognized as the most medical IT-strong nation worldwide. As of now, a few leading university hospitals start implementing Electronic Medical Record (EMR), for which government funded research related to Electronic Health Record (EHR) is under consideration. We are proud to say that behind every great achievements in medical IT, KOSMI was there. Suddenly from some time ago and on, Korea lost her touch in IT. Though IT governance and social networking services are spread wider and deeper, the software frontier spirits are vanishing. Retrospective study has indicated that collective intelligence is not always right for the majority of those who are strongly biased in the struggle of conflicts of interests. Finally, the Ministry of Information and Communication has been decomposed. Is it all "none-of-my-business" to KOSMI? I am afraid that is not the case. Where have all the good old spirits of medical informatics gone? The first decade of the 21 century appeared rather quiet compared to the second period. Since last year we have seen many striking changes such as TGIF (short for twitter, google, iPhone, facebook). It seems to me a whole new IT paradigm tides in. The unexpected south-east wind baffles many smart brains all over the world. The Korea's IT-strong legend is breaking apart as the whole world rapidly moves towards a wireless monolithic empire. KOSMI, along with Korea, believed to some extent that the prosperity we now have may continue for a long time but it turns out to be a daydream. Come to think of the past decades IT people in Korea were frontliners but their minds were blown away with something else. When TGIF comes up in the marketplace, competition is almost out of the question. Though major conglomerates in Korea are still breathing in the market, no one would dare to say that IT-Korea will rock the world again. I am pessimistic until information scientists in Korea redefine IT because IT-strong Korea is like a castle in the air. For example, the semiconductor is mistakenly classified as IT, although there is no software component in it. Data or Editorial