Sang Yeoup Han

Composing Messages Before Sending: A Qualitative Study of Korean Smartphone Users’ Texting Practices 

I am a DPhil candidate and researcher at the University of Oxford. My research examines how messaging platforms and Korean smartphone keyboard layouts mediate pre-sending writing behaviour in one-to-one mobile messaging: specifically, how the features of a messenger app and the structure of an input method shape what gets written, revised, and deleted before a message is sent. 
The research brings actor-network theory (ANT) into conversation with post-phenomenology whilst developing a critique of Merleau-Ponty’s account of tool transparency. I argue that the keyboard, as the core input system for controlling any computer, is not merely a neutral conduit for a writer’s intentions, but an active mediator whose layout design actively shapes messages in production. The project employs an interpretive two-case qualitative design comparing two distinct keyboard layouts across fourteen participants. The analysis of the data integrates motion tracking of thumb movements, video coding of typing behaviour, a grapheme-level analytical framework, and one-to-one interview to compare message compositions completed on the same messaging app using different keyboard layouts. 

My research contributes to the fields of computer-mediated communication (CMC) and human-computer interaction (HCI) by establishing a novel, multimodal methodology for studying pre-sending text production. By adopting a qualitative research design, my project offers insights that previous work—heavily reliant on quantitative approaches—has often overlooked. Ultimately, I expect that it will offer new frameworks and perspectives for understanding how comparatively fragmented non-Western input systems in East Asia mediate modern digital literacy, self-expression, and daily social interactions.