The DOOSAN Curator Workshop on Sept 28th was led by Yaewon Kang, the group leader from Open Survey, an emerging leading company in the research market. Issues discussed in the workshop concerned the purpose of Open Survey, how it differs from other research companies, and the overall flow of work and prospects of the research industry.

Open Survey processes into data information by approximately 170,000 panels through an application and provides customers with useful information. The company’s innovative attempts to collect mobile-based data, the first to do so in the industry, minimizes data collection period compared to existing research companies and allows access to multiple information at a low cost. Allowing approaches from various angles, Open Survey also attracts diverse groups of clients from large companies such as telecommunications companies to individuals and start-up businesses, providing open sources to customize their specific needs and enabling DIY survey designs. Particularly impressive aspects about Open Survey were its types of data based on the company’s own mobile panel and thus inaccessible by other research companies, and the way they are being used.

More sophisticated targeting has become possible at Open Survey because, even if the survey method remains the same as before, linking surveys with location information or payment information through mobile enabled interpretation. Such examples illustrated how information can become capital and competitive power. The workshop also talked about the last few years of the growth process of Open Survey and the overall research industry. Open Survey, in which half of the staff are engineers, has a competitive edge in terms of its technique, providing algorithms that can analyze and visualize the collected data in real time. In addition, the company demonstrates highly competent research capabilities through its publications of self-designed trend reports, and strives to attract new start-up clients through workshops. The domestic research market reached 480 billion won last year, and this upward tendency was influenced by various political and economic variables both domestically and internationally. Open Survey appropriately responds to such influences and actively pursues growth. There is also a positive outlook on the growth potential of the company in comparison to other similar companies, as Open Survey assumes tasks previously undertaken by consulting companies while taking advantage of the strengths of data engineers, producing a synergy effect and unparalleled strategies.

The participants talked to Kang about their presently ongoing projects, and took her advices on how support could be made from the perspective of a research company. The workshop demonstrated how main contexts such as platform capitalism takes place in the actual exhibition, and proposed how to approach information and perform businesses in ways that are different from the art world.