400,000 Views: A Digilog Journey

Between Analog Memory and Digital Testimony, A City Finds Its Voice Kang, Daehoon. - C.E.O, WalkintoKorea An email arrived from Google, brief yet momentous: the photo and words I had once uploaded about Daejeon’s Doan Ecological Lake Park had been viewed 400,000 times. It was a number, yes—but more than that, it was a testament. A Hobby Disguised as a Mission I have often said I have no hobbies. I do not play golf, nor do I join clubs. My life has been consumed by work—founding WalkintoKorea, leading Open Policy News, and navigating the currents of global trade and marketing. Yet somewhere between the demands of business and the rhythms of daily life, I discovered a small indulgence: recording my world on Google Maps.

Jazz, Makgeolli, and Memory There are evenings when I pour a glass of makgeolli and let jazz fill the room. In those moments, the streets I walked earlier, the newly opened park, the shifting skyline of the city return to me. I write in English, upload a photograph, and leave a trace. Not as a consultant or media executive, but as a traveler—one who shares the quiet value of places and moments. Thus I became a writer in another language, and a Local Guide, Level 7. Cities Seen Through a Digital Lens In 2025, Gapcheon Ecological Lake Park opened in Daejeon’s Doan district. I strolled along the water, captured reflections of people and scenery, and posted them online with a few simple words. I forgot about it. Until today, when the number returned: 400,000. That figure means that the park beloved by my city’s citizens has been glimpsed by hundreds of thousands across the world. Some were planning journeys, some were curious, some were simply drawn to the idea of a Korean city beyond Seoul. On their screens appeared the lake, the paths, the sunset. And the number will grow taller than the trees themselves.

How Brands Are Born While writing How Cities Become Brands, I encountered Hegel’s notion that quantity transforms into quality. Cities, like people, are shaped by stories—by the traces left behind, the emotions felt, the testimonies shared. Google Maps, that digital diary, becomes a platform for such testimony. Millions of Local Guides introduce their cities not with official slogans, but with lived experience. Their voices are more persuasive than any tourism board. Between Work and Calling To inform has become both my profession and my vocation. Consulting on city strategies and running media are my “official” duties. Writing on Google is my “personal” pursuit. The boundary between them blurs, and from that blur arises a single question: How can I bring more value to more of the world? The Digilog Way of Travel My map has been seen 400,000 times. Someone will plan a trip, someone will save it, someone will share it. Thus a small analog pleasure becomes fixed in the digital realm. Biological memory fades, but in the cloud it endures, influencing others. This is how I travel: through the overlap of analog and digital, through testimony and trace, through the quiet act of turning a personal moment into a shared horizon.