Humanities Informatics · Digital Humanities · Computational Social Science · Mixed Methods · AI

Ji-Eun Son

Interdisciplinary researcher interested in how AI systems, digital platforms, and mixed methods reshape cultural experience, emotion, communication, and everyday human interaction.

M.A. in Social & Cultural Studies B.A. in Management Science-track background through secondary education Python · Swift · SQL · Stata · SPSS · Machine Learning · Deep Learning · NLP

Research Direction

My research lies at the intersection of humanities informatics, digital humanities, computational social science, mixed methods, and human-centered AI. I am particularly interested in how AI systems, digital platforms, and data-driven environments reshape cultural experience, emotion, communication, and everyday human interaction.

Using computational methods such as NLP, sentiment analysis, topic modeling, behavioral data analysis, and AI-assisted interpretation, I explore how digital traces — including reviews, platform interactions, and user-generated content — can be interpreted as cultural and social phenomena.

My broader goal is to bridge computational methods with qualitative interpretation, especially in areas related to platform culture, AI-mediated experience, digital communication, and emerging forms of human-technology relationships.

How can computational and mixed-methods approaches help us understand the cultural meanings, emotions, and human experiences embedded in digital traces?

Research Interests

  • Humanities Informatics
  • Digital Humanities
  • Computational Social Science
  • Mixed Methods
  • AI and Human Interaction
  • Platform Culture
  • Emotion Data and Digital Culture
  • Review Data-based Cultural Analysis
  • AI Character & Emoticon Culture

Computational Methods Projects

CGV Movie Review Analysis

NLP · Sentiment Analysis · Topic Modeling

A movie review analytics project exploring audience responses, sentiment patterns, and topic structures in Korean cinema review data.

  • Analyzed large-scale CGV movie review data to understand audience perception and content-related responses.
  • Applied text preprocessing, sentiment analysis, and topic modeling to extract interpretable patterns from user-generated reviews.
  • Connected computational text analysis with cultural consumption, audience experience, and platform-based review behavior.
Movie Reviews Cultural Analytics NLP Audience Experience
GitHub

Smart Home App Review Analytics

NLP · BERTopic · UX Analytics

A computational analysis project examining how users experience smart home ecosystems through app reviews, update contexts, and platform-specific feedback.

  • Collected large-scale user reviews from smart home apps such as LG ThinQ and Samsung SmartThings.
  • Designed a pipeline for preprocessing, embedding, topic modeling, sentiment analysis, and temporal interpretation.
  • Used BERTopic to identify recurring UX concerns, ecosystem integration issues, emotional responses, and service pain points.
  • Explored how app updates may reshape user experience and perceived platform reliability over time.
  • Positioned app review data as a cultural and behavioral trace of human-technology interaction.
Cultural Data Analytics User Experience Smart Home Topic Modeling Platform Studies
GitHub

AI-Based SaaS Churn Prediction & Retention Strategy

Machine Learning · XAI · Streamlit

An explainable AI project for predicting customer churn and translating model outputs into actionable retention strategies.

  • Built an account-level churn prediction pipeline using subscription, feature usage, support ticket, and account data.
  • Excluded churn event records from model features to prevent data leakage and used them for post-hoc interpretation.
  • Engineered behavioral and operational features such as active subscription ratio, error rate, support response time, days since last usage, and recent upgrade/downgrade flags.
  • Compared machine learning and deep learning models, tuned the operational threshold, and used SHAP for global and local explanation.
  • Developed a Streamlit dashboard to communicate churn risk, model reasoning, and retention actions.
Explainable AI Customer Behavior Predictive Modeling Human Decision Support
GitHub

E-commerce Behavioral Analytics & A/B Test Simulation

Funnel Analysis · Experiment Design · Statistics

A behavioral analytics project identifying conversion bottlenecks and designing an experiment-based strategy for improving purchase conversion.

  • Analyzed large-scale e-commerce behavioral log data to understand user journeys from view to cart to purchase.
  • Identified funnel drop-offs and product/category-level patterns in user behavior.
  • Designed an A/B test simulation framework to evaluate potential conversion improvement strategies.
  • Translated behavioral data into business recommendations for product and growth decision-making.
Digital Platform Behavior A/B Testing Behavioral Analytics Decision Science
GitHub

Employee Attrition EDA: Understanding a Company Pain Point

EDA · HR Analytics · Business Problem Framing

An exploratory data analysis project examining employee attrition as a company pain point and translating descriptive patterns into business questions.

  • Explored employee attrition data to identify potential patterns related to turnover risk.
  • Focused on EDA as a problem-framing process before predictive modeling.
  • Connected workforce data patterns with organizational decision-making and retention strategy.
EDA HR Analytics Company Pain Point Organizational Data
GitHub

Master’s Thesis: Life Satisfaction among Middle-Aged and Older Retirees

Quantitative Sociology · Panel Data · Stata

A social and cultural thesis using Korean panel data to examine factors associated with life satisfaction among retirees.

  • Used KLoSA panel data to analyze the life satisfaction of middle-aged and older retirees.
  • Examined both objective and subjective predictors, including socioeconomic status, perceived social class, and self-rated health.
  • Found that subjective indicators explained life satisfaction more strongly than many objective measures.
  • Developed a long-term research interest in how subjective experience can be operationalized and analyzed through data.
Sociology Panel Data Subjective Well-being Quantitative Research
RISS Thesis

Exploratory Data Analysis & Cultural Interpretation

Across my projects, EDA is treated not merely as a preliminary step, but as a process for identifying behavioral patterns, refining research questions, detecting data limitations, and designing appropriate modeling strategies.

  • Identified churn-related behavioral signals before predictive modeling.
  • Explored movie review and app review patterns to understand audience experience, UX pain points, and cultural responses.
  • Analyzed funnel drop-offs in e-commerce behavioral logs to inform A/B test design.
  • Used visualization and descriptive statistics to connect technical findings with human-centered interpretation.

In my research direction, EDA functions as a bridge between data science and cultural interpretation: a way to read behavioral traces, platform interactions, and user experience before formal modeling.

Books & Writing Projects

Main WikiDocs Project

Did Platforms Sense the Nobel Prize Before Institutions Did?

Goodreads · Nobel Prize · Digital Culture

A computational culture and platform analysis project exploring whether platform-based reader responses anticipated institutional literary recognition before the 2024 Nobel Prize in Literature announcement.

  • Analyzed Goodreads review data related to Han Kang’s The Vegetarian.
  • Combined multilingual review translation, sentiment analysis, BERTopic, and temporal analysis to examine global reader responses.
  • Explored how platform-generated cultural signals may precede institutional recognition in world literature.
  • Positioned digital traces not merely as behavioral data, but as cultural evidence embedded in platform ecosystems.
  • Connected computational methods with literary interpretation, platform studies, and cultural data analysis.
Goodreads Platform Culture World Literature Han Kang The Vegetarian Sentiment Analysis BERTopic Mixed Methods Computational Interpretation
WikiDocs
Essay

The Age of Asking Alone

Essay · Generative AI · Human-Technology Relationship

A reflective essay project by Son Ji-Eun, exploring how generative AI changes the way humans ask questions, learn, create, and seek response in the digital age.

The Age of Asking Alone, subtitled From Humans Who Longed for Response to Humans with the Right to Ask, traces a personal and cultural journey from the early internet and P2P culture to generative AI, human-machine interaction, creative democratization, and the emotional fatigue of contemporary relationships.

Written as a Korean-language essay, this project connects personal memory, digital culture, and human-centered reflection. It treats AI not merely as a tool, but as part of a broader historical shift in which individuals gain new ways to ask, think, create, and receive response even when they are alone.

Son Ji-Eun Essay Generative AI Digital Culture Human-AI Interaction Personal Essay Cultural Reflection Korean Writing
WikiDocs

Statistics with Social Science Data

A Korean-language educational book introducing statistical thinking, social science data analysis, and applied quantitative research workflows.

Statistics Social Science Stata Research Education
WikiDocs

60 Core Concepts in Machine Learning & Deep Learning

A beginner-oriented conceptual guide to machine learning and deep learning, designed to explain technical ideas in accessible language.

Machine Learning Deep Learning AI Education Technical Communication
WikiDocs

Technical Documentation on SaaS Churn Prediction

A project-based technical book documenting the full pipeline from EDA, preprocessing, ML/DL modeling, XAI interpretation, and Streamlit deployment.

XAI Churn Prediction Technical Writing Applied AI
WikiDocs

Professional & Cross-Cultural Experience

Project Manager — bbb Korea, 2019

Language and culture NGO project management experience.

  • Prepared an SPSS-based statistical report for the establishment of a Korean language institute in Surabaya, Indonesia.
  • Supported the operation of a public marathon event in collaboration with YTN.
  • Coordinated and managed the university student bbb Probono program.
Language & Culture SPSS Indonesia NGO Project

IT Consulting & Project Management

Professional experience in IT consulting, SI project coordination, and organizational operations.

  • SI Project Management Office — 2022–2024.
  • IT Consulting: ISP/ISMP/BPR/PI/BIG DATA — 2022.
  • Business Planning / PR / Administration — 2019–2020.
  • Social Welfare Program Coordinator — 2018.
  • CEO Academy, Intern — KSA, 2012
PMO IT Consulting Administration Social Welfare

Independent Creative Studio

Founder, Risonanza Studio

Risonanza Studio is an independent creative and technology studio founded by Ji-Eun Son, exploring character-based communication, educational content, software development, and culturally grounded digital products.

The studio reflects my broader interest in how digital platforms, learning experiences, software products, and human expression intersect in contemporary media environments.

Creative Studio Educational Content Character IP Digital Products Software Development
Released App

Jelly Zero Math | Math Puzzle & Brain Stimulation Game

iOS · SwiftUI · Math Game · Released App

A released iPhone math puzzle app by Risonanza Studio, inspired by a childhood habit of combining car plate numbers to make zero.

Jelly Zero Math began from a small childhood memory: looking at car plate numbers and mentally combining them to make 0. This personal habit later became the foundation for a playful iPhone math game released by Risonanza Studio.

The app transforms arithmetic expression-making into a casual brain-stimulation game experience. By combining number play, jelly-like visual characters, and result-based feedback, it makes mathematical thinking feel playful, intuitive, and emotionally approachable.

This project reflects my interest in turning everyday cognitive habits into released digital products: from personal number play, to interaction design, to SwiftUI implementation, App Store submission, and public product communication.

  • Designed the game concept from a personal childhood number-play habit.
  • Implemented a released iPhone math puzzle experience using SwiftUI.
  • Created a casual brain-stimulation app that encourages flexible arithmetic thinking.
  • Connected mathematical reasoning with playful visual feedback and character-based interaction.
  • Completed the product cycle from concept design and app development to App Store review approval.
  • Built a public support page for user communication and product documentation.
iOS App SwiftUI Math Game Brain Stimulation Puzzle Design App Store Review Approved Support Page Character-based Interaction
App Store
Released App

Gyeol Abacus | Portable 8-Column Abacus App

iOS · SwiftUI · Education / Utility · Released App

A portable abacus app by Risonanza Studio, inspired by my mother’s request to bring the increasingly hard-to-find physical abacus into a simple iPhone experience.

Gyeol Abacus was created after my mother, who has experience with abacus calculation, mentioned that physical abacuses are becoming harder to find these days and asked whether I could make a portable abacus app for the phone.

The app recreates an 8-column abacus on iPhone, allowing users to move beads directly, check the current value in real time, and practice making target numbers. Rather than being designed only for children, it was developed as a simple and accessible digital abacus that anyone can carry and use.

This project reflects my interest in transforming everyday needs and family-based ideas into released digital products through SwiftUI implementation, interaction design, character-based visual identity, App Store submission, and public product communication.

  • Developed a portable 8-column abacus experience for iPhone using SwiftUI.
  • Designed the app concept from a real family request for a digital abacus.
  • Implemented direct bead interaction, real-time value display, and target-number practice.
  • Added customization features such as bead color selection and profile photo settings.
  • Connected utility-based learning with the original character “Gyeol” for a friendly visual experience.
  • Completed the product cycle from concept design and app development to App Store release.
iOS App SwiftUI Portable Abacus Education / Utility Number Sense Interaction Design Character-based UX
App Store
Released App

Gyeol Hangeul | Korean Writing Learning App

iOS · iPad/iPhone · Education

An iOS/iPadOS Korean writing learning app released by Risonanza Studio, designed for young learners and beginner Korean language learners.

Gyeol Hangeul helps users learn Korean words by seeing, hearing, and writing them directly on the screen with the original character “Gyeol.” The app was designed with iPad landscape use, Apple Pencil interaction, pronunciation learning, and simple category-based word practice in mind.

This project covers the full product cycle from concept development, UX planning, SwiftUI implementation, audio integration, privacy policy preparation, App Store Connect submission, and official App Store release.

  • Planned and designed a character-based Korean writing learning experience.
  • Implemented the app using SwiftUI for iPhone and iPad.
  • Designed handwriting practice interactions for Apple Pencil and touch input.
  • Integrated pronunciation learning through Apple TTS and WAV audio files.
  • Prepared App Store metadata, privacy policy, screenshots, and release materials.
  • Released the app on the Korean App Store under Risonanza Studio.
iOS App SwiftUI AVFoundation Apple TTS WAV Audio Korean Learning Character-based Education App Store Release
App Store

Character IP Development: Gyeol the Fluffy Puppy

An original character IP project developed across small-scale goods, released iOS apps, web pages, and educational digital content.

Character IP Goods Design Released iOS Apps Web Development Educational Content

Future Research Direction

My future research aims to examine digital platforms as cultural environments where human experience, emotion, communication, and technology are continuously shaped.

I am particularly interested in combining computational methods with qualitative interpretation, including review data analysis, sentiment analysis, topic modeling, platform behavior analysis, close reading, and contextual interpretation. This mixed-methods approach allows digital traces to be interpreted not only as data points, but as cultural expressions of everyday experience.

This direction connects humanities informatics, digital humanities, computational social science, platform studies, AI-mediated communication, and human-technology interaction.

Humanities Informatics Digital Humanities Computational Social Science Mixed Methods Platform Culture Human-Technology Interaction

Academic & Technical Background

Education

  • M.A. in Social & Cultural Studies
  • B.A. in Management
  • Science-track background through secondary education
  • Relevant science coursework: General Mathematics, General Biology, Introduction to Chemistry
  • International experience in Australia, Mexico, and France prior to undergraduate study

AI & Software Training

  • SK Networks Family AI Camp, 2026
  • Allen School Swift BootCamp Online, 2024

Technical Skills

  • Programming: Python, SQL, Swift
  • Statistics: Stata, SPSS, regression analysis, panel data analysis
  • Machine Learning: scikit-learn, XGBoost, LightGBM, PyTorch
  • NLP: text preprocessing, sentiment analysis, BERTopic, embeddings
  • Visualization & Apps: Matplotlib, Streamlit, dashboard development

Why Humanities Informatics?

My intellectual path has not followed a conventional linear route. After graduating from high school, I did not immediately enter university. Instead, I spent time reflecting on questions of religion, vocation, and the direction of my life.

During this period, I completed the Discipleship Training School (DTS) with Youth With A Mission (YWAM) in Perth, Australia, and participated in an outreach program in Mexico City. I later studied French at Sorbonne CCFS in Paris, France. Although I eventually returned to Korea due to various personal and practical circumstances, these experiences gave me early exposure to different languages, cultures, social contexts, and ways of understanding human life.

This non-linear path shaped my sensitivity to cultural and social questions. Rather than seeing it as a detour, I now understand it as a formative period that allowed me to encounter difference, uncertainty, communication barriers, and cross-cultural experience before entering formal academic and professional tracks.

Through Social and Cultural Studies, I learned to ask how individuals are shaped by structures, institutions, and cultural contexts. Through data science and AI projects, I learned how large-scale behavioral and textual traces can be modeled, interpreted, and translated into research questions.

Humanities Informatics is where these paths converge. It allows me to combine computational methods, AI-based analysis, statistical reasoning, close reading, and contextual interpretation in order to study how people express emotion, form taste, communicate meaning, and respond to cultural works within digital platforms.

Rather than treating data analysis and interpretation as separate activities, I aim to develop a mixed-methods research practice in which computational results become the starting point for deeper cultural, social, and humanistic interpretation.