We met with the CEO of Olaworks, Dr. Jung-hee Ryu, who is a KAIST Electrical Engineering alumnus (undergraduate’s class of ’92), an appointed professor in the KAIST Graduate School of Cultural Technology and that in the KAIST Graduate School of Management.
Q. Please introduce Olaworks.
A. Olaworks is a company that collects users’ metadata to connect people to companies, people to products, and people to people. Metadata is the data that explains a given piece of data. For example, if there is a person named Jung-hee Ryu and his physical body is the data, then the school he went to, his job, and his interests would be the metadata counterpart. The metadata we collect and analyze are often more important than the data itself, and many companies will start to focus on how to acquire more of these metadata. Keeping a record of one’s life on the Internet is a tedious task. People who don’t keep a diary won’t start even if a new tool, like an online blog, is introduced. Olaworks’ goal is to allow people to record their lives online without the hassle. For example, if a person needs to use a facial recognition software, we provide the tools to collect the metadata necessary for that application. Services like Facebook require the users to tag everything, but wouldn’t it be simpler to use the tools Olaworks provides that automatically tags everything for you? At the moment, we are trying to improve our program as it is a bit heavy and seems to put its emphasis on facial recognition. Olaworks will provide the users with these benefits in exchange for the use of their metadata.
