Featured Eyewirer: @tunerk7

tunerk7

A behind the scenes look at the EyeWire community.

Meet the EyeWirers who are mapping the brain. Today’s featured EyeWirer is @tunerk7.

Introduce yourself!

My Name is Howon Kim. I live in Yong-In City, South Korea, and run an auto body shop.

Why do you play EyeWire?

I have been curious about many things since I was young. I started becoming very interested in science during my middle school years. In high school, subscribing and reading science and automobile magazines, I was independently finding answers to my questions. As I have grown up and my curiosity has now reduced, I am satisfied enough by information from news and documentaries. However, I still always want to acquire such knowledge on my own.

When I learned about EyeWire last year, I first thought, “How wonderful it is that I can participate in such brain research, which is as difficult as uncovering the secret of the universe!” This research certainly will not end sooner or later, so it is more exciting and mysterious. I always feel it is worth participating, and am happy to spend my spare time with EyeWire.

How did you discover EyeWire?

I by chance watched Prof. Sebastian Seung’s talk on Channel IT (a Korean television channel that I often watch) and thus discovered EyeWire.

People who love science know that it is almost impossible for a person from non-scientific field to contribute to science research. I was thrilled to know that without professional knowledge I am able to make contributions to a big project that is similar to the Human Genome project; of course, the connectome is much bigger, though!

Share a story that helps the world get to know you.

The most challenging experience for me since I started playing EyeWire was how to learn playing the game because I was the very first Korean player. For that reason, however, I was fortunate to be selected as the best Korean player in the event that Korea Telecommunication (KT) held to introduce EyeWire in South Korea. Along with three other players, I had an opportunity to come to the USA and meet people at EyeWire. We visited EyeWire HQ in Boston. I also met Prof. Seung and saw the lab and its facility in Princeton University. (The picture above was taken during my trip to Boston.)

What else would you like to share about yourself?

Although some Korean players are already eagerly participating in the game, I hope that more Korean players come and play EyeWire and contribute more to this project.

Would you like to be a featured EyeWirer? Submit your own responses here: Featured EyeWirer Questionnaire

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