One of my proudest experiences was my participation in VANK’s campaign to correct misinformation about Jikji. For this, I exchanged email with people outside of Korea for the first time in my life. It was strange at first. I wasn’t sure what difference it would make. As much as I was eager to bring change, I remained patient and respectful. Finally, an international museum audio guide platform added Jikji on its website. My effort made a change on a global website. That was amazing!

During my participation in the campaign, I came across a website that provided audio guides for museums around the world. As of June of 2018, it provided 250,000 audio guides. More than 2,000 museums were registered in the platform, offering information about their museums, culture, and nearby attractions.

I noticed inaccurate information about Jikji in the description of the Gutenberg Bible, provided by the Martin Bodmer Museum of the Martin Bodmer Foundation. It stated that “printing was the technique developed by Gutenberg.” However, Jikji was printed with movable metal type before the Gutenberg Bible. I was concerned that omitting Jikji in the history of the printing press could give a wrong impression that Gutenberg invented movable metal type. For over two weeks, I convinced the museum to recognize Jikji as the world’s oldest movable metal type print.

Finally, I received a response from the museum, notifying that it changed the description according to my information. The website added, “a printing press, one century after the invention of the movable metal type use for the Korean Buddhist document, Jikji.” I am so proud of my achievement of adding Jikji to international museum content, which will continue to inform its visitors about Jikji.