How was the ARW autumun

     ARW in fall term was very hard for me because there were lot of things to do, for example, the essay, the pecha kucha presentation, blog posting and difficult readings. I had little time for doing them all, so I was sometime discouraged. However, everyone in BG class was hardworking students and Mark was always kind and gave many advises. Thanks to them, I could keep studying hard. I mainly learn How to write good essay or give a good presentation in this term. I will improve these skills more in winter term.
     I love this ARW class in fall term! Thank you.

Reaction for the 20×20

I enjoyed the presentation very much. Actually, I do not like talking in front of people, but this presentation is divided into 20 slides and each of them had 20 seconds, so it was easy to make presentations. I should have had more eye contact and been relaxed, but this opportunity is my pleasurable experience!

I think it is better to have a presentation than to write essays....

Disparity of information in Japan

The world is getting an information society more and more these days and people all over the world tend to depend on this situation, but actually people in the world cannot get the information equally. The disparity happens mainly between developing countries and developed countries; however, even some developed countries are facing this problem, and many people do not notice the fact that Japan is one of the countries, too. The reason why this problem occurs is the differences of income, opportunity to use new equipments or talented people who can create or improve the new technology. Then, this problem may lead to cause the wage differential or the human rights issues between people who are familiar with the current situation and people who are not. In addition, it is not easy to live without any information in the world now, so everyone has to consider this problem and find solutions for it.

In the first place, what is the “digital divide” problem? It is the disparity between people who can use things with new technology and people who cannot do that. This problem is serious in the world now. For example, only 4 in 1000 people have their own personal computer in South Asia, but 585 in 1000 people have it in the US. It is amazing numerical value. Another example, a study in 1999 showed that 86 percent of Internet delivery was surveyed to the 20 large countries, the US, England, Germany and so on (Bridging the Digital Divide). In contrast, the poor countries cannot adopt these modern technologies because of their poverty or lack of the knowledge of technology, so they are getting poorer and poorer and more and more ignorant about modern information technology. In addition, the difference expands their gap of income and ability of technology more. It means that there are negative chains in the world.

However, as stated above, this problem is serious in Japan, too. Japanese does not need to care about the lack of life things and their technology is very high level in the world, but each people in Japan have different knowledge about new technology or ability to use these equipments. Some people utilize these things and get more information or make more money. On the other hand, others cannot and get behind the times. Actually, in Japan, only 21 in 100 people have their own computer. This number is higher compared with the other countries in Asia, but lower compared to the world. For example, in America, 63 in 100 people have PC (THE DETERMINENTS OF THE GLOBAL DIGITAL DIVIDE). In Japan, this problem is mainly caused by people’s age, wage or living location. The percentage of spread of Internet is higher on condition that one’s wage is high, he is young and his house is in a large city than the condition that does not so. It will lead the disparities between young and elderly, poor and rich and cities and countryside.

So, what’s solution for this problem? There are principally two solutions for that. First solution is “education”. Education of IT cultures or media literacy which means the ability of using information correctly should be more promoted in Japan. Of course, many schools, for example, elementary schools, junior high schools and high schools have information classes and teach how to use PC or correct way to use information. However, this type of education cannot cover all of the students who are not good at these things and the contents of classes are very superficial, so the knowledge that they get in the classes are meaningless very much. Japanese government should make the quality of education of IT cultures better and prepare the environment that every children can receive the education. One of NPOs which are trying to solve this problem is “Information Gap Buster”, which argue that Japanese have to realize that they have to learn about this situation in Japan or IT cultures. They send information about this problem and hold workshops or lecture meetings in places. Their purpose is to expand the awareness that there are disparities even among Japanese people. In the future, these organizations like this NPO take an active part to solve this problem, too.

Second solution is “development of IT technology”. Some of the big causes of this problem are the differences of age and the environments between the cities and countryside. If everyone in Japan can access the Internet or use new technology anywhere in Japan, this problem will be better. Japanese government is trying to realize this environment now. Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications is promoting “u-Japan” policy. The purpose of this program is for everyone to receive the IT service whenever and wherever they want to use and they aim at making ubiquitous society. In concrete term, they are preparing environment that people can use the communication with wire or wireless easily and they connect infrastructure all aver Japan. In addition, in order everyone to use the network safely; they will solve the problem of security or privacy.

It is usual that there are people who like using new things and people who are not good at them, but information gap cause social problems, the wage differential or the human rights issues, not only in the world but also in Japan. Education and development of IT cultures are very useful solutions for this problem. The government and some NPO are making efforts to promote these solutions. All Japanese have to realize what happens in Japan, consider about the “digital divide problem” again and cooperate with others to solve this problem not only in the world but also in Japan.

essay draft

Disparity of information in Japan

The world is getting an information society more and more these days, but actually people can’t get the information equally. It happens mainly between developing countries and developed countries, however, even some developed countries are facing this problem. Japan is one of the countries. The reason why this problem occurs is the differences of income, opportunity to use new equipments or talented people. Then, this problem may cause the wage differential, the human rights issues and so on. In addition, it is not easy to live without any information in Japan, so everyone has to consider this problem and find the solutions for it.

In the first place, what is the “digital divide” problem? It is the disparity between people who can use things with new technology and people who can’t do that. This problem is serious in the world now. For example, only 4 in 1000 people have their own personal computer in South Asia, but 585 in 1000 people have it in the US. It is amazing numerical value. Another example, a study in 1999 showed that 86 percent of Internet delivery was surveyed to the 20 large countries, the US, England, Japan and so on. In the contrast, the poor countries can’t adopt these modern technologies because of their poverty or lack of the knowledge of technology, so they are getting poorer and poorer and more and more ignorant about modern information technology. In addition, the difference expands their gap of income and ability of technology more. It means that there are negative chains in the world.

This problem is serious in Japan, too as mentioned earlier. Japanese doesn’t need to care about the lack of life things and their technology is very high level in the world, but each people in Japan have different knowledge about new technology or ability to use these equipments. Some people utilize these things and get more information or make more money. On the other hand, others can’t and get behind the times. In Japan, only 36 in 100 people have their own computer. This number is higher compared with the other countries in Asia, but lower compared in the world. For example, in America, 63 in 100 people have PC. In Japan, this problem is mainly caused by people’s age, wage or living location. Actually, the percentage of spread of Internet is higher on condition that one’s wage is high, he is young and his house is in a large city than the condition that doesn’t so. It will lead the disparities between young and elderly, poor and rich and urban and countries.

So, what’s the solution for this problem? As one of the examples, Japanese government is taking actions now. One of them is “u-Japan” policy. It is being promoted by Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications for everyone to receive the IT service whenever and wherever they are and they aim at making ubiquitous society. In concrete term, they are preparing environment that people can use communication with wire or wireless easily and they connect infrastructure all aver Japan. In addition, in order everyone to use the network safely; they will solve the problem of security or privacy. Second example is a NPO, “Information Gap Buster”. They send information about this problem and hold workshops or lecture meetings. Their purpose is to expand the awareness that there are disparities even among Japanese people. In future, these organizations like this NPO take an active part to solve this problem, too.

Then, what should we Japanese do from now on? First, education of IT cultures should be more promoted. Of course, many schools (elementary school, junior high school and high school) have information classes and teach how to use PC. However, this type of education can’t cover the students who are not good at PC and the contents of classes are very superficial, so the knowledge that they get in the classes are meaningless a little. Japanese government should make education of IT cultures better. Second is the improvement of technology. It will cause declines of price of equipments. Actually, the price of personal computers is declined to about one fifth in this 30 years.

It is usual that there are people who like using new things and people who aren’t good at them, but information gap cause social problems, like wage differences. We have to know and consider “digital divide problem” again and cooperate with others to solve the problem not only in the world but also in Japan.

essay outline

1. Research Question
Should we solve the digital divide problem in the world or in Japan?
If we have to do so, how can we do for it?

2. Thesis
We have to solve the problem because the world is getting “information society” more and more and it is not easy to live without information. It causes the economic problems, the human rights issues and so on. The solution for this problem is being done by many associations, for example, OLPC (one laptop per child) and UNICEF.

3. Main parts
  Ⅰ. Introduction
        A.    (Hook) People in the world can’t get information equally.
        B.    (Background) The differences of income, opportunity to use new equipments or talented people in the world.
        C.    Thesis
 
  Ⅱ. “digital divide” problem between countries and countries
        A.   There are differences between developed countries and developing countries.
        B.   The later is very distant from IT cultures because of poverty or their lack of talented people.

  Ⅲ, solution for countries
        A. OLPC   
        B. UNICEF

  Ⅳ, “digital divide” problem in Japan
       A. Even in Japan, the problem is serious.
        B. The development of Internet, mobile phones or other electrical machines in Japan causes it.

 Ⅴ, solution for Japan 

        A. Universal design
        B. u-Japan

 Ⅵ, Conclusion
        A. Repeat thesis and main points.
       B. What we should do now and what we can do to solve the problem.

4. Sourse list 

http://www.ted.com/talks/nicholas_negroponte_on_one_laptop_per_child.html
understanding the Digital Divide (OECD 01 Jan 2001)
Learning to Bridge the Digital Divide (OECD 19 Sep 2000)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_divide

http://www.soumu.go.jp/menu_seisaku/ict/u-japan/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universal_design 

essay topic "IT culture differences"

1. What is the issue you plan to research and write about?

I'll research about IT culture differences between developed countries and developing countries, even in Japan.

    
2. Why is the issue important?

This problem is called "digital divide" and it causes the differences of infomation. Some people can get much infomation, but others can't. Right infomation must be known equally for everyone.

3. Why are you interested in this? What's the connection to you?
I myself like something new and using machines. They are very useful to live smoothly. However, in developing countries, there are few TVs, Internets or phones. Even in Japan, there are some blocks between people like me and old people or some young people who don't like machine

4. What question do you have about this issue? What so you want to find out?
I want to know the characteristics of digital divide not only in countries but also in Japan. In addition, I want to know the solution of this problem, for example, one NPO's movement, one laptop per children.

cite:
http://www.ted.com/talks/nicholas_negroponte_on_one_laptop_per_child.html
understanding the Digital Divide (OECD 01 Jan 2001)
Learning to Bridge the Digital Divide (OECD 19 Sep 2000)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_divide

Reaction to Fisher

I can enjoy reading "Perception Of Self", but I have a little unnatural things after reading it.

I think human beings' perception or sensation are very amazing because we can live well by using effectively. However, Fisher says that our perception is not perfect and it is affected by our own experiencdes, values, tastes and so on. It is very interesting for me. In addition, which is important, figure, and which is not so important, ground, depend on our own thinking. This idea is new for me. I thought important thing is important for everyone.

Actually, when we saw the video of white people and gorilla in the ARW class on Monday, I coudn't see the gorilla. So I felt the something like a flaw in my perfection. Thinking about it after reading the text, I want to know about it more. I'll search the illustrations with some tricks related to perceptions.