Transport Information
http://www.jaist.ac.jp/index-j2.shtml
[Air]
Kanazawa
Station
□ From Tokyo
Haneda–Komatsu: Approx. 1hr
Korinbo
Kanazawa-Nishi IC Nishi
[Train (JR)]
□ From Tokyo
Transit to Limited Express “Hakutaka
(via Hokuhoku Line)” at the Joetsu Shinkansen
Echigo-Yuzawa Station
Travel Time: Approx. 4 hours
Kanazawa City
JAIST
Mikawa
Sta.
JR
u
ik
ur
k
Ho
Yokogawa Arimatsu
Enkoji
ne
Li Hakusan
City
Kuramitsu
8
ute
Ro
Nonoichi
City
Inui-Higashi
Kan Shinjo
bayashi
JAIST Shuttle available between
both Komatsu Airport and JR
Komatsu Station and JAIST.
Advance reservations required.
Train (JR)
JR
Komatsu
Sta.
Air
Komatsu Airport
NagasakiNaka
Kamatsu
IC
Komatsu
Airport
NagataMinami
Kawakita
Town
Tatsunokuchi
Kawakita
Tedorigawa River Bridge
Bridge
Mitsukuchi-Kita
Mitsukuchi
Miyatake
Kurashige
Ishikawa High-tech
Exchange Center
Nomi City
Tatsunokuchi
Kyuryo Park NTT
Kamiyasato
Asahidai
Town
Sono Kosugi IC
Town Sasaki IC
Komatsu
City
Ukiyanagi
Gokendo
Komatsu
Sta.
157
ute
Ro
Terai Sta.
KarumiNishi
Kaga
Sangyo
Road
Shijima
Anyoji-Kita
Mikawa
□ From Nagoya
By limited Express “Shirasagi”:
Approx. 2 hr 40 minutes
(to Komatsu)
Shin-Nishi
Kanazawa Sta.
Hakusan IC
Matto Sta.
Toyama
City
Mikawa IC
Komatsu City
□ From Osaka/Kyoto
By Limited Express “Thunderbird”:
Approx. 2 hours 25 minutes
(to Komatsu)
iku y
kur wa
Ho ress
p
Ex
Toyama
Bay
Japan Sea
kanazawa
Sta.
Hokuriku
Railroad
Ishikawa Line
Tengu
Bridge
Tsurugi
Sta.
Tsurugi
Japan Advanced Institute
of Science and Technology
Free JAIST Shuttle between Hokuriku Railroad
Tsurugi Station and JAIST.
JAIST Shuttle (Komatsu Station Line, Komatsu Airport Line) (Advance reservations required.)
Komatsu Airport–JAIST: 35min.
JR Komatsu Sta.–JAIST: 30min.
For reservations, please contact faculty, the administrative office, or the relevant department at JAIST.
Train (JR)
JR
Kanazawa
Sta.
Highway Bus
Car
Car
Highway
Hakusan
IC
Highway
Komatsu
IC
By local train:
5min. (180 yen)
Nishi
On foot:
Kanazawa
1 min.
Sta.
Kanazawa Sotokanjo Road (Umigawa)
NagasakiNaka
Intersection
Hokuriku
Railroad
Ishikawa Line
Shin-Nishi
Kanazawa
Sta.
By train:
25min. (440 yen)
Tsurugi
Sta.
Anyoji
Intersection
Kawakita
Bridge
MitsukuchiKita
Intersection
T-junction
Mitsukuchi
Intersection
Crossroad
Kamiyasato
Intersection
JAIST Shuttle (Tsurugi Line)
11min. (Free)
JAIST
Knowledge moves the world towards the future.
Japan
Japan Advanced
Advanced Institute
Institute of
of Science
Science and
and Technology
Technology (JAIST)
(JAIST)
Asahidai
Asahidai 1-1,
1-1, Nomi
Nomi City,
City, Ishikawa
Ishikawa 923-1292
923-1292 Tel:
Tel: +81-761-51-1111
+81-761-51-1111
E-mail:
E-mail: daihyo@jaist.ac.jp
daihyo@jaist.ac.jp (main)
(main) // nyugaku@jaist.ac.jp
nyugaku@jaist.ac.jp (Admissions
(Admissions Section)
Section)
http://www.jaist.ac.jp
http://www.jaist.ac.jp
Knowledge leads
the world toward
the future
“What is knowledge?”
Value Creati on
i on
Know ledge Creat
“How is knowledge created?”
These are the main themes at the core of
knowledge science.
We are living in the era of knowledge, and
Knowledge Science now has an important role in
human society.
In the School of Knowledge Science at Japan
Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, we
explore knowledge across various fields, in the 4
central areas of Social Knowledge, Knowledge
Media, Systems Knowledge, and Service Knowledge.
We educate people to become “Pioneers of the
Knowledge Society”, so that they can resolve the
issues facing society through the use of knowledge,
and contribute to the advancement of society.
Aim to be “A Pioneer of the Knowledge Society”
Four Fields
The School of Knowledge Science consists of education and research.
[Four Major Content Areas]
● Social Knowledge
From the viewpoint of knowledge creation in the activities of individuals, organizations, society and nature, the School of Knowledge
Science explores ‘what is knowledge?’ and ‘how is knowledge created?’, while developing education and research systems that
Knowledge Management
Management of Technology (MOT)
Anthropology of Knowledge
restructure and integrate the various areas of learning – humanities, social science, cognitive science, information science, natural
science and systems science. At the same time, the school aims to produce talented people with the ability to identify and resolve
issues, who will plan and promote new technological, organizational and social innovations; these people will be the ‘pioneers of the
Creativity Support Systems,
Machine Learning, Design
Computer Simulation
Skill Science
Knowledge Creation
Support Groupware
Knowledge Media for
Augmented Creativity
Computer Graphics
Systems Methodologies
Complex Systems
Science of Complex Networks
Decision-making Analysis
Our Research Activities
(with citizen participation)
Medical
Services
Management
Practice
Knowledge Engineering
Internet Services
Innovation Process Theory
Social Computing
Application
Practical policies
and actions to
achieve the goal(s)
Within this area, research is conducted into human capabilities for discovering
and representing items of knowledge. Also, this area educates people to
systematically acquire knowledge and skills to develop knowledge-intensive
systems with digital media and knowledge-bases. Students are expected to play
leading roles in creating the knowledge society by applying their knowledge
and skills to advancing the frontiers of information and communication
technologies.
Within this area, research is conducted into the processes of creating, sharing,
and utilizing knowledge about complex phenomena in natural and social
systems based on systems science using systems methodologies, modeling
and simulation. Through research activities, this area educates knowledge
workers who contribute to analyzing and solving problems and issues in various
domains.
● Service Knowledge
Within this area, research is conducted into the processes of service value
creation, and the sharing and utilization of service knowledge in enterprises
and organizations. This area also educates service knowledge managers to
achieve technical, organizational, and social innovations by providing them
with practical know-how, skills and techniques for service management in
enterprises and organizations.
Design of
social systems
Decisions
regarding value
Social Knowledge
Knowledge Media
Systems Knowledge
Exploring these
mechanisms
Transforming practical research findings into universal academic
knowledge, and practicing problem solving based on that academic
knowledge.
Admission Policy
We hope to admit students who have a positive drive to contribute to
the knowledge society, regardless of their background or faculty
specializations. We expect them to have basic academic ability,
superior natural talent and clear goals. They are expected to research
the activities of nature, individuals, organizations and society from
the perspective of knowledge creation, and work towards the
development of knowledge science, a discipline that is an
integration of several different fields.
In order to have a good balance of subjects from the three areas of
n at u r a l scie nce, i n for m at ion scie nce a nd so cia l scie nce,
i nt roductor y subjects which ma ke up the core cu r r iculu m
(Introduction to Knowledge Science I, II, III, Introduction to
In novation Management, etc), and courses in methodology
(Methodology for Systems Science, Methodology of Artificial
Intelligence, Methodology of Social Sciences, etc) are compulsory.
The curriculum is designed so that the courses complement each
other, and the study approach is clear. Furthermore, in order to
- In order to welcome st udents f rom other
disciplines, we offer Introductory Courses, and
students may attend both Basic and Technical
Courses in the area of knowledge science as
soon as they arrive at JAIST.
- Through Introduction to Knowledge Science
1-3, s t u d e n t s e x a m i n e k n o w l e d g e a n d
knowledge science, and then based on that
understanding, students can deepen their
knowledge.
- Students take a balanced combination of basic
courses in the fields of ‘Social Knowledge’,
‘Knowledge Media’, and ‘Systems Knowledge’,
learning about multifaceted and multi layered
thinking.
- Through the selection of technical courses,
students can enhance their own specializations.
Introductory
Courses
Science & Technology
Students
Academic
knowledge
Design
with knowledge
Value Co-creation
Education Curriculum
Humanities & Sociology
Students
The scope of research topics in the School of Knowledge Science is
broad, and goes beyond existing disciplines.
For example:
- Knowledge structure, knowledge representation, scientific
knowledge, social knowledge, political knowledge, traditional
knowledge (wisdom), tacit knowledge
- Knowledge management in organizations and society, technological
management based on knowledge, project management based on
knowledge, technological/organizational/social innovations as
knowledge creation, knowledge economy, knowledge society
- Human cognition/intelligence/creativity, embodied knowledge,
individual/group knowledge creation, knowledge technology,
knowledge systems, data mining, knowledge creation techniques,
design as knowledge creation
- Complex phenomena, such as networking and evolution in society,
technology and nature; systems thinking; modeling and simulation;
constructive approach; systems analysis for environmental and
regional issues
- Service innovation, service management, service value creation,
service marketing, medical services
Market
Services
Analysis
Scope of Research
(Management of Technology)
Local Community
through practice
A center for international collaboration
MOT
Knowledge Co-creation
A center for education and research
to clarify the mechanisms for creating,
sharing and utilizing knowledge
● Knowledge Media
● Systems Knowledge
knowledge society’ of the 21st Century.
We carry out practical research for solving real problems, as
well as theoretical research for developing methods,
methodology and theories of knowledge creation.
We are actively involved in collaborative research with
domestic and international organizations.
We apply intellectual techniques and technology, such as
group idea generation methods and modeling & simulation,
etc. We also focus on field work, including on-site data
collection and analysis, and knowledge creation.
Within this area, research is conducted into the processes of creating, sharing,
and utilizing knowledge in groups, organizations, and society. Also, this area
educates knowledge managers who develop academic knowledge and practical
skills about knowledge management and management of technology (MOT) in
business corporations, governments, NPOs, and regional communities, thereby
producing technological, organizational, and social innovations.
Introduction to
Social Research
Methods
Introduction to
Business Economics
Introduction to
Cognitive Science
Introduction to
Computer
Programming
Introduction to Logic
Introductory Statistics
Introduction to
Mathematical
Approaches
A Basic Study on
Real World Oriented
Interfaces
gain the international communication skills and basic technological
skills necessary to professionals working in knowledge science,
classes on computer literacy, English, presentations and technical
writing, etc. are also provided. In addition, there are opportunities
for educational research, through ‘collaborative courses’ with other
research organizations. At the same time, using our connections
with overseas universities based on academic exchange agreements,
we provide opportunities for internships in a range of leading-edge
research projects, both in Japan and overseas.
Basic Courses
Introduction to
Knowledge Science 1
Methodology for
the Social Sciences
Technical
Courses
Advanced Courses
and Seminars
Theory of Knowledge
Management
The Knowledge
Society
Practice of
MOT Innovations
Economics and
Management of
Innovation
Introduction to
Service Innovation
Introduction to
Knowledge Science 2
Intellectual Property
Management
Methodology of
Artificial Intelligence
Methodology for
Knowledge Discovery
Programming
Web Intelligence
Introduction to
Knowledge Science 3
Methodology for
Systems Science
Representation
of Knowledge
Research Fields
Next-Generation
Management
of Technology
Next-Generation
Knowledge
Management
Advanced Topics on
New Generation
Knowledge
Representation
Advanced Topics
in Media Design
Theory on Creative
Process in Design
Cognitive Science
Essence of System
Methodologies
Complex Systems
Analysis
Modern Multivariate
Data Analysis
Social-Technical
Complex System
English / Skills
Subjects
English (Beginner to Advanced Level)
Scientific Discussions
Communication Skills
Presentation Seminar
Japanese Classes for International Students
Advanced Project Management
Interaction Seminar
NB: The subjects listed above are just examples of those available.
Number of students accepted
Master’s program 86
Doctoral program 28
Message from Dean,
School of Knowledge Science
Knowledge Science 2012
Towards a new era of knowledge science
Going beyond the limits of current scientific methodology,
we will educate people who will work in the ‘Knowledge Society’
of the future.
Towards knowledge that extends beyond the limits of
modern science
A great diversity by interacting faculties and students with
different background
On the other hand, the current age is an age in which science and
There is a great diversity in the origins of the students studying and
technology are reaching a historic turning point. Modern science, said to
researching at our School. There is an eclectic mix of students from
have begun in the 16th Century, has provided our society with huge
scientific backgrounds who have studied information science and natural
benefits up until the present day. However, due to extreme
science, physics and mathematics, to those with liberal arts backgrounds
segmentalization and specialization along with sophistication, it has
who have studied anthropology, management (including economics and
become more difficult for science to deal with large or complicated issues
marketing), and law. Our instructors have come from both domestic and
The 21st Century is said to be the age in which ‘knowledge’ will
that arise in actual society. For example, limits can be seen in terms of
international universities and organizations, or other research institutions,
be the center of activities in society, for example in economic
solutions to global environmental problems that will affect the human race
and have carried out research in a range of areas such as materials science,
in the future. And how should we apply science to matters such as ‘what is
systems science, cognitive science, information science, business
life?’, ‘what is the economy?’ or ‘what are organizations?’ which cannot
administration and scientific philosophy. Furthermore, the students and
be simplified as we do with physical laws? Furthermore, what do scientific
instructors have come from around the world but particularly from Asia
techniques mean for human feelings such as pleasure, happiness and
and Japan, thus a diverse group of talented people and a diversity of
satisfaction? Modern science and science/technology have, up until now,
knowledge interacts in one place, achieving a sense of collaboration and
divided in-depth parameters and thus pursued the subsequent
joint creativity. From within that dynamism, the potential for new
sophistication of functions, and have therefore been rather limited – for
knowledge is born, that disregards the borders of traditional disciplines,
possible will it be to create ‘knowledge’ which will lead to
example, the path that is the straightest and has the shortest distance is not
and the borders of peoples and countries.
innovations in society?
necessarily the most pleasurable, so it seems that it is time for a new
activities.
Conversely, modern science, said to have started in the 16th
Century, is reaching a significant turning point, in that though it
has become departmentalized and more specialized, it is possibly
becoming rather limited.
Going beyond the limits of modern scientific methodology, how
Thus with these issues in mind, the School of Knowledge Science
was created in 1998, as a world first for such a research and
educational organization.
Without regard for the framework of the sciences and humanities
and the borders of various other disciplines, we aim to educate the
talented people necessary for our future society, those who can
knowledge paradigm that will go beyond these limits. It is a necessity for a
fresh viewpoint that will link ‘humans’ and ‘technology’, and a completely
new paradigm that will fundamentally redefine which issues are really
Another special feature of our School is our educational research system
important for people to solve. I think what is necessary in the 21st Century
that uses two approaches – global and local (regional). Being global means
to respond to these issues is knowledge systems, the integration of
interacting with international students and instructors from Asia in
knowledge with liberal arts and science, and the integration of humanities
particular but from all over the world, and also providing a place where
with science/technology.
international-level advanced science and technological knowledge can be
identify and resolve problems, and those that will become
pioneers for the knowledge society.
Michitaka Kosaka
Global and Local
accessed at any time. At the same time, JAIST has its roots in its
Education of knowledge society pioneers with restructuring
and integrating established disciplines
community of Ishikawa Prefecture, and thus carries out practical field
The School of Knowledge Science was established on the basis of
to produce research outcomes that can potentially contribute to the local
work while coming into contact with folk knowledge originating from a
diversity of traditional craft techniques and historical culture. It thus aims
awareness of the above issues and current issues at the time. The School of
community. We have already given back to the community through
[Dean of the School of Knowledge Science / Professor in the Field of Service Knowledge]
Knowledge Science promotes the restructuring and integration of
various research outcomes such as product development using traditional
Dr. Engineering, Kyoto University
Previous employment: Systems Development Research Laboratory, Hitachi, Ltd
Areas of specialties: Service Innovation, Systems Engineering,
Research and Development Management
science/technology and humanities/social knowledge, and the development
techniques, and rejuvenation of tourism businesses, which provide students
of new knowledge systems. Without regard for the framework of the
with the perfect opportunity to apply ‘knowledge creation’ to real-life
sciences and humanities, and based on the concept of the harmonization of
situations.
‘humans, society, nature and science/technology’, we aim to restructure
and integrate ‘knowledge of nature’, ‘knowledge of society’, ‘knowledge
5
Creative people – come forth!
The School of Knowledge Science was established in 1998, and was rather
recognition of the issues of ‘the advent of the knowledge society’ and
of organizations’ and ‘knowledge of individuals’ in the various disciplines
rare internationally for being a research and education institute for the
‘overcoming modern scientific methodology’. Just as Drucker said, ‘The
of materials science, life science, cognitive science, information science,
Knowledge Science is a new type of science born out of a totally new
scientific study of knowledge. Renowned internationally as being the
most valuable asset of the 21st Century will be its knowledge,’ and so
systems science, to social science, business administration, economics,
mindset. Consequently, we expect those who study this science to be the
father of knowledge management and the author of ‘A Theory of
‘sophisticated knowledge’ and ‘specialized knowledge’ will become the
organizational theory and philosophy, in addition to educating talented
ones to create the academic structure. As a result, the applicants we are
Organizational Knowledge Creation’ Professor Ikujiro Nonaka was
focus of society’s activities in this age, such as the economic activities of
individuals who can identify the problems of the knowledge society and
looking for are, above all, those who have an awareness of the problems of
appointed the first Head of School. Since then, we have fostered a great
production and product distribution etc – that is a knowledge society. The
work to resolve these issues, in other words, educate the pioneers of the
current knowledge, and those who have a great desire to search out the
number of talented people responsible for the knowledge society
‘knowledge’ that we refer to here differs from simply ‘information’ but
knowledge society. In the Master’s program, we aim to foster ‘knowledge
problems of today’s science/technology and to try to resolve them. Our
(knowledge coordinators or Master’s Degree holders), and the researchers
includes management resources and sources of competitiveness, and the
coordinators (Master’s degree holders)’, who will work in the knowledge
doors are open to people who have a desire to open the way to the future of
in the new area of knowledge science (knowledge creators or PhD
imaginative and creative ability to ceaselessly carve out the future. A
society, and in the Doctoral program, we aim to foster ‘knowledge creators
humanity living in the 21st Century using ‘knowledge creation’ that goes
holders). Let us now examine why ‘knowledge science’ is necessary now,
‘knowledge society’ is coming, where the knowledge necessary for
(Doctor’s degree holders)’, who will research the knowledge society.
beyond the borders of so many disciplines. We sincerely look forward to
what the School of Knowledge Science is working towards, and what kind
creating unprecedented wealth, such as in the areas of new business
Furthermore, the school is divided into 4 fields, those of ‘Social
getting to know you.
of people the School of Knowledge Science is looking for.
solutions and policy making, will be important above all else, and all over
Knowledge’, ‘Knowledge and Media’, ‘System Knowledge’ and ‘Service
the world a big transformation is taking place in social systems where
Knowledge’. Our instructors, with experience in a variety of disciplines,
‘knowledge creation’ is at the core. In the midst of this huge change in
work hard to educate talented people for tomorrow’s knowledge society in
Why is Knowledge Science needed now?
society (that has already begun), the education of talented people who can
each field.
The School of Knowledge Science was established in response to the
attention in every sector of society.
act as leaders in the knowledge society has become an urgent matter for
6
List of Courses in the School
of Knowledge Science
Knowledge Science 2012
Introductory Courses
No.
No.
Course
Course
Instructor
No.
Course
Instructor
Instructor
K412
The Knowledge Society
Itov
K464
Embodied Cognitive Science
Fujinami
K111
Introduction to Business Economics
Yoshinaga, MacVaugh
K413
Comparative Study of Knowledge Institutions
Nagata
K465
Open Innovation
Hasegawa
K112
Introductory Statistics
Ho
K414
Complex Systems Analysis
Hashimoto
K466
Innovation Strategy
Niwa
K114
Introduction to Social Research Methods
Shirahada, Sugihara
K417
Methodology for Knowledge Discovery
Ho, Dam
K467
Medical Service Knowledge Science
Ikeda, Fujita, Hashida,
Introduction to Logic
Takaki
K418
Representation of Knowledge
Yuizono
K116
Introduction to Mathematical Approaches
Dam
K419
Enterprise Science
Ikawa
K468
Medical Service Management
Araki, Suzuki
Research & Development Management
Kosaka
K469
Knowledge Creation Support Systems
Nishimoto
K119
Introduction to Computer Programming
Kobayashi
K420
K121
Introduction to Cognitive Science
S. Hidaka
K421
Essence of System Methodologies
T. Yoshida
K470
Introduction to Knowledge Creation
Kunifuji, Yamaura
K122
Introduction to Medical/Health Services
Sato, Ikeda
K422
Intellectual Property Management
Togawa
K471
Media Creation
Miyata, Shiio
K123
A Basic Study on Real World Oriented Interface
Yamashita
K424
Technology Standardization
Nakabayashi
K472
Media Interaction
Nishimoto, Ogura
K124
Advanced Project Management – Basics
Mitsufuji
K425
Strategic Roadmapping
Ikawa
K473
Management of Innovation
Ikawa
K427
Theory on the Creative Process in Design
Nagai, Morita
K474
Systems Theory for Regional Activation
No.
Course
Instructor
Sumi
K432
Policy Studies for Research and Innovation
Hirasawa
K475
Practical Aspects of Venture Businesses
Akasaka, Wada, Akaba
K476
History and Philosophy of Science
N. Yoshida
Umemoto
K433
Practice of MOT Innovations
Kondo
K213
Methodology for Systems Science
Nakamori, Huynh
K440
Technology Marketing Management
Yamaoka, Kosaka, Shirahada
K214
Methodology of Artificial Intelligence
Kunifuji
K441
Business Accounting
Yamaguchi
K215
Economics and Management of Innovation
Ikawa
K442
JAIST-iMOST Open Seminar
K225
Programming Web Intelligence
Kanai
K443
Corporate Strategy
K229
Introduction to Knowledge Science 1
Introduction to Knowledge Science 2
Hashimoto, Dam, etc.
Yuizono, Ito, etc.
Tachi, Kondo, Kobayashi, Tamiya
Developing Management Skills in Engineers and Researchers
Methodology for the Social Sciences
K228
Nakamori, Kosaka, Ikeda,
K430
K211
K444
K447
Design Cognition
Advanced Project Management – Project and Program Management
Toyama
Nagai, Morita
Tanaka
Complete programs in a short period of time
Students demonstrating excellent academic achievement are able to complete
programs in a shorter period of time, as little as one year for Master’s and PhD
programs.
Sato, Araki, Suzuki
K115
Basic Courses
JAIST Advantages
4-Term System
The JAIST curriculum is divided into two semesters, each of which is further
divided into two terms to give students the optimum environment for intensive
study in a variety of areas.
Master’s Programs
Standard schedule for students entering in April, and completing the program
within two years.
First year
April
May
June
July
August
September
October
November
December
January
Fabruary
March
● Entrance Ceremony, Course Selection,
Term 1-1 Starts Temporary Lab Assignment
● Term 1-2 Starts
● KS Lab Assignment
● Summer Vacation
● Intensive Courses
● Term 2-1 Starts
● Term 2-2 Starts, Winter Vacation
● Finish Sub-theme Research (KS),
submit Master's Proposal
Second year
Advanced Courses
April
No.
Course
K611
Next-Generation Management of Technology
K612
K613
Next-Generation Knowledge Management
Social-Technical Complex Systems
Instructor
Kohda
Peltokorpi
Huynh
● Term 1-1 Starts, Begin research for Master's Thesis
May
June
● Term 1-2 Starts
July
● Application to Doctoral Course (if applicable)
August
September
October
● Mid-term Defense (KS)
● Term 2-1 Starts
November
K230
Introduction to Knowledge Science 3
Peltokorpi, Fujinami, etc.
K448
Introduction to Service Innovation
Kosaka, Funabashi, Yabutani
K615
K231
K232
K233
Introduction to Medical Service Science
Medical Knowledge Management
Medical Knowledge Management
Ikeda, Araki, Suzuki, Hashida,
K449
Nakamura, Kotsuki
Knowledge Representation
Ikeda, Yuizono, Arima,
Kitahara, Nagasaka
Izumi, Sato, Kotsuki
K451
Service Business in the Manufacturing Industry
Sumi
K619
Modern Multivariate Data Analysis
Ho, Dam
Ikeda, Umemoto, Nakamura
K452
Service Management
K. Hidaka
K620
Advanced Topics in Knowledge Science 1
Umemoto, Nishimoto, Yoshida
Araki, Suzuki
K455
Service Design and Social Infrastructure
Hashida, Izumi, Mori,
K621
Advanced Topics in Knowledge Science 2
To Be Announced (Later)
Ikeda, Takaki
K622
Advanced Topics in Knowledge Science 3
To Be Announced (Later)
K201
Advanced Knowledge Science A (Master’s Thesis)
Adviser
K205
Advanced Knowledge Science A (Research)
Adviser
K456
Network Service Innovation
Hayashi
K623
Advanced Topics in Social Knowledge
Kohda, Peltokorpi
K202
Knowledge Science Seminar A
Adviser
K457
Theory of Design Strategy
Nagai
K624
Advanced Topics in Knowledge Media
Knowledge Media Faculty
K458
Business and Ethnography
Ito
K625
Advanced Topics in Systems Knowledge
Systems Knowledge Faculty
K459
Service Business Trends in the Information Industry
Kohda, Akatsu, Nishioka
K626
Advanced Topics in Systems Knowledge
Intermediate Courses
No.
K411
7
Service Value Creative Modeling
Advanced Topics in New Generation
Course
Theory of Knowledge Management
Instructor
Miyata, Nagai, Kanai,
December
● Term 2-2 Starts
January
● Apply for Graduation
Fabruary
● Finish Master's Thesis
March
● Degree Ceremony
Research on main/sub themes
Research covers main and sub-themes. Students receive individualized support
for their main theme from their primary advisors and guidance for sub-themes
from their secondary advisors.
- Advisors provide individualized support to students throughout the research
and thesis-writing process.
- Students carry out individual or joint research on sub-themes in their
secondary advisors’ areas of specialization to increase their skill and gain
multifaceted perspectives.
NOTE: Some students begin their study at JAIST in October, so the dates of lab
assignment, research projectts, graduation, etc., will be different from those shown
here. Please check with your professor for more details.
Noma, Shinozawa, Koizumi
K460
Business Design Based on Information Technology
Yuura, Ono
Hirata, Peltokorpi,
K461
IT Service Architecture
Matsutsuka
K601
Advanced Knowledge Science B
Adviser
Nonaka, Toyama
K463
Methodology of Internet Service Development
Kohda, Yamagami, Takahashi
K602
Knowledge Science Seminar B
Adviser
8
Knowledge Media
Research on innovation management
and the systematization of technology management
Pursuing knowledge management in
healthcare services
Yasuo Ikawa Professor
Katsuhiro Umemoto Professor
http://www.jaist.ac.jp/~ikawa/
http://www.jaist.ac.jp/ks/labs/ikawa/index.html
ikawa@jaist.ac.jp
http://www.jaist.ac.jp/ks/labs/umemoto/ume-lab.html
ume@jaist.ac.jp
Q
Keywords: Technology Management, R&D Management, Technology Strategy, Electronics
& Semiconductor Industry Strategy, Innovation Management
Developing technology management from a global perspective and conducting research on
strategies for industrial competitiveness and innovation management for the next generation.
What is the area of research in your laboratory and how is
your laboratory operated?
The area of research is science and technology management. With
penetration of the Internet, global aspects of innovation management,
through which industries and companies gain competitiveness, are
becoming increasingly important to enrich our life. We carry out research
to discuss issues on related technology management and methodologies.
The general goal of the laboratory is to establish systematization of
technology and innovation management. Due to the constraint of allocated
student number, all students in the laboratory are working professionals in
Tokyo Satellite facilities. They are conducting research to solve problems
encountered in and around their organizations related to technology and
innovation management. It is my wish to support them who try to seek a
degree and at the same time pursue their goal in their business.
A
Q
What kind of future do you think we will have?
A Digitization and globalization brought by the information technology
has changed the scene of industrial competitiveness. Our lives
cannot be improved without pursing innovation. One of the ways to
make innovation happen is to close the gap between the real and the
ideal. However even innovation is realized, such competitiveness can be
easily lost due to the internet and global airline network, through which
knowledge can easily be diffused. Meanwhile 70 to 80 percent of the
GDP is produced by services sectors in developed countries. This trend
is accelerated as the economy is advanced. Here identifying the customer
needs is crucial, which is achieved by developing intuition, foresight
and vision creation ability, which can be realized through accumulating
experiences. If we can handle these abilities scientifically and logically,
it will lead to a new competitiveness. Is it possible? One of the answers
to it is for professionals to make every effort to accomplish their goals.
And this approach has been proven to be correct scientifically. I wish to
contribute to establishing managerial methods so that professionals’ efforts
can achieve to explore costumer’s latent needs, leading to strengthening the
competitiveness to create new values.
Q
9
Could you tell us about your background, experiences
related to your having become who you are, and
encounters with people that you found impressive?
Research
Interests
I majored in electronic engineering and worked on semiconductors. I
joined Toshiba Corporation and was assigned to the research center.
After conducting research on solar cells, I became a visiting research associate
at Stanford University. After returning from the USA to Toshiba, Japan, I
worked on the research and development of high-speed integrated circuits,
and then was assigned to research planning group to handle strategic research
planning of wide range of fields. As a result of this I was transferred to London,
England, where I was acting as research and technology representative in
Europe for Toshiba. I was involved in the project to establish and operate
research center at Cambridge collaborating with the University of Cambridge.
After returning to Japan from England, I was appointed a head of one of the
research laboratories, and then became the head of planning group at the
research center, and later became chief research officer in charge of managing
global research and development. I then joined JAIST to contribute to education
and research in the field of Technology Management based on my experiences
in the industry sector. To conduct the duty at JAIST, my experiences at
Toshiba, Stanford University and University of Cambridge turned out to be
precious, of which I had not been aware during the time I spent there. I am
now collaborating with them in doing projects in JAIST’s Center for Advanced
Education for Working Professionals, of which I am a director. Based on
this experience, I can now suggest and assure to you that what you are doing
today will turn out to be a very precious one in the future in an unforeseeable
way, thus making every effort on current projects, believing it will be fruitful
experience in the future, is a very positive and forward-looking attitude.
A
Q
What is your message for students interested in studying
knowledge science?
As a member of the staff at the School of Knowledge Science, I
hope to cultivate excellent human resources with the following six
attributes: I would like to cultivate, firstly, individuals who understand and
facilitate teamwork; secondly, individuals capable of developing their own
ideas while carefully listening to and fully digesting different opinions; thirdly,
individuals who think and communicate from a global perspective; fourthly,
individuals who are highly motivated to achieve their goals; fifthly, individuals
who actively exchange opinions beyond the boundaries of generation and
background, and sixthly, individuals who understand the necessity of pursuing
the depths of knowledge creation and the need to prepare an excellent
environment, feel the pleasure of doing so, and take initiative in pursuing such
an environment. With these efforts, I hope that each of our students will become
special individual who can create innovation and contribute to future society.
A
Q
Keywords: Knowledge Management
Knowledge management in healthcare services
What do you think knowledge science is and how do you
see the role of your research in the field?
Knowledge science targets “knowledge.” Knowledge science
includes data, information, knowledge, and wisdom, and seeks
answers to the questions: “What is knowledge?” and “How is knowledge
created?” Why do we call this field of study “knowledge science?” The
reason is tied to the historical background of our shift from an informationoriented society to an information society and to a knowledge society along
with development of society and the information and telecommunication
technology. In addition to this the fact that the term “knowledge”
conveniently encompasses the concepts of data, information, and wisdom.
Figure 2 3P3E Model of Knowledge
Engenders
A
Figure 1 Knowledge Pyramid
Wisdom
Knowledge
Information
Data
Action
Systematization
Analysis
As shown in Figure 1, data, information, knowledge, and wisdom can be
described as a pyramid. Data are a series of signals and symbols with no
intrinsic meaning. Fragments of meaning extracted through data analysis
are information. A wide range of useful and systematic information that is
connected and leads to action is knowledge. Knowledge whose usefulness
is proven over a long period of time is wisdom.
Furthermore, knowledge has three facets – power, process, and product –
whose relationship is shown in Figure 2. Intellectual power is fundamental
knowledge, which is called intelligence or creativity. The intellectual
process is knowledge as ideas, predictions, or actions that create
knowledge. Intellectual product is knowledge on enhancing the intellectual
ability of individuals, groups, and organizations such as theses, patents,
and technology. These three aspects of knowledge are also the subjects of
knowledge science.
Process
Product
Enables
Enhances
Systems Knowledge Service Knowledge
Research
Interests
Knowledge Media
Service Knowledge Systems Knowledge
Knowledge Science 2012
Social Knowledge
Social Knowledge
Professors
and
Associate Professors
Power
What I have described above was acquired through studies on knowledge
management, my area of specialization, which is theory and practice
related to the creation, sharing, and utilization of knowledge. Based on
this, I carry out studies on knowledge management in healthcare services.
Healthcare is extremely knowledge-intensive, jointly created by patients
and their families with cooperation from professionals within a system
that includes more than 10 nationally certified work categories. I consider
human resources, technology, organization, and knowledge as the elements
of the system and conduct research on the on-site sharing, utilization, and
creation of knowledge using smart phones and iPad through field work and
bibliographic surveys.
Q
In what way does your research contribute to society?
As of 2010, the population of individuals 65 years old or older
accounted for 23.1% of the entire Japanese population, which
defines Japan as a super-aging society. The elderly tend to suffer from a
number of diseases at the same time, which has become the major cause
of the increase of medical costs, and the financial burden on the country
has become a significant problem. In addition to the cost of caring for the
country’s aging population, the cost of medical devices and the creation of
new drugs, which requires cutting-edge scientific technology, and the shift
in the focus of healthcare from acute conditions such as infectious diseases
to chronic conditions such as diabetes are increasing the cost of medical
care. I conduct research aimed not only at restraining medical costs, but
effectively utilizing the knowledge possessed by patients, their families, and
medical professionals working as a team for the improvement of healthcare
and QOL. Furthermore, to establish medical welfare for home care that
supports better end-of-life care, it is also essential to work with nursing-care
specialists through the integration of health and welfare services. I hope to
contribute to the sharing, creation, and utilization of knowledge with smart
phones and tablet computers.
A
10
Knowledge Media
Cultural anthropology in the fields of science and
technology, medical and health care, and business
and industry
Discovering knowledge from data with background
knowledge and expectations from
a wide range of information resources
Yasunobu Ito Associate Professor
Saori Kawasaki Research Associate Professor
http://www.jaist.ac.jp/profiles/info.php?profile_id=00427
itoyasu@jaist.ac.jp
http://www.jaist.ac.jp/profiles/info.php?profile_id=384&syozoku=33&p=kekka2
skawasa@jaist.ac.jp
Keywords: Cultural Anthropology (Anthropology of Knowledge), Sociology of Knowledge
Q
What is the social significance of your academic field and
its research?
A "Make the strange familiar, and the familiar strange". Anthropologists
have made the strange familiar, by traditionally investigating ways
of life of the people living in simple small-scale societies in remotest areas,
and by demonstrating that those ways of life, however strange they seem
to "us", are coherent and make sense in their social and cultural context.
This has provided perspectives from which our everyday surroundings
begin to seem not "natural" and even strange. In this way, anthropologists
have shown what shapes "the familiar" and how complex such things are
through the ethnographic research approach. This anthropological approach
contributes towards clarifying and revitalising human culture and lives.
Recently, anthropological perspectives or ethnographic methodologies
have come to be widely applied with the aforementioned approach to
clarify problems hidden in plain sight in studies on business administration,
nursing science, and science and technology studies, especially in the US
and European countries. Anthropologists in these countries engage in
a variety of fields. However, in Japan anthropologists have not actively
engaged in fields such as business and industry. Our lab is keen to play
an active role in such fields in Japan, and tries to open the potential of
anthropological/ethnographic methodology in the fields such as science and
technology, medical and health care, and business and industry.
Q
What is the meaning for students in this area of study?
There are many graduate schools both at home and abroad with
cultural anthropology programmes. However, the Graduate School of
Knowledge Science can offer an interdisciplinary environment to students
without requiring an undergraduate background in anthropology and related
fields. My students (members of our laboratory) come from varied academic
backgrounds: as undergraduates, some specialised in management and
business administration, others in nursing science, pedagogy, engineering,
or chemistry. This produces unique research results that are not possible at
other graduate schools. Providing opportunities to study anthropology for
students from undergraduate programmes in engineering makes it possible
for them to combine knowledge acquired in their earlier studies with
ethnography to diagnose problems at manufacturing facilities. This is just
one example, but such approaches have the potential of producing new and
unique research in ethnography that cannot be achieved by students trained
only in narrowly-defined anthropology from their undergraduate years.
A
11
Q
What are you interested in now?
I was involved in long-term field research in communities in
New Zealand, which were used in my doctoral thesis and in other
publications. Since then, I have been working in the following areas:
- Comparative ethnographic research targeting experimental laboratories
in research universities, focusing on diversity in scientific research
and understanding the dynamics and processes of producing scientific
knowledge.
- Ethnography for medical information at hospitals - understanding and
evaluating daily work practice of medical practitioners while considering
organisational culture.
- Investigating the possibilities and limitations of ethnographic research in
the context of Japanese business, such as consumer behaviour, business
improvement, and usability.
A
Q
What skills do you want your students to have and what
roles do you want them to play?
Lab graduates in cultural anthropology have much potential not
just academically, but also in the professional world. In the US and
UK, researchers are working at companies that utilise their background in
anthropology to create and conduct consumer research. The majority of
those who have doctoral degrees in anthropology in the US are engaged in
such practical activities at companies and non-profit organisations. There
are also some who establish consulting companies using anthropological
methods (ethnography), although this is not yet common in Japan.
Considering that Japan will follow such a model soon or later, I started
offering classes connecting industry and business with ethnography at
the Tokyo Satellite Campus. I hope that students will seek and apply the
potential and practicality of the methods used in anthropology in a wide
range of fields.
A
Research
Interests
Q
Keywords: Knowledge Discovery Process, Knowledge Discovery in Technology
Management, Medical Data Mining
Studies on methods of extracting characteristic patterns from related data, knowledge
discovery processes utilizing a wide range of information resources, database and mining
installing professional interests
What do you think knowledge science is and the role of
your research in the field?
A What could be indicated by the word “knowledge”, which is the
main theme in knowledge science, often tends to be just the object
of the knowledge, while it is closely tied with what knows it. Therefore,
my understanding of knowledge science includes not only knowledge itself
but also the integration process of the knowledge and its owner and/or
processor.
Currently, my main research area is knowledge discovery from medical data
including genome sequences, clinical records of patients at hospitals and
so on. For example, “interferon plus ribavirin therapy is a current standard
treatment for chronic hepatitis C” is a kind of medical knowledge and fact,
being used in the medical practices or researches. Knowledge discovery
from medical data is a way to discover such useful knowledge, rules or
patterns from medical data by using computational methods. Medical
knowledge is related to the life and its subsidiaries, which are based on not
only natural rules but also complex factors of lives. Therefore in order to
approach medical knowledge, both objective correctness as natural science
and subjective intuition, experience and knowledge of medical experts are
indispensable.
Q
What got you interested in this area?
I have been working on knowledge discovery and data mining,
especially on frameworks and methods of discovering knowledge
from medical data since my master course while I majored in literature and
human geography during my undergraduate, quite different each other. The
secret of this trick is that I happened to join JAIST after several years of
working experience with the motivation for understanding success factor
differences between Japanese companies and foreign companies. Then,
after joining JAIST, I happened to take a lecture “Knowledge Emergence”
by Professor Sakurai and Professor Ho with the textbook “Machine
Learning” written by Tom Mitchell. There were many interesting and new
idea for me in the lecture including PAC (Probably Approximately Correct)
learning, a convincing idea, then I shift my target area.
A
Q
What kind of student were you?
My undergraduate life consisted of the activity in club and chatting
in the laboratory. The atmosphere in the laboratory was very open
and liberal. The members in the laboratory used to exchange everything
related to their interests, not only in research. Even I did not understand
clearly what we were talking about, I got used to adjusting the way of
thinking with comprehensive and various views, which has affinity also
with knowledge science. With appreciation to my supervisor, Professor
Nozawa of Kyushu University and the laboratory members, one of topics
I sometimes remember from that period is “any objective fact may also
reflect somebody’s philosophy or values”, a note for me even during
handling data quantitatively.
The other thing I would like to mention here is that I have learnt much
more from practices than from indirect learning. My working experience
in companies and other organizations has convinced me that the actual
involvement and spending enough time lead me real and substantive
knowledge. Therefore I would like to advice younger people not to hesitate
to directly try new things.
A
Q
Systems Knowledge Service Knowledge
Research
Interests
Using anthropological and ethnographic research methods, and regarding human knowledge
as "always already" situated and embedded in its social, cultural, and historical context,
our lab investigates the process of generation and creation of knowledge with attention to
its diversity and dynamic characteristics. The main research sites of our lab are science and
technology, medical and health care, and business and industry.
Knowledge Media
Service Knowledge Systems Knowledge
Knowledge Science 2012
Social Knowledge
Social Knowledge
Professors
and
Associate Professors
What are interested in now?
The computational methods can suggest various possibilities from
data. My major interests focus on discovering patterns based on
correct interpretations in the target domain as well as on methods to
integrate appropriate computational methods.
In addition, currently I serve for “Center for Advanced Education for
Working Professionals”, and am luckily having chances to discuss with
experts in the fields of management and communications who have
impressed me by their wide range of interests and warm insights on Japan
and Japanese. It seems also interesting and challenging to find and to
construct such great insights from public literature, or discovering patterns
appearing in human activities, while it is not always true that the significant
idea is clearly described in writings because “what is essential is invisible to
the eye”.
A
12
Knowledge Media
Research laboratory focusing on groups
and organizations
Pursuing knowledge management in
higher education
Vesa Peltokorpi Associate Professor
Toru Hayashi Research Associate Professor
vesap@jaist.ac.jp
http://www.jaist.ac.jp/profiles/info.php?profile_id=559
h-tooru@jaist.ac.jp
Q
What type of skills do you want your students to have?
I would like students to have at least some basic understanding of
management or organizational psychology and research methods.
Students should also be self-guided and willing to learn.
A
Q
What is your philosophy or motto, or what things do you
like to keep in mind while conducting your research?
I seek to conduct research in structured and productive manner. By
structured, I mean that I seek first to find a research topic that is
interesting (to scholars and practitioners) and executable (either by surveys
and/or interviews). Obviously, different methodologies should fit with the
research questions. Essential in the beginning of the project is to conduct
a thorough literature review in order to know what has been done on that
topic and what we still don't know. In addition, it is important to choose
theoretical framework(s) through which a given phenomenon is described.
The theoretical framework will also guide the methodological choice and
all other areas of research. The methodology, findings, and discussion of
findings should be conducted then in a structured way.
By productive, I mean that all research projects should eventually lead
to publications in peer reviewed scientific journals. Normally, I present
my papers first in international conferences and seek feedback from
other scholars active in the same area. These conference presentations
and scholarly feedback enables me to revise my paper and reduce some
matters I might have overlooked. Finally, the paper needs to be submitted
to peer-reviewed scientific journals. To me, a conference presentation is
not the end, but just one stage of research project. Simply, to me papers
that are not published in journals are wasted effort. From beginning to the
end, it takes normally from two to five years to publish a paper in a peerreviewed scientific journal. Taken account the time and effort invested, my
message to research students is that research projects should be conducted
in structured and productive manner.
A
Q
What are your current interests?
Currently, my research deals mostly with international human
resource management and group cognition. My recent and ongoing
research projects on international human resource management deal with
issues, such as job satisfaction, job embeddedness (i.e., why individuals
choose to stay in their organizations), transfer of human resource
management practices (such as compensation systems) within multinational
companies (MNCs), language policies and practices in MNCs and foreign
subsidiaries, and cross-cultural communication and adjustment of expatriate
employees. I have derived my empirical material on these topics through
semi-structured interviews and/or surveys. Most of my empirical material
on international human resource management is gathered from foreign
subsidiaries and foreign expatriates in Japan. Most of these studies have
been or will be published in human resource management and international
business journals.
In group cognition, my recent and ongoing research projects deal with
transactive memory systems (that can be described as shared cognitive
division of labor used to encode, store, and retrieve information in teams),
determinants of team innovation, boundary spanning activities, team
learning, and team leadership. In my opinion, most of this research is
loosely connected to psychology-oriented knowledge management (even
though researchers by themselves often do not define it as knowledge
management). This research is based mostly on surveys. For example, I
have collected data from daycare center teams and technology research
teams in Finland. Most of these studies have been or will be published in
organizational behavior or psychology journals.
Q
A
Q
What is knowledge science? What do you think about the
role of your research in knowledge science?
A Knowledge science deals with various knowledge-related issues.
The role of part of my research in knowledge science is to examine
innovation-related issues in teams.
How can your research possibly address problems faced
by our modern society?
A
Perhaps my research can address issues related to social interactions
determining innovation and performance in teams.
Definition of Knowledge Science: Broadly, how do you
view the discipline of knowledge science? And how does
your research fit into this discipline?
At first glance, Knowledge Science is very applicable and convenient
discipline for society. However, I think that we have to focus on
Knowledge Science from philosophical point of view. Knowledge Science
would become borderless discipline over races and countries.
A
Q
Social Significance of your Research: What kind of
contribution do you think your research will have
(or you hope it will have) to what kind of issues in
today’s society?
I am interested in Knowledge Management for non-profit
organization. In particular, I am continuing to focus on
Organizational Development for Universities. Because Japanese
universities are required to accountability, they have to establish effective
and clear management style. I wish that my research will contribute to the
improvement of the management on Japanese Universities.
Q
Firstly, you will have to find interesting thing. If you keep passion
for it, you will go ahead to good research. Secondly, you will have to
respect others and other fields. If you can listen to others and other fields,
you will be able to broaden your brain. Finally, you will have to manage
yourself. Because there are time and space limitations, you need to make a
decision for selecting your career.
A
Q
Educational Philosophy: As an educator, and as a
researcher, what is your philosophy or motto?
A
Persistence pays off. So don’t give up. Just keep trying.
Q
Message to Students: As someone with experience in the
knowledge science discipline, do you have a message for
prospective students?
A
Q
Motivation for your Research: How did you become
interested in your topic of research, and what was the
motive for starting your research?
I have had experience as an administrative staff for over 10 years. I
think that Universities have three functions; Education, Research and
Administration. Although Faculties are the expert for disciplinary education
and research, there is few staff to expertise the university management.
Currently tacit process still remains at decision making. Therefore, I began
to take a challenge to making the university management clear.
Expectation of Research Students: Please tell us what you
expect of your research students, and what is important
in terms of expected quality and the fields in which they
should have an interest etc.
I hope that you will present and implement the results of your
research. I would like you try to become a social innovator using
Knowledge Science.
A
A
Q
Picture of the Future: Based on your viewpoint of your
specialist field, what kind of society do you foresee in
the future?
A I think that it is very necessary to collaborate with theory and
practice. Our research will have to be contributed to society. While
we struggle to feed back and feed forward between theory and practice, we
will make a consensus and get understanding.
Interactive Organization Model for University Management
For Local and Global Community
For Student
For Student
University Administrator
University Administrator
（President, Trustee etc.）
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Q
(1) Research for Quality Assurance System on Higher Education
(2) Research for Learning Outcomes on Graduate Education
(3) Practice for Organizational Development concerning Faculties, Staffs and Students
(4) Practice for Collaboration with Local Universities and Governments
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13
Research
Interests
The influence of human resource management(HRM) practices on social interaction
processes performance, and innovation in teams and organizations
Systems Knowledge Service Knowledge
Research
Interests
Keywords: Knowledge Management for non-profit organization, Higher Education Theory,
Organizational Development for Universities, Local Community and Culture
Keywords: Knowledge management, International human resource management,
Transactive memory systems
Knowledge Media
Service Knowledge Systems Knowledge
Knowledge Science 2012
Social Knowledge
Social Knowledge
Professors
and
Associate Professors
Generation
14
Knowledge Media
How can tacit knowledge be crystallized
into explicit knowledge ?
How to realize creativity support systems ?
Research on the knowledge creation process from the
viewpoint of design. Inquiry into the state of design
directly linked with society.
Susumu Kunifuji Professor
Yukari Nagai Professor
http://css.jaist.ac.jp/
kuni@jaist.ac.jp
http://www.jaist.ac.jp/ks/labs/nagai/cgi-bin/Japanese/
ynagai@jaist.ac.jp
Q
Keywords: Creativity Support System
Research and development of creativity support systems which make use of knowledgebase, groupware, and awareness technology.
What is knowledge science is and what do you see as the
role of your research in this field?
A I see knowledge science as the integration of knowledge creation
and knowledge verification. Based on the W-style problem-solving
model proposed by Jiro Kawakita as a methodology for knowledge
science, I created a problem-solving process model (abduction, deduction,
and induction) to clarify the relationship between the W-style problemsolving model and C.S. Pierce’s Principles of Philosophy. I am attempting
to clarify the relationship between the W-style problem-solving model and
the SECI model proposed by Ikujiro Nonaka, and establish my own theory
of discover and invention in response to given difficult question, which is
how tacit knowledge can be crystallized into explicit knowledge. Process
model in the W-style problem-solving methodology consist of presenting
the problem, understanding the existing status related to the problem, and
generating hypothesis, evaluation & decision-making & policy-making,
forming a grand plan, forming a detailed plan, establishing a practical
procedure, action, verification, conclusion and reflection.
Q
What got you interested in this area?
A The biggest influence was Mineo Omoto, the science club advisor
when I was in the first grade of junior high school. I asked him“,
If we can give lower pressure, will we get more distilled water? ” He
suggested that I make an apparatus to find the answer to my question.
It spent a month during summer vacation creating a reduced-pressure
distillation apparatus, which won the top prize at the municipal and
prefectural science exhibitions. It also took a special prize at the Yomiuri
Shimbun nationwide invitational contest. My confidence and interest in
science during junior high school grew. In high school I got interested
in puzzles. When I was at university, I made a creativity study team in
the psychology club, and met great teachers such as Otoya Miyagi, Jiro
Kawakita and Masahiro Mori. After I was a researcher of IIAS-SIS, Fujitsu
limited, I solved several puzzles using a Lisp programming language.
It helped a lot for participation in the Japanese 5th generation computer
project. I was happily surprised that famous puzzle collections ”Nob
Collections” are presented to JAIST. I truly feel that life is a chain of human
connections.
15
Research
Interests
Q
What is your guiding principle or motto as an educator?
I try my best to encourage students and focus on what they are
good at in order to develop their strong points. In addition to this
encouragement, I give them small goals that they can achieve to give them
experience with success, which is based on the Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi’s
“Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience.” I learned this approach in
a natural way from my mother who was really a nice educator. It is difficult
to always find the right challenge for each student, but I try to tailor my
guidance to fit the specific areas that my students have chosen, areas that
may become their lifework, which seems to motivate them. In order to do
so, I think it is important to present problems, conduct surveys, and find
essential hypotheses(abduction) that can be achieved with effort. From
that point, students can start creating proposals that lead to their studies in
master’s or doctoral programs. Because all of the students choose their own
study themes, they put their full energy into them.
A
Q
Would you tell us a bit about your background,
experiences related to your having become who you are?
When I was in my second year at the Tokyo Institute of Technology,
there was a famous strike, which had me looking for things to do
with myself until it finished. I became involved in the Kurohime Nomadic
University (which is 2-weeks camp) established by Jiro Kawakita, a cultural
anthropologist, who had resigned from the Tokyo Institute of Technology
when the strike started. I also became involved in the Lake Ira Nomadic
University as a member of a working group. Nomadic Universities were
offered 22 times in the 20th century and fostered excellent human resources.
I published “The Problem-Solving Methodology‒ KJ Method Workbook
(1970, Kodansha)” with Jiro Kawakita and Shin-ichi Makishima. They
printed 23 editions, and it became a best-seller. I gave a copy to Toshio
Kitagawa, Professor at Kyushu University, as a gift. I joined the Institute
for IIAS-SIS, Fujitsu Limited (which Director was Dr. Toshio Kitagawa)
after finishing the master’s program. At IIAS-SIS, I was involved in studies
on artificial intelligence, during which I utilized my experience working
on puzzles. And now I am working at the School of Knowledge Science
utilizing the network developed at the Nomadic Universities. Utilizing the
network, I worked on a mini-nomadic university project, a 1-week camp for
group knowledge creation education, and validated the effectiveness of the
mini-mobile university for regional revitalization in local settlements.
A
Q
Keywords: Design (design creativity, design knowledge, creative thinking processes)
Mechanism elucidation and practice of design thinking. Design innovation processes for
connecting new materials and technologies with people’s livelihoods.
How do you define the discipline of knowledge science?
In my opinion, knowledge science is an incomplete discipline. As
there are journeys without destinations, perhaps there can be projects
without endings. What is important in such processes is the element that
makes one resolve to move in a certain direction; in other words, incentive.
Creativity is linked to being driven by an adventurous spirit to head toward
a world that seems uncertain but somewhat interesting, and find out what
it really is with one’s own eyes, rather than simply selecting a popular or
secure path. Sensitive emotion and individuality create the shape of this is
the shape of this new academic field of knowledge science.
A
Q
What constitutes the social significance of your research?
Creativity and creativeness. There has been no period when the
power of design has been sought so earnestly as today. For example,
in order for a product to gain popularity and to be used for a long time,
it needs to be excellently designed. Furthermore, good design does not
provide a final complete form in advance, but rather the design is improved
to fit in with the surroundings, with the involvement of many people in
the world, and it is necessary to establish a design development structure
that incorporates a process like this. I think ecological design, sustainable
design, and barrier-free design are some issues directly connected with our
ideals of how society should be.
A
Q
which originally had developed from the students’ interests, involved very
challenging research that vividly captured the knowledge creation processes
in terms of design.
Q
What type of student were you? What experiences and
meetings made an impact on you when you were a
student?
Systems Knowledge Service Knowledge
Research
Interests
Knowledge Media
Service Knowledge Systems Knowledge
Knowledge Science 2012
Social Knowledge
Social Knowledge
Professors
and
Associate Professors
I spent my student days in an extremely creative environment at an
art university, and as might be expected, I was making something
every day. I was always thinking about the act of creation, searching for
methods of creating my artworks, and wondering about this concept all
the time. Once I started creating my artworks, I became so immersed
that I neglected all other things. Every other student around me was like
this, thinking about nothing but their art. That environment was one that
went beyond creative (laughs). That was a group that was bubbling with
personality, where even inconsequential matters ignited stormy debates.
These debates were always really serious, placing me in an overwhelmingly
tense atmosphere. So, I was just a normal student in that environment. But
once I step outside all that, I am nothing but an eccentric individual, right?
A
What type of personality and skills do you expect your
students to have?
A It is wonderful if they have the ability to feel design. Such ability
may spring from imagination, sensibility, or intellectual curiosity.
It may be largely influenced by past experience, by something they have
in their memory or they were impressed with. Anyway, such ability will
serve as the trigger for the students to work intensively on something,
and enhance creativity in individuals and in teams. It seems to me that
any student who has an obsession about something, even if it is not welldefined. Tends to understand the true nature of design while having a
certain eagerness for their dreams and research.
For example, research topics of the students who graduated last March,
such as “Influence of Music on Drawing,” “Observation of Moving
Images for Searching Needs,” “Embodied Synchrony between Salesclerk
and Customer in an Apparel Shop,” and “Feel and Impression of Glass,”
Experiment on visual
impressions
Design of lighting products
Mark design
(Designs by students)
Study on the sense of touch
16
Knowledge Media
Discovering potential creativity
Expanding the base of human resources capable of
pursuing knowledge creation
Developing methods for creating knowledge
from large and complex data.
Kazushi Nishimoto Professor
Tu Bao HO Professor
http://www.jaist.ac.jp/ks/labs/knishi/
knishi@jaist.ac.jp
http://www.jaist.ac.jp/~bao/
bao@jaist.ac.jp
Keywords: Creativity Support System
Q
Research and development focused upon realizing universal media systems for creation that
allow for everyone, professionals and amateurs alike, to use and communicate the results of
creative thinking easily, appropriately, and directly.
What is the significance of your research for society?
I am working to create a society in which everyone can enjoy worthwhile, fulfilled, and happy lives. More and more people, men and
women alike, have trouble feeling that their existence has meaning. This
has led to a loss of social vitality. To correct this, it is extremely important
for us to feel needed or that our existence is meaningful to society. I am
promoting research and development focusing on universal media systems
for creation utilizing information communication technology that allows us
to contribute to society and the people around us with our potential creativity. We do not know all the creative abilities we have; and even if we notice
some of them, we cannot exercise such abilities at will. There are only
limited numbers of people who can fully exercise their abilities. However, it
does not mean that others do not have creativity. We have creativity that has
not been exercised or that we have not noticed yet in ourselves. Universal
media systems for creation allow everyone to fully exercise their own
creativity through the discovery of such potential creativity and making it
possible to use it freely. From the viewpoint of knowledge science, this is
an approach to expanding the base of human resources capable of pursuing
knowledge creation. I believe my studies will contribute to a significant
improvement in the productivity of overall knowledge creation and
standards of new knowledge to be produced.
A
Q
I am interested in making creative activities possible. In order to do
so, I am working on research and development for a wide range of
systems and media utilizing computers. However, people often misunderstand me. I am not interested in creating systems that automatically create
things. For example, I like music and want to be able to compose and play.
In order to realize this, I am working on information system research targeting music. Automatic composition and performance are a major area of
research in the field of music information processing. As the name suggests,
the research is carried out for the purpose of creating systems for automatic
composition and performance. Such research, I believe, is significantly
meaningful as science that seeks to clarify the mechanism of thought when
humans create music. However, frankly speaking, creation of such systems
does not make me happy at all because the music and performance created
by such systems are not what I want to achieve. What I think musical
creativity is cannot be correctly reflected in such systems. Creation is an
ultimate human activity that brings intellectual excitement and satisfaction
to us. Therefore, I think humans should do the creating. Why do we need to
give such a special human ability to machines? I believe that engineering
research and development in machines that create is not now and never will
be beneficial for humans. I know some may criticize my opinion; however,
it is my individual principle and motto. Therefore, my study group does
not work on research related to the automation of creation because I do not
want to do it. Humans create things. I will continue working on research
and development for systems and media that support the creative activity of
humans.
What do you want students to learn through their
research?
Highly-advanced technology is not always necessary for the creation
of systems and media that support the creative activity of humans.
In many cases, we can create such systems and media utilizing existing
technology. What is important is the ability to objectively observe and analyze the creative activity of humans, and to have insight into the problems
and limitations that are not noticeable even for those who are involved in
creative activity. I hope all students will develop these two abilities.
A
Family Ensemble is musical performance media that discovers creativity
in musical performance: Allowing children and parents with little or no
experience playing the piano to enjoy dual play and succeed in exercising
their potential ability to create musical expression.
What is your principle or motto as a researcher?
A
Q
17
Research
Interests
Q
Keywords: Machine Learning, Knowledge Discovery and Data Mining,
Computational Science
We are planning to copy this entry from the web site. If you want changes from the web site,
write your research interests.
What is knowledge science? What do you think about the
role of your research in knowledge science?
Knowledge science can be viewed as the science about creating and
using knowledge. Knowledge can be created and used by human
or by machine, and our research- on machine learning and data mining- is
about how machine can create knowledge from big and complex data.
Q
What is your educational philosophy or motto, or what
things do you like to keep in mind when interacting with
your students?
A
The essence is to educate the self-educated ability.
Q
What type of student were you? What experiences and
meetings made an impact on you when you were a
student?
A
To be an indispensable and complementary part of the supervisor
research.
Q
What are your current interests?
A
Q
How can your research possibly address problems faced
by our modern society?
A We are living in the most exciting time of our modern society with
computer and the internet, and thus there are much more data around
us than ever before. As a consequence, we are facing with the problem
of how to deal with such huge data in our daily life, for example, how to
find information on the web, or how to evaluate the risk of our business
concerning trends of the financial market and the economy changes. Such
kinds of problems can be solved using data mining methods to analyze
voluminous and complex data.
Q
What is your basic idea on laboratory management?
Our lab is managed based on the self-awareness of the lab members.
I focus on educating the scientific methodology and the ability of
self-educated for students. We conduct such training by regular study and
research seminars, regular discussion between each student and supervisor.
I encourage students to think freely and to pursue challenging researches.
A
Q
Systems Knowledge Service Knowledge
Research
Interests
Knowledge Media
Service Knowledge Systems Knowledge
Knowledge Science 2012
Social Knowledge
Social Knowledge
Professors
and
Associate Professors
My current interest is to achieve significant results in my research in
the next five years, especially those in simulation-based data mining
and mathematical models and methods in biomedicine.
A
Q
What is your message for undergraduates who are
interested in knowledge science?
Knowledge science is a new science that will play an essential
role on our society. You are pioneers in this science and you will
contribute to make it wonderful as it should be.
A
What are the advantages of being a student at Jaist, the
school of KS, and your lab?
Students can learn new and unique content on knowledge science.
In our lab, we aim to reach the top level of research in machine
learning and data mining.
A
18
Knowledge Media
Seeking helpful ways of using CG, technology that has
become fundamental for society
Look forward to establish a new computer-based
knowledge discovery process for natural science
Kazunori Miyata Professor
DAM HIEU CHI Associate Professor
http://www.jaist.ac.jp/~miyata
miyata@jaist.ac.jp
http://www.jaist.ac.jp/profiles/info.php?profile_id=417
dam@jaist.ac.jp
Keywords: CG, Media Integration, Procedural Modeling, Material Expression
Q
I am interested in CG, especially in procedural modeling and Material expression along with
the development of interactive systems combining media technology and sensing devices.
In order to produce new methods of expression, I employ CG technology and technology in
surrounding fields.
What got you interested in this area?
When I was an elementary school student, I loved watching TV
shows and movies, especially, films that had special effects. This was
before CG technology had been developed, but I was so excited by the trick
photography involving monster costumes and analogue technology. The
ability to thrill or move audiences with film attracted me, and I remember
that I kept drawing imaginary monsters and future cities in my sketchbooks.
When I was in the 12th grade, I was exposed to a one-board microcomputer
called the TK-80 and learned about using computers for calculations.
Soon after I entered university, I bought an Apple II and learned computerassisted drawing. The invader game boom got me interested in video
games, which motivated me to learn CG. Although I was studying in the
Department of Applied Physics, I joined a lab dealing with graphics to
finish my thesis. When I entered graduate school, movie makers were
starting to use CG, which got me even more interested in CG.
A
Q
What areas do you emphasize with your students?
Student progress in my laboratory should very much be a function of
proactive thinking. However, it is often the case that students have
not yet developed this type of thinking when they enter graduate school;
therefore, I recommend that they participate in the International Collegiate
Virtual Reality Contest (IVRC) as a place to learn how to work on
research. The IVRC gives students a chance to learn a series of processes
in manufacturing, such as idea creation, plan writing and presentation,
system equipment, and system exhibition, for a half year. During this half
year, students show remarkable growth in the development of their thought
processes as well as improvement in skills. After participating in the IVRC,
students continue their research along their individual themes. Throughout
their research, I discuss the themes that students have proposed to give
ongoing advice tailored to their individual projects. I believe that a topdown approach in which instructors assign themes to students does not give
them a chance to grow.
A
Q
What is the meaning for students in this area of study?
My specialty is CG technology, which is a fundamental technology
that has already deeply penetrated into our lives. Therefore,
CG technology itself will expand and improve as media and interface
technology. What will be important from now is to consider carefully both
A
19
how and to what we can apply the existing technology, and how it can
be used to improve our lives. The School of Knowledge Science tries to
provide education not focusing on technology, but focusing on knowledge
creation, including what is necessary for knowledge to be of value to
others, what kind of problems exist, and how to solve problems. Needless
to say, the School of Knowledge Science not only provides students the
opportunity to learn technology itself, but also provides students a place
to utilize value obtained from others and produce new value. Students at
this school have a wide range of backgrounds. I hope all students here will
interact with as many people as possible to improve themselves.
Q
What are you interested in now?
I am very interested in the expression of material. We recognize a
significant part of physical material by its appearance. That is, we can
obtain information about material such as temperature and softness, without
actually touching an object. How do we sense these things? Why does
plastic give the impression that it is a cheap material? And why does the
impression we get of plastic change to an impression that it is high-quality
material through certain processing? Research on material expression
requires collaboration among a wide range of academic fields, such as
affective computing, brain science, and visual feature. As a member of the
field of brain and information science on material perception, I am working
on research to contribute to the development of this new academic field.
A
Q
Keywords: Computational Materials Science, Datamining
We aim at establishing a knowledge discovery methodology by an integration of data
mining and computer simulation.
What got you interested in this area?
In my school days, I was very interested in mathematics and
computer science. In university I majored in physics at the faculty of
science. In graduate school, I was greatly inspired to experience computer
simulations using state-of-the-art high performance computers and the stateof-the-art experiment equipments. However, while carrying out research, I
feel keenly the limitations of the approach method which based on physical
equation and the opportunity to overcome these limitations by using the
data-driven approach. Now we aim at establishing a knowledge discovery
methodology by an integration of data mining and computer simulation.
A
What kind of student were you?
A I was a mediocre student without much motivation; but I was into
microcomputers, which I had been introduced to when I was in the
12th grade, and I spent most of my spare time with an Apple II that I had
bought. I think I was probably trying to find the great potential that I was
dreaming about in that Apple II. I was excited about the American game
software I read about in magazines and interested in creating easy software.
I was a full-blown computer geek at that time, and I vividly remember
reading an article about computer-assisted drawing utilizing turtle graphics
commands, which sparked my interest in computer graphic algorithms.
When I was in my last year at the university, I attended a presentation on
fractals by a professor at an overseas art university, who talked about the
automatic production of complex forms that cannot be drawn by hand. That
presentation was one of the major reasons that I choose my current field of
research.
Q
Research
Interests
Q
What areas do you emphasize with your students?
Students with diverse backgrounds come together in the School of
Knowledge Science. In my lab we start from training students very
basic skills of mathematics, computer and simulation, and data analysis.
Then, we guide students to find out and carry out research themes based on
their interests. We aim to inspire and train students internationally balanced
senses and humanity through the academic life at our lab by emphasizing
the education of the philosophy of knowledge science.
A
Q
Q
What is your educational philosophy?
Humanity is the most important thing we have in our little lives,
therefore I do everything to make a plus for my students. To keep
scientific curiosity is my motto.
A
Q
What kind of student were you? What experiences and
meetings made an impact on you when you were a
student?
Systems Knowledge Service Knowledge
Research
Interests
Knowledge Media
Service Knowledge Systems Knowledge
Knowledge Science 2012
Social Knowledge
Social Knowledge
Professors
and
Associate Professors
I came to Japan to take my undergraduate education. At the
beginning, it was quite hard for me to enter Japanese society without
having enough Japanese language ability. I have experienced how hard
it is to have a true international companionship. From this experience, I
feel keenly the importance of the internationally balanced senses, and this
feeling helps me much in student supervising activities.
A
What do you expect from your students and what do you
think is important?
The students are expected to have an ability to think independently
from a multifaceted viewpoint. I think, this ability should be
developed while we are young. Further, living in our global society, I think
that the internationally balanced senses are the most important things. We
also need power and the ability to take actions as well as the challenging
spirit.
A
20
Knowledge Media
Towards the science of skills or
embodied cognition
Collaboration Technology for Our Intelligence,
Knowledge, and Innovation
Tsutomu Fujinami Associate Professor
Takaya Yuizono Associate Professor
http://www.jaist.ac.jp/~fuji/index.html
fuji@jaist.ac.jp
http://www.jaist.ac.jp/ks/labs/yuizono/
yuizono@jaist.ac.jp
Embodied cognitive science, skill science, assistive technology for dementia care
Q
Definition of Knowledge Science: Broadly, how do you
view the discipline of knowledge science? And how does
your research fit into this discipline?
Knowledge Science heralds a new era where the major part of our
activities build on the flow of knowledge worldwide. We have
only seen a sign of knowledge-intensive society. Theory of information
was, for example, first established more than fifty years ago and it took
a half century for the concept to materialize within our society, that is, as
the Internet. The same will happen to knowledge. We tap on sources of
knowledge, consume some portion of it to reproduce some new items of
knowledge, and distribute them. Broadly speaking, the emerging science
is about meaning, from which the theory of information abstained itself.
Now is the time to start thinking about knowledge as we have already done
substantial amount of work concerning information.
I used to work on the semantics of natural language, a theory of meaning
about language. Provided with a rich history of research on language for
more than two thousands years, my work is to extend it further with new
materials and resources, that is, advanced sciences and technologies.
A
Q
Social Significance of your Research: What kind of
contribution do you think your research will have (or
you hope it will have) to what kind of issues in today’s
society?
I have been leading the research of embodied knowledge, which
is a different view to knowledge than traditionally taken by many
researchers concerned with knowledge. Knowledge is often conceived
as formal, abstract entities. We however focus on the concrete part of it,
calling it 'body' metaphorically. What we are interested in includes context,
environment, process, relation, etc. We are interested in practice, which
is often contrasted with theory. We study how a body practicing create
knowledge.
These topics have traditionally been treated within the areas of art or ethics.
We will cast a new light on these topics from a scientific point of view.
Science is a sort of common language on the earth and studying phenomena
difficult to explain in language facilitates a mutual understanding between
people with different backgrounds, beliefs, customs, languages, laws, etc.
With the rapid globalization, we expect many conflicts to occur between
societies. Resolving the issues with scientific approach is a way for us to go.
A
21
Research
Interests
Q
Motivation for your Research: How did you become
interested in your topic of research, and what was the
motive for starting your research?
I love to play music and have devoted some time for practice. Many
professions require a long term of practice to become a master, e.g.,
artists, performers, craftsmen, athletes, to name a few. Little have however
been known about these skills despite the fact that they play an important
role in our society. Apprentices are often required to continue practice
with few feedbacks. They are sometimes lost, even unsure whether they
are improving. It is a pity that such valuable items of knowledge remain
inaccessible and face a danger of extinction. I love good music, beautiful
performances, fine arts, and nice foods. I like things made carefully by human hands and want them to survive and develop. Our work may contribute
to preserving and nourishing such goodness.
A
Q
Current Interests: In what area do you currently have a strong
interest? If there is a connection to your area of research, please tell
us that also.
We are involved in the research of assistive technology for people
with dementia. As the number of the elderly increases, more people
have a chance to live with dementia. I am sorry to hear that many people
are afraid of aging due to dementia. Being old is not particularly welcoming
in our society, which is an ironical situation because it becomes so due to
the success of industrialization. We got rich to become unhappy.
Our research on embodied knowledge may contribute to understanding
people with dementia as we focus on the body. Some people with dementia
have difficulties with language and its use. Our work may establish another
channel to get an access to their minds. We can accommodate people with
dementia properly to our society once we have understood who they are.
We would like to contribute towards the realization of cognitively barrier
free society.
A
Q
Keywords: Collaboration Technology, CSCW (Computer Supported Cooperative Work),
Creative Problem Solving, Information Systems
Art and Science of Intellectual Production; Collaboration Technology,
Groupware for a New Idea Generation, Group Intelligence, Intercultural Collaboration and
Social Computing
What are the reasons for your research?
In today’s world, called the knowledge society, I have an interest in
all aspects of the science & technology that support the intellectual
production activities carried out by many people. Tadao Umesao, in
his 1960s book ‘The Art of Intellectual Production’, aimed to establish
universal technology based on his own experiences. He gave many practical
examples and recommendations such as using index card systems. His
book defined intellectual production as ‘making knowledge’, and not
‘accumulating existing knowledge’. He also pointed out that the act of
making knowledge is something that is necessary in our daily life, and
suggested that with technical training, anyone can do it. We are therefore
engaged in research supporting intellectual production activities carried
out by empowering people, using a range of tools and technologies ‒
from paper and pencil to digital technology, such as computer networks
and smartphones. Through rationally investigating those technologies
and activities, I believe that we can scientifically understand knowledge
creation and activities. Many psychologists, who focus on intelligence and
creativity, believe that anyone who makes the effort can create meaningful
knowledge equal to the effort put in. I have explored the group techniques
and intellectual production techniques, such as the QC Seven Tools and
KAIZEN method, were born out in the Japanese rapid economic growth
after the World War II. I have particularly interested in the KJ Method
developed by Jiro Kawakita as the methodology for the creation of
hypotheses and a new idea generation from huge data and ideas in our
living field. A partly concept of the KJ method is well known as Affinity
Diagram for contextual design. These techniques were developed amidst
the post-war boom, as a result of the efforts and work of many people,
and are the pearls of wisdom of our forefathers. If we can handle these
scientifically, I believe that we can understand more about intellectual
production techniques. I also have an interest in a diffusion of the
techniques as social skills in the knowledge ages.
A
Q
How did you become interested in your research topic?
Nearly 20 years ago now, I was an university student (before
Windows 95), I saw ‘Team-workstation’ by Hiroshi Ishii in
‘Practical training at an NTT factory’, experimented with the KJ method
using the screen sharing software Timbuktu in ‘Information Engineering
Experimentation I’, and in ‘Program Practice III’, I made email software
using an event-driven communication API in a leading-edge GUI
A
programming environment called HyperCard. Experiences such as these
made me think that computer networks looked interesting and had potential.
When I was trying to decide what to do for my final research project, I
bought and read a Human Interface book and I was fascinated by words
such as groupware, hypertext (including KJ method support systems), and
hypermedia (including knowledge media). One of my professor’s areas
of research was idea generation support groupware, which I thought it
was lucky, and so I chose it for my final research project. The research
interested me in two ways in that I could work on program development
of systems comprising multiple computers, and look at the nature of how
to use human for human. So basically I made my decision as a result of a
range of experiences and interests that happened to come together.
Q
Systems Knowledge Service Knowledge
Research
Interests
Keywords: We are interested in the skills which are only acquired through long period of
training. We investigate how skills are different from other normal behaviours with respect
to both movement and perception.
Knowledge Media
Service Knowledge Systems Knowledge
Knowledge Science 2012
Social Knowledge
Social Knowledge
Professors
and
Associate Professors
What do you expect from your students and what do you
think is important?
With regards to research topics, I would like my students to firstly
try new things. Even if they fail, I want them to try and try again,
and understand that things can improve through this process. In particular,
in their master’s research, I would like them to form good study habits, and
experience creating knowledge.
When I was a student, one of my senior research fellows told me of a
logical way to be able to do research in your area of interest, by making
sure you finish the topic given out by the research supervisor, but also
doing what you enjoy. The former task enables you to acquire research
methods from your supervisor as a pioneer, and to be able to expand your
range of skills. Conversely, the latter task enables you to work in your own
area of interest, and the potential for being able to continue the work and
maintain one’s originality is higher. Of course, you need to be careful about
becoming complacent.
In summary, I basically would like my students to be able to think for
themselves and learn from others. With regards to the latter, I would of
course naturally expect cooperation with their peers, but also I would like
them to learn the value of respecting the knowledge of those who have gone
before them. We should follow in the footsteps of those giants, but still look
towards the future.
A
22
Knowledge Media
Experience of knowledge consolidation & creation
and management theories can be gained by thinking
alongside the people who are facing the actual problem.
Our goal is to clarify how knowledge is created,
shared, and utilized, with focus on language,
communication, and social institutions
Yoshiteru Nakamori Professor
Takashi Hashimoto Professor
http://www.jaist.ac.jp/ks/labs/nakamori/
nakamori@jaist.ac.jp
http://www.jaist.ac.jp/ks/labs/hashimoto/
hash@jaist.ac.jp
Q
How do you view the discipline of ‘Knowledge Science’?
Knowledge Science is an interdisciplinary field for problem-solving,
with its main purpose being to process and analyze information
(dependent on people) and to add new value (knowledge). For this purpose,
we are using a range of approaches to look at how we can create knowledge, and how we can identify and rationalize it. The School is currently
attempting to build a Knowledge Science discipline out of a social science/
management science approach, an information science/cognitive science
approach, and a systems science approach. Ultimately, it will be necessary
to integrate these existing disciplines at the theoretical level and create a
new disciplinary structure, but we are currently working towards our end
goal while initially trying to achieve consolidation at individual applied
levels. Experiments with technology management, service management and
community management will contribute to the systemization of knowledge
science at the application level.
A
Q
How will your research contribute to society?
I am working on a knowledge organization systems theory, in terms
of how knowledge is created and how it is rationalized, with the aim
to create a knowledge science discipline based in systems science. This is
a methodology that seeks to find systematic and systemic solutions to the
complicated problems involving a variety of people in society. It can be
applied to technology management problems, academic research evaluation
problems, demand forecasting problems and regional environmental
problems etc. This knowledge organization systems theory consists of three
parts – a systems model for how to consolidate knowledge, the ability of
the ‘actors’ necessary for collecting and integrating the knowledge, and
a rationalization method for the knowledge that has been collected and
consolidated. At this point, since there is a necessity to deal with knowledge
dependent on people that is subjective or emotional, there is a necessity
to express and analyze the implicit nature of people’s emotions (kansei),
and thus I am also active in research on kansei engineering. In addition,
development of a decision-making analysis method is also an important
focus, where multiple pieces of (ambiguous) information are integrated and
alternative ideas are ranked.
A
23
Q
What is the significance of studying Knowledge Science?
Japan, being poor in natural resources, is working towards becoming
a nation built on the creativity of science and technology, and is thus
working on the formation of intellectual assets that will lead to the science
and technology of tomorrow. It is innovation-producing knowledge that is
likely to become the most valuable and unlimited resource for our country.
In order to realize this, it is essential that we immediately work on the theory
and practice of methods for sustained and organized innovation, and the
discipline of Knowledge Science is at the forefront of this process. However,
it has been only a decade or so since the establishment of the School of
Knowledge Science, and there are few teachers who study Knowledge
Science and become researchers. Because of this, we hope that the students
will contribute to the realization and progress of Knowledge Science. For this
to happen, there is a necessity for the students to study seriously the issues
of how new knowledge can be formed in a range of fields, and what needs
to be done to integrate different knowledge and to solve the problems raised.
At this research laboratory, the talented individuals working on innovations
using a wide range of knowledge are called ‘Knowledge Coordinators’, and
we would like to put more effort into educating them.
A
Q
What is your educational philosophy or motto?
Since the goal of Knowledge Science is to educate the talented individuals who have general skills in problem solving, I would encourage the
acquisition of a wide range of knowledge, rather than studying one specialized
field in great detail. Up until now, many universities have established schools
of research in the interdisciplinary domain, and schools of research with an
integration of the humanities and sciences, but if the theory and practice for
implementing this integration is not carried out, there will be no creative
research outcomes. The working adult students at our school of research all
have field work placements but also study theory, and so the educational
philosophy of the research school is being realized at a high level. Even for
those young students who do not have a field work placement, we do as much
as possible so that they can have a go at real-life problems in companies and in
the community, and make sure that it is not just an impractical theory worked
out on paper. One example of this is the ‘Regional Revitalization Systems
Theory’ where students work with members of the community on regional
revitalization problems. By thinking through real problems alongside the people
who are facing those problems, we hope they can experience the consolidation
and creation of knowledge as well as management theories.
A
Research
Interests
Q
Keywords: Complex Systems, Evolutionary Linguistics, Evolutionary Economics,
Knowledge Science
In our laboratory, we conduct research on the creation and co-creation of knowledge (which
are important aspects of human nature) focusing on language, communication, and social
institutions. In particular, we aim to understand knowledge creation from the viewpoint of
complex systems that emphasize interaction and dynamics. Our research methods include
modeling and simulations, cognitive experiments, and social surveys.
What is knowledge science? What do you think about the
role of your research in knowledge science?
Knowledge science is a research field involving the study of the
creation, sharing, and utilization of knowledge through approaches
based on analyses, design, and management. Of these three types, my own
research mainly involves an analytic approach.
Creation, sharing, and utilization of knowledge are a part of human nature.
In other words, all humans do these things, but other creatures seldom
do, and these activities characterize our day-to-day life and society. I
am conducting research on knowledge creation and sharing by human
beings as a knowledge-creating species, with language, communication,
and social institutions as in the research targets. Language, by being
used in the process of thinking as well as describing and communicating
knowledge, brings about great strides in creativity. The use of symbols
is a special feature of human communication. Symbolic communication
prompts people to not only share but also generate or create information
and knowledge. Also, interaction between people leads to the formation of
social institutions, enabling social life. I am studying these research targets
from the viewpoint of the complex systems of how they were made (origin,
emergence) and how they are changing (evolution).
An institution in itself is a kind of knowledge, and institutional design to
create a better society is a subject of knowledge science. Accordingly, I
am also conducting research on applying the findings — obtained through
analytic approaches to the creation, sharing, and utilization of knowledge
— to the design of institutions.
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Q
What is your basic approach to laboratory management?
My approach is for students “to make themselves grow as individuals
through research.” Research is an activity to investigate a subject
deeply and successfully, and to add a new piece of knowledge to an existing
body of knowledge. In this process, students learn their predecessors’
thoughts through the literature, communicate and deepen their own ideas
through discussion with other people, and delve into and clarify their
ideas through writing papers. The process largely consists of the serious
work of collecting data through experiments or surveys. The important
thing, however, is the consideration and discussion involved in reaching
conclusions based on the results of the experiments and surveys. The
students make an assertion that something was obviously achieved based
on the data and facts they found, and they build up the logic for reaching
A
their conclusion from the research purpose. This is not a simple kind of
operation, but the culmination of a process involving difficulties at the
end of a research project. It goes without saying that students conduct
experiments and surveys on their own; however, I think it is important to
support students so that they can build the logic for reaching a conclusion
on their own.
After students graduate, they are sometimes able to use the results of their
research, and the knowledge and skills they obtained in graduate school,
directly. But, more importantly, the ability to think, the ability to obtain the
required knowledge and skills, and the ability to communicate, share and
deepen ideas, which they have acquired through their research activities,
can be exercised at any time, allowing the graduates to continuously
improve their capabilities. This is an essential point of the creation, sharing,
and utilization of knowledge. In the hope that all graduate students will
experience this, I supervise and guide them.
Q
Systems Knowledge Service Knowledge
Research
Interests
Keywords: Systems methodologies, environment system theories, Kansei engineering
A big focus at present is the theoretical and applied research of systems methodologies for
knowledge consolidation and creation.
Theoretical research includes decision-making analysis and kansei data analysis in addition
to the complex systems approach.
Applied research includes environmental problems, regional revitalization problems,
technology and economic problems.
Knowledge Media
Service Knowledge Systems Knowledge
Knowledge Science 2012
Social Knowledge
Social Knowledge
Professors
and
Associate Professors
What is your message for undergraduates who are
interested in knowledge science?
Many problems in modern society cannot be solved within a
single existing discipline. Knowledge science, having an aspect
of “problem-solving study” and aiming to solve such problems, is an
interdisciplinary field of study that reorganizes and integrates existing
disciplines from both the humanities and the sciences. The teaching staff
who pursue knowledge science here include those from a variety of fields.
The students gathered here to study knowledge science are also of a very
wide variety in terms of backgrounds, nationality, age, interests, dreams,
and so on.
As mentioned above, you can meet a wide variety of people when studying
knowledge science, and this is another appeal of this discipline. You can
interact with people whom you would not usually meet at places where
conventional studies are conducted, as well as discovering a new world
and experiencing new ideas that you have never before been exposed to.
I am greatly inspired myself through interacting with other teaching staff
members and meeting with students every year, and feel encouraged to
try new things. I hope you will interact with diverse people and try new
possibilities in the new field of knowledge science.
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24
Knowledge Media
Focusing on key abilities for innovation and
enhancing organizational ability
by applying systems methodologies
Aimed at strong communication technology during
disasters or terrorist attacks and encourage realization of
the economy and society in the distribution of wealth.
Taketoshi Yoshida Professor
Yukio Hayashi Associate Professor
http://www.jaist.ac.jp/~yoshida
yoshida@jaist.ac.jp
http://ds9.jaist.ac.jp:8080/
yhayashi@jaist.ac.jp
Q
How do you position your research in knowledge science?
Knowledge scien ce d e a ls w i t h p r o b l em s o f i n d i v i d u a l s ,
organizations, society, nature, and so on. There are forms of
knowledge: declarative and nondeclarative knowledge (or memories). There
are processes with regard to knowledge: creation, acquisition, accumulation
and utilization. My research aims at organizational knowledge creation
and focuses mainly on procedural knowledge (a kind of nondeclarative
knowledge and sometimes called skills and habits) which can be acquired
with experience and training. I believe that systems methodologies can
be used as a tool to promote the efficient acquisition of such procedural
knowledge. For example, we can apply a systems methodology in order to
change an organization. Members of a project team for organization change
feel problematic situation and try to articulate their feelings. The application
process of a systems methodology and its results can be media of mutual
understanding of the members. Series of activities by using a systems
methodology play an important role in cultivating creative members. This
underpins my research about systems methodologies.
What is your motive for the research?
I began my research about systems methodologies and knowledge
management after I joined School of Knowledge Science in the
year of the foundation. It was the time that the knowledge creation theory
was spreading like wildfire throughout the world. The founding dean
of the school was Professor Ikujiro Nonaka who was the father of the
organizational knowledge creation theory and practice. He gave me a copy
of the book ‘The Knowledge-Creating Company’ co-authored by Prof.
Nonaka and Prof. Takeuchi and translated by Prof. Umemoto. I remember
I felt a great interest in its contents while reading the book. A few years
later we had an opportunity to survey on research and education in the
related fields of knowledge science around the world. During the survey I
visited the University of Hull in UK and met Prof. Jackson who was very
active in the research of systems methodologies. He gave me a copy of
the book ‘Creative Problem Solving’ co-authored by Prof. Flood and Prof.
Jackson. It was relatively easy for me to understand the contents because
the underpinning concept of the book was systems engineering which was
my major research domain. Although I found its content quite interesting,
I was not aware of the connection between systems methodology and the
knowledge creation theory. Several years ago I realized the connection
between them. The key was ‘tacit knowing’ by Michael Polanyi. Since
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25
then, I have studied and advanced the theory and practice of systems
methodologies and knowledge management.
A
Q
Research
Interests
My aim is to construct and practice a theory of systems methodologies as a tool of
knowledge management from the viewpoints of tacit knowing and the social systems theory.
Q
What is your guiding principle or motto as an educator?
A wide range of students enter School of Knowledge Science. To
better respond to their individual needs, I always start by trying to
gain a solid understanding of what each student is and is not good at, what
each student’s wants are. By doing this, I try to provide supports that help
students to gain the enough abilities to play their roles in society after
graduation. I respect students’ interests and autonomy in their research
activities. I also strive to create a fun environment for their school life.
Research requires hard work like reading books and academic papers,
observing reality and thinking it while maintaining a good balance between
theory and practice. I am looking forward to seeing students who strive to
observe practice based on theory, and develop a theory based on practice.
A
Q
What are you interested in now?
I am currently interested in the social systems theory by Niklas
Luhmann. It is constructed on the basis of autopoiesis. Based on this
concept, he defines the social system as an order emerged from a nexus
of communications. People are not elements in such a social system, but
environmental elements. This is the reason I have been interested in this
theory. When we discuss the organizational knowledge creation theory,
we face some difficulties in the theoretical handling of the innate part of
embodied knowledge. Excluding people from a social system, we may
overcome such difficulties. I think that a nexus of communications emerges
the dynamism of an organization, and in turn the dynamism reproduces
communications for organizational knowledge creation.
A
Q
Using optimum techniques and simulations, from both real data and models, we examine the
self-organizing mechanisms of complex network science's such as preventing chain reaction
damage and the spread of virus, Ad hoc communication, Load balancing and efficient
distributed computing, social network analysis.
What is the significance of your research for the students?
There are no textbooks in the real world, usually, it begin with
searching for what the problem is. No one will teach what the current
situation is or what your company is good at, everyone has a role, at least for
a short time (months to years), and your mission is to accomplish that. As
a matter of fact, a similar experience in Japanese education institutions can
only be found in graduate school. Whereas, archaic humans from hundreds
of years ago could think about and debate ideas with no foundation, we who
live now and future humans must think of things from observing facts and
intellectual analysis, which can only be understood through the experience
of challenging “specific research assignments”. Many master's programs
cultivate people to be productive in companies, arming them with information
collection and performance analysis abilities and enterprising spirit (project
leaders, etc.), rather than cultivating them to become researchers. Of course,
the expertise obtained in studies is extremely important for choosing a
career path and industry, our students will utilize network theory (near future
technology wide-area wireless) and Java technology.
A
Q
What piqued your interest in your research subject?
Ten years ago, around the turn of the century, I was surprised and
my intellectual curiosity was shaken when the common structure
and properties of networks that have completely different targets and
elements and nothing in common became scientifically clear, such as the
connection between people and corporations, the internet and power grids,
and biochemical reactions at the gene level extending to pathogenesis
and treatment. Furthermore, there are important issues related to society
wrapped up in the research of this kind of network, such as economy,
communications, transportation, logistics, counter-terrorism, food chain,
epidemic, population tuning. Most international researchers are physicists
and computer scientists and I like feeling the power of different fields. I am
also deeply involved in areas such as social networks and urban planning.
A
Q
How do you envision the society of the future?
Most current networks are created unintentionally based on self-serving
principal and have vulnerabilities from an efficiency standpoint. This is
not a fabrication; serious problems are already occurring, like chain reaction
electricity collapse, communication and distribution network influence and
interdependency. Moreover, the gap between rich and poor will be expanded
A
further than the law of the long tail, and centralization of power is occurring.
Therefore, the world will continue to get better as people and society cooperate
in a decentralized and autonomous way with each other, we have been studying
design methods and applications of new networks from this point of view.
Q
What type of student were you and what background do
you have?
Systems Knowledge Service Knowledge
Research
Interests
Keywords: Science of complex networks, ad hoc wireless communication, self-organization,
distributed computing
Keywords: Systems Methodology, Systems Engineering, Knowledge Management
Knowledge Media
Service Knowledge Systems Knowledge
Knowledge Science 2012
Social Knowledge
Social Knowledge
Professors
and
Associate Professors
I was in the department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering,
there I learned electromagnetics, transmission circuits, and
programming languages and experimented with motor measurements and
high-pressure discharge. Math and physics was more interesting to me and
the things that I studied on my own came in handy later. In my senior year
research assignment, I was allowed to participate in the algorithm division
of information engineering and upon completion went into enterprise
information systems. I think if I had been placed in a research department for
something that was popular at the time, like superconductors, my life would
be totally different. My career was also decided with a university corporate
scholarship, I still network with the people I met in a 2 month internship. Also,
fortunately, I was able to intimately learn the proper technology pedigree at
a research department connected to a company in the mecca of computer
science, the West Coast of the United States. These technologies are the
foundation of the PC and Internet, which has changed the world; the mouse,
the multi-window, spreadsheet tools, communication, protocol, decentralized
processing and object-oriented language. Including a few years of transfers, I
spent about 10 years working for the corporate research department, I pursued
research in development of image processing and character recognition and
neural net learning algorithms. I was able to make recurrent models my theme,
which was the front line at that time, and I was inspired by the pioneering
research of Dr. Amari and his personality, I was lucky to be around when such
a fascinating theme existed. After that, I strongly felt the societal importance
of the Internet and have been tackling it since the nineties while connecting it
with my current network science research. Technology is becoming obsolete
more quickly now than before, so I think that it is of deeper significance to
choose fresh, new things rather than things that are mature well understood,
and have run their course, whether it is issues that are to be tackled or
people. Whereas, I feel that the various colleagues who I've met at academic
conferences through research activities is a treasure unavailable to a normal
company employee. Although research is an intellectual activity, it is
important for everyone who will live in the future to participate and contribute
to society as a community that is linked with hobbies.
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Knowledge Media
Knowledge Modelling and Decision Analysis
To create an ontology on the understanding of services,
and apply it in the medicine and education sectors
HUYNH Nam Van Associate Professor
Mitsuru Ikeda Professor
http://www.jaist.ac.jp/~huynh/
huynh@jaist.ac.jp
http://www.jaist.ac.jp/ks/labs/ikeda/cgi-bin/wiki/wiki.cgi
ikeda@jaist.ac.jp
Q
What is knowledge science? What do you think about the
role of your research in knowledge science?
In my view, Knowledge science is a scientific discipline that draws
on Philosophy, Management, Information and Systems sciences’
methodologies along with emerging technologies in Neuroscience and
Complexity sciences to, first of all, study what “knowledge” is, and to
establish and develop principles, theories and methodologies of how
knowledge can be created, managed, synthesized and used. Our research
aims towards the development of intelligent decision systems from the
perspective of knowledge science. Meanwhile, we promote research and
education in the field of Knowledge science based on Decision science
and Systems science.
A
Q
How can your research possibly address problems faced
by our modern society? Please clarify “problems” and
“method” in your answer.
A With increasing globalization, changing in business and management
sectors together with increasing complexity of the social-economic
environment nowadays, organizations and firms usually face complex
decision problems regarding policy-making, product innovation, quality
management, and environmental management among many others. Solving
such real-world decision problems often requires the integration of data
and knowledge from different relevant sources, and taking into account
uncertainty and imprecision. Therefore, innovative research in strategic
decision analysis and knowledge management has become increasingly
important than ever before from both theoretical and practical points of
view. Our research aims to address this challenging situation by combining
foundational work on knowledge management, computational intelligence
and decision analysis with practical applications so as to develop novel
frameworks and methodologies for dealing with complex decision problems
in practice.
27
Q
What do you want to teach your students? What type of
person do you want your student to become?
What I would like to teach my students is an integration of
models, techniques and methods from knowledge management,
computational intelligence, information fusion and decision theory. This
training strategy purposely aims to develop and enhance the capability
of students in dealing with complex decision problems so as to enable
them to become confident, thoughtful and effective decision makers
(decision related knowledge creators) and decision analyst (decision related
knowledge coordinators).
A
Q
What type of students do you want? Please clarify
interests or ability your students should have.
A
Open mind, flexibility and willingness to cooperate with others,
self-motivated with sound background in the field of their major.
Keywords: Artificial Intelligence, Knowledge Engineering, Educational Engineering
Research
Interests
Q
I do basic research in ontology engineering, i.e. knowledge engineering methodologies
of knowledge systemization, as well as research on modeling methods based on ontology
engineering. Furthermore, I also carry out research into the application of this to knowledge
management systems and learning support systems.
What research do you conduct within the discipline of
knowledge science?
Knowledge Science involves scientifically explaining various
knowledge creation processes and therefore forming a knowledge
society in which the process of knowledge creation is enhanced, and I hope
I can contribute to this. In order to do this, the research approach of our
laboratory is to alternate between practical research based on knowledge
engineering, and research that transforms these results into fundamental
knowledge based on ontology engineering. Ontology engineering is an
area of research that is attracting attention in the knowledge engineering
field, as an important new way in which an axiom is assigned to the
formation of a concept, and an attempt is made to assign a computational
form (expression) to ambiguous and elusive knowledge. At our laboratory,
we are working to focus our research on methodologies to increase the
quality of public services mainly in the medical and education fields, based
on ontology engineering. Service is something that is provided as value
from one person to another, and so we look at issues like: how should we
understand others’ sense of the value of that service? How should we create
new service value? What type of knowledge co-creation processes exist or
should exist between the service provider and the recipient of that service?
We then create an ontology on the understanding of services, so that our
research can be applied in the medical and education sectors.
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Q
How will your research contribute to society?
The backbone of society lies in the relationships between individuals,
and the foundation of those relationships lies in knowledge and
communication. We think as individuals and then refine our thinking
through communication of our ideas with others, and thus the outcomes are
realized in society. Our laboratory carries out research focused on service,
based on ontology engineering, and our aim is to construct new knowledge
media to assist in the formation of a solid service society where people have
improved thought processes and people cooperate better with each other.
For that purpose, we study models and theories in a range of fields related
to thinking and communication, and based on that, we develop software to
support knowledge creation processes, and then research the ways in which
this could become best established in society. In particular, we hope to work
on research that focuses on knowledge creation for the improvement of
relationships between people by focusing on public services which are not
aimed at creating excessive profit. Through our research results gained in
A
this way, we hope that both service providers and recipients can co-create
service value that is highly valuable to society, and that we can suggest a
service model that is satisfactory to both parties, that can be demonstrated
in medical organizations and education institutions.
Q
What type of skills do you want your students to have?
Systems Knowledge Service Knowledge
Research
Interests
Keywords: Decision Analysis, Computational Intelligence, Knowledge Modelling,
Operations management
- Multi-criteria evaluation and ranking of products/services for personalized
recommendation in e-commerce applications
- Knowledge management and integration for screening evaluation in new product/service
development.
- Research and development for intelligent decision support systems and their applications
in business and management.
Knowledge Media
Service Knowledge Systems Knowledge
Knowledge Science 2012
Social Knowledge
Social Knowledge
Professors
and
Associate Professors
Our laboratory carries out research on ‘thinking about thinking’, so I
welcome students who have an interest in thinking to join us. There
are no specific qualities required, however if I was to point out one thing,
it would be that this is the best research field for students who like thinking
and studying about abstract things. To be a little more specific, I think an
important quality is to be able to look at everything about your internal
thinking objectively, for example research plans, learning methods, how to
spend your free time, taking into consideration not only yourself, but also
others.
A
Q
What is your educational philosophy or motto?
The activities of our laboratory focus on so many issues facing
society, and thus a range of skills are required, such as being able
to learn new knowledge, being able to identify problems and solve them,
communication skills, being able to deal with human relationships, stress
control, international relations, and others. It is my hope that I can create
an environment in my lab where students can, as much as possible, remain
conscious of these skills. I hope that my students enjoy a time where their
failures become precious, they can experience things as they are, think for
themselves and have opportunities to talk with their peers. I believe that
students should not only be taught by others, but that experiencing and
thinking for themselves, along with being able to talk informally with their
peers, is the best way to learn at a research institute.
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Knowledge Media
Aiming to study ‘service’ scientifically, and to explore
its possibilities and applications
Aiming to contribute to 21st Century innovations
through the research and development of methodologies
that will create new service value.
Youji Kohda Professor
Michitaka Kosaka Professor
http://www.jaist.ac.jp/ks/labs/kohda/
kohda@jaist.ac.jp
http://www.jaist.ac.jp/ks/labs/kosaka/index.html
kosa@jaist.ac.jp
Keywords: Internet Services, Service Science, Business Innovation
Q
I aim to construct methodologies for dealing with service scientifically, and then apply them
to concrete examples. Furthermore, I aim to establish knowledge systems for the creation of
services through cooperation with the industry, as well as foster talented individuals who are
able to create service businesses by themselves.
How do you view the discipline of ‘Knowledge Science’?
What comes to mind when I hear the words Knowledge Science is
the Nexialism that is mentioned in A. E. van Vogt’s classic science
fiction novel titled ‘The Voyage of the Space Beagle’. The protagonist
of this book, Elliott Grosvenor, is the only Nexialist on board the Space
Beagle which is manned by 1000 specialist crew members. The story
tells of how he uses Nexialism to overcome the threats posed to the Space
Beagle, while the other specialists who are so wrapped up in their own
specialist fields cannot solve the problems. Nexialism is defined as joining
together knowledge from different specialist fields and taking out the
necessary knowledge as needed to solve problems, and I think that this is
the expected role of Knowledge Science.
In the research of Knowledge Science, by joining various perspectives from
a range of fields together, even higher goals can be reached compared with
conventional methods. And so I think that a change in research style is
necessary, from the seeds-driven research style where familiar knowledge
is applied to a current theme, to a needs-driven research style where
knowledge is learned as needed.
A
Q
What do you expect from your students and what do you
think is important?
It is the duty of a graduate student to engage in research activities.
There are several things I would like students to experience in their
lives as a graduate student.
Number one is the experience of choosing a research topic. It will not be
easy choosing a topic worthy of research. It is better to have the habit of
accumulating experiences in your memory, which leads to stockpiling hints
for your research topic. You also find it interesting to narrow down your
research topic step by step through discussion with the lab members.
Number two is the experience of writing down the research topic in
the form of a research paper. Research papers require novelty and
inventiveness. Writing a research paper is like inventing something. Those
inexperienced at inventing tend to think ‘this is big!’ when they get an
idea. But this is a big mistake since for the most part, someone has already
thought of it and it is not good enough to be patented. Those experienced at
inventing, however, have developed an intuition for the level of novelty and
inventiveness of ideas, so that they can guess the patentability of their idea
and tweak it slightly to raise the patentability. Through the experience of
writing your research papers, develop your intuition for the level of novelty
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and inventiveness in research.
Number three is the experience of continuing to think. One has to fight
with the uncertainty that the answer might not actually exist. I have called
this ‘wander thinking’. On the other hand, a research topic is something
you decide yourself, so that you have the freedom to rework the problem.
You must meet halfway between the two options. Acquire the habit of
continuous thinking and the courage of radical rethinking in the academic
environment. I think they will help you in your entire life.
Q
What type of people do you want your students to
become?
I want them to become innovators who make innovations happen. By
constantly developing your thinking within yourself, the probability
of producing an innovation that will stand up to criticism will be a lot
higher. But that is not enough to become an innovator. Let me draw an
analogy. Anyone can read a novel and enjoy it, but it is difficult to write an
enjoyable book and make it a best seller. It means reading and writing are
very, very different things. Having an intuition for the level of novelty and
inventiveness in research is prerequisite for a researcher, but is not enough
for an innovator.
I believe that an innovator must have the skill of questioning yourself
relentlessly. To put it another way, you must have the ability of asking ‘the
right questions’ to everyone including yourself. Making the right questions
will require experience and skill. In the lab, through the process of choosing
your research topic and putting together your research paper, you will
struggle for the answer to the right questions that are thrown at you. But I
promise you will be able to enjoy throwing the right questions to others in
a short time. The eventual goal is that you become a true innovator that can
automatically ask themselves the right questions on any occasion.
A
Research
Interests
Q
Keywords: R&D Management, Innovation, Integration of Systems Engineering and
Knowledge Science, Business Information Systems, System Control (Estimation theory)
I aim to create new methods for innovation, through the integration of Systems Engineering
and Knowledge Science, and then develop these into specific cases.
What is the social significance of your research?
I am currently working on the research and development of Service
Science. Service value is created through the relationship between
the customer and the service provider. In the 21st Century, it is an important
concept not only for the conventional ‘service industry’, but for the
information and manufacturing industries as well. I hope to be able to carry
out R&D on methodologies for the creation of new service value, and to
make a contribution to 21st Century innovation.
A
Q
How is your laboratory managed?
My laboratory is made up of working adult students from the Tokyo
Satellite campus and ordinary students from the Ishikawa campus.
At the Ishikawa Campus, there is a large number of overseas exchange
students, and two thirds of the students come from China, Vietnam, South
Korea and Bangladesh. Everyone supports each other like family, and
we value an environment where we can debate things freely. Everyone
has an area of expertise, and through the presentation of one’s research at
laboratory seminars, and subsequent debates, we are able to focus on new
knowledge creation. As part of my research related to Service Science,
I make presentations at international academic conferences and submit
research papers, and thus in regards to Service Science, I would like my
laboratory to be one of the best in Asia. Furthermore, I would like to put
more effort into creating opportunities for exchanges between the Tokyo
Satellite Campus working adult students and the ordinary students at the
Ishikawa Campus.
A
Q
What are the advantages of being a student at JAIST, the
school of KS, and your lab?
At the School of Knowledge Science at JAIST, in the Tokyo Satellite
Campus’ Working Adult Education Course and the Ishikawa
Campus’ Master’s and Doctoral Programs, the salient feature is that
students are able to create new knowledge while debating issues with a
range of different people. Education and research activities are carried out
with the aim of fostering talented ‘knowledge creators’ who are willing to
try new things. In other words our aim is to foster talented individuals who
can make use of not only the conventional, established technologies, but
also use their experiences and debating to think up solutions in response to
actual issues in society such as the creation of new services or suggesting
new value for customers.
A
Q
Systems Knowledge Service Knowledge
Research
Interests
Knowledge Media
Service Knowledge Systems Knowledge
Knowledge Science 2012
Social Knowledge
Social Knowledge
Professors
and
Associate Professors
What is your background? What experiences and
meetings have led to your current achievements?
When I was a student, I studied system control theory – in particular
the Kalman Filter. And even in my first 10 years working in Hitachi
Ltd’s Systems Development Lab, I carried out theoretical and applied
research on systems control in the aerospace field. For the next 10 years I
worked on information systems research, particularly business information
systems in the financial and distribution fields. You can see that my research
has always been in the field of systems research. Following this, I began
working in the area of R&D Management, as the Head of the Systems
Development Lab. During this period, when I did my management training,
I met Professor Nonaka, and encountered Knowledge Science and the SECI
model. It was then that I realized the importance of integrating problem
solving using people’s knowledge (knowledge science) and problem
solving using systems engineering. I took up my post at JAIST in 2008, and
since then I have been involved in Service Science research and education.
Service Science is a new research and education field, but it has a close
relationship with systems and knowledge science, and everything that I
experienced during my years as a student and my years as an employee are
assisting me in my current research.
A
30
Professors
and
Associate Professors
Knowledge Science 2012
Social Knowledge
To analyze, understand and interpret people’s activities
and practices, and to research and develop systems to
support them.
http://www.jaist.ac.jp/~hideaki
hideaki@jaist.ac.jp
Keywords: Social Computing, Persuasive Technology, Persuasive Healthcare, the Semantic Web
Research
Interests
Analysis of user behavior and workplace for system
development and deployment
Our laboratory conducts applied research following the motto of ‘realizing next-generation
computing environments through research and development of systems supporting human
activities’. Common keywords in our research are: databases, information searching,
information visualization, information filtering, web information processing (the Semantic
Web), ubiquitous and aware technologies.
Simulation based Datamining
Taro Sugihama
Ayumu Sugiyama
http://www.jaist.ac.jp/ ~ sugihara/
sugihara@jaist.ac.jp
http://www.jaist.ac.jp/profiles/info.php?profile_id=609
sugiyama@jaist.ac.jp
Assistant Professor
Assistant Professor
Specialization
Specialization
Human-computer interaction, management of technology
Computer simulation, Datamining
Research Area
Research Area
My current researches are to investigate the effects of information and
Computational simulations have become essential tools to further our
communication technologies (ICT) on organizations for human services such
understanding of various issues in natural and social sciences. In computational
as medical center, care houses, elementary school and university. Despite
simulations, phenomena are reproduced by numerical data. My research seeks
development and deployment of ICT in those fields need urgently, it has not
to establish new analysis approach for simulation data by using data mining
been adopted actually. We investigate the reasons why the professionals are
techniques.
reluctant to use new technologies, on the basis of qualitative and quantitative
research.
Q
What is knowledge science? What do you think about the
role of your research in knowledge science?
I believe that Knowledge Science is ‘understanding and interpreting
the phenomena and events that occur in the activities of people
and society’. If we think about who is involved in knowledge (wisdom),
it has been created and accumulated through the various activities of
people, whether it be in the real world or in a digital space such as the
web. Depending on people’s activities, i.e. the research focus, they can be
divided up into the various fields of society, media, systems and services,
and depending on how differently the various research methods (understanding/interpretation methods) and the understood/interpreted results are
resolved, I believe it is basically an understanding and interpretation of
people’s activities and phenomena. My specialist area is the Information
Engineering Field, and my research topic has always been ‘Implementing
an XXXX support system to support people’s activities’. Through research
and development for this support system, I have aimed to implement a nextgeneration computing environment. The XXXX part basically relates to
people’s activities, and I have specifically researched a variety of words/
phrases such as manufacturing, being aware of information and things,
communication, lifestyle and the elderly. First of all, I would conduct an
analysis and comprehension study of the XXXX in question, and identify
any issues. I would then consider what methods I would use (in my case
methods based on information engineering) to solve and provide support
for these issues. The result would be the construction of a system which
would then be evaluated for its effectiveness and usability through user
evaluations. So the role of my research in Knowledge Science is, as I have
mentioned above, ‘understanding and interpreting the activities of people’.
The research method (tool) is Information Communication Technology
(ICT), and for the resolution of the comprehension and interpretation
results, I use information systems to support people’s activities (i.e. the
research focus or the XXXX part).
A
Q
What is your educational philosophy?
A I hope that my students will think and act for themselves, and
become people that can take responsibility for the results of their
actions. I also hope that they will become people who can persistently and
honestly put effort into achieving their goals right to the end. I don’t point
this out because they are students, but because I think it is an important
quality for an individual. These days, it is becoming easier to gain a wealth
31
Knowledge Science 2012
Hideaki Kanai Associate Professor
Knowledge Media
Service Knowledge Systems Knowledge
Assistant Professors
of information and knowledge from a range of information resources such
as the internet. I think this is a good thing, however it makes people (and
myself included) view things from a critic’s perspective, and it is easy to
forget that we are ‘actors’. So being a person who can think and act for
themselves, and take responsibility for the results of their actions is, I think,
precisely the type of person who can be involved in things like an actor, and
this is something I try to keep as one of my mottos. To become a person
who can persistently and honestly put effort into achieving their goals
right to the end, it is more important to ‘give it a go’ rather than thinking
about the pros and cons beforehand. At the very least, I think it is necessary
to have the willpower to honestly and sincerely make the effort to work
towards the goal you have set, right until the end.
Q
What things do you like to keep in mind as a researcher?
Don’t dislike something without trying it, and you can do it if you
try – you can’t do it if you don’t try. You should never evaluate
something on first impressions, or by how it looks or from what you have
heard. You should jump right into the issues and problems, and experience
and engage in them for yourself - then you can think about what you are
going to do. If you take a look at the problem or issue just once, and then
dislike the outcome, then you can say ‘I knew it’ and stop, but since there
is a chance you may like it, then you can think yourself lucky and continue.
I think an attitude of flexibility to try everything and rethink it if it doesn’t
work is more fun in both research and in life. This is something that I
always tell myself. Even for new things, I always just try it first. As long
as you do not think and act for yourself, nothing will start and nothing will
happen. It is okay if you fail, but it is important to make a start. Through
simply doing something, new discoveries are made, and even if you don’t
achieve a big success, you should at least get out what you put in. Of course
there are many things you may fail at. And in that situation I just try and
think ‘well, that’s okay, it was a good experience’ and start working on the
next thing.
A
Is it better to research those who buy your product or those
who don't?
Communication between every day and future
Jason MacVaugh
Kanayo Ogura
http://www.jaist.ac.jp/profiles/info_e.php?profile_id=566&syozoku=11
macvaugh@jaist.ac.jp
http://www.jaist.ac.jp/~k-ogura/
k-ogura@jaist.ac.jp
Assistant Professor
Assistant Professor
Specialization
Specialization
Knowledge Management, Innovation, Human Resource Management
Applied Computer Science (Information Science), CMC (Computer-Mediated
Communication)
Research Area
The purpose of my current research is to investigate resistance to innovative
Research Area
technologies in the workplace by those, contradictory to the stereotype, both
My main research interests include: (1) development of communication
able to use these technologies and not required to spend any money to access
tools for releasing restrictions of thinking abilities, (2) analysis of talks at the
them. We expect such people to adopt company-mandated technology, but in
dining table to search for new eating styles, and (3) analysis of processes of
many cases they do not, and in fact, may choose an alternative even where it
constructing support groups of cancer patients using virtual space in CMC
subverts policy or has an associated cost.
tools.
From Behavioral and Brain measurement to
Understanding of Cognitive Processes
Understanding Human Minds by Cognitive Modeling
Shohei Hidaka
Junya Morita
http://www.jaist.ac.jp/ ~ shhidaka/
shhidaka@jaist.ac.jp
http://www.jaist.ac.jp/ ~ j-morita/wiki/
j-morita@jaist.ac.jp
Assistant Professor
Assistant Professor
Specialization
Specialization
Cognitive Science, Information-Theoretical Analysis of Behavioral Data,
ACT-R, Analogy, Cognitive Modeling
Language Development
Research Area
Research Area
My main research approach is cognitive modeling; that is, a computational
How do people learn complex systems such as language? It is intriguing
system developed to imitate human minds. I am using this approach to contrast
whether we can make a machine that autonomously learn such complex
human thinking with formal computational logic. Extending this approach, I
systems. One of my research goal thus is to build a computational model which
am also seeking to develop a learning method that cultivates learner's meta-
account for human learning and development. Recently, I am also interested in
cognition by cognitive modeling.
mechanism of bodily imitation and "mind reading" from bodily movements.
32
Professors
and
Associate Professors
Social Institution Design: Evolutionist Approach
Student interview
Application of Kansei Engineering Technique to
Practical Problems
Shigeto Kobayashi
Yukihiro Yamashita
http://www.jaist.ac.jp/~s-kobaya/
s-kobaya@jaist.ac.jp
yukiyama@jaist.ac.jp
Assistant Professor
Research Assistant Professor
Specialization
Financial Market, Evolutionary Economics, Institutional Analysis
Kansei Evaluation Data Analysis; Knowledge Construction Systems
Research Area
Research Area
My research focuses on institutional design in financial markets and local
In order to support traditional craft industry, I am developing a Kansei
communities. More specifically, my current research interests are: 1) analysis
recommendation system and conducting marketing research by using
and design of circuit breakers based on synchronic and diachronic perspectives,
the Kansei engineering technique. I am also interested in the knowledge
2) circulation mechanism of community currency using multi-agent simulation
reconstitution; that is, the processes and conditions used to construct
and gaming, and 3) money consciousness research by institutional ecology
knowledge.
approach.
Education for Learning Support
Taisuke Ogawa
Tomohiro Nabeta
t-ogawa@jaist.ac.jp
http://www.jaist.ac.jp/profiles/info.php?profile_id=557
nabeta@jaist.ac.jp
Research Assistant Professor
Research Assistant Professor
Specialization
Specialization
Knowledge Modeling, Knowledge Circulation System, Medical Service
Cognitive Psychology/Educational Psychology, Educational Engineering,
Science.
Learning Science, Medical Education
Research Area
Research Area
Medical service and educational service need professionalism. The
My main research interest relates with learning and education on knowledge
professionalism consists in not only deep domain knowledge but also high
society. In addition, my research interests include knowledge building and
sense of worth. My research interest is how to obtain and deal the sense of
expert cognition. I am studying these topics from the perspective of psychology
worth as knowledge. Now some knowledge externalization and sharing systems
and educational engineering.
start appearing.
Service Science: Individuals, Organization, and Cities
Perspectives
Knowledge Co-creation for Medical Services based on
Knowledge Modeling
Kunio Shirahada
Osamu Takaki
http://www.jaist.ac.jp/~kunios/KUNIOS_homepage.html
kunios@jaist.ac.jp
takaki@jaist.ac.jp
Assistant Professor
33
Assistant Professor
Specialization
Specialization
Organization Management, Services Marketing, Technology Management
Knowledge Co-creation, Knowledge Modeling, Medical Service
Research Area
Research Area
My research interests include service science at the individual, organizational,
My research interests include approaches that integrate ontology engineering
and city levels. Based on the background that human service activities largely
with formal methods in order to combine and utilize ambiguous/incomplete
affect to environment, I am studying service value co-creation model and its
knowledge. Based on the research, I seek to realize knowledge co-creations for
applied governmental policy for sustainable development from economic,
medical services.
social, and environmental viewpoints.
Guanhong Li
Country of Origin:
University:
Faculty:
Year of admission into JAIST:
Name of Research Laboratory:
Research theme:
Specialization
Knowledge Sharing Systems in Professional Services
Knowledge Science 2012
Knowledge Science 2012
China
Guilin University of Technology (BE); Swansea University (UK)(MSc)
Department of Electronics and Computer Science (BE);
Department of Computer Science, School of Physical Sciences (MSc)
2012
Hashimoto Lab
Investigate the Neural Mechanism of the Emergence of Symbolic Communication System
What led you to enter JAIST?
What research interests did you have when coming to JAIST?
What kind of future do you see for yourself after finishing at
JAIST? Is there a specific career that you are aiming for etc?
JAIST is famous for its remarkable research achievements in the domain of
information science, and also its pioneering works on knowledge science.
Aiming to develop more interactive artificial intelligence, I was interested in the
research of communication system regarding interaction between people, which
is a highly interdisciplinary field. The school of knowledge science of JAIST
provides an excellent environment for carrying out such kind of research.
I am planning to continue my research at research organizations around the
world, encouraged by the extensive opportunities provided by JAIST for
academic communication. Besides, I am also looking forward to put my ideas
into social and industrial practice. The wide rage of knowledge I learned here
could definitely help me a lot for my future career.
What kind of research are you currently undertaking at JAIST?
And what do you feel is the significance of that research for
society and for you as an individual?
I am currently investigating the neural mechanism for forming symbolic
communication system, involving methods regarding both cognitive
neuroscience and complex system. This research could not only benefit the
development of artificial intelligence and robotics from a new perspective, but
also contribute to the research of linguistics, sociology, and education. In
addition it is the right theme that I am interested in, and serves me as a good
start point for my later research career.
What is good about JAIST and what aspects of JAIST can you
recommend to prospective students?
Well known for its academic environment, JAIST is capable to provide the
most advanced instruments and the most powerful computers for research.
The professors here are not only world-famous and knowledgeable, but also
very helpful. Various interdisciplinary researches can be found here,
providing an excellent chance for those who wish to study a wide range of
subjects. On the other hand, though located remote from city, JAIST does
provide a perfect environment to live comfortably and study intensively.
Haoran Xie
Country of Origin:
University:
Faculty:
Year of admission into JAIST:
Name of Research Laboratory:
Research theme:
What led you to enter JAIST?
What research interests did you have when coming to JAIST?
Computer graphics is a creative applied science field based on
multidisciplinary studies, which is totally fascinating to me since
undergraduate. Before enrolling in JAIST, I found that out JAIST is a
wonderful institution for researchers, and then took contact with my
supervisor unhesitatingly. Sincerely thank him for accepting me as a research
student at first and let me begin the life in JAIST. My initial research interest
was texture representation of human skin after reading the recent papers
about leather textures written by my supervisor.
What kind of research are you currently undertaking at JAIST?
And what do you feel is the significance of that research for
society and for you as an individual?
MMy researches focus on physically based simulation in computer graphics,
especially the coupling between rigid bodies and fluid. The key word of my
research is “unsteady motion”, which would arise by either non-smooth
friction functions among rigid bodies or the drag effects by vortex shedding
on the surface of submerged objects in fluids. It is a promising and
P.R. China
Anhui University (BS)
Department of Applied Mathematics
2010 (5D program)
Miyata Laboratory
Realistic Physically-based Simulation of Lightweight Rigid-body Dynamics
Motion Synthesis in the Coupling of Fluid and Rigid Bodies
challenging work. These techniques would be widely used in CG movies and
games to generate realistic motions.
What kind of future do you see for yourself after finishing at
JAIST? Is there a specific career that you are aiming for etc?
About the future, I think that R&D engineer is a good alternative to a faculty
position in university, to help make better and more affordable movies and
video games. Additionally, I intend to expand more researches and develop a
new physics engine involving my PhD works to provide realistic simulation
system for public uses.
What is good about JAIST and what aspects of JAIST can you
recommend to prospective students?
One of the main benefits of JAIST is the freedom you have to follow your
interests. There are huge various opportunities to help you improve research
skills and exchange ideas with experts. In my case, I visited the University
of Sydney and the UC Davis as interns. In the end, JAIST is definitely a
perfect place to pursue your interests and enjoy the life actively.
34