Evergreen State College in Olympia, Washington and Center for Global Communications

The purpose of the teleconference was to connect Evergreen State College students taking a course on Community Networking with GLOCOM members doing community networking research or activities. Douglas Schuler, a co-instructor of the Evergreen State College course, was at GLOCOM for the teleconference because the previous day he gave a presentation in Tokyo on community networking for CAN Forum. CAN Forum, a volunteer group dedicated to encouraging community networking in Japan, is affiliated with GLOCOM.

KUMON: Good evening. We are quite excited to have Professor Schuler with us. I would like to take this opportunity to try to develop some forms of collaborative activities and relationships between us in Tokyo and persons interested in community networking from the Pacific Northwest. So I very much look forward to this morning's teleconference.

SCHULER: Thank you Professor Kumon. I share your interest in developing a collaborative relationship between GLOCOM and Seattle Community Network. My students know that this type of collaborative work is something that I am very interested in, and I hope that some of my students will maintain this kind of interest over the next months and years. It is exciting that this event is finally taking place after months of preparation. Our agenda includes a discussion of community networking in Japan, including the similarities, differences, and challenges with respect to the situation in the United States. Then there will be an open discussion during which students can ask questions.

MIYAO: CAN Forum is a volunteer, membership organization with a mission to promote efforts to build community network systems. This includes local government, residents, civic groups, and academic institutions. I feel that in Japan there seem to be good efforts being made, but one major problem is that there are very strong barriers dividing the various players needed to build community networks. So in Japan, community networks are led either by local governments or by local, volunteer groups. Business generally is not interested.

SCHULER: Approximately how many efforts are ongoing in Japan to develop community networks?

MIYAO: First of all, it is difficult to define "community network." However, among CAN Forum members there are about 5-10 efforts underway. At the prefectural level, there are about four or five efforts among our members. Of course, outside of CAN Forum there are many more throughout Japan.

SCHULER: As an American there are cultural circumstances that give me a particular understanding of the term "civic society." For the same reason, I do not want to suggest that a "community network" is a particular kind of thing, take it or leave it. But I am curious. How does the notion of "civic society" play in Japan?

MIYAO: In Japan, many community network projects are initiated by local or central governments from top down. Local communities receive grants in exchange for governmental control, and the bottom-up participation of residents to form " civic society" will take some time in Japan.

AOYAGI: I am interested in the role of evolving technology in the development of community networks. The Internet is changing the environment, bringing democracy to the personal computer revolution.

SCHULER: It is difficult to say whether or not a community network is democratic. I think that the situation is much more layered. How do you see GLOCOM or CAN Forum's role in promoting good community networks?

AOYAGI: If people spontaneously form community networks, that is great. But CAN Forum is trying to encourage persons with community network-related talents and ambitions to build and maintain community networks, and to get others interested.

MIYAO: One particular strength of CAN Forum is that many of our members have technical expertise. For example, I would like to introduce to you Mr. Hiroaki Kobayashi, who is a foremost expert on DSL technology.

KOBAYASHI: My company, Sonet, is the first to apply to be a CLEC (competitive local exchange carrier), but most Japanese companies are afraid to compete with NTT. My company provides apparatus for high-speed data transmission such as ADSL technology.

PEAKE: The main problem is access. Anything faster than a 56 K modem is just too expensive, and nobody wants to upset NTT. One of CAN Forum's main activities is encouraging such access. The situation now is one in which interest is restricted due to slow speeds.

SCHULER: The evolution of community networks in Japan seems to follow the same course as those in the United States. Policy barriers in Japan are different, but are there also cultural or civic differences that are important to explore? I am very interested in thinking about how network communities around the world can be linked in some way.

DOLAN: One example of how Japan might be unique with regard to its resources for creating community networks is that there is an existing neighborhood information-sharing system called "chonaikai," which apparently has a history of more than a hundred years. A chonaikai usually consists of 10 or so homes, and generally is initiated and supported by local governments. To organize neighboring homes, a clipboard that acts as a kind of bulletin board called the "kairanban" is circulated periodically. Perhaps this historical development could act as a platform for the introduction of electronic community networks.

MIYAO: Actually, in Okayama there is a group residents in a town with many apartments and condominiums, replacing the kairanban system with an electronic version. Because most residents, both husbands and wives, work during the day, these residents have apparently found being online convenient. Also, the concept of "community" is a major problem in Japan. Particularly in cities, aside from chonaikai there is not much community participation or interactions. Such participation is what CAN Forum would like to encourage.

SCHULER: There probably is no ideal "community" any place in the world. There always will be a tension between the collective and individual rights. Government and business do not always solve our problems. There is a real need for community networks... Also, at my presentation yesterday I noticed that the audience was almost entirely male. What is the role of woman in community networking? In Japan many woman use cellular telephones, which is one form of networking, but what about other activities?

MIYAO: Just looking at CAN Forum might give you a wrong idea that woman are not welcome or involved at all in community network activities. In reality, women are quite active in community networking on the grass-roots level. On the other hand, CAN Forum is an activity that networks those grass-roots networks. As a result, membership consists mainly of leaders, and the fact is that in Japan there are few female leaders.

SCHULER: Perhaps it might be a goal for CAN Forum that by the year 2000, there will be 10 or 20 percent woman involved.

MIYAO: I think that what CAN Forum should do is to encourage local community network groups to train, foster and select woman leaders as much as possible. Certainly, with regard to ability and aspirations in community networking, women are great.

KOBAYASHI: Also, the Minister of Posts and Telecommunications is a young woman.

QUESTION:: (from co-instructor) What is community network technology doing to help preserve culture, language, and traditions?

MIYAO: Suwa City in Japan is an example in which local festivals are preserved and discussed using community networking. Children are particularly encouraged to participate in various cultural events and historical studies.

PEAKE: On many websites in Japan, cultural showcasing is popular. Communities and groups are interested in showing how they are unique. However, the Japanese language presents a technical challenge because of character set incompatibility.

DOLAN: I heard recently of an effort by the Japanese government to record the stories of an elderly woman in Okinawa who is apparently the last representative of a Shamanistic group. I do not know if the government plans to put these stories online, but I assume that this is their intention.

QUESTION: (co-instructor) Are there any activities organized online to help preserve the environment?

PEAKE: There is at least one group that has been using the Internet to lobby to save a particular stand of old growth trees.

JONES: Also, there is a group called Global Environment Information Center, which does a lot of Internet-based environmental work.

QUESTION: Has there been talk about splitting voice from data in telecommunication companies?

KOBAYASHI: The system in Japan is one in which even local calls are charged by NTT, and approximately 60 percent of NTT's revenue comes from such charges. They will not want to change this.

PEAKE: There is a "telehodai" system offered by NTT which allows unlimited access to specified numbers between unpopular hours late at night and early morning. So NTT is aware of the need to move away from their local charge system.

QUESTION: Is Y2K a big topic in Japan?

PEAKE: GLOCOM has been taking a lead with Y2K in Japan, and we are concerned that Japan is lagging behind. Particularly at the community level, there may be problems. We are doing what we can to encourage dialogue.