Camp for Designing the Future 2013

SFC will be holding the Camp for Designing the Future again this year. This 'camp' is not what you would call 'camping in the wild,' but rather an environment where you can utilize your own abilities and experiences in the field and learn the importance of connecting creative ideas to action. The various approaches to problems that SFC aims for require 'implementation skills.' While the 'camp' is prepared in advance, the specific activities are designed impromptu according to the situation on site. We know from experience that flexible thinking and flashes of insight are born in unexpected ways, and often in informal settings. In that sense, the 'camp' seems to be a place where you can find many hints for understanding communication between people.

To begin with, both 'campus' and 'camp' are derived from the Latin word 'campus,' which means 'a flat place or open space.' The essence of intellectual activity at a university is to share special moments through free and open discussion. The Camp for Designing the Future is a place to experientially consider the 'implementation skills' that will lead to the future, where diverse knowledge and wisdom collide.

This year, five 'camps' are planned. In each program, you should be able to experience SFC's way of seeing and thinking. Let's work our minds and bodies busily with the friends who gather at the 'camp' and take another step toward the future.

August 1, 2013 (Thu) 9:00–17:30

Keio University Shonan Fujisawa Campus (SFC)

Computational Design Workshop. We interact with someone every day through Facebook, LINE, and Twitter. The image of 'someone' we hold through social networks is clearly different from what we feel when we meet them face-to-face. The activities that unfold in the universal space of the internet are represented not by real faces, but increasingly by stylized icons and characters. In an era like this, what meaning and value do portraits (portrait photographs) hold? In this workshop, we want to consider these issues by creating new portraits using computers. In the 20th century, when photography was the main imaging device, optical filter expressions like Rayographs and solarization were born, and many vivid portraits that symbolize that era remain. These can be said to have been born from the ingenuity and struggle to make the most of the optical tool called the camera. On the other hand, our main tools for living in the 21st century are powerful computers and creative programming environments. Computers and the software that runs on them are more generative than optical, based on abstract thinking and algorithmic methods. Therefore, the ability to develop sensory images received from 'someone' who is the subject into logical code is indispensable for 21st-century creation. In the workshop, we will use a programming environment called Processing, developed for designers and artists, to add original filters to photos and create portraits that apply algorithmic and generative expressions. No special programming knowledge is required. Let's think together about our faces while physically understanding the fun of creation through programming and its characteristics.

Akira Wakita (Faculty of Environment and Information Studies), Fumitoshi Kato (Faculty of Environment and Information Studies)

About 15–20 people

Robotics Design Camp. Small computers equipped with various sensors and the networks that connect them. Actuators that access human senses. By gaining constant access to ubiquitous information spaces, people are gradually expanding their cognitive and physical abilities. And around people are robots that support their daily lives as if they were close companions.

There is a school of thought that robots communicating with people should imitate human forms, movements, and even facial expressions. On the other hand, like R2-D2 and C-3PO from the movie Star Wars, or the protagonist of WALL-E, many of the robots and humanoids active on screen have shapes quite different from humans, and their movements are by no means smooth. However, we, the audience, are moved by their joys, sorrows, and angers, and we even become emotionally invested. Why is that? What kind of gestures from robots make people feel a sense of closeness?

In this workshop, you will first fully become robots with limited physical freedom. Then, from the robot's perspective, you will design methods of emotional expression that arise from interactions with humans—expression methods unique to robots. This is a completely opposite approach to conventional methods. Then, using the latest techniques such as motion capture, we will model these on a computer and teach them as movements to actual robots and humanoids. No specialized knowledge of programming is required. Let's design a new way of interacting with robots together.

Kazunori Takashio (Faculty of Environment and Information Studies), Takaaki Kato (Faculty of Environment and Information Studies)

About 20 people

'The future is already here — it's just not very evenly distributed.' — This is a quote from science fiction author William Gibson. This means that the seeds of the future already exist somewhere. If that is the case, then to envision the society of the future, it is not enough to just vaguely imagine it; it becomes important to find the seeds of the future that are somewhere now and nurture them. In this workshop, we will extract the tips and secrets from the actions and activities of 'the seeds of the future' that some people are already doing, verbalize them, and learn in a practical way about the 'methods' to connect them to the future.

Takashi Iba (Faculty of Policy Management), Yuichiro Shimizu (Faculty of Policy Management)

About 20 people

In this workshop, we will incorporate blended learning through lectures, discussions, and group work to explore regional issues and propose feasible solutions from multiple perspectives.

In local communities, various systems and factors are intricately intertwined, and problems that are difficult for both local governments and companies to deal with stand in the way everywhere. In the past, communities had ways to solve problems through mutual assistance, such as 'ko' (mutual financing associations) and 'yui' (community work-sharing). However, these mechanisms based on local ties are becoming dysfunctional, and the financial situation of local governments is becoming increasingly severe. The question of how to achieve a turnaround is still in a trial-and-error stage. In this context, attention is now being focused on the existence of universities as the main actors responsible for regional innovation. This time, while introducing SFC's advanced initiatives, we will discuss with everyone the role, potential, and future direction of universities in the region.

Here, we aim not just to end with analysis, but to explore what should be and create practical knowledge to bring about social innovation.

Yoshinori Iimori (Faculty of Policy Management), Naoto Nakajima (Faculty of Environment and Information Studies)

About 20 people

Foreign Language Learning Environment Design Workshop. Foreign Language Learning Environment Design Workshop. Amidst global human mobility and contact, as English flourishes as an international language, the need to learn each other's regional languages is increasing. Regional languages are the languages used in various regions of the world. At SFC, we emphasize mutual understanding of linguistic and cultural backgrounds with people from around the world and coexisting in a mutually beneficial and creative manner. We advocate for multilingualism and offer a curriculum to learn various regional languages such as Chinese, Korean, Malay-Indonesian, French, German, and Spanish. Among these, for those whose first language (mother tongue) is a language other than Japanese, we offer a curriculum to learn Japanese, the regional language of Japanese society.

Foreign Language Learning Environment Design Workshop. Foreign Language Learning Environment Design Workshop. Amidst global human mobility and contact, as English flourishes as an international language, the need to learn each other's regional languages is increasing. Regional languages are the languages used in various regions of the world. At SFC, we emphasize mutual understanding of linguistic and cultural backgrounds with people from around the world and coexisting in a mutually beneficial and creative manner. We advocate for multilingualism and offer a curriculum to learn various regional languages such as Chinese, Korean, Malay-Indonesian, French, German, and Spanish. Among these, for those whose first language (mother tongue) is a language other than Japanese, we offer a curriculum to learn Japanese, the regional language of Japanese society.

Yumi Sugihara (Faculty of Policy Management), Takahiro Kunieda (Faculty of Policy Management), Toru Nomura (Faculty of Policy Management), Hongcheon Li (Faculty of Policy Management), Shuichi Kurabayashi (Faculty of Environment and Information Studies)

About 20 people

9:00–9:25 Assembly & General Guidance (Registration starts at 8:30)

9:30–12:00 Workshop (Morning Session)

12:00–13:00 Lunch (All participants) *Participants are responsible for their own lunch.

13:00–16:00 Workshop (Afternoon Session)

16:00–17:00 Commentary by the Dean of the Faculty of Policy Management and the Dean of the Faculty of Environment and Information Studies

17:00–17:30 Awards Ceremony

If you have any questions about the Camp for Designing the Future, please feel free to contact us by phone or email.