Hidden Curriculum | Hideyuki Tokuda (Dean, Graduate School of Media and Governance)
2004.12.13
Every good university has one!
School festivals, watching the Keio-Waseda rivalry games, ad-hoc group activities, homecoming days, and research presentations like the ORF are all open house-style events where the entire campus comes together as one. Unfortunately, these kinds of events are not listed in the university's curriculum handbook.
This year's ORF was also a whirlwind of activity, and it was a very fulfilling experience. I participated in panel discussions, introduced the outline of the COE site formation, and had the chance to meet with fellow researchers on joint projects, sponsors, lab alumni, and the families of current students. The fact that over 3,000 people attended over the two days this year is partly due to the convenient location of Roppongi Hills, but it also seems to indicate that the research results from SFC are beginning to be recognized as something worth seeing.
First, following the opening session which was packed from the morning despite being a public holiday, I held a dialogue with Professor Yasunori Sone titled "Science, Technology, and Regional Policy," with Junji Kaminari serving as the coordinator. From my side, I introduced national projects aimed at realizing a ubiquitous society, the u-Japan basic policy, and our research themes. I emphasized the importance of ensuring alignment between ubiquitous technology and social systems—even more so than with past IT technology policies—to realize ubiquitous technologies that are more closely integrated with people's daily lives. I'm still not sure if our discussion was perfectly coherent, but it has been reported on PCWEB .
The panel exhibitions related to the COE Program and the explanatory sessions by several faculty members in charge of research and their RAs (Research Assistants) were also a great success, with many people stopping to listen intently each time. This is the result of the efforts of our public relations team, which is composed of members from across different fields. As many of you may already know, I am relieved that our COE Program, "Next-Generation Media and Intelligent Social Infrastructure," received the highest evaluation: "The initial plan is being implemented smoothly, and it is assessed that the objectives can be achieved by continuing the current efforts."
In our lab as well, thanks to the hard work of our students, we were able to present numerous exhibits and demonstrations of our results related to ubiquitous computing and communication technologies. I believe that if you compare this year's presentations with the results from four years ago at SFC , you can clearly feel the progress in technology. We received a great deal of wonderful praise from many visitors, who commented that the students' explanations were "lively, fresh, and excellent." I am sure that the students in the lab also felt a sense of joy and fulfillment in being able to explain to so many people the systems they had worked on for days without sleep to complete and get running.
I hope that through everyone's collective efforts, the ORF will continue to evolve into the ultimate "Hidden Curriculum" for SFC.
(Date Published: 2004/12/13)