<<Address by President Shirai >>
This was the DCC's first year since entering Phase 3. This has continued on from previous phases, and so naturally I think that there is a reasonable amount of depth to the consortium's activities. As you can also see from the materials that have been distributed, the consortium has had a very fruitful year.
What are the intentions of the Phase 3 DCC? So-called On-Demand Lectures and e-Learning facilities are now in a position to become an accepted norm throughout the world. It's difficult to tell whether it will be perceived as education, but in any case, the consortium will utilize such developments in its pursuit of intellectual activities. Opinions will be exchanged. Senior students will drive juniors forward. Career guidance may be provided. And human resources will be developed. Participants may provide each other with incentives for working together moving forward. People will cooperate with one another. These things will be extremely important throughout our world as we move beyond today.
For Japan to continue to survive and grow in the 21st century, I think you will agree that we must utilize these cyber facilities to their full potential, contributing to society and demonstrating the justification for our existence. If we don't do this, perhaps it will be quite difficult for Japan to make its presence felt. This is why we see the idea of creating a cyber college in Asia as a most prominent objective. However, this does not mean that we have an image of releasing the university's lectures into the open.
NIT conducts a course called OCW. NIT makes half of its lecture materials available on the Internet. We are not opposed to publicly opening part of Waseda University's lectures, but I believe it will be beneficial if people in all types of different positions find the Internet society useful for intellectual reasons, and if it is able to be used as a tool for cooperation. It should prove to become a means for basic competition.
Rather than using it for commerce, it will be used for communication. Perhaps it can be used by people to help others. Maybe education can be conducted. Perhaps it can be used for acquiring the type of human resources desired by corporations. Perhaps it can be used to discover where this type of knowledge, where such technology resides. One can imagine a system for supporting these diverse types of intellectual activities.
What can you do to make such a system occur naturally? This is a great gamble. Or perhaps it is a challenge.
The discovery of educational human resources, intellectual discoveries on the Internet: that's the type of system that we envisage. Therefore, we're not talking about something that one university, or one corporation will try to do on its own. We're talking about how a platform that exists for such purposes may manifest itself.
One can imagine corporations developing such a system for commerce, but when you consider it from an educational perspective, it should be given significance as a type of public asset. Considering the idea of an intellectual tool in that sense, Google right now is quite representative of the type of system that looks as though it may develop. Can we produce something slightly more intellectual, slightly more socially oriented than that? That is the defining objective of the DCC.
We are all here today with the same types of motivations. Of course, some of the attendees may be asking whether it can be used for business. Various tasks that must be completed will present themselves, and so perhaps we may need to request that such work be completed by various corporations. Such situations will probably occur on both sides. Educational institutions must of course contribute something as educational institutions. Can the coming together of such factors and entities additionally produce a system that will exert a positive influence over Asia as a whole?
In order to find out, we will need to try a wide range of activities while holding that aim as our final objective. Therefore, over the first year the DCC has completed numerous joint-experiment type efforts. We will need to find the best method for ensuring our continued existence. It will be an extremely positive result if something concrete can come out of the next two years and start moving forward. We would be grateful if you could provide some great ideas and actions.
I would like to recognize, with everyone here, the success of the first year, and conclude this opening address.
Activity Report
Introduction to the 