F1521 Digital Networking and the Regions (Cultural Heritage Sp. Track)

The aim of this course is to understand the influence of digital networking, such as broadband, on regional economies and communities from the viewpoint of human geography.
Narrowing the digital divide between urban areas and peripheral areas, or major companies and small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) through the Internet and other information and communications technology (ICT), is one of the most important concerns of the geography of information. In particular, in advanced countries, where the development of domestic broadband networks has been underway since the 2000s, regional differences in accessibility and the ability to use such networks are recognized as a new digital divide.
Therefore, developing broadband networks in peripheral areas as a part of advanced countries’ national minimum infrastructure is becoming an important political task. Since the mid 2000s, with the aim of improving accessibility to broadband networks, there has been an increasing number of studies that focus on multifaceted analyses of examples in which ICT was effectively used in peripheral areas, and such work includes Quantitative Understanding of ICT Utilization, SMEs in Rural Communities and the Launch of Telework, and the Expansion of Emergency Medical Service Support Systems.
The expectation that the spread of ICT would be a trigger to stimulate peripheral areas became common in Japan in the late 1980s.  Since the latter half of the 1990s, while new ICT services such as the Internet and mobile phones were rapidly spreading in Japan and other advanced countries, regional imbalances of access points to the Internet, as well as mobile phone connectivity has gained attention as the “digital divide.” However, since the 2000s, such regional imbalances are gradually being corrected, as broadband Internet is expanded to peripheral areas and more people argue that the Internet can be used to stimulate areas with declining populations.  
Additionally, the rapid diffusion of social networking services (SNSs) such as Twitter and Facebook not only offers SMEs a new business opportunity, but also creates an opportunity for an individual network to have large influence on regional policy.  Such tendencies are most prominent in densely-populated urban areas, and typical examples include the growth of electronic commerce, information dispatch in shopping centers, and mothers’ petitioning of the local government for improved child-rearing policies.
Embracing differing viewpoints, this course first considers the spatial and geographical influence of digital networks, and explains the information policy of the Japanese government from the 1980s to the 2000s as compared with other advanced nations. We will then discuss the influences of digital networks on regions from examples in peripheral areas and urban areas.

Learning outcomes of the course
Students will be enabled to understand the geographical and spatial impact of a digital network. They will also get to know examples of regional improvement using a digital network in Japan and other advanced nations.