Hello, this is Uehara from the Production Department.
This may seem sudden, but I have been working in the fields of technology and science for the past few years, and through that experience I have become fascinated with the power these fields possess, and I began to think that I would like to work in a way that can help connect this power to society in some way.
Therefore, when I joined Monosus, I expressed my desire to continue to be involved in projects that involve "technology and science."
This time, I would like to write about the project I was in charge of called "Field Hack ONAGAWA."
What is Field Hack ONAGAWA?
The first event I was put in charge of after joining Monosus was Field Hack ONAGAWA, an event co-hosted by Google Innovation Tohoku , the University of Advanced Media Arts and Sciences , and Engadget Japan , one of the projects the Production Department is involved in.
First, let me give you an overview of Google Innovation Tohoku and Field Hack.
Innovation Tohoku is a matching platform that connects people who are taking on projects to revitalize their local communities with people who want to participate in those projects.
You can find a new way to get involved with your community by participating online without changing your location or job.
Innovation Tohoku has launched a new project called Field Hack to spark new change in the region through technology!
This time, I was involved from the planning stage and was in charge of project management.
Hackers (participants) from all over Japan conduct fieldwork in their local areas and, based on the hints they find there, share their ideas and skills to create concept prototypes. Participants included people with a wide range of skills, from engineers, designers, and planners to entrepreneurs and certified public accountants. The first event was held in Onagawa Town, Oshika District, Miyagi Prefecture, with the cooperation of the nonprofit organization Asuhenokibo.
Onagawa Town has seen an accelerated decline in population due to the earthquake, and is said to be decades ahead of other parts of Japan. However, with the slogan "A new start for a town where people can live all over the world," new types of regions, society, jobs, and working styles are being born one after another that could serve as a model for Japan in the future.
First, the people of Onagawa Town decided on five themes: SEA Hack (sea) , TABE Hack (food and drink) , YAMA Hack (mountains) , EDU Hack (education) , and TOWN Hack (town development) . People at the forefront of each field carefully organized fieldwork. At first, they seemed a bit skeptical about technology, but they trusted the participants and enthusiastically presented the tasks to them in a short amount of time.
The hackers actually visit Onagawa Town and incorporate the hints they gain through fieldwork into ideas through workshops and discussions.
This was a two-day, one-night event held in Onagawa Town. As an aside, the hackers drank with locals until late into the night, and talked at their lodgings every night... It was a very lively event.
The final scene of the event on Day 2. The development period is about to begin.
After that, each team got together to work in their spare time, and those who couldn't get together held video conferences to develop prototypes of their ideas in about three weeks.
How to best utilize technology in your region
Through Field Hack ONAGAWA, I felt that there is change that can only be brought about locally by utilizing technology.
What kind of change can only happen locally?
Here's an extreme example.
Did you know that mobile phone penetration is overwhelmingly high in Africa?
In 2014, mobile phone ownership among adults was 89 percent in South Africa and Nigeria, 83 percent in Senegal and Ghana, 82 percent in Kenya, 73 percent in Tanzania, and 65 percent in Uganda.
Only 2% of people answered that they have a landline phone at home.
By the way, the percentage of adults who owned a mobile phone in Tanzania, Uganda, Kenya and Ghana was about 10% in 2002. This shows the overwhelming speed of growth.
While urban areas with well-organized infrastructure go through a phase of landline telephones and then move on to mobile phones, Africa, where landline telephones were not widespread, has leapt ahead and overwhelmingly increased the ownership rate of mobile phones and smartphones. Currently, commercial transactions are also conducted on mobile phones and smartphones, and there are reports of an increase in new businesses. (Landline telephones were deemed inadequate due to the geographical environment, lifestyles that do not settle in a fixed place, and infrastructure conditions that do not provide a stable supply of power and lines.)
Source
http://www.huffingtonpost.jp/2015/04/22/cell-phones-are-everywhere-in-parts-of-africa_n_7114528.html
What I want to say here is that urban areas have their own ways of development,
I believe that each region has its own technology that is suited to that region.
I believe that this project allowed us to discover this through fieldwork (this is important!) and then incorporate it into a prototype.
When I saw the completed prototypes at the presentation, I felt that the feelings of the local community and the hackers' feelings about manufacturing overlapped. They expressed the desire to make something themselves, and at the same time, they were all highly feasible ideas that properly reflected the findings of the fieldwork for Onagawa Town.
For example, at Sea Hack, which I accompanied this time, I heard from a fishery business owner in Onagawa Town that he uses LINE for B2B transactions. Buyers scattered all over Japan contact him daily via LINE to inquire about the types and quantities of fish they have procured. He said that he takes photos with his smartphone and contacts the buyers individually.
Field work at Sea Hack
Since individual responses would make communication too complicated, hackers developed a prototype called the "Phoya System" (named after the sea squirt, one of the specialties of Onagawa Town).
The "Phoya System" allows users to adjust the lighting on their smartphone to take photos that best match the shape and color of the fish, and the images they take are automatically uploaded to the website and messenger tool.
If the only goal was to streamline communication, there would surely have been many other methods. However, I think the reason the hackers focused on images was because they actually went to the area, experienced the fish preservation methods and the diversity of colors, and learned that these directly relate to trade. This is the result of the people of Onagawa seriously engaging with the hackers.
The fishing industry, which is the core industry of Onagawa Town, can now easily do B2B transactions with buyers all over the country using smartphones, and the system has made it possible to further increase efficiency and accurately convey information about fish along with images. If this is properly implemented, I think it can also be used for overseas transactions.
The excitement of the Onagawa people at the presentation
This is an idea that would rarely come up in urban areas where buyers congregate, and I am excited to think that it could be used not only in Onagawa Town, but in other regions as well...
In connecting the power of "technology and science" with society, each region has its own optimal way of using technology. To know this, you need to actually visit the local industry to learn about its situation and characteristics, and the thoughts of the people and region involved. Only when this overlaps with the hackers' passion for manufacturing can technology come to life and products that bring change to the region can be born.
Of course, it's not easy, and I think there are many hurdles to overcome when moving from the prototype to the next stage. I would like to continue following up so that at least one of them can be realized!
For an overview of this wonderful prototype that was born from the shared vision of hackers and the local community, please see the Field Hack report page!
→ Click here for the Innovation Tohoku Field Hack report
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