Information and Communications Technology for Community Development

Abstract

　This article illustrates how to use ICT for community formation in ten-year future plans. There is still room for improvement in using ICT, such as creating websites for JSME's annual conferences and seminars. Some other academic associations use social media effectively. For instance, YouTube videos are used to share conference information and Twitter is used for discussions during and after the sessions.　There are four ideas that comprise the future vision. The first involves organizing an online course for learning medical education. The second involves establishing a Special Interest Group based on some specific medical education themes such as simulation and e-learning. The third involves creating a community for lifelong medical education, which is an important topic. The last one involves establishing a member support system for using ICT.　In addition to these four ideas, there are other expectations that seem like wishful thinking. The first involves using new technologies such as VR and AR as conference organizing support tools, such as creating a "virtual" annual conference. The next expectation relates to "interpretation," which includes only translations into another language, such as Japanese to English, but also transcriptions in the same language using other phrases from a thesaurus and dictionary. Finally, establishing a methodology to manage the lifelong learning of healthcare professionals with digital badges is also expected.　These things will be helpful for the next generation medical education community.