For the purpose of applying Information Technology for environmental education, an argument model useful for visualizing the logical structure of argument process was devised so that it can enhance the self-learning ability through the argument process, and develop the ability of value judgment from versatile aspects in the environmental issues. On the basis of this model, the argument support system of network community type was developed, and it was applied to the classroom education in a high school and a graduate school. And discussed were the comparison of these results for using this system and the future plan.

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We focused on environmental education using information technologies, and our attention particularly on the interactive aspect of environmetal communications, with a view toward gathering, transmitting, and sharing a wide range of information Research on cherry blossoms and acid rain were held using the Internet. from 2000. This paper describes the status and the subjects for an environmental study applying the internet technologies. Information technology will be an important tool for the environmental education. We believe that it will become possible share a much larger perspective. We will continue to increase the use of this kind of technology for various research projects.

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The work at the citizen level to the environmental problem becomes active, and NPO(nonprofit organization) works on the environmental protection activity in a lot of regions in recent years. In the situation which the environmental problem has affected in all aspects of life, it is important for a lot of citizens to deepen understanding to a familiar environment, and to share life environmat information between the citizens, the local governments and the enterprise for the solution. We report a practical use of IT to a habitat investigation of fireflies by the citizens, and discuss its effect on their attitudes to the environmental preservation in the local community.

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The rapid spread of information and communications technology(ICT) including the Internet and mobile communications has accelerated the paradigm shift from an industrial society to an information cociety. ICT has a large influence on the environmental, economic and social aspects of our lives. ICT has the potential to save energy consumption and reduce CO2 emissions by changing the business model and the human lifestyle. This paper describes the results of microscopic and macroscopic analysis on the effects of ICT on the reduction of CO2 emissions.

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In a site of special disaster (NBC disaster etc.), we can sometimes observe much confusion in a way of cooperation among fire-fighting teams and other various agencies, and in a chain of command in a team, in that there are so many uncertainties to be handled by them. Therefore it is indispensable to obtain cooperative supports from various institutions and agencies for information and knowledge to deal with the situation. In this research,we are to explore the problems in fire-fighting activities and in its way of their cooperation with other institutions and agencies in a special disaster, develop a model of recognition and decision-making concerning the situation, discuss the possibilith of mitigation in damage and of redustion in activith times based on the model, and to suggest a remedy with respect to the fire-fighting administration and activities.

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In the market where an information gap exists among the unspecified users connected with the network, it may be in an adverse selection state (market for lemon). It is thought that this tendency is the barrier of market scale expansion of electronic commerce. It is application of the "reputation system" which one of the solution of the evaluates. However, it is not functioning so effectively that it was expected now.

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Probe information systems, the concept being to create new value of information by making use of information obtained from vehicles (probe information) over the Internet, are attracting much attention as a catalyst in the creation of travel information services and other new businesses. To realize the Probe information system, it is necessary at least that there are enough probe vehicle of fiele and probe data to create valuable information (ex:traffic info.). This paper focuses on the diffusion of probe vehicle. We habe therefore studied the basic scheme of introducing the system using diffusion model and calculate how many probe vehicle is needed on field.

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Digitalization of government services is one of major fields of "e-Japan strategy II". In fact, many systems have been implemented in both central and local governments. However, it is quite uncertain if these practices can help reinvent government with improving the quality and efficiency of their services. Programs and systems for digitalization should be evaluated inside and outside the governments with customer-centric and outcome-oriented approaches.

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In china there is not a law to establish an effective legal right of access to government information. Although china has promoted their e-Government construction, and many local governments have established World Wide Web pages, which identify and link administrative information resources. But information disclosure is few and lag, in most WWW pages the on-line procedures and electronic format is unavailable. This research discusses an e-Government mechanism under non administrative information disclosure institution through the case of china. As results, the goals of e-Democracy society.

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The motion which is going to evaluate its capacity is coming out with progress of E-local government. Then, in this study, the examples of the investigation which performed these evaluations is analyzed and there features and problems are clarified. Subsequently, when the purpose of evaluation is set to progress of E-government, it examines whether the evaluation method should be set to relative ranking attachment of the local government, or it should put on their self-diagnosis, and considers how there should be any composition of the optimal evaluation index.

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The realization of "Local e-Government" becomes a coming thing due to the diffusion of the Internet. But demands of the user of "Local e-Government" is not clear, because of the local government still do not show them how to use. Questionnaire investigation to the local government inside Niigata Prefecture and the inhabitant is carried out, and the actual condition about "Local e-Government" and consciousness are cleared and examined about the inhabitant's life figure, the needs to "Local e-Government", and so on with materializing the promotion model of "Local e-Government" by this research.

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Ordinary Money can be interpreted a media to satisfy the interest of having, but Local Money as a media to satisfy the interest of being. In other words, local money is treated as a communication media from the point of view of a social exchange with it. What conditions to popularize such local money was examined using game theory, and the analysis shows that there is a critical mass in popularization of local money and a negative interest will be against expanding local money users.

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This paper examines the factors responsible for the conflict between venture capital investors (VCIs) and ICT venture businesses (ICTVBs) in venture capital financing. In the management process of venture business, while VCIs emphasize on financial and managerial considerations, ICTVBs emphasize on technical considerations. Here management conflict is most likely to arise between them. For a successful venture business, this conflict has to be reduced. Before the start-up stage of venture business, ICTVBs hold the majority equity. Just at its start-up stage, however, VCIs play a crucial role in providing additional equity. Once an investment by VCIs is agreed upon and executed, that is, the venture business has started its business operation, careful managerial considerations are important; otherwise, the abovementioned conflict will likely to arise and affect the performance of the venture business. For this analytical purpose, the data and information were collected from twenty-four VCIs and one hundred ICTVBs operating in MSC, Malaysia, with an effective response rate of 50%. The results indicate that VCIs and ICTVBs did have differences in managerial stance, but the improvement in information exchange on technological, financial and business strategy will reduce the conflict between the two.

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Digital economy has two interrelated components, i, e. 'ICT-producing and ICT-using industries', and this paper is focusing on the letter. The experience of some OECD countries suggests that ICT utilization by business sector helped increase the level of productivity and economic growth especially in the second half of 1990s, but for developing countries (such as Malaysia and other countries in ASEAN), it is yet to see any meaningful impact. Based on a comparative study, it is observed that the magnitude of economic impact hinges upon the level of ICT utilization in the economy, which in turn relates positively to the presence of some key socio-economic factors (including 'e-readiness' and 'economic structure' or 'GDP composition'). For Malaysia, from discussions with businesses and government entities, the study further identifies some 'peculiar predicaments' (notably, the uneven ICT utilization across the country, and businesses are not making full use of ICT), which have been dragging the creation of critical mass, thus hindering the economy from reaping full benefits of ICT utilization. Hence, for enhancing its future economic growth potentials, Malaysia needs to find ways to address the predicaments and increase the level of ICT utilization in the economy. In this context, the study proposes some recommendations for reducing the predicaments.

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Big and sudden changes in the price of financial markets have been more often seen since IT innovation. This paper is intended to focus on the following two issues based on a study on factors of pprice fluctuation of financial markets in terms of behavioral finance theory coupled with IT effect about three peculiar examples. (1) criticism against conventional financial theory. (2) future forecast of the diretion of financial markets based on a review of influence of IT development.

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Humans have been constructing ubiquitous service networks which allow you to communicate with "anyone" or "any object" "anytime" "anywhere." Wireless technologies, which are important for these services, are about to bring about a paradigm shift from a real world to an IT world. This paper proposes a method to combine radio frequency identification tags, or RFID tags attached to objects and personal cards brought by persons such as owners of the objects. Thus, the method can be one of methods to remove a threat of RFID-tag tracking.

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Kaneko et al. proposed a scheme to protect the customer's privacy from vendors such as merchants and transportation providers in E-commerce, which features a transaction method with protection of customer's personal information by chaining blind signatures(6). It also includes a scheme to cancel the protection of personal information, in case such as opening the actual transaction for lawful access by public agency or cooperation in circulation surveys. Since its cancellation scheme isn't complete, this paper proposes a new scheme by storing the transaction record in electronic bulletin board system (BBS)

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Iwai(1997) and Iwai(2002) presented a model of decision support system which affords anonymity to the participants and prevents the groupthink syndrome(Janis(1972)). Starting from a framework of the environmental contingencies of GDSS(DeSanctis & Gallupe(1987)), this paper examines the attributes of the experimental system and shows how a characteristic of anonymity can remain with a limited number of participants.

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In recent years, the introduction of GIS into a administrative business is positively performed, and the construction of integrated GIS is promoted in almost all prefectures. By constructing integrated GIS, It is possible to realize the efficiency of administrative services. However, in constructing integrated GIS, there are not only technical problems but also many systematic problems inside administrations. And the agreement about the construction of integrated GIS has not been fully made in many prefectures. Therefore, based on the participation observation at the conferences with administrative offices and nationwide trend researches, this study aims at grasping the issues of the construction of regional integrated GIS to propose the solutions on prefectural level.

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The development of e-democracy is enhancing the possibility of direct democracy, which is incorporated into the current democracy system. One of the key factors for the direct democracy to work effectively is the agenda to be proposed to the citizens. In this paper, we examine how the ideal agenda should be, using as an example the process of decision-making concerning the public services to be provided to the citizens.

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As a result of the Information Policy, almost all of the administrative organs have constructed and run the official websites. These websites are mainly used for intelligence activities. On the other hand, evaluations of administrative websites have not yet done in many administrative organs. These situations can be recognized to be problems. This is caused by the evaluation methodology isn't established. So, in this paper, I have considered the methodology of heuristic evaluation for administrative websites focused on usability. And finally, I proposed the solution for the problems on the evaluation of administrative websites.

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This paper is a continued report how mobile phones are used among high school students in Japan, and have what are their impacts on human relations. The questionnaire survey concerning mobile phones was executed to the high school student three years ago, and was executed to them again now, for examine how the use of their mobile phones changed. As a result of the investigation, the following matters were clarified. The frequency which they talk over the telephone decreases, but frequency which they use e-mail has increased. They are chiefly using the mail function of mobile phones. And it decreases very muchcommunicate with a past friends. Mobile phones is not able to maintain all interpersonal relationships approved once.

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This paper proposes a network space to provide comfortable life style for aged person. The network space gives several useful support techniques and equipments when aged persons bigin to learn an intelligent knowledge or physical exercise, experience the reality of the scenery in distance location, as living usually. This paper describes the technical subjects to realize the network space.

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Estimation of the cost effectiveness when introducing an information system is a difficult problem. The reason is because it is difficult to carry out cost evaluation of the effect. In this paper, the introductory effect of an information system was divided into the direct effect and the indirect effect, and each was regarded as a fixed quantity and a qualitative effect. We showed the method for carrying out cost evaluation of the introductory effect of an information system.

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By spread of barrier-free buildings, many administrative offices and volunteer organizations have considered constructing a Web-based map system as a method for sharing information of the accessibility of public buildings. However, it is not easy for conventional approach to ensure a high level of user satisfaction. We propose a new supporting system for accessibility improvement activities in a local community. This paper describes basic policy of system planning based on concept of universal design and discusses result of empirical study of our proposed system.

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Under financial difficulties, a new system has been required in local governments to verify whether their services could meet the demanding citizens' needs. This study conducted with City of Hamamatsu is intended to exemplify the efficacy of needs analysis using Text Mining of third-party such as consultants. We extract tasks located in the cross-organizational areas or had not been paid much attention and make policy recommen dations. In additions, we show the evaluation results of our findings and policy recommendations through discussion with the municipal employees.

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NTTDATA corporation conducted an experiment of citizen participation in policy decisions, as a part of "e democracy" research, by using "opinions exchange system using the electronic map" and usual BBS to transmit information. In the experiment, we found thatthere are differences in utterances tendency between "opinions exchange system using the electronic map" and usual BBS. And we could point that people felt easy to use "opinions exchange system using the electronic map" to communicate in their community.

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To solve a long-term problem of a regional environment, the information system to form stake-holder's networks is researched. The name of this system is called "Biwako citizens laboratories". This is not the laboratory as a real organization but Web site. However, it is a site where the various environmental problems of Lake-Biwa are researched as a lot of people cooperate each other.

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PKI(Public Key Infrastructure) is the infrastructure of security in cyberspace. It provides certification in cyberspace. We can confirm its certification by only software .The trust in PKI as the social system is needed for PKI to fulfill the functions of social infrastructure. the trust consists of expectations toward intention and ability of the other party. The PKI system operator needs to take the trust toward both intention and ability into consideration.

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ITS(Inteligent Transport Systems) combines people,roads,and vehicles together as one system using information communication technology etc., and supports safe, comfortable, and efficient transportation. If security incident occur in this system, it can jeopardize the safety, comfort, and efficiency of transportation, and cause enormous social damage. In this paper, while describing the importance of ITS security, the statusquo and future prospect of ITS development will be discussed.

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Support for residents to make decisions for their autonomy is one of the key domains with informatization of a society. The task is related with different arguments of empowerment of local government, development of DSS and logics in social choice theory. This paper reviews the three contexts with respect of a model of 'information,deliberation and decision' presented in a research of electronic democracy (Tomiyama(2002)). As a conclusion, this paper illustrates how a supporting system can be feasible while there are conflicts among the basic notions in the original arguments.

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As for the cooperation of the information system, in the Tama region, the possibility is not low. The adjustment work of standardization is important. As for the technique of cooperation, EAI becomes choices, too.

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Today, the merging of municipalities is called "the great mergers of the Heisei Era. "Since the Special Mergers Law expires in 2005, many local governments are studying the possibility of merging municipalities. Special assistance could not be provided by central government to local ones. Most of the initiative emerges from the central government for the merging of municipalities, however, it is fundamental that these initiatives come from local governments and autonomies for a better self-governance. In order to achieve it, it is necessary for the residents to have access to the information of merging. This paper depicts and analyzes the way municipalities provide information about mergers on the Internet to residents.

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It is said that the core competence, which provides a company with a competitive advantage, is very important for the organization. In order to analyze the relationship between IT and the core competence, the relationship between IT and core competence were statistically examined in 165 Japanese manufacturing firms. Findings of this research are as follows. First, it shows that the IT performance interacts positively with fitness of core competence. Second, it is shown that the IT performance interacts positively with the degree of user participation, and the degree of organizational consensus. Third, it is demonstrated that the IT performance interacts negatively with the manufacturing system more in integrated introduction of IT than in partial introduction of IT.

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We will unconsciously have more various and much information appliances in the near future. This paper shows home computing process from 1980s till 2000s. This process includes not only the diffusion of information appliances but policies of the government and appliacne manufactures. Based on it, I show its important factors except information and network appliances.

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How will demand of skill change? And how will comparative advantage of scheme of human-resource-management change? Nowadays, Japanese corporations have changed their human resource management through both employment adjustment by downsizing and wage adjustment by having weight on incentive-pay. The main reason of the change is not the shift of skill demand because of information and communication technologies(ICT), but the characteristics of market in the knowledge-based society. The reform of human-resource-management will extend the dual structure of labor market in Japan. We wouldlike to state that we must reconstruct our employment-relations-system for the future.

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The 21st century is the next generation of information age. Modern technologieshave provided businesses with the opportunities of revolutionary changes and quantum leaps. China has joined WTO in 2002 and will soon be facing "open" international competition in its homeland. A common problem for many Chinese companies is the inefficiency of application of the information technology to cope with today's fast-paced business environment. The focus of this study is on the current information technology and business administration inadequacies in Chinese companies and the future development directions and potentials in this area.

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[in Japanese]

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This study considered continuation factors of helping behavior, through field work and Agent-Based Simulation. Data were collected through participant observation in citizen's activity. As a result, it has become clear that "intrinsic rewards generated by interaction among helpers who empathized" and "helping behavior limited by empathy" are continuation factors.

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The author has spent more than 10 years as a knowledge manager of some corporate information centers / libraries in a global environment. This practical experience and also academic research have resulted in new definition of library, community of practice. As a result, he author realized a new library in Tokyo in 2003 based on that definition.

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To integrate encyclopedia of Social Informatics and simulation models, we propose a digital library system, which is called Socio-Informatica. The system lets peopleunderstand the contents of the encyclopedia, because of it's interactivity, such as runninga simulation model and observing the results. We considered simulation models concerning Agent-based modeling and System Dynamics modeling due to their popularity in academic fields. Decision-Space-Explorer, which is a simulator. It will be an effective tool for research of social science, because the combination of both modeling approaches can be one of the efficient and flexible methods to develop a social model.

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