The Disaster Countermeasures Basic Act revised in 2013 stipulates local governments making and sharing a list of personal information on people requiring assistance during a disaster. The Consumer Safety Act revised in 2014 stipulates the establishment of a regional committee for ensuring consumer safety and the sharing of personal information. These two acts are complementary to each other. Depending on the application of these two acts, it would be possible to share personal information even at ordinary times (not just in the case of a disaster) among stakeholders of the region such as the local government. In order to do this, it would be necessary to provide training at both the government side and the residents side, to raise knowledge (literacy) relating to personal information.

Using a disaster ethnography research methodology, this study identifies both the tacit and formal knowledge which were at work in the news production process at TV-U Fukushima (TUF), a local broadcasting station, during its coverage of the accident at Tokyo Electric Power Company’s Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant. It also reveals, through the medium of questionnaires, the types of strains/stresses imposed on TUF as an organization, as well as on its staff.

The study confirmed the assumption that the residents who were left behind were not covered by the media at first, because the tacit knowledge gained from past coverage — don’t go near a failed nuclear power plant — kicked in, although it would be unfair not to mention that, under such circumstances, the safety of staff had to come first for any responsible, organized, journalistic entity. On the other hand, a tradeoff was made between TUF and its key station, Tokyo Broadcasting System, in terms of exposing staff members of both entities to the risk of radiation, suggesting that risk management protocols were working effectively.

Another finding was that the stress of possible exposure significantly hindered TUF’s coverage.

On March 12, 2011, almost all mass media pulled out of the vicinity following a hydrogen explosion at Unit 1. It must be admitted that the media failed to inform local residents of the probability of a life-threatening situation, virtually abandoning its duty to protect their lives and safety - which duty media holds as one of society's "disaster prevention organizations." Moreover, the principle, "journalism’s first loyalty is to citizens" (Kovach, 2002), was nowhere to be seen.

In this paper, we analyze a questionnaire survey concerning stranded commuters in the metropolitan area in the Great East Japan Earthquake and make traffic simulation in metropolitan area. As a result, let alone the significance as the basic data to look for countermeasures for stranded commuters and decision making in returning home in the future, even if limited to the analysis indicated in this article, various actual conditions became clear. Here, it is revealed that 19.9% of the respondents of the subjects especially targeted those who were not home in the metropolitan area could not return home on the day, and especially in Tokyo, 32.2% were not able to return home, which, as a result, indicates anew that many people had difficulty in returning home, considering that those who were not home are assumed to be approximately 11,000,000 in Tokyo in a damage assumption. Also from this article we saw that, although most of people used television as the means to obtain information, for the respondents who tried to walk home, needs to obtain information through the cell-phone was extremely high, and in addition to the safety of the family, information on the region where they live is required and works as the cause of the will to return home for many people.

Centralized management of personal data means that the manager is in charge of many people’s personal data, so that this big data can be utilized or leak at one time. On the other hand, decentralized management of personal data means that each individual or her agent manages her own data only, so that the data utilized or leaking at one time is just part of her own data, entailing much higher security. PDS (personal data store) is a mechanism to allow each individual to electronically accumulate and utilize her own data by sharing the data with others. Individuals can use their own data so as to improve their own benefits, hence improving the whole social value of B2C services. PDS is either centralized or decentralized, and decentralized PDSs are much more secure and convenient. Decentralized PDSs are either server oriented or personal-device oriented. PLR (personal life repository) is a personal-device oriented, decentralized PDS, whose introduction and operation costs are very low because it uses commodities for both personal devices and servers. The spread of such decentralized PDSs will be triggered by the increasing needs for secure and low-cost management and utilization of personal data in line with to marketing, liberalization of power retailing, My Number, super high vision broadcasting, reform of medical system, and so on.

For Japanese reform of legal regime on personal data protection, Committee for Personal Data was established under IT Strategic Headquarters, Cabinet Secretariat. In Dec. 2013, “Directions on Institutional Revision for Protection and Utilization of Personal Data” was decided by IT Strategic Headquarters, and in June 2014, “the Policy Outline of the Institutional Revision for Utilization of Personal Data” was also decided. It was expected that “the Policy Outline” became the basement of the bill for revision of the Act on the Protection of Personal Information. However,“the Drafted Framework for the Bill of Partial Revision of the Act on the Protection of Personal Information (Tentative)” is quite different from “the Policy Outline”. Selected discussion points are, 1) the definition of “Personal Information”, 2) Anonymized Possessed Data (tentative), 3) renunciation of Purpose Limitation principle, 4) the limitation of transborder data flows.

I want to provide the base for debates between pro and con discussions on Big Data technology. My suggestion is to see Big Data as representations of the world, and to distinguish distributed representation from local representation. We can not be conscious of the distributed representations because they don’t exist in the form of meaningful units. This is why responsible control of Big Data as distributed representations is very hard. Even Big Data professionals can not be responsible enough for controlling distributed Big Data. We should be more careful about the distinction between local and distributed representation. We also should construct open and effective Big Data governance which includes such actors as governments, companies, professionals, and public citizens.

“Big Data” has become a “buzz-word” in information society, In Japan, this movement is driven by the NIKKEI and Nomura Research Institute. On the other hand, privacy problems are often discussed over Big Data, as of JR-East and Hitachi collaboration. This article reviews the meaning and content of Big Data in chapter 1, looks into privacy problem around Big Data in chapter 2, and thinks about surveillance society with Big Data in chapter 3. Surveillance society is now changing by “Big Data” and artificial intelligence (AI) technology.

Text-based BIG DATA seems highly hopeful in social sciences like sociology dealing with a meaning. The usage of BIG DATA will make us capable of observing our society. Because the data gives us a collective of individual live and real time thinking, it will give much effect on empirical researches drastically. BIG DATA will also be used in theoretical researches. Although it has been difficult to verify social theory, BIG DATA will enhance the quality of verification on social theory together with the usage of social simulation etc. On the other hand, the state of arts of analysis on text data is not enough. The improvement is highly expected in social sciences.

Policy making processes now include not only governments but also the private sector, universities, NPOs and sometimes individuals. Through observing the policymaking process, this paper shows how public theatre and artists collaborate each other. Specifically, it will focus on an artist-in-residence program held in Nishiwaga-cho, by cooperation from both in and outside community. Finally, this paper will discuss one model of partnership between public theatre and artists.

Many local ICT initiatives have been implemented in North America, Europe and in Japan, and the impact of these initiatives is a well-researched area in the literature of social informatics and sociology. Previous research programs such as Wellman and Hampton’s Netville and EU funded SOCQUIT projects reveal how these initiatives effect social capitals and QOL of the local communities and people. However, there is relatively little research work on how local ICT initiative are designed, developed and implemented. This paper presents actor-network theory (ANT) and sociology of technology, as a framework for understanding the processes of implementing ICT initiatives. Drawing particularly on the work of Michel Callon, Bruno Latour and Madeleine Akrich, it applies these theories to a study of how a local SNS initiative has been designed, developed and implemented in Yatsushiro City Hall, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Local Authorities Systems Development Center, Kakegawa City Authority and an NPO organization in Kakegawa City. Specific findings about the actor-network which has shaped this local SNS applications are presented. The conclusion is that the process from the design to the application of the SNS is inherently social and technological at the same time and that a designing an information system is also designing future users who may use the system and future society where the system will be implemented. Finally the paper suggests that chronicle dichotomy between technology and society or technology and culture may be overcome by applying ANT to the analysis of ICT.

The purpose of this paper is to think the theme of this conference seen from a change of perception. To do so, I interpret live performance of Hatsune Miku and her audience seeing today as “the age of meta-mechanical reproduction”. Firstly I arrange the existing discussion about Hatsune Miku, and discuss the contemporary cultures of flash mob and hacktivism have its origin in rock festival and hacker ethic. Secondly I discuss the transformation of the age of mechanical reproduction to the age of meta-mechanical reproduction is related to the change of style of listening to music. And finally this paper considers the value of information in cultural sphere.