Proposal of Meso-level Community for Regional Revitalization
Miwa Nishinaka, Graduate School of Management, Kagawa University
Since 2018, we have discussed “Future Prototyping Methodology” for future value co-creation aiming at well-being (Nishinaka, et al., 2019a,2019b,2019c.). This concept helps to create knowledge in a future context assuming to be used in a citizen workshop. In particular, this methodology proposes a platform to simulate discussions on future situations by utilizing a fictional story which will externalize and clarify people’s thinking including implicit thought for the future. In addition to the co-creation platform, we have focused on the importance of “institution” such as scheme, system and/or norms for sustaining the well-being as eco-system. From the series of the discussion, three research topics have been derived:
The first topic is a study of future service work concept by Masuda, et al. based on the research of Flynn & Wilson(2019), and others (Flynn & Wilson, 2019; Huang & Rust, 2018; Sools & Mooren, 2012), which aims to contribute to preparing society for a technological future in the field of services. Storytelling will be used in the study and it will also include a methodology of workshops to discuss the future.
The second topic is a study of AI (Artificial Intelligence) ethics in the field of services. We have discussed the meaning of well-being and how to know the individual’s thoughts on future well-being. The result of the discussion will be used for AI to help and promote human’s well-being. Future Prototyping methodology is useful to clarify the requirements for further advancing the well-being thru AI and shows the future by analyzing people’s needs.
During the discussion of well-being, we reached the hypothesis which is the meso-level community fills the gaps and share their thoughts between generations (present and future) and existence levels (individuals and society) through dialogue. It is a platform where AI could be used in future social design. The third topic – Proposal of Meso-level community – is defined as “communities established across resources based on shared concept in the region,” and it aims at regional well-being as targeted value. A typical example is a healthcare community composed of care managers and users. But we focus on a local art festival as a case. There are many regional areas that lack industry or commercial resources due to depopulation or other reasons. Such festivals actively try to create resources strategically and intentionally in that area to revitalize the area without damaging the original agriculture or lives. Regional acceptance and involvement for the festival are mandatory to be an eco-system in the region for its revitalization. This is based on the thought that regional revitalization with shared concept should make everyone concerned to be happy, including in the future. However, academic research is not enough for the process and the factors, especially, in terms of community formulation. Therefore, we set the research question: “Does meso-level community, which shares concept, revitalize local region?” We adapt “Setouchi Triennale” in Kagawa prefecture as a case that applies many activities, such as smart phone application with location technology, and advertisement. In the presentation, we provide current situation and issues to discuss regional strategy to promote a meso-level community as an ecosystem that shares concept through art festivals.
Reference:
Flynn, P. M., & Wilson, L. (2019). The Future of Work: The impact of automation technologies for job quality in Northern Ireland. Retrieved from https://www.nerinstitute.net/download/pdf/automation_and_job_quality_final_222.pdf.
Huang, M. H., & Rust, R. T. (2018). Artificial Intelligence in Service. Journal of Service Research, 21(2), 155-172, https://doi.org/10.1177/1094670517752459.
Nishinaka, M., Kishita, Y., Shirahada, K., Masuda, H. & Takeda, H. (2019a). ”Special Session KS-7: Future Prototyping Methodology for Value Co-creation Aiming for Well-being,” Journal of Japanese Society for Artificial Intelligence, 34(6), 11, 2019/6/4-7. (Japanese)
Nishinaka, M., takeda, H., Shirahada, K., Kishita, Y. & Masuda (2019b). ” Future Prototyping Methodology for Knowledge Co-creation,” Proceeding of the 33rd Annual Conference of the Japanese Society for Artificial Intelligence, 2019/6/4-7, https://doi.org/10.11517/pjsai.JSAI2019.0_2I3OS15a01. (Japanese)
Nishinaka, M., Kishita, Y. Masuda, H. & Shirahada, K. (2019c). “Concept of Future Prototyping Methodology to Enhance Value Creation within Future Contexts,” Proceedings of AAAI (the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence) 2019 Spring Symposium Series, http://ceur-ws.org/Vol-2448/, March. 25-27, 2019, Palo Alto, CA.
Sools, A. & Mooren, J. H. (2012). Towards narrative futuring in psychology: Becoming resilient by imagining the future. Graduate Journal of Social Science, 9(2), 203-226.