Social Informatics Course

Harmonizing Society andInformation Technology
Global networking is rapidly expanding via information technology.
Based upon the trends of technologies that interact with our daily lives,
Social Informatics Course seeks to clarify the structures of highly complex
information societies and actually design information systems that are
globally useful.
Therefore, we endeavor to support globalizing activities in the areas ofculture, economics, ecology, disaster management, healthcare andeducation.

19

Social Informatics Course

Information is Born in the Lives of People
Sources of social information do not exist on the Internet.

Nobuhito Ohte

Professor, Social Informatics Course
He is a Professor of the Biosphere Informatics Laboratory in the Division of Biosphere
Informatics at Kyoto University. His research themes are to understand mechanisms ofhydrological controls of nutrient transformations and transportations in the forested
catchment, and to elucidate the geographical variations of those ecosystem dynamics among
various types of climatic and geological conditions. He holds a BA in forestry from Graduate
School of Agriculture at Kyoto University in 1987, and a PhD also from Kyoto University inforest hydrology in 1992. He was awarded Biwako Prize for Ecology in 2013. He is currently an
associate editor of Biogeosciences (European Geoscience Union).

Social Informatics Course

These sources are usually found in people’s daily lives. Social informatics includes
processes from the acquisition of information from the sources, through constructing
systems to utilize the information, to designing a better society using those information
systems. For example, we collect ecological information relevant to fish by using bio-logging
techniques for fishery resource conservation. We also glean biological information fromforest ecosystems using various types of sensors to optimize the sustainable utilization of
ecosystem services. Then, we study methods for database development to organize that
information on natural resources and environments. Moreover, we study informatics
applications in the fields of medical services and education, and also determine what types of
information are needed for disaster prevention and harm minimization. We consider ways
to utilize the data to design societies and social systems. We,
the people in the Social Informatics Course, work toacquire data directly related to our lives and societies, andto reformulate and store it in the most accessible and usefulway to enable the development of our sustainable future.

Applications of Information Technologies Expanding
Information technologies are causing our society to make great strides, with data science,
artificial intelligence (AI), and information search becoming an integral part of ourlifestyles. Meanwhile, robots, autonomous vehicles, and other information systems withadvanced AI continue to blend into our physical world. As one new information technology
after another is being developed, how can information systems be created that achieve
harmony with society and are accepted and utilized? The Course of Social Informatics isprivileged to have a faculty comprised of experts in information technologies and teaching
staff versed in applications of information technologies in suchfi e l d s a s b i o l o g y , a g r i c u l t u r e , m e d i c a l s c i e n c e , d i s a s t e r
management, and education. If you wish to create information
technologies that lead to practical applications or information
systems that are of genuine use to society, this is the place youwant to conduct your research!

Takayuki Kanda
Social Informatics Course

He received a bachelor's degree from the Department of Information Science, Kyoto University
Faculty of Engineering, in 1998, and completed his doctoral program at the Department ofSocial Informatics, Kyoto University Graduate School of Informatics, in 2003 to earn a Ph.D. in
Informatics. He joined ATR Intelligent Robotics and Communication Laboratories in 2003 tosuccessively assume the positions of researcher, senior researcher, and Group Leader. Since
2018, he has held a professorship at the Department of Social Informatics, Kyoto University
Graduate School of Informatics. His research interests include human-robot interactions,especially robots' autonomous dialogue mechanisms and social competencies, dialogues byanthropomorphic robots using their bodies, and their applications to everyday life settings.

Graduate School of Informatics

20

Social Informatics Course

Outline■Group and Teaching Staff
Group

Teaching Staff

Distributed Information
Systems

Human-Robot Interaction

Takayuki Kanda/Professor Dražen Bršcić/Associate Professo Jani Even/Program-Specific Senior Lecturer
Stela H. Seo/Assistant Professor Malcolm Doering/Program-Specific Assistant Professor
Kanae Kochigami/Program-Specific Assistant Professor

Social Media

Keishi Tajima/Professor (Secondary appointment: Institute of Liberal Arts and Sciences)

Sociotechnical Design(Adjunct Unit)

Naomi Yamashita/Kyoto University Visiting Professor (NTT Communication Science Laboratories)

Consensus Informatics

Takayuki Ito/Professor Rafik Hadfi/Program-Specific Associate Professor
Ryuta Arisaka/Assistant Professor Shiyao Ding/Assistant Professor
Sofia Sahab/Program-Specific Assistant Professor Jawad Haqbeen/Program-Specific Assistant Professor

Information Security(Adjunct Unit)

Masayuki Abe/Kyoto University Visiting Professor
Mehdi Tibouchi/Kyoto University Visiting Associate Professor (NTT Informatics Laboratories)

Bioresource Informatics

Hideyuki Doi/Professor Hideaki Nishizawa/Assistant Professor
Satsuki Tsuji/Assistant Professor

Environmental Informatics

Nobuhito Ohte/Professor Lina A. Koyama/Associate Professor
Masumi Hisano/Assistant Professor

Integrated Disaster
Management Systems

Hirokazu Tatano/Professor Toshio Fujimi/Associate Professor
Subhajyoti Samaddar/Program-Specific Associate Professor Huan Liu/Program-Specific Assistant Professor

Emergency Managementfor Disaster Reduction Systems

Katsuya Yamori /Professor Genta Nakano/Assistant Professor

Crisis Information
Management System

Michinori Hatayama/Professor Kei Hiroi /Senior Lecturer

Medical Informatics

Tomohiro Kuroda/Professor Goshiro Yamamoto/Associate Professor
Yukiko Mori /Senior Lecturer Chang Liu/Assistant Professor

Learning and Educational
Technologies

Hiroaki Ogata/Professor Rwitajit Majumdar/Program-Specific Senior Lecturer
Izumi Horikoshi/Assistant Professor

Data Engineering and
Platform Research

Kazuyuki Shudo/Professor Shiori Hironaka/Assistant Professor

CurriculumofSocialInformaticsCourse■Curriculum of Social Informatics
CourseDoctoralProgram(Informatics)
rd

DoctoralThesis

ndSubjects provided by the Course (total 6 credits including 4 credits from seminars)

3 
2 
nd

1 


Seminar on Social Informatics, Adv. E (Mandatory, 2 credits)
Seminar on Social Information Model, Advanced A, B E
Seminar on Social Information Network, Advanced A, B E
Seminar on Biosphere Informatics, Advanced A, B E
Seminar on Regional Disaster Prevention Information Systems, Advanced A, B E
Seminar on Medical Informatics, Advanced A, B E
Seminar on Social informatics Analytics Infrastructure, Advanced A, B E (2 credits each)Research
Guidance

Master’sProgram(Informatics)


Master’sThesis

nd

- 5 -

2  SubjectsprovidedbytheCourse(optional10creditsormore,including6creditsfrombasiccourses)

AdvancedSubjects(2creditseach)
MultiagentSystemsHumanͲRobotInteractionE, BiosphereInformaticsE,DisasterInformationEmergencyManagement,
MedicalInformatics
InformaticsofEͲbusiness
InformationEducation

DistributedSystemsE,CryptographyandInformationSociety
UserExperience(UX)E,
ServiceModeling
FieldbasedLearning/ProblembasedLearning(FBL/PBL)1,2

st

1 

BasicSubjects(AssignedtoM1,2creditseach)

InformationandSocietyE,InformationSystemAnalysis�E,PracticeofInformationSystems�E

GeneralSubjectsprovidedbytheSchool
InterdisciplinarySubjectsofthePerspectivesin
Informatics(Mandatory2credits)
PerspectivesinInformatics1 PerspectivesinInformatics2�
PerspectivesinInformatics3E PerspectivesinInformatics4E�
PerspectivesinInformatics5E (2creditseach)

Priorto
admission

FundamentalbackgroundofthesubjectsintheCourse,etc.

PerspectivesinPlatformStudies(2credits),ComputationalScience,Introduction(2credits),ComputationalScience,ExerciseA(1credit),InformationandIntellectualProperty(2credits),Innovation
andInformation(2credits),InformationAnalysisandManagement
(2credits),InformationAnalysisandManagement,Exercise(1credit),SocialContributionsthroughInformaticsE(1credit)
InternshipintheFieldofInformaticsE(1credit)

Preferredtounderstandthesubjectsontheright

Datastructureand
Algorithms

Fundamental
Programing

Seminarsandexercises
forMaster’sThesis
(Mandatory10credits)


AdvancedStudyinSocial
Informatics2 E 
(AssignedtoM2,5credits)

AdvancedStudyinSocial
Informatics1 E 
(AssignedtoM1,5credits)

Specificcourses
providedbytheschool

Fundamentalconcepts
ofComputationalNote:�Courses�marked�with�the�letter�“E”�will�be�provided�in�English.

21

Social Informatics Course

Human-Robot Interaction
Intelligent robotics for our daily social environments
There are a growing number of everyday applications for artificial
intelligence and robotics such as social robots, self-driving cars, andautomated shops. We expect that future society will be ubiquitous with various
robots. Towards such a robotized society, we aim to study robots that interact
with people and operate in harmony alongside them. Such robots areembodied agents with sensory feedback that have the ability to interact inreal-time with their environments. Consequently, we conduct fundamental
research in intelligent robotics, human interaction, sensor networks, andartificial intelligence (AI). We are aiming for applications in the service
industry, elderly care, health care, collaborative work places, and learning.
Social Informatics Course[Takayuki Kanda , Dražen Bršcić , Jani Even , Stela H. Seo , Malcolm Doering , Kanae Kochigami]

Social MediaInformation environment for sharing and utilizing all useful information in the world"Sharing and utilizing all useful information in the world" may sound to
you like a mission statement of a major search engine company. It has,
however, been the dream of researchers in the area of database systems
and information retrieval since a long time ago. Thanks to the advance ofcomputer and network technologies, we can now easily share and utilize
data of large volume and high diversity which we cannot even think about
until decades ago, and this "dream" is not a daydream anymore but is the

Web = distorted mirror
Need to remove distortion

goal. To achieve this goal, we conduct research on technologies for

Extraction of social
information from the Webcollecting, analyzing, extracting information and technologies for retrieving

Example of Twitter follow
link classification

information you want from the extracted information. Our recent research
themes includes: extraction of social information from the Web, social
network analysis, information retrieval, and information access interface.
[Keishi Tajima]

Graduate School of Informatics

22

Social Informatics Course

OutlineSociotechnical Design (Adjunct Unit)
Toward an inclusive future society (in collaboration with NTT Corporation)
The progress of the information society has enabled people to connect with anyone more easily, but at thesame has given rise to problems such as weakening of interpersonal relations, fragmentation, and isolation.
These problems cannot be resolved simply by providing more opportunities to connect with other people orsupport for those who are isolated. It is crucial to engage the surrounding community and environment inorder to achieve solutions. This laboratory pursues research on basic communication technologies that
foster deeper human relations and ensure that diverse individuals are included rather than left isolated.
The research topics addressed include:
Information technologies for the realization of inclusive societies Basic communication technologies that foster deeper human relations
Information technologies that serve the collective good Collaborative technologies that enable sustainable work styles[NTT Communication Science Laboratories: Naomi Yamashita]“Minamo-mate”: a support tool for familiesof people with depression

Support for non-native speakers in
multilingual projects
Dialogue agents fostering
person-to-person trust

Consensus Informatics
Toward AI-powered Collective Intelligence
Our interest lies in AI-powered collective
intelligence, whereby people and computers or AI
agents interact to form consensus and cooperatewith each other. Recent research has shown thathuman collective intelligence is superior toindividual intelligence. Adding highly networked
computers and AI to a human population therefore
has the potential to achieve higher levels ofintelligence on a large scale and with great
efficiency. Spectacular advances in AI technology
in recent years, typified by large-scale language
models, have enabled AI agents with dramatically
improved accuracy. So, by getting these AI agentsand humans to build consensus and cooperatewith each other, we hope to demonstrate an
unprecedented degree of collective intelligence,with the ultimate goal of shaping totally new social
systems.
The multi-agent AI presents a methodology andconcepts that allow us to realize such new social
systems and promote them with collective
intellect and intelligent information technology. In
multi-agent systems, we mainly explore
possibilities of new social systems and implementsuchsystems, while seeking the essence of social
intelligence, with a focus on interdisciplinarys t u d i e s w i t h s u c h fi e l d s a s d i s t r i b u t e d A I ,simulations, robotics, and game theory.
Our interest lies in AI-powered collective
intelligence, whereby people and computers or AI
agents interact to form consensus and cooperatewith each other. Recent research has shown thathuman collective intelligence is superior to23

individual intelligence. Adding highly networked
computers and AI to a human population therefore
has the potential to achieve higher levels ofintelligence on a large scale and with great
efficiency. Spectacular advances in AI technology inrecent years, typified by large-scale language
models, have enabled AI agents with dramatically
improved accuracy. So, by getting these AI agentsand humans to build consensus and cooperate witheach other, we hope to demonstrate an
unprecedented degree of collective intelligence,with the ultimate goal of shaping totally new social
systems. Our research in this field is focused on AI
and multi-agent AI, including support forconsensus formation, computational mechanism
design, automated negotiating agents, large-scalelanguage models, distributed reinforcement
learning, service computing, IoT, argumentation
theory, and social simulation.
We will pursue both high ideals (theoreticalstudies) and down-to-earth approaches(commercialization of research achievements).

[Takayuki Ito , Rafik Hadfi , Ryuta Arisaka ,Shiyao Ding , Sofia Sahab , Jawad Haqbeen]Social Informatics Course

ColumnFrom the World to Japan, from Japan to the WorldOver 40 foreign students are enrolled in the
Course of Social Informatics, representing
more than 15 countries. You may obtain asense of global community by studying in sucha diverse environment. Many students fromthe Course of Social Informatics makepresentations, discuss research, and joininternship programs abroad. A welcome party
is held in October to welcome newcomers
from foreign countries, and various kinds ofinternational exchanges happen on a daily
basis.

Social Informatics Course

An international event

Research presentation at an international conference (Canada)

Information Security (Adjunct Unit)
Creating a safe digital society through cryptography(in collaboration with NTT Corporation)
In today’s world, where the Internet is
i n c re a s i n g ly u s e d t o c o n d u c t e l e c t r o n i ctransactions such as electronic settlements andbidding in online auctions, or to carry out
functions required by the government, such as
the filing of tax returns, the maintenance of
secure network services is becoming
increasingly important. Modern cryptography isa key technology to achieve such security, andgoes far beyond concealment technology toprevent eavesdropping. It is a field of intense
study that is developing rapidly. It involves
technical and logical systems which include
digital signatures that verify the identity of theparty you are communicating with andguarantee the authenticity of the data (whichmeans that the data have not been altered), as
well as cryptographic protocols that enableadvanced network services which guarantee
privacy. In our laboratory, we will study anddevelop various applied cryptographic
techniques commonly used today such as publickey cryptosystems, crypto currency, electronic
voting, and other applications suitable for cloudcomputing with rigorous security analysis basedon a firm theoretical foundation.
[NTT Social Informatics Laboratories: Masayuki Abe, Mehdi Tibouchi]&ORXG6HFXULW\

e-voting

cryptocurrency

cloud
computingaccesscontrol

CRYPTOGRAPYforSecureICT

Graduate School of Informatics

24Social Informatics Course

OutlineBioresource Informatics
Seeking utilization and conservation of bioresources
Our research and education efforts areenvironmental DNA methods for collecting

directed at a wide range of subjects to do withbioresource information, and tackling various

the extraction, analysis, and utilization ofbasic and applied hypotheses related to

information, in connection to the use andbioresources, biology, and ecology using big dataconservation of terrestrial and marine biologicalin the form of geographic information, satellite

resources. We are particularly focused on

information, and large databases.

developing biologging, biotelemetry, and[Hideyuki Doi , Hideaki Nishizawa , Satsuki Tsuji]

Various methods and techniques are applied

Environmental Informatics
Seeking conservation and utilization of ecosystems
Recently, society has been interested inorganisms or environments in the ecosystems,

environmental changes at various

or how human society influences them withspatial/temporal scales. This group works on

respect to their sustainability in a changing

topics such as understanding/monitoring

environment. Various methods/approaches suchenvironmental information or the role of various

a s fi e l d i n v e s t i g a t i o n , q u e s t i o n n a i r e s ,organisms in ecosystems. Our research interests

remote-sensing or chemical/isotopic analyses

cover various fields related to terrestrial

are applied to collect and analyze key

ecosystems, ranging from their diverse

information about these ecosystems andinhabitants such as plants, animals andorganisms.

microbes to their complete physicalenvironment. We study how these relate to otherFieldwork is conducted in various types of sites

25[Nobuhito Ohte , Lina A. Koyama , Masumi Hisano]Social Informatics Course

Integrated Disaster Management Systems
Aiming to build disaster prevention systems to ensure a safe and secure society
To build a safe and secure society, we need to put in place disasterprevention systems that will enable the planning and implementation ofdisaster risk control, financing, and other integrated policies in arational manner. We will take an informational, organizational andeconomic approach to find out what kind of disaster prevention system
will result in cities with greater resistance to natural disasters.
[Hirokazu Tatano , Toshio Fujimi , Subhajyoti Samaddar , Huan Liu]

Flood Risk Communication Support System

Social Informatics Course

Emergency Management for Disaster Reduction Systems
Social Scientific research for disaster damage reduction
Society is required to prepare and take actions to reduce thepotential damage of disasters by sharing information and knowledge
concerning potential disaster risks through communication among themembers of society. This laboratory aims at developing disaster risk
reduction systems through practical studies from the perspective ofsocial psychology and systems analysis. The research interests include
disaster psychology, disaster risk information and communication,
disaster education, regional crisis management and decision making
support, financing for disaster recovery.
Disaster education materials developed in our lab[Katsuya Yamori , Genta Nakano]

Crisis Information Management System
Disaster Information Systems with Information
Technology
Our goal is to establish design methodologies for the department ofeffective disaster management systems against various types of disaster for
National/Local Governments, local communities in affected areas anddisaster relief organizations. One of the most important key technologies are
spatial temporal database to record, visualize and analyze current/near
future status in affected areas. In addition our laboratory focuses on humanDevelopment of building damage certification
system considering operator’s ability in
the Great East Japan Earthquake

behavior before/during/after disasters as targets to supply valuable services.
[Michinori Hatayama , Kei Hiroi]
Graduate School of Informatics

26

Social Informatics Course

OutlineMedical Informatics
Exploring approaches to medicine in the information age
The Medical Informatics Laboratory seeks tocreate a new vision for medicine in the information
age by developing information platforms, analyzing
real-life clinical information, and providing feasible
information support for existing clinical entities.
Our research covers all areas at the interface of
information and medicine, including systemdevelopment for ubiquitous hospital information
systems, remote medical information systems,
electronic health records, and other systems,
hospital administration analysis, clinicalepidemiological information analysis, data healthresearch, VR-based medical education, clinicaldecision and surgery support, and information
support for health tourism.

[Tomohiro Kuroda , Goshiro Yamamoto , Yukiko Mori , Chang Liu]

Learning and Educational Technologies
Information Systems that Support Learning and Education
Our research focuses on information technology that supports
activities in education and learning by analyzing their log data:(1) Development of the infrastructure for accumulation andanalysis of educational big data
(2) Analysis of learning experiences by using life log technologies(3) Knowledge awareness for collaborative learning support(4) Educational systems for Information security and ethics[Hiroaki Ogata , Rwitajit Majumdar , Izumi Horikoshi]

Example of a learning analytics system(LEAF/BookRoll/LogPallet)

Data Engineering and Platform Research
Research in support ofinternet-scale data infrastructure
Centering on the configuration of distributed systems
ranging from several computers to tens of thousands ofcomputers in size, this labor atory’s research addresses
topics from core systems for the handling of big data tomethods for analysis of such data. Specific topics include:
Peer-to-peer (decentralized-distributed system) algorithms
Large-scale distributed system simulations
Blockchain networks
Decentralized-distributed machine learning methods
Social graph analysis methods[Kazuyuki Shudo , Shiori Hironaka]

27

Social Informatics Course

Special Education Program of Social Informatics Course

1. Specialized Subjects and special Lecture
In the first year of the Master’s program, students are introduced to
specialized subjects including the design and analysis of information
systems, and the relationship between information and society. They canacquire the fundamentals of informatics from the ground up throughthese subjects, and even students with less specific experience ininformatics can benefit by combining their informatics and otherexpertise. In addition, we have more than 30 special lectures a year in ourSpecial lecture

course, for which we invite lecturers from various universities, researchSocial Informatics Course

institutes and government offices.

2. Education for Innovation
The Course of Social Informatics joins Kyoto University Design School,
in which students take a course titled "FBL (Field based Learning)/ PBL(Problembased Learning)" that helps them acquire the skills needed tofind and solve real-world problems. In this course, students select one ofa variety of themes, and form small groups to tackle specific problems.
The themes include "Designing a new environment for education: creating
FBL (Field based Learning)/
PBL (Problem based Learning)a place that fosters creativity", "Design of places for conversation overbooks and tea", and "Organization design in crowd-sourcing" Kyoto
University Summer Design School arose from activities mainly led by theourse of Social Informatics, and has become a seasonal tradition insummer, attracting more than 250 participants to share the sameinnovative space. Over 20 different kinds of themes were proposed bycompanies and universities, and were tackled by many students eager tos o l v e r e a l - w o r l d p r o b l e m s : t h e y w e n t i n t o t h e fi e l d , a n d u s e dtrial-and-error methods by actually creating prototypes. The Course ofSocial Informatics proposed themes such as "Predicting Kyoto in 2050 bysimulation" and "Designing safety into apartment buildings: first priority,
disaster prevention".

3. Education for Globalization
Course of Social Informatics has an International Course Program in
the curriculum. Students in the International Course Programs can takelectures in English, receive guidance in English from their supervisors,
and acquire Master's and Doctoral degrees exclusively in English.
Students who complete the course will receive a certificate of completion
for the international course.
Strategic communication seminar

Graduate School of Informatics

28