Document Actions
Digital Digest June 2005
The Monthly Newsletter of DigitalEveJapan. Promoting women's digital lifestyles by offering a supportive community and programs tuned to women using IT in their workplace and in their everyday lives.
/:/:/:/:/ THE DIGITAL DIGEST /:/:/:/:/:/
The Monthly Newsletter of DigitalEVE Japan.
Promoting women's digital lifestyles by offering
a supportive community and programs tuned to women
using IT in their workplace and in their everyday lives.
http://www.digitalevejapan.org
................................................
1 June 2005
/:/:/:/:/:/:/:/:/:/:/:/:/:/:/:/:/:/:/:/:/:/
This monthly newsletter is a membership benefit of
DigitalEVE Japan and is sent through our mailing list,
de-japan. If you wish to cancel your membership with
DigitalEve Japan, please follow the unsubscribe
instructions at the end of this issue.
/...../...../...../...../...../...../...../...../...../.....
FROM THE EDITOR
Ailsa Wylie, English Newsletter Editor
<newsletter@digitalevejapan.org>
Back in the old days, before there was email (and long
before I even dreamed of living in Japan), I used to run to
the mailbox every day after work with a feeling of
anticipation. Bills were common, letters were rare - my
friends and I were all hopeless correspondents - but that
didn't dampen my enthusiasm.
Of course, now it's email that I look forward to, and
delivery is instantaneous. I have friends in many different
parts of the world, and I sometimes wonder if we would have
maintained our relationships so well if we still had to sit
down with pen & paper. For me, the hardest part was taking
my corresondence to the post office. What an effort!
During Golden Week I had the chance to competely escape from
email. I went to Chichi-jima in the Ogasawara Islands, where
only Docomo mobile phones work. By a strange coincidence,
the 5 of us who went together were all Vodafone users. One
member popped into the internet cafe on occasion ("to keep
my mailbox from getting too full of junk" - yeah, right) but
for me it was a bit of a relief to be forced to stay out of
touch. My keitai became simply a clock and an extra digital
camera. However, as soon as the ship came in sight of the
Boso Peninsula and 5-day-old messages appeared on my screen,
and I had resonded to some of them, I confess that I felt an
even bigger sense of relief.
I've met some good friends through volunteering with DEJapan
and other groups in Tokyo. And as they come and go in this
global community, we can maintain our friendships by email,
chat, and IP phones. The world is truly becoming smaller
with these technologies.
In the world of e-learning, your teacher is far away and
your classmates are scattered around the globe. Over the
next few months we'll be exploring this new form of
education from different points of view. We hope the
information stimulates your interest and perhaps encourages
you to try it for yourself.
/...../...../...../...../...../...../...../...../...../.....
NOTES FROM THE STEERING COMMITTEE
/../.....
Nothing to report.
/...../...../...../...../...../...../...../...../...../.....
MEMBERSHIP TEAM NEWS
Misao Kajiro, Membership Coordinator.
<membership@digitalevejapan.org>
Total membership is 720 as of May 29th, 2005.
Welcome to DEJ! 4 new members joined in May. Please send
your 'Hello!' message to de-japan@yahoogroups.com. Miwa Oh,
who is an applicant for Events Coordinator, promoted a joint
party with ICA on May 27th. We want to thank her for all her
efforts in organizing this event. Also, a former Event
Coordinator, Kana Makino, left Japan to work in the US.
Thanks Kana for everything you have done for DEJ and please
keep in touch on the list. Of the other w applicants, one is
interested in becoming a Media Coordinator and will be
invited to the next SC meeting.
/...../...../...../...../...../...../...../...../...../.....
WEB CONTENT TEAM NEWS
Debra B. Foster, Web Content Coordinator.
<web@digitalevejapan.org>
Nothing to report.
/...../...../...../...../...../...../...../...../...../.....
BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT TEAM NEWS
Yoshiko Toge, Coordinator.
<businessdev@digitalevejapan.org>
Nothing to report.
/...../...../...../...../...../...../...../...../...../.....
TECH TEAM NEWS
Junko Matsuo, Technology Coordinator.
<tech@digitalevejapan.org>
I must apologize for my long silence. I have too busy to
work as a DEJ Technology Coordinator for the past six
months. It's getting better now and upgrading software on
our web server will be the first task after the down time.
Last Friday, I attended the special joint party held by both
DEJ and ICA. It was so nice to catch up on members' news and
talk with newcomers. Thanks Miwa-san for coordinating
activity with ICA, and everyone who joined us!
/...../...../...../...../...../...../...../...../...../.....
MEDIA TEAM NEWS
Chiharu Kawai, Media Coordinator
<media@digitalevejapan.org>
Hello! It's the season of fresh green leaves. The other
day, I went to Showa-Kinen Park in Tachikawa, where red and
orange poppies were in full bloom and the large poppy
patches were very beautiful. The park is huge and is great
for picnicking and walking in this season. The admission fee
is 400 yen. Dogs are also allowed as long as they are on the
leash.
As one of our media-related win-win efforts, Mr. Jonathon
Walsh, who has been writing professionally for the Hiragana
Times and other magazines, has kindly created two special
versions of the free English information sheet "Expert
Insight" for DigitalEve Japan. They were distributed at the
May 27 party. The information is useful for DEJ members. If
you would like a copy (hard copy or PDF), please contact
media-j@digitalevejapan.org. (This will be announced on our
website in the near future.)
1) "Writing for Profit": How to (get out of teaching and)
become an English-language professional writer in Japan.
(sponsored by Business Grow, www.businessgrow.net)
2) "Getting Noticed--Optimizing your Website Sizzle!": About
SEO (search engine optimization). When you launch a new
website, if it is not picked up by search engines, the
number of accesses to the website will not increase. SEO
provides a means to solve the problem. (sponsored by Sozon -
Strategic Optimization Zone, www.sozon.com)
(In addition, Mr. Walsh specializes in interview articles.
If you would like to be interviewed for an article, please
contact him at info@businessgrow.net. He also offers other
services including English company newsletters, reports,
etc. DEJ members can get a 15% discount for his services
throughout September 30, 2005. ) I am going to try more new
attempts in the future. If you have ideas, please feel free
to contact me.
/...../...../...../...../...../...../...../...../...../.....
DETAILS OF UPCOMING EVENTS
Next Meet the DEvas will be held in June and the details
will be sent to the mailing list soon.
/...../...../...../...../...../...../...../...../...../.....
RECENT EVENTS
On May 27th, several members attended a special party held
by both DEJ and ICA. We would like to thank our new Events
Coordinator, Miwa Oh, for organizing this party.
/...../...../...../...../...../...../...../...../...../.....
FEATURE ARTICLE:
E-Learning: Anywhere, Anytime
By Lynn Fujino
Not too long ago, Japan was being criticized for lagging far
behind other industrialized countries in terms of Internet
penetration rates and IT application. Now, halfway through
2005, the government is well on its way to achieving its
goal of making Japan the most advanced IT nation by 2005.
According to the latest statistics, 40 million households
(out of 46 million) have subscribed to "better than
broadband access." Chances are, if you are living within the
boundaries of a major city center in Japan and you are
connected to the Internet, you have an always-on connection
that is high-speed (cable or DSL) or ultra-high-speed
(fibre-optic).
Now the question is, what do you do with it? Surfing the Net
is fine, and there's always online shopping to keep you busy
for a while, but here we are in the Information Age. Just
think of all the things you can learn if you put your mind -
and computer - to it. Maybe it's time you added a Masters
degree to your credentials, or took a course in something
you've always been interested in. Ever thought of early
childhood education, for example, or interior design? Why
not study a language over the Net? The options are endless,
and the field of e-learning (or online learning) is growing
every day. Japan's massive bandwidth means that you can
combine audio and even video capabilities to personalize
your online experience. And if the course is well-designed
and interactive, your computer can become your link to more
effective and satisfying learning experiences that cross
cultures and time zones without a second thought.
As with anything new, however, it's a good idea to check it
out carefully before jumping in with both feet. While
e-learning may appear to be the answer to all your education
needs, it doesn't suit everyone, and course design will
definitely be a factor. In this article we'll talk a bit
about the e-learning concept, to give you a better idea of
what to look for should you begin searching for a course.
Then, over the next couple of months we'll interview two
Devas who are well versed in e-learning from opposite sides:
one as an online tutor and one as a student. Hearing their
insights and advice based on their experience will make it
well worth your while.
What's e-learning all about?
There is no one official definition of "e-learning" in
English. But while the definitions may use slightly
different wording, the central idea in all of them is that
electronic media is used to deliver the content. For
example, this definition, from a Canadian education site,
states that e-learning is "learning in which content is
delivered via electronic media, the Internet, broadcast,
audiovisual tapes, or CD-ROM. The terms online learning and
e-learning are often used interchangeably" (from
http://schools.tdsb.on.ca/asit/standards/glossary.htm).
In their book, E-Learning in the 21st Century (2003,
RoutledgeFarmer: London), researchers D.R. Garrison and
Terry Anderson claim that e-learning is the application that
has had the greatest effect on our society. They stress that
it is not simply another technology, or an add-on to our
education system, but that it extends beyond access to
information and requires that diversity and cohesiveness be
blended into a dynamic and stimulating "learning ecology"
(p. 3). In other words, it's not important that we can
access the information; now we need to be able to process
it, make sense of it, and then recreate for specific
purposes.
The most important point to note about e-learning is that
the instructor, or teacher, should not be the focus of the
course. The "sage on the stage" is replaced by the "guide on
the side." E-learning, if it is designed well, combines
interactive and reflective learning that evokes a community
of inquiry. As a student, you control what you are learning
and how. If you need to slow the pace down, or speed it up,
you can do so. The instructor's job is to assess the
student's needs and find out where and how they can add
value to the learning experience. That means that in
well-designed e-learning courses, the traditional classroom
model (where information is passively transferred from
teacher to student, with few questions or opportunities for
feedback from the student) does not exist. Rather than
having to rely only on the "sensei" to help you with the
material, successful e-learning encourages student-to-
student interaction and student-to-content interaction.
Is it for you?
The Japanese government is calling for more and more
education reform. The country's rapidly aging society means
that women who have left work to raise families may find
themselves being asked back to the job; there is a very
urgent need in this country for more childcare support so
that women who choose to have both a career and a family can
do so without distress. But all of this takes learning and
being able to apply that learning within this society.
E-learning has been referred to as "just-in-time learning"
and in a way that is true. But more than that, it is a way
for us to create a community of inquiry with others from all
over the globe, to access the information, process it and
then recreate it for our specific purposes. Is it for you?
Check these sites for a list of online courses available
around the globe (in English):
http://www.gnacademy.org/
http://courses.telecampus.edu/subjects/index.cfm (archived
database only; no longer updated)
About the author: Lynn Fujino lives in Tokyo, where she is
connected to the Internet via fibre-optic cable. She
currently spends far too much of her time researching
Japan's e-learning environment in order to write a thesis
for her Masters in Distance Education from Athabasca
University, in Alberta, Canada.
/...../...../...../...../...../...../...../...../...../.....
SUBMISSIONS TO THE NEWSLETTER
Have an announcement to make?
An article to submit for consideration?
(We can't pay you, but we'll give you a byline.)
Please send your submissions in plain text format to
newsletter@digitalevejapan.org
The Digital Digest is brought to you by the Newsletter Team:
Debra B. Foster, Lynn Fujino, Noriko Hasegawa, Koko Iwata,
Misao Kajiro, Louise Mackay and Ailsa Wylie.
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
HANDY LINKS:
DE-J WEB http://www.digitalevejapan.org
LIST ARCHIVES http://groups.yahoo.com/group/de-japan/
UNSUBSCRIBE de-japan-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
/:/:/:/:/ THE DIGITAL DIGEST /:/:/:/:/:/
The Monthly Newsletter of DigitalEVE Japan.
Promoting women's digital lifestyles by offering
a supportive community and programs tuned to women
using IT in their workplace and in their everyday lives.
http://www.digitalevejapan.org
................................................
1 June 2005
/:/:/:/:/:/:/:/:/:/:/:/:/:/:/:/:/:/:/:/:/:/
This monthly newsletter is a membership benefit of
DigitalEVE Japan and is sent through our mailing list,
de-japan. If you wish to cancel your membership with
DigitalEve Japan, please follow the unsubscribe
instructions at the end of this issue.
/...../...../...../...../...../...../...../...../...../.....
FROM THE EDITOR
Ailsa Wylie, English Newsletter Editor
<newsletter@digitalevejapan.org>
Back in the old days, before there was email (and long
before I even dreamed of living in Japan), I used to run to
the mailbox every day after work with a feeling of
anticipation. Bills were common, letters were rare - my
friends and I were all hopeless correspondents - but that
didn't dampen my enthusiasm.
Of course, now it's email that I look forward to, and
delivery is instantaneous. I have friends in many different
parts of the world, and I sometimes wonder if we would have
maintained our relationships so well if we still had to sit
down with pen & paper. For me, the hardest part was taking
my corresondence to the post office. What an effort!
During Golden Week I had the chance to competely escape from
email. I went to Chichi-jima in the Ogasawara Islands, where
only Docomo mobile phones work. By a strange coincidence,
the 5 of us who went together were all Vodafone users. One
member popped into the internet cafe on occasion ("to keep
my mailbox from getting too full of junk" - yeah, right) but
for me it was a bit of a relief to be forced to stay out of
touch. My keitai became simply a clock and an extra digital
camera. However, as soon as the ship came in sight of the
Boso Peninsula and 5-day-old messages appeared on my screen,
and I had resonded to some of them, I confess that I felt an
even bigger sense of relief.
I've met some good friends through volunteering with DEJapan
and other groups in Tokyo. And as they come and go in this
global community, we can maintain our friendships by email,
chat, and IP phones. The world is truly becoming smaller
with these technologies.
In the world of e-learning, your teacher is far away and
your classmates are scattered around the globe. Over the
next few months we'll be exploring this new form of
education from different points of view. We hope the
information stimulates your interest and perhaps encourages
you to try it for yourself.
/...../...../...../...../...../...../...../...../...../.....
NOTES FROM THE STEERING COMMITTEE
/../.....
Nothing to report.
/...../...../...../...../...../...../...../...../...../.....
MEMBERSHIP TEAM NEWS
Misao Kajiro, Membership Coordinator.
<membership@digitalevejapan.org>
Total membership is 720 as of May 29th, 2005.
Welcome to DEJ! 4 new members joined in May. Please send
your 'Hello!' message to de-japan@yahoogroups.com. Miwa Oh,
who is an applicant for Events Coordinator, promoted a joint
party with ICA on May 27th. We want to thank her for all her
efforts in organizing this event. Also, a former Event
Coordinator, Kana Makino, left Japan to work in the US.
Thanks Kana for everything you have done for DEJ and please
keep in touch on the list. Of the other w applicants, one is
interested in becoming a Media Coordinator and will be
invited to the next SC meeting.
/...../...../...../...../...../...../...../...../...../.....
WEB CONTENT TEAM NEWS
Debra B. Foster, Web Content Coordinator.
<web@digitalevejapan.org>
Nothing to report.
/...../...../...../...../...../...../...../...../...../.....
BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT TEAM NEWS
Yoshiko Toge, Coordinator.
<businessdev@digitalevejapan.org>
Nothing to report.
/...../...../...../...../...../...../...../...../...../.....
TECH TEAM NEWS
Junko Matsuo, Technology Coordinator.
<tech@digitalevejapan.org>
I must apologize for my long silence. I have too busy to
work as a DEJ Technology Coordinator for the past six
months. It's getting better now and upgrading software on
our web server will be the first task after the down time.
Last Friday, I attended the special joint party held by both
DEJ and ICA. It was so nice to catch up on members' news and
talk with newcomers. Thanks Miwa-san for coordinating
activity with ICA, and everyone who joined us!
/...../...../...../...../...../...../...../...../...../.....
MEDIA TEAM NEWS
Chiharu Kawai, Media Coordinator
<media@digitalevejapan.org>
Hello! It's the season of fresh green leaves. The other
day, I went to Showa-Kinen Park in Tachikawa, where red and
orange poppies were in full bloom and the large poppy
patches were very beautiful. The park is huge and is great
for picnicking and walking in this season. The admission fee
is 400 yen. Dogs are also allowed as long as they are on the
leash.
As one of our media-related win-win efforts, Mr. Jonathon
Walsh, who has been writing professionally for the Hiragana
Times and other magazines, has kindly created two special
versions of the free English information sheet "Expert
Insight" for DigitalEve Japan. They were distributed at the
May 27 party. The information is useful for DEJ members. If
you would like a copy (hard copy or PDF), please contact
media-j@digitalevejapan.org. (This will be announced on our
website in the near future.)
1) "Writing for Profit": How to (get out of teaching and)
become an English-language professional writer in Japan.
(sponsored by Business Grow, www.businessgrow.net)
2) "Getting Noticed--Optimizing your Website Sizzle!": About
SEO (search engine optimization). When you launch a new
website, if it is not picked up by search engines, the
number of accesses to the website will not increase. SEO
provides a means to solve the problem. (sponsored by Sozon -
Strategic Optimization Zone, www.sozon.com)
(In addition, Mr. Walsh specializes in interview articles.
If you would like to be interviewed for an article, please
contact him at info@businessgrow.net. He also offers other
services including English company newsletters, reports,
etc. DEJ members can get a 15% discount for his services
throughout September 30, 2005. ) I am going to try more new
attempts in the future. If you have ideas, please feel free
to contact me.
/...../...../...../...../...../...../...../...../...../.....
DETAILS OF UPCOMING EVENTS
Next Meet the DEvas will be held in June and the details
will be sent to the mailing list soon.
/...../...../...../...../...../...../...../...../...../.....
RECENT EVENTS
On May 27th, several members attended a special party held
by both DEJ and ICA. We would like to thank our new Events
Coordinator, Miwa Oh, for organizing this party.
/...../...../...../...../...../...../...../...../...../.....
FEATURE ARTICLE:
E-Learning: Anywhere, Anytime
By Lynn Fujino
Not too long ago, Japan was being criticized for lagging far
behind other industrialized countries in terms of Internet
penetration rates and IT application. Now, halfway through
2005, the government is well on its way to achieving its
goal of making Japan the most advanced IT nation by 2005.
According to the latest statistics, 40 million households
(out of 46 million) have subscribed to "better than
broadband access." Chances are, if you are living within the
boundaries of a major city center in Japan and you are
connected to the Internet, you have an always-on connection
that is high-speed (cable or DSL) or ultra-high-speed
(fibre-optic).
Now the question is, what do you do with it? Surfing the Net
is fine, and there's always online shopping to keep you busy
for a while, but here we are in the Information Age. Just
think of all the things you can learn if you put your mind -
and computer - to it. Maybe it's time you added a Masters
degree to your credentials, or took a course in something
you've always been interested in. Ever thought of early
childhood education, for example, or interior design? Why
not study a language over the Net? The options are endless,
and the field of e-learning (or online learning) is growing
every day. Japan's massive bandwidth means that you can
combine audio and even video capabilities to personalize
your online experience. And if the course is well-designed
and interactive, your computer can become your link to more
effective and satisfying learning experiences that cross
cultures and time zones without a second thought.
As with anything new, however, it's a good idea to check it
out carefully before jumping in with both feet. While
e-learning may appear to be the answer to all your education
needs, it doesn't suit everyone, and course design will
definitely be a factor. In this article we'll talk a bit
about the e-learning concept, to give you a better idea of
what to look for should you begin searching for a course.
Then, over the next couple of months we'll interview two
Devas who are well versed in e-learning from opposite sides:
one as an online tutor and one as a student. Hearing their
insights and advice based on their experience will make it
well worth your while.
What's e-learning all about?
There is no one official definition of "e-learning" in
English. But while the definitions may use slightly
different wording, the central idea in all of them is that
electronic media is used to deliver the content. For
example, this definition, from a Canadian education site,
states that e-learning is "learning in which content is
delivered via electronic media, the Internet, broadcast,
audiovisual tapes, or CD-ROM. The terms online learning and
e-learning are often used interchangeably" (from
http://schools.tdsb.on.ca/asit/standards/glossary.htm).
In their book, E-Learning in the 21st Century (2003,
RoutledgeFarmer: London), researchers D.R. Garrison and
Terry Anderson claim that e-learning is the application that
has had the greatest effect on our society. They stress that
it is not simply another technology, or an add-on to our
education system, but that it extends beyond access to
information and requires that diversity and cohesiveness be
blended into a dynamic and stimulating "learning ecology"
(p. 3). In other words, it's not important that we can
access the information; now we need to be able to process
it, make sense of it, and then recreate for specific
purposes.
The most important point to note about e-learning is that
the instructor, or teacher, should not be the focus of the
course. The "sage on the stage" is replaced by the "guide on
the side." E-learning, if it is designed well, combines
interactive and reflective learning that evokes a community
of inquiry. As a student, you control what you are learning
and how. If you need to slow the pace down, or speed it up,
you can do so. The instructor's job is to assess the
student's needs and find out where and how they can add
value to the learning experience. That means that in
well-designed e-learning courses, the traditional classroom
model (where information is passively transferred from
teacher to student, with few questions or opportunities for
feedback from the student) does not exist. Rather than
having to rely only on the "sensei" to help you with the
material, successful e-learning encourages student-to-
student interaction and student-to-content interaction.
Is it for you?
The Japanese government is calling for more and more
education reform. The country's rapidly aging society means
that women who have left work to raise families may find
themselves being asked back to the job; there is a very
urgent need in this country for more childcare support so
that women who choose to have both a career and a family can
do so without distress. But all of this takes learning and
being able to apply that learning within this society.
E-learning has been referred to as "just-in-time learning"
and in a way that is true. But more than that, it is a way
for us to create a community of inquiry with others from all
over the globe, to access the information, process it and
then recreate it for our specific purposes. Is it for you?
Check these sites for a list of online courses available
around the globe (in English):
http://www.gnacademy.org/
http://courses.telecampus.edu/subjects/index.cfm (archived
database only; no longer updated)
About the author: Lynn Fujino lives in Tokyo, where she is
connected to the Internet via fibre-optic cable. She
currently spends far too much of her time researching
Japan's e-learning environment in order to write a thesis
for her Masters in Distance Education from Athabasca
University, in Alberta, Canada.
/...../...../...../...../...../...../...../...../...../.....
SUBMISSIONS TO THE NEWSLETTER
Have an announcement to make?
An article to submit for consideration?
(We can't pay you, but we'll give you a byline.)
Please send your submissions in plain text format to
newsletter@digitalevejapan.org
The Digital Digest is brought to you by the Newsletter Team:
Debra B. Foster, Lynn Fujino, Noriko Hasegawa, Koko Iwata,
Misao Kajiro, Louise Mackay and Ailsa Wylie.
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
HANDY LINKS:
DE-J WEB http://www.digitalevejapan.org
LIST ARCHIVES http://groups.yahoo.com/group/de-japan/
UNSUBSCRIBE de-japan-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
Digital Digest March 2008