From October 8 to 12, 2023, the WIDE Project participated in the 18th Internet Governance Forum (IGF Kyoto 2023) held at the Kyoto International Conference Center, Japan. The IGF is an annual meeting hosted by the United Nations where a wide range of stakeholders engage in dialogue on Internet governance, among several other issues related to the Internet.
In a booth at the IGF Village, WIDE exhibited research and educational activities conducted in cooperation with other countries, mainly in the Asia-Pacific region, and featured SOI Asia & AI3 (including APIE) and ARENA-PAC activities.
Takumi Ishirara (Keio University) welcomed visitors and explained about the WIDE project.On the left, Dr. Fathima Assilmia (Keio University), who created the globe display, with Prof. Jun Murai.
The exhibition emphasized the importance of global collaboration in research and education networks. Videos introduced project information and activities, and visitors contributed to the analog visualization of research and education networks in their region and also shared their “dream RENs.”
From the left: Prof. Hiroki Esaki (University of Tokyo), Prof. Hideyuki Tokuda (president of NICT), Prof. Keiko Okawa, Prof. Jun Murai, and Dr. Noriatsu Kudo.WIDE Project founder Prof. Jun Murai (left) and APNIC Foundation CEO Sylvia Cadena at the WIDE booth.
On May 29-31, UNESCO Jakarta hosted the 55th AI³ & SOI Asia Directors Meeting in the capital of Indonesia. The meeting was held back to back with the Joint Workshop on Open Science Infrastructure and Leveraging on Artificial Intelligence for An Effective Open Science Platform and STEPAN (Science Technology Engineering & Innovation Policy Asia and the Pacific Network) 3rd Annual Meeting, both held on May 31-June 1.
Representatives of partner institutions gathered in Jakarta
Directors Meeting – DAY 1
More than 30 representatives from SOI Asia and AI³ partner institutions attended online and onsite. Unlike regular joint meetings, the main agenda comprised discussions and project updates such as Community-based Research initiatives (CBRs), APIE, EBA, and ARENA-PAC.
ARENA-PAC—a project of APIDT Infrastructure Pty Ltd and operated by WIDE, AI³ and SOI Asia projects with APNIC—highlighted the formation of a tech community task force as the primary outcome of this meeting. The team will meet monthly starting in June to discuss strategies and directions regarding using this global research network, including as a sandbox for research.
Timor Leste had a dedicated session where Prof Domingos de Souza Freitas (UNTL) shared updates about the development of their REN. Participants shared ideas for research topics and explored potential collaboration with SOI Asia partners. The team is working to connect the University of Timor Lorosa’e (UNTL) to global RENs in 2024.
During the Evidende-Based Approach project (EBA) session, the leads introduced the proposal of a faculty meeting scheduled for late 2023/early 2024. This gathering expects to provide representatives from each institution with EBA fieldwork experience in Minamata, Japan. The EBA team also presented their upcoming fieldwork programs on cultural preservation in Hokkaido (Japan), Malaysia, and environmental issues in East Kilimantan (Indonesia). In addition, the team called for collaboration for future fieldwork.
The spotlight at the APIE (Asia Pacific Internet Engineering) session focused on discussions about the Internship component. APIE is an education program for building essential skills and knowledge to improve cyberspace for society. It comprises four main components: online self-paced courses, real-time online workshops, hands-on camps, and internship programs. In addition to current internship programs in academia, the team is trying to increase the number of institutions and enterprises accepting APIE learners for internship programs.
Directors Meeting – DAY 2
On Day 2, the highlights were the discussions on Emergency networks, Non-terrestrial networks (NTN) and Community-based research (CBR).
The discussions started asking about using satellite links for emergency networks during disasters. Understanding that every location has different needs, the team heard feedback from Bangladesh and Indonesia. The representative from Bangladesh shared the current state of connectivity in the economy and the concerns about the impact of cyclones on the local environment. The representatives from Indonesia said they also consider volcanic activities, floods, and earthquakes (and tsunamis). The team concluded that they would focus on deploying networks and capacity building.
This session was followed by discussions on the use of Non-terrestrial Networks (NTNs) in urban environments, raised technical questions on overcoming existent barriers, and information sharing about existing research on emergency networks in Indonesia.
In the CBRs session, the focus was on sharing the current status of contracts and service agreements and defining milestones and deliverables. The team also agreed to start a website for publicizing and raising the visibility of each research activity. As of now, there are seven different types of research ongoing.
Directors Meeting – DAY 3
The meeting finished with a joint workshop with STEPAN (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Innovation Policy Asia and The Pacific Network), a UNESCO initiative, on Open Science Infrastructure and Leveraging Artificial Intelligence for An Effective Open Science Platform. The main objectives are:
Discuss how RENs can enable Open Science in Region and how to engage them.
Identify the Open Science Platform/platform model for Asia and the Pacific in terms of infrastructure.
Discuss the Indicators to Monitor Open Science Infrastructure Implementation in the region.
Discuss how to leverage AI technology adoption to support OS implementation.
Identify potential projects/collaboration for both parties to ensure effective performance of Open Science.
SOI Asia director Prof. Keiko Okawa opened the workshop by addressing the importance of building a solid research community for academic collaboration. SOI Asia representatives Dr. Franz De Leon (ASTI, DOST, Philippines) and Dr. Selvakumar Manickam (National Advanced IPv6 Centre, Universiti Sains Malaysia) joined other panelists sharing best practices of Open Science and Artificial Intelligence Infrastructure in their respective institutions.
From 10th to 14th July 2023, Eliko Akashi and Goki Miyakita participated in DH2023 in Graz, Austria. They presented specific activities related to Open Science promoted by SOI Asia in the Asia・Pacific region.
The scarcity of participants from the Asia・Pacific region provided an opportunity for rich cultural exchange and receiving constructive feedback from attendees. This experience can address potential limitations, and strengthen the project’s credibility, ultimately leading to improved outcomes and impact.
SOI Asia supports World Conference on Computers in Education (WCCE)!
We will conduct a session at the WCCE, in collaboration with UNESCO office in Jakarta under the theme: Open Science for a collaborative society, to discuss an action plan to promote the Open Science movement to reduce digital, technological, and knowledge gaps.
Date: 11:30-13:30 (GMT+9), 22 August, 2022 Place: On-site (in Hiroshima city, Japan) + Remote Target: Participants WCCE and guests from SOI Asia/UNESCO Jakarta
The distinguished leaders, experts in the field of culture, education, and policy from the Asia Pacific will share their projects, and journeys to Open Science at our workshop.
We would like to extend our sincere congratulations to Onno W. Purbo, a key person to initiate AI3 Project at ITB, as the Jonathan B. Postel Service Award Recipient in 2020.
Onno W. Purbo joined the two other Award recipients from our group: Kanchana Kanchanasut (2016) and Jun Murai (2005).
