Kyoto Model, [.kyoto]

– Establishment of a clean Internet space through a top-level domain registry as a university –

Wataru Hasegawa (The Kyoto College of Graduate Studies for Informatics/Kyoto Computer Gakuin)

Introduction

In the spring of 2012, ICANN began to allocate the Geographical Names Top Level Domain as a top-level domain. Approximately 1,900 applications were received from around the world. The characterstring 「kyoto」stands for 「Kyoto of the world」, as defined in the International Organization for Standardization’s 「ISO 3166-2: Codes for the representation of names of countries and their subdivisions Part 2: Country subdivision code」and 「JIS X 0401: Prefecture codes. The fact that the ISO code has been made into a top-level domain also means that “Kyoto of the World” will be defined on the Internet. The Kyoto College of Graduate Studies for Informatics, as a leading ICT-related university in the city of Kyoto, has decided to apply to become the registry operator of the [.kyoto] domain, and has received support from the Governor of Kyoto Prefecture.

「Kyoto」is both a real region and one of the world’s leading 「brands」. By utilizing the new domain, [.kyoto] , it is possible to further strengthen Kyoto’s brand power and bring about the development of Kyoto as a whole. Just as in Japan the country code domain [.jp] is under the control of a private, for-profit company, in many countries top-level domains have been managed by private commercial entities, for-profit entities without any governance,, which has unfortunately resulted in the original meaning of the domains being diluted.

If we take advantage of this opportunity to design a system through collaboration between industry, government, and academia, we will have a high chance of succeeding in establishing a clean domain that prioritizes the public interest and is managed by a public institution. This will also be a way for educational institutions to counter the anarchy of the Internet, which continues to expand.

1. About The Vision

1.1 Historical Background of The Domain

ICANN, the organization that manages domains, which are “addresses” on the Internet, is a public interest organization (NPO) under the U.S. Department of Commerce. Top-level domains on the Internet were originally designed to indicate the geographic region and type of organizations to which they belonged. Based on this original policy, various public corporations, public interest corporations, and other organizations under the jurisdiction of the U.S. federal government have their own specific top-level domains and separate sets of servers. [.gov] is for U.S. government agencies, [.mil] for military agencies, [.edu] for federally accredited universities or other educational institutions, [.net] for networks, [.org] for non-profit organizations, and [.int] for international organizations. On the other hand, [.com] is granted for private free economic activities that can be freely used all over the world without any particular nationality.

On the other hand, in many countries around the world that have been authorized by the United States to use the Internet, especially in liberal and democratic countries with the exception of China and other countries, the Internet has been freely opened without much understanding of its essential meaning by governments, and private organizations and commercial companies have taken the initiative. Even government agencies and public organizations have their domains managed under the control of private commercial companies.

With the global spread of the Internet, the original purpose of domain names has not only faded but is disappearing as domain names are over-issued and over-sold by commercial companies before being managed and controlled by governments. Domain names have a very important role in identifying the publisher of content, which is equivalent to identifying the publisher and author of a printed book. For web visitors, it represents their location in cyberspace, and they are expected to be aware of “where they are” at all times (domain awareness).

The reason why there are so many cases of people being victimized by visiting fake (phishing and pharming) and dangerous sites is not because the Internet is anarchic from the start, but because the general public is too careless about the importance of domains. This is due to the fact that private commercial companies have been managing the domain names and have made their business model one ofprofit maximization, and have not carried out the governance that should be required of them.

1.2 Current Status of Domain

Among the current top-level domain names, only a few have a meaning that guarantees trustworthiness by the government, such as 「.gov」(U.S. government agencies), 「.mil」(U.S. military agencies), and 「.edu」(higher education institutions certified by the U.S. federal government), which are assigned to U.S. government and public institutions, as mentioned above. Most of the others merely serve the function of indicating the type of country or organization. Although there are many second-level domains that indicate government agencies or government-certified organizations of the country concerned, it is well known that the same top-level domain often contains unreliable or illegal sites (phishing sites, adult sites, etc.) below another second-level domain. A top-level domain whose governing body is a private commercial enterprise should be considered to be of a different dimension from the top-level domain that represents a U.S. government certification authority. In Japan, the 「.jp」top-level domain contains a mixture of everything from government to harmful sites.

Recent Internet browsers display the domain name of the site in a strong manner, so that the user is aware of the domain name when browsing. This is probably to make users confirm the original meaning of the domain name in the chaotic Internet.

A ccTLD (country code Top Level Domain), such as 「.jp」in Japan, is a top-level domain assigned to a country or region based on the country code of the characters specified in the ISO (International Organization for Standardization) ISO 3166-1 list. Although about 20% of the ccTLDs in OECD member countries are operated by academic organizations, most of them are managed by private commercial corporations. In Japan, the registration and management of 「.jp」domain names was initially managed by JPNIC (Japan Network Information Center), but has now been transferred to JPRS (Japan Registry Services, Inc.).

It is generally understood that since the Internet is a wide-area distributed network, no organization exists to centrally maintain and manage the Internet as a whole. However, they do not manage all Internet resources, including domestic Internet content. It is common knowledge that problems such as spam mail, cracking, and harmful contents must be solved by each user at his/her own risk. However, this 「common sense」is only the result of ungoverned management by many registries.

1.3 Possibility of Kyoto Domain

By acquiring a top-level domain bearing the name of Kyoto and designing an appropriate system under the leadership of 「All-Kyoto」as a federation of 「public corporations」such as Kyoto Prefecture and 「related public interest groups and corporations」, it will be possible to establish an original 「meaningful」top-level domain, as in the case of [.gov] and [.mil] in the United States, and also to establish The 「Kyoto domain」can be established. By establishing an appropriate institutional design and management system, there are various possibilities for development. This could lead to the realization of 「Kyoto Prefecture in Cyberspace」in a form that directly corresponds to the real Kyoto Prefecture in the real world. This means building a 「cyber Kyoto Prefecture」in the infinite space of cyberspace invented by mankind, which can also develop infinitely. It is highly likely that this will be the first precedent in Japan and abroad.

By taking the lead in building Kyoto in cyberspace with public corporations and related public interest corporations, it will be possible to brand 「Kyoto (of the world) 」on the Internet. At the same time, by deliberately establishing the 「branding」of the 「cyber Kyoto」, the branding of 「Kyoto」in the real world will be strengthened in a mutually complementary manner. In this way, the possibility of mutual development that goes far beyond mutual complementation and interconnectedness will emerge.

The resulting 「Kyoto branding」of all things and events in the real world of Kyoto, consisting of the city of 「Kyoto」in cyberspace and the appropriate design of its brand power, will be emphasized, and the two spaces will be combined to create a stronger 「Kyoto brand」that is unique in the world.

Compared to other domains in Japan, where the business model is one of mass sales by commercial enterprises, and the original significance of the top-level domain and second-level domain has almost dissipated, this will be a meaningful business model of “quality over quantity”.

In other words, the goal should be to achieve clean and reliable domains that are free of illegal sites,thereby countering the anarchy of the ever-expanding Internet. If this is achieved, the domain name could be recognized as one of the best in the world, not only in Japan, but also in the world, as a domain with high public interest and reliability. The essence of this project could be that All-Kyoto will leave the constraints of real space and create Kyoto Prefecture in the limitless space of cyberspace, a new frontier. Public corporations and public institutions should take the lead in this project and lead it tosuccess while taking advantage of their own organizational characteristics.

1.4 Prior Experiments

In 「.kyoto」, we are considering a one-to-one correspondence between street names and street numbers in the real world. It is extremely meaningful to construct a city in cyberspace that contrasts with the real world. By creating a one-to-one correspondence between 「Kyoto」in real space and 「Kyoto」in cyberspace, we can construct a true 「Kyoto」in cyberspace with a high degree of reliability. This will expand the amount of information in the real society of 「Kyoto」to an enormous scale and bring about economic development. In the future, it would be more reasonable to cooperate with other top-level geographical name domains to conduct joint research and develop related software.

Experiments such as the 「“Digital City Kyoto」led by Professor Toru Ishida of Kyoto University are being conducted around the world to create virtual cities in 3D space and incorporate economic activities in them. There have been numerous previous studies on the coordination of cyberspace and virtual reality in the Internet and the real world. Recently, Augmented Reality (AR) technology has also been studied. By integrating the technologies that have already been developed, it is possible to draw the「city of Kyoto」on the Internet. The following is a discussion of what would happen if this were done in the 「.kyoto」domain and its group of servers.

1.5 Comparison of 「.kyoto.jp」and 「.Kyoto」

The string 「Kyoto」is the 「world’s kyoto」as defined in ISO 3166-2: Codes for the representation of names of countries and their subdivisions Part 2: Country subdivision code of the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), and The string 「Kyoto」is the 「Kyoto of the world」as defined in 「JIS X 0401: Prefecture codes」of the International Organization for Standardization (ISO). The ISO codes are domain names at the top level, which means that the 「Kyoto of the world」is defined on the Internet.

First of all, conceptually, [.kyoto.jp], which is currently used for public corporations, means Kyoto, a regional city in Japan. On the other hand, [.paris], [.london], [.nyc] (New York), and so on mean a city by itself, and are, so to speak, the 「Paris of the world」, 「London of the world」, and 「New York of the world」, and are not sub-concepts of countries. As the meaning of 「borderless」has become less significant, while the meaning of 「prefecture」, 「city」, 「town」or 「community」has become more important, the top-level 「.kyoto」can appeal to the presence in cyberspace as 「the world’s Kyoto」, just like other world cities. 「Kyoto」in cyberspace, like other world cities.

Symbolically, [.kyoto] by itself becomes a 「symbol」for 「world Kyoto」and 「Kyoto as a whole」, thus adding symbolic meaning to all information under its domain. Considering the rhetorical meaning of [.kyoto] and the effects derived from it, there is no doubt that there is a big difference between having [.jp] at the end and having nothing at all.

Next, from the information technology aspect of the Internet, the increase in the domain level (becoming the top level) will also shorten the processing time of address resolution by the DNS hierarchy, and will have the effect of improving the connection speed to servers such as web and mail servers. Under the same conditions of performance and traffic of servers such as web and mail servers, the process will be faster if Kyoto is placed at the top level. The fact that the address is under [.jp] means that it must go through the JPRS DNS servers, so it depends on the performance and conditions of thoseDNS servers, and also adds to the latency of the Internet.

In other words, if the exact same Kyoto-related content is placed under [.kyoto] and under [.kyoto.jp],which is under the second-level domain of Kyoto, the former will be displayed faster or mail will be forwarded more quickly for a viewer/user somewhere in the world. If the top-level domain is [.kyoto], it means that the domain contains only Kyoto-related information, but at the second level, below the top-level domain [.jp], there are many other domains in addition to Kyoto. The third level domain is a jumble of jumble, and the contents are chaotic, making it not only time-consuming to search for information, but also difficult for the viewer to judge the authenticity, goodness, or badness of the information.

The current Kyoto Prefecture website is [.pref.kyoto.jp]. This is only classified at the second and third levels under [.jp], and the same second and third levels include a variety of illegal sites under [.co], [.ne], and so on. For example, if there is a harmful site called [***.co.jp], it means that Kyoto Prefectural Government is at the same level in terms of domain classification.

Next, let us consider this from a structuralist point of view. Although it is possible to examine and compare the various projects and initiatives described in this paper from an 「elementalist」perspective, such as 「it is possible under other domains」, 「let’s compare costs」, etc., this alone does not actually reveal much difference. This is because there is no significant difference in the relationship between a website as a set of information, various applications, information processing systems, and domains when they are compared from an elementalist perspective. However, if we compare them structurally, we can see that [.kyoto] is completely different.

First, (1) Kyoto-related information is currently dispersed throughout the world in various domains. Next, assume that (2) only information under the jurisdiction of Kyoto Prefecture is aggregated into [.kyoto.jp] by invoking administrative authority. Third, we assume that (3) information under the jurisdiction of Kyoto Prefecture will be consolidated under the newly created [.kyoto].

The first is the current situation, where information is so diffuse that it does not even form a structure. The only way to obtain information is to search the contents, and the viewer arrives at each piece of information as if he or she 「happened to find it」by sequentially searching through the many pieces of information floating on the Internet.

The information in (2) forms a structure, but it is a part of the huge [.jp] structure, which includes illegal sites and even illegal sites, and Kyoto is only a part of the structure. Even if we retrieve the necessary information, the result is the same as in (1), since we can only search for the content of the information. The information from the private sector is not limited to [.jp], but is dispersed throughout the world in various domains, and there is no change.

(3) is an independent structure. Compared to (2), the condition of limitation of information transmission from Kyoto is added from the beginning, and all public information of public organizations is posted on the server under the same domain management, which enables automatic generation of mutual links under the management server, simplified search (faster processing speed), and easier analysis such as statistical processing. It also facilitates analysis such as statistical processing. In addition, a high degree of reliability can be established. In addition, the symbolic meaning described above will function interactively with each content, and the number of private-sector Kyoto information will increase as the public sector takes the lead in its domain, making Kyoto information as a whole denser in a complementary manner.

Thus, the importance of the [.kyoto] domain is clear when a structural comparison is made from a symbolic point of view. By designing the system from a precise administrative perspective and at the same time applying appropriate information processing technology, [.kyoto] will instantly form a huge structure of Kyoto information and begin to disseminate all Kyoto information to the entire world. Each of the many small lights that had been dispersed and diffused until that moment formed an organic linkage with one another, increasing in luminance and continuing to flash in all directions like a searchlight or flashlight.

1.6 Defense of the Kyoto Brand

On the other hand, in the unlikely event that the [.kyoto] domain is not acquired by a federation of public corporations and public interest corporations related to Kyoto Prefecture, there are several possible dangers.

First, there is the possibility that a domain with the same name will appear. Since there is a city called Kyoto in Africa, if an application is filed to ICANN under that name with some capital behind it, and in light of the fact that applications for [.tokyo], [.osaka], etc. are filed in Japan, a 「fake domain name under the name of Kyoto in Japan」may appear on the Internet. It is possible that 「fake domains under the name of Kyoto, Japan」will appear on the Internet. Naturally, the possibility of misuse is high. Moreover, even if it is a domestic organization, once a private commercial entity acquires this domain and sells it in the dark, as has happened in the past, there is a strong possibility that it will be in the same state of limbo as many other domains. This will inevitably lead to a downward spiral of the Kyoto brand. Once such a state of affairs is reached, it will be almost impossible for the administrative agency to order the cancellation or improvement of the domain name if it is defended against the business and communication rights of private commercial enterprises. The next step is to determine whether or not the application can be successful in the ICANN competition.

1.7 Business Entity

It is expected that the operation and widespread use of the [.kyoto] domain will lead to an increase in the international recognition and brand power of Kyoto Prefecture as a whole. In addition, the proper use of the [.kyoto] domain will contribute to the revitalization of society and the economy. On the other hand, if fraudulent sites or sites offensive to public order and morals were to bear the [.kyoto] domain name, it would damage the image and trust of the Kyoto brand. This must be thoroughly avoided.

Considering the nature of the business to achieve this objective, a private public interest organization with a high degree of public interest would be best suited to take on this task. Since this is an unprecedented field, there may be some barriers if a public corporation or similar organization (e.g., a former 「national or public」independent administrative agency), which relies on government taxation and is unlikely to tolerate misbehavior, takes on this task. For example, if a public corporation is in charge of formulating a policy on domain sales, it would be required to base the policy on the legality or illegality of the public corporation, but a private organization can formulate a policy within the framework of civil law, which enables 「highly flexible policies that rely on private contracts」, which public corporations cannot do. This is not possible for a public corporation. In addition, if a website appears under the same domain that causes a loss of the Kyoto brand, it can be dealt with immediately based on a civil contract (even if it has to go through the prescribed procedures). In the case of a website that a public corporation wishes to implement, but it takes time to deal with the organizational structure and various restrictions, a private organization would be able to conduct a quick trial.

The combination of publicity and speed with the highest ethical standards can only be achieved by a private public service organization. This is an extremely public project, but at the same time, it is a project that requires the aspect of private activity, or in other words, the competence of private management. The Internet and the ICT field, including the Internet, is a field that evolves and develops so rapidly that it is said that progress is made every second, not every day, so it is necessary to always keep up with the latest developments. For this reason, it is better to have an organization specializing in ICT as the project entity. It is also required to be able to continuously obtain the latest ICT information, and to continue to systematically study and implement it from an objective standpoint. Furthermore, it is necessary to educate the public so that all users are widely aware of new technologies that arechanging from time to time. From the enlightenment of technology-related knowledge to the ethical aspects of information, business owners are required to have the ability to educate the public on the Internet. Considering these conditions, educational and research institutions, universities, etc. are the most appropriate registry entities for this case. As mentioned above, it should be noted that 20% of the ccTLDs (country code top-level domains) in OECD member countries are actually operated by universities and other academic organizations. (See: “Challenges in Domain Name Governance from the Perspective of Actual Usage of ccTLDs,” http://www.jaipa.or.jp/IGF-J/2011/110721_ccTLD.pdf)

Furthermore, from an educational administration perspective, some believe that private universities, rather than public corporations, national universities, or national and public research institutes, are more appropriate to take on such new projects. In Japan’s educational administration, since the Meiji era (1868-1912) up to the present day, it has been customary for private universities, which were established with private donations, to take the lead in trials, and public universities (national and public) to expand and institutionalize them, following the successful examples of private universities. (Since the government, which is responsible for national taxation, must avoid failure as much as possible, the policy is to entrust the private universities, which rely on private funds, to conduct trials and to make decisions based on the results of prior cases.)

The Kyoto College of Graduate Studies for Informatics is a private educational corporation approved by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology. It is the only institution of higher education and graduate school in Kyoto Prefecture for fostering advanced ICT professionals, andopened in 2004 as Japan’s first ICT professional graduate school. Although small in size, it is a 「private university in Kyoto」. In accordance with its establishment criteria, the professional graduate school has a large number of 「expert faculty members from companies」who conduct education and researchbased on their practical experience in cooperation with faculty members from research-oriented universities. There are various industries related to the Internet domain business, and The Kyoto College of Graduate Studies for Informatics is capable of awarding the highest degree in Japan as an educational institution for advanced professionals to foster professionals in the field of ICT, including those related to the Internet domain business.

Kyoto Computer Gakuin, the parent organization of The Kyoto College of Graduate Studies for Informatics, has nearly 50 years of ICT education experience as Japan’s first private computer education institution since its establishment in 1963, and has produced more than 40,000 graduates in the computer/ICT field and other industries. It has a history of embodying the importance of reliability and brand image as an educational institution with 「Kyoto」in its name. In addition, Kyoto Computer Gakuin has a track record of domain management and provider services since the dawn of the Internet. Based on this track record, we would like to maximize the public interest, fairness, and usefulness of the [.kyoto] domain from the perspective of a public interest corporation.

The Kyoto College of Graduate Studies for Informatics is a school corporation and a university as stipulated in Article 1 of the School Education Law, and as such, it is guaranteed the highest degree of public interest and legal compliance among public interest corporations. Furthermore, unlike general universities, professional graduate schools are subject to double third-party evaluation, i.e., both 「institutional accreditation evaluation」and 「field-specific accreditation evaluation」as accreditation evaluation by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology. It is a new type of graduate school with the most highly established mechanism to ensure the public interest and legal compliance of the projects conducted by the university, both in terms of law and politics and within the organization. (For more information on MEXT’s institutional and programmatic accreditation, see http://portal.niad.ac.jp/library/1179798_1415.html )

Based on the above, we believe that Kyoto University of Information Science and Technology has the responsibility to be the registry of the [.kyoto] domain, both in terms of its social responsibility and significance of existence. It should be emphasized that the primary purpose of this project is to 「defend the Kyoto brand」. We hope that this is not merely a defense of the Kyoto brand, but also the realization of our ideals. This is also our pride as a public interest corporation and the first ICT professional graduate school in Japan.

1.8 Institutional Design

In this project, it is possible to create a system from scratch, so to speak, from the very beginning of the institutional design. The Top-Level Domain must be a Top-Level Domain with a meaning, not a Top-Level Domain without a meaning. We would like to design the system by going back to the origin of the Internet, which is that the top-level domain was originally established for such a purpose.

Naturally, the registry of the [.kyoto] domain will impose a sales policy on registrars and resellers, and will require a certain level of reliability not only from domain operators but also from related businesses such as web servers and mail servers. The technical requirements for servers need to be well defined to ensure a high level of reliability, which would be possible if they are professionally managed and operated by ICT-related institutions of higher education in cooperation with public corporations. We would like to organize a committee of concerned experts under the lead of the Public Corporation to design a system so that the legal, ethical, and technical requirements are firmly established from the ground up, and we will deal with them in a rigorous manner.

The Registry has the authority to immediately terminate sites that are inconvenient or offensive to public order and morals when they occur. The fact that this is done by a school corporation, which places the greatest emphasis on educational projects, will ensure the direction of this project. We would like to design a system that adheres to the maximum extension of the ethical code so that it can respond to various aspects that may arise in the possibility of the emergence of Kyoto in cyberspace. This is the responsibility of our university as the first ICT professional graduate school in Japan. Since it isalso necessary to have a system in which planning and commercialization are outsourced to the privatesector to ensure the development of Kyoto, it is also necessary to include such a system and to obtainthe lead of public corporations and the cooperation of other public corporations.

2. Initiatives

The basic premise of the efforts based on the above vision is the branding of the [.kyoto] domain. The use of the domain name designated by the Prefecture shall be reserved or prohibited before the start of the 「Kyoto」management and operation project, and the same shall apply to unregistered domain names after the start of the management and operation project. The same shall apply to unregistereddomain names after the launch of the 「Kyoto」management and operation project. In other words, Kyoto Prefecture has indicated the premise that the domain name will be used by Kyoto Prefecture and other public corporations. As of October 2013, there are 1,720 organizations in Kyoto Prefecture, including municipalities, affiliated organizations (e.g., public interest corporations), and public schools. Municipalities (38), regional development bureaus (4), chambers of commerce and industry (8), chambers of commerce and industry (21), welfare councils (26), special civil law corporations (642), new public interest corporations (138), public kindergartens (69), public elementary schools (408), public junior high schools (176), public high schools (57), other municipally related organizations (101) Cultural facilities, etc. (32) Total: 1,720

Looking at the domain system of these Kyoto Prefecture-related organizations, there is no sense of order or uniformity, and information on each of them is scattered all over the Internet. If these public organizations were to utilize the [.kyoto] domain, it would be possible to provide clean, reliable, and powerful dissemination of Kyoto information.

The following is a general outline of what we believe should be done. At present, all domains in Japan are managed by private commercial companies, but since the domain system is public, it should have been started from the very beginning, as in this project, under the leadership of a public corporation or a public interest group. Now that the above 1,720 organizations are taking the lead in utilizing the system, it will not only be possible to network the public information itself, but also to supplementand extend the information from the private sector.

By sharing the top-level domain, it will be possible to process information rationally, such as by automatically interlinking useful information from different sources. This will facilitate the development of various 「initiatives」described below, as well as the development of Kyoto as a whole. The [.kyoto] site will have a symbolic function by itself. The [.kyoto] domain and servers will truly become a 「bond」for all Kyoto and Kyoto citizens.

2.1 Portal sites and address domains by public institutions and organizations in Kyoto Prefecture, and prefectural mail

The first step toward branding is the establishment of a portal community site for the [.kyoto] domain by Kyoto Prefecture, public corporations, related organizations, and public interest corporations under their jurisdiction. The subdomains used by Kyoto Prefecture and the public corporations are now allocated by organization, so that the public corporations and public interest groups in Kyoto in real space are inextricably linked to those in cyberspace, and correspond one to one.

This is a site that aggregates only information provided by public organizations in Kyoto Prefecture that have acquired the [.kyoto] domain, which improves the credibility of the site and at the same timecontributes to the enhancement of the [.kyoto] domain brand. Further branding and expansion of this site will make it possible to provide secure and appropriate services not only to the residents of Kyoto Prefecture but also to Internet users around the world. If the core of the Kyoto brand is organized in cyberspace and various branding techniques are introduced from the beginning to establish a 「brand domain」on the Internet, many private entities will follow Kyoto Prefecture and public corporations, andonce private entities start using the domain, many residents will follow suit. When private entities begin to use the same domain, many prefectural residents will follow their lead. Individual public information will gain an organic linkage.

In addition, the mail server as an individual service for prefectural residents should lead the construction of a system that could be called the Kyoto Cloud. The emergence of an e-mail address for Kyoto Prefecture residents will also foster pride in Kyoto Prefecture.

2.2 Clean domains that do not contain toxic or illegal sites

In order to ensure that measures are established from the outset to completely eliminate harmful, illegal, and unlawful sites that may damage the Kyoto brand in the real world, a committee with legal experts will be set up to establish institutional rules for the establishment of domain names, and registrars,resellers, and hosting server companies will be required to comply with policies regarding the sale of domains, as well as to control and supervise the contents of user contracts. In addition to ensuring that registrars, resellers, and server hosting companies comply with the policy on domain name sales, theyalso manage and supervise the contents of contracts with users. Furthermore, the committee will require each website to supervise the usage, site content, links, etc. of each user under the domain name, and establish a system to thoroughly eliminate illegal and unlawful sites and links to them. In case of violation, the Registry, as one party to the contract, will take immediate action in accordance with the contract.

This is the most important reason why a school corporation, which is a private public corporation and has a code of ethics and a sophisticated system to ensure it, should become a registry. There are always differences of opinion and judgment about the harmfulness, illegality, and illegitimacy of a site. Therefore, if a public corporation is in charge of this project, complicated procedures unique to public corporations would be required due to the principle of equality under the law, but if a school corporation has established measures in advance to impose restrictions or terminate contracts based on the ethical code of one party through private contracts, various measures would be extremely easy to implement. This would make various countermeasures much easier.

Compared to for-profit corporations that prioritize profit from their customers, educational institutions place more importance on 「public interest」than 「profit increase」and seek justice in today’s society. Educational institutions, which are in a position to nurture the children and youth who will be responsible for the future, are required to have a higher level of ethics and justice than any other organizations, and a system to ensure this has been established under the law. The so-called 「joint industry-government-academia」is meaningful not only for the fusion of the capabilities, functions, and organizational cultures of each organization, but also for the utilization of the advantages that arise from such institutional differences. That is, in each organizational characteristic under the legal system, such a plan can be realized only because it is a school corporation.

2.3 Initiatives as an Educational Institution

Although this project is only one of the general registry projects in isolation, as a professional graduate school, it is positioned within a larger framework and considered as part of the education for our students who aspire to become ICT professionals. In other words, it is our attitude to utilize it as 「educational material」. In addition to managing the domain as a registry, we would like to realize the commercialization of related projects within the framework of 「student-initiated ventures」and 「university incubation」by formulating various business plans as 「practical classes」such as practical seminars for students and executing them together with related organizations.

Specifically, seminars will be established for each industry, sector, and region in Kyoto Prefecture, as well as for each project. In these seminars, we would like to invite experts from each region and company as instructors, along with professors in charge of the project, in order to encourage young students to express their sense, and to plan various related projects and develop related software. We may also consider holding open lectures open to all students in Kyoto Prefecture. For this purpose, we would like to request the cooperation of the Consortium of Universities in Kyoto.

We would also like to make this a useful 「teaching material」that can be used by educational institutions (universities, high schools, junior high schools, elementary schools, and kindergartens) in Kyoto Prefecture. junior high and high school students could also participate in surveys of actual streets and topography to create a 3D city. Depending on the project, elementary school students and kindergarteners may also be able to participate in adding various things to cyberspace.

Of course, the domain exists along with the website, and the website is only as good as its content, so we would like to request the cooperation of various content-related organizations and companies to help develop the content business. We expect a great deal from the member companies of the Kyoto Information Industry Association in promoting these activities.

We hope to realize many projects that are unique to Kyoto, a city of students, in which many students from various universities in Kyoto Prefecture will participate. Since there are already many collaborations between Kyoto University and other universities and companies (see *1 for examples), we will use these experiences as the basis for various project structures. We hope that students who have achieved results that are actually used effectively will leave for society as student ventures, and that incubation projects originating from universities will be created in cooperation with business organizations in various regions. We hope to establish a triangle between industry, government, and academia, which will lead to the development of Kyoto. This is also a social education project, so I consider it to be a social contribution by the university.

3. Projects in Contemplation

The following are some examples of derivative projects currently under consideration by the University. We are convinced that by properly designing the domain branding and related systems, [.kyoto] can be realized, since it is not only a domain name, but also functions symbolically by integrating all Kyoto-related information.

The cost of commercializing the project will be budgeted by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT), the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI), and other ministries and agencies, as well as private school subsidies. Alternatively, private companies can be recruited to commercialize the system. Another option would be to develop the system as open source software such as Linux. We hope that public corporations and related public organizations will take the appropriate lead so that all of these projects can be realized through joint efforts by industry, government, and academia.

3.1 Address

As mentioned above, we would like to conduct joint research and software development to realize 「Virtual Kyoto Prefecture」, a domain that corresponds to addresses. By using the address database distributed by the Japan Post, we will create domains for addresses in Kyoto Prefecture according to a certain format and reserve them. Of course, it is up to the residents of each address to decide whetheror not to use it, and if they do, they will be required to set the domain as active. The user will be obliged to pay a fee, but many entities and citizens will recognize the utility of this service. If this system is linked to Google Maps, it could be useful for map searches for postal and parcel delivery services, and many other possibilities are conceivable. In addition, if a virtual city like 「Second Life」, which was popular for a while, is created in correspondence with a real city and linked to the websites and GPS of each business office, various conveniences will be created. In this direction, there have already been a number of experiments in Kyoto Prefecture, such as digital cities and tourist information systems, etc. If these are linked with the [.kyoto] domain as a symbol, various derivative effects will be generated from Virtual Kyoto.

For example, visitors can visit a virtual store in Kyoto via the Internet and select and purchase products on the shelves, which are photographed by a camera, or they can send their location information via GPS from their cell phone on a street corner and link to the URL of the business in front of them, where they can view its business and stock items. For example, information on car navigation systems linked to GPS will also be extended. This would also contribute to the promotion of the content and animation industries. If the real Kyoto and virtual Kyoto are linked, various things will become possible simply by combining existing technologies. The possibilities will be greatly expanded by mapping domain names to real addresses and by utilizing GPS.

3.2 Data Mining

Centralized management of the [.kyoto] domain and its servers will enable statistical processing and various analyses of the information exchanged under it. By publicly soliciting development companies and calling for their participation at academic conferences, we will develop and implement technologies for wide-area and large-volume data mining.

For example, it will be possible to develop a system that automatically notifies the entities concerned of cases such as 「a large number of visitors but the administrator is unaware of it」or 「a website that is not being used effectively even though it is actually open to the public」. In addition, by linking with GPS, the system can disclose and exchange information related to Kyoto revitalization projects, such as proposing sightseeing tours with fewer waiting lines and rational coordination of various transportation systems, all under the same domain of servers, making it extremely easy to establish mutual linkage, information exchange, information analysis, and organic linkage. This facilitates mutual linkage, information exchange, information analysis, and the establishment of organic linkages.

Currently, research on analyzing such a huge amount of data (big data) on the Internet to find useful laws or to connect them to useful controls is attracting attention from related academic societies and industries. The data provided by the servers under the [.kyoto] domain is a good research target.

Over the past many years, public corporations such as Kyoto Prefecture and Kyoto City, as well as various public and private organizations, have conducted various projects and experiments to promote tourism in Kyoto and to make effective use of film assets, and have accumulated information. However, it cannot be denied that this valuable information is dispersed and lacks organic linkage. We would like to avoid duplication and make effective use of the accumulated information by managing all of this information together. At the very least, we would like to establish an organic relationship between the various projects for regional development under the jurisdiction of the prefectural, city, and national governments on the centrally managed [.kyoto] servers. Even if we designate the servers and domains to be used from the beginning, it will leave the possibility of organic cooperation in the future.

3.3 Kyoto Brand Guarantee System

Various efforts have been made by business entities to protect their brands, such as trademark registration, various registrations of service marks, etc., finalization of logos, and CI, etc. In fact, it is always the human eye that checks them, so misidentification is inevitable. We will take measures to deal withthis problem.

For example, for a certain kyoyasai, a QR code (or barcode, etc.) linked to the URL of the [.kyoto] domain should be assigned, and the code should be rewritten on a regular basis. When a consumer takes a picture of the QR code printed on a package of kyoyasai at a store with a camera phone, the URL of the [.kyoto] domain is automatically confirmed and the consumer can immediately check where, by whom, and when the kyoyasai was produced. Furthermore, whether or not it is a fake site can finally be reliably authenticated by the URL. This is not to say that it is not possible to do this under other existing domains, but by implementing it under a new domain after thorough institutional design, it is possible to eliminate fakes and forgeries with almost 100% certainty. The same is true for traditional crafts and various products, and the same can be done for intangible assets and information. In addition, since everything is based on private-public contracts, there is no need to be bound by the unique constraints of public corporations, and if the contracts under the new domain are properly designed from the outset, they will not become unregulated as in other existing domains. The development of free trade will increase imports from abroad, which will naturally lead to an increase in forgeries, counterfeits, and confusable products. In such a case, this kind of system to prove the Kyoto brand will be a powerful tool. The computer will prove that it is 「MADE IN KYOTO」.

3.4 Cultivate Pride in Kyoto Culture

We would like to cultivate pride in Kyoto residents as leaders of Japanese culture. Further strengthen social education and awareness of 「knowledge about Kyoto」, 「Kyoto culture」, and 「things to know as a citizen of Kyoto」, etc., with the cooperation of the University Consortium Kyoto. The use of the branded [.kyoto] domain allows us to show those links permanently without disturbing users, so an appropriate mechanism should be developed. We would like to develop social education for the entire Kyoto society by setting up a system that accurately shows the cultural background of the pride and pride that many Kyoto residents have in Kyoto. This is something that universities and other educational institutions in Kyoto Prefecture should lead in cooperation. In addition to supporting the further development of so-called 「Kyoto Studies」, we would like to realize a project to build a kind of 「encyclopedia of Kyoto」on the Internet by decentralized processing at each educational institution.

Once the [.kyoto] brand is established and its reliability is guaranteed, various forms of mutual trust will be generated on the Internet, and collective intergenerational education will become possible. If collective interaction between adults, the elderly, and children is conducted under the [.kyoto] domain, it is possible to establish a SNS that is like a good old-fashioned Japanese 「neighborhood」in the Internet society, where the nuclear family has been spreading and the local community is fading away. Users are indoctrinated to always check the top-level domain (domain consciousness), and 「adults and the elderly as a group」provide guidance and advice to each child on the Internet with pride as a citizen of Kyoto Prefecture. The same lessons learned and preached by neighborhood adults and elderly people in the past at neighborhood associations will be realized on the Internet. This is a social networking service that is made possible by the branding of the domain name and the reliability of the service, not a social networking service like mixi or Facebook, where anyone can join and speak freely, and where responsibility is vague. Prevent identity theft and crimes before they occur. Children accessing the site should always confirm that the information is coming from that domain. This will create a cycle in which 「conscientious adults」throughout Kyoto Prefecture will participate in educating the next generation and their children, and will enable collective intergenerational exchange and a sense of unity among the citizens of Kyoto Prefecture. The high credibility guaranteed by the Kyoto Brand Domain could be the realization of a community of conscientious Kyoto residents on the Internet.

In addition, we would like to establish a system to eliminate harmful websites for youth under the same domain. Although commercial PCs are equipped with their own filtering software, it requires an organized response to all websites that change from time to time. If all PCs for young people in elementary, junior high, and senior high schools are set up to surf sites through servers in the same domain, through an alliance with a company that develops such filtering software, it would be possible to perform batch filtering. Although there may be some criticism from the perspective of some ideas of Internet democracy, this does not mean that we should allow adult sites and atrocious and harmful sites to broadcast their information unchecked. We all know how much effort parents and educators have put into protecting children from harmful sites on the Internet. Once a domain and server system for filtering for youths is established, it can be assumed that the system will be transferred to other prefectures.We would like to build a symbolic [.kyoto] and construct a group of clean, technologically advanced, and reliable servers that are the best in Japan. We sincerely hope to establish an educational Internet system that protects students in all elementary, junior high, and high schools in Kyoto Prefecture from harmful sites and fosters knowledge and wisdom unique to Kyoto. We also request the cooperation of the Board of Education.

3.5 Supply Chain Managementト

Rakuten and Yahoo listing systems are not fully interlocked with production and inventory management systems. As a result, there have been many cases where orders for non-stocked items have been received, resulting in problems with customers. We will examine these industrial cases closely and develop a mechanism to link production, inventory, distribution, and sales. We believe that this mechanism can be realized by building a server using the 「Supply Chain Management (SCM)」method, which is one of the fields in which we specialize. The goal is to promote the Kyoto brand through a server under the [.kyoto] domain, and to sell various products from all over Kyoto Prefecture to the world withdetailed inventory management. Face-to-face exchanges such as cross-industrial exchange meetings are important, but it is also necessary to manage exchanges on the Internet.

3.6 Contribution to tourism, sightseeing in Kyoto with [.kyoto], and projects linked to GPS

Kyoto is one of the world’s most popular tourist destinations, and has received many tourists from allover the world. Unfortunately, however, Kyoto does not seem to be on the same scale as Paris or London. Since there may be a linguistic problem, many conveniences can be provided by building an appropriate set of tourist information servers that support multiple languages. In addition, by having tourists upload their Kyoto experiences to the servers and leave their footprints such as photos and videos on [.kyoto], and by having them relive and share their experiences with others, it is possible to aim forthe effect of inviting tourists to revisit Kyoto. At temples, shrines, and tourist attractions, digital (QR code, etc.) red seals can be issued, and special offers can be given on the [.kyoto] server and when visitors return to the site. Various services can be combined, such as creating navigation applications that link GPS information with information on approaching city buses for the convenience of tourists. Various services have already been realized, experimented, and demonstrated here and there, but the domains and servers are dispersed, and there is no organic relationship between them. We would like to link these valuable assets under the same domain to realize a huge information set that cannot be achieved by content linkage or content search.

3.7 Contribution to the film and animation industry

Kyoto is a Mecca for the film industry, centering on the city of Ujumasa. In addition, there are game development companies such as Nintendo, and animation industry such as Kyoto Animation. By linking content-related companies under the [.kyoto] domain, statistical processing, various analyses, and interconnectedness become possible. By processing various information on a group of servers under the same domain, it is expected that the contents will complement each other and have a synergistic effect. Derivatively, since Japanese movies and animations are highly rated, it will be possible to direct movie and animation-related traffic from all over the world to Kyoto Prefecture, contributing to the developmentof various infrastructures and related industries.

3.8 Final Reduction and Spiral Up

When the number of domain names sold exceeds a certain number, a certain amount of profit will be generated. We would like to use the portion of net profit as a source of scholarship funds for students and for research expenses of the project. If we increase the number of excellent students by increasing the number of scholarships for students, the research of this project will advance. This would help revitalize Kyoto and contribute to the development of Kyoto Prefecture and, by extension, our country.

In terms of the development of software related to this project and its individual commercialization, we will of course make efforts to obtain budgets from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) and private universities. Since 「university contribution to society」and 「cooperation with local communities」are priority items for the MEXT, various plans and budgets are set every fiscal year. In relation to [.Kyoto], we would like to contribute to the local community by developing software and commercializing various projects in cooperation with specific regions and industry groups, and by promoting the acquisition of budgets from the MEXT and private universities.

With TMDU in charge of the [.kyoto] domain business, all revenues will be returned to the public interest business of 「education and research in Kyoto」and 「development of the [.kyoto] domain business」, and will not be used for profit by specific companies or individuals. By having the university, an educational and public interest corporation, in charge of this project, many events will spiral up in interaction and contribute to the people of Kyoto Prefecture and Kyoto society.

4.Conclusion

In Kyoto Prefecture, there is a vast amount of content, with numerous and varied useful achievementsin the past. Unfortunately, many of these projects stand alone and have little relationship with others, and there is not much organic connection between them. If the accumulated information such as KEITAI International Forum and KYOTO CMEX, archives, and useful information produced by various special zone systems are all placed together on the same domain server, and if appropriate institutional design such as the designation of mutual links is implemented, all the legacies and assets of the past will be utilized.

Just as we would join tens of thousands of pearls scattered before our eyes with a single thread, we should use existing technology to link what is already there with [.kyoto]. This process requires institutional design based on sound insight, but it is clear what will happen if we do so. It is the birth of the 「Kyoto of the world」in the infinitely expanding cyberspace.

Here are Examples of collaboration between our educational group and multiple universities and companies.

ET Software Design Robot Contest (Commonly known as ET Robocon) Kansai Regional Tournament

  • Organizer : Japan Embedded Systems Technology Association (JASA)
  • Sponsored by : KYOTO Industrial Support Organization 21, Kyoto Information Industry Association
  • Participants : Around 400 people of Corporate Engineers, and Students of Univer. and Technical College,
  • Our university hosted the Kansai Regional Championships 4 times between 2008 and 2011, providing participants with technical education and holding robot competitions.

Open Source Conference Kansai@Kyoto

  • Organizer : Open Source Conference Executive Committee
  • Sponsored by : Kyoto Prefecture, Kyoto City, Kyoto City Board of Education, The Consortium for Information Society in Kyoto
  • Planning and Management : Bigi.net Inc.
  • Participants : Around 1,200 people of Stakeholders and Students
  • Our university actively supported the event as the host venue 4 times between 2007 and 2010.

Embedded Systems Symposium MDDI (Model Driven Development) Robot Challenge

  • Organizer : IPSJ Special Interest Group on Embedded System (SIGEMB).
  • Participants : Companies and Universities.
  • Industry-academia collaboration between Human Engineering and Robotics Co., Ltd. and our Univer.
  • A competition to compete in both software and flight for flying small model airships.
  • Participated 4 times between 2007 and 2010.

Game Campus Festa

  • Organizer : GRASSHOPPER MANUFACTURE INC.
  • Participants : University professors, high school teachers, and corporate English educators.
  • Our university participated in the project together with Kyoto Seika University, and the development was carried out within our university.
  • Competing by developing game application software for Sony’s new gaming device.

eLearning Workshop

  • Organizer : ALC PRESS INC., Kyoto Computer Gakuin, The Kyoto College of Graduate Studies forInformatics.
  • Participants : University professors, high school teachers, and corporate English instructors.
  • A workshop on various utilization cases, including an introduction to the e-learning currently being used at our university.

From April 1999 to March 2002, Associate Professor Ueda of our University participated in a project titled “Building a Digital City as a Social Information Infrastructure” led by Professor Ishida Toru of Kyoto University, funded by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology’s Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research on the Promotion of Regional Collaboration (2).

http://www.degitalcity.gr.jp/degital.pdf

Our university also has a number of other achievements, including training programs for high school teachers in charge of information subjects.

About the Authors

Wataru Hasegawa

Executive Chairman and Professor, Kyoto Computer Gakuin/The Kyoto College of Graduate Studies forInformatics.
Bachelor of Arts, Waseda University.
M.A.&M.Ed., Columbia University (Teachers College, Department of Organization and Leadership), USA.
Director and President, All Nippon Information Industry Association Federation.
President, Kyoto Information Service Industry Association.
Vice President, IT Coordinators Association.
Council member, Human Resource Development Deliberation Council of Information-technology Promotion Agency, Japan (IPA).
Vice Chairman, Promotion Committee of The Association for Promotion of Public Local Information and Communication
Professor Emeritus, Tianjin University of Science and Technology, China.
Honorary Principal, Dongbei University of Finance, Economics and Japanese Language, China.

Received Vice Minister of Education Award of the Thailand, in 1992 and 1997.
Received Minister of Education Award of the Republic of Kenya, In 1992.