Hill H.KOBAYASHI Assistant Professor, Division of Spatial Information Engineering (2013-)
Further information available at http://www.csis.u-tokyo.ac.jp/‾kobayashi/
Modern society requires reform in its relationship with nature, which has been damaged in the process of urbanization. This study extends the subject of HCI from countable people, objects, pets, plants to their sounding environment, which is uncountable, complex, and non-linguistic. In doing so, we can listen and feel the telepresence of the global ecological system, thus integrating all living beings and their relationships, including their interaction with the biosphere, without causing environmental destruction. Therefore, this can become the relationship solution to the problem of man and nature.This research is not intended to propose a solution to any one single problem. Rather, it proposes a new view of ecology based design, interfaces and practices to support our future society in a multidisciplinary approach.
Natural Environment-Profiling: Live Sound-Landscape Monitoring and Archiving Experiences
High-resolution pictures of plants, bio-acoustical recordings of animals, and descriptions of the diversity of grand ecosystems are now easily available through interactive learning systems. However, no matter how advanced the systems and technologies, these remain human-computer interactions that can never substitute for a true human-environment experience. Therefore, sometimes we will continue to escape from urban areas to seek out a true experience of nature. We developed a networked Soundscape and Landscape streaming and recording system by which environmental sounds in remote forests, are continuously streamed in real time by a networked microphone. Users are able to listen to the live sounds over the internet without physically going there.
Internet of Animals: Carrier Pigeon oriented Wild Animal-Borne System as Distributable GeoSpatial Information Sensors
We have a more than 10 years of performance experience of research development of “Carrier Pigeon oriented Wild Animal-Borne System “ which fused men, computer and ecosystem. It is a system that investigates ecosystem of permanently restricted area from a remote place. The environment which will not be covered under warranty of information devices because it is the out of service area due to the profitability problem, and also an area which cannot accept satellite positioning signal due to its vegetation and terrain condition. We will gain the world leading knowledge from contaminated area by Fukushima nuclear accident by “Carrier Pigeon oriented Wild Animal-Borne System “. Releasing to the public of record data is possible on real time.
Human-Computer-Biosphere Interaction: ZENetic User Interface Design towards A Sustainable Society
A sense of connection with nature is indispensable for emotional balance. Japanese Zen Buddhism, for example, encourages deep meditation in order to achieve a sense of being at one with nature. When we are emotionally stressed, recalling the beauty of nature can help us recover a sense of well-being. The crucial factor here is not the means of conveyance (words or language), but “something” hovering around, or an atmosphere that we cannot exactly identify. This research expresses the unique bioacoustic beauty of nature and allows users to interact with a forest in real time through a network to acoustically experience a distant forest soundscape, thus merging humans and nature without great environmental impact. This novel interactive sound system can create a sense of unity between users and a remote soundscape, enabling users to feel a sense of belonging to nature even in the midst of a city.
Note: Feel free to contact me if you are interested in collaborative research.