Researches on the Process of Forming an "Information Community" : Linking an Urban Area with a Rural Area Using Internet System

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We had two experimental researches on the effectiveness of the information exchange on the internet to estimate the possibility of the "information community". Locations of our research were Kobe, an urban and Nara, a rural area.1. We made an original information network system using cellar phones and server system. The result of an experiment on information exchange among students on a shopping area Okamoto in Kobe city suggests that most popular information was news about a matter of interests among students. This suggests that the concrete network of an areal community or a group is a prerequisite of the "information community".2. We made a web site in Kobe on rural community of Nara prefecture. This remoteness offered an objectivity and reliability among the users.3. We made an English version of a paper discussing the transformation of Japanese society after introducing western calendar.The results of our research suggests that "information community" would be based on concrete human networks such as communities or groups and that effectiveness or activity of the "information community" depends on the mutual uniqueness of the communities or groups involved in it.