Research on Regional Information Policies in Multimedia Era

本研究的目的是调查地方政府利用多媒体技术实施区域信息政策的实际情况，并考虑促进这些政策的关键因素。为此目的，在我们研究的第一年，我们调查了三个农村地区，每个地区都在执行远程工作、远程医疗和远程教育领域的政策。通过这些调查，我们发现，与中央政府在资金和技术方面的合作是地方实施农村信息政策成功的关键因素。在第二年，我们调查了在远程医疗领域实施区域信息政策的四个地方，这是日本由于快速老龄化而利用多媒体的信息政策的主要领域。我们还估计了这些政策的经济影响。从现场调查中我们发现，远程医疗政策成功的关键因素是所采用的媒体如有线电视、ISDN网络等是否符合政策的目的。我们对远程医疗的经济影响的估计表明，到2050年，这种系统的推广可以节省老年人住院总费用1.7万亿日元。去年，我们调查了北海道的四个地方，那里的地理特征与日本其他地区有很大的不同。调查表明，在北海道，特别是在人口较少的城镇，对区域信息政策的需求非常强烈，但由于其地理位置广阔，实施这些政策的成本往往很高。这一观察结果表明，为了促进北海道的区域信息政策，有必要安装与日本其他地区不同的基础设施，例如通过通信卫星安装无线系统。

The purpose of our study is to investigate the actual situation of regional information policies carried by local governments with multimedia technology and to consider key factors to promote such policies. For this purpose, in the first year of our study, we investigated three rural localities, each of which is carrying out its policy in the field of tele-work, tele-medicine and tele-education. Through these investigations, we have found that cooperation with the central government in the aspects of fundraising and technology is a key factor to the success of information policies carried by localities in rural area.In the second year, we investigated four localities carrying regional information policies in the field of tele-medicine, which is the main field for information policies utilizing multimedia due to rapid aging in Japan. We also estimated the economic effects of such policies. From on-the-spot investigations, we have found that conformity of the adopted media such as CATV, ISDN network etc. to the purpose of the policy is a key factor to the success of tele-medicine policy. Our estimation of economic effects of tele-medicine has shown that, in the year 2050, 1.7 trillion yen of total hospitalization costs of the aged can be saved by the spread of such system.In the last year, we investigated four localities in Hokkaido, where geographical feature is greatly different from other part of Japan. The investigation has shown us that in Hokkaido, especially in less populated towns, needs for regional information policy are very strong but cost of implementing them tends to be expensive due to its geographical expanse. This observation suggests us that, for promoting regional information policies in Hokkaido, it is necessary to install different type of infrastructure from those in other area of Japan, such as wireless system through a communication satellite.