Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
SONAR: Communication System for Supporting
Information Gathering and Social Interaction
in a Niche Market
Junichi Hoshino, Takeru Umemura, Sachi Urano, and Daiki Satoi
University of Tsukuba, 1-1-1-#3M309 Tennodai Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-8573, Japan
jhoshino@esys.tsukuba.ac.jp
Abstract.
We propose a new communication system by which niche people can
obtain cross-cutting information and communicate with other people based on
each personality. The system graphically displays the degree and direction of
other people's hobbies who are interested in the keyword niche people input, and
relation between the knowledge e.g. movies, music, animation, history, geogra-
phy using nodes. So, we can search friends who have similar interest and direction
in hobbies. From the demonstration experiments, we obtained good results that
the system could help niche people to gain and exchange useful information.
Keywords:
Niche, Communication System, Cross-Cutting Information.
1
Introduction
Hobbies, while they enrich our daily lives, also play a large role in the economy. Having
a hobby is also an important activity from the health perspective, as having a hobby is
one criterion used to measure health[1][2], and people with a hobby are found to be
three times less likely than people without a hobby to contract liver-related diseases[3].
The recent trend - brought to us by technological advancements that allow us to spend
our spare time in more ways than ever - is an increase in people with ”niche” interests,
especially among the younger population, that immerse in entertainment fields that res-
onate with their values[4]. Therefore, there is an increasing demand for a new system
that allows for active information gathering by the users themselves; the uniformity of
information provided by mass media has increasingly limited value.
Existing online services that o
ff
er information related to hobbies are not useless, with
their e
orts to make information in demand more accessible through implementation of
search categories (movie, music, anime, etc.) as well as selective suggestions based on
specific content accessed by the user. However, the users' needs for niche information,
as well as communication and exchange of information with other users, has been given
very little consideration.
On the other hand, there are services focused on supporting inter-user communica-
tion for acquisition of information. Social networking services, such as mixi and Quora,
allow users to join communities based on interests and comment on topics created by
other users. However, even within these communities, the direction and depth of the
ff
