Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
3.2
Digital Reality
A huge disaster hit Japan in 2011.
I watched the tsunami in real time on TV.
The real visual image was taken from above. Just after the tsunami, when I visited
the hit area, I realized that the image shown on the display was not real. What I got
there, at the real place, was the smell. It was the strange smell what I had never
experienced. That is the reality.
Information is most essential and important. Everyone can survive from a tsunami,
only if adequate information such as “run away!” is delivered and shared. Breakwater,
zoning, and building codes are not secure. The point is how to design a city where
information can easily be shared.
In 1995, Japan experienced another big earthquake in the western part. The earth-
quake interrupted the landline telephone system, but cell phones were working well,
because cell phone users were still small in numbers those days. Internet users were
even much fewer.
In the 2011 disaster cell phones didn't work at all. Networks were already over-
crowded with all the users in the country. Instead, the Internet, especially social
media played an active and important role.
