Members — Articles
English introductions to the institute’s research, essays, and archived publications. Japanese originals and downloadable materials are linked from each entry.
General Epistemology: A Manual for Life as a Netizen
Shumpei Kumon’s project investigates how people understand the world and design their actions in the information society. The archive offers draft PDF sections on existence and logical systems, together with references.
Izumi Aizu: Books, Papers, and Translations
A historical list of books, contributions to edited volumes, papers, and translations on computer networking, the Internet, governance, and network society. The current profile includes selected books with Amazon links and papers linked to their publication records.
New Year’s Greetings: Looking toward 2008
Izumi Aizu sets out research and practical priorities from the viewpoint of citizens and Internet users. Topics include Internet governance and multi-stakeholder participation, network neutrality and next-generation networks, security, and social responsibility.
Regarding GLOCOM
Izumi Aizu announces the end of his visiting research appointment at GLOCOM in March 2007, after involvement since its founding in 1991. He thanks colleagues and describes continuing work through the Institute for HyperNetwork Society and the Tama University institute. A postscript notes the closure of Asia Network Research in June 2006.
Modernization Reconsidered: Japan and the Third Phase
Shumpei Kumon reconsiders Japanese modernization in light of work on civilization, economic history, and social development. The article proposes a perspective on a third phase of modernization and the possibilities of further interaction with European civilization. A Japanese PDF is available.
Keynote Address to the Infosocionomics Society
Shumpei Kumon outlines three complementary approaches to Socio-Infonomics: an interdisciplinary study of the information society as a whole; a design science for creating a more desirable society; and a discipline within explanatory science. The source provides a downloadable paper.
Shumpei Kumon: Research Interests
The original research-interest record lists social systems theory, studies of Japanese society, and information civilization. These areas also appear on the updated profile.
Personal Reflections on the Constitution
Shumpei Kumon offers proposals for constitutional debate in a society undergoing continuing modernization and informatization. He considers constitutional flexibility, changes in sovereign states, and the development of information rights. This is an archival opinion essay.
Network Sociology
Shumpei Kumon revisits Japan’s early information-society thinkers, including Tadao Umesao and Yoneji Masuda. The essay reflects on their contributions to a comprehensive vision of social change and the development of network society. It originally appeared in February 1998.
The Twenty-First Century as an Age of Co-Emulative Modernization
Shumpei Kumon interprets twentieth-century conflict as a struggle between emergent and deliberately developmental forms of modernization. He considers whether the twenty-first century can move toward co-emulative modernization, with collaboration rather than competition at the center of economic activity.