Dr. Hiroshi Inose(Director of NACSIS)

Re-design of life cycle and reinstatement of liberal arts
During the last five decades in post-war Japan, the liberal arts have occupied an underprivileged position. Japan has focused on the acquisition of specialized knowledge rather than on culture, and dilettantisme has been viewed as a relic of the past. The recent expansion and improvements in postgraduate school programs are a most welcome sign for the further development of specialized academic fields. The question which needs to be raised here is whether a corresponding emphasis has also been placed on liberal arts in undergraduate education. The liberal arts courses which are included here and there among the specialized courses through 4 years of undergraduate education are nothing more than a means of giving students a kind of breathing period than serving any serious purpose.
Today's system of higher education and employment fails to reflect the life-cycle of the current population whose average life expectancy is 80 years. Young people are made to stuff their heads with a portion of specialized knowledge before they graduate from college at the age of 22, and stay as members of the workforce until their retirement at the age of 60. They are likely to spend the subsequent 20 years of their retirement without achieving much sense of accomplishment. However, if instead we can extend retirement to 70 years of age and allow five of the 10 extra years afforded by that retirement extension to be spent on higher education, a significant improvement can be expected. Under this alternative scenario, people would study the liberal arts until the age of 22 so that they are able not only to acquire the basics of culture but also form their own views by thinking more deeply. Then when they graduate from university, they can select a particular field of specialization which they can go on to study at a postgraduate school for the following five years to acquire sufficient specialized knowledge they will need. During this period, they can also engage in research and field work so that they will have the chance to learn what it takes to become professional in their field.
It is indeed a most welcome development that Japanese postgraduate schools and state research laboratories are expanding and improving their research functions with an intention to construct "centers of excellence" achieving world-wide recognition. At this juncture, we should not overlook the importance of reconstructing "centers of excellence" for education which should run parallel to the formation of the centers of excellence for research. This means developing the functions of universities to produce graduates with an excellent basic education as members of society's workforce. To this end, universities need to re-examine their recent trends in which they are often preoccupied with having master's and doctor's degree courses in their programs, while regarding undergraduate education, particularly liberal arts courses, as having no significance. It seems to the author that it is most important for Japan to come up with excellent undergraduate colleges dedicated to liberal arts education, if we are to enhance our international reputation and contribute to the progress of global literacy.
In Athens in ancient times and also in Italy during the Renaissance, economic development paved the way for promoting liberal arts which in turn made an invaluable contribution to the history of civilization. It is similarly hoped that the same spirit of honoring liberal arts will today rise to the fore in Japan of today, seeing as it is also enjoying unprecedented economic prosperity--even though some clouds have appeared on the economic horizon in recent years.

Sharing of basic understanding as part of "literacy"
Segmentation and increasing levels of specialization are becoming more and more pronounced tendencies in natural sciences as well as in humanities and social sciences, making it more and more difficult for those in different fields of specialization to understand one another. At the same time, the need to establish academic links is accelerating rapidly as many fields in the natural sciences find connections with the life sciences, material sciences and information sciences. Science is clearly assuming larger scale and greater complexity, and its social impact is extremely diversified: so much so that without a basic understanding of the humanities and social sciences there will be obstacles to the further promotion of the natural sciences.
For studies in the various fields of humanities and social sciences, it is also becoming essential to understand the basic attributes of natural sciences if the findings in natural sciences are to be used appropriately as tools for human and societal endeavors. In other words, we have arrived at an age in which we must acquire a common understanding which spans a number of widely ranging fields, each of which is continuing to advance in segmentation and level of specialization, and we must base our conceptions on this understanding, whether it be in natural sciences or in humanities and social sciences.
Given the advanced levels that the sciences have reached at this time, it is virtually impossible for anyone to be perfectly versed in his or her own field of specialization and also have a basic knowledge of all the other fields. However, it is not at all impossible for a person to be capable of understanding basic attributes in a wide range of fields while remaining most familiar with his or her own field of specialization. In bygone days when philosophy still embodied the spirit that was alive in ancient times, philosophers used to acquire such a capability through contemplation. The author believes that what is desired for the literacy of this age is not a collection of the fragmented pieces of knowledge but rather, a philosophical approach that enables basic culture to be shared across the boundary which divides natural sciences from humanities and social sciences.

Danger of dwarfing literacy
As we proceed to examine the subject of literacy in this manner, we may come up against the argument that literacy is all about the ability to read and write or that we must not ignore computer literacy which goes beyond traditional literacy in this day and age.
In view of the fact that the conveyance of information through writing has played such an important role in the formation of education to date, it is not difficult to see why the word "literacy," which originally meant the "possession of knowledge," has also come to mean "the ability to read and write." On the other hand, it can be said without a doubt that highly learned individuals have existed in societies where the written letter was not known and that culture reached advanced levels of attainment. Homer's Iliad and Odyssey, for example, are excellent demonstrations of the traditions which existed in such cultures. Their rhythmical and natural refrains not only had a poetical and dramatic effect but they also helped to make the subject matter easier to remember. The lyricism which is characteristic of the literature handed down through the spoken and memorized word was later carried over into the written word until it was gradually transformed into the format existing today.
Besides the spoken word and the written word, gestures and other body language also play an important role in conveying information. These tools of communication have played a major role in societies without written forms of communication, but it was the use of written letters that enabled formats such as scripts to come into being and thereby information was recorded and handed down through the generations, despite the fact that its form was imperfect to begin with. The advent of such information technology as motion pictures and video recording have made it possible to record information almost perfectly for future posterity. The recorded information is related to stage plays, dances, rituals and various other forms of human activity, some of which might have their origin in what preceded spoken language.
Computers and other forms of information technology are capable of handling everything from the spoken and written word to gestures and body language. They enable us not only to record and convey information but also retrieve what is needed from vast amounts of data; they also transform and process recorded information for a wide range of purposes. There is no doubt that the information technology of today is the most powerful tool which humanity has hitherto been able to acquire in order to advance literacy to greater heights.
In the past, paper and printing technology served as powerful tools, and they gave the word "literacy" the meaning of the ability to read and write. The advent of the telephone then gave us the means to communicate across vast geographical distances. In a similar way, the information technology of today serves as a powerful tool to support almost every available means relating to literacy.
Yet, however powerful it may be, information technology is still a tool for human beings. Unless the spirit of the times is moved to make full use of it, it will be of no use in advancing literacy. Paper and wood-block printing, invented at the beginning of the second century in China, were ushered in by the spirit of honoring the learning that prevailed in China at the time. Consequently, they made a significant contribution to the enrichment of culture. However, when these inventions reached Europe in the 12th century by way of Central Asia, they were used only to print playing cards and icons. It was only because of the great spiritual upliftment of the times called the Renaissance that printing from movable type invented by Gutenberg was accepted in the 15th century. Like the ancient Chinese kings who used to dream of the noble stead of Central Asia or the youngsters of today who would love to drive racing cars, human beings tend to find great allure in luxury tools and appliances. Needless to say, we have to have the skills to ride or drive such horses or cars, but above all, we need to know exactly what we wish to achieve by using such tools, and what we need to be careful about when we use them.
Similarly, the ability to operate a computer or access information on the Internet accounts for only a fraction of literacy in this age. If we were to call this ability "computer literacy," the implication of literacy would be stunted in practically the same way as when the ability to read and write was called literacy while the written word was in its heyday. This is true because a host of more fundamental issues remain unanswered. One example of such an issue is the question as to how the accuracy and validity of any given information can be established. Until the present day, the opportunities available to an individual to transmit information were limited. Publishers examined the quality of the work of each author and the originality and marketability of the contents of the manuscript before deciding to go ahead with publishing. Newspapers as well as radio or TV stations have used some kind of self-regulating function in striving to ensure that what they print or broadcast is accurate. The rapid advancements made in recent years in the availability of electronic networks as well as the practical applications of electronic publishing now make it possible for individuals to make public their writings or views without going through the process of being screened by a publishers or broadcasting station. Consequently, erroneous information, unfounded information and other information of dubious validity are flooding cyberspace to the chagrin of everyone who is searching for an authentic information. How we can establish a sense of ethics among the individuals involved to ensure a level of responsibility which is commensurate with the freedom that is available is an urgent question now confronting today's literacy.
Another example is the question of how we can maintain diversity in language. A rich array of culture has been nurtured through human history by approximately 3,000 languages and 5,000 dialects as well as some 300 types of alphabets. The rapid technological advancements made in communications and transportation have promoted cultural exchanges across all geographical distances. At the same time, they have also contributed to a loss of the individual characteristics inherent to the culture in any given region. Networking on a global scale, which has become possible in recent years, has increasingly reshaped the structure of literacy from one in which the mother tongue of an area plays the major role to one in which English is now used as the international language. At the same time, the overwhelming popularity of the Latin alphabet is giving rise to the danger that other alphabets indigenous to various parts of the world will fall into disuse. In view of the fact that diversity in language has enriched the culture of mankind, the oppression of mother tongues by the international language, the oppression of dialects by the standard language, and the oppression of the other alphabets by the Latin alphabet are serious problems. How we can nurture multi-lingual abilities so that both the mother tongue and the international language, both the dialect and the standard language, and both the local alphabet and the Latin alphabet can be used side by side is another important question pertinent to the literacy of today.
In closing, the author wishes to stress that those of us at the National Center for Science Information Systems are committed to supporting every effort made to resolve the many issues that face the literacy of our age. In this respect, we welcome the guidance and support of our readers.