Culture that provides spiritual enrichment through information media technology

Associate Professor Takeshi Naemura
(Department of Information and Communication Engineering)

Associate Professor Naemura aims at the “creation of information media that enriches people’s minds.”  It means creating culture with a sense of peace and comfort in which information technology and information media make people happier.

He challenges to create a new paradigm that combines software and optical design by aligning media content with three research pillars: 1) “extensity/realism,” 2) “embodiment/materiality,” and 3) “five senses/creativity.”  If a number of cameras and lenses are set on a flat surface to take pictures of light in a space, they can record light archive capturing objects (from a baby to an art work) that gradually vanish over time.  It is effective in conveying more advanced sensations.

When four people are sitting around a square table, images they see from a display vary depending on the seating.  It is convenient for experts with different specialization when discussing a common goal.  For example, when drafting a windmill construction plan, wind information is displayed to an expert of wind currents while land readjustment information is displayed to a policy expert by placing a windmill on the map.  It can also be used as a means to help communication between paintings and humans in the near future.  Imagine you hear “I was painted by da Vinci” and an explanation spoken out of Mona Lisa’s mouth through a headphone as you stand close to the Mona Lisa painting at the Louvre museum.  Ultrasonic waves emitted around the painting are picked up by an ultrasonic headphone and heard only by those who are wearing a headphone.

Associate Professor Naemura views sensitivity and psychology, which tends to be noted as research in arts and humanities, as technology and plays a central role to provide surprising experiences with “never-seen-before” images and enjoyment of science to elementary and junior high school students who are future researchers.