西條剛央のブログ：構造構成主義

この記事はアルスエレクトロニカでのゴールデン・ニカ受賞に際してHP掲載用に作成したオリジナル原稿です。英語の得意な方はこちらをお読みください。
This article was used in the press release on the website of Ars Electronica.

http://www.aec.at/prix/en/gewinner/#digitalcommunities


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Project Fumbaro Eastern Japan
: An autonomic crowdsourcing model to cope with the critical situation utilizing Structural constructivism and Social Network Services

March 11,2011. Eastern Japan was hit by a massive earthquake. The Great East Japan Earthquake and the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant accident drove Japan into a national crisis. The number of missing and dead reached 18,800, and in addition 2,916 citizens died from the after effects of the complex disaster. In total 21,716 people lost their lives. (as of June 2014).

Project Fumbaro Eastern Japan(PFEJ) is an autonomic crowd-sourcing platform utilizing a number of Social Network Services (SNS) and a Philosophy (Structural constructivism) systematized by Takeo Saijo Ph.D. Coping with such a critical situation was made possible by inviting citizens to connect autonomously and initiate various projects rapidly.

Fumbaro is structured as 3 prefectural chapters (Miyagi, Iwate, and Fukushima) several city chapters in Tohoku and other area and other project based groups and administration groups, over fifty in total. Project Fumbaro Eastern Japan became the largest organization among the community of multi-skilled volunteers on the internet in Japan by co-ordinating many groups effectively.

This system ,also named The Fumbaro Japan Model (FJM)could be utilized in other disasters, such as those caused by heavy rain and landslides, as a general-purpose methodology to cope with such situations.

Project Fumbaro Eastern Japan began with an emergency supplies project. At first, the damage level of this massive and unprecedented earthquake was so variable depending on the area that it was extremely difficult for the government and the existing framework to identify and determine all affected areas and to provide necessary support. As a result large quantities of supplies sent from around the country did not reach small and medium size shelters and people still living in Tsunami damaged houses. What victims really needed differed depending on their situation. Therefore a shelter in a village suffering from electric power failure needed a chain saw to prepare firewood and not large quantities of clothes and picture books. Everything was washed away in the devastated areas and it was difficult for the survivors to move around or access the internet so the survivors actions were extremely limited.

At first, he visited the devastated areas and started by listening to the individual requirements. With this information he made a homepage (HP) and published details of the individual and unofficial shelters needs on the HP and in his blog the next morning . He linked the URL of the HP to his twitter account and spread information about the fact that survivors living in small shelters and individual shelters could not receive supplies and about what was needed currently in affected areas. Writing about these requirements on twitter tended to cause an excessive supply, on the other hand HP can update the information in real time. Donors were requested to update information about their donations as soon as they were sent. As son as requirements were satisfied the HP announced this, thus avoiding continued unnecessary supply.

In this way he developed a new structure for delivering essential supplies directly to the right people in the correct quantity by directly listening to survivors requirements in each shelter. The requirements were then met by utilizing the phone and existing infrastructure such as twitter which can disperse information rapidly, a blog and a homepage that can update information at any time and Takyuubin (delivery services)

However it was impossible to visit all the thousands of unknown shelters in Tohoku. To cope with this dilemma Mr Saijo spread information about the fact that survivors living in small shelters and individual shelters were not receiving supplies, about what was needed immediately in affected areas, and about how to deliver them effectively. Based on this, he put the Funbaro brochure on the HP so that anybody could download it, and asked the volunteers to play the role of sales people spreading the methodology of Fumbaro as they delivered necessary supplies. When volunteers made a delivery they asked about survivors requirements and also handed out the brochure which enabled survivors to call Fumbaro directly. As a result hundreds of shelters scattered over a wide area were given continuous support. More than 3000 small and medium scale temporary shelters were supplied with over 155,000 items over more than 35,000 deliveries where municipalities' support did not reach.

We also utilized Amazon’s Wishlist system and more than 55,000 items such as bicycles, home appliances etc were donated.
Various localities around the country wanted to send supplies but were unable to, due to the lack of storage facilities in the affected areas. FJM was able to match supply and demand and over eight hundred tonnes was supplied.

An additional benefit was that since supporters send supplies with their names and phone numbers on the delivery box, survivors know from whom they have received the goods. Survivors are able to give thanks directly and supporters are able to understand the severity of the situation and how much their help is appreciated through direct contact with the survivors. This connection often motivates the supporters to further action. Some of them start direct support outside of Fumbaro while others start visiting the affected area with necessary supplies directly. This structure nurtures heart to heart connection by directly connecting supporters and survivors.

In emergencies when conventional top down administration systems do not function adequately, we struggle to construct structures that connect supporters with victims needs. Sharing structural constructivism systematized by Mr Saijo among the volunteers made it possible to effectively realize autonomic and organizational activities. For example there is The principle of methods in the meta-theory. According to this principle, the effectiveness of a method depends on purpose and situation. So while one person agrees with the method, another disagrees but there is no universally correct method. In fact almost nobody knew what to do after the unprecedented disaster in which existing methods failed. However the principle “The effectiveness of a method depends on purpose and situation”is universal. We can return to this principle anytime to devise an appropriate method depending on the situation and purpose.

For example there was the unreasonable situation in which the survivors who went back to their own half-destroyed houses or who were living in apartments could not receive home appliances delivered by Japan Red Cross, while the survivors living at temporary shelters could. Seeing this situation, we started “The Home Appliance Project” in which we collected and sent donated home appliances, mainly from the Tokyo area.

In summer many electric fans were needed. We set up a special E-commerce web site and developed a new method to deliver home appliances purchased by supporters for the survivors who needed them. When winter came we proposed a new method to support the survivors scattered in many different areas in Japan. We put an announcement in national newspapers and other media, requesting survivors to send a copy of their “Certificate of proof as a disaster victim” and to let us know what kind of home appliances they needed. The Home Appliance Project was successful with 25,000 affected homes receiving home appliances.

In the early phase after the disaster, many survivors who had lost their houses and workplaces were forced to live in shelters day after day, surrounded by huge amounts of rubble. With this in mind we started “The Heavy Equipment License Project” aiming to help the jobless survivors get a license to use heavy equipment so they could find a job clearing rubble or in re-construction. This project supported more than 1,000 local survivors to obtain a license to operate heavy equipment.

More than 3,000 volunteers were mobilized for more than 30 projects such as Study aids for kids, Job assistance, Jobs using sewing machines, Teaching traditional Nuno-Zouri, Hand-made goods, writing encouragement letters, Geiger counter use, Entertainment, PC + Internet use, Horticulture, Fishery projects and Manga/Illustration charity auction projects.

These projects were started and managed autonomously, utilizing existing systems such as Facebook groups, Cybozu, and Paypal. Project Fumbaro Eastern Japan has enabled support to disaster affected areas as the next generation crowd-sourcing model which realizes its aims autonomously, for citizens and by citizens, and also as an autonomous network model for civil volunteers. The essential principle of this model is; Effectiveness of the method depends on the situation and aim. Project Fumbaro Eastern Japan maintains the principles of not clinging strictly to one model, promptly dropping any project which has finished its role and even changing the organizational structure according to the situation. In the case of a massive disaster, problems relating to an inflexible approach to relief operations tend to surface. Our creative and flexible approach taught us many lessons for the future.