午夜剧场

A digital archive (hereinafter DA) is "the totality of mechanisms for collecting, preserving, and providing various digital information resources" *1. When considering its characteristics from the perspective of educational utilization, one key aspect is "diversity." DAs store materials from all fields, including not only so-called precious materials such as ancient documents, but also paintings, maps, photos and videos, animation, film, theater, broadcasting, advertising, media art, and natural sciences. Therefore, it is considered an essential intellectual foundation for future education as a source of information where diverse materials can be referenced, linking to the diverse "questions" raised by students.

The second point is the "reliability and authenticity" of materials and information. Of course, this does not mean guaranteeing the historical correctness of the content of DA materials; rather, if there are several layers to the reliability and authenticity of information, this refers to the most superficial level. In modern schools, where the GIGA School Initiative has led to the provision of one device per student and network infrastructure, the necessity of web-based inquiry learning is increasing. However, in such cases, the phenomenon of "uncritically copying and pasting information that appeared at the top of a Google search (created by someone else) without even citing it" has become common. In response to these challenges, the path of "first referring to DAs that are collected, stored, digitized, structured, and published with great effort and responsibility by local museums, libraries, archives, and research institutions" will likely become a standard from the perspective of fostering "information literacy," which is required for cross-curricular development.

Thirdly, there are functional characteristics that allow materials to be deciphered and felt as familiar. Previously, there was a challenge where it was difficult for students to understand or utilize materials from various institutions, especially those from ancient times, even if they could view the original texts through a case in an exhibition. On the other hand, it is now possible to provide learning support through innovations that utilize digital characteristics, such as transcription, overlaying old maps with modern maps, and image enlargement, annotation, and curation using IIIF (International Image Interoperability Framework).

While society is changing rapidly from various perspectives such as informatization, diversity, and sustainability, making the future uncertain and rendering previous norms obsolete, it has been pointed out as a problem that school education has not changed much in 150 years. In particular, when the need for online education rose rapidly during the pandemic, the delay in educational reform and the problem of educational disparity became apparent worldwide.

For a long time in educational settings, instruction has consisted of teachers unilaterally teaching and making students memorize content they already know (where there is only one correct answer). However, in the future society where information is easily accessible due to the progress of informatization and the rise of AI, conventional unilateral education is expected to lose its significance. In this context, the recently revised New Courses of Study highlighted the importance of "inquiry" as a concept that could trigger educational reform. In inquiry-based learning, setting tasks or "questions" that do not have immediate answers and connecting information to solve or deepen them is positioned as a prerequisite for learning *2. In other words, a learning environment is now required where students can access diverse materials that can be linked to the diverse "questions" they are likely to raise.

Furthermore, agendas such as copyright issues and hallucination problems in the rapid rise of AI, the need to foster critical thinking skills due to the spread of fake news, warnings against the echo chamber phenomenon in a social media society, and social demands for diversity and inclusion are also cited as the social background for why DAs are needed in educational settings. The development of technology such as AI and the fact that people use it are irreversible, and while discussion and certain regulations are necessary, simply banning its use in educational settings will not foster the essential literacy needed to survive in the future society. It is important to face ever-changing technology, information, and social structures, understand their characteristics and challenges, critically select information, consider it from multiple perspectives with evidence based on reliable materials from diverse resources, and construct opinions in collaboration with others. In doing so, DAs—which allow for comprehensive reference to materials from all countries, regions, diverse eras and themes, various formats, and everything from unprocessed primary sources to data visualized by experts—will become an indispensable intellectual foundation precisely in the future educational settings of the AI era.

So far, I have discussed what DAs are (What) and why they are necessary (Why). From here, I will introduce how DAs can be utilized (How) based on specific methods and case studies. Based on the discussion so far, it is thought that the following requirements will be necessary for future inquiry-based learning.

1. Learning where learners collect and consider diverse "materials" that connect to the "questions" they have raised themselves. 2. An environment where diverse "materials" and metadata can be comprehensively searched and collected to perform (1). 3. An environment where collaborative structuring and consideration of "questions" are possible based on the "materials" collected in (2).

The inquiry-based learning model I proposed as a method to realize these requirements satisfies the following three points *3.

1. "Curation Learning" 2. Utilization of a cross-disciplinary search platform 3. Utilization of collaborative curation functions

The "curation learning" in (1) is an application of the curation concept—born in the field of art and also used in the field of informatics—as the core of the inquiry-based learning model. Curation in each field is positioned as implying not only the simple collection of works and information but also the addition of new value and meaning. Here, "curation learning" is defined as "learning where learners collect and consider diverse 'materials' that connect to the 'questions' they have raised themselves," and it is translated into a specific learning design using the integrated DA shown below.

To realize (2) above, which was set as a requirement for the inquiry-based learning model, functions are needed to enable the cross-disciplinary search and collection of diverse "materials," as well as the collection of metadata such as the source, author, era, image, and location information of the "materials." "Japan Search" *4 was utilized as an information collection tool that meets these requirements. Japan Search is a platform where users can search, view, and utilize content metadata from various fields such as books, official documents, cultural properties, art, humanities, natural history / science and technology, academic assets, broadcast programs, and movies; it is, so to speak, the kingpin of DAs in Japan. As of October 2024, approximately 30.7 million items of metadata from 152 partner institutions and 260 databases are searchable *5, making it suitable as a tool for learners to proactively collect diverse materials linked to their own "questions." In the future, Japan Search will become indispensable as a given not only for educators but also for those involved in museums, art galleries, libraries, archives, universities, research institutions, companies, and NPOs when considering the succession and utilization of materials in each region or institution.

Japan Search has also implemented a "Workspace" function to realize requirement (3) of the inquiry-based learning model, which allows multiple people to collect and edit materials and collaboratively construct and express arbitrary structures using metadata lists and image data as elements. The aforementioned previous research has also clarified that learning effects are improved by using the Workspace function of Japan Search as a tool for learners' collaborative material collection and structuring of "questions."

Learning utilizing DAs has many examples of use in subjects directly related to cultural resources such as social studies, Japanese language, and art, as well as thematic learning on topics such as disaster prevention, war, and gender, and regional learning. Furthermore, cross-curricular and interdisciplinary utilization methods have been developed, including science and mathematics, and utilization in ESD (Education for Sustainable Development) and STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, Mathematics) education has also been demonstrated.

For example, in a case practiced at a public elementary school in Iga City, a teacher on-site arranged a lesson plan utilizing regional DA materials according to the actual situation of the students. Cross-curricular questions were skillfully embedded according to the progression of the lessons—from regional learning to social studies, Japanese, science, and home economics—and students were observed becoming engrossed in the learning tasks with sparkling eyes, with emotional experiences accompanied by goosebumps, such as shouting "Wow...!", being generated *6. For many students, events in textbooks feel distant and unrelated to themselves living in the "here and now," and they consequently find them boring. In response to such challenges, regional DA materials serve as a trigger that makes learners approach learning as a "personal matter" by mediating a sense of place.

The important point here is that regional materials that contribute to such student learning will not be turned into DAs by someone else if left alone. Famous cultural properties such as National Treasures have been prioritized for DA conversion by the government and other bodies. However, if the DA conversion of unique local materials is not carried out by libraries and other institutions with "final responsibility that cannot be transferred to others *7," they will not only remain in a state of practical dormancy and be unusable, but there is also a risk that they will be lost forever due to deterioration or disasters. Currently, the fact that such regional materials have not been sufficiently digitized, resulting in a "regional learning disparity" where students cannot access the materials they seek, is a problem that must be solved. So, who should carry out DA activities related to regional materials? Representative institutions expected to play such a role would include local public libraries, Curriculum Advisory Committees, museums, and archives. Based on this, it is desirable to cultivate a perspective of collaboration in various regions.

To advance the educational use of DAs, a perspective of collaboration and co-creation involving not only school personnel but also material-holding institutions and content holders is important. This is because the challenges that became clear in the aforementioned curation learning and regional learning utilizing DAs include many elements that cannot be solved by students and teachers alone. For example, previous research identified challenges where materials could not be used or it was unclear if they could be used because the secondary use conditions for DA materials were strict or unclear. Voices are also often heard desiring the enhancement of metadata such as transcriptions, modern translations, and explanations because the materials found are difficult to understand. Furthermore, even if a wonderful "question" is raised, an accessibility barrier was confirmed where the materials could not be reached. Behind this challenge are two cases: (1) cases where materials do not exist on the web in the first place because they have not been digitized due to reasons such as lack of budget, and (2) cases where they do exist on the web but do not appear in searches from educational settings because metadata from an educational perspective has not been added (as is the case with many DA materials); measures are needed for each.

To solve the challenges surrounding the educational use of DAs illustrated above, the understanding and cooperation of the material-holding institutions are essential. In reality, it is rare for content holders to be uncooperative regarding educational use; rather, they often have the concern that they want to promote the use of their own materials but they are not being used. Especially regarding use in schools, from the perspective of external evaluation of the archives being (or already) constructed and the accompanying sustainability, voices are heard saying they want examples and records of use to demonstrate the raison d'être and the value of the output of the DA.

The important thing here is that there have been extremely few opportunities for DA users and DA constructors, who have each had their own concerns, to engage in dialogue and discussion. Behind this lies a deep rift caused by the vertical society particularly prominent in Japan, which divides different fields and organizations; actions are needed to overcome existing social structures. Therefore, the "S×UKILAM Collaboration" is being proposed and practiced as a schema to solve the challenges of both parties. S×UKILAM is a concept referring to a community and a series of initiatives where stakeholders such as elementary, junior high, and high school teachers and school personnel like Curriculum Advisory Committees (S), universities and research institutions (U), local facilities such as community centers (K), industry/companies (I), libraries (L), archives (A), and museums/art galleries (M) collaborate across attributes to contribute all cultural resources to student learning *8. A feature of this schema is that workshops (hereinafter WS) are positioned as the starting point for collaboration. Through the medium of WS, volunteers with various attributes from all over the country gather in one place, and while having fun dialogues in a homey atmosphere, they "turn materials into teaching resources" so they can be used in school classes, and publish them with "educational metadata" added from the perspective of the school setting; this forms the core of the collaboration, from which a network of both "people" and "data" is constructed.

As of October 2024, the S×UKILAM Collaboration has held eight nationwide teaching resource creation WS, forming a community where experts from various affiliations gather from 447 institutions in 46 prefectures *9. Another feature is that not only elementary, junior high, and high schools and MLA (Museums, Libraries, Archives) but also universities, companies, foundations, and NPOs are actively participating.

Furthermore, over 140 unique teaching materials have been co-created through chemical reactions in the WS, and they are published as a "Teaching Material Archive" *11 in a state where they are searchable based on "educational metadata," have licenses allowing secondary use based on CC BY *10, use an IIIF viewer with high international interoperability, and have DOIs (Digital Object Identifiers) assigned to ensure uniqueness and permanence. We are also developing applications that connect and structure these datasets in a highly machine-readable form and support searching and exploration with a user-friendly UI *12 *13. I believe that the fact that it links with Japan Search as well as the Course of Study LOD *14 *15 is an important innovation in terms of connecting DAs with educational settings.

Furthermore, starting from the nationwide WS, bottom-up developments are also occurring in local governments and institutions in each region. For example, original S×UKILAM-WS are being held in Minato City, Hamamatsu City, Izumiotsu City, Nikaho City, Tottori Prefectural Library, Tokyo Gakugei University Library, and the Museum of Northern Peoples, in ways that better utilize the characteristics of each region and institution. In cases like Hamamatsu City, Oamishirasato City, and Mima City, a "cycle of construction and utilization" is being generated, such as obtaining feedback from users based on dialogues at WS to revise the DA UI to a design that is easy for children to use, or returning examples of school use back to the DA. The role of institutions supporting the practice of educational use of DAs as a sort of "DA reference"—meta-level support for material and information searches—is also being fostered, as seen with the National Diet Library, U-PARL, and Aflo Co., Ltd.

What I want to highlight here is that diverse institutions, such as local libraries, museums, and local governments, are playing the central hub-like role in the S×UKILAM Collaboration. Therefore, by using the S×UKILAM schema, it can be arranged and implemented in a form that is easy to operate freely, in light of the actual situation of each local government or organization and the placement of key persons. I would be delighted if you could position it as one of your annual institutional events and enjoy "S×UKILAM-ing" within a reasonable range.

In the future, it is also desired to have the aforementioned "DA reference" function in each school library. When examples of DA utilization (lesson plans, teaching materials, reports, learning outcomes, etc.) occur, it will also become vital to add metadata to them and return them to the archive. It is hoped that public, university, and school librarians, who are specialists in catalogs and metadata, will generate new life in educational settings by developing their expertise just a little further and enhancing their functions as information centers.

As reviewed so far, it has become clear that utilizing DAs can draw out the excitement of students' inquiry-based learning and teachers' development of teaching materials. Furthermore, if schemas *16 are developed where students and teachers move from being users of DAs and data to being constructors, I believe that more proactive, interactive, and deep learning will take place at a high level. Just as there are no boundaries in the digital world, I believe that a new horizon will open up for future education as it is co-created borderlessly by various experts.

【Notes】 *1 Digital Archive Japan Promotion Committee / Practitioner Review Committee (Secretariat: Intellectual Property Strategy Promotion Secretariat, Cabinet Office). 3-Year Summary Report "Toward the Realization of the Digital Archive Society Our Country Aims For" 2020. *2 Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, Explanation of the High School Course of Study (Announced in 2018), Period for Integrated Studies, page 12 et al., 2018. *3 Masao Oi, Satoshi Miyata, Kento Ono, Ikki Ohmukai, Hidenori Watanave, "Curation Learning Model Utilizing Digital Archives: Connecting 'Questions' and 'Materials' in Inquiry Learning" Journal of the Digital Archive Society 2023, Vol.7, No.1, p.e1-e9. *4 Japan Search Japan Search (Accessed October 10, 2024). *5 Overview of Japan Search Current Data - Japan Search (Accessed October 10, 2024). *6 Lesson Practice Utilizing Regional Digital Archive Materials: How materials are used for learning according to developmental stages for public elementary school students from 1st to 6th grade ~A new form of ICT utilization in the GIGA School Initiative~ Lesson Practice Utilizing Regional Digital Archive Materials: How materials are used for learning according to developmental stages for public elementary school students from 1st to 6th grade ~A new form of ICT utilization in the GIGA School Initiative~ - YouTube (Accessed October 10, 2024). *7 Hiroichi Hiruta "Practice of Regional Material Services" JLA Library Practice Series 41, 2019, Japan Library Association. *8 Masao Oi, Boyoung Kim, Hidenori Watanave: "S×UKILAM" collaboration to connect local digital resources and school education: Workshop and Archiving to construct network of "people" and "data". From Born-Physical to Born-Virtual: Augmenting Intelligence in Digital Libraries. ICADL 2022. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol. 13636, p.125-134. *9 The breakdown by attribute of participating institutions up to the 8th WS is as follows: 128 elementary, junior high, and high schools / 53 Curriculum Advisory Committees, local governments, ministries, and overseas institutions / 60 universities, research institutions, and vocational schools / 137 libraries, museums, art galleries, archives, resource centers, community centers, and foundations / 64 companies, foundations, temples/shrines, NPOs, etc. *10 Creative Commons License (CC License) What is a Creative Commons License? | Creative Commons Japan (Accessed October 10, 2024). *11 Sukilam Collaboration: Teaching Material Archive Utilizing Diverse Materials S×UKILAM: Primary Source Sets / Sukilam Collaboration: Teaching Material Archive Utilizing Diverse Materials (Accessed October 10, 2024). *12 S×UKILAM LOD Easy App: Excitement connected by easy search S×UKILAM LOD Easy App (Accessed October 10, 2024). *13 Masao Oi, Satoru Nakamura, Ikki Ohmukai, Hidenori Watanave "LOD-ification of S×UKILAM Teaching Material Archive and its Application: Connecting and Structuring Teaching Materials and Related Information Utilizing Digital Archives" Digital Humanities 2024 Vol.4, in Press. *14 Course of Study LOD Course of Study LOD (Accessed October 10, 2024). *15 The Course of Study LOD is a publication of the contents, codes, and related information of the Courses of Study and Education Guidelines published by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology as LOD (Linked Open Data). *16 Masao Oi, Kento Ono "Extension of Digital Humanities to Secondary Education: Aiming for True Arts and Sciences Integration-type Inquiry Learning" Journal of the Digital Archive Society 2024, Vol.8. No.s2. p.s59-s62, in Press.