Welcome to the Graduate School of Media Design
A creative society led by media innovators
Prof. Masahiko INAKAGE
Dean, Graduate School of Media Design, Keio University
Media Innovators
We are witnessing the emergence of a "creative society", a world in which creativity, rather than productivity or efficiency, is the driving force of the global economy. "Creativity" is the ability to produce new ideas, expressions and processes. Creative activities move and inspire the human mind.
The Graduate School of Media Design was established to train the new leaders who will pioneer industries suited to the creative society. The abilities and products of the individual are paramount in this world; this is a society in which consumers have the potential to lead creative activities. The content of the creative society is rooted in very down-to-earth, day-to-day activities like parenting and cooking. Our confidence in our ability to be creative is an important factor in its emergence.
In the 21st century, the emergence of digital technologies has reduced the impediments to human creativity. As these impediments are eliminated, our industrial foundations are changing; the potential for a creative society is now emerging. Fifty years ago, industry began to introduce digital technology as a means of improving productivity and rationalizing distribution. The growth of the Internet, increasing computer processing power and decreasing prices empower us to utilize this technology to change the foundations upon which our lives are built. Today, virtually anyone can, very easily, engage in the same creative activities that were only open to the world’s top creators during the industrial age of the 20th century. We now have a society in which we are able to make unrestricted use of our individual abilities. Nothing illustrates this more than the world of the Internet, where users freely create and distribute to the world their own content.
The industrial revolution was followed by the distribution revolution, and the next stage of the process is the creativity revolution. The way in which we produce value is changing, for it is now produced from cultural and social resources rather than only natural sources. The creative society brought about by this revolution is using a foundation of advanced digital technology to redistribute resources on a global scale and to restore creativity to human beings. Technological progress produces value from creative activities in everyday life and increases the number of creative individuals. The internet has eliminated the barriers to redistribution of cultural and social resources, enabling them to flow freely. We enjoy the expressions of others and express ourselves as well by using, sharing, and distributing these resources. There are more resources available for use and more indications of the potential for new economic activities. Creativity has become a valuable activity within our day-to-day lives.
For all that, we cannot state with any certainty that the creative society has actually been achieved yet. We still lack enough creative people. All human beings have creative potential and the ability to transform their creativity into value. The digital revolution in particular has the potential to dramatically expand human creativity. At the Graduate School of Media Design, we call the people who will lead the coming creative society "media innovators", and we aim to educate this new category of worker.
Real Projects
Media innovators combine and harmonize design creativity, technological creativity, management creativity, and policy creativity. Integration of skills in all four areas are required to be a true media innovator. Although the basic skills may be mastered, attaining excellence in all four fields is an uphill task. At the Graduate School of Media Design, our curriculum is structured to allow students to attain professional skills in one or two areas of particular interest. As they do this, they also learn to closely collaborate with media innovators who possess other skills. Much of the educational process involves projects in which students work with other media innovators who have separate areas of expertise that complement their own, linking together all four kinds of creativity to move the project forward. The School has a practical program for mastering collaboration techniques that we call "Real Projects".
The Graduate School of Media Design commits to producing new emerging media beyond mass media through "Real Projects", which the School initiates as a practical program for mastering collaboration techniques. You will learn how technology and media converge to reshape our everyday life and why content should extend to physical artifacts and environment, and eventually start to influence our social system.
Real Projects demand students to study and develop practical solutions to real issues confronted in the society. You will be required to produce content, develop and verify technology, attempt to commercialize your products, start businesses, and move them through the process of standardization and institutional reform. This is a comprehensive, practical curriculum that involves fieldwork, strategic planning, conceptualization, prototyping, and implementation and verification, the five key skills that you will learn and apply.
The Graduate School of Media Design looks forward to receiving applications from ambitious people with passion and vision whom truly wish to become media innovators with the global perspective that is required to lead the coming creative society.