About Us

The Research Center for Knowledge Communities (RCKC) was established in October, 2002 as one of our University's inter-departmental education and research institutes. Our Center's mission is to conduct research and engage in the developments of the knowledge communities, under the context of our current technologically driven information society.

The RCKC consists of four different divisions. Each division focuses on a highly specialized area of research - ranging from social sciences to the information and communication technologies. Some of the research projects initiated by these divisions include the following: (1) Studies of the functions and applications of the metadata schema, for the purpose of improving the interoperability of networked information resources across different domains. (2) Studies of the interactions and integrations of human and machine intelligence, under the advanced information environment. (3) Crowd and Cloud computing technologies, under the context of human-information interactions and the contextual knowledge representations. (4) Studies of the relations between the human information behaviors and the information resources, under the context of the knowledge-based society.

Throughout the years, the RCKC has received a number of major research funding and awards granted by JSPS and JST, and many of the RCKC's research projects have gained international recognitions for achieving groundbreaking results.

Since 2002, RCKC has been hosting a number of local and international colloquia and symposia. These events are part of the RCKC's many initiatives to promote the research and developments of the "knowledge communities". RCKC has also established an unparalleled partnership with the Dublin Core Metadata Initiative (DCMI) to host the DCMI Metadata Registry. For many years, the RCKC has been serving as a leading organization to promote different collaborations amongst various schools and academic departments on an international scale. Our international collaborative partners also include the Consortium of Information Schools in Asia-Pacific (CiSAP) and the iSchools.

RCKC will continue to take up leadership roles in a variety of international research and educational activities, and thereby contributing to the overall developments of the knowledge communities under the networked environment on a global scale.

RCKC is located in Union of Library and Information-media Studios in Kasuga Area in University of Tsukuba

Direction to RCKC

The TX Tsukuba station is underground. When you come up from the platform and go through a ticket gate you will see Starbucks.  Take exit A2 (which is to the left as you face the Starbucks) and go up to the ground level. (There is both an elevator and escalator at A2.).   On the ground level, you'll face a big crossroads. There is a Koban (a police station) on your left. Turn to the right and make a 180 degree turn from the exit.  You should walk up the street with a park on your right and a parking lot across the street.  Continue for about five minutes following the curve of the road to the left. Then you'll come to "T" intersection (three-way corner).  Cross the intersection and turn right.   You'll find the entrance to my campus in a very short distance and turn left into it.  As you enter the campus you will see a water-pond on your right and a group of buildings ahead.  Please head for the 4-story building.  The research center office is located on the 2nd floor of that building. (telephone for RCKC office: 0-29-859-1524)


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Tsukuba Science City