Japan sets up Internet Fair
By BURT LUM
Special to The Advertiser
Back in 1996, a major Internet Exposition took place. In the style of the World Expos, it featured sites from around the world in an effort to promote the pervasiveness, interactivity and innovation of the Internet. The project lasted one calendar year. Although many of its links are now inactive, remnants of the event are archived at www.park.org.
In the year 2001, the alleged true beginning of the next millennium, a new exposition has begun, called Internet Fair 2001 (www.inpaku.go.jp). The effort was initiated by Japan’s government and a key part of its plan is to revitalize Japan’s economy with Internet and information technology. A quick look at the committee (www.inpaku.go.jp/gate/en/committee/index.html) reads like corporate Japan’s Who’s Who list. The heads of Toyota, Sony, Kyocera, NHK and Softbank, just to name a few, are all behind this effort.
With that kind of backing, I would expect next-generation Web technology to emerge from this undertaking. Undaunted by this show of corporate backing, Inpaku has asked the general public for its own innovative suggestions for pavilion themes. If selected, your site will be featured among all the sites participating in Inpaku. Go to http://www.inpaku.go.jp/gate/en/joinus/index.html for details. There is even a list of suggested themes, if you need an idea or two.
On the off chance you don’t have a whole Web concept in mind or perhaps want to contribute something on a smaller scale, check out www.smilennium.co.jp/project/. This is Matsushita Electric’s entry in Inpaku and is based on a simple concept: If you post smiling faces from around the world, at least one every day of 2001, then maybe the world will be a happier place. The instructions for joining Smilennium are simple. The designers behind the Smilennium project, SuperStation, have taken all the guesswork out of transmitting your picture file. With the popularity of digital cameras, taking and submitting a great picture is just a click away.
So let’s see that beautiful smile of yours. ;-)
Burt Lum, cyber-citizen and self-anointed tour guide to the Internet frontier, is one click away at burt@brouhaha.net.  |
