Information literacy

People say IT removes obstacles such as nationality and geography. But I think, I'm Japanese, it's serious problem if we can use English because most information on the Internet are described in English. If we can only use Japanese, that means we still live in a closed community as the real society.

James Surowiecki wrote his book "The Wisdom of Crowds". In that, he explains that an idea many people share is better than expert's idea. It's amazing. And the Internet is a very tool to take advantage of the wisdom of crowds. The quality of the wisdom of crowds depends of a number of its participants. That's why I'm concerned about the people who can't use English on the Internet. At this point, English is the most common language in the Internet.

If we, Japanese, won't be aware of an importance of common language, information disparity will be getting worse before we awake. We may be driven into a corner economically and mentally in the near future.

Actually I don't insist "We have to learn English. It's our duty!". I don't believe imposing anything doesn't release our potential ability. I just want people to figure out the infinite possibility of the Internet. Anybody can use it without any conditions. And English helps us to improve our life.