Kyo Kageura (Professor)

影浦峡（教授）

Who am I?

I work as Professor of the Library and Information Science Course, Graduate School of Education, the University of Tokyo. Since 2014, I have also been affiliated with the Interfaculty Initiative in Information Studies of the University of Tokyo. I enjoy mushrooming (which has nothing to do with mushed (sic) rooming or smashed rooming or rumoring or whatever, whatever they mean anyway), or, at least I used to, till 2011, when TEPCO caused a nuclear accident.

Here is my short bio, which I put here just for my own use.

Kyo Kageura, PhD, is Professor of the Library and Information Science Course at the Graduate School of Education, the University of Tokyo. He has authored several books, including The Quantitative Analysis of the Dynamics and Structure of Terminologies (Amsterdam: John Benjamins, 2012), and has published extensively in international journals and conferences in the fields of information studies, terminology, computational linguistics and translation studies. He also runs the online translation training system Minna no Hon’yaku Jisshu (http://mnh-tt.org/). He serves as an editor of the journal Terminology and the research monograph series Terminology and Lexicography Research and Practice, both published by John Benjamins, and as a committee member of a numder of international conferences in the fields of library and information studies, terminology, and language processing.

Motto

If I fits, I sits.

Research interests

Theoretically, I am interested in characterising the structure of information media and language from a unified point of view, and clarifying the relationships between information media and language with a high degree of granularity, in order to reveal points of intervention in the actual information circulation/distribution process. Social institutions such as libraries or schools are taken into account as practical points of social intervention.

Within this overall framework, I’ve done, and am still doing, several types of research.

One is the mathematical modelling of language (with special reference to terminology) and media structure and the re-examination of the framework of interpretation of these models (studies of the structure of information media). Another, more recent theoretical interest is in the characterisation of the relationships between language and media from the point of view of the structure of media (studies of language and media). Recently I am also interested in clarifying conditions which enable us to “think” in the first place.

As applied social research, I am working on critical analysis of social discourse.

As applied engineering research, I am involved in developing and running a translation-aid system (currently not functioning) and a translation teaching/learning platform (みんなの翻訳実習, Plateforme de formation en traduction pour tout le monde, 大家的翻译实践, 다 함께 하는 번역 실습, Eine Übersetzungstrainings-Plattform für alle Welt, 大家的翻譯實踐), in cooperation with NICT, University of Leeds, NII, Rikkyo University and other organisations.

I’m trying to start as a venture business growing Shiitake mushrooms using old library books, which has unfortunately not progressed very far yet.

Sounds too diverse? The underlying theme common to all these is externalising the process of thinking or the external physico-symbolic arrangements of knowledge which enable people to think in the first place.

For students

Applications from students interested in pursuing graduate-level research in any of these topics are welcome. Those who are interested in language as a physical and/or social existence with good programming skills for language processing, text analysis and application development are especially welcome. 

Our laboratory is a leading centre of research in library and information studies in Japan and one of the world’s leading labs in the field of terminology. We provide access to an international research network for students who are serious about their work in the field of library and information studies and in the field of terminology. Recently, we are constructing an international research network in translation technology and translation studies as well.

NOTE: Our lab does not accept students interested in researching mass media. I wrote two books and several articles that critically analyse media discourse (aka sheer crap) on nuclear disaster, radioactive contamination, and COVID-19, just because I was obliged to do so as a concerned (I mean, forcibly) citizen, given that the information disseminated by mainstream media was and is so biased while those who advocate “media literacy” (or “active learning” or “critical thinking” or whatever fashionable crap they parrot) have done virtually (to be more precise, absolutely) nothing (BTW, I love passive leaning). Personally, I found there’s nothing intellectually stimulating in it (or nothing that deserves to be called “intellectual” in the first place) and I cannot understand (though not oversit) why those who advocated “media literacy” and failed miserably to do anything (the two sets are identical) are sticking to their posts – so utterly irresponsible. If you are interested in what I co-authored on nuclear issues, here are some: https://arxiv.org/abs/1812.11453; https://arxiv.org/abs/2001.11912; https://arxiv.org/abs/2003.05403. Recent article dealing with this topic is: Yoh Tanimoto, Yutaka Hamaoka, Kyo Kageura, Shin‑ichi Kurokawa, Jun Makino, Masaki Oshikawa (2022) “The mishandling of scientifically flawed articles about radiation exposure, retracted for ethical reasons, impedes understanding of the scientific issues pointed out by Letters to the Editor,” Journal of Scientific Policy and Integrity. 日本語版はこちらにあります。

Selected publications

Books

Edited monographs and special issues

Research articles

Book chapters

Presentations and demos

Keynotes and Plenary Talks

Miscellaneous

Also check my researchmap page.