Digital Ehon Award Interview Series, Vol. 8

“How Should We View Digital Ehon as a New Medium?”

“The Digital Ehon Award may have actually launched at just the right time,” says Mr. Mizuguchi.In fact, he admits that when the Digital Ehon Award was established last year, he had wondered if the timing might be a bit too early. However, seeing that the quality of expression in the entries improved dramatically from the first year to the second, and that greater diversity emerged, he realized that launching it last year was the right decision.“From here on out, the forms of expression will become even richer and more interesting.” When he speaks of “expression,” he isn’t referring solely to content such as text, sound, and video, but also to mechanisms and methods of communication—and this year’s collection of works gave him a sense that the context itself is likely to change.“I felt during this year’s award judging that new proposals for Digital Ehon might emerge from the very foundation of what it means to be a medium,” he remarked.

Digital Ehon is a completely new medium unlike anything that has come before.He also points out that as we explore this form of expression, we may be prompted to ask, “What is the very purpose of picture books in the first place?” Picture books are simply defined as “books with pictures.” However, who is creating them, for whom, and what are they trying to convey? Whose medium is it?If we consider the question, “For whom are picture books meant?”, we might gain a different perspective, he suggested.
　For example, Mr. Mizuguchi says that when we view picture books as “a medium through which parents convey something to their children, or a medium that exists to facilitate and enrich communication between parents and children,” they begin to hold entirely new possibilities.

　“Even if there are no fundamental differences between human instincts and desires today and in the past, the development of media can sometimes ‘turn on’ new human desires that were latent but had not yet surfaced. In the case of Digital Ehon, this means that latent desires—which the constraints of paper had prevented from being activated—may be brought to the fore through digital technology.If picture books are not merely ‘books with pictures’ but have the potential to transform into a means of communication, then freeing ourselves from the constraints of paper and utilizing new digital technology—driven by the creator’s imagination—reveals a broader potential as a medium, beyond simply making illustrations move. That was my discovery in the second year.”

　He says that the term “Digital Ehon” gives off a cold impression—as if technology is half a step ahead and the human warmth has been lost. That’s precisely why discussions—including negative opinions—arise, he suggests. However, if we frame the discussion in terms of evolving the “medium” of the picture book rather than the “content” itself, all possibilities are embraced.Of course, “It takes time to find the perfect term. For now, I think ‘Digital Ehon’ is fine.”

Mr. Mizuguchi, you’ve worked in the medium of games. When people hear ‘Digital Ehon,’ it’s often compared to games, isn’t it?
“Games are a medium for ‘play.’ There are plenty of fun games even without a story.Digital Ehon is a medium for ‘conveying’ stories and messages. Its purpose is fundamentally different from that of games. However, there’s absolutely no problem with game-like elements being incorporated into the process of conveying a story—such as the reader actively weaving the narrative themselves.Moreover, game-like elements have recently become as ubiquitous as air or water. For example, the term ‘gamification’ has been used across various fields in recent years—it refers to cases where game mechanics and play mechanics are applied to different contexts. Game-like elements are increasingly being used as a sort of ‘spice’ to enhance a sense of accomplishment and camaraderie.”

　Indeed, if we incorporate game-like elements into Digital Ehon and apply them to the field of education, wouldn’t that significantly transform how children learn? To begin with, what should learning look like for children in an information-driven society?

“I believe the fundamental premise is enabling children to make their own discoveries and flipping the switch to make them active learners.I believe children already intuitively know a great deal. It’s just that they lack experience, and that knowledge is currently hidden. The key is figuring out how to help them actively unlock it. Children’s actions are completely different when someone tells them, ‘Just memorize this,’ versus when they think, ‘I want to learn this on my own.’It’s important to create mechanisms that flip that ‘I want to do this!’ switch. Once that switch is flipped, children will eagerly absorb whatever they’re interested in on their own.”

　So, how can digital technology contribute to flipping that ‘proactive learning switch’?
Perhaps we can find a clue in the lesson titled “How to Create a Wonderful ‘Future,’” which Mr. Mizuguchi previously conducted on the NHK program “Welcome, Senpai.”
　The purpose of this lesson was to “help students become aware of their own desires and dreams, and to create a future that extends from them.”According to Mr. Mizuguchi, everything in the world—with the exception of nature—is born from human desires. Scissors, perfume, and telephones. Cars, airplanes, computers, and, of course, video games. Humans are born with various instincts and desires hardwired into us, and these are the driving forces behind our actions. They are also our “motivation.”When we encounter those “motivations,” a positive force emerges that drives us to make things happen. This is true even for children.

First, I have the students confront the desires within themselves. I ask them to write down, whatever comes to mind, desires in the form of “I want to do such-and-such for so-and-so.”I have them write down as many of these desires as they can on sheet after sheet of drawing paper. Even children who are confused at first end up with so many desires spilling off the paper that they can’t stop. I group children with similar interests into small groups and give them instructions. For children interested in fashion, I say, “Think about the fashion of the future!”For children interested in robots, it’s something like, “Think about the robots of the future!” We let them create the future based on their own desires. Human dreams lie along the same continuum as desires. It could even be said that this city, these houses, these roads, and these schools are all external manifestations of human feelings toward others—in other words, desires and dreams directed toward someone else.The moment they realize this, they become aware that they, too, can be agents of the future. During the lesson, there were many instances where the children became so proactive that even their homeroom teacher was surprised. The power that emerges when children are encouraged to “think about the future beyond the world you’re interested in!” is incredible.
　“All I did was flip that switch to ‘ON’ and steer the process to draw out that power. I didn’t teach them anything. I simply created the space and provided some direction. But I watched as the buds of the children’s interests blossomed one after another.”

So, what possibilities are opening up for Digital Ehon?
“There are several answers, depending on whose needs they serve and for whom. One perspective is that picture books exist as a means for parents to pass down stories to their children. Another, conversely, is that picture books exist as a means for children themselves to become creators and express their own ideas. The latter is a concept that simply couldn’t have existed in traditional picture books.A child’s imagination likely exists as a more fluid, fuzzy image—one that can’t be neatly categorized into visuals, sounds, or text. It’s an image that hasn’t been broken down into separate parts. I think Digital Ehon is a very interesting medium for expressing the images that children hold in their minds.If children were to master the tools for creating Digital Ehon, they might attempt to express things that couldn’t be conveyed through a simple illustration—such as, “This monster breathes fire and roars like this, you know.” However, humans have not yet acquired a medium of expression capable of conveying those original, boundaryless, fluid, and hazy images.When we bring images out of our heads, we always replace them with video, music, or text. For a long time, we’ve lived in an era where we break down images before expressing them for the sake of communication. So, what if there were a means of expression that combined various elements in a synesthetic way? If new, previously unseen circuits for imagery were formed starting in childhood, what kind of adults would they become?”

　Digital technology is all about further expanding human imagination and capabilities. However, as Mr. Mizuguchi says, “Over 90 percent of that digital potential remains untapped.”“I believe the greatest influence on education in the future will come from the power of the cloud—the collective. Wisdom and experience will be passed down and shared with the future, transcending time and space.” Data also transcends language barriers. You can freely translate from your native language into various other languages. You can stay constantly connected to the whole world via the internet.That is the true power of digital technology. “I believe the day will come when we ‘transcend’ all kinds of barriers in the blink of an eye. When that happens, the people we can talk to will expand from the child at the next desk or in the next classroom to children across national borders. While we’ll certainly need to discuss the negative impacts of being connected, creating that environment itself shouldn’t be a bad thing.”

　Mr. Mizuguchi emphasizes, “First and foremost, we should consider the positive possibilities.” He suggests we start by thinking of ways to use technology for good. If there is something within that we can believe in strongly, we should be able to overcome the negative effects and move forward.Lately, even when talking to college students, he says, “There are many young people who are suffering because they’re constantly worried about ‘not wanting to be hurt’ or ‘not wanting to be criticized.’” “If more people could experience firsthand that life becomes more interesting when they flip the ‘proactive’ switch, then both Japan and the world would surely change, wouldn’t they?”