The YMC Project is a field-test of the Youth Mediated Communication model participated by 30 Vietnamese families to improve agricultural productivity in Tra On District, Vinh Long Province, Vietnam.
The YMC model was originally proposed and presented by Ms.Yumiko Mori of Pangaea at the Asia-Pacific Advanced Network (APAN) in 2009.
It was funded by the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, Japan, as part of its Ubiquitous Alliance Project, and conducted with support from the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) of Vietnam, with NTT Communications Corporation as Project Manager. Pangaea participated as the developer and provider of the YMC system, having created the YMC model.
The project offers a Youth-Mediated Communication System, utilizing Language Grid and Agriculture Grid services in rural villages with low literacy rates in Vietnam, creating a model system enabling young people with high literacy rates to collect necessary information (temperature, humidity, weather, rice height, leaf color, disease, bugs, questions from parents, etc.) and, using that information, consult online with Japanese agriculture experts. It is anticipated that the use of this system will result in future increases in agricultural productivity, improvements in product quality, increased sales, rural economic development, and the expansion of rural ICT infrastructure.
Dr. Toshiyuki Takasaki, Yumiko Mori, and collaborative researchers in Kyoto University got the Best paper award of the year 2018 from Human Interface Society on our innovative “human-in-the-loop” digital system development and the extensive field analysis research.