Information Service for a Geopark Including Earthquake Structural Remnants: An Action Research Approach

The Great East Japan Earthquake that struck on March 11, 2011 caused massive damage centered on the Tohoku region of Japan, and disaster recovery efforts continue in the area even today. The region is moving forward with the development and use of the Sanriku Geopark, which uses earthquake structural remnants as part of its tourism assets, and it aims to have the facility added to the Global Geoparks Network. The goal of this study is to contribute to both tourism recovery and preventing the loss of the lessons of the earthquake by elucidating the ideal form of effective information services for a geopark that includes earthquake structural remnants. Since the Great East Japan Earthquake is a negative experience, there was a need to move forward with design of information services while ascertaining the intentions of stakeholders in the local community, who consist of a diverse range of subjects. Accordingly, we proceeded with service design based on three main policies: First, we employed the analytical methods of the Business Analysis Body of Knowledge (BABOK®) to conduct stakeholder analysis of the diverse range of stakeholders involved in preservation and use of earthquake remnants. Second, we adopted a human-centered design (HCD) process to enable participatory design, in light of the need to create new services grounded in the intentions of local residents as well as the needs of visitors. Third, we introduced the stakeholder management perspective of the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK®) in an attempt at integrated process management from stakeholder analysis through the derivation of services through the HCD process. We believe that through this approach we were able to identify the ideal forms of information service concepts and provision systems through ICT to contribute to both prevention of loss of the lessons of the earthquake and promotion of new tourism programs, while obtaining the understanding of local residents and others who were the parties actually affected by the earthquake. The knowledge obtained through this study also is likely to be useful in design of information services for other open-air museums for which diverse stakeholders support management.