Starting a Study Community Called Engawa AI x XR
I decided to try starting an AI x XR study community in my local Chiba Prefecture. I will write about the background and how this came about, including why I chose Motoyawata in Chiba as the base instead of Tokyo, which would be more advantageous for attracting participants.
By the way, the "Engawa" in the series name "Engawa AI x XR" means a traditional Japanese veranda. It is a study community, but I gave it this rough name because I thought it would be nice to also have time to occasionally step aside a little, sit on the veranda, zone out, and think. In this era, all kinds of things change quickly. I wanted to have a space detached from that time axis, so I chose this name.
I Keep Feeling That Gathering Matters
No matter how the times change, what does not change is the reality that we need to survive. This remains true unless a world arrives where AI works for us and lets us earn money, or unless UBI, universal basic income, begins. In such a deeply confusing era, we cannot know for sure what to do next to earn reliably.
Even if we do not know what will become popular, I think people interested in this event probably have a desire to make a living in the XR field. That led me to think that if individuals share the areas they are interested in day to day, and also continue catching up on areas they have not pursued much, the chances of surviving might improve at least a little.
In this era full of uncertainty, I think gathering in a real place is becoming more and more important. That value is the foundation of "Engawa AI x XR."
Why Start in Motoyawata?
This is not limited to XR, but for a long time there have been few IT-related events on the east side of Tokyo. There are many attractive events in Shibuya and inside the Yamanote Line, so I often went into central Tokyo. When I was younger, I was interested in holding events in Tokyo, so that was fine. But as I got older and began participating in local activities such as neighborhood associations, my thinking changed.
My true local area is Funabashi, but I have a sense that Funabashi may be a bit too deep inside Chiba. In that respect, Motoyawata is quite a finely balanced location: accessible from the east side of Tokyo and also inside Chiba Prefecture. It is also the terminal station of the Toei Shinjuku Line, so I think it is active enough that some people may even perceive it as Tokyo.
Starting this year, I signed up for Coworking Space Co,do in Motoyawata. It is apparently a building reconstructed in Motoyawata using materials from an old private house, and even though it is about two minutes from the station, it is a single-story detached house. I had long wanted to hold events in old private houses or closed schools, so I decided to hold events by borrowing the weekend usage slot. There are many restaurants around it, and the location is excellent.
About the First Event
For now, I decided to start with the first event and quickly prepared an event registration page for Saturday, June 27. This time, the title is "Codex + visionOS Hack #1 @ Motoyawata," and the theme is narrowed down to Codex and visionOS.
Codex and visionOS are the theme this time, but I especially want people who do not own a Vision Pro but have wanted to try it a little to come. For that reason, I plan to hold an online workshop beforehand to help set up Codex and the visionOS development environment, so I hope beginners can also participate with confidence. I plan to write about this in detail in another article.
I also hope to decide future themes together with the people who come this time.
The content of the first event is also written on the event page, but it is below. If there are people building visionOS apps with Codex, I would really like to hear how they are doing it.
- Event name: Codex + visionOS Hack #1 @ Motoyawata
- Date and time: Saturday, June 27, 13:00 - 17:00 (MAX 18:00)
- Schedule
- Venue
- Participation fee