Cultural Diversity in the New Media

This study integrates and updates the findings of three previous STOA studies dealing with cultural diversity, globalisation and new media. It first provides a brief overview of each of the studies and then examines events that have taken place since 1999 which have radically changed the policy environment with new collective perceptions of culture, safety, technology and industry: nearly all the components of the equation. The broad trend identified is a shift from the technical to the meaningful. Citizens' concerns about culture, technology, economy and progress are being perceived in more human terms, while policy-makers need to learn to ‘listen’ to these processes and anticipate collective desires for identity in positive rather than defensive terms. Three key issues are examined in this context: economies without money, de-coding knowledge and the sense of home. Policy options are set forth within a broad framework addressing technical literacy, cultural literacy and collective creativity, calling for an overall shift from industrial policy to one based on social innovation. Concrete examples for action are also provided, in the context of on-going programmes.