Modern information technology has transformed the media landscape and the media culture dramatically over the past decade. Without media and modern information technologies the globalization we speak of would not be possible. Access to a variety of media, telephony and online services is increasingly recognized as a vital factor for political, economic, social and cultural development. At the same time media – especially new media technologies – arouse fears as o the influence they may have on young people. Although there are media, digital and information divides in the world, more and more people have access to an enormous array of knowledge and diversions of many kinds – on television, on the Internet, and in mobile telephones. Our perceptions of time and space, of the bounds between private and public, central and peripheral, have changed. Convergence, fragmentation, diversification and individualization are characteristics that are frequently in the focus of debate on media culture.
The very preparation of the book is the result of cross-cultural cooperation
between organizations such as the Mentor Association, Dar Graphit for Media
Services, UNESCO, the European Commission, the French National Commission
for UNESCO and the Clearinghouse on Children, Youth and Media at Nordicom,
Göteborg University. It is our hope that the articles included here will stimulate
further multicultural and intercultural dialogues, and inspire new research initiatives
and policy approaches.
