European Research Network on Cultural Diversity and New Media (CULTMEDIA)

"European Research Network on Cultural Diversity and New Media" (CULTMEDIA) is the name of the interdisciplinary multinational network of companies currently in the process of being formed. The following aims to provide information about its approach and goals by expanding on the individual “knots” in the network as well as intensive discussions between members of CULTMEDIA, which cannot be elaborated on here.

CULTMEDIA was formed following a study carried out by the Office of Technology Assessment at the German Parliament (TAB) in 2000 and 2001. This study was commissioned by the Committee for Culture and Media for the German Parliament and aimed to investigate “Past and Future Effects of the Development of New Media on the Concept of Culture, Culture Policy, the Cultural Economy and the Culture Industry.” Apart from the subject of changing attitudes towards cultural understandings and cultural concepts, the study paid particular attention to “New Media and Media Markets” as well as “New Production, Relaying and Reception Methods in Selected Cultural Fields (Literature, Music and Film)”. This not only clarified current changes in the field of media and media markets but also their effect on “traditional” cultural areas. When investigating the changes, a distinction between the cultural product and its production methods (content and creation level) and the distribution and reception of cultural products (marketing and communication level) was made.

As a result of this study, CULTMEDIA now intends to make cultural changes resulting from the so-called “New Media” the focus of its research in the following manner: firstly, the internet as a means of representing new media and secondly, cultural practices which change the day-to-day use of this socio-technological medium. This involves interdisciplinary analyses and, most importantly, multinational comparisons.