Global cultures: communities, communication and transformation

To examine more systematically and coherently the interplay between culture, communication and technology, we organised the first international conference on Cultural Attitudes Towards Technology and Communication (CATaC98). The conference brought together in an interdisciplinary dialogue - for the first time, to our knowledge - scholars and researchers representing philosophy, communication theory, and cultural sciences from eighteen different countries. The conference presentations, along with informal dialogue and exchanges, shed greater light on just how culture impacts the use and appropriation of new communications technologies. In this special issue on computer-mediated culture, we share with you six key articles from the conference