In this keynote from Europeana 2021, Professor Pier Luigi Sacco shines a light on cultural production and participation, followed by a Q&A and panel session around using technology to drive social change.
In this keynote, Professor Sacco shows that digital technologies show great promise in facilitating the production and dissemination of cultural and creative content and in promoting access to content. But to what extent is this potential actually realised in practice? The evidence shows that there is still a major gap between potential and actual participation, and that active cultural participation remains confined to a relatively small share of online users. Moreover, the sociality around cultural production and participation is often threatened by socially dysfunctional behaviors. We need to develop new forms of empowerment and capabilities, which do not only improve digital literacy and skills, but also social literacy and skills. To this purpose, we have to look back at how cultural production has developed historically and what are the underlying neuro-psychological mechanisms that drive human interest for culture.
The speech was followed by a Q&A and panel discussion around using technology to drive social change.
Head of Digital Access Section
National Library of Wales
Management Board Member
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