Thammasat University students interested in sustainable development, digital management, cultural management, political science, sociology, technology, artificial intelligence (AI), and related subjects may find it useful to participate in a free 29 October Zoom webinar on How Digital Technologies Shape Intercultural Understanding.

The event, on Tuesday, 29 October 2024 at 3pm Bangkok time, is presented by the United Nations University Institute Macau.

The TU Library collection includes several books about different aspects of digital technology and culture.

Students are invited to register at this link:

https://unu-edu.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_bsvGIhQNSeGLDSHGZtN_kQ#/registration

The event announcement states:

Join us to discover the dynamics of digital cultural diffusion and to explore the impacts of technologies on cultural connection and intercultural understanding.

In our interconnected world, digital technologies and media play a pivotal role in shaping how we understand ourselves, interact with others and share our histories and cultural worldviews. Technologies such as social media, online streaming, and videogames have all enabled the rapid, global exchange of ideas and information – and in all of these forms of media are embedded cultural values, beliefs, and practices.

In fact, digital media can be seen to serve as a cultural gateway; connecting diverse groups of people, disseminating cultural information, and creating spaces for online communities of people who share a cultural background or values.

Through digital media traditional culture can be transmitted and preserved and new cultural expressions can be developed. Digital technologies, therefore, can both foster cultural self-expression as well as raise awareness and support intercultural understanding. In this context, digital products and services enable cultural diffusion, or the spread and adoption of elements of one culture to other peoples and places.

This webinar aims to explore the dynamics of digital cultural diffusion and to highlight the impact of technologies on cultural connection and intercultural understanding. 

Panelists

Dr. Bei (Jenny) Ju

Lecturer in Intercultural Communication, The University of Manchester

Bei (Jenny) Ju is a Lecturer in Intercultural Communication at the University of Manchester. Her research interests focus on the nexus between Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) and migration within intercultural studies. […]

• WeChat use among labour migrants during (cultural) adaptation

Due to the high cost of living in Macao, most mainland Chinese low-skilled workers commute daily across the Zhuhai-Macao border. This talk focuses on their social media use and adaptation in Macao. Most participants self-identify as ‘outsiders’ to Macao, who ‘belong’ to a place in mainland China due to the perceived hierarchy in Macao society. In their border-crossing experiences, WeChat, a mobile social networking site, functions as a digitally mediated space that provides labour migrants with communal solidarity, social interaction, access to information, and in some cases, economic benefits. During the COVID-19 border closures, the enabling yet constraining role of WeChat has been identified among the female migrant labourers, a group of essential workers who experienced both positive (happiness with newfound opportunities) and negative emotions (anxiety and entrapment).

Ms. Duong Bich Hanh

Programme Specialist for Culture, UNESCO Regional Office for East Asia

Ms. Duong Bich Hanh joined the UNESCO Regional Office for East Asia in August 2022 to manage the UNESCO culture programme in Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, China, Japan, Mongolia and Republic of Korea. […]

Dr. Jaimee Stuart

Senior Researcher – Team Lead, UNU Macau

Dr. Jaimee Stuart is a Senior Researcher and Team Lead at United Nations University Institute in Macau (UNU Macau). […]

• Intercultural Contact in the Digital Age: How Cyberspace is Changing Acculturation

Traditionally intercultural contact has been constrained by physical proximity but increased access to and use of digital technologies has broken down these barriers and resulted in cultural experience being increasingly digitally mediated. Importantly, technology has fundamentally altered the experience of migrants and refugees who are able to maintain contact with their home country in a near synchronous manner regardless of their location. This talk discusses a review of the research on the relationship between digital technologies and cultural adjustment,  explicating how mobile phones, the internet, social media, and frontier technologies have and will continue to change how individuals from different cultural backgrounds interact, learn about and from one another, adapt to new cultural environments, and connect with their communities (both geographically near and far). Results of the review highlight the need for updated acculturation frameworks that incorporate the widespread influences of digital technology for all groups in intercultural contact.

Dr. Jingyang Huang

Research Assistant Professor, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology

Jingyang Huang is Research Assistant Professor in the Division of Social Science. […]

• Content Globalization: How Cultural Economy Connects I-generation between China and ASEAN

The emergence of digital platforms has revolutionized the production of cultural content, giving rise to new forms of expression. In today’s era of cultural and economic globalization, countries in the global South that traditionally consume cultural products are now also emerging as significant producers of content, exerting unexpected influence on communities in other parts of the world. Tencent and its related platforms have served as a facilitator for cultural exchanges, sparking enthusiasm among youth communities in China and Southeast Asian countries. This highlights the pivotal role that platforms play in promoting intercultural understanding.

Dr. Li Chuang

Assistant Researcher, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences

Dr. Li Chuang He holds a PhD in Sociology from Loughborough University, UK, and completed postdoctoral research at CASS. His research focuses on youth sociology, cultural sociology, and sports sociology. […]

• Black Myth Wukong: Synergizing Culture, Tech, and Industry – A Cultural Materialist Exploration

This study examines how video games offer innovative pathways for articulating traditional Chinese culture in the digital age. Using a cultural materialist perspective, we analyze “Black Myth: Wukong” to investigate trends in video games across cultural representation, technological application, and industrial development. Drawing on developer interviews, content analysis, and industry data, we develop a framework focusing on the interplay between technology, industry, and cultural representation. Our findings reveal a dynamic relationship where culture-technology convergence drives industry innovation, while industrial evolution fosters cultural and technological advancement. Results indicate that high-quality digital games have the potential to revitalize the traditional Chinese culture, in a digital form that is appealing to a younger generation globally. We identify mechanisms for activating cultural IP digitally and elucidate innovative cultural production processes in digital environments. This research contributes to cultural production literature by demonstrating how digital technologies reshape cultural articulation and extends cultural materialist theory by applying it to the digital game industry.

(All images courtesy of Wikimedia Commons)