3. Smart Indicators 3.5 Smart Environment Culture and identity
Culture and identity
The use of ICT can contribute to the cultural transmission of and to maintaining and strengthening cultural identity in the widest possible terms, particularly of minority languages and cultures. A learning society must make special efforts to transform its history, customs, languages and values, its peculiarities and diversities into information and disseminate it by making use of the revolution in information and communications technology. This new reality is encouraging the diversity and promotion of cultures considered as minority cultures ‐ ethnic, religious, cultural and intellectual minorities ‐ in an environment where the potential audience is not limited to discoverers of strange and picturesque editions, but extends to the whole universe of people connected to the net.
Of the 28 cities (5 in Africa, 9 in Latin America, 1 in Asia and 13 in Europe) that answered the question, 54% have implemented some type of initiative to digitise the city's cultural heritage. Regarding the analysis of the information by region, there is a gap between Africa and Latin America in comparison with Europe and Asia. In the case of Africa, only 20% of cities have developed some type of initiative. This percentage rises slightly in Latin America, where 33% of the cities have carried out some initiative to digitise their heritage. Still, this figure contrasts with the case in Europe, where most of the cities (77%) have implemented some type of initiative. The Asian city of Taipei has also digitised part of their cultural heritage. Below are some experiences developed by cities.
% of cities that have undertaken initiatives to digitise their cultural heritage, by region Has your city undertaken any initiative to digitise its cultural heritage?
100%
100%
90%
No 13 cities 46%
80%
77%
70% 60% 50% 40% 30%
Yes 15 cities 54%
20% 10%
33% 20%
0%
Africa
Latin America
Asia
Europe
119