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Digital Culture: The Changing Dynamics
music. Thus, the use of the Internet for cultural purposes differs from country to
country, highlighting the diversification of the cultural content on the Internet, as well
as the interest of users for cultural content and services. What is accessed on the
content level (global or/and local content) still remains an issue to be researched. In
this regard, due to the current difficult economic conditions in the SEE region, what is
most important is that users in the region have some kind of access to the (global)
digital arena – to present their cultural content and to be introduced to the already
existing one.
Conclusion
The digitalization processes during the 1990s have opened up enthusiastic
discussions on the egalitarian properties of the Internet and the Web. The last decade
has shown the other side of digitalization – the great digital divide, possible breaches
of privacy and the issue of control. “Who’s gonna monitor the monitors?” reappears
as an important question. The current data on digitalization in SEE countries show us
that these countries are still not as developed in their ICT access and infrastructure,
and therefore in access to (cultural) content as well. The new technologies are still
used by a limited number of people in the SEE region. The growth of Internet users in
the SEE region in recent times has been exceptionally high, but there is still room for
further development. In addition, looking from the aspect of household expenditure,
the costs of communication services in SEE countries are high in comparison to EU
countries. This creates obstacles to better connectivity to the digital arena for
participants from the SEE region, as ICT usage can still be considered as a luxury for
SEE citizens. In this way, this also contributes to the piracy level, which is still higher
in the SEE region than in Western Europe. This means that a certain amount of
participants from SEE countries that are active in (global) digital culture use pirated
platforms. They also consume cultural goods distributed on pirated materials.
Additionally, those authors working in the creative industries of the SEE region have
problems with the implementation of legislation connected to intellectual property
rights in their respective countries. The alternative licences for open software and
creative exchange have just started to be implemented or to be taken as a valuable
alternative. Such licences could be an answer to better connectivity and participation
of SEE countries, i.e., the orientation towards open-source software and sharing
platforms. If applicable, these issues should be discussed at the policy level of the
governments in question.
It should be stressed that the notion of piracy here has to be rethought, to take into
account the new context that ICT brings, so that those new possibilities could be
embraced and used to their full potential, enabling sharing and other forms of online
cooperation, but, at the same time, finding ways to protect authors. Although the SEE
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