ABSTRACT
Swiss regional policy has indeed found a pragmatic way: Whereas unwanted disparities are to be eliminated, cultural diversity has to be maintained and even promoted. In 1987, the Swiss Telecom launched a pilot project in order to test the viability of information and telecommunication technology. A split may open between the active in the new domains and belonging to the information society, and the traditional population, cut off from modern development. Traditional homework took place in a particular social and economic setting, i.e. extended family, farming, and simple technology. The traditional activities were familiar to everyone, family members could assist or even replace the principal person involved. Various social scientists followed the individual projects, looking at them in particular from the central notions of quality of life and quality of the environment which were at the centre of the initial idea.
