ABSTRACT
Digitalization has transformed cultural ecologies at national, regional, and global levels. This chapter demonstrates how cultural sectors and cultural policies in China, South Korea, Singapore, and Thailand are responding to digitalization in diverse ways, and how the agenda of cultural diversity can be newly addressed and affirmed based on the political, social, and cultural contexts in these countries. De-materialization, connectivity and convergence indicate the possibilities of new methodologies and processes within art-making, which result in new forms of creative expression and innovative ways of communicating with an audience. Going digital and online allows cultural organizations a new means of communicating and disseminating their work. Asian cultural policy makers, industry practitioners, and experts agree that, unlike the arts and cultural heritage, cultural industries have been fundamentally impacted by digitalization. The internet and the new media environment facilitate an alternative mode of cultural economy, based on voluntary production and sharing.
