ABSTRACT
This chapter describes the first cultural attitudes towards technology and communication (CATaC) conference (1998) in somewhat more detail, in order to bring forward the contributions that shaped what became defining themes and threads of the series. These began with demonstrating that “culture” makes a difference in our design, implementation, and responses to information and communication technologies (ICTs), including those constituting the Internet. With the benefit of more than 15 years of research and reflection, it is clear that “culture” indeed makes a difference vis-a-vis design, implementation, and responses to ICTs, including the Internet as the medium that connects ever greater percentages of the world’s populations. To be sure, there is considerably more work on Japan and China as well as within Arabic-speaking cultures. The CATaC conference series has benefited from far more individuals and institutions than can possibly be named individually.
