The Chapter Wallonie (Belgium) of the Internet Society (ISOC) held its inaugural meeting on January 11th 1999, in Namur. Among the first activities to be undertaken, it was decided to set up a specific Committee to cover the theme Europe, cultural and linguistic issues of the internet (http://www.wallonie-isoc.org).

The first task of this Committee is to produce, for the beginning of the year 2000, a report including recommendations. It will be an attempt of shared analysis, assessment and willingness. The papers will be available to all ISOC chapters and to all persons studying the cultural deployment of the internet among existing communities as well as among new virtual entities.

The report will draw a framework of concepts and arguments for a typology of communities, cultures and languages of the internet, including a comprehensive bibliography. It could propose an action plan for the implementation of its recommendations in Wallonia, on European as well as on worldwide levels. Our main goal is to point out, to the attention of all the internet actors and policy-makers, the benefit that an increased presence of diverse cultures and languages diversity could bring to the digital networks. It will therefore be necessary to consider the current dominant paradigm of the internet, oriented from center to periphery, with English language's omnipresence. By now, more than 50 % of the internet users are not English speaking natives and a new breathe, a true "epiphany" of minority languages can be perceived on the web.

What's more, the Committee's work will seek to enhance a culture of what Goethe called "Wahlverwandtschaft" (in French, les affinités électives), i.e. the "positive correlations or relationships" between the internet various communities, but also with those wishing to join by desire, interest or necessity. It is becoming more and more evident that the internet's future has to overcome the effects of "self-fulfilling prophecy" ("gestellt"), too exclusively based on the technical model. A new panoramic and distant attention would than be cast upon the multiple opportunities the internet brings in all domains : work, leisure time, near-by activities – commercial or not –, family or social activities, privacy and thought.

European and worldwide civilisations' traditions give evidence of human ability to imagine, to communicate, to exchange signs, concepts and techniques. In that light, it seems possible to make the very nature and scope of digital exchanges accessible to the widest audience. The purpose here is to avoid a period of "closure"– in philosophical terms –, of alignment, which can already be perceived through the constant exposure given by media to excessive news items wrongly attributed to the internet. To achieve this, the accent will have to be stressed on identities' density – and not on their dilution –, on people's identities – individuals and groups. It is important to measure the technological gradient which leads us towards insubstantial and disembodied relationships, as described by media and communication sociologists. Do the digital networks increase violence, uncertainty and heteronomy ? Is each individual thus encapsulated within its own self ? Are minorities languages bound to disappear ? The Committee will have in mind the new temporality proper to the virtual world : the immediate and accelerate contact. Thus, anonymity, pseudonyms and social play roles – which are the internet's scene virtual attributes – could be restored as usual behaviors for present-day society. To rightly position the internet's stage could pave the way for its sensible use.

In short, the Committee considers appropriate to contemplate – notwithstanding media's view – the internet's reality worlds, as seen by any webuser in his everyday life. A particular attention will be devoted, in this context, to the needs of unconnected populations, youth, elderly, poors and migrants, minorities unreachable for geographical or economical reasons.

The report would therefore outline a concerted dialogue about communities, cultures and languages of the internet, to be continued with governments, international organizations, industries, universities, civil and confessional societies, associations all over the world.

Consulting the numerous documents written about these themes, the Committee intends to study the following points :

The sense given to information is weak, whereas symbols and icons' production increases constantly. How could the internet more deeply express the inner man's mind density and social practices' complexity ? What impact has the internet on the perception of the border existing between public and private life ? How to ensure that the internet does not reinforce stereotypes and ethnotypes ? How to be sure that individuals are not manipulated by lobbyists or pressure groups ? Could the internet political sphere be reduced to a virtual, boundless and universal democracy ?

What are the cultural activities which fit the most to the digitalization of content and expression – music, fine arts, literature, etc. – ? To what extend do the global procedures and standards of the internet are a benefit or an impediment to its development ? Isn't it time to privilege slowness and time duration as well as the intermediaries' role in the appropriation of the internet tools ? What could be done to give special resources to local specificity related to services and contents providers ? What could be done to help the internet users' opinions and needs being heard in order to build appropriate developments for the virtual technology ?

How could the internet become a powerful vector of transmission and fertilization of ideas between different cultures ? What are the barriers raised by regulation and the commercial practices "irritants" bound to slow down the optimal development of a cultural internet in Europe and in the world ? How to convert expectations issued of the internet in political decisions ?

The committee's work will be an open, bottom-up exercise based on knowledge and local practices of the internet users. Contributions from industry and administration, academia and associations will be welcome.

The committee will work in association with the Round Table 8, "Internet Usage and Network Co-operation" of the Information and Communication Technology Partnership, initiative conducted by DG XIII to stimulate the user-supplier relationship in the domain of new technologies.

Synergies will be sought with projects covering the same field and undertaken by international organizations or worldwide associations.

An open seminar or symposium will be organized at the end of the committee's preparatory works. The proceedings will be published in several languages.