This document is the first result of the conference ‚From Practice to Policy: Towards a European Media Culture’ (P2P) held in October 1997 in Rotterdam and Amsterdam, the Netherlands. The conference was held under the auspices of the Council of Europe and with the support of the Netherlands Ministry of Education, Culture and Science (OCenW), the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Cities of Rotterdam and Amsterdam. The conference is part of the programme of the Project Group for New Technologies: Cultural Co-operation and Communication of the Culture Committee of the Council of Europe.

The P2P Conference brought together expert practitioners in media culture from 22 organisations in 12 European countries. Their work exemplifies what ‚good practice‘ in media culture can be, in a variety of fields: art, design, music, video, cultural theory, virtual reality and the Internet. Organisations at the conference work in a variety of innovative ways and on a variety of operational scales. This Agenda identifies several themes which are of shared pragmatic interest to these communities. It is not a statement of high principle with which all artists – or policy makers in government and industry – are asked to agree. It is from future discussion of these themes, among all parties, that a media culture for Europe will emerge. This document is one part of that process.

1. What media cultural practice has to offer
Media cultural practice is thriving in many places all over Europe, but neither its existence nor its cultural and economic significance is well-known to policy makers dealing with the development of an information society. Yet media culture can make a tremendous contribution to this project. The artistic and cultural practice emerging in relation to new technologies is, by its very nature, diverse, independent, interdisciplinary. It comprises both production and research. Its practitioners develop creative ways to use new information and communication technologies (ICT). Media culture is fostering new ways of working and new thinking on social and political issues. Media culture develops new approaches to education and organises a wide variety of cultural programmes which reflect and celebrate cultural diversity. Media culture constantly devises new and flexible organisational structures and responds rapidly to the needs of diverse client groups and users. [...]

2. Media culture and the challenges of an information society
New technologies have always had a significant impact on society - often in unexpected ways. The media cultural community fosters critical discussions about the social and political consequences of technological change. Particular concerns are:

- The danger that the agendas for the Information Society are purely commercial.
- The danger of homogenisation and the Disneyification of European culture.
- The danger that culture may be understood only in terms of entertainment.
- The need to understand the fundamental transformation of the public domain through privatisation.
- The need to protect democratic control and cultural diversity.
- The challenges of privacy, cryptography and copyright - which are cultural as much as legal issues.

European media culture contests the idea that the Information Society entails an ever tighter convergence of global players. A better vision, certainly in Europe, is freedom for individuals and small groups to operate in an open media environment alongside the large, commercially oriented companies. Diversity exists, enthusiasm exists, and technical and political opportunities also exist. The potential is there, but it has to be exploited. Media culture accepts the fact of continuous technological and cultural change. It recognises the dangers, but also sees the opportunities that the new technologies are offering, and seeks to pursue these opportunities through a creative use of these technologies.

3. From practice to policy
The Amsterdam conference has identified a number of practical ways in which media culture is already playing an important role in the emerging information society. However, better interaction with policy makers and processes is needed.
In relation to industry and economic policy, media artists have a lot to offer in the form of new interaction paradigms, new forms of collaboration and new insights. A productive relationship in which art can maintain its autonomy, and in which art and industry can learn and mutually benefit from each other‘s achievements and talents, is desirable for both parties. Many media artists believe industrial partners should not only provide technical knowledge and money, but also contribute to the content of the project. Public support can act as a catalyst for private sector involvement. Media culture is at its most productive when it can work at the intersection between art and industry, without being fully integrated into either of the two fields.

In relation to education policy, co-operation between media culture and education can have two goals: educating people to be competent and critical in their use of ICT, and development of methods to enhance formal and informal education through the use of multimedia/ICT. Beside formal education in new media that academic institutions and media art academies now offer, numerous opportunities for informal education are offered by independent organisations. Many artists and practitioners in new media combine a high degree of skill and expertise, with an awareness of the potentials and dangers of the new media. Co-operation and the exchange of knowledge and skills between the independent art and cultural sector on the one side, and the educational sector on the other, can be broadened and deepened by such means as professional exchange programmes, and multi-party projects which bring practitioners and education (and students) together.

4. ...and from policy to practical actions
There are a variety of practical ways to support and enhance the work of media cultural institutions:

- Recognise media culture as a relevant field of cultural activity.
- Recognise interdisciplinarity and develop funding structures that support this way of working.
- Support the availability of non-proprietory software for publicly funded projects.
- Make free access to public media an objective of cultural policies.
- Support free bandwidth on the networks (comparable to the Open Channels on the TV cable networks).
- Support networks of specialised institutions in preference to large-scale, centralised ‚multimedia centres‘.
- Establish small and medium-size centres for interdisciplinary research.
- Make small-scale and short-term project funding available.
- Provide for long-term structural support.
- Develop incentives for industry to co-operate in cultural projects.
- Provide opportunities for open-ended creative experimentation which may have no short term market application.
- Foster investment not only in technical infrastructure, or in traditional ‚content‘, but also in media projects that create
  access and participation.
- Above all, prioritise investment in people. Machines are important, but the people who can work with them are more so - and
  they have to live! It is currently much easier to get funding for a newer, faster computer, or for its building, or for the
  electricity and network lines on which it will run, than for the programmer, artist or system operator who is supposed to use
  it. [...]

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