to some thinking on communication, private life, freedom
of expression, the values we are attached to and those we are ready to get rid
of, and it is this effect which makes it such a powerful, important medium."

The Web must not only give the necessary space to all languages but it must also
respect all cultures. During the Symposium on Multimedia Convergence organized
by the International Labour Organization (ILO), Geneva, Switzerland, in January
1997, Shinji Matsumoto, General Secretary of the Musicians' Union of Japan
(MUJ), declared:

"It is not only in developing countries, but in advanced countries as well that
we need to maintain our traditions. Japan is quite receptive to foreign culture
and foreign technology. [...] Foreign culture is pouring into Japan and, in
fact, the domestic market is being dominated by foreign products. Despite this,
when it comes to preserving and further developing Japanese culture, there has
been insufficient support from the Government. [...] With the development of
information networks, the earth is getting smaller and it is wonderful to be
able to make cultural exchanges across vast distances and to deepen mutual
understanding among people. We have to remember to respect national cultures and
social systems."

The Technorealism website first appeared on the Web on March 12, 1998. According
to the website, technorealism is "an attempt to assess the social and political
implications of technologies so that we might all have more control over the
shape of our future. The heart of the technorealist approach involves a
continuous critical examination of how technologies - whether cutting-edge or
mundane - might help or hinder us in the struggle to improve the quality of our
personal lives, our communities, and our economic, social, and political
structures."

The eight principles of Technorealism Overview have been signed by over 1,472
people between March 12 and August 20, 1998. Here are the first three:

"a) Technologies are not neutral.

A great misconception of our time is the idea that technologies are completely
free of bias - that because they are inanimate artifacts, they don't promote
certain kinds of behaviors over others. In truth, technologies come loaded with
both intended and unintended social, political, and economic leanings. Every
tool provides its users with a particular manner of seeing the world and
specific ways of interacting with others. It is important for e