The European Media, Technology and
Everyday Life Network (EMTEL) is funded under
the EU's
'Human Capital and Mobility' Programme. EMTEL
began work in March 1995.
The Network is co-ordinated from the Graduate
Research Centre in Culture and Communication at
the University
of Sussex, UK. It includes researchers
from 10 Universities and Research Institutes
in 8 European
countries.
EMTEL is a research network with
bi-annual, thematic working meetings. Its aim is
to stimulate, support and undertake research
within the EU on the changing significance of
information and communication technologies
for the fabric of everyday life.
Each of the partners
in EMTEL has extensive experience of research
in the field, approaching the complex
questions of the relationship between
technical change and everyday life from
different disciplinary perspectives: as
sociologists, economists, anthropologists and
political scientists.
Work will focus on the development of a
methodology for the comparative study of the
trends, impacts and appropriations of
information and communication technologies in
the private and the public lives of citizens
of the EU. At a time of rapid technological
change it is necessary to create a grounded
understanding of how communication and
information technologies are consumed and
used, and to understand how social, economic
and political factors affect the innovation
process.
Researchers in the EMTEL Network approach
these issues both from a macro-sociological
and micro-sociological position,
investigating the political and economic
conditions that affect the diffusion and use
of information and communication technologies
and services both at the level of structures
of national and European policy making as
well as the level of the practices of
individuals and households in their everyday
lives.
EMTEL will produce a regular sequence of Working Papers and a
greater publication after the end of the
funding period.
