ICT and Creativity

Address by UNESCO Director-General Koïchiro Matsuura on the occasion of the opening of the WSIS Contributory Conference on “ICT and Creativity” in June 2005.

"In the shift from the idea of a global information society to the notion of diverse knowledge societies, the role of applications is central. With the added ingredient of creativity, one moves toward the re-imagining of society itself. Through the digitization of personal experience, views and information, ICT and the digital revolution are bringing opportunities for the democratization of creativity, often in minor ways but sometimes, especially in the aggregate, in significant forms. It is important, however, that the very openness and profusion of the Internet do not lead to an undermining of the rightful claims of expertise. A balance is needed and this, I believe, can only be achieved through education and the spread of information literacy."