The project Citizenship and Ecomodernisation in the Information Society. Futures Approach (FUTU) was financed by the Academy of Finland and coordinated by the Finland Futures Research Centre of the Turku School of Economics and Business Administration. To be carried out in 1996-1999, the project is headed by Professor, Dr Pentti Malaska and coordinated by Dr Markku Wilenius. The project was implemented by researchers and postgraduate students from the Universities of Turku, Tampere and Helsinki. Cooperation partners of the project included Statistics Finland, Finnish Economic and Technical Research Centre, SONERA and Otava Folk High School.
The objective of the FUTU Project was to study the emergence and development of the concept and practise of the information society, and the social and political impacts of information society and information technology. The project embraces various spheres and levels of social activity (including democracy, education, conduct of life and marginalisation). Other themes included the dynamics, possibilities and hazards involved in the interplay between the information society and sustainable development.
The focal points of the project were also social marginalisation and the fulfilment of teledemocracy; the diversity of education; the study of adolescents' images of the future and of everyday life as shaped by the media; and changes in the risk profile of ecological modernisation and the society. The general framework was the futures approach and the late-modern transformation of the society. The subprojects also served to produce information which can be utilised in Finnish education and environmental policy-making and in the development of working life.
The various studies were made under the project and furthered our understanding of the relationship of citizens and decision-makers to information technology and new communication media. The project workers produced several doctoral dissertations and published its own publication series.
Further information:
Markku Wilenius
Professor
markku.wilenius@tse.fi