In his introductory lecture, Derrick de Kerckhove, considerably influenced by his many years of collaboration with Marshall McLuhan, shows how media, acting as catalysts in the transformation process, are able to change culture. These metamorphoses influence the perception of time and space and even of one’s self.

Derrick de Kerckhove (CA/IT)
was the director at the French Department and director of the McLuhan Program in Culture and Technology at the University of Toronto. He was then appointed to teach at the sociological faculty of the University of Frederico II in Naples. He is the author of numerous technical books and is currently science director of the monthly periodical Media Duemila. He also heads the research department of the Interdisciplinary Internet Institute (IN3) at the University of Oberta de Catalunya in Barcelona.