Digital Media in East Asia: National Innovation and the Transform ...

item¹³)—established a substantial level of dominance for the region in the fastest-growing sector of the modern economy.

Chapter 4 looks at a series of “showcase” initiatives, ranging from impressive national facilities to flagship government programs and major policy commitments. In each of the countries, governments have understood that major commitments to an emerging economic sector, such as digital media, require high-profile government statements of intent and commitment. These investments, among the most impressive in the digital media sector globally, seek to establish in the minds of national audiences and global industry leaders the idea that individual East Asia countries are at the vanguard of the digital revolution. Chapter 5 looks at the rise and reach of the East Asian digital content industry, including animation, anime, video games, and information services, demonstrating both the viability of this sector and the strengthening of East Asian regional integration through shared consumption of digital materials. It considers, as well, some of the social implications and impacts of the shift from old to new media.¹⁴ One of the contentions of Digital Media in East Asia is that the sector is undergoing a profound transition from the dominance of tool makers (the producers of digital technologies) to the growing influence of tool users (the producers of digital content and the providers of digitally based services). This is clearly in evidence in East Asia. The adaptation of national innovation strategies to incorporate digital media required a substantial change of direction for governments, used to focusing on manufacturing and infrastructure and now required to respond to creative-based development opportunities. Chapter 6 examines East Asian efforts to define, shape, and understand the future of digital media. It seeks, in particular, to identify lessons learned from the regional experience of national innovation policies and the digital revolution and to outline challenges and opportunities resulting from the East Asian countries’ formidable and sustained commitments to the development of digital economies and digital societies. The final chapter of the book, “Digital East Asia,” reflects on the possible trajectories of digital media in East Asia and considers the political, economic, social, and cultural implications of one