Dr. Jyrki Pulkkinen; University of OuluTitle: Cultural Globalization and Integration of ICT in EducationTechnology has been seen as an overwhelming driving force with the emergence of a few global providers dominating the educational market. This domination is not only economic domination but also cultural. Just to mention some phenomena and examples of the development of globalization in the education sector, we can look at the development in the electronic publishing and new trends in higher education. The majority (80%) of all the websites in the world are in English and the majority (80-85%) of scientific publications on the Internet are in English (Peraton & Creed 2000). This means that internationally distributed information is changing the language we use for acquiring information in education - first in higher education and then in other levels of education. Small cultures and languages are in danger of disappearing due to the competition in the international information (and education) markets. Because of competition in publishing markets, only the biggest international publishing and entertainment companies are able to produce high quality electronic learning materials. Globalization and the new information society - or information age - we are living in, is changing our thinking about our culture and education. According to Nash (Nash 2001) information can be seen as a "material foundation" of the information age. From that point of view, culture can be seen as a constitutive element in the information age insofar as everything is framed and structured by information and communication media. Institutions and people make decisions and represent life through cultural codes and reality is always mediated through language. Culture is important in the information age in two different ways: information capitalism shapes culture with this explosion of the mass communication system (cultural globalization) but on the other hand, local cultures have shaped the development and use of information and communication technology (localization). Beck (1999, 93-99) for example describes this dialectical process as "global localization", emphasizing that these two dimensions of cultural development are dependent on each other. It is a fact that there is more information available around us than ever, local or global. The overflow of information is not only changing our thinking but also our relationship with information. According to Rosenau (1999), in the global information society the relevance of information seems to become less obvious. To note that people have become more skilful in relating themselves to world affairs is not to say they are necessarily more informed about them. It is getting more and more difficult for people to check the relevance of information. What is true and what is false? How should the research on ICT in education respond to these challenges?