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How should we understand the new digital media and the effect of digital networks on global communication? Medium theory would be an obvious candidate, suggesting that we are in the middle of a transition from a society based on analogue media (print and electronic) to a society based on digital media. However, the present article suggests we examine another candidate: complexity theory. According to writers such as John Urry, we are in the middle of a paradigm turn, the so-called complexity turn. The aim of this article is to discuss whether complexity theory can be applied to media studies. What are the gains, and what would we lose? The author takes as his point of departure two case examples. The first is the case of the Mohammed cartoons in the Danish newspaper Jyllands- Posten. The second is the case of the Internet. How are we to understand the Internet as a qualitatively new medium? The author goes on to present two fundamental concepts of complexity theory. The first is the concept of complexity. The second is the concept of mediated communication, which appears to change significance in the context of complexity theory.

Arriving at England in 1830 and being confronted with the newest technology of early industrialism, the Danish philosopher and historian, Bishop N.F.S. Grundtvig, realised at once that technology is something more than "speechless nature". Technology is also the incarnation of human and social nature, which you don't need to be a technician to be able to appreciate. Actually it is tempting to say that almost the reverse is true — the more you let yourself be blinded by technology as a piece of mindless matter, the more blind you become to its social significance and purpose.

Lars Qvortrup har gennem adskillige år fulgt udviklingen inden for den nye informationsteknologi. Centralt placeret som følgeforsker på nogle af de nye danske lokalsamfundsforsøg, og internationalt som deltager i EF´s FAST- projekt. Qvortrup er gået ind i dette felt bl.a. for at undersøge informarions- teknologiens sociale muligheder. Nedenstående artikel udspringer af en studietur til Norge, hvor Qvortrup besigtigede de derværende sociale forsøg. Det har givet anledning til en vis tvivl: Er bestræbelseerne på at lave lokale aktiviteter og fællesskab ikke kun et led i demokratiseringen og decentrali- seringen, men måske nok så meget det moderne bureaukratis nye ansigt.