The arrival of digital times brought about some puzzlement in sociology, but ushered in more updated and broader research perspectives as well. 2014 International Conference on Digital Future and Mediated Society: Digital Media and Cultural Communication, held in Hangzhou on 24th May, provided an international platform for academic exchanges and idea exchanges of Chinese and foreign researchers.

Professor Luo Weidong, Vice President of Zhejiang University, Professor Wu Fei, Dean for College of Media and International Culture at Zhejiang University, Thomas DiPiero, Dean for Humanities and Interdisciplinary Studies at University of Rochester were present at the Conference and made their welcoming speeches. Besides, Thomas DiPiero and Professor Hu Zhifeng from Communication University of China, Professor Liu Dehuan from Beijing University, Professor Chen Wei from Zhejiang University made keynote speeches on New media and cultural heritage preservation, an observation and reflection on the change of film and television culture in the age of Microblog, factors of youth online games addiction, data visualization of NBA news, etc. In addition, over 10 scholars from Chinese and foreign universities and institutes were present and delivered speeches.

In the panel of “Humanities and art”, researchers paid attention to new media and the experience of space, digital humanities archives, digital puppetry and videogames, and reconstructing culture and art palaces in new media. In the panel of “Culture and industry”, researchers offered new perspectives for the research and practice in archeology, cultural relics protection, film production and social game production. In the panel of “Media use”, the focus was on the grassroot users’ weibo, the acknowledgement of military culture, online public opinion’s diffusion, newspaper copyright protection in the internet age. In the panel of “Media storytelling”, the topics were about writing online collective memory, coverage of public emergency, reconstruction of media events, disaster reports and we media.

The Conference was organized by College of Media and International Culture, Institute of Digital Future and Mediated Society, Institute of News Media and Social Development at Zhejiang University, coorganized by China New Media Communication Association and University of Rochester.