From the perspective of a social scientist, the Modem Monks programme raises two key questions:

• To what extent have ICTs changed the rural isolation of the monks?

• Are ICTs merely part of longer term trends in the West towards increased mobility, tourism and location within a global market?

These are not simple questions - nor are there simple answers to these questions. What we can say for certain is that the Monks are experiencing a sense of change and that the need to change may be in tension with a desire to preserve the traditional life of a very old community indeed.

What the producers of ‘Modem Monks’ did ...