An overview of digital media in Latin America

An overview of digital media in Latin American is a focus and a contribution to emerging debate, international exchanges and the building of global scientific communication as a contribution to development. Contents Editorial introduction; Carlos Arcila Calderón, Mabel Calderín & Cosette Castro Chapter 1: Globalization of the information society; Jorge Hidalgo Chapter 2: Digital and interactive content production as a strategy for development – a brief study on the Latin American experience in digital free-to-air television; Cosette Castro Chapter 3: e-Research: the new paradigm of science in Latin America; Carlos Arcila Calderón, Mabel Calderín, Luis Núñez & Ysabel Briceño Chapter 4: Mobilizing the consumer as a partner in social networks: reflections on the commodification of subjectivities; Gisela Castro Chapter 5: The mediatization of reception by Brazilian online collaborative journalism: rules and protocols to control reader's participation; Paulo César Castro Chapter 6: A contract in transition: online press and its audience; Natalia Raimondo Anselmino Chapter 7: Interactivity in education: social and complex network analysis; Ana María Casnati Guberna, Claudia Ribeiro Santos Lopes, Dante Galeffi & Hernane Borges de Barros Pereira Chapter 8: Media transformations for journalistic practices in regional print media due to new technologies and the implications that shape the agendas of journalists and media companies; Henry Rubiano Daz

Performing Authenticity on a Digital Political Stage: Politainment as Interactive Practice and (Populist?) Performance

This article investigates the way politicians use social networking sites as effective communication platforms to discursively enhance authenticity, sincerity and (self-)connection to what can be defined as the \u201cPeople\u201d (followers/lurkers/net-users). Within the framework of Social Media Critical Discourse Studies, and using tools coming from Multimodal Discourse Analysis, the paper analyses the multi-semiotic elements used by different political leaders (i.e. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Matteo Salvini), to connect with the \u201cPeople,\u201d and discusses the politainment product as a personalised way to skip the institutional mediation channels of politics

Political Social Media Sites as Public Sphere: A Case Study of the Norwegian Labour Party

Political interest and voter turnout is in steady decline. In an attempt to renew interest for political matters, political parties and governments have attempted to create new digital meeting places, with the hope that social media can contribute to renew the public sphere and thereby increase political awareness in the population. Communicating in new media demands adaption to the culture of the new medium, and the networked nature of the Internet poses challenges to old ways of thinking as we can no longer talk about one public sphere but rather a networked public sphere consisting of a multitude of discussion spaces. In this article, we contribute to the understanding of the networked public sphere and online political communication through a case study of MyLaborParty.no, a social network run by a Norwegian political party. Our findings indicate that political parties can create a thriving part of the networked public sphere, as long as they invite opposing voices to the discussion, communicate using the genres which facilitate discussion and have users or moderators who help spread ideas between discussion spaces

e-Literacy, schools and municipalities towards a common goal : e-citizenship

Tese de doutoramento, e-Planeamento, Universidade de Lisboa, Faculdade de Ciências, Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Universidade de Aveiro, 2015International guidelines advocate for citizens participation in government decision-making processes through information and communication technologies mediated by the Internet (e-governance and e-government). However, the levels of youth participation are still unsatisfactory, and international studies show little effectiveness of media literacy education in Portugal, underlying electronic participation literacy. Consequently, the research question—“How can education for media literacy be conducive of a participatory e-citizenship among young people?”—engaged in light of the mismatch between e-governance strategies with regard to young people’s civic engagement, on the one hand, and young people’s perceptions of themselves as e-citizens on the other. The study population consisted of 12 mayors and 12 municipal technicians, two formal youth institutions, 12 directors of public secondary schools, and 131 teachers and 1392 students of 11th and 12th grade. The data was obtained through questionnaires, interviews, and website analysis. A mixed methods approach allowed the conclusion that weak e-governance political goals aimed towards young people allied with weak educational citizenship and media literacy strategies determining the young people’s informal and formal online participation. In support of this, 14.5% of the variance (R2=0.145,F(4)=38.22, p<0.001) of their levels of formal online participation is predicted by regular meetings with mayors, students’ levels of media literacy, students’ informal online participation, and students’ perceptions of their possibility to participate. In addition, 15.7% of the variance (R2=0.157, F(4)=47.45, p<0.001) of students’ levels of informal online participation is predicted by students’ formal online participation, students’ levels of media literacy, and the opportunity to participate in action and innovation projects at school. Students’ formal online participation is also positively correlated with students’ perception of possibility to participate [r(1136)=0.114, p<0.001] and their mobile Internet access [r (912)=0.073, p=0.028].Diretivas internacionais preconizam a participação dos cidadãos através da governança e governo eletrónico. Contudo, os níveis de participação jovem continuam não satisfatórios e estudos internacionais evidenciam pouca eficácia da educação para a literacia mediática em Portugal, literacia subjacente à participação eletrónica. Consequentemente, a questão de investigação “Como é que a educação para a literacia mediática pode conduzir a uma cidadania eletrónica participativa dos jovens?”, teve subjacente uma incompatibilidade entre as estratégias de e-governança com relação à participação cívica dos jovens, e por outro, as perceções dos jovens de si mesmos como cidadãos. A população do estudo foi constituída por 12 presidentes de câmaras municipais e 12 técnicos camarários, 2 instituições formais de juventude, 12 diretores de escolas secundárias publicas, 131 docentes e 1392 alunos do 11º e 12º ano). Para a obtenção dos dados optou-se por questionários, entrevistas e análise de páginas de internet. A metodologia mista aplicada permitiu concluir que os fracos objetivos políticos de governança eletrónica dirigida aos jovens aliados às fracas estratégias educacionais de cidadania e literacia mediática afetam a participação formal e informal online dos jovens, pois 14.5% da variância (R2=0.145, F(4)=38.22, p<0.001) dos seus níveis de participação formal online tem como previsores os encontros regulares com presidentes de câmara, os seus níveis de literacia mediática, a sua participação informal online e as suas perceções de possibilidade de participação e 15.7% da variância (R2=0.157, F(4)=47.45, p<0.001) dos seus níveis de participação informal online tem como previsores estatísticos a sua participação formal offline e online, os seus os níveis de literacia mediática e a possibilidade de participarem em projetos de ação e inovação nas escolas. Mais, a sua participação formal online está também positivamente correlacionada com a perceção de possibilidade de participar [r(1136)=0.114, p<0.001] e com o acesso móvel à internet [r (912)=0.073, p=0.028].Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT), SFRH/BD/78276/201

Social media, populism, and migration

Several scholars have attributed high hopes to social media regarding their alleged ability to enable a nonhierarchical and freely accessible debate among the citizenship (Loader & Mercea, 2011; Shirky, 2011). Those hopes have culminated in theses such those describing the social web as being a 'new public sphere' (Castells, 2009, p. 125) as well as in expectations regarding its revitalizing potential for the 'Habermas's public sphere' (Kruse, Norris, & Flinchum, 2018, p. 62). Yet, these assumptions are not uncontested, particularly in the light of socially mediated populism (Mazzoleni & Bracciale, 2018). Interestingly, research on populism in the social web is still an exception. The same is true for the populist permeation of the social media discourse on migration, as a highly topical issue. This study seeks to elaborate on this research gap by examining to what extent the Twitter debate on the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly, and Regular Migration (GCM) was permeated by populist content. For this purpose, almost 70,000 tweets on the most important Hashtags referring to the GCM that took place in Marrakesh in December 2018 were collected and the 500 widest-reaching tweets analysed in terms of their populist permeation. Against initial expectations, the empirical findings show that populist narratives did not dominate the Twitter debate on migration. However, the empirical results indicate that ordinary citizens play an important role in the creation and dissemination of populist content. It seems that the social web widens the public sphere, including those actors who do not communicate in accordance with the Habermasian conceptualization of it

Facebook: Changing the face of communication research

The ubiquitous social networking site, Facebook, registered over one billion active users in 2012 and continues to grow (Facebook, 2018a). Not surprisingly, communication researchers around the world noticed this phenomenal shift in communication practice, a practice aided by a combination of digital communication tools—easy to access communication networks, low cost bandwidth, smartphones, application features, and so on. These developments transformed the understanding of “social networks,” turning them from face-to-face interactions among small groups into world spanning digital connections, from networks of business or professional associations supported by analogue or “old” communication practices (such as letter writing, telephone calls, or conference meetings) into always-on real-time tracking of people’s activities. This review examines 400 articles published between 2006 and 2017 in peer reviewed communication- related journals and listed in the EBSCO Communication Source database. The database returned the initial list of articles to a query using the single search term “Facebook.” Subsequent analysis grouped the articles into a number of themes. As we will see, much of the published research that involves Facebook addresses not Facebook itself but Facebook as a source of material or research data on more particular communication topics. In a way, Facebook appears as another medium for communication. After some introductory comments on the history and prior study of Facebook, this review will present the key themes that appear in the research. These include Facebook in theoretical perspectives, Facebook used in interpersonal communication, Facebook’s relationship to journalism, Facebook in education, Facebook in political communication, corporate and organizational use of Facebook, legal and ethical issues arising with Facebook, and other areas of research