This article introduces media ecology and reflects on its potential usefulness for gaining an understanding of the contemporary mutations of the media system. The first section maps the origins of the field, specifically the development of the ecological metaphor. The second section explores the metaphor by including the concepts of evolution, interface, and hybridization in the media ecology discourse. The concept of evolution creates a theoretical framework for studying the history of media and suggests new concepts and questions about media extinction, survival, and coevolution. The concept of interface focuses on the media, subject, and social interactions. Finally, the analysis of media hybridizations is basic for understanding the appearance of new media that combine different devices, languages, and functions.
Talking about theories, discourses and communicationLanguage is a basic element for the construction and survival of organizations (Winograd and Flores, 1987;Flores, 1997) and scientific institutions (Shotter, 1993). Scientific conversations emerge in an organizational environment made up of universities, research centers, journals, conferences and congresses. In these spaces, researchers exchange information, discuss ideas, litigate, arrive at agreements and take on obligations -for example to respect a scientific methodology and a series of discursive rules -inside a network of linguistic speech acts (Austin, 1999). In other words, researchers activate and hold conversations.The concept of scientific conversations doesn't only refer to ideas, concepts, or theories that are based on the scientific method. These discourses must also be produced by recognized institutions (a church is a good place for the enunciation of religious discourses, but not for scientific ones) for specific receivers (scholars, scientists, etc.) who have some mastery of the main concepts and discursive rules of scientific discourse. To understand the dynamics of a scientific domain -for example the theoretical production of digital communication -it is necessary to map its discursive territory, identify the interlocutors that participate in the conversations and reconstruct their exchanges.The spread of broadcasting in the second decade of the 20 th century was followed by the development of a theoretical corpus about 'new media' such as radio and, thirty years later, television. This theoretical corpus integrated itself into a research tradition -the study of journalism, public opinion and press -and consolidated a new epistemological territory: Theories of Mass But conversations that have yet to take place are also important for constituting the field.Craig (1999) proposed an agenda for future work in communication studies that included:Exploring the field to discover key issues and map the complex topography of the traditions; communication. This is why in this article I prefer to employ, although provisionally and in an operative way, the concept of 'digital communication'. New media and old theories Mass Communication ConversationsThe territory of mass communication research is a complex network of theoretical paradigms, methodologies, techniques and specific dictionaries. From agenda-setting to the functional approach, from the spiral of silence to uses and gratification or cultural imperialism, it is almost impossible to concentrate all this theoretical production into one consistent scientific discourse.Therefore, TMC constitute a particular conversational space where different scientific practices and discourses confront each other.Theories of communication have been classified according to their disciplinary origin (sociology, psychology, etc.), explanation (cognitive, system-theoretic, etc.), level of organization (group, mass, etc.), epistemological premises (empirical, critical, etc.) and underlying conceptions of communic...
Fernanda Pires has a postdoctoral Juan de la Cierva fellowship at the MEDIUM research group in the Department of Communication of Universitat Pompeu Fabra-Barcelona. She holds a PhD in Information and Knowledge Society from the Open University of Catalonia. Her main research interests include co-viewing, UGC, social media, media literacy, social practices and popular culture.
The objective of this article is to propose a first exploratory analysis of the Spanish YouTubers’ main productions and practices. Following the description of the emergence of YouTube in the context of media ecology, the article presents a general overview of the top 10 Spanish YouTubers’ production based on quantitative data. The study continues with a semiotic/discursive analysis of their audio-visual production’s main distinctive traits. As traditional television is imitating nowadays these new media expressions, this article also addresses the aesthetics and grammar of Yutubers, a TV program produced by Comedy Central that simulates the Spanish YouTubers channels’ aesthetics and language. The analysis concludes with a discussion on the study’s findings and a series of questions about these new media subjects.
The aim of this article is to analyze a special type of textuality: crossovers. The analy sis focuses on usergenerated content in the transmedia storytelling context. The study follows a series of 25 productions derivati ve of ABC 's Lost (2004 2010) and FOX's Fringe (20082013). After describing the scenario where these works were produced and mapping the etymology of the crossover concept, we analyzed some fan productions by applying a methodology ba sed on na rrative semiotics and narratology. Finally, we propose a taxonomy of these formats organized around four key points: media, style, genre and narrative program. RESUMENEl objetivo de este artículo es analizar un tipo especial de textualidad: los crossovers. El análisis se focalizará en los contenidos generados por los usuarios de las narrativas transmedia. Para ello, se toman como caso 25 producciones derivadas de dos series televisivas: Lost (ABC, 2004(ABC, -2010 y Fringe (FOX, 2008(FOX, -2013. Tras describir el contexto de estas producciones y mapear la etimología del concepto de crossover, se analizan algunas producciones realizadas por fans, aplicando un método basado en la semiótica narrativa y la narratología. Finalmente, se propone una taxonomía de estos formatos, articulada en cuatro ejes: medio, estilo, género y programa narrativo. RESUMOO objetivo deste artigo é analisar um tipo especial de textualidade: os crossovers. A análise se centra nos conteúdos gerados pelos usuários de narrativas transmídia. Para isso, 25 produções derivadas das séries de televisão Lost (ABC, 2004(ABC, -2010 e Fringe (FOX, 2008(FOX, -2013 são utilizadas como estudo de caso. Após descrever sucintamente o contexto de tais produções e mapear a etimologia de crossover, o artigo analisa algumas produções realizadas por fãs, com base em uma metodologia baseada na semiótica narrativa e na narratologia. Para finalizar, o artigo propõe uma taxonomia desses formatos, articulada em 4 eixos: meio, estilo, gênero e programa narrativo.Transmedia storytelling and user-generated content: A case study on crossovers 184 INTRODUCCIÓNLos procesos de producción, circulación, traducción e interpretación textual se han acelerado de manera exponencial desde la difusión de las redes digitales. El texto digitalizado es mucho más fácil de distribuir, modificar, remixar y volver a poner en circulación, dando lugar a una eclosión de los contenidos generados por los usuarios que impregna el ecosistema mediático. En contraste con lo que sucedía antes de la popularización de los distintos tipos de software para la edición de texto, imagen y sonido, y la expansión de la World Wide Web durante los años noventa, hoy en día es muy sencillo encontrar producciones derivadas de productos culturales previos. Sin embargo, la hibridación e intertextualidad desbordantes de las que, en general, hacen gala estas producciones obligan a adaptar los planteamientos teóricos de las disciplinas consagradas al análisis de los diferentes textos.Dentro de la variedad de formatos textuales que los usuarios pu...
The paper is grounded in the idea that a theory of mobile media, like that of any other scientific discourse, must be built on solid conceptual and taxonomical bases. Within this context the paper brings together previous fragmented approaches to studying mobile media, analyses them, and develops a set of definitions and classifications of contents and applications in order to consolidate the construction of a robust mobile media theory. The paper finishes with a reflection on the ongoing mutations of this field and their implications, suggesting that scholars need to rethink the basic concepts behind their theories
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