Conference Topics

Metamorphosis of the media space: media and democracy (from masses to audiences)

Within this area of discussion we intend to deal with the metamorphosis undergone by the agents traditionally involved in the public arena (politics and media, publics and audiences). We must ask ourselves about the new role of audiences in a digital environment: what is it and what does it mean? Are media and new technologies instruments for influence and social control or do they help create freer citizens? The uses of new technologies have been seen as an area of opening discussion that may enhance deliberation −of which current democracies are certainly in need− thus bringing politics closer to citizens and heightening public debate and participation. Yet, at the same time, this area has been understood by some as merely an adjustment of traditional roles and hierarchies to a new space.

In this area of discussion the following issues are put forward:

- Public opinion and communication.
- Freedom of speech and its limits.
- The ethics of information and democracy.
- Media and democracy radicalization.
- Big media corporations and journalists' freedom.
- A new media agora: the digital public sphere.
- From agenda setting to agenda building.

Digital generation: opportunities and risks of plural audiences. The transformation of communicative uses

Recent studies in communication and social science in general have revealed new communicative practices that stem from the spreading use of information and communication technologies. To what extent have younger generations −born into a fully digitalized environment− developed a brand new social use of these ICT's? Do we risk a widening digital gap due to generational reasons?

This thematic area would include the following issues (among others):

- The kind of relationships arising from chats, social networks, MSN, SecondLife, and the like.
- Gaming: positive effects and violence stemming from videogame usage.
- Cyberbullying.
- Networking.

Information hybridization

As conventional journalism becomes increasingly altered and challenged, old functions and profiles have been found to undergo a transformation process. Simultaneously, communicators' professional role has changed as more information becomes available to the public and a whole host of multiple formats and genres thrive in today's news media. We may ask ourselves, then, whether communication practitioners continue to be privileged actors in the narration of the events of today's world. The Internet's main contribution to the media scene has not been confined to provide new extensions to conventional media (such as TV and radio networks, and big production and distribution companies that promote and offer contents and services through the Web). The Net's main contribution has been a change in the relationship between producers and users. From this point of view, does the new role the ICT's attach to receivers/users modify that of communication professionals? Are the functions of "new journalism" incompatible with journalists' classical role as narrators of events? How is the journalist's function to be redefined in view of the introduction of distribution channels (such as personal websites, electronic fanzines, weblogs, electronic journals, and so on) alternative to traditional media?

Within this particular area of discussion, the following issues are suggested:

- Credibility of information.
- Changes in journalistic formats.
- Community and participatory journalism. Journalists as event narrators vs. journalists as event managers?
- Relationship between media (big corporations) and journalism.
- Celebrities out of nowhere: the ordinary citizen.

Format metamorphosis in advertising

Advertising messages are now increasingly embedded in multiple new formats. As conventional channels become saturated with messages and audiences experience a sort of hyperfragmentation, new channels and formats appear, and new users join the ranks of product creators. How are advertising contents being altered by this state of change, transformation and hibridization? How are firms and professionals adapting to this new situation?

This area of discussion includes issues such as the following:

- Other forms of commercial communication (viral marketing, direct advertising...): dialogue or interference?
- Somewhere between audiovisuals and advertising: hybrid products (advertising short films, bartering, TV shopping networks, infomercials, and the like).
- Transformations in communicators' profiles and functions.
- New formats in advertising creation.
- Social marketing and digital sponsoring.

Multiple screens: from media to contents

In the audiovisual field, viewers and users are gathering prominence. There has been a change in the way those who create content and those who use it relate to each other. In addition to a metamorphosis of the line separating reality from fiction −which has been replaced by a blurred borderline in which new products such as mockumentaries or reality shows have found a favourable climate to flourish− attention must be paid to our current proliferation of screens and formats, as well as to the growing role played by users as proposers/managers/creators of new contents. Undoubtedly, this process of exponential multiplication due to advances in technology (such as the emergence of new channels and shows on DTTV with varying coverage areas, new IPTV and radio over IP platforms, and the like) acts as an encouragement for content providers in general. Digital culture −which entails the possibility of combining texts, images and sound− has made it very clear that content is a commodity that can be exported to many different media. In the digital age, the key will be the ability to produce content which is both high quality and appealing to the public.

In this area of discussion, the following issues are suggested:

- The transformation of audiovisual creation.
- Screen integration.
- Users as creators of content.
- Contents on contents: versions, adaptations, and transformations.