The Young and the Internet: Revolution at Home. When the household becomes the foundation of socio-cultural change

Authors

  • Carlos Tabernero Internet Interdisciplinary Institute (IN3) – Open University of Catalonia (UOC)
  • Jordi Sánchez-Navarro Internet Interdisciplinary Institute (IN3) – Open University of Catalonia (UOC)
  • Imma Tubella Internet Interdisciplinary Institute (IN3) – Open University of Catalonia (UOC)

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.15847/obsOBS232008229

Keywords:

Internet, the young, technology-linked communication practices, household usage of technology and media

Abstract

This study aims to understand current patterns of transformation in communication practices owing to the ever-increasing incorporation of Internet in people’s everyday lives. By surveying a group of mostly experienced and intensive Internet users in a setting of intermediate Internet diffusion such as Catalonia, our study focuses on the processes of integration of habitual Internet operation into daily individual practices, and particularly on its impact on media usage and consumption. Considering Internet a powerful multimodal means of communication, the study probes it as a constitutive technology and no longer a novelty for the younger generations. In this sense, we test to what extent and in which manner the young, through the personalized and specialized use of the Internet, and above all within their home settings, are conducive of socio-cultural change through the introduction and gradual adjustment of their ever-renewing practices with their elders’ established communication habits.

Author Biographies

Carlos Tabernero, Internet Interdisciplinary Institute (IN3) – Open University of Catalonia (UOC)

Carlos Tabernero is a researcher at the Internet Interdisciplinary Institute (IN3) of the Open University of Catalonia (UOC), where he works on ICT-associated relationships between communication and technology, together with Profs. Imma Tubella and Jordi Sánchez-Navarro. He is also a member of the History of Science Studies Centre (CEHIC) at the Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB), where he works on a project on “Film, medicine and social structure” with Prof. Jorge Molero. There, he also teaches "History of Biology" and “Medicine, Film and Literature”, as well as “Film and Science” within the “European Master on the History of Science”. He has also co-organized and coordinated national and international meetings on the subject of “Film, History and Science”. Earlier, he achieved a PhD in Biology (University of Salamanca), and developed a career as a molecular biologist at the National Cancer Institute of the United States, and at the Institute of Microbiology and Biochemistry of the University of Salamanca/Spanish Council of Scientific Research. Yet, he resolved to undertake a drastic shift in his career, departing from experimental science and focusing on his current research interests, namely: media studies, screen studies / current film practices, media-and-technology-associated socio-cultural change, public perception of science and technology, and science communication / popularization of science and technology.

Jordi Sánchez-Navarro, Internet Interdisciplinary Institute (IN3) – Open University of Catalonia (UOC)

Jordi Sánchez-Navarro is a lecturer at the Information and Communication Sciences Department at the Open University of Catalonia, where he coordinates and teaches on “Screen Studies”, “Interactive Narratives” and “Digital Publishing”. He has taught at the Ramon Llull University (URL), and collaborated in several masters at the Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB) and the School of Cinema and Audiovisuals of Catalonia (ESCAC). He achieved a PhD in Film Studies (Ramon Llull University) with a dissertation about the concepts of authorship, crisis of the genres and cultural recycling in post-modern media. At present, his research interests are screen studies, current film practices in contemporary media landscape, video games, animation, children and youth media education in leisure time and rethinking media. He is currently involved in a project which is researching into how video games work as educational tools, and in the formal aspects of video games, approaching both issues to the more general field of screen studies. Among other activities, he collaborates with the research group SPIDER (Smarter People through Interactive Digital Entertainment Resources) and researches on ICT-associated relationships between communication and technology, together with Prof. Imma Tubella and Dr. Carlos Tabernero, at the at the Internet Interdisciplinary Institute (IN3) of the Open University of Catalonia (UOC).

Imma Tubella, Internet Interdisciplinary Institute (IN3) – Open University of Catalonia (UOC)

Imma Tubella is currently the President of the Open University of Catalonia, where she was previously Vice-chancellor of Research, Vice-president of the Internet Interdisciplinary Institute (IN3). She is also a Professor of “Communication Theory in the Audiovisual Communication Studies”, and “Media and Society” on the PhD Programme at the Open University of Catalonia (UOC), and of the “Frontière et Identité Master” of the University of Perpignan. She has also been Professor of “Audiovisual International Structure” at the Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB), Professor of “Communication Theory” at the Ramon Llull University (URL), and Director of Studies and Contents of the Catalan Radio and Television Corporation (CCRTV). She has been and currently is a member of several Advisory Boards and Commissions for different media, telecommunications and institutional organizations, including Telefónica, the Barça Channel, the Franco-Catalonian Cross-Border Institute, the Catalan Radio and Television Corporation (CCRTV), the Catalan Society of Communication of the Catalan Studies Institute, and the European Committee of the European Association of Regional Television (CIRCOM Regional). She is also a Member of the Advisory Board of the President of the Generalitat de Catalunya (the Catalan Government) on Audiovisuals in Catalonia, and was as well a Member of the Advisory Commission on Telecommunications and Information of the Universities, at the Research and Information Society Department of the Catalan Government. She achieved a PhD in Social Sciences with a dissertation on 'Communication and Identity: The case of the Television of Catalonia'; is the author of several books on “Communication and Identity”; and, after coordinating the Catalonia Internet Project (PIC) with Prof. Manuel Castells, is currently researching on ICT-associated relationships between communication and technology, together with Dr. Carlos Tabernero and Prof. Jordi Sánchez-Navarro, at the at the Internet Interdisciplinary Institute (IN3) of the Open University of Catalonia (UOC).

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Published

2008-07-02

How to Cite

Tabernero, C., Sánchez-Navarro, J., & Tubella, I. (2008). The Young and the Internet: Revolution at Home. When the household becomes the foundation of socio-cultural change. Observatorio (OBS*), 2(3). https://doi.org/10.15847/obsOBS232008229

Issue

Vol. 2 No. 3 (2008)

Section

Articles

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