OBJECTIVES

• The Observatory of Leisure and Digital Entertainment is a project created by Professor Nereida López in 2009 (in which those indicated as members of this GIR also participate) with the aim of serving as an instrument for studying the social influence they exercise digital content in its various forms, the evolution of its consumption by the youngest segments of society and the establishment of future trends in industry, culture and audiovisual education in the 21st century. The Observatory is proposed as a center of knowledge for the establishment of sociological profiles, tastes of the public regarding audiovisual consumption and, especially, assessment of changes in social behavior that the different use of new entertainment products related to technologies Digital information and communication are causing in the present generations.

The idea of ​​creating an observatory that focuses on aspects such as digital leisure and entertainment comes from its unquestionable role in the present and therefore in the social and media future immediately after the digital revolution that gives last name to the new era. Under the expression “digital leisure”, various activities are included that refer to entertainment focused on video games and game consoles, mobile phone applications, 3D and 4K cinema, music, podcasting and the Internet universe, with special attention to social networks. Around the so-called digital leisure, a successful industry has been generated that encompasses the creation and production of video games, interactive software with applications for Digital Terrestrial Television, mobile content and other distribution platforms, the production of new formats and content under the common denominator of digital and / or multimedia convergence.

Since 2010, 5 studies (one in progress) have been carried out in Ocendi, of which a total of 21 scientific articles indexed (with a high impact index) have been published in reference journals in communication (JCR, SCOPUS, WOK, RESH, etc.), more than 30 communications to national and international conferences in the same field and various contributions to collective works.

With the request of the GIR the intention is to frame the activity of this observatory at the UVa so that it becomes part of its work and research projection.

GENERAL OBJECTIVES

• Maintain lines of research that generate knowledge about the digital society or also called mobile society: trends and assessment of changes in social behavior that the different use of new entertainment products are causing in present and future generations.

• Establish research collaboration agreements with different organizations, public and private, as well as with other research groups with similar concerns to increase the social projection of the results and make citizens more involved in / in all studies.

• Establish a link between the university and the world of the youngest, not only from the academic area, but also from the company and agents directly related to their leisure and free time (operators, broadcasters, televisions, consultants and experts, institutions , producers, creatives, etc.).

• Generate information that can be part of the different repositories covered by public organizations, as an option for the dissemination of knowledge.

SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES

• Develop and consolidate Ocendi and its website as a platform around which multidisciplinary research and research groups can be articulated to study leisure and cultural trends in different segments of the population, especially those of the youngest (Generation Z).

• Create a platform for the dissemination of knowledge about the evolution of the information and knowledge society through the publication of relevant scientific contributions prepared by the Spanish scientific community that are directly related to the analysis of digital culture and new consumption habits and behavior in relation to the media especially.

• Create a terrain of discussion on the trends and consequences of the consumption of digital leisure by young people, of a multidisciplinary and inter-university nature, which allows reflection on new socio-cultural changes related to the primacy of communication in the current moment.

• Study of the relationship between supply (media) and demand (users) to find out consumption trends and the attitude of young people towards the media that can offer them digital entertainment options.

• Prepare reports on the situation and conditions of the digital culture of the 21st century from the perspective of new trends in communication, entertainment, leisure and changes in consumer habits, reception of messages, devices and new technologies, profiles of users, creativity and innovation in content and transformation of the media.

• Design a space for the dissemination of these studies and conclusions.

LINES OF INVESTIGATION

• Generation Z: Who are they and what is their different behavior compared to previous generations. Analysis of the tastes, preferences and opinions of the new generations in digital consumption framed in the XXI century: Media, content and formats most in demand.

• Communication and digital culture in the XXI century. Study of the behavior of young people in the consumption of digital leisure: Changes and influence of the activity that digital natives manifest in the current digital culture, a culture that they themselves are helping to transform with their differentiated habits from conventional ones, their choice of offers, and your willingness to maintain, produce and share those preferences.

• Analysis of the sociological and cultural consequences that lead to the constitution of a new society with different values ​​that must be observed and valued. The social responsibility of the most important active social agents in the new digital environment: Administration, Institutions, Companies and parents. Proposal of possible improvement tips to try to alleviate the negative impact. Education as an opportunity.

• Study and delimitation of future formulas for success in the field of entertainment and leisure related to new technologies that promote a participatory, supportive digital culture, respectful of human rights and with universal accessibility, jointly responsible with the knowledge society that is developing: creativity, innovation and promotion of citizen participation.

• The leisure and digital entertainment industry in the Third Millennium (in audiovisual terms): cinema, radio, television, mobile and Internet (-web 2.0 and web 3.0 or semantics-). New genres and formats, market strategies, audiences and transmedia narratives.

• Realism in today's cinema in the face of digital culture. Changes produced by new formats, broadcast and reception systems; intertextuality between documentary and fiction. Cinema (due to its ontological nature) as a trace of reality, beyond the new supports.