Understanding M.E.D.I.A. (Media, Entertainment, Design, Information and Arts): The Extensions of Communication.

Abstract

The aim of this research project is to explore a set of contemporary media practices, more specifically, a set of unique media products (named in the study as PMS, acronym in Portuguese for Produtos Midiáticos Singulares), with the objective of highlighting the growing relevance in the field of communication of five knowledge areas, namely: media, entertainment, design, information and the arts, which can be grouped using the acronym M.E.D.I.A.The research seeks to deepen understanding about a set of points initially mapped considering the tensions and the extensions that M.E.D.I.A. bring to the field of communication. These points can be synthesized in the following topics: tensioning of the idea of medium through the idea of media arrangement; crisis in journalism and advertising models, such as structured in mass culture, due to the emergence of media arrangements; the emergence of entertainment as language; statement of the digital design as fundamental knowledge on translation of grammars of different media arrangements; updating of the sentence "the medium is the message" (McLuhan) to the expression "media arrangements are data", regarding the relevance that data and the idea of information gain within the contemporary dynamics of communication; the Visual Arts arose as a functional and necessary art in journalism and in the production of PMS, representing and translating data to a non-specialized public.In addition to the deepening of the investigation around the points listed, the search has a set of specific objectives that will be undertaken in a semester:Bibliographic Survey. This issue looks for authors who have been relating disciplines of contemporary communication dynamics with M.E.D.I.A. (Period: July and August 2015);Map a set of PMS from productions funded by The Brown Institute For Media Innovation and, eventually, from related centers - as the Tow Center For Digital Journalism - that will serve as a reference to the body of knowledge regarding how relevant and necessary are M.E.D.I.A. in the training of media professionals, particularly in journalism (Period: August and September 2015);Point models of production and transmission of knowledge - as new curricula, technologies, environments (classrooms, laboratories etc), pedagogies and cognitive skills - which should be part of student and professional training of communication, particularly in journalism, in light of M.E.D.I.A. (Period: July 2015 to January 2016);Some of the expected results of the survey:Highlight the importance of the set of knowledge M.E.D.I.A. in the field of communication today, rethinking this field from an epistemological perspective, on the one hand, and empirical (training), on the other;Build partnerships and various forms of collaborative research and scholarly work between the Brown Institute Journalism School of Columbia University and the ESPM Media Lab, the undergraduate and professional masters in Journalism from ESPM;Write a blog during the search process, an article, a report and later a book, which reflect the present study;Present research findings to the academic community of ESPM, as well as for major media companies located in the city of São Paulo, as Grupo Abril, Estado de São Paulo, Folha de São Paulo, Terra Portal, among others, whereas these media companies have exchanged ideas with the ESPM Media Lab, searching for innovation in media.