Jordi Sánchez-Navarro

Messenger and social network sites as tools for sociability, leisure and informal learning for Spanish young people

Today’s youth are the first generation to have grown up in an environment characterized by the widespread use of the Internet, especially in the form of instant messaging services (such as Messenger) and social network sites (SNSs), which are part of their everyday life and constitute essential tools to communicate, share, participate and create. This research note discusses qualitative information obtained from various discussion groups about the actual use of the Internet, messaging services and SNSs. In addition, quantitative data obtained through a survey of the Spanish population between 12 and 18 years old are provided as a general context to position the discussion. The data show that young people have mainly learnt to use the Internet in informal spaces. For them, these technologies are primarily tools for leisure and sociability. Moreover, youth perceptions about their own use of digital technologies show characteristic forms of management of their social needs related to being a teenager, as well as the construction of their own codes and communication protocols.

‘The fruits of my own labor’: A case study on clashing models of co-creativity in the new media landscape

This article deals with the engagement of new media users in specific forms of participatory content production, focusing on productive and labour aspects in co-creative endeavours. We present a case analysis of a community-based filmmaking software, Moviestorm, focused on a specific set of practices – modding – and following the controversy that took place when a shift in the company’s business model altered the rules that tacitly constituted modders’ practices, particularly the notion of control over their own labour. We pay attention to motivations and expected rewards expressed by both modders and the company as a part of a negotiation process around the ownership and the affective and economic value of user-generated content. Our central argument is that through the analysis of practices, particularly in moments of conflict and change, we can acquire a more subtle understanding of an economy of affections in co-creative processes as well as observing the clashing models of co-creativity, with different approaches to peer production and hierarchy.

An overview of use, knowledge and perceptions of the Internet in Spain

The present data article offers a dataset about the use, knowledge, attitudes, and perceptions of the Internet in the entire of Spanish territory (16–65+). The data is achieved through biennial surveys in 2011 and 2013. This allows observing the evolution of assessments, the perception of use and penetration that different digital services have in the Spanish society. The paper includes some descriptive data that shows characteristic of internet access and Internet consumption among internet users and non-users over 16 years old.