Pedro Farias Batlle

El uso académico de las redes sociales en universitarios

El uso academico que hacen los universitarios de las redes sociales es el estudio que se presenta a partir de una encuesta administrada a una muestra representativa de estudiantes de la Universidad de Malaga (n=938) y dos grupos de discusion. Dado que el consumo de redes se ha implantado profundamente en las rutinas diarias de los estudiantes, las vastas posibilidades comunicativas de estos canales podrian considerarse para sacar provecho educativo en el futuro, a pesar del predominio del uso dirigido al entretenimiento. Se discuten cuales son las redes mas adecuadas para su uso academico, que tipo de actividades pueden tener mejor acogida entre los estudiantes y que herramientas de las redes sociales podrian ser mas utiles para propositos academicos. Los resultados indican que el consumo de redes sociales de la poblacion estudiada es muy alto. Asi mismo, los estudiantes presentan una actitud favorable a que los docentes utilicen las redes como recurso educativo. Sin embargo, la frecuencia con la que los estudiantes dan un uso academico a las redes es mas bien escasa y, en promedio, las actividades academicas con frecuencia de uso mas elevada son aquellas que parten de la iniciativa de los propios estudiantes, como la solucion de dudas inter pares o la realizacion de trabajos de clase. Del escaso apoyo academico percibido en las redes por los estudiantes, se deduce un limitado aprovechamiento por parte de los docentes.paper examines the academic use made of the social networks by university students through a survey conduc- ted among a representative sample of students at Universidad de Malaga (Spain) (n=938) and two discussion groups. Given that network consumption has profoundly penetrated the daily routines of the students, the vast com- munication possibilities of these channels could be considered for educational use in the future despite a predomi- nance of entertainment-related use. We discuss the most suitable networks for academic use, which type of activities may be most widely accepted among the students and which social networking tools could be most useful for aca- demic purposes. The results indicate that consumption of social networks in the student population surveyed is very high. In addition, the students show a favourable attitude to lecturers using social networks as an academic resource. However, the frequency of use of such networks for academic activities was rather low and, on average, the most frequently used academic activities are those initiated by the students themselves, such as answering queries among peers or doing coursework. The perceived low academic support on social networks may mean that lecturers take only limited advantage of their potential.

Credibilidad de los medios: un análisis bivariado de las opiniones de los españoles

Credibility is a central topic in the debate about the news media. Several reasons justify its study such as the implication on the news media quality or the possible association with people’s media consume. This paper examines the Spanish public opinion about the news media with the greatest credibility. The association with variables such as gender, age, education, media preference for news, level of news exposure, level of diversity in news media diet, and pattern of news consumption is explored. We analyzed data from a survey conducted in 2010 to a representative sample (n= 1,205) of the Spanish population. The paper concludes that the majority of the sample thinks that the television is the most credible media. However, findings depend on the individual traits of the individuals. The opinion about the most credible news media is mainly associated with education level. The association with pattern of news consumption and media preference suggests that people attribute more credibility to the media they use more often; therefore, relative credibility indicates a signal of affectivity rather than a comparative judgment about the veracity of news contents.

Information Quality and Trust: From Traditional Media to Cybermedia

The practice of journalism has suffered, in last years, an increasing discredit in the public opinion. First, we will make a review of the basis of journalistic quality, to later make and approach to information credibility as a way to assess the causes of the decline in media reputation—both traditional and cybermedia—perceived by receivers. With the aim of assessing and valuing the causes of the profession discredit among citizens, we will collect the latest reports from the Madrid Press Association on journalism, with a representative sample of total Spanish population. Therefore, we note that the main reasons why journalism is being discredited are the uncertainty concerning job security and the emergence of new non-professionalized media players on social networks.

La prensa y las transiciones políticas a la democracia

Los medios de comunicacion han sido y son elementos indispensables para medir el grado de democracia de un sistema politico. La transicion democratica espanola no estuvo exenta de la presencia de una prensa que en gran medida influyo en el desarrollo politico. El autor analiza en este trabajo la participacion de la prensa como generadora del clima democratico, con el apoyo al proceso de reformas y sustituyendo la carencia de instituciones democraticas.