Abstract:

The purpose of this study is to explore the recurrent narratives children select from their media environment. For most students, content exposure to digital media is a voluntary act, where they intentionally choose a certain type of content within the immense flow of communication messages circulating in all kinds of platforms and devices that make up what we call the media environment. Hence, from the Users and Gratifications (U&G) premise that considers the child an active user of the media, the present article emphasizes the interconnectedness of modern media of communication and the narratives that emerged after analyzing children’s choices, discussing them and its implications for formal education.

Results reported in this study pertain to the second stage of a bigger research effort which earlier findings were presented at ICERI2017 (1). From those findings, it was clear the need to comprehend children’s motivations and chosen content. Hence transmediality, a concept coined by Henry Jenkins in 2003 (2), was indispensable to understand the current media ecology, where storytelling is a central aspect of it. As described by the author, transmedia storytelling represents a process where integral elements of fiction get dispersed systematically across multiple delivery channels. Also, Jenkins explains, it has more dimensions than the extended and magnified intermedia content. It has a powerful background story that connects users to another world with the character's narratives perspectives and points of view (3).

The article proposed here will provide evidence to evaluate this assertion reporting the results from a survey study conducted last year with a sample of 553 of girls and boys from 3rd through 6th grade, registered at private and public schools located in diverse socio-economic areas in Mexico City. From the data gathered in the study, four central narratives emerged, all interconnected within modern media of communication. The transmedia storytelling phenomenon appears to be central in the lives of children, unfortunately occurring far away from the classroom. Is there a new digital divide? Perhaps a fracture between the school and youth media cultures. It was found that most teachers ban media completely and altogether from school activities, probably thinking that the child is saturated by them, preventing the learning of "real" culture”, when in fact, children’s involvement with multiple media narratives are part of their cultural practices and should be linked to key educational concerns.

References:
[1] Baptista-Lucio, M.P. y Nicolás- Gavilán, M.T. (2017) Children´s media environment: A study in Mexico City. Paper presented at the10th annual International Conference of Education, Research and Innovation. Sevilla, España, Noviembre 16-17.
[2] Jenkins, H. (2003, January 15) Transmedia Storytelling. MIT Technology Review. Retrieved from https://www.technologyreview.com/s/401760/transmedia-storytjenkelling/
[3] Jenkins, H. (2009, August 1st) aTransmedia 202, Reflexiones adicionales [Blog Post, ] (M.Olmedo Borrell Trans.). Retrieved from http://henryjenkins.org/blog/2014/09/transmedia-202-reflexiones-adicionales.html

Keywords:

School Children, Media Environment, Transmedia Narratives, Cultural Practices.