Abstract:

The fourth paradigm, where radical socio-technological transformations take place, causes an exponential data increase and people producing knowledge. An academic project such as the publication of a book is a challenge. If we add the context of being in the middle of the global Covid19 pandemic, we are talking about a challenge in which the digital universe becomes an ally in all phases of the process.

Since John Blankenbaker's Kenbak-1 (1971) was considered the first electronic device marketed to be the closest thing to a personal computer, the rapidity with which technologies have advanced has meant that, nowadays, the symbiosis of the machine-person reaches limits that few had even been able to imagine (see cinematographic references such as “Metropolis” -Fritz Lang, 1927- or “Modern Times” -Charles Chaplin, 1936-).

Authors such Hine (2015) tell us about ways of life woven around technology that are mediated by a computer, but beyond that mediation system assumed already in our lives, we must value the importance of the media thanks to these technologies. We are talking about the kind of communication that implies the digital connection of the agents participating in it and with it, and its immediacy and agility.

In the current context, the COVID-19 pandemic is affecting our way of relating avoiding physical barriers to protect ourselves from the invisible enemy (confinement, social distancing, masks, screens, etc.). Technology more than ever, is an ally to stay in contact to each other in our different work or personal environments. It is also a means for the development of global projects in which communication and connection are fundamental in the ideation, projection, writing and publication of an academic book.

We will present the process of ideation and development of an academic publication on STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics) at the University, in full confinement and subsequent de-escalation because of the COVID-19 world pandemic. It is a project in collaboration with twenty-four professional colleagues. The way of using digital environments is essential for communication and project organization and allows the management of documents for final printing.

Keywords:

Digital humanism, communication, editorial project, COVID-19.