Abstract:

Traditionally, communication agencies have been conceptualized under a patronage relationship with the processes of mass persuasion for consumption (Bauman, 2007). However, new epistemologies from social advertising and communication for development provide conceptual and methodological guidelines for the implementation of creative processes under similar conditions to those of an agency (agent-client structures) providing significant experiences for the resolution communities' social problems.

Based on Scolari's assumptions (2008) around transmedia literacy, the project proposes an approach to a pedagogical model based on the co-creation of transmedia pieces as universes of convergence narratives from which the processes of design, conceptualization, production, and dissemination of communication campaigns start. Making visible and contributing to the resolution of social problems perceived by community leaders and residents of the San Francisco, Marco Fidel Suárez and Molinos neighborhoods, located in the south side of Bogotá (Colombia).

As such, a pedagogical model of co-creation can be de-constructed around the active participation of students and communities as creators and multipliers of their knowledge in their respective incidence environments in the frame of a communications agency that makes not only possible the encounter but also the recognition of the otherness. In that context, the role of the educator changes from a transmitter of technical, aesthetical and narrative knowledge to a manager and mediator of the agent's creation experiences.

In this topic, following Kurt Lewis' epistemological assumptions of Action Research (Martinez, 2000), this transmedia literacy creation-research project seeks, from an experimental perspective, to respond to social challenges of the local environment through the citizen's action.

In that vein, the methodology proposes three different stages. First, a stage of thawing (modification of the situations that sustain social problems), second, a stage of movement (change of behaviors, habits, behaviors, and attitudes) and third, a refreezing stage (stabilization of the community impact from a new steady state). Thus, the project considers eight different steps for the project development that consist of the recognition of a current unsatisfactory situation or state of things. The identification of a problematic area and a particular situation to be solved through specific actions. The formulation of hypotheses that addresses how to transform such problem, and then, the selection of one. The execution of actions mediated by the chosen hypothesis, the evaluation of the actions' effects and finally, the formulation of generalizations.

For this specific case, the first phase consists of the identification of the public to impact; following by a social issues diagnosis evidenced by the community (phase 2); then, throughout a co-creation dynamic the community builds a Strategic Communications Plan to address possible solutions to the identified problematics (phase 3). In the fourth phase, the transmedia literacy workshops for the community and students of social communication take place. Then, from a collaborative perspective and in the context of the Communication Agency, the participants co-create transmedia pieces (phase 5). Finally, with the collaboration of alternative and traditional media outlets, the transmedia productions circulate (phase 6).

Keywords:

Transmedia, Media Literacy, Communication Agency, Co-creation, Communication for development, Social Advertising.