Abstract:

The Fundació La Marató de Televisió de Catalunya (TV3), the autonomic catalan television, was created in 1996 by the Catalan Audiovisual Media Corporation (CCMA) with the mission of fostering and promoting biomedical research of excellence, as well as raising social awareness about the diseases dealt with in the television programme La Marató de TV3, by means of campaigns involving the public and also through publicity and educational events. La Marató de TV3 is an annual telethon broadcast by TV3 and the Fundació La Marató de TV3 to raise funds for scientific research into diseases which are currently incurable, also informing the Catalan public about these diseases and explains the need for research aimed at preventing and curing them.

TV3 was the first public television station in Spain to broadcast a telethon, in 1992. TV3’s work over the years has turned the telethon into an enormous success. This live television programme is broadcast in December every year and lasts about 15 hours. Every year La Marató attracts an audience of more than 3 million viewers, collects an average of 7 million euros, and mobilises so many people that it is regarded as Catalonia's great festival of community spirit and generosity. It is the most successful televised fund-raiser in Spain and ranks among the most prestigious international telethons.

The programme is designed to raise awareness, to inform, and to entertain. To continue reaching its goals La Marató de TV3, which started out as just a television programme, has grown and developed over the years and now includes spin-offs such as the Disc de La Marató, a DVD collection of music performed during the Telethon, and a book entitled Llibre de La Marató.

Since 2011 a new platform has been introduced to complete the transmedia strategy to dissemintate knowledge through the society: the educational website. This interactive resource is a proposal for educational purposes that complements the knowledge of diseases and disorders and it's focused on real testimonies of people suffering from them. The interactive platform allow the user to first-hand discover, using navigation and interaction methods, that his/her life is not like those who do not have such problems. The interactive website it's a year project long which allow new visitors to the TV3 portal to know how to live with the disease, how their families live their problems, if there are treatments to cure them, if symptoms can be detected in time, etc.

The website has a clearly educational purpose as well, because it was initially conceived to be brought to schools and higschools in order to allow students play, navigate, interact and learn using the interface. Using gamification logics, exercises, activities amd other strategies, every year the issue selected it's treated as an interactive tour through different media and resources where users can find theoretical material about these diseases, in addition to educational and recreational resources that will strengthen the knowledge on the subject and helps the school revitalization proposals. The outcome of the project is a complex and multimodal multimedia proposal that can be experienced both in groups and individually, and is flexible enough to allow tutors be who decide which route to take and in which rythm and level do it.

Keywords:

La Marató, Televisió de Catalunya, Interactive platforms, Schools, Transmedia Project.