What are teens doing with media? - An ethnographic approach for identifying transmedia skills and informal learning strategies

Oct 15, 2026

The article frames the emergence of new media, devices, narratives, and practices as a driver for revising media literacy theories and methods. Building on the concept of “transmedia literacy,” it studies how teens learn and act with media outside school and uses an ethnographic methodology to analyze the acquisition of transmedia skills in informal learning settings. The approach is developed and evaluated with Barcelona high-school students through a research kit of surveys, creative workshops, interactive interviews, and media diaries (ages 12–18).

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages19

Reading Time48 min

AccessFree to download

Abstract

I. Introduction: New Literacies, Transmedia Skills and Informal Learning Strategies

are doing with approach for identifying transmedia skills and informal learning strategies What are teens doing with media? An ethnographic approach for identifying transmedia skills and informal learning strategies Carlos A. Scolari [carlosalberto.scolari@upf.edu](carlosalberto.scolari@upf.edu) Universitat Pompeu Fabra-Barcelona Elisenda Ardèvol [eardevol@uoc.edu](eardevol@uoc.edu) Universitat Oberta de Catalunya Òliver Pérez-Latorre [oliver.perez@upf.edu](oliver.perez@upf.edu) Universitat Pompeu Fabra-Barcelona Maria-Jose Masanet [mjose. masanet@ub.edu](mjose. masanet@ub.edu) Universitat de Barcelona Nohemi Lugo Rodríguez [nlugo@itesm. mx](nlugo@itesm. mx) ITESM Querétaro Abstract The emergence of new media, devices, narratives and practices has compelled media literacy scholars and professionals to review their theoretical frameworks and methodological approaches . Based on a new conception – ‘transmedia literacy’ – that moves from traditional media literacy to informal learning and participatory culture practices, the research program behind the present article aims to understand how new generations are doing things with media outside schools and how they learnt to do the things they do . The article begins by describing the transformations of media literacy in recent years as a consequence of the mutations of the media ecology and, in that context, proposes a methodological approach for analysing the acquisition of transmedia skills by teens in informal learning environments . The article describes, analyses and evaluates the development and initial implementation of this methodology working with teenagers in a high-school in Barcelona . It ends with a Research Kit that includes surveys, creative workshops, interactive interviews and media diaries with teens between 12-18 years old. The article also describes the evolution of this methodological approach from its original formulation to the evaluation of the model after it was tested, and reflects on the possibilities of developing specific research devices to be applied in transnational research. Keywords Transmedia literacy ; media literacy ; ethnography ; transmedia skills ; informal learning strategies C. A. Scolari, E. Ardèvol, O. Pérez-Latorre, M.-J. Masanet & C. N. Lugo Rodríguez Digital Education Review-Number 37, June 2020-[http://greav.ub.edu/der/](http://greav.ub.edu/der/) 269 I. Introduction: New Literacies, Transmedia Skills and Informal Learning Strategies Since the diffusion of personal computing in the 1980s and the expansion of the Web in the 1990s, digital technology has been a catalyst for social change in contemporary societies . Many researchers, institutions and professionals argue that while the media system has adopted and adapted to new digital technologies, schools still perceive the‘digital transition’ as a traumatic process (EAVI/DTI/OII, 2011) . Although schools have made great efforts to adapt to the new socio-technical conditions in the past two decades, the general perception is that the social life of children, pre-teens and teens is built up around a set of digital technologies – from social media to mobile devices – and new practices that are frequently very different from the educational protocols of schools . According to Castells (2007) there is still a cultural and technological gap between today's youth and a school system that has not evolved along with society and the digital environment: ‘the idea that today a young person must load a backpack of boring text books set by ministerial bureaucrats, and must remain closed in a classroom to support an irrelevant speech in the name of his/her future, is simply absurd’ (Castells, 2007: 25) . Even if the situation may vary from country to country, from region to region, from cities to rural areas or from public schools to private ones, Castells’ analysis is not far from the reality of many educational institutions . The vast diffusion

FAQs

What is the article’s main research objective?

It aims to identify teens’ transmedia skills and informal learning strategies and explain how these can be introduced into formal education settings.

What methodological approach does the article propose?

It proposes an ethnographic methodological approach to analyze how teens acquire transmedia skills in informal learning environments.

How was the methodology developed and evaluated?

The methodology was developed, initially implemented, and evaluated with teenagers in a high school in Barcelona, and then refined based on testing and evaluation of the model.

Oct 15, 2026

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