Isabel Cunha and Digital Literacy: How Fiction Precedes Facts

15 Mar 2010

Isabel Cunha is on sabbatical in Austin for four months. Her research goals include, among other topics, a digital media bibliography and an analysis of the ways in which fiction products can promote digital literacy.

Isabel Cunha is on sabbatical leave in Austin from March to June 2010. She is developing digital media research. The work will be completed in the Department of Radio-Television-Film as part of the Digital Media Project under the UT Austin | Portugal CoLab (UT/Austin/CD/0016/2008). Her stay maintains the following overriding principles:

1. Collect a digital media bibliography, taking into account the production of content.
2. Explore new methods and software applied to the analysis of digital media.
3. Map studies on production of fiction targeted to various multimedia platforms.
4. Understand how fiction genre products, produced for use on multiple platforms (TV, DVD, games, mobile, Internet), may be used for educational purposes, including the promotion of digital literacy and the deepening of citizenship.

During her stay in Austin, Cunha will develop the following activities to meet her project's needs:

1. An initial comparative approach to the material collected in Portugal and in Texas, through questionnaires about consumption and use of media and the Internet.
2. Contribute to the identification and thorough analysis of questionnaires in Portugal and in Texas, possible patterns of consumption, and use of media and the Internet.
3. Based on the same questionnaires, identify the potential respondents’ expectations regarding the provision of new digital content.

Read more about CoLab research projects.