Sistema Regional de Información
en línea para Revistas Científicas de América Latina,
el Caribe, España y Portugal

In the context of the accelerated proliferation of digital communication spaces, motherhood is increasingly defined in terms of consumer practices. However, like other consumption and marketing practices, social media interactions produce static cultural norms. The present research focuses on the emergence of maternal digital markets in Instagram accounts in Chile. Using tools from digital ethnography, narrative analysis and visual analysis, we explore the composition of images and text content to elucidate the ways in which the legitimacy journey from experience to the offer of different products, workshops or general advice on parenting and care, mobilize affects and normative ideals about "good motherhood". The results suggest that the assemblage between algorithms, affects and norms produces specific images about motherhood together with the users, through the monitoring of their actions and preferences, thus shaping a mechanism of consumer surveillance. The analysis of the normative movement shows a discourse based on "wanting", transforming motherhood into a project of self-making, while affects are sustained by the promise of belonging and the mobilization of a sense of emotional and/or material shortage.

The aim of this article is to rethink the approaches and methodologies to investigate the emerging processes of communication in the current physical virtual context. To this end, it posits the need to develop an integral view that includes the practices of production and use of technologies along with the creation of contents and the materiality of expressive languages. In this vein, it proposes a multidimensional analysis model to evaluate the sustainability processes of dynamic intermedial devices (DID) developed in different socio-institutional frameworks dedicated to communication, education, and cultural management. This model is made up by four interrelated dimensions: politicalinstitutional, technological, social, and intermedial. Each dimension interacts with the other and is interwoven with empirical phenomena. We consider that this model constitutes a theoretical methodological contribution to communication and technology studies, since it has methodological flexibility to adapt to different case studies, allows the integration of different research methods and techniques, and enables a characterization that articulates macro and micro social processes in the same approach. Finally, from a constructivist perspective, it is argued that in order to study the socio-technical sustainability of these devices it is necessary to understand technologies  as artefacts and systems that developed, model and resignify themselves in different ways in each context.

The collection of datasets from real interactions is an unavoidable step in many research works aiming to understand language use. In the field of digital discourse analysis, data collection is complex due to the fast paced changes in the applications and the ethical decisions involved. This work has two goals. First, we seek to show an overview of the literature on datasets of digital exchanges by WhatsApp. Then, we aim to systematize different sampling techniques used in previous research.  We thus proceeded by applying content analysis to 100 research articles and theses retrieved from open access portals. We conducted a descriptive analysis that included the amount of data collected, the technique employed in the collection of the data, the method used to contact participants, and the online access to the linguistic corpora, among other variables. The results show the existence of some corpora annotated and available in languages other than Spanish. In addition, most of the  literature shows a combination of different techniques to collect a wide set of linguistic and multimodal data. Then, we systematize the main methodological alternatives for data collection from digital interactions by WhatsApp, with the participant observation method standing out.

This article is a methodological reflection on a digital ethnography among Spanish-language BookTubers conducted between 2017 and 2020. It presents a review of the main ways of understanding the ethnographic paradigm in the digital context, specifically on YouTube, and raises methodological reflections around five topics: 1) the field as a construct of open participation, 2) the role of affect in digital ethnography, 3) the construction of social ties from affinity, 4) the datification of practices and social relations, and 5) the implications of the public exposure of the researcher. The aim is to contribute to the understanding of the forms of literary prosumption on YouTube, to the practices of digital ethnography and auto-ethnography on digital platforms, and to the methodological debates on the study of content creators on digital platforms.

This paper makes an epistemic political intervention in three parts. First, we elaborate a critique of the theoretical methodological logics usually reproduced without considering the differences between the place where the methods originated and the place where they are applied. Specifically, we problematize the idea of novelty, which has been predominant in the study of digital phenomena. Second, we discuss some elements of the so-called decolonial turn that we consider inspiring to account for the relationship between methodologies and research on digital culture. Third, we advance a series of specific proposals to develop methodologies that respond to the specific contexts of Latin America and digital culture.

This article discusses the intersection of ethnography and design as a methodological approach in two studies which purpose was to design for people with preverbal autism and their mothers. The researcher discusses the influence and challenges of her positioning in the different stages of the research since she belongs to the group with whom and for whom the research was conducted. As a finding of the methodological implementation of these investigations, an initial framework is proposed to carry out inclusive ethnography. Finally, there is a reflection on the meaning of ethnography and design in relation to participatory action research and situated research.

We present a proposal of methodology to study the institutional websites considered as digital public spaces. The theoretical foundation comes from the discussions on public communication and citizenship, articulated with a sociocultural approach to the study of the Internet. It consists of a mixed, tested methodology that incorporates evaluative metrics, a qualitative approach and a social intervention strategy. The article ends with a discussion reflecting on its scope and limitations, as well as a conclusion that establishes the nature of its contribution.

In 2021, Colombia experienced one of the most significant periods of social protests –initially motivated as a response to the reforms proposed by this country’s government in tax, health, or pension matters– in its recent republican history. A highly conflictive scenario, in which social networks played a leading role reporting what happened each day of protests and as a scenario to vindicate social demands. In this context, this work aims to understand how the sentimental polarization observed on Twitter favored the digital mobilization strategy. To this end, we collected 1,215,646 messages published in Spanish on Twitter from 05/01/2021 to 07/03/2022, and linked to the leading hashtags used during the period studied (#paronacionalcolombia, #nosestanmatandocolombia, #SOSColombia, #Colombiaalertaroja, and #ColombiaSOSDDHH). The results show us an apparent coordination between users located in different countries, who digitally mobilize the debate around these protests through the viralization of thematic axes focused mainly on making visible the protests’ development, the violence of the Colombian security forces, and the violation of human rights. These issues addressed in micro-narratives published on Twitter contain a different sentimental charge, depending on the country of origin of these messages. This can favour the polarization and conflict of public opinion around what happened in that country.

Among the current challenges related to the digital preservation of heritage is the adoption of metadata normalization and standardization processes. This article discusses some challenges related to the digital preservation and dissemination of Mexico’s cultural heritage in the project Mexicana, el repositorio del patrimonio cultural de México (Mexicana, the repository of Mexico's cultural heritage), four years after its publication. From this discussion and the comparison of the data processing of an emblematic Mexican object, the Piedra de Sol, we show the positive consequences of adopting specific standardization processes and of proposing a strategy of interoperability between repositories, as well as the results of standardization with metadata schemas. Some recommendations are also made to consolidate a future digital preservation program for Mexico’s cultural heritage, which should be agreed upon by researchers, administrators, institution managers, and other agents in the cultural sphere.

The article presents the results of a qualitative study on media pluralismthrough semi-structured interviews with workers and managers of 28 regional, local, and community Chilean television channels. The main areas of inquiry were self-perception, financial sustainability, digitization, social sustainability, and institutionalism. Among the results, an understanding of pluralism focused on political and gender pluralism, and as a concept taken for granted rather than being problematized, stands out. The lack ofeconomic resources is considered the main obstacle that prevents pluralism and a low level of knowledge about the legal obligations related to it is observed. The study concludes regarding the need to strengthen the sector from public policies, including the promotion of mechanisms that allow these channels to participate equitably in the relevant markets of the television industry.