Scipedia: Documents published in 2017

LGTBI culture in Spanish public libraries. Dialogue on new equality laws

Scipedia content — Mon, 01 Apr 2019 10:17:49 +0200

The current relevance of LGTBI collections in public libraries is studied; these collections are included and prescribed in the recent laws for equality in Spanish regions such as Galicia, Catalonia, Extremadura, Madrid, Murcia, and Balearic Islands. After reflecting on the visibility of LGTBI authors and editorials, it is concluded that these collections are still scarce and that public libraries must learn about and incorporate information and documents that expand the social knowledge of sexual diversity.

Bibliometrics services and academic libraries: Towards transparency

Scipedia content — Mon, 01 Apr 2019 10:17:37 +0200

Bibliometric services are being consolidated in the Spanish academic field due to growing interest in academic performance by university managers and leaders. Academic librarians are a key part of the bibliometric services because of their expertise in providing support and training to researchers and advice in research assessment. Bibliometric services functions and the current landscape of bibliometric services in Spain are described.

The happy discovery of the "facilitated collection"

Scipedia content — Mon, 01 Apr 2019 10:17:29 +0200

Lorcan Dempsey has formulated the brilliant concept of the "facilitated collection”, which represents what the academic library collection should be today. Library collections have traditionally been dominated by print logic, where size and closeness are core values. This logic has been altered by the possibilities of the Internet and digital collections. Presently, collections can be built around the user's needs and as a result libraries must assure access to documents that are not necessary owned by the library. Therefore, collection development should be based on cooperation between institutions, which entails a great deal of effort because of the constant updating, maintenance of catalogs, and discarding the vision that assimilates a collection to a property.

Marketing and library spaces, doomed to meet each other

Scipedia content — Mon, 01 Apr 2019 10:17:22 +0200

An approach to the marketing and promotion of library spaces is presented. While library marketing has been extensively studied, much like library design, few studies have been devoted to the marketing of physical spaces. This can be done in four ways: using marketing tools for library design; adapting the library’s spaces to improve the user experience; taking advantage of the presence of users to carry out market research; and using an architectural image to promote the library. Finally, the need to take care of the appearance and visual appeal of the library is presented.

La investigación en información y documentación en Cataluña: progresa adecuadamente, pero necesita mejorar

Scipedia content — Mon, 01 Apr 2019 10:17:14 +0200

En este informe, promovido por el COBDC y realizado por cuatro profesores del área, se intenta responder a la pregunta que en su momento se hizo el Observatori de la Recerca del IEC (Institut d’Estudis Catalans): ¿Hay investigación en información y documentación? Arguimbau, Llorenç (coord.). Informe de la recerca en Informació, Documentació i Arxivística a Catalunya (2000-2013). Barcelona: Institut d’Estudis Catalans. http://eprints.rclis.org/29658/1/infreccat.pdf

Académicos y bibliotecarios: muchos encuentros y algunos desencuentros

Scipedia content — Mon, 01 Apr 2019 10:17:06 +0200

Los bibliotecarios tenemos una tendencia innata a creer que sabemos qué es lo que necesitan nuestros usuarios. Cuando las encuestas de satisfacción se han ido generalizando, hemos podido comprobar que la mezcla de datos objetivos, intuición y convicción sobre la bondad de nuestro producto estaba, en general, bien encaminada. Library Journal Research; Gale Cengage Learning (2015). Bridging the librarian-faculty gap in the academic library. 61 p. https://s3.amazonaws.com/WebVault/surveys/LJ_ AcademicLibrarySurvey2015_results.pdf

ADI, ASIS, ASIS&T…, trends and opportunities for professional networking

Scipedia content — Mon, 01 Apr 2019 10:16:58 +0200

The evolution of occupational profiles of information professionals

Scipedia content — Mon, 01 Apr 2019 10:16:49 +0200

The evolution of the job market for information professionals within the last several years is categorized into three concentric layers: core, envelope, and horizon. This overview is complemented by the analysis of job offers managed by the Faculty of Library and Information Science's Job Offers Information Service (SIOF) of the University of Barcelona in the 2015-16 academic year and it is also compared with the data of the 2009-2010 academic year. There have been significant variations in the job providers side (evolving from public to private sectors) and in the most demanded profiles (from the traditional library core to new emerging functions). Finally, some implications of these changes for universities, associations, and professionals are explained.

Information Schools: Current panorama, trends and proposals

Scipedia content — Mon, 01 Apr 2019 10:16:42 +0200

An overview of the iSchools movement and its evolution in recent years is presented. Its growth at a global level is described, stating that the number of centers outside the United States has surpassed the number inside. Perspectives of growth are analyzed. Continental chapters have been created, and the European one is described. Considering that, at present, there are 6 Iberian iSchools, some future possibilities for collaboration are suggested.

Library and information science: Past and future from an international perspective

Scipedia content — Mon, 01 Apr 2019 10:16:34 +0200

Some of the historical and political aspects that have shaped Library and Information Science professions in Spain, and other countries such as Brazil and the United States, are reviewed. This paper aims to identify some of the key trends and to propose some contents that should be covered by graduate and undergraduate programs. I propose a greater emphasis on technology, ethics, critical theories, and research in LIS studies, as well as a closer collaboration with Journalism, Communication, and Computer Science.

University training and professional performance for public sector employees in library and information science

Scipedia content — Mon, 01 Apr 2019 10:16:26 +0200

The suitability of Library and Information Science undergraduate studies to jobs in Public Administration is reviewed. Tables and graphics that show the consequences of the current economic crisis on the employment rates of Public Administration are shown. Some final considerations about the relevance of the selection process that graduates must pass to access the different areas of Public Administration in Spain are given.

Perceptions 2016: An international survey of library automation

Scipedia content — Mon, 01 Apr 2019 10:16:16 +0200

Results are presented of an online survey answered by 4,042 libraries in 92 countries between November 3rd 2015 and January 18th 2017, based on their experiences with a total of 138 integrated library systems (ILS), both commercial and open source. The best products classified in the various categories analysed were Alma (Ex Libris), WorldShare Management Services (OCLC), Polaris, Apollo (Biblionix), Symphony (SirsiDynix), Opals, Library.Solution (The Library Corporation), and ByWater Solutions. The original English report was published on January 25, 2017 on the author’s website: http://librarytechnology.org/perceptions/2016

El 11º Anuario ThinkEPI y su modelo editorial

Scipedia content — Mon, 01 Apr 2019 10:16:05 +0200

Presentamos en estas páginas el volumen 11 del Anuario ThinkEPI. Esta publicación, iniciativa de Tomàs Baiget, ha mantenido de forma regular durante ya más de una década la apuesta por un modelo diferente dentro del panorama de las revistas científicas de biblioteconomía, documentación, ciencias de la información y comunicación.

Sumario

Scipedia content — Mon, 01 Apr 2019 10:15:56 +0200

Digital Reading and Reading Competence – The influence in the Z Generation from the Dominican Republic

Scipedia content — Wed, 27 Mar 2019 16:34:43 +0100

Most Latin American countries are focused upon improving learning quality by providing schools with technological resources, as if their sole presence was enough to develop 21st Century skills. Digital reading is not an end in itself; it is a tool that a user selects, depending on the desired purpose and uses it in specific contexts. Adolescents access Internet with at least four purposes: academic, recreational, socialization and communication. This study describes said purposes in adolescents from the Dominican Republic and relates them to their reading literacy proficiency level in two educational contexts: public and private schools. The sample group included 382 students in their fourth year of secondary school (10th grade). Two instruments were used: CoLeP, based on texts from PISA, and a Scale to measure reading frequency, which classifies the four reading purposes in two formats: printed and digital. The conclusion is that most students access and use the Internet for academic purposes, regardless of the educational sector. Nevertheless, reading literacy proficiency differs significantly with students from public schools being in lower levels. This minimizes the opportunities of the most vulnerable social sectors producing reading illiterates that have high economic costs for the nation.

Music and its Significance in Children Favourite Audiovisuals

Scipedia content — Wed, 27 Mar 2019 16:34:12 +0100

Audiovisual media are part of children´s daily life. They build and/or replace a part of the reality that is sometimes preceded. This paper is interested in one of the elements of the audiovisual binomial, the soundtrack, in order to analyse its meaning and sense from the children’s point of view. The objectives are: to determine if the audiovisual media clips to which children are exposed (sound, image and all) are perceived differently; to establish the possible differences in the assessment they make when comparing the sound and image presentation modalities. Fourteen audiovisual media (movies, series, cartoons and documentaries) were identified by 115 children (10-12 years old) as preferred. Audiovisuals were edited in three modalities (sound, image, and all) and grouped into different series of three clips, which were watched in group sessions by 547 Spanish and Argentinian children (mean age: 11 years old). An Assessment Questionnaire of audiovisual clips was designed and implemented. Results showed differences in the meaning of the soundtrack in three of the five categories of the questionnaire. The significant predominance of the sound in series, documentaries and, especially, movies is highlighted. Contextual space-time elements, affective implications, feelings, and empathy as well as assessment of the experience are all perceived by means of the sound (the music).

M-learning and Augmented Reality: A Review of the Scientific Literature on the WoS Repository

Scipedia content — Wed, 27 Mar 2019 16:33:20 +0100

Augmented reality emerges as a tool, on which it is necessary to examine its real educational value. This paper shows the results of a bibliometric analysis performed on documents collected from the Web of Science repository, an Internet service that concentrates bibliographic information from more than 7,000 institutions. Our analysis included an overall universe of 12,000 indexed journals and 148,000 conference proceedings. From those, we selected a sample targeting the terms “mobile-learning” or “m-learning” and “augmented reality” as descriptors or components of titles of scientific works. The analysis on journals (n=741) and in conference proceedings (n=913) reveals a differentiated perspective in each area in the last two years. A qualitative ana¬lysis of 67 scientific productions addressing these subjects complements the research. This highlights five themes: conceptualization of the phenomenon, development of new methodologies, motivation, spatial delocalization, and implementation in subject-matter areas. The research highlights logical changes, such as greater and differentiated access to information; transcendent innovations, such as increasing informal and ludic activities, insertion into virtual environments, membership of specific groups, and networks of friendly interaction, along creation of new scales of values. These elements are now beginning to constitute fundamental parts of teaching methodologies. Education appears to be subsidiary to technical advances, thus imposing a drastic methodological change.

Communication Efficiency in Education: Increasing Emotions and Storytelling

Scipedia content — Wed, 27 Mar 2019 16:32:28 +0100

The research supporting this paper addresses the problem of educational communication efficacy using a dual methodology strategy. Over 1.200 questionnaires were given out to professionals in four institutions dedicated to persuasive communication; two traditional ?the church and schools? and two more recently created ? journalism and advertising. Probably they are the four groups with more socialising force in the last centuries; For this paper the educators’ responses were specifically analysed to determine their conception of the communication process and the requirements for effective communication, and these were compared with those from the other groups, especially from advertising professionals. Lastly, all the responses were compared to contributions from neuroscience that have been made in recent decades about how the human mind functions, particularly with regards to decision-making, to determine which communication proposals provide a greater guarantee of efficacy. The results indicate the need for educators to break away from a strictly cognitive polarized communication that focuses on transmission. They are more related with guaranteeing the supply than creating a demand, and open up to the communicative potential of emotions, interaction and storytelling.

Neuroscience for Content Innovation on European Public Service Broadcasters

Scipedia content — Wed, 27 Mar 2019 16:28:24 +0100

The new media landscape is characterized by the fragmentation and disaffection of the audience towards The new media landscape is characterized by the fragmentation and disaffection of the audience towards traditional television. Such a context requires innovative strategies to meet the needs of the public and connect with it. This article analyses the ability of Neuroscience to optimize the production of content adapted to audiences. For this purpose, a review of management and economic reports and corporate websites of the European public broadcasters (N=100) was carried out, as well as the evolution of the audience in the period 2010-15. Also, an exploratory analysis and in-depth interviews with open and closed questionnaires was undertaken. The data collect the opinion of neuroscientific experts, Neuromarketing consultants, academics and professionals in European public television (N=22) on the usefulness and introduction of this science for audience research, its possible application in programming, and the role of Neuroeducation in the design of educational programmes. The findings determine that almost a dozen public service media in Europe are already applying audiovisual Neuromarketing as an incipient and innovative tool to test entertainment programmes, commercial spaces and competitiveness improvement strategies. However, it has not been implemented in educational content, which is a core mission of public broadcasters.

Promoting Adolescents’ Moral Advertising Literacy in Secondary Education

Scipedia content — Wed, 27 Mar 2019 16:07:38 +0100

Minors are daily confronted with advertisements, which are occasionally controversial. In order to promote adolescents’ moral advertising literacy, this intervention study explores how to stimulate secondary education students’ knowledge on advertising law and their moral judgement of advertisements. Because a lot of new ?especially online? advertising formats have arisen during the last years, 191 students from 12 classes were randomly assigned to either a no tablet condition or a tablet condition (to raise authenticity of learning material). The results show that students who use tablet devices perform less well on a post-test about advertising law. Regarding adolescents’ moral judgement of advertisements, thematic analyses reveal that especially the use of nudity and feminine beauty are labelled as contentious in both conditions, because of, inter alia, the negative effects for adolescent girls’ self-image and the desire to lose weight. After the intervention, the tablet condition has proven to be more effective in promoting critical thinking about nudity/feminine beauty in advertisements. However, none of the conditions did provide evidence that a critical attitude towards alcohol advertising is encouraged. In this regard, implications for future research in the context of advertising literacy education are discussed.

Formative assessment, communication skills and ICT in Initial Teacher Education

Scipedia content — Wed, 27 Mar 2019 16:06:52 +0100

The purpose of this study is to analyze the perception of students, graduates, and lecturers in relation to systems of formative and shared assessment and to the acquisition of teaching competences regarding communication and the use of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) in initial teacher education (ITE) on degrees in Primary Teaching Physical Education (PTPE) and Physical Education and Sports Science (PESS). An ad hoc questionnaire was applied to a total sample of 1,243 students, 487 graduates and 345 lecturers from 24 Spanish universities that cover most of Spain’s Regional Autonomous Communities. The results from the questionnaires indicate that for all three groups the most relevant element in the assessment process is the teacher-student interaction, and the second most relevant are the competences in interpersonal relationships. Significant differences are also found in practically all the items in the questionnaire between the responses of lecturers and students and between those of students and graduates. In our detailed study of the perceptions of students regarding their competence in ICT, those taking the degree in PTPE perceive a greater use of ICT than those taking the degree in PESS. The same difference was found with students under 22 years of age in relation to the older students. No gender differences were found.

The Cognitive Processing of an Educational App with EEG and 'Eye Tracking'

Scipedia content — Wed, 27 Mar 2019 16:06:02 +0100

The use of apps in education is becoming more frequent. However, the mechanisms of attention and processing of their contents and their consequences in learning have not been sufficiently studied. The objective of this work is to analyze how information is processed and learned and how visual attention takes place. It also investigates the existence of gender differences. The responses to 15 images are analyzed using 'Eye Tracking' and EEG in a sample of 22 young students. The recall and liking of the stimuli is also analyzed. The characteristics of the images are evaluated by experts. The results indicate that there is a different pattern of visual activity between men and women which does not affect subsequent recall. The recall is determined by the emotional value of the image and its simplicity: more complex images demand more time of visual fixation but are less remembered. EEG responses confirm the importance of the playful component of the memory and low involvement processing. The conclusion is that the behavior against an app of this type resembles the low commitment behavior of advertising itself. Finally, some considerations for the app content design are proposed.

Connective Intelligence for Childhood Mathematics Education

Scipedia content — Wed, 27 Mar 2019 16:05:26 +0100

The construction of a connective brain begins at the earliest ages of human development. However, knowledge about individual and collective brains provided so far by research has been rarely incorporated into Maths in Early Childhood classrooms. In spite of that, it is obvious that it is at these ages when the learning of mathematics acts as a nuclear element for decision- making, problem -solving, data- processing and the understanding of the world. From that perspective, this research aims to analyse the mathematics teaching-learning process at early ages based on connectionism, with the specific objectives being, on the one hand, to determine the features of mathematics practices which promote connections and, on the other hand, to identify different types of mathematics connections to enhance connective intelligence. The research was carried out over two consecutive academic years under an interpretative paradigm with a methodological approach combining Action Research and Grounded Theory. The results obtained allow the characterization of a prototype of a didactic sequence that promotes three types of mathematics connections for the development of connective intelligence in young children: conceptual, giving rise to links between mathematics concepts; teaching, linking mathematics concepts through an active methodology, and practical ones connecting maths with the environment.

Evaluation of Emotional Responses to Television Advertising through Neuromarketing

Scipedia content — Wed, 27 Mar 2019 16:04:58 +0100

Since the last century, we have witnessed a steady evolution of advertising techniques in an effort to adapt to the new social context in the market. As a strategic resource, Neuroscience brings a new perspective by allowing you to explore those difficult or verbally unconscious motives behind consumer behaviours. The present work aims to discover the relationship between the emotions induced in audiovisual advertising messages and their impact on the memory of the subjects. To achieve this goal, an experiment was carried out with eight audiovisual advertising messages (six representatives of the basic emotions: joy, surprise, anger, disgust, fear and sadness, and two rational ones that show the technical specifications of the product). Neuromarketing techniques such as the electrical activity of the heart (ECG) and the electrodermal activity (EDA) of the subjects are used, on one hand; and, on the other, a conventional research technique, a questionnaire applied to the subjects that participated in the research. The results show variations in the measures performed in the commercials corresponding to joy, surprise and anger, while for both, remembrance of the message transmitted and activity of the advertiser, the commercial with the best results has been the one regarding sadness, advertisement that has also been considered the most attractive for participating subjects.

Ecosystems of Media Training and Competence: International Assessment of Its Implementation in Higher Education

Scipedia content — Wed, 27 Mar 2019 16:03:43 +0100

In a globalized and media society with unprecedented technological development, institutions of higher education are adapting their training models to face this new challenge. This study aimed to determine students' self-perception of their media competence and the differential influence of an ecosystemic model of training that is being implemented experimentally. The research methodology is mixed, as both a quantitative (descriptive and inferential analysis) as well as a qualitative analysis (are made of the contents of the open reports). A total of 808 university students enrolled in the 2015-16 course in different university centres and countries (Faculty of Teacher Training and Education, and Faculty of Economics-Business of University of Oviedo (Spain) and Technological Institute of Mexico), completed a questionnaire about media competence and wrote open reports about their experience with ecosystemic models. The results showed that university students have a favorable self-perception of their level of media competence, and they consider it important to develop by means of transversal training and ecosystemic training models. Significant differences between the students of the different degrees also emerged depending on whether or not an ecosystemic approach was used to develop the subjects. In conclusion, the study shows that these models favor teaching-learning processes in the university by adapting the technology to the users and improving their media competence.

Stop-motion to Foster Digital Literacy in Elementary School

Scipedia content — Wed, 27 Mar 2019 16:03:01 +0100

Although digital media literacy is recognized as the essential competencies required for living in a new media age, it just starts to gain focus in Taiwan's elementary education. One of the reasons is examination-oriented education, with the result that diverts scarce resources away from this informal learning. The other reason is that educators tend to think digital media education as a series of purely technical operation, which might lead student digital media learning to mindless work. Therefore, this study designed a media exhibition based on Kolb's experiential learning model for teaching students concepts of stop-motion films and techniques of film production. A design experiment involved 247 third-grade elementary students that were grouped to visit the experiential exhibition. The findings suggest that the students have improved their knowledge of stop-motion films. Analysis of these produced films also shows that they have improved their media ability to represent their ideas and communicate with others. Through the analysis of the influence of demographics on the knowledge test, the findings revealed that the experiential exhibition is more effective for female elementary students and students' relevant previous experiences may not affect their acquired knowledge. Given those results and observations, we believe that the proposed experiential exhibition is a promising way to carry out digital media literacy education in elementary schools.Although digital media literacy is recognized as the essential competencies required for living in a new media age, it just starts to gain focus in Taiwan's elementary education. One of the reasons is examination-oriented education, with the result that diverts scarce resources away from this informal learning. The other reason is that educators tend to think digital media education as a series of purely technical operation, which might lead student digital media learning to mindless work. Therefore, this study designed a media exhibition based on Kolb's experiential learning model for teaching students concepts of stop-motion films and techniques of film production. A design experiment involved 247 third-grade elementary students that were grouped to visit the experiential exhibition. The findings suggest that the students have improved their knowledge of stop-motion films. Analysis of these produced films also shows that they have improved their media ability to represent their ideas and communicate with others. Through the analysis of the influence of demographics on the knowledge test, the findings revealed that the experiential exhibition is more effective for female elementary students and students' relevant previous experiences may not affect their acquired knowledge. Given those results and observations, we believe that the proposed experiential exhibition is a promising way to carry out digital media literacy education in elementary schools.

Spanish Journalists’ Perception about their Professional Roles

Scipedia content — Wed, 27 Mar 2019 16:02:38 +0100

The international empirical research about journalists’ perception of their professional roles and functions presents a remarkable increase in recent years, but not so in the Spanish case. In this research, which is part of the comparative transnational study “Worlds of Journalism Study”, we analyse data from a survey conducted in Spain (representative and stratified by type of media and Autonomous Community) to 390 journalists from 117 media, who were consulted about their work to detect their professional attitudes. The study identifies six roles: the watchdog, the speaker of citizenship, the instructor of the audience, favours the status quo, entertains public opinion and the disseminator of objective information. Professionals feel more identified with the role of speaker of citizenship, in relation with the Spanish political, economic and social changes in recent years. This function downplays the predominant role in the recent similar studies on Spanish journalists: the disseminator of objective information. We also found two large groups of journalists: the stimulators and the narcotizators of public opinion. Moreover, it was observed that some organizational factors (in particular, the property of media) and other individual ones (such as gender, age and years of work experience) significantly influence the perceptions of professional roles.

The Role of Original Version Cinema into the European Digital Space

Scipedia content — Wed, 27 Mar 2019 16:02:13 +0100

This paper reports the results derived from the research project, entitled “eDCINEMA: Towards the European Digital Space. The role of small cinemas in original version” (CSO2012-35784), which focused on the analysis of the role of movies in OV/OVS in achieving diversity of languages and cultures (as viewed from the European Digital Agenda) as well as Community policies on the promotion of small cinemas in the European digital space. The current study is based on a methodological triangulation, a transnational exchange of information between 62 European experts and a multistage organization, which included: a critical review of the scarce essay writing and profuse Community rules, in-depth interviews with international experts and a design and implementation of a prospective Delphi questionnaire. One of the most remarkable research results is summarized as an indicator of the conflict between the clearly demonstrated OV influences to make progress towards achieving the ideal of a real language diversity, and Community-wide application of packages of random measures, which often leads to lack of expected results. Consequently, the study suggests a strategic reorientation of the European Audiovisual Model toward further exploitation of its 24 languages, on the role of vernacular and not just as vehicular languages, and eventually as guarantors in the process of reliable access to cultural and scientific repertoires.

The Use of Social Media and Popular Culture to Advance Cross-Cultural Understanding

Scipedia content — Wed, 27 Mar 2019 16:01:50 +0100

Although we live in a global society, educators face many challenges in finding meaningful ways to connect students to people of other cultures. This paper offers a case study of a collaboration between teachers in the US and Turkey, where 7th grade students interacted with each other via online social media as a means to promote cultural understanding. In a close analysis of a single learning activity, we found that children had opportunities to share ideas informally through social media, using their digital voices to share meaning using online writing, posting of images and hyperlinks. This study found that students valued the opportunity to develop relationships with each other and generally engaged in sharing their common interests in Hollywood movies, actors, celebrities, videogames and television shows. However, not all teachers valued the use of popular culture as a means to find common ground. Indeed, teachers had widely differing perspectives of the value of this activity. Through informal communication about popular culture in a «Getting to Know You» activity, students themselves discovered that their common ground knowledge tended to be US-centric, as American students lacked access to Turkish popular culture. However, the learning activity enabled students themselves to recognize asymmetrical power dynamics that exist in global media culture.

Online Questionnaires Use with Automatic Feedback for e-Innovation in University Students

Scipedia content — Wed, 27 Mar 2019 16:01:00 +0100

Technological tools have permeated higher education programs. However, their mere introduction does not guarantee instructional quality. This article presents the results of an innovation project aimed at fostering autonomous learning among students at a Pre-School and Primary Teacher Grade. For one semester all freshmen students used a system for autonomous learning embedded in the institutional online platform (Moodle), which included automatic formative feedback. The system was part of a complex formative assessment program. We present results of the experience concerning two aspects: the students’ actual use of the system, and their final appraisal of it. The quantitative descriptive analysis focuses on the students’ perspective to evaluate the adequacy of the instructional decisions. Results indicate that students need certain limits to be able to manage their learning better if we pursue the quality of innovation. These limits refer mainly to the time of accessibility and the limitation of attempts of practice. With respect to time, an appropriate span of time (neither too long nor too short) must be chosen; with respect to the number of attempts, it is expedient to limit rather than promote free endless access.

Higher Education Distance Learning and e-Learning in Prisons in Portugal

Scipedia content — Wed, 27 Mar 2019 13:29:58 +0100

Higher Education in Europe has undergone massive changes due to technological advancements and changes resulting from the Bologna Process, by which learning should be accessible for all regardless of social exclusion reasons, such as imprisonment. The resulting massification of access to Higher Education requires a flexible and inclusive training offer focused on the student. These are the primary aims of Distance Learning at the Open University of Portugal. The aim of this paper is to understand the viewpoints of twenty-six respondents (students, applicants to courses and senior rehabilitation technicians) on the reality of Higher Education in Distance Learning and e-Learning in a Portuguese prison. This study occurs in a context of a non-positivist paradigm, placing the emphasis on the perception of individuals through a qualitative methodology. The results obtained from interviews show that the education process has many weaknesses and limitations mostly due to the lack of facilities, educational and technological resources, and support from teachers. The conclusion is that it is essential to provide better conditions for prisoners to receive this type of education, as it can be an opportunity for obtaining professional qualification and for personal development, thus increasing their prospects of success in the future.

Social Labs in Universities: Innovation and impact in Medialab UGR

Scipedia content — Wed, 27 Mar 2019 13:29:29 +0100

Social laboratories, defined as experimental spaces for co-creation, have currently become the main centres of innovation. Medialabs are experimental laboratories of technologies and communication media which have co-evolved along with the digital society into becoming mediation laboratories of citizen experimentation, observing a confluence of both models. In the last years, these centres have expanded within the higher education context, generating new forms of innovation and posing the issue on how to measure the impact of such open spaces. This paper analyzes the origin and development of social laboratories in Spain. It first reviews their historical development since its antecedents in the 19th Century until the most recent initiatives. It focuses specifically on initiatives launched within the university context, highlighting their role as motors of innovation. Then, it presents the case of Medialab UGR, a co-creation and digital culture centre of social collaboration framed in the digital context. Finally, it offers a first approach towards the assessment of its social impact by using the Twitter and analyzes its capacity to mobilize and reach non-academic audiences. The findings show the plurality of actors involved in this type of networks as well as the difficulty and complexity of the task on the development of indicators that can comprise both, academic and social interests.

Using Twitter in Higher Education in Spain and the USA

Scipedia content — Wed, 27 Mar 2019 13:29:10 +0100

This article examines student and teachers’ use and perceptions of Twitter, based on a mixed-method comparative approach. Participants (N=153) were education majors who used Twitter as a part of required coursework in their programs at two universities in Spain and the United States. The theoretical background covers research on international work carried out on Twitter as well as a brief overview of the introduction of technology in two educational national systems. Quantitative data were collected via a survey, while qualitative data were obtained from students’ reflective written texts. The majority of participants from both contexts perceived educational benefits to Twitter. However, their use of Twitter, and the nature of their perceptions of its educational value, appeared to differ in important ways. The U.S. participants’ longer and more frequent use of Twitter was accompanied by more positive beliefs regarding the educational relevance of Twitter. While many Spanish participants saw value in the use of Twitter to find and share information, U.S. students highlighted interactive and collaborative uses. The study uncovers some challenges for learning related to Twitter’s short format. In the conclusion section we discuss implications for learning and teaching in an age of ubiquitous social media.

Formative Research in Ubiquitous and Virtual Environments in Higher Education

Scipedia content — Wed, 27 Mar 2019 13:28:38 +0100

The training in research is fundamental in the quality of higher education and within this context, the technological mediation becomes pivotal to reach the student-centered learning objectives in any moment and at any time. The findings of a study, whose purpose has been to evaluate the results of the formative research of two groups of students that have interacted in learning environments (E-learning y U-learning), are presented. The research follows a quasi-experimental study with a design of chronological series and multiple treatment, framed in three stages that were defined as referencing, systematization, and analysis. The sample has been constituted by 189 students of 4th year degree in Childhood Education, at Universidad El Bosque in Bogotá, Colombia. The results reveal that U-learning environments strengthen and consolidate the formative research as a permanent process to learn educational research through the personalization, adaptation, and the situational learning, marking meaningful differences with respect to E-learning environments during the systematization stage. The intervention with U-learning environments has brought challenges and needs in the academic curriculum such as strengthening the link between evaluation and educational research in the field of professional practice, as well as the inclusion of technology to the end of making it something natural, adaptable, and interoperable, in a way that students would use it without even thinking about it.

Critical thinking of young citizens towards news headlines in Chile

Scipedia content — Wed, 27 Mar 2019 12:33:11 +0100

Strengthening critical thinking abilities of citizens in the face of news published on the web represents a key challenge for education. Young citizens appear to be vulnerable in the face of poor quality news or those containing nonexplicit ideologies. In the field of data science, computational and statistical techniques have been developed to automatically collect and characterize online news media in real time. Nevertheless, there is still not a lot of interdisciplinary research on how to design data exploration platforms supporting an educational process of critical citizenship. This article explores this opportunity through a case study analyzing critical thinking ability of students when facing news dealing with the social mobilization “No+APF”. From data collected through 4 online exercises conducted by 75 secondary school students, 55 university students and 25 communication specialists, we investigate to what extent young citizens are able to classify news headlines and ideological orientation of news media outlets. We also question the influence of the media’s brand name and the subjectivity of each participant in regards to the social mobilization “No+APF”. The results underline the importance of group work, the influence of the brand name and the correlation between criticalthinking abilities and having a defined opinion.

Strategies for the communication and collaborative online work by university students

Scipedia content — Wed, 27 Mar 2019 12:18:39 +0100

The impact that Information and Communications Technologies have in the way today’s young people communicate and interact is unquestionable. This impact also affects the educational field, which is required to respond to the needs of twenty first century students by training them in acquiring new skills and strategies to deal with a changing and uncertain future. In this study, which involved 2,054 university students from all Spanish Universities, it delved into the knowledge of networking strategies and tools used by these students for the effective development of communication processes and the implementation of strategies for collaboration and communication. It has been developed a nonexperimental quantitative methodology and the technique used for collecting information was a questionnaire. The results show that all of them use the Internet to communicate and they have a great use of basic tools to collaborate and interact, but they prefer social networks for being in contact with their peers and establishing relationships. It has been found that students do not have the idea of the Internet as a place to learn. This fact implies new challenges to be solved by Universities, to optimize the possibilities of the networks and institutional platforms as an environment to learn collaboratively.

Perceptions and participation in community radio stations in Nariño-Colombia

Scipedia content — Wed, 27 Mar 2019 12:18:17 +0100

This work investigates the relationships between community radio and their audiences in the Department of Nariño, Colombia, considering Latin American and European experiences, and participation as a key element for social sustainability. The aim is to investigate whether the participation of citizens in the production, diffusion and radio management has been supported or not. Methodologically, we follow a mixed design that combined the results of two questionnaires: one, applied to 632 people from eleven municipalities; and the second, to eleven directors of communal stations. This was complemented with information provided by eleven groups composed of radio broadcasters, publishers and producers. One key finding within the audiences is that they recognize a radio station as a tool to enhance sociocultural dynamics in the region. As to the directors of stations, it was found that they didn't encourage active participation with communities. It seems that the absence of active and critical participation on the part of the audiences is due to an organizational and radio production model that mirrors the commercial one. In conclusion, these factors have limited the construction of democratic relations between communal broadcasters and their audiences; and especially, reduced the possibilities for citizens to participate as valid interlocutors in a local communicational project.

Parental mediation of the Internet use of Primary students: beliefs, strategies and difficulties

Scipedia content — Wed, 27 Mar 2019 12:17:45 +0100

The use of the Internet by children at an increasingly early age today constitutes a major challenge for families and schools, as well as affecting educational and social policy. This is a qualitative piece of research that analyzes parents’ beliefs, everyday practices and the difficulties they face in teaching their children the benefits and risks inherent in Internet use. The researchers used the discussion group technique, with four groups of parents of primary school children from four different schools. The results indicate that they share a pessimistic rather than an optimistic attitude towards Internet use among children in this age group, and perceive a number of difficulties when trying to foster children's responsible use of Internet. A wide range of parental control and mediation strategies were identified (laying down rules, organization of time and space for Internet use, limits and supervision (direct, agreedupon, non agreedupon and technical), along with various support strategies (parent and sibling modeling, diverse teaching strategies for stimulation and family communication) which, with the exception of technical supervision, they often use to educate their children and control their behavior in other areas, and which form part of their general parenting style. The conclusions point to the need to develop digital competence among parents, and there is some justification for educational intervention such as in promoting collaboration between families and schools.

Teen videos on YouTube: Features and digital vulnerabilities

Scipedia content — Wed, 27 Mar 2019 12:17:08 +0100

As a mechanism for social participation and integration and for the purpose of building their identity, teens make and share videos on platforms such as YouTube of which they are also content consumers. The vulnerability conditions that occur and the risks to which adolescents are exposed, both as creators and consumers of videos, are the focus of this study. The methodology used is content analysis, applied to 400 videos. This research has worked with manifest variables (such as the scene) and latent variables (such as genre or structure). The results show that there are notable differences in style among the videos according to the producer of the message, and indicate that the most consumed videos are located around four thematic axes (sex, bullying, pregnancy and drugs) and that the referents as audiovisual content creators are the YouTubers. Everything points to problems in using the same language, including audiovisual language, as adolescents. This paper provides evidences of the convenience of using their codes so that this sector of the population see risks and conditions of vulnerability that they seem not to perceive according to their audiovisual creations in which they do not protect their identity, among other features.

Ubiquitous learning ecologies for a critical cybercitizenship

Scipedia content — Wed, 27 Mar 2019 12:16:29 +0100

The aim of this research is to identify and analyse the ubiquitous learning acquired though blending education settings devoted to the 'lifelong training of trainers' and how these contribute to the development of a conscious, critic and engaged citizenship. Through active exploration of the learning process, the study analyses the 'soft skills” acquired which enhance performance in work and daily life, with the purpose of detecting the process of ubiquitous learning often overlooked in formal education. To this end, the study case presented here draws upon a data triangulation of qualitative and quantitative multisource information (questionnaires, interviews, participant observation, discussion groups, individual and collective diaries) which includes the study of the semantic networks consisting of learners’ own utterances. The results obtained indicate that the soft skills related to the capacity of selfdevelopment, the use of innovative resources, the enhancement of social cooperation, the ability to meet cognitive and social challenges, and the functional learning as produced though expanded learning, have the potential to pave the way for the empowerment of peoples, communities and social movements. But this form of expanded learning, as open, collaborative, democratic and committed learning, must be actively supported if future generations are not only to be consumers but also cooperative producers in a socially shared world.

Wikipedia in higher education: Changes in perceived value through content contribution

Scipedia content — Wed, 27 Mar 2019 12:15:50 +0100

Wikipedia is a widely used resource by university students, but it is not necessarily regarded as being reliable and trustworthy by them, nor is it seen as a context in which to make content contributions. This paper presents a teaching and research project that consisted in having students edit or create Wikipedia articles and testing whether or not this experience changed their perceived value of the platform. We conducted our experience at Universitat Pompeu Fabra (Barcelona, Spain) and University of Niš (Niš, Serbia) with a total number of 240 students. These students edited articles and answered two questionnaires, one before and one after the exercise. We compared the pre and post experience answers to the questionnaires with a series of paired samples ttests, through which our data showed that students did significantly change their perception of reliability and usefulness, and of likeliness of finding false information on Wikipedia. Their appreciation of the task of writing Wikipedia articles, in terms of it being interesting and challenge also increased. They did not significantly change, however, their judgement on the social value of the platform, neither in the university nor in the general context. In addition, the open questions and informal feedback allowed us to gather valuable insights towards the evaluation of the overall experience

Participatory design of citizen science experiments

Scipedia content — Wed, 27 Mar 2019 12:14:43 +0100

This article describes and analyzes the collaborative design of a citizen science research project through cocreation. Three groups of secondary school students and a team of scientists conceived three experiments on human behavior and social capital in urban and public spaces. The study goal is to address how interdisciplinary work and attention to social concerns and needs, as well as the collective construction of research questions, can be integrated into scientific research. The 95 students participating in the project answered a survey to evaluate their perception about the dynamics and tools used in the cocreation process of each experiment, and the five scientists responded to a semistructured interview. The results from the survey and interviews demonstrate how citizen science can achieve a “cocreated” modality beyond the usual “contributory” paradigm, which usually only involves the public or amateurs in data collection stages. This type of more collaborative science was made possible by the adaptation of materials and facilitation mechanisms, as well as the promotion of key aspects in research such as trust, creativity and transparency. The results also point to the possibility of adopting similar codesign strategies in other contexts of scientific collaboration and collaborative knowledge generation

Assessing the ethical and content quality of online parenting resources

Scipedia content — Wed, 27 Mar 2019 12:05:49 +0100

The quality of the online resources for parents offering access to open knowledge has hardly received attention despite their increasing number. This paper provides a framework to examine the ethical and content quality of parenting resources. The ethical criteria were based on “the Health on the Net” (HON) framework whereas the content criteria were based on the Positive Parenting framework and the effectiveness of the learning materials used. The criteria were applied to a survey of international websites (n=100) for Spanishspeaking parents. Chisquare analyses showed that websites from Spain, official companies sites and information sites, as compared to South American, parents’ and interactive sites, scored higher in the ethical criteria of privacy, authority, justifiability and financial disclosure. Hierarchical cluster analysis applied to content criteria showed that the High quality websites, unlike the Low quality ones, valued gender equality, a positive parental role, modeled a variety of parenting practices, educational contents with multimedia formats, and made use of experiential, academic and technical information. Privacy, financial disclosure and justifiability were more likely to be found in the High and Medium quality content clusters. In conclusion, the study illustrates some of the challenges of open knowledge and sets out the priority areas for quality improvement for website designers and for professionals who want to help parents develop effective skills for searching for trustworthy sources

Co-creation and open innovation: Systematic literature review

Scipedia content — Wed, 27 Mar 2019 12:04:48 +0100

Open science, as a common good, opens possibilities for the development of nations, through innovations and collaborative constructions, which help to democratize knowledge. Advances in this area are still emerging, and the open science, cocreation of knowledge and open innovation triangle, is presented as an opportunity to generate an original contribution from research to open educational theory and practices. The study analyzed the articles that addressed this triangle, in order to identify the contexts and challenges that arise in open innovation and the cocreation of knowledge to promote open science. The method was a systematic literature review (SLR) of 168 articles published in open access format, from January 2014 to May 2017 in the Web of Science and Scopus databases. In the validation process, the York University criteria were used: inclusion and exclusion, relevance of the pertinent studies, evaluation of the quality / validity of included studies and description of data / basic studies. The findings showed that the mostwidely publicized contexts were in the United States and Brazil, in the business and academic sectors (closely followed by the social sector), and the challenges were open to innovation, opening and research. The research concludes that the context and practices of collaboration are substantial elements for innovation and open science.

Parent’s Influence on Acquiring Critical Internet Skills

Scipedia content — Wed, 27 Mar 2019 12:03:42 +0100

The accessibility and easeofuse for children of information and communication technologies lead us to suggest that one of the key questions for their potential empowerment is linked to their analytical use by means of the acquisition of critical skills. The family environment is considered an important factor in digital literacy and the education of critical citizens. The present paper analyzes the mediation role of the parents in their children’s education. It shows a predictive model that includes parental education style and their trust in the interactive media for their children’s acquisition of critical cognitive abilities. It also identifies the personal and contextual factors that are related to the parental education style. The model was tested on a representative sample of 765 families from the Madrid Community selected on the educational level, center type, and district income bases. It was found that children’s educational level is the factor of greatest impact on the acquisition of critical abilities. Nevertheless, as parents adopt a less restrictive style regarding the uses of Internet, there is a more positive influence on the acquisition of critical abilities independently of the age effect. The results question the role of parental restrictions on the use of the interactive media to encourage the education of critical citizens.

Teacher-Student Relationship and Facebook-Mediated Communication: Student Perceptions

Scipedia content — Wed, 27 Mar 2019 12:02:35 +0100

Studentteacher relationships are vital to successful learning and teaching. Today, communication between students and teachers, a major component through which these relationships are facilitated, is taking place via social networking sites (SNS). In this study, we examined the associations between studentteacher relationship and studentteacher Facebookmediated communication. The study included Israeli middle and highschool students, ages 1219 years old (n=667). Studentteacher relationships were compared between subgroups of students, based on their type of Facebook connection to their teachers (or the lack of such a connection); their attitudes towards a policy that prohibits Facebook connection with teachers; and their perceptions of using Facebook for learning. Regarding students' attitudes towards banning studentteacher communication via SNS and towards using Facebook for learning, we found significant differences between three groups of students: those who do not want to connect with their teachers on Facebook, those who are connected with a teacher of theirs on Facebook, and those who are not connected with a teacher of theirs but wish to connect. Also, we found significant associations between studentteacher relationship and studentteacher Facebookmediated communication. We argue that in the case of studentteacher Facebookmediated communication, there is a gap between students' expectations and inpractice experience. The key to closing this gap lies in both policy and effective implementation.

Technological Skills and New Professional Profiles: Present Challenges for Journalism

Scipedia content — Wed, 27 Mar 2019 12:01:30 +0100

The paper aims at understanding the intersections between technology and the professional practices in some of the new trends in journalism that are using the new tools: multimedia journalism, immersive journal-ism and data journalism. The great dilemma facing journalism when training new professionals -especially the youngest- is not anymore the training in new technologies anymore. The main concern lies in taking ad-vantage of their skills to create a new computational model while keeping the essence of journalism. There is a twofold objective: answering questions about which tools are being used to produce pieces of news, and which kind of knowledge is needed in the present century. Based on the review of reports from profes-sional organizations and institutes, it was developed an exploratory research to 25 European and American journalists was developed. We have selected three cases of study. They allowed us to conclude that the technology matrix is going to remain and that change and digital process is not turning back and demands to evolve and adapt to new dynamics of work in multidisciplinary teams where the debate between journal-ists and technologists must be ongoing. Different approaches nourish the double way of skills and compe-tences in the profiles of the current technological journalist, which professionals perceive as a demand in the present ecosystem.

University Students and Informational Social Networks: Total Sceptics, Dual Moderates or Pro-Digitals

Scipedia content — Wed, 27 Mar 2019 11:50:48 +0100

The goal of the present work is to analyze the use of social networks as a tool for social empowerment by Spanish university students, and their perception of the university as an institution that contributes to the formation of a critical and active citizenship, that provides them with the relevant digital competences. The literature review shows possible discrepancies regarding the effect of new forms of digital communication in empowering young people, specially university students, as well as the existence of issues related to clarify this digital stage. Following, a typological analysis of the perception of university students regarding social information networks, social empowerment and the role of the university is presented. Using the data collected through a structured questionnaire of a sample of 236 students of social science degrees, an analysis of typologies is performed with the algorithm K Medias. Three clusters significantly different –labeled as «total sceptics», «dual moderates» and «pro-digitals»– are identified. Its prevalence and its characterization are explained: belief and behaviour profiles related to these beliefs. The paper concludes with several recommendations for future research regarding the perception of the students about the use of social networks as a tool for social transformation and the role of the university in this area.

College Students in Lima: Politics, Media and Participation

Scipedia content — Wed, 27 Mar 2019 11:30:14 +0100

In Peru, young college students have leading roles in social protest mobilizations even when they seldom belong to political organizations. This study aims to analyze the perception of current politics and its institu-tions among young college students, and to inquire into their interest on relevant events at their surround-ings and into the importance gained by the media and the social networks concerning their information. The purpose of this project is also to examine the role assigned by college students to the university as a space of personal development and reflection. This project was carried out in Lima, Peru, directed to youngsters aged 17 to 25 from public and private universities. Opinions have been collected through six focus-groups and a survey applied to more than 400 students. The analysis concludes that college students distrust pro-foundly political parties and formal political organizations; likewise it shows they have a broad access to information sources, so as their willingness to solve Peru’s problematic issues. It also uncovers clear differ-ences between students of private and public universities regarding attitudes for participating in political action, inside and outside the campus. From the study stems a proposal to provide young students at their campuses with opportunities to debate public issues of national and global interest as a part of their overall academic training.

Cyberactivisim in the Process of Political and Social Change in Arab Countries

Scipedia content — Wed, 27 Mar 2019 11:29:18 +0100

This research analyses the contribution of cyberactivism to the political and social change in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya, as well as the opinion of young Arabs on the present context. Meaningful information has been extracted from regular interviews to 30 undergraduates over a five-year period. These students had already participated in the process boosting the Arab Spring in 2011, and they keep practising cyberactivism ever since. The use of a mixed method research allows for carrying out a study where quantitative elements are complemented by qualitative ones. Findings show that Arab countries have not yet shaken off the former structures that supported the regimes preceding 2011, which are those that hamper the consolidation of a modern country. At the moment, there are still two conflicting realities between millenary traditions and values connected to revolutions and symbols of progressivism in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya. In a context where the unity of action action is needed, cyberactivism plays an essential role, as it brings together critical citizens in a common and virtual space. These groups are committed to change, they keep in touch with the outside world and beyond censorship, they make protests visible to the international arena, and monitor government actions.

Protesting on Twitter: Citizenship and Empowerment from Public Education

Scipedia content — Wed, 27 Mar 2019 11:28:47 +0100

The use of social networks for protest purposes has been an essential element in recent global protests against the economic measures of privatization of public services. Social networks are changing political communication, mobilization and organization of collective protests. Taking into account the relationship between collective protests and new forms of network communication, the aim of this article is to analyze the new forms of citizenship empowerment from the collective protests in defense of public education in Spain. In the last five years the movement “Marea Verde” has generated protests on twitter that have generated new forms of empowerment of citizenship in the Spanish context. In this article we have analyzed three accounts of twitter with great activity and prominence, by the numbers of followers and tweets, of the social networks by «Marea Verde». In this article four categories of analysis have emerged that agglutinate and characterize the demands of collective protests through social networks. Two of the categories have been generated to reject the privatization of education and the standardized tests of the new educational reform act in the Spanish context. The other two categories claim for public education and an educational consensus between the political forces and the educational community.

Social Empowerment in Mexican Violent Contexts through Media Competence

Scipedia content — Wed, 27 Mar 2019 11:27:22 +0100

The acquisition of digital skills, media diet management, and general knowledge of ICT, is essential for the development and empowerment of audiences in the current media ecology, particularly considering the political and social challenges of the Latin American environment. In that sense, the study of media competence is urgent for sizing up the needs and characteristics of these communities. This work analyses the axiological and ideological dimension of media competence during an electoral process in northwestern Mexico, a region that is generally subject to violence related to organized crime. Twenty-three items pertaining to this dimension were selected from an instrument designed to evaluate media competence, which were applied to a probability sample of 385 subjects divided by digital natives, digital migrants, and digital illiterates. After an exploratory factor analysis, seven factors were identified. The intra and inter-group scores were explored, lower scores were found in components that allude citizens’ participation and social action; likewise, three of seven factors showed statistically significant differences, being digital natives who reported a lower score. Therefore, the need to search for new strategies for citizens to acquire media competence is evident, in order for pro-summing to become a social empowerment tool.

Connected Teens: Measuring the Impact of Mobile Phones on Social Relationships through Social Capital

Scipedia content — Wed, 27 Mar 2019 11:22:29 +0100

Over the past twenty years, the high penetration of mobile phones as a means of interpersonal communication, especially among adolescents, has facilitated access to broader social environments outside their own family. Through the extension of their social environment, teenagers are able to establish new and more extensive relationships, while facing risks that may negatively affect their socialization process. The aim of this article was to find out how computer-mediated communication helps or obstructs the creation of social capital between teenagers, and what are the consequences of its use for this age group. To achieve this, an index of social capital was developed in the study, designed to determine the positive or negative impact of certain components of mobile mediated communication in the creation of this intangible resource. Questionnaires were distributed among Spanish adolescents of secondary and high school age, from different public and private schools of Navarre. Furthermore, the study considered the adolescents’ own perceptions about the incidence of the use of mobile phones in their social relationships. As reflected in the results, to identify the components of mediated communication that significantly affect social capital it is necessary to conduct an objective measurement of this resource.

Meta-synthesis of Literacy for the Empowerment of Vulnerable Groups

Scipedia content — Wed, 27 Mar 2019 11:18:06 +0100

The vulnerability translates in concrete human groups that, although they know what occurs around them in a digital matter, by his own social and cultural condition they are alienated and, in this sense, away of the exercise of the information right. The aim has been to analyze the critical, media and digital literacy for the empowerment of vulnerable groups. The systematic review of the literature (meta-synthesis) covers the period between the years 1996-2016 and launched 202 documents, of which 117 fulfilled the inclusion criteria (105 documentary investigations and 12 qualitative studies). The results indicate that boys, teenagers and adults have been benefited and empowered by this literacy, many of them with low educational levels, in an econo¬mical disadvantage situation or have been alienated or excluded socially and culturally. The informal spaces for the media and digital training prevail as well as the reconceptualization reflection of the literacy, the reason why the vulnerable groups move away of his profits, like the influence of the empowerment in the social and personal sphere and the educational and communicational implications for those who have the responsibility of empower. It concludes that the groups are vulnerable if only they stay ignorant and that teach them to read and write empower them for the citizen life.

Antonio Sánchez Jiménez (ed.), «Calderón frente a los géneros dramáticos», Madrid, Ediciones del Orto, 2015.

Scipedia content — Fri, 15 Mar 2019 13:23:39 +0100

Bibliografía calderoniana 2016

Scipedia content — Fri, 15 Mar 2019 13:21:03 +0100

Foreword: special issue on particles finite element method in multi-physics problems

María Jesús Samper — Fri, 15 Mar 2019 11:51:29 +0100

Particle-based methods in which each material particle is followed in a Lagrangian manner have been used successfully in the last years for different applications.

One of the latest evolution of particle-based methods is the Particle Finite Element Method (PFEM). The PFEM combines the particle precept with the FEM shape functions using an auxiliary FE mesh. This mesh may be quickly rebuilt at each time step (PFEM with moving mesh) or may be a fixed mesh (PFEM with fixed mesh). In the last case, the results from the Lagrangian particles are projected at each time iteration on a fixed mesh.

The idea of combining FMs with moving particles was originally used in the so-called Particle in Cell method and later in an extension called the Material Point Method (MPM), which uses an FE background mesh.

Despite that both PFEM and MPM employ a fixed FE mesh and a set of Lagrangian particles, there are important differences in the way the particles are employed; in the MPM, all computations are performed on the mesh, while in the PFEM, the aim is to calculate as much as possible on the particles, leaving small corrections to be performed on the mesh. Furthermore, the most important difference is that in PFEM, the particles do not represent a fixed amount of mass but rather material points that transport only intrinsic properties. This allows using a variable number of particles and therefore simplifying refinement.

The PFEM has been successfully used to solve the Navier–Stokes equations and fluid–structure interaction problems as well as solid mechanics problems. The advantages of the PFEM concerning the tracking of internal interfaces have also been explored and used to solve multi-fluid flows. The possibility to use PFEM to solve nonlinear problems with large time-steps in order to obtain an accurate and fast solution was also successfully presented for the solution of the homogeneous incompressible Navier–Stokes equations. This new strategy was named PFEM second generation (PFEM-2). The enhanced PFEM-2 version to solve multi-phase problems, preserves the large time-step goodnesses of the single-phase strategy, also includes enrichment strategies to capture discontinuities in the pressure gradient, i.e., pressure kinks.

This special issue is a collection of nine technical papers presenting the state-of-the-art in modeling and simulations of solid and fluid mechanics problems at different scales involving the Particle Finite Element Method as well in his original version (PFEM) as in his new upgrade (PFEM-2).

Gonçal López-Pampló, «D’Ors a Fuster. Per una història de l’assaig en la literatura contemporània», València, Publicacions de la Universitat de València, 2017, 213 pp.

Scipedia content — Thu, 14 Mar 2019 17:21:57 +0100

Book review: Gonçal López-Pampló, D’Ors a Fuster. Per una història de l’assaig en la literatura contemporània, València, Publicacions de la Universitat de València, 2017, 213 pp., ISBN: 978-84-9134-004-1.

Mari Jose Olaziregi (ed.), «Basque Literary History», Reno, Center for Basque Studies-University of Nevada, 2012, 370 pp.

Scipedia content — Thu, 14 Mar 2019 17:21:50 +0100

Book review: Mari Jose Olaziregi (ed.), Basque Literary History, Reno, Center for Basque Studies-University of Nevada, 2012, 370 pp., ISBN: 9781935709190.

Kathryn A. Woolard, «Singular and Plural. Ideologies of Linguistic Authority in 21st Century Catalonia», Oxford / New York, Oxford University Press, 2016, 365 pp.

Scipedia content — Thu, 14 Mar 2019 17:21:43 +0100

Book review: Kathryn A. Woolard, Singular and Plural. Ideologies of Linguistic Authority in 21st Century Catalonia, Oxford / New York, Oxford University Press, 2016, 365 pp., ISBN: 978-0190258627.

Anna Camps & Teresa Ribas (coords.), «El verbo y su enseñanza. Hacia un modelo de enseñanza de la gramática basada en la actividad reflexiva», Barcelona, Octaedro, 2017, 223 pp.

Scipedia content — Thu, 14 Mar 2019 17:21:36 +0100

Book review: Anna Camps & Teresa Ribas (coords.), «El verbo y su enseñanza. Hacia un modelo de enseñanza de la gramática basada en la actividad reflexiva», Barcelona, Octaedro, 2017, 223 pp., ISBN 978-84-9921-895-3.

Francesc Montero i Aulet, «Manuel Brunet. El periodisme d’idee

Scipedia content — Thu, 14 Mar 2019 17:21:29 +0100

Book review: Francesc Montero i Aulet, Manuel Brunet. El periodisme d’idees a l’ull de l’huracà, Catarroja/Barcelona, Editorial Afers, 2016, 368 pp., ISBN: 978-84-16260-21-8.

Teodor Llorente, «Poesies i proses valencianes». Estudi introductori i edició de Rafael Roca. Modernització lingüística de J. E. Estrela i R. Roca, València, Institució Alfons el Magnànim-Centre Valencià d’Estudis i d’Investigació, 2017, 470 pp.

Scipedia content — Thu, 14 Mar 2019 17:21:22 +0100

Book review: Teodor Llorente, Poesies i proses valencianes. Estudi introductori i edició de Rafael Roca. Modernització lingüística de J. E. Estrela i R. Roca, València, Institució Alfons el Magnànim-Centre Valencià d’Estudis i d’Investigació, 2017, 470 pp., ISBN: 978-84-7822-697-9.

Lola Badia, Lluís Cifuentes, Sadurní Martí & Josep Pujol (eds.), «Els manuscrits, el saber i les lletres a la Corona d’Aragó, 1250-1500», Barcelona, Publicacions de l’Abadia de Montserrat, 2016, 267 pp.

Scipedia content — Thu, 14 Mar 2019 17:21:14 +0100

Book review: Lola Badia, Lluís Cifuentes, Sadurní Martí & Josep Pujol (eds.), Els manuscrits, el saber i les lletres a la Corona d’Aragó, 1250-1500, Barcelona, Publicacions de l’Abadia de Montserrat, 2016, 267 pp., ISBN: 978-84-9883-861-9.

Ressenya sobre el llibre de Beatriz Fernández & Anna Pineda, «Basc per a catalanoparlants (O de com dues llengües tan diferents s’assemblen tant)», Argentona, Voliana Edicions, 2016, 292 pp.

Scipedia content — Thu, 14 Mar 2019 17:21:07 +0100

Book review: Beatriz Fernández & Anna Pineda, Basc per a catalanoparlants (O de com dues llengües tan diferents s’assemblen tant), Argentona, Voliana Edicions, 2016, 292 pp., ISBN: 978-84-944848-7-2.

The relationship between grammatical knowledge and discourse practice in language learning: an analysis of the adjective

Scipedia content — Thu, 14 Mar 2019 17:21:00 +0100

A pedagogical grammar needs to include the relevant grammatical knowledge for linguistic education, and it needs to show how this knowledge allow us to reflect upon the language being learned and use it more consciously in different social uses. In part, this knowledge refers to the traditional grammatical notions, but from a functional perspective; that is, in relation to the role they play in discourse. However, a pedagogical grammar is not only about linguistic forms, but also about what they are for and how they are used appropriately in discursive activities. In addition, language forms and use must also be related to learning activities that show the links between grammatical reflection and the mastering of discursive practices. In this article, we take as an example the notion of adjective, and we examine the theoretical knowledge available about this notion and explore how it is used in language teaching, mainly in secondary education. In order to do this, we take as a reference some of the most regularly used textbooks for the teaching of Spanish in Spain. Finally, we show some alternative ways to carry out grammatical work in the classroom with links to the learning of adjective use.

A grammar for teaching: characteristics and objectives

Scipedia content — Thu, 14 Mar 2019 17:20:52 +0100

Learning language at school means learning grammar as a conscious and explicit knowledge about language, as a means to reflect on language use aiming at using language more consciously and in accordance with the different situations of discursive interplay, either from the perspective of the agent (speaker or a writer) or from the perspective of the interlocutor (a reader or a conversation partner). This article deals with the term pedagogical grammar (PG) explicitly referring to this goal, but also considering other aspects that a PG should be addressing: as a framework of reference to the social norms concerning language use, rejecting the idea of becoming a bunch of fixed and imposed norms; as a framework of reference to build the syntactic structures that the language system allows; as a tool helping to select among these structures to match the user’s discursive perspective; and as a means to progressively build and systematize reliable knowledge of grammatical concepts. In this respect, procedural and methodological aspects become unavoidable issues to conceive grammatical knowledge as a tool to think reflectively in learning situations at school.

Implementing a new pedagogical grammar: Obstacles and opportunities from the experience in francophone Québec

Scipedia content — Thu, 14 Mar 2019 17:20:44 +0100

The quality of the French language in Quebec is a very sensitive topic that is always of interest because of the sociolinguistic situation of French in North America. This paper focuses on the implementation of a new grammar in Quebec’s schools, a French-speaking province of Canada, in order to raise the students’ level of their written language. Orthographic difficulties inherent to the French language will first be outlined to clarify the reason why the mastery of many grammatical concepts just for spelling is necessary. Then, key aspects of this new grammar will be defined and distinguished from the traditional grammar. The implementation of this new grammar is finally addressed from two points of view: the official programs on the one hand, and the practices in the classroom on the other hand, which inevitably leads to the issue of teacher training. Potential solutions emerging from research and some advice are presented in conclusion for those interested in the renewal of grammar teaching.

How to integrate a focus on grammar into communicative language classrooms

Scipedia content — Thu, 14 Mar 2019 17:20:36 +0100

There is ample theoretical and empirical support in the field of second language (L2) acquisition for instructional strategies that direct learners’ attention to grammatical forms during meaning-focused activities. This kind of instruction has been referred to as «focus on form instruction», and has been distinguished from the traditional grammar-based approaches that teach linguistic forms in an isolated and decontextualized manner, or what has been called «focus on forms instruction». In this article, I will begin with a brief overview of the notion of focus on form and its theoretical and empirical underpinnings. I will then discuss a number of instructional options for integrating a focus on grammar into communicative language teaching. I will describe each option, review its theoretical and empirical basis, and provide examples of how they can be used in the classroom.

Teacher beliefs on grammar teaching in the classroom: towards a typology of teachers

Scipedia content — Thu, 14 Mar 2019 17:20:28 +0100

This article contributes to the growing body of articles dealing with teachers’ knowledge and beliefs in their conceptions about teaching and learning as a reference point for the planning of the improvement of intervention criteria in the classroom. It includes two parallel studies that aim to know teacher cognition and their practices in relation to grammar teaching. The first study investigates a sample of primary and secondary teachers responsible for the teaching of Catalan and Spanish and the second focuses on a sample of teachers of Catalan as an additional language to adults. In both cases, the answers to a questionnaire on the role of grammar in language teaching and on current practices allow us to establish a typology that distinguishes different teaching profiles.

The construction of grammatical knowledge by students of primary and secondary education: some approaches to the learning of the verb

Scipedia content — Thu, 14 Mar 2019 17:20:20 +0100

The verb is one of the categories that a school grammar must necessarily face, not only in terms of the knowledge of the concept and the relationship with other categories, but also in terms of the role it plays in writing. In this paper we present three studies that describe the construction of grammatical knowledge by students of primary and secondary education when they learn contents related to the verb: the present tense, the verbal mood, and verbal complementation. Results from the three studies show how learners develop strategies and what obstacles they have to face in order to develop grammatical reasoning. They also show the value of interaction (on peers or with the teacher and writing) to promote the development of metalinguistic activity at school in order to connect grammar rules and language use.

Introduction to the monograph «Noves perspectives per a l’ensenyament-aprenentatge de la gramàtica: cap a una gramàtica pedagògica»

Scipedia content — Thu, 14 Mar 2019 17:20:11 +0100

Introduction to the monograph «Noves perspectives per a l’ensenyament-aprenentatge de la gramàtica: cap a una gramàtica pedagògica», number 63 (Autumn 2017) of Caplletra. Revista Internacional de Filologia.

«Em sap greu d’insistir-hi». The preposition «de» before infinitive I: infinitive and mood

Scipedia content — Thu, 14 Mar 2019 17:20:03 +0100

The present study aims to address a complex topic in the grammar of Catalan, namely the use of the preposition de before some infinitival constructions, like in «Juan li va proposar d’anar al cinema» (‘Juan suggested him [de] going to the cinema’). We claim that introducing the preposition de is sensible to modal factors that also determine the degree of optionality of this preposition. With verbs like «proposar» (‘propose’) or «demanar» (‘request’), the insertion of de is (almost) mandatory for all Catalan speakers, while with verbs such as «desitjar» (‘desire’, ‘wish’) or «esperar» (‘expect’), the preposition is optional for some speakers (if not ungrammatical for others). From a modal classification, we propose a continuum that can account for these facts.

The Catalan lexicon in the XIX century: the hispanisms in the Labèrnia dictionary

Scipedia content — Thu, 14 Mar 2019 17:19:55 +0100

The purpose of this article is to make the inventory and analysis of the hispanisms incorporated in the dictionary of Pere Labernia which were later excluded of the standard Catalan codified by Pompeu Fabra. Considering that the Labernia dictionary is the most important of those made before the referred codification and that it was the dictionary of reference for the educated Catalan society of the XIX century, the analysis of these hispanisms allows us to understand the conception about the Catalan lexicon in that society and the revolutionary change that the codifying action of Pompeu Fabra represents.

The consciousness of the unreal in «Ronda naval sota la boira» by Pere Calders

Scipedia content — Thu, 14 Mar 2019 17:19:47 +0100

When Pere Calders applied with Ronda naval sota la boira (1957) for a prize, it was unwelcomed by the jury; nine years later he published it with negative reactions from the critics. A possible explanation can be credited to the fact that Calders, cleary conscious of his challenge, disclosed the tools by which fiction and irreality are conveyed in the realist novel, that was at this time considered the reference by both his public and critics. In this article we analyze the ways Calders builds this irreal world while uncovering them.

About the sources of the «exempla fabularia» of the «Disputa de l’ase»

Scipedia content — Thu, 14 Mar 2019 17:19:37 +0100

The Disputa de l’ase, by Anselm —Antelm? Telm?— Turmeda is ranged among the most singular works of fourth-century prose. This paper deals with the sources of the exempla quoted at the sixteenth argument, since the excellent study of Garcia Sempere and Martín Pascual did not find the origin of all of them. The true main source of these examples is Aelian’s On the Nature of Animals —source also of of the Greek Physiologos, as this was the source of the Latin version—, a text being transmitted in Western Europe from XIII century onwards. Beyond the numerous coincidences shown by the Turmedian text with the medieval bestiaries, the Latin Physiologus and the Arab Risala al-hayawanat, it is noteworthy to point up those places whose only source is Aelian, a matter that makes necessary a reassessment of our literary reception of this author.

Abel Soler Molina, «El corsari Jaume de Vilaragut i la donzella Carmesina. El cavaller que inspirà el “Tirant lo Blanc”», València, Edicions Alfons el Magnànim («Estudis universitaris», núm. 133), 2014. 2 vols. 981 pp.

Scipedia content — Thu, 14 Mar 2019 17:19:29 +0100

Book review: Abel Soler Molina, El corsari Jaume de Vilaragut i la donzella Carmesina. El cavaller que inspirà el “Tirant lo Blanc”, València, Edicions Alfons el Magnànim («Estudis universitaris», núm. 133), 2014. 2 vols. 981 pp. ISBN: 978-84-7822-639-9

Gemma Gómez Duran, «Gramàtica del català rossellonès», Barcelona, Publicacions de l’Abadia de Montserrat, 2016, 193 pp.

Scipedia content — Thu, 14 Mar 2019 17:19:22 +0100

Book review: Gemma Gómez Duran, Gramàtica del català rossellonès, Barcelona, Publicacions de l’Abadia de Montserrat, 2016, 193 pp.

Anna Pineda i Cirera, «Les fronteres de la (in)transitivitat. Estudi dels aplicatius en llengües romàniques i basc», Barcelona, Institut Privat d’Estudis Món Juïc, 2016, 447 pp.

Scipedia content — Thu, 14 Mar 2019 17:19:13 +0100

Ressenya sobre el llibre d'Anna Pineda i Cirera, Les fronteres de la (in)transitivitat. Estudi dels aplicatius en llengües romàniques i basc, Barcelona, Institut Privat d’Estudis Món Juïc, 2016, 447 pp. ISBN: 978-84-945343-3-1.

C. Gassulla d’Ursino, «Poesia festiva». Edició i introducció a cura de Vicent Josep Escartí, València, Institució Alfons el Magnànim, 2015, 223 pp.

Scipedia content — Thu, 14 Mar 2019 17:19:05 +0100

Book review: C. Gassulla d’Ursino, Poesia festiva. Edició i introducció a cura de Vicent Josep Escartí, València, Institució Alfons el Magnànim, 2015, 223 pp.

Alfons Gregori, «La dimensión política de lo irreal. El componente ideológico en la narrativa fantástica española y catalana», Poznan, Uniwersytet Im. Dama Mickiewicza w Poznaniu («Seria Filologia Romanska», 56), 2015, 489 pp.

Scipedia content — Thu, 14 Mar 2019 17:18:58 +0100

Book review: Alfons Gregori, La dimensión política de lo irreal. El componente ideológico en la narrativa fantástica española y catalana, Poznan, Uniwersytet Im. Dama Mickiewicza w Poznaniu («Seria Filologia Romanska», 56), 2015, 489 pp. ISBN 978-83-232-2995-7.

Maria Pujol, «Josep Vallverdú: entre l’activisme cultural i el talent literari», Publicacions de l’Abadia de Montserrat, Barcelona, 2015, 131 pp.

Scipedia content — Thu, 14 Mar 2019 17:18:51 +0100

Book review: Maria Pujol, Josep Vallverdú: entre l’activisme cultural i el talent literari, Publicacions de l’Abadia de Montserrat, Barcelona, 2015, 131 pp.

G. Crespí de Valldaura y Bosch Labrús (ed.), «Diario del Señor D. Cristóval Crespí desde el día en que fue nombrado presidente del Consejo de Aragón, 9 de junio 1652», Madrid, Boletín Oficial del Estado / Generalitat de Catalunya, 2014, XXXIII, 413 pp.

Scipedia content — Thu, 14 Mar 2019 17:18:44 +0100

Book review: G. Crespí de Valldaura y Bosch Labrús (ed.), Diario del Señor D. Cristóval Crespí desde el día en que fue nombrado presidente del Consejo de Aragón, 9 de junio 1652, Madrid, Boletín Oficial del Estado / Generalitat de Catalunya, 2014, XXXIII, 413 pp. ISBN 978-84-393-9142-5.

The mistery of the «Faules d’Isop

Scipedia content — Thu, 14 Mar 2019 17:18:37 +0100

Abstract: This dissertation deals with the status of the circulation of the Catalan versions of Esopian fables, from Aesop’s lost manuscripts to texts printed from the preserved documentation. Aesop’s late appearance in printing (Barcelona, Joan Carles Amorós, 1550 and Barcelona, Sansón Arbús, 1576) makes us think of the existence of one or more previous editions. This paper deals also with the study of the Gothic testimonies, their relation with the Castilian incunable printed in Jean Parix and Étienne Clebat’s print shop in Toulouse, their connection with the subsequent Castilian editions printed after 1510 and, finally, their differences with this Castilian tradition.Keywords: Fables, Catalan Aesop, press.

The secularization of marial miracles in Miquel Peres’ «La vida de la verge Maria»

Scipedia content — Thu, 14 Mar 2019 17:18:29 +0100

Abstract: In this paper I discuss the whole of Marian miracles included by Miquel Peres in La vida de la sacratíssima Verge Maria (Valencia, N. Spindeler, 1494). This set of miracles not only highlights the specific functionality acquired in the structure of the work, but it also incorporates certain characteristics that differentiate them from collections of Marian miracula, as they lack of some of the most significant features of the genre. Miquel Peres miracles are evidence of the transformation and secularization of the genre, and they show new uses and new readers whom are addressed to. Keywords: marian miracles, marian literature, hagiography, Miquel Peres, vita Mariae.

Regarding Jaume Gassull’s «Lo Somni de Joan Joan»

Scipedia content — Thu, 14 Mar 2019 17:18:22 +0100

Abstract: A study of the parallelisms detected between Lo somni de Joan Joan and several Catalan compositions written in the 14th and 15th centuries, with special attention given to the noves rimades and the sentimental narrations. Thanks to the metrical formula used by the author on this occasion, the codolada, Gassull manages to combine material from different sources and different genres, and by so doing he is able to keep some aspects of the earlier tradition alive. This justifies the need for a new approach to the mocking verses of 15h century Valencian poets.Key words: Lo somni de Joan Joan, Gassull, codolada, noves rimades, late medieval Valencian poetry.

The appearance of the snake in Guillem de Torroella’s «La faula»: folklore, politics and literary technique

Scipedia content — Thu, 14 Mar 2019 17:18:15 +0100

Abstract: Guillem de Torroella, who probably lived between 1350 and 1375, was a Majorcan nobleman involved in the collapse of the autonomous kingdom, reintegrated into the Catalan-Aragonese crown. He writes a story in verse (1265 lines, according to the only manuscript that contains the text in full: 938 in Catalan and 327 in French). This story is La faula, which tells the author’s journey on the back of a whale to the Enchanted Island. There, Guillem meets a snake, that will reveal to him how Arthur found refuge there after the Battle of Salisbury. One can identtify local folk sources (in the Girona area) for the snake, and his words in French are a further indication of the possible political intent of the literary text. Key words: Medieval Catalan literature, Medieval French Literature, Arthurian legend, Guillem de Torroella, animals that talk, snake, folk Sources, Political Meaning.

Ephemeral stories: plausible example and dialogue in the «Llibre de meravelles»

Scipedia content — Thu, 14 Mar 2019 17:18:07 +0100

Abstract: The Llibre de meravelles (Felix or the Book of Wonders) by Ramon Llull includes an extensive collection of plausible stories, used by the characters to show their views about the world or to express their position in the debate. The stories are created ad hoc by the author and their life begins and ends with that single enunciation within the novel. That fleeting, ephemeral condition occasionally gives them the appearance of mere narrative hypothesis. Some of these stories even seem to have a provisional or unstable plot which emphasizes their illusory nature. The writing of the book reveals an enormous effort of experimentation, visible not only in the design of the stories, but also in the «dialogue» that is established among them. This desire for experimentation is finally projected onto the reader, as the text truly becomes a guide for inventing new stories. That meta-exemplary dimension is the clearest sign of originality of Llull’s proposal in the scene of Medieval Exemplary Literature. Key words: Catalan Literature, Medieval Literature, Ramon Llull, Felix or the Book of Wonders, Plausible example, Story, Dialogue, Narrative Experimentation.

Presentation of the monograph «Temes i formes de la primitiva narrativa catalana breu»

Scipedia content — Thu, 14 Mar 2019 17:17:59 +0100

Abstract:Presentation of the monograph «La gramàtica històrica i la teoria lingüística: una comunicació profitosa», number 62 (Spring 2017) of Caplletra. Revista Internacional de Filologia.

The power of translation for recovery of an identity or foster language

Scipedia content — Thu, 14 Mar 2019 17:17:51 +0100

Abstract: This article attempts to show how the translation activity can contribute to the recovery of any European minorized language. This is done by combining the concept of language identity and the concept of personal adoptive language, as well as taking into account the experience of the Valencian society. Language policies that could be implemented without assuming serious budget problems for the European Union are presented, being the use of translation one of the strategies suggested.Keywords: translation, recovery, identity languages, adoptive languages, Catalan.

Catalan psychological verbs: the case of «agradar» and «interessar»

Scipedia content — Thu, 14 Mar 2019 17:17:43 +0100

Abstract: The experiencer’s semantic features, a lively entity conceivable as a proto-agent, allow its syntactic and semantic primacy in most of sentences with Catalan psychological verbs, and explain the flexibility of these predicates to adapt to conceptual schemes of speakers. The experiencer only loses this primacy when it has to «compete» with a prototypical agent in the sentence, an agentive construction consistent with an experiencer with accusative case. The mechanisms of semantic and syntactic pre-eminence in a sentence give reason for the regularly dative case of the Catalans verbs interessar ‘to interest’ and agradar ‘to like’, as well as for the specific contexts in which these verbs can occur in accusative, although in a more enforced way with verb agradar.Key words: accusative, agent, Catalan, dative, experiencer, patient, proto-agent, psychological verb, stimulus, to interest, to like.

The verb «semblar» in Old Catalan

Scipedia content — Thu, 14 Mar 2019 17:17:33 +0100

Abstract: In current Catalan, the verbs semblar and parèixer are two verbs mostly synonyms distributed territorially in a unequal way: While verb parèixer persists in the Valencian Country, in the Balearic Islands and in the northwestern Catalan, the verb semblar coexists with parèixer. Moreover, it has become hegemonic in the centre north of the linguistic domain. However, this distribution is not the one we find in the ancient language, where semblar is a verb relatively uncommon if we compare it with parèixer. In addition, most of the examples for this verb are confirmed in a very small group of works (especially those from the 13th and 15th century). This paper tries to describe the syntactic uses and meanings of verb semblar in ancient Catalan and it also tries to explain the relation that has with parèixer. In outline, we conclude with the fact that the difference founded between both verbs is semantic and the fact that the convergence showed in specific works can be explained as an influence of the Occitan language, as a calque in translations or as a dialectal feature. The study is based in the data obtained from the Corpus Informatitzat de la Gramàtica del Català Antic (CIGCA). Key words: Old Catalan, Gallo-Romance languages, Iberian Romance languages, verb parèixer, verb sembla

From the periphery of discourse: Maria-Mercè Marçal and Dolors Miquel

Scipedia content — Thu, 14 Mar 2019 17:17:26 +0100

Abtstract: The article analyses the strategies employed by two Catalan poets, Maria-Mercè Marçal and Dolors Miquel, in deconstructing the discourses through which gender roles have been established. We will point out some commonalities between the two, such as the reformulation of female stereotypes, the fragmented and unstable poetic self, the dialogue with the Bible, a rewriting of the Lord’s prayer and the feminization of God. Both Maria-Mercè Marçal and Dolors Miquel address through their poetry some of the yearnings, political projects and debates of contemporary Feminist movements.Key words: Maria-Mercè Marçal, Dolors Miquel, Female stereotypes, male-centered subject, feminization of God.

Francesc Feliu & Josep Maria Nadal (eds.), «Constructing Languages. Norms, myths and emotions», Amsterdam/Filadèlfia, John Benjamins, 2016, 416 pp.

Scipedia content — Thu, 14 Mar 2019 15:46:45 +0100

Book review: Francesc Feliu & Josep Maria Nadal (eds.), Constructing Languages. Norms, myths and emotions, Amsterdam/Philadelfia, John Benjamins, 2016, 416 pp., ISBN: 978-90-272-4019-4.

The Loa del juego de la pelota in the Context of the Calderonian Sacramental Plays: Textual History and Scenic Fortune

Scipedia content — Thu, 14 Mar 2019 12:26:36 +0100

The aim of this article is to study the textual and dramatic history of the Loa del juego de la pelota, a text attributed to Calderón de la Barca which was originally published in 1668 as part of the volume entitled Ociosidad entretenida. First of all, we attempt to analyse the date and circumstances of its composition as well as its ﬁrst performance. Secondly, we study its subsequent performances and its different adaptations to several of Calderón’s autos and its historical context via the examination of different printed editions and manuscripts, some of which were unknown until now. This analysis allows us to ascertain the versatility of the genre of which this play is a prime example.

The Legend of Saint Thomas the Apostle in Calderón’s La aurora in Copacabana and his Sources

Scipedia content — Thu, 14 Mar 2019 12:26:11 +0100

The legend on the passage of St. Thomas the Apostle in America was one of the consequences of the reorganization of the world view of the time, which had been disrupted by the emergence of a New World. His appearance in Calderón’s La aurora en Copacabana, as this article shows, is the appropriation by the playwright of this legend to delegitimize the religion of the Incas, which was not a corrupt form of Christianity, but pure idolatry that should be exterminated.PALABRAS CLAVE / KEYWORDS: santo Tomás en América, Antonio de la Calancha, Ramos Gavilán, Inca Garcilaso, Virgen de Copacabana, origen de los incas / St. Thomas in America, Antonio de la Calancha, Ramos Gavilán, Inca Garcilaso, Lady of Copacabana, origin of the Incas.

Luis Pérez el gallego: History, Satire, Biopolitics

Scipedia content — Thu, 14 Mar 2019 12:25:24 +0100

Luis Pérez el gallego is one of Calderón’s lesser-known dramas, and yet one of the most compelling ones when it comes to reﬂecting on personal and collective identity, on relations between power and the law, and on historical memory. The existing scholarship on this play has generally focused on the representation of violence and on the ﬁgure of Luis Pérez, deﬁned by some scholars as an anarchist. However, there is much more to be said about this character when placed in a larger social and political scenario. This essay argues that Luis Pérez embodies the ﬁ gure of the arraiano, of the liminal citizen located at the border between Galicia and Portugal, frequently depicted as a bandit or as a smuggler. By analysing the social standing and the literary trajectory of the Galician bandit in Calderón’s posterity, I frame the problem of banditry and the role of the arraiano within the political scene to which it belongs.

About Tyrants and Queens. Some Models of Female Violence of Power in Calderón

Scipedia content — Thu, 14 Mar 2019 12:24:43 +0100

This paper studies some calderonian models of female violence displayed by high-ranked characters, such as queens and tyrants. The analysed plays (La cisma de Ingalaterra, La hija del aire, La gran Cenobia, El mayor encanto, amor y Los tres mayores prodigios) show different applications without any distinction of gender, since the conﬂicting passions animating those characters respond to constructive patterns that are above the usual identiﬁcation of male and female roles. The medieval metaphor of the king’s two bodies helps understand the asexual nature of ambition and other similar passions, source of this violence.

Responderá aquel que tiene / el más perfecto color: The disputationes de colores in Calderón de la Barca’s Drama

Scipedia content — Thu, 14 Mar 2019 12:24:18 +0100

The present paper analyses the meaning and mode of operation of the dramatic resource of the disputationes de colores in Calderón de la Barca’s drama, present in the comedia palatina La banda y la ﬂor and in the loas to the autos sacramentales Los misterios de la misa and La lepra de Constantino. First of all, the article gives an account of the different «juegos de colores» that the Comedia nueva incorporates, to then highlight the place that disputationes occupy in them, and ﬁnally move towards an interpretation of the chromatic symbolism exposed in the three plays mentioned. It considers the ludic function and the forms of allegorical articulation of the disputationes de colores in the light of the dramatic genre in which every play is inscribed.

Al hombre, que es su valido / y que su privado es»: The Favorite in the Sacramental Plays of Lope and Calderón

Scipedia content — Thu, 14 Mar 2019 12:23:36 +0100

The ﬁgure of the king’s favorite reappears in the Spanish political scene in the beginning of the seventeenth century. Lope, Tirso, Calderón, and other Spanish Golden Age playwrights portrayed these favorites, modeling them after the duke of Lerma and the count duke of Olivares. Lope and Calderón wrote sacramental plays in which they presented Man as the favorite of the King/God, deifying the subject of Man’s redemption that was condemned by his sins. The playwrights criticised some aspects of the powerful ministers’ policies in Las bodas entre el Alma y el Amor divino, and El Nuevo palacio del Retiro.