Research carried out by ASTERISC researchers can be defined as an approximation to different areas through qualitative methodologies of communicative evaluation that place the audience as the main feature of communication and information processes; and methodological qualitative approaches that emphasize innovation and transversality.
The main guidelines of our activity are:
- Transdisciplinarity, the competence of network thinking that enables an approach to complex realities over the limits of disciplines.
- Interdisciplinarity, the ability of acting in network where approximations, methodologies and technologies from different disciplines addressed to common objectives should coexist and where communication becomes the centre of it.
The two main research lines are the following:
COMMUNICATION IN RISK SOCIETY
It covers the fields of strategic communication in its wide sense such as consulting services in political communication, planning of institutional communication, planning of communicative campaigns for corporations and institutions, management of company, public institutions and political parties press offices, public relations in the mentioned areas and journalistic specialization in topics related to politics -electoral campaigns, political crisis management-, institutions, industry and the environment.
Areas of interest:
- Risk communication: the main lines of interest within this research area are the following: comparative study in order to determine relevant indicators on chemical risk perception analysis at Spanish and European Union levels; applying and testing indicators from local petrochemical cluster at Tarragona as a centre to design and promote diffusion towards other cities and regions with chemical clusters in Spain or in European Union; deepness on institutional communication tools for improving cognitive effects of risk communication on local communities; mass media effects research in order to articulate a proposal of using net technologies more efficaciously and local communications.
- Political communication studies: this research area is focussed as a multidisciplinary investigation of communication derived from the political and electoral processes that take place within the Spanish State. The tasks of the branch are carried out in collaboration with the UNICA Group of the Pompeu Fabra University. Within this scope, an archive has been created to gather propaganda documents generated by the political parties of the Spanish State from the beginning of the present democracy to the present time. The main objective is to support teaching and investigation in subjects related to political communication.
- Communication and tourism: this research line is centered on the study of tourism communication and tourist promotion through the use of new technologies, Internet and web pages. The main topic of the study is the treatment of the city brands in their official web sites. The focus is opened to other topics of interest related to communication and tourism like: citymarketing, brand destinations, city promotion, touristic public relations, etc.
- Corporate communication, media and cultural heritage: the main goal of this line of research is to study the communication processes between organisations related to cultural heritage (private companies and public institutions related to cultural heritage) and their different stakeholders. It is also focused on the study of the impact of media in corporate reputation. In this way, the research projects are oriented towards the analysis of several aspects: the organisations, their stakeholders, the means and resources of communication, and the interactions between all of them in the process of communication.
- Political economy of communication: political economy of communication constitutes a research area in media studies with a long tradition around the world and an important theoretical and methodological corpus. It is focused in the analysis of media systems from the point of view of their organization, structure, funding and control. To sum up we can consider that political economy of communication aims to study the "who" of the well-known Lasswell's model: the issuers, conceived not so much as individuals but rather as complex organizations, always in relation with the social and economic context of each society and historical period, and taking into account the socioeconomic structures and flows of power.
- Communication and health: the main objective of this research area is to analyze the different communication processes between institutions related to the field of health (hospitals, governments / ministries, associations, etc.), patients and health professionals working in this field. Specifically, it focuses mainly on the analysis of communicative strategies in 2.0 environments (patient-doctor interactions), as well as the development of digital solutions (applications, on-line platforms, etc.) that improve the efficiency of the current health systems. This line of work also encompasses health literacy studies, health promotion and public health.
Master's Degree in Strategic Communication (MASTERDEC)
MEDIA AND CULTURAL STUDIES
It aims to analyse media culture as main key in the communicative processes, taking into consideration the study of media communication in the framework of social, ideological and economic development (bearing in mind transversal dimensions such as gender, ethnic origin, age and class, as well as the role of media in the construction of identity elements); and the relation between cultural studies and media, what is known as film studies, critical studies on television and new media studies.
In parallel with these aspects, our work is also centered on the application of audiovisual and advertising research, media structure and content analysis.
Areas of interest:
- TV and cinema studies: our research interest focuses on cinema and television history from a multiple theoretical perspective, including semiotics, textual analysis, sociology, antropology and cultural studies. Our goal includes the diachronic study of film industry and television as social agents and creators of political, economic and cultural discourses. Special attention is devoted to issues such as Spanish film and television of the XX century, documentary and non-fiction film making and cinema and television genres.
- Unequal access to and representation in the media: some social groups are underrepresented or misrepresented in the media. They are also lacking in opportunities to access the media and build their own identity discourse. This research line analyzes both the ways in which inequality becomes apparent in the access of some groups to the media and their media representation −analyzing the media representation of women and ethnic minorities, the media construction of affective relations (with regard to gender violence) and the different dimensions of the digital gap− and the ways in which these exclusionary situations can be transformed −through media education, ICT empowerment, and the analysis of the transformational dimension of media discourses.
- Political economy of communication: political economy of communication constitutes a research area in media studies with a long tradition around the world and an important theoretical and methodological corpus. It is focused in the analysis of media systems from the point of view of their organization, structure, funding and control. To sum up we can consider that political economy of communication aims to study the "who" of the well-known Lasswell's model: the issuers, conceived not so much as individuals but rather as complex organizations, always in relation with the social and economic context of each society and historical period, and taking into account the socioeconomic structures and flows of power.
- Media, childhood and adolescence: this research area is centred on the analysis of how the mass media take part in the creation of the stereotypes of different social groups and pay special attention to children and teenagers. One of the main aspects of this line of investigation is the use of diverse work methodologies -discourse analysis, content analysis and reception analysis- and the consideration of the media as an object of polyhedral study -with different types of languages, formats, etcetera.
- Media, culture and identity: it is focused in the study of media as representational platforms and as spaces of construction of social identity. The objects of study are the processes of production and consumption of cultural products in a broad sense, and the discourses that these products are circulating. The focus is open to the research of all kind of social identity (cultural, gender, class or national, among others).
Contact:
977 558 532