Ubiquity and Technological Convergences in Communication

   CONTENTS  

Foreword

Research Structures

Energy, Environment, and Biodiversity

Humanities and Ethics

Culture and Education

Society and Development

Information and Communication Technology

Biology and Health

Research Structures and Researchers

About

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Developing the next steps in communication

The Research Group on the Ubiquity and Technological Convergences in Communication, created in 2010 and chaired by Professor Eduardo Campos Pellanda, plans innovative models and possible uses of mobile Internet. The group has access to the Laboratory of Research in Mobility and Media Convergence (Ubilab), which is a reference in applied communication in Brazil. Located at the Science and Technology Park of PUCRS (Tecnopuc), this laboratory is equipped with the latest technologies in mobile communication, including several versions of cell-phones and tablets.

Since November 2011, the group is a partner of Grupo RBS and MIT in the USA. The group’s researchers are completing radio products for RBS and elaborating on a new version of a newspaper, Zero Hora, for iPad. RBS is the first Brazilian communications company to become a partner of a university to perform this type of applied research. In regard to the iPad project, the main challenge is to develop a format for the product that does not simply replicate the newspaper’s website or correspond to a mere online version of the printed one. For this purpose, the project team is mapping the models applied by newspapers worldwide and their trends in regard to formatting, editorial projects, and some marketing problems.

Together with MIT, one of the most reputed educational institutions worldwide, the group will devote the next two years to the development of a new version of the platform Locast – Civic Media (currently only available for the Android operating system) for iPhone. This project, which will again be conducted at Porto Alegre, involves the creation of ultra-local news content using smartphones, which will be later published in a clustered manner, thus allowing for the study of the information individually generated by citizens. The project team includes eight members between master’s and undergraduate students from the School of Social Communication of PUCRS.