Papers by Laura Pérez-Altable
European Public & Social Innovation Review
In 2020, in the midst of the first wave of the pandemic, the Spanish Government approved the impl... more In 2020, in the midst of the first wave of the pandemic, the Spanish Government approved the implementation of the Minimum Living Income, a non-contributory benefit under the Spanish social security system that guarantees a minimum income for those in need of one. Drawing on previous work of Stefania Vicari et al. (2018) about the use of political hashtag publics and counter-visuality on the Italian Twittersphere, we analysed patterns of communication among users on Twitter. Thus, this paper contributes to existing research on the deliberative process within the digital sphere, with a particular focus on power structures and communication patterns. Findings show that digital-born media, politicians and political parties play a central role in the discussion through mention and quoted tweets practices, but not in the production of new messages, while ordinary users are more likely to be retweeted. This would suggest a tendency towards retransmitting and disseminating content produced...
El profesional de la información , 2020
In December 2019, Chinese authorities informed the World Health Organization about a new coronavi... more In December 2019, Chinese authorities informed the World Health Organization about a new coronavirus disease that
would come to be called Covid-19. The world media began reporting on this new virus and its consequences. However,
reports about Covid-19 would not appear in the European and American media until their societies became aware of
both the health and economic consequences of Covid-19 in March 2020. This article analyzes the online media coverage
of economic inequality. The goal is to understand the formation of the public agenda, based on the impact of the disease
on social classes as the main factor generating greater inequality levels, in particular inequality of opportunities as the
most remarkable topic during the first stage of the pandemic. According to the first results of this content analysis, the
social class divide will be deepened by the pandemic. For this study, a tool was designed to analyze both the manifest
and latent content of the items. Using content analysis, an analysis of news published by 33 digital media in both Europe
and Latin America from March 14 to April 14, 2020 was conducted. The results of this study show that income inequality
appears as the core variable of the problem, although social classes remain important. The imbalanced access to health
and education public services also receives continuous coverage in the media. However, poverty as a consequence of
this situation remains an uncomfortable issue and tends to be presented in an undramatized way.
In recent years there has been a great deal of interest in digital networks as political communic... more In recent years there has been a great deal of interest in digital networks as political communication tools. However, the use of social media depends on, among other things, the character of each political organization. The main objective of this research is to analyze Barcelona en Comú’s digital communication on Twitter during the municipal election campaign from May 8 to May 22, 2015 in Barcelona. The methodology is based on a social network analysis (SNA) of all the tweets disseminated by the six political parties that formed the confluence. The investigation deepens our understanding of the communicative relationship between the six parties, and between the parties and the users, with the aim of analyzing the
bi-directionality of the communicative process. We conclude that the party that generated the most electoral information on Twitter during the electoral campaign was Barcelona en Comú.
The ongoing Arab Spring Revolutions since 2011 have generated a growing dialogue about the role o... more The ongoing Arab Spring Revolutions since 2011 have generated a growing dialogue about the role of social media as a tool for political mobilizations. While there is a large body of literature on the topic, this study takes as its starting point the digital activism in Tunisia during the months that preceded the uprising in Tunisia in order to map the network on social media before the 17 th of December, when the Arab Spring started in Tunisia. Some of the main results of this analysis show that they were structured through dense informal networks on social media and they used this platforms for geared toward developing, sustaining and, sharing collective identities in order to fight against the regime of Ben Ali. According to this, the overall conclusion appears to be that Tunisia's network public sphere was a hybrid model, composed of digital elite, on the one hand, who are predominantly affluent, highly educated urbanities and, on the other, peripheral nodes that are located away from the central nodes of the Net.
Presentation- Ecrea's Conference: Political Participation in the Digital Age: Media, Participatio... more Presentation- Ecrea's Conference: Political Participation in the Digital Age: Media, Participation and Democracy (October, 2015)
During the first protests of the 15M (also known as the movement of the “indignados”), and as inf... more During the first protests of the 15M (also known as the movement of the “indignados”), and as information regarding it spread on Twitter, thousands of Spanish users turned to this medium to stay updated. The social networks were used by 15M to organize and disseminate information on the demonstrations, often in real-time. This article is a case study examining some journalistic uses of Twitter during this period by the 15M in Catalonia, who considered the occupation of Barcelona’s main square (Acampada de Barcelona) to be one of their most important acts. The aim is to explore the newsrooms’ journalistic routines on Twitter and if these produced a hybridization of functions between journalists and users. We conducted interviews with journalists from the
main Catalan newsrooms and also analyzed the content of tweets posted between May 15 and June 19, 2011, a period known as the “explosion of the movement.” The results of this study suggest that, motivated by a pressing need for information on what was taking place, journalists turned to Twitter to find new sources, particularly within the 15M network, consisting of nodes in the camps and on Democracia Real Ya, the platform which summoned people to participate in the protests of May 15, 2011. During the 15M, journalistic routines took root which went beyond the rationale of access and credibility of information sources which were previously the domain of news agencies and other media, bringing about a new form of journalism that allowed professionals to give more amplitude and depth to news and information regarding the 15M. This phenomenon highlights the necessity to rethink the models in terms of participatory journalism, where social media and certain traditional journalistic functions may be performed by other users, including strangers, acting from outside the newsrooms
Books by Laura Pérez-Altable
LA IDEA DE MONTAR UN SEMINARIO de debate en torno al tema ¿Es posible un periodismo de código lib... more LA IDEA DE MONTAR UN SEMINARIO de debate en torno al tema ¿Es posible un periodismo de código libre? surgió a partir de la visita del profesor de la Universidad Rey Juan Carlos de Madrid, Víctor Sampedro, catedrático de Comunicación, a Barcelona con motivo de la publicación de su libro El Cuarto Poder en Red. Hacia un periodismo (de código) libre (Madrid: Icaria, 2014). En coordinación con el propio profesor Sampedro, se organizó un seminario con formato workhop o panel de expertos en el departamento de Comunicación de la Universidad Pompeu Fabra de Barcelona, con la presencia de varios profesores e investigadores de dicha y otras universidades catalanas.
La dinámica del evento, basado en la metodología cualitativa y las técnicas de los Consensus Methods, consistió en breves presentaciones, moderadas por la investigadora de la UPF Laura Pérez Altable, quien también se encargó de un resumen y preguntas posteriores a la intervención de cada ponente, y una vez que todos habían intervenido, se procedió a un debate general.
Thesis Chapters by Laura Pérez-Altable
This thesis aims to bridge social movement studies with media
and communication studies, taking t... more This thesis aims to bridge social movement studies with media
and communication studies, taking the case study of the Arab Spring in Tunisia and combining quantitative and qualitative approach. Methodologically, this thesis integrates social network analysis with qualitative content analysis and semistructured interviews. The main objective is to give an account Tunisia’s digital network before and during the Arab Spring, along with its relationship with the social movement that characterized the Arab Spring in Tunisia. Overall, our research has identified a series of dynamics which determine the
patterns of diffusion of information through digital networks. Our findings demonstrate that this networks tends to be highly participatory, but that it is also hierarchical, showing a powerlaw distribution. Nevertheless, this type of power distribution allows much information to spread quickly and reach a wide audience. Moreover, our study shows that the combination of online and offline networks was essential for the success of the Tunisian uprising.
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Papers by Laura Pérez-Altable
would come to be called Covid-19. The world media began reporting on this new virus and its consequences. However,
reports about Covid-19 would not appear in the European and American media until their societies became aware of
both the health and economic consequences of Covid-19 in March 2020. This article analyzes the online media coverage
of economic inequality. The goal is to understand the formation of the public agenda, based on the impact of the disease
on social classes as the main factor generating greater inequality levels, in particular inequality of opportunities as the
most remarkable topic during the first stage of the pandemic. According to the first results of this content analysis, the
social class divide will be deepened by the pandemic. For this study, a tool was designed to analyze both the manifest
and latent content of the items. Using content analysis, an analysis of news published by 33 digital media in both Europe
and Latin America from March 14 to April 14, 2020 was conducted. The results of this study show that income inequality
appears as the core variable of the problem, although social classes remain important. The imbalanced access to health
and education public services also receives continuous coverage in the media. However, poverty as a consequence of
this situation remains an uncomfortable issue and tends to be presented in an undramatized way.
bi-directionality of the communicative process. We conclude that the party that generated the most electoral information on Twitter during the electoral campaign was Barcelona en Comú.
main Catalan newsrooms and also analyzed the content of tweets posted between May 15 and June 19, 2011, a period known as the “explosion of the movement.” The results of this study suggest that, motivated by a pressing need for information on what was taking place, journalists turned to Twitter to find new sources, particularly within the 15M network, consisting of nodes in the camps and on Democracia Real Ya, the platform which summoned people to participate in the protests of May 15, 2011. During the 15M, journalistic routines took root which went beyond the rationale of access and credibility of information sources which were previously the domain of news agencies and other media, bringing about a new form of journalism that allowed professionals to give more amplitude and depth to news and information regarding the 15M. This phenomenon highlights the necessity to rethink the models in terms of participatory journalism, where social media and certain traditional journalistic functions may be performed by other users, including strangers, acting from outside the newsrooms
Books by Laura Pérez-Altable
La dinámica del evento, basado en la metodología cualitativa y las técnicas de los Consensus Methods, consistió en breves presentaciones, moderadas por la investigadora de la UPF Laura Pérez Altable, quien también se encargó de un resumen y preguntas posteriores a la intervención de cada ponente, y una vez que todos habían intervenido, se procedió a un debate general.
Thesis Chapters by Laura Pérez-Altable
and communication studies, taking the case study of the Arab Spring in Tunisia and combining quantitative and qualitative approach. Methodologically, this thesis integrates social network analysis with qualitative content analysis and semistructured interviews. The main objective is to give an account Tunisia’s digital network before and during the Arab Spring, along with its relationship with the social movement that characterized the Arab Spring in Tunisia. Overall, our research has identified a series of dynamics which determine the
patterns of diffusion of information through digital networks. Our findings demonstrate that this networks tends to be highly participatory, but that it is also hierarchical, showing a powerlaw distribution. Nevertheless, this type of power distribution allows much information to spread quickly and reach a wide audience. Moreover, our study shows that the combination of online and offline networks was essential for the success of the Tunisian uprising.
would come to be called Covid-19. The world media began reporting on this new virus and its consequences. However,
reports about Covid-19 would not appear in the European and American media until their societies became aware of
both the health and economic consequences of Covid-19 in March 2020. This article analyzes the online media coverage
of economic inequality. The goal is to understand the formation of the public agenda, based on the impact of the disease
on social classes as the main factor generating greater inequality levels, in particular inequality of opportunities as the
most remarkable topic during the first stage of the pandemic. According to the first results of this content analysis, the
social class divide will be deepened by the pandemic. For this study, a tool was designed to analyze both the manifest
and latent content of the items. Using content analysis, an analysis of news published by 33 digital media in both Europe
and Latin America from March 14 to April 14, 2020 was conducted. The results of this study show that income inequality
appears as the core variable of the problem, although social classes remain important. The imbalanced access to health
and education public services also receives continuous coverage in the media. However, poverty as a consequence of
this situation remains an uncomfortable issue and tends to be presented in an undramatized way.
bi-directionality of the communicative process. We conclude that the party that generated the most electoral information on Twitter during the electoral campaign was Barcelona en Comú.
main Catalan newsrooms and also analyzed the content of tweets posted between May 15 and June 19, 2011, a period known as the “explosion of the movement.” The results of this study suggest that, motivated by a pressing need for information on what was taking place, journalists turned to Twitter to find new sources, particularly within the 15M network, consisting of nodes in the camps and on Democracia Real Ya, the platform which summoned people to participate in the protests of May 15, 2011. During the 15M, journalistic routines took root which went beyond the rationale of access and credibility of information sources which were previously the domain of news agencies and other media, bringing about a new form of journalism that allowed professionals to give more amplitude and depth to news and information regarding the 15M. This phenomenon highlights the necessity to rethink the models in terms of participatory journalism, where social media and certain traditional journalistic functions may be performed by other users, including strangers, acting from outside the newsrooms
La dinámica del evento, basado en la metodología cualitativa y las técnicas de los Consensus Methods, consistió en breves presentaciones, moderadas por la investigadora de la UPF Laura Pérez Altable, quien también se encargó de un resumen y preguntas posteriores a la intervención de cada ponente, y una vez que todos habían intervenido, se procedió a un debate general.
and communication studies, taking the case study of the Arab Spring in Tunisia and combining quantitative and qualitative approach. Methodologically, this thesis integrates social network analysis with qualitative content analysis and semistructured interviews. The main objective is to give an account Tunisia’s digital network before and during the Arab Spring, along with its relationship with the social movement that characterized the Arab Spring in Tunisia. Overall, our research has identified a series of dynamics which determine the
patterns of diffusion of information through digital networks. Our findings demonstrate that this networks tends to be highly participatory, but that it is also hierarchical, showing a powerlaw distribution. Nevertheless, this type of power distribution allows much information to spread quickly and reach a wide audience. Moreover, our study shows that the combination of online and offline networks was essential for the success of the Tunisian uprising.