In the Culture of Comminication A Map to Orient Ourselves · 3. a map To orienT ourselves ......

In the Culture of Comminication

A Map to Orient Ourselves

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SoCIal CoMMunICatIonS SeCtoR

InteRnatIonal CoMMISSIon of CoMMunICatIon

IN THE CULTURE OF COMMUNICATION

A Map to Orient Ourselves

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Institute of the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians – Rome


Rome, fMa Institute 2012


Table of ConTenTs

IntroductIon .................................................................. 7

1. aT The Crossroads of Change

ConTemporary sCenarios................................... 11

1.1 In the Communication Culture ........................................... 11Mutation ........................................................................ 15the Web Paradigm ........................................................ 17

1.2 The Anthropological Challenge ........................................ 20 Digital Inhabitants .......................................................... 21 a Web to learn............................................................... 23opportunities and Risks ................................................ 25

2. QuesTions To our CharismaTiC idenTiTy ... 30

2.1 Our identity, Our Relationships ......................................... 302.2 Formation .......................................................................... 312.3 Style of Community Life .................................................... 322.4 Our Educative-Evangelizing Mission................................. 34

3. a map To orienT ourselves

Toward a CommuniCaTion plan ....................... 36

3.1 Where We are Situated........................................................ 37 3.2 Objectives .......................................................................... 403.3 Target.................................................................................. 40 3.4 Strategies ............................................................................ 413.5 Methodology....................................................................... 433.6 Evaluation .......................................................................... 44

ConClusions .................................................................... 45

bibliography .................................................................. 47

glossary ............................................................................ 50

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inTroduCTion

this fifth issue of the gong series is the fruit of the re-flection of the International Commission of Communica-tion1, formed by fMa and lay experts in the field of SocialCommunications, as was projected in the General CouncilProgram (3, 4 d). It was instituted to launch a long termprocess aimed at the study, research, and proposal of orien-tations and concrete journeys regarding the culture of com-munication in an educative vision and in dialogue with thevarious sectors.

the text proposes to promote a process of reflection, ofstudy, and of concrete choices for the elaboration of com-petent and responsible responses in the educative field. Itaims to give strength and vigor to the commitment toGospel proclamation in a world characterized by rapidchange, digital information, and plurality of membershipsand of platforms for the production of cultural messages.

It is the expression of a dialogued research in the courseof the Inter-Sector meetings at the continental level with thecoordinators of Social Communications of all the Provinces.they offered their contribution of ideas and proposals to betranslated into practices and actions in the educating Com-munities.

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1 the Commission (March 2010) is composed of Sr. Giuseppinateruggi, Sr. Julia arciniegas, Sr. anna Rita Cristaino, Sr. lucy Roces

the objective of gong 5 is to weave a conversationon the communication culture in an educative vision forthe entire Institute, creating awareness of the impact ofcontemporary scenarios on our identity and educativemission.


the history of the Institute teaches us that communica-tion is a typical dimension of the Salesian charism. In DonBosco and Mother Mazzarello we already discover a strongand emphasized need for communication and a rare abilityto establish authentic relationships.

In the course of our history, epochal changes have re-quired continuous reflection to find the communicationmodalities most adapted to the times in order to give ade-quate responses to the real needs of the young.

the most recent documents of the Institute witness tothe evolution of the concept of communication that has ar-rived at a conception that is broader and transversal (Cf. Planof formation, Guidelines for the educational Mission of thefMa, Cooperation for Development). already in line withthe Sector of Social Communication, (Cf. GonG series),communication is not perceived from an instrumental pointof view alone. emphasis is placed on the style of rapportsand connections that favor educative action in the complexweaving of communication-education-evangelization.

the Church as well has seen the evolution in the wayof conceiving communication, above all in the face of theemergence of the means of social communication. from aninstrumental vision of the media, now the discourse is cen-tered on the person who communicates, on the communica-tive dimension of all ecclesial life, on evangelization ascommunication, on the culture in which we live marked bythe media, on the communicative capacity of pastoral work-ers, on the style of communication inside and outside theChurch.2

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(SC Sector); Sr. leontine Sonyi Ithweva (afC); Sr. alice albertinenhamposse (MoZ); Sr. tonny aldana (CBC); Sr. Maria Helena Moreira(BBH); Sr. Debbie Ponsaran (fIl); Sr. Maria antonia Chinello (RMa);Sr. Marie Kučerová (Cel); Sr. anna Mariani (IRo); Sr. ausilia de Siena(IMR); Professor Roberta Gisotti; Professor Massimiliano Padula.

2 Cf. SantoS emil, Comunicazione in MIDalI M.-tonellI R.(a cura), Dizionario di Pastorale Giovanile leumann-to, lDC 1992,204-215 (Dictionary of Youth Ministry).


Church documents therefore evidence a significant jour-ney especially in the 20th century. these are not to be con-sidered conclusive but rather points of departure for furtherjourneys of dialogue between the Church and the contem-porary world.3

We are aware that we are immersed in a communicationculture with new paradigms, changing scenarios, new formsof language, and different modes of narration. We ask our-selves, what formative implications are there for the fMain the educating Communities?

We do not pretend to offer a response to the great“whys” of contemporary phenomena. Reasoning, reflect-ing, and studying together have allowed us to begin withbroad questions, to give voice to interrogatives regardingthe horizon of the young, and that flow from our educativepassion.

1. What aspects are emerging from the communicationculture?

2. How do they seem to question our identity as Salesianeducators and our educative reality?

3. What journeys are we activating and what others canwe foresee in order to be an active presence in thecommunication culture?

4. What Educommunication processes are we imple-menting and seem feasible?

the text is articulated in various parts.

In the first part, “at the Crossroads of Change - Con-temporary Scenarios,” which is deliberately broader, thelines of basic trends in today’s culture of communicationand the anthropological challenges are taken into consider-ation.

In the second part, there are some questions that touch

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3 Cf. apostolic letter of John Paul II, Rapid Development (24 Jan-uary 2005).


closely on our identity, relationships, formation, and styleof community life and mission. each nucleus is integratedwith questions that challenge us and help us to understandand evaluate the reality and context in which we live andwork.

the third part offers some indications for formulating aCommunication Plan as a process of elaboration inserted inother processes and viewed as a point of connection amongthe specific attentions of the various Sectors.

our aim is to reach every Daughter of Mary Help ofChristians insofar as she is a Salesian educator. the medi-ation of the coordinators of Social Communications is im-portant so that this proposal may be assumed andconcretized in every educating Community.

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1. aT The Crossroads of Change ConTemporary sCenarios

numerous definitions and metaphors have been used todescribe contemporary society: information and communi-cations society, post-modern society, society at risk, liquidsociety. today we decide how the world of 2050 will be andwe prepare for what it will be in 2100. the future is beforeus and in some way, we not only prepare for it, we live in it.today, markets seem to control the fate of the planet, appro-priating to themselves both history and histories.

Is it possible to change direction? or is destiny decidedby the tyranny and power of finance? according to Jacquesattali it will be possible to hand on to future generations asafer world if the potential of the market and technology arejoined and re-invented with gratuity, freedom, personal andsocial responsibility, giving birth to new ways of living andcreating together.

for educators immersed in the culture of communica-tion, an educative task stimulates us and works toward theformation of women and men of tomorrow and of today, ina vision of social inclusion and transformation. let us lookat our world. the intention is to furnish keys to interpretthe present and offer opportunities of comparison and re-flection so that we will not stop researching and questioningabout the person and about the young.

1.1 In the communication culture

the communication culture is a fact. We perceive thisreality with increasing awareness when we converse withthe little ones of the primary school and the young peopleof the youth centers, with parents and lay collaborators withwhom we share the educative mission day after day.

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But what does this term mean? the expression needsto be considered in its totality and not as a simple group oftechnologies that are the product of the mass culture and thedigital culture but rather, its co-existence with the reality ofinterpersonal communication.

life is marked by communication. It is the experienceof every day. “Communication is one of those human ac-tivities that everyone recognizes but few can define satis-factorily. Communication is talking to one another, it istelevision, it is spreading information, it is our hair style,and it is literary criticism: the list is endless.”4

“Communication” is an “umbrella term,” a single wordwith many meanings and social practices. It is the spaceand occasion for interpersonal encounters that are realizedcompletely in dialogue. It is information, exchange of ex-periences, and sharing knowledge and learning. It is culturein the way of being and presenting oneself, and of culturaltradition that is transmitted and handed down. It is themedia in all its old and new forms, from print to film, fromtelevision to multimedia, from the Internet to its spaces ofsocializations. It is a uniting theme, a category that inter-prets the complexity of our times. It is an idea that config-ures a society – that of communication where all is resolvedin the exchange of information, the result of a system of re-lationships. the spreading presence, technological innova-tion, diffusive crossing of media products, variegatedopportunities for channels and programs of distribution, ofconsummation and fruition connote today’s culture. “Cul-ture of communication” means referring to a way of behav-ing, of being in the world, of a sector of life, an existentialcontext.

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4 John fISKe, Introduction to Communication Studies, Routledge,london-new York 1990, p. 1.


Digital Convergence

We have arrived at this through a process called “digitalconvergence.” new technologies have not substituted thedear old mass media of print, film, radio, and television.they have integrated, blended, and enabled them. In fact,how many films are distributed on the Web and seen on Youtube? How much music is listened to and downloaded ina more or less legal way? How many web radio and webtV become integral parts of the day of the young, and ofmany adults who open windows on the social network orchat on MSn right from their PCs at work? How much in-formation passes through uninterrupted online updates orshared on twitter or on a blog?

Convergence means the possibility of access to any con-tent everywhere, at anytime, through whatever device. thepervasiveness of this phenomenon has greatly soared, somuch so that it is taken for granted that it exists and is in-trinsic to the “evolution of technology.” the mass media isby now the fruition between paper and digital, portable oniPad and Smartphone, through rapid and continuous con-nections, always on, available with Bluetooth and Wi-fi,and not only this. Included in the process of convergenceto the digital are all the cultural aspects of today and yes-terday. an example is the collecting, preserving, and dis-tributing of individual and social memory made availableeven online.

the confines between content and vehicle disappearmore and more. already Mcluhan in 1964, affirmed that“the medium is the message” and that the world is a “globalvillage.”5

the communication culture concerns the organizationof communication as well. the devices are portable and al-

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5 Marshall Mcluhan, Gli strumenti del comunicare, (The Instru-

ments of Communication) Milano, Il Saggiatore 1967.


most invisible, easy to use, available to everyone, every-where, and in any manner. the cell phone is an expressionof a true and proper cultural change. the need to be con-nected always, satisfied by wireless technology, is an indi-cator of the need of every person to communicate. theminiaturization of technological devices that are increas-ingly more intelligent and smaller fulfils instead the needof personal communication that is ever on hand. thus wesee a passage in the communication model from “one-to-one” to the mass media of “one-to-many” and of “many-to-many” of the new technologies. the new media are alsocalled “my media” because they translate a communicationof the type “one-to-one always available” and “everyone al-ways accessible.” In this optic, it is necessary for persons,groups, organizations to continuously adapt to the rapidityand the increasing innovations, whether of devices, or aboveall, of how to use them. It is an obligatory journey in orderto confront the fragmentation of ideologies and values thatimpacts the tastes and the life style of social and culturalcontexts.

the culture in which we are immersed confirms thatcommunication is a fundamental good, a right, but also aduty that we cannot renounce. the “new” culture demandsa committed formation that sustains a huge change of men-tality. We must educate ourselves responsibly so as to beaware of the potential and the risk of the media.

John Paul II in his instruction “Starting afresh fromChrist” (2002) wrote of the need to promote within the ed-ucative sector a “renewed cultural commitment” in order tokeep pace with a reality in continual evolution. We need tomodulate our thinking and acting to the languages and stylesof communication in order to make the evangelical messagevisible, to provide quality communication with the old andnew media, to form mature persons who are critical and cre-ative, capable of discovering, reading, and interpreting the“seeds of the Word” in contemporary culture.

the communication culture is not without ambiguity. It

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is a variegated scene within the different social contexts. Ithas points of evidence and expression, of influence and di-verse diffusion that configures itself around two realities,mutation and the web paradigm.

mutation

John Paul II stressed the “rapid development” of presentsociety. the velocity of innovation and the complexity inwhich we live today can generate disorientation, confusion,and uncertainty. Change is a permanent fact. as a socialbeing, the person has always intervened, transformed,adapted, and shaped the context.

We have already anticipated that from a technologicalpoint of view, we cannot proceed by substitution but ratherby integration between the old and new media. the resultis the configuration of an integrated system of communica-tion and the amplification of offers and opportunities ofchannels and messages that create and diffuse culture. Inthis new context, the concepts of space and time are modi-fied and their boundaries are becoming thinner to the pointof disappearing altogether.

Cross-media

this is the possibility that, through new technologies,the contents of a communication are distributed on differenttechnological platforms, using different formats: in enter-tainment programs, in advertisements, in video and audioproduction, and in the construction of websites. What isinteresting is the inter-dependence and the “send backs” thatare established and organized among the various media: tel-evision, cell phone, Internet. In fact, cross-media approachrequires, having available ever growing and updated digitalresources to use as the basis for the intelligent planning ofthe entire communicative process.

for example, a story may be introduced in a film, de-

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veloped by a television series, diffused by topical and in-terest magazines either on paper or online, and distributedas a gadget in newsstands. access to these products is au-tonomous, but every product is a “point” of the process thatresolves well-defined requisites for reaching an objective.In this way, diverse media sustain variegated experiencesthat motivate consumption and attract users.

Digital Divide

this term indicates inequality in the distribution of ac-cess and use of the new information and communicationtechnologies both in industrialized nations and in develop-ing countries and within the same industrialized countriesamong the various levels of the population.

It deals with a complex theme because it touches thevarious sphere of social, cultural, economic, and politicallife. the causes of this digital diversity are multiple, aggra-vated today by accelerated change that widens the distancemore and more between the haves and the have nots, thosewith access and those without, those who get richer andthose who get poorer. this disproportion goes with andadds to the numerous differences that touch many areas ofthe planet: poverty, lack of electricity, low levels of educa-tion, and situations of economic and social degradation.another perspective from which to consider the digital di-vide is the disparity of access to opportunities offered bythe Web such as information, knowledge, awareness, socia-bility, relationships, and entertainment. the world does notseem to be equally divided between info-rich and info-poor.the knowledge divide is therefore deeper. It is urgent thatit be filled, creating among other things, opportunities suchas schools, teacher formation, and didactic resources inorder to access all knowledge and learning. this is also im-portant for the memory and wisdom of peoples and culturespresent on the Web as well.

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The web paradigm

Internet is called the “Web of webs” and it is withoutdoubt one of the metaphors that can be used to read the pres-ent6 insofar as its rapidity, immediateness, interconnectivity,openness, and circularity that characterize society as well.the advent of the World Wide Web, or WWW or simply“web,” in that which is defined “1.0”, is essentially inform-ative in articulation and navigation. now there is “web 2.0”with its load of sharing and relationships, its “added value”that has favored involvement, protagonism, participation,and interaction. Soon the World Wide Web will be “web3.0” or the semantic web that aims at insuring a more “in-telligent” research on meaning more than on terms withwhich the search engines operate.

notwithstanding substantial and structural disparity, thediffusion of the Internet concerns the entire human commu-nity of every continent. the fruition and consummation ofweb resources involves men and women of all ages, al-though for different uses.

the Web should not be regarded merely as “one” moretechnology available for use. Rather it is an anthropologicalplace to be inhabited.7 In fact, it is a way of existing, thebackground, the permanent channel of connection, the prac-tice and process, the modality and instruments for self-ex-pression and confirming the right/duty of every person tocommunicate and grow in relationship.

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6 Internet and World Wide Web in current language are used inter-changeably but the two terms are actually different. Internet is the tech-nology that connects the computer to the network, while the World WideWeb (WWW) is the hypertext that allows navigation and reference ofthe contents deposited on the servers of the whole planet through abrowser. therefore, the Web is within the Internet and needs this infra-structure.

7 Cf. Chiara GIaCCaRDI (a cura di), Abitanti della rete. Giovani, re-

lazioni e affetti nell’epoca digitale, (Inhabitants of the Web... the Young,Relationships and Sentiments in the Digital era) Milano, Vita & Pen-siero 2010.


the concept of a “networked society”8 explains that in-teraction has primacy over the content that people may in-terchange. today, more importance is given to beingconnected than to sharing thoughts, opinions, or reflections.Some traits that better define the “networked society” are:

– the logic of the Web is the complex plot that connectsnot only systems, but also persons and relationshipsthat are reciprocally intertwined.

– the flexibility of the Web highlights change, transfor-mation, and fluidity in the social tapestry that concernsorganizations and institutions, and also the life of per-sons who today no longer have definitive points of ref-erence. What is gained today is already up for discus -sion tomorrow.

– The convergence of the digital technologies designsan integrated system of channels of communicationand products of the media culture.

the Web paradigm also modifies the concept of organ-ization where flexibility and circularity seem to substituteorder and hierarchy. It passes from the vertical to the hori-zontal. It focuses on the process more than on the task. Itprivileges team work and tends to measure the level of qual-ity and satisfaction of the final user. It favors processes offormation and re-qualification of the person.

the Web paradigm is characterized by:

– the continuity of experience between “inside” and“outside” the web, between “online” and “offline” thatsurpasses the contrast between what is real and whatis virtual. the boundaries between inside/outside isthin, but it is important to clarify, above all in refer-ence to the life of the young, that which is “public”and that which instead is “private”.

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8 Cf. Manuel CaStellS, La nascita della società in rete, Milano,egea 2002 [tit. or. The Rise of the Network Society, oxford, BlackwellPublishers ltd, 2000].


– ever easier to use devices that put user generated con-tent at the center and becomes the producer of com-munication and not only the user. He/she has thefreedom to navigate, intervene, participate, publish,communicate, copy, paste, and cut the content atpleasure.

– the accessibility and easy use of content - In Web 2.0,it is almost a game for young people to publish photos,texts, films, audio that are tagged so that they can beeasily accessed both by other users, and above all, bysearch engines. thus, the Web is the privileged placefor gathering and narrating intertwined stories inwhich one feels to be at the center and not only a moreor less active user.

– there are collaborative and cooperative forms of writ-ing and sharing, where all the subjects participate inthe process of content elaboration as managers and“modifiers” of knowledge. an example of this isWikipedia, the online encyclopedia, and digital/onlinewrite-ups.

– new expressions of democracy and citizenship relatecontents, sectors, memberships, institutions. this isthe case in some social movements that have recentlyemerged in both western and eastern countries. Itdeals with movements born among the common peo-ple. for this reason they are called “from below” thatactivate journeys of giving and receiving ideas, con-tents, proposals, and protests “from the road to theweb,” and vice versa. In the social network one candenounce, share, call for meetings and fix places,dates, and times in which to gather for rallies, raisevoices, and dialogue. after the events, the pages offacebook, twitter, and Youtube are crowded withcomments, photos, and videos. It is a way of “voic-ing”, offering one’s contribution, making the massesaware of social, political, and religious happeningsboth at the local and international levels.

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1.2 the Anthropological challenge

the mutation is not only technical, cultural, social, andeconomic. It is above all, anthropological and calls intoplay the dimensions of the person’s identity, relationship,and expression.

Mark Prensky defined the young born between thenineties and the year two thousand as “digital natives”.from birth, they are exposed to visual culture and images.they have learned to co-exist with multiple screens such astelevision, computer, play station, cell phone, etc. Hewrites, “today’s students have not just changed incremen-tally from those of the past, nor simply changed their slang,clothes, body adornments, or styles, as has happened be-tween generations previously. a really big discontinuity hastaken place. one might even call it a “singularity” – anevent which changes things so fundamentally that there isabsolutely no going back. this so-called “singularity” is thearrival and rapid dissemination of digital technology in thelast decades of the 20th century.”9

according to some studies, the brain of the new gener-ations undergoes an alteration in the neural connections thatmodifies and transforms the traditional generational differ-ences into something new, a chasm that scientists call braingap.10 In children who have a precocious interaction withtelevision and computer, the cerebral connections developdifferently in respect to those who exercise reading or writ-ing or another physical activity. especially today, two gen-erations come in contact, which, because of differentcognitive experiences, have different cerebral structures andtherefore have difficulty dialoguing. according to Prensky,the social tapestry seems to split into two large cultural

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9 Mark PRenSKY, Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants in The Hori-

zon. Bradford: MC university Press, 2001, 9-5.10 Cf. Gary SMall - Gigi VoRGan, iBrain: Surviving in the Tech-

nological Alteration of the Modern Mind. new York, Harper Collins2008.


groups, the “digital natives” and the “digital immigrants,”the adults who have been unwillingly projected and forcedto live in the world of digital technology.

Young people go from a logical-rational thought to anintuitive thought. for them, learning does not simply meanreceiving information but rather experiencing, testing, trans-forming, reconfiguring, judging, interchanging, and makingkeener sensibilities and cognitive processes. their point ofdeparture is the image. they are used to place experiencesin common, to have direct confrontation, to give advice, andto dialogue simultaneously. their day runs from one key-board to another, involved in an activity called “multi-task-ing,” which is the capacity to manage and keep up withmany activities at the same time, using various channels ofcommunication. Contemporaneously, they study, chat, lis-ten to the radio, download music, update their facebook andtwitter profiles, watch television online, manage textingand cell phones.

the anthropological change touches the need for rela-tionships as well because the person is and remains a crea-ture of communication and interchange. online friendsmultiply and web ties create a space in which to “be to-gether.” But at the same time, relationships seem to weaken,to become ever more distant from the strong traditional rap-ports of one time, like those of the family. using an image,we can say that we broaden more and more, amplifying thehorizontal level at the cost of depth and intensity in rela-tionships and in the quality of communication.

digital inhabitants

Being with the young, accompanying them, and educat-ing them today calls for noteworthy knowledge and under-standing of their languages, and of their forms of expres -sion. one perspective from which to understand the newgeneration is precisely the communication exchanges theyform among themselves and with others. they move

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through the various cultures and geography of the Web.they enter into rapport with other languages and other cul-tures. they structure true and proper digital planetaryspaces.

as they socialize and experience vast relational dy-namisms, they try to build an identity that concretizes oneway or another, in considering their rapport with them-selves, with others, with reality, and with the transcendent.they are “multi-located” in varied spaces and times, alwaysmore “externalized,” and constantly oriented outside them-selves.

In the new forms of self-expression, where image, style,musical genres, and art have spaces, hidden between thelines of social network comments is the search for meaning,for belonging, for dialogue, for relationship. In transition-ing between the local and global dimension, in moving fromreal and virtual reality that are often fused, adolescents andyoung adults imprint new meanings on what is real and vir-tual, lived and communicated, constructed and learned.Mario Morcellini affirms that “the spark of communicationtechnology seems to provide context, vocabulary, and ex-pression for a networked generation, which has found in themeans of communication one of the most important territo-ries for recognizing identities and attributions of the mean-ing of reality.”11

entrance into the social network of the Web, the socalled online community, is extremely free, accessed by asimple click. Here multiple memberships can be cultivatedand different identities experienced. the digital self is theopportunity of working one’s own identity and relationshipswithin the ever changing spaces of the Web. this is favoredby a permanent connection and the platforms that allow the

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11 Cf. Simona tIRoCCHI - Romana anDÒ - Marzia antenoRe,Giovani a parole. Dalla generazione media alla networked generation

(Young People to Word... from the media generation to the networkedgeneration) Milano, Guerini & associati 2002.


personalization and animation of content, indication of pref-erences, personal habits, and attitudes. the risk lies in thepluralisation of identities due to continuous evolution, ex-perimentation, and adaptation to different virtual spaceswhere a “con-fusion” can also be verified between the pub-lic and private dimension.

“nomadism” is a condition of digital inhabitants who“traverse” spaces built and recognized by tastes and inter-ests, friendships, and free time. as age progresses, there isa “migration” from more crowded and public communitiesthat are open and uncontrolled, to spaces where communi-cation becomes more restricted, private, and friendly. the“transitional” dimension proper to web communication in-dicates the cultural instability and social changeablenessthat renders the person a kind of “traveller in a middle land,”and forces temporary choices to reach an ever more fragileequilibrium.

In fact, the Web can or risks being a continuous surface,without boundaries between within and without that restorean image of the world and the person seen and touched, whooften is closed in a self-referenced circle where one seesnothing but oneself. It is important that the need for com-munication and relationship that is amplified by the Weband made possible at the horizontal level be cracked openso that a spiral may enter, opening it to transcendence, tothe “more” that it cannot give. the voice and presence ofCatholics on the “digital continent” can offer this humaniz-ing contribution to “the numerous peoples of the Web” atthis time (Benedict XVI, Message for the World Day of So-cial Communication, 2009). It is only in this way that notonly connection, but also communion may be assured.

a web to learn

new digital technologies and the development of theWeb can significantly better the learning experience of thepersons who use it for their own formation. Recent learning

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theories evidence the fundamental importance assumed bythe social context in the learning process. according to so-cial-cultural Constructivism, the subject who learns “con-structs” his/her own competence by enriching it andre-structuring it in relation to knowledge and the points ofview of other individuals. thus, individual learning is theproduct of a group process. all that is learned is filtered bya process of interpretation conditioned by the context, byone’s own cultural baggage, and personal life. In this con-text, the diffusion and evolution of information technologyand communication open new scenarios and possibilities ofdevelopment in the didactic world. they permit automa-tion, re-creation, or simulation through the support of thenew media and use of the Web, some processes typical oftraditional didactics, and the connection of individuals withan infinite amount of information and with a similar broadnumber of individuals with whom it is possible to interactand collaborate.

the use of new media in the formation process, foundedon collaborative learning, that is, “on the mutual involve-ment of the participants in a coordinated effort to resolve aproblem together or construct a platform of knowledge andexchange,” brings with itself different important implica-tions. these implications are: emphasis on “learning bydoing,” involvement of the student in collaborative researchof knowledge, and a change in the role of the instructor,whether teacher or educator, who, from a holder of authorityand knowledge, becomes a guide and a facilitator.

at the present moment, therefore, the Web representsan opportunity and a challenge for learning. Whoeverknows how to accept this challenge will succeed in propos-ing, not only new and adequate contents for the times, butalso an ever more effective way corresponding to new form-ative needs and to the modality of communication of the“digital generation.”

Didactic technology, due to its particular characteristic,can facilitate learning because it speaks the same language

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of the student and offers the possibility of using differentlanguages, different codes, speaking to all the “eight intel-ligences” that make up our intelligence (Gardner, MultipleIntelligences).12

opportunities and risks

the rapport between young people and Web communi-cation opens up to new and unheard of educational re-sources. the advent of the Web re-defines the space of theeducative pact. It changes not only the way of “educating”but also changes the “profile” of the young person as he orshe lives the adventure of becoming a man or a woman.Don Bosco taught us that “education is a matter of theheart” and must begin with what the young like, even iftoday this means the fatigue and the effort of learning abouttheir world, entering it, overcoming the sense of bewilder-ment, and the fear of not being with the times.

for our youth who grew up with the Internet, the Webhas furnished various opportunities:

– Protagonism in a “real” space of experiences diverselyarticulated and unified by practices and relationships.

– Relational individuality – the person does not becomean absolute nor is absorbed by the group, but throughrelationships, builds his/her own identity through ameasured management of his/her own imprint in re-lationship with others.

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12 Howard Gardner in his book, “the theory of Intelligences,” dis-covered the existence of eight different types of intelligences: verbal/lin-guistic, logical/mathematical, musical, interpersonal, intra-personal,visual/spatial, corporeal/kinesthetic, and naturalistic. the new technolo-gies are in perfect harmony with these multiple intelligences. In fact,they allow the management of study materials according to differentpoints of view. therefore, the new digital technologies are efficaciousinstruments to enable eventual lacks relative to one of the eight multipleintelligences.


– Inter-activity, because the Internet is not only a reser-voir of information, but also a place of relationships.It is not only technology for knowledge but also a Webfor communication.

– Responsibility and reciprocity because the Web sus-tains the capacity for openness toward others. Beingconnected, “associated,” overcomes the limits ofspace and time, becomes a condition for reinforcingthe beauty of encounter, and prolongs the marvel andawe of interpersonal relationships.

– Personalization of education and learning that leadsto valuing the personal contribution. the concept ofcollective intelligence sustains that on the Web thereis “an intelligence distributed everywhere, continuallyvalued, and coordinated in real time that leads to aneffective mobilization of competencies.”13 It is not asum of intelligences, but a “new” knowing. the Webenables meeting and dialogue with multiple ap-proaches, the invention of research strategies andsharing. It develops new and diverse expressive abil-ities, and the acceptance of a plurality of ideas and so-lutions to problems.

– Redefinition of competencies and rapports in educa-tion – It opens new roads for re-projecting doing andbeing, of “building” together. It means self formationand continually questioning daily reality, not resolvingproblems definitively but ever ready to relocate to newareas of communication.

– the capacity to “remain with,” to share, to accompanyeach other both in passing moments and in daily life.It is in the interactive area of the Web that communi-

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13 Pierre lÉVY, L’intelligenza collettiva. Per un’antropologia del

cyberspazio. Milano, feltrinelli 2002, 34 (tit. or. L’intelligence collec-

tive. Pour une antropologie du cyberspace, Paris, Éditions la Décou-verte 1994). (Collective Intelligence... for an anthropology of thecyberspace).


cation occurs, where the real give and take of sociallife happens. Studies confirm that mediated relation-ships are marked, among others things, by the dimen-sion of gift and gratuity.

– the capacity to speak of oneself with confidence, thusbuilding a space from the bottom up, in which the per-sonal dimension is placed in common. the Webseems to have restored citizenship to the written word.the social network, and in particular blogs, is distin-guished by narration, thoughts, and comments. It isan opportunity to reread and write “between and be-yond the lines” history and stories, to live not only inthe present, in an infinite here and now, but to be ableto recount in order to open oneself to others in reci-procity.

the open dimension of the Web fascinates and involves.the rapidity of connection, the uninterrupted possibility ofinteraction, and the multiplication of relationships are coreperspectives to launch journeys of education to authenticcommunication together, for the young and for us.

However, we must take into consideration some aspectsthat arouse questions, precisely because certain dynamicsand developments, to which communication mediated bythe computer will lead to, are not entirely clear:

– forms of banality to avoid conflict or approval, wherediscordant positions with respect to those of the groupare not expressed; refusal to “emerge” as a person in-hibits personal responsibility and witness.

– expressions of intimacy that pass through models that“aligned with” the group or are expressed prevalentlyin indirect and mediated ways.

– Prevalence of a purely casual communication, just tomaintain contact. this impoverishes the exchangeand renders impossible an encounter that goes beyond“being with.”

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– friendships that are built on sameness and affinityleaving out all that is “other” by age, authority, diversehistories and visions. the Web should not become a“den” of refuge but rather a “home” where opennessto others is pedagogy for encounter and communica-tion.

– Missing connection between the private and public di-mension of communication inside and outside theWeb. life is an infinite flow of rings and connectionsand often there is no room for silence, reflection, crit-ical thinking, or elaborating sorrows and joys.

– Enables the “bending” of technological devices toone’s aims, disregarding the ethical and functional im-plications of the instruments used.

Based on scientific research and historical facts of re-cent years, the conviction that the Internet is a new form ofdependence has become ever more evident and alarming.Without doubt, the velocity, immediateness, economy, andanonymity typical of online communication can establishdeviant ways in psychologically and socially fragile person-alities. one can pass from “navigating” to “drowning” onthe Web. awareness of the risks and dangers one runs onthe web, which generate dependence, can motivate theadoption of critical and responsible approaches that recog-nize the Internet as a potential to be understood, interpreted,and used correctly.

Internet Addiction Disorder (IAD) is the name that iden-tifies the syndrome of Internet dependence that is as real asalcoholism. like other pathologies of dependence, it pro-vokes social problems, uncontrollable desires, withdrawalsymptoms, isolation, economic and work difficulties. toavoid letting the Web be transformed into a trap, the totalityof the young person must be watched. education must con-verge on their individual, human, spiritual, and cultural po-tential in order to accompany them in their growth aspersons. for adults, there must be an analysis of social, sci-

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entific, and technological change and an on-going formationthat goes well beyond the classrooms and the walls of thefamily.

the person is born, grows, and lives in a context that ismore and more “on the Web”. the challenge is to provideparameters so that they learn to navigate in its complexityand interconnectivity, mature a critical, thoughtful mentalitycapable of choosing, of denouncing, and of defending thevalue of a culture at the service of life. they must be en-abled to accept themselves, to have positive encounters withothers, (classes, peoples, cultures) and with God.

We are in a “time of passage,” to be lived without losingenthusiasm but rather gathering with full awareness thechallenges facing us in order to transmit to those entrustedto us the courage and the joy inherent in an ongoing adven-ture. We need educators and communicators who witnessto the interior elation and determination to face the openseas of transformation. they must first be adventurouswomen and men, humble and persevering explorers whoknow how to fix their gaze on solid ground while alwayslooking ahead. they do not always have all the answers,but they know some practical and concrete secrets in orderto live without too much fear and to continue to entrustthemselves to the course that at night offers us only thenorth Star.

We must understand what the culture of communicationis, study and clarify some of its more global phenomena, itsresources, and its challenges to our charismatic identity.

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2. QuesTions To our CharismaTiC

idenTiTy

We fMa feel ourselves particularly questioned by thecommunication culture which asks us to revisit the style offormation and educative-evangelizing action to respondmore efficaciously to contemporary challenges. We feel theurgency to actuate this renewal, but we do not find it easyto concretize it in coherent actions. We still find it hard toassume a new mentality that sees communication as the“ambient” in which we live and work.

the situation of rapid change in which we live questionsour identity, relationships, formation, style of communitylife, and our educative-evangelizing mission.

2.1 our Identity, our relationships

the new communication culture questions our identityas consecrated women today and our way of living theevangelical counsels. aware of the value of the call and ofthe validity of the Salesian charismatic presence, we recog-nize the need to make courageous choices in order to liveour vocational identity with “creative fidelity,” to experi-ence a style of animation and management that is more par-ticipative, and to render our structures more flexible.

In today’s society, which Zygmunt Bauman calls “liq-uid,” we are called to “unlearn in order to learn.”

We ask ourselves:

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2.2 Formation

assuming formation as a lifelong itinerary helps us torespond better to contemporary challenges. our communi-ties are called to be places of continuous learning where lifeexperiences are shared. It is necessary to find time for re-flection and sharing in order to understand, in the logic ofthe Web, epochal changes, to revive the style of communitylife, and to create environments that are more positive andhumanizing. It is fundamental to engage in a wise anima-tion that knows how to discover and enable the resourcespresent in every person and to create conditions so that“everyone would have a voice.” ongoing formation is thespace to act on the need to build new skills and to prepareus to become “women of communication,” capable of uti-lizing diverse channels and languages, of expressing close-ness and empathy, of assuming an attitude of listening andof understanding, and of creating educommunicativeecosystems.

the elaboration of itineraries for initial formation musttake into account that the young people in formation are al-ready “born digital” and therefore it is necessary to build

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are we aware that in our present culture a newmodel of consecrated life is emerging? What newpriorities and organizational models emerge?

Do the challenges of the communication culturestimulat e us to assume new communication styles?

In which situations do we experience a more par-ticipative animation and management?

Does our Preventive System, lived in its commu-nicative dimension, change our way of relating toour sisters, our collaborators, our young people, inour territory and in today’s reality?


processes that are adequate and coherent with the changesalready going on.

It is important for every fMa to feel the need for a se-rious formation that is in harmony with the culture of com-munication, overcoming superficiality, negative depend-ence, and confusion. It is just as important that our com-municative competencies evolve, otherwise we will nolonger have anything to say because we will be lacking theways of saying it.

We ask ourselves:

2.3 Style of community Life

In the Web society where there is perennial intercon-nectedness, are we aware of the need to rediscover the tastefor dialogue and gratuitous sharing of self, and of the typi-cally Salesian family spirit? We face changes with opti-mism and planning in a faith vision. It is important toenable ourselves to an attitude of continual study and dis-cernment in order to live and realize our mission signifi-cantly and efficaciously. We move within a web and we

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are our communities places of ongoing formation?In what way?

as fMa, do we feel the urgency of formationwithin the communication culture?

the young people in formation were born in thenew communication culture. How do we keep thisin mind? How do we make them protagonists intheir formative process? What communicativestyle do we assume with them?

Do we know the expectations of the young in re-gard to religious life? How do our formative pro-posals consider these?


live the interdependence of events that call for global inter-ventions that are to be interpreted and faced together.

thus there is need for a style of animation that makeseveryone a protagonist for the community climate and foreducation to a responsible management of time. time israpid and fleeting. Sometimes we risk pursuing the multiplepossibilities that are offered or the many things that pressureus, without adequate reflection. the world of the mediaalso pressures and envelops us and we are not immune toit. the challenge is still and always, a formative one, notonly in the sense of educating ourselves about the media.above all, we are challenged to form ourselves to the re-sponsible use of time in our life so as not to take away spacefrom relationships, community encounters, prayer, discern-ment, reflection, study, and work. all these are the basisfor realizing our “living and working together” in a signif-icant way.

We ask ourselves:

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Do our communities interact with the surroundingarea to put information, ideas, and values in circu-lation? How do they do this?

What are our lifestyles? What do they communi-cate?

Do we feel responsible for the organization ofcommunity and personal time? How do we man-age them?

Which strategies do we use to overcome a frag-mented and compartmentalized mentality?

Do we believe and practice synergy with thegroups of the Salesian family and other Institu-tions?


2.4 our Educative-Evangelizing Mission

the communication culture is the new areopagus of themission. the change and complexity orient every fMa to-ward new missionary enterprises. We are in a new continentfor exploration, and, like the first missionaries, in facingand crossing it we can identify unheard of opportunities tomeet young people and accomplish the educative missionwith them. our task is to be a mediation that offers instru-ments of interpretation and renewed meaning, with a bal-ance between easy-going enthusiasms and rigid closures.as fMa therefore, we feel the urgency to be ever moreaware of being “immersed” in the communication culture,to become impassioned again for the common educativemission and to choose to “remain” with the young.

It is necessary to rethink pastoral action keeping in mindthe anthropological challenge if we do not want to put atrisk the very education of children, adolescents, and youngpeople. Many educators live “the temptation to renounce,to fail to understand their role or the mission entrusted tothem” (Benedict XVI, letter of the Holy father BenedictXVI to the Dioceses and City of Rome on the urgent taskof education, 2008). In fact, it speaks of the “educationalemergency”. the Salesian charism offers us a clear aware-ness of the urgency of educating in the new cultural context.this calls for re-reading educative-evangelizing action froma communication perspective and rethinking the places forpastoral animation. educative environments are also the“social media,” inhabited by the young in a particular way.they are vital spaces that modify and influence the attitudesand models of relationship.

We are called to rediscover our responsibility in regardto the young, to inhabit the places they frequent, to be intune with their languages, to be open to change, and to bemore competent in the relationship of accompaniment.

assuming an attitude of deep listening is already com-

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munication and, above all, harmonizing our daily life withthe proposal announced by Jesus Christ as the great gift thatwe can offer the new generations.

We ask ourselves:

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Do we perceive communication as a mission field?

What fears impede our active entrance into thecommunication culture?

What contributions are we giving to education/evangelization in order to be relevant in the contextin which we live?

Do we know youth culture, their languages, andtheir life styles? What educative practices do weutilize?

Is evangelization re-formulated, keeping in mindthe communication perspective?

How do the various sectors of animation take intoaccount the communication culture? How do theysee their place within this culture?


3. a map To orienT ourselves Toward a CommuniCaTion plan

after focusing on the aspects emerging from the com-munication culture and the interrogatives for the educativemission, we feel that it is important to offer some indica-tions for a Communication Plan. It is to be understood as aprocess to be inserted in others already launched in thewhole Institute and presented as a point of connectionamong the specific concerns of the various Sectors.

our vision is that of coordination for communion wherewe proceed with coordinated and convergent processes atthe service of the mission of a Province or an individualcommunity.

By Communication Plan we mean an instrument ofplanning, programming, and management where the com-municative and educative instances converge and can helpthe educating Community realize the mission in the diverseProvinces and local realities.

In order to draft a Communication Plan at various lev-els, some precise steps are necessary. It is important to de-lineate how the Institute situates itself in the historic timein which we are living.

a useful instrument to this end is the so-called swoTanalysis14 that permits the concrete articulation of thestrong points, the weaknesses, the opportunities, and thethreats to an institution. from the study of the situationemerge objectives, explanation of the processes to actuatein order to promote journeys pertinent to making us growin the awareness of being immersed in a communication

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14 the instrument is accredited to albert Humphrey who guided aresearch project at Stanford university in 1960 and 1970.


culture, and to be so in a proactive way, creating networksfor sharing actual experiences.

Some strategies are indicated, crucial aspects that mustbe considered so that the processes we wish to initiate willbe assumed and carried out in the various realities.

then methodological Choices are delineated, whichcan be concretized in the various contexts to favor the im-plementation of the strategies.

finally, evaluation allows the verification of the meas-ure to which the objectives have been reached in view ofthe continuity of the process.

our intent is to contribute to the understanding that theelaboration of this instrument becomes the place of synergyfor a coordinated and convergent animation with the spe-cific contribution of every sector.

3.1 Where We are Situated

for a more timely analysis of the context in which weare situated, we propose the swoT analysis, an instrumentutilized in programming strategies to evaluate the strengthsand weaknesses, the opportunities, and Threats of what-ever project, plan, program, initiative that is to be elabo-rated, improved, developed, and evaluated.

The swoT analysis allows reasoning in a systematicway in regard to the strategic objectives to be faced, simul-taneously keeping under control the external ambient, theorganization, the factors that may facilitate and those thatrisk compromising the attainment of the objectives. theyallow for the establishment of the priorities to assume inorder to render communicative and educative action effica-cious on the basis of a hierarchy of choices and interven-tions.

the analysis of the situation to identify opportunitiesto emphasize and threats to keep under control necessitates

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the gathering of data that has a direct or indirect correlationwith the objective. In this way, the gathering of data permitsthe strategic implementation of communication actions, im-proving their quality and efficacy.

In the swoT analysis, strengths mean all those ca-pacities and potentials internal to Institutions (Provinces,Schools, oratories…), useful for reaching the objective.

for example: the Preventive System as spirituality andmethod, the family Spirit as the style of communitymanagement, coordination for communion, the Insti-tute’s international and intercultural character, co-re-sponsibility with the laity, networking, awareness of theneed for formation in the field of communication.

weaknesses consist of internal insufficiencies of the In-stitution that are obstacles to reaching the objective.

for example: difficulty in changing mentality, difficultyin adapting our educative proposals to the rapid culturalchanges, gap between theory and practice, rigidity ofstructures, compartmentalized mentality, difficulty infinding space and time for reflective reading of social-cultural changes from the perspective of a believer, dif-ficulty in being with the young.

opportunities are all those external conditions of theterritory and of the culture useful to the Institution in reach-ing the objective.

for example: communication as the new areopagus,communication technology that reduces distances andspeeds up communication, rapport with the groups ofthe Salesian family, ecclesial, civil, and religious organ-izations.

Threats are the external conditions of the territory andof the culture that hinder reaching the objective.

for example: political and social situations, precariouseconomies, dictatorships, lack of respect for human

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rights, relativism, hedonism, individualism, family crisisand fragility, new forms of poverty and exclusion, de-pendency on new technologies, loss of a sense of thecommon good and social responsibility, discrepancy be-tween values proposed by the media and those proposedby our educative environments.

the four aspects of the swoT analysis present a trans-versal reading in which the internal strong points help toconfront the external Threats and the opportunities ofthe context can help to offset the internal weaknesses ofthe Institution.

the following outline illustrates what we have just said.

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strong points:Capacities and poten-tials of the Institutionuseful for reaching theobjective

opportunities: external conditionsuseful to the Institutionfor reaching the objec-tive

weak points: Insufficiencies of theInstitution harmful forreaching the objective

Threats: external conditionsharmful for reachingthe objective

swoT analysis


3.2 objectives

In order to be pertinent and verifiable, the objectivemust respond to some criteria. It is necessary that it be con-crete, simple, measureable, accessible, and truly attainableby the organization and its resources, realistic, and organ-ized in time frames.

We consider indispensable some general objectives nec-essary for living as Salesian educators in the contemporarycontext:

– favoring convergent processes for a growing aware-ness of being immersed in the communication culture

– allowing to emerge the formative implications in ref-erence to the communication culture

– Promoting ever more efficacious processes of educa-tion-communication-evangelization

– favoring a change of mentality that leads to renewingeducative practices and the role of the educator in linewith the changes of the new culture

– Promoting journeys of educommunication in order tobe proactive in the new culture

– Creating networks among the diverse realities, sharingongoing experiences, and making “best practices” vis-ible.

3.3 target

In a Communication Plan it is important to be clearabout the differentiation of the recipients of the actions. theidentification of the recipients necessitates a subdivision byhomogeneous and meaningful groups so that the actionsmay be more focused and efficacious.

for example, in addressing the whole educating Com-munity, subgroups can be identified, such as:

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– Daughters of Mary Help of Christians, subdivided byage, skills, and roles.

– Young people subdivided by levels of educational at-tainment, age, different faith journeys, cultural and so-cial differences.

– Collaborators subdivided by skills, roles, age, differ-ent faith journeys, cultural and social differences.

– lay members of the Salesian family, parents, volun-teers…

3.4 Strategies

the choice of strategies consists in translating the ob-jective into actions and indicating the directions that mustbe followed in the concrete realization of the Communica-tion Plan.

a communication strategy is a complex of harmoniousdecisions that indicate which factors are to be acted uponin reference to the objectives identified so as to have greatercommunicative capacity, and attain the expected results.

on the basis of the objectives proposed, priority mustbe given to the following strategic factors:

– lifelong learning

Continuous change requires the capacity to “learn andunlearn” in order to be in a stance of flexibility and re-search in the face of present challenges and needs.this presupposes entering into a vision of formation asan ongoing process that lasts for one’s whole life inorder to place oneself adequately in the changing sce-narios of a culture in evolution. Special attention is re-served for the first phases of formation: their questionson communications, cultural styles, religious manifes-tations, and new visibility of the Salesian charism.

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– network mentality

this is a way of thinking, proposing, working, and act-ing proper to today’s complexity. It requires multipleresponses that take into account different outlooks, in-terpretations, and points of view that are sometimes di-vergent.It is the capacity to place oneself in connection with di-verse interlocutors, carrying out dialogue and sharingon a broad range.It is an interior disposition for constant discernment andto confront oneself with cultural mutations and inter-preting them with a believer’s vision, opening oneselfto other abilities and professional preparation for a mis-sion in tune with today. It constitutes the concrete ac-tualization of coordination for communion.

– education on how to live in the network

formation is called to intercept the new technologies.this means accepting the need of a cultural change. Itentails placing ourselves in line with the fact that for-mation is re-planned in relation to the media, understoodas an integral resource for formative intervention. It im-plies rethinking the meaning of teaching/learning withparticular attention to the formative needs of the subjectand personalization of the journey. It entails reviewingthe spaces of formation, that is, the formative environ-ments for integrating diverse instruments and languages.Pedagogical intervention will have the characteristics ofcollaboration and cooperation in which the resourcesand responsibilities of formators and the young peoplein formation are integrated. It deals with a pedagogythat values reflection, research, and creativity, one thatimpassions for action, and promotes autonomy and self-esteem.

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– Communicative ecosystems

one of today’s challenges is to transform every ambientinto a communicative ecosystem that keeps in mind het-erogeneous cultural experiences, new information andcommunication technologies. Communicative ecosys-tem, in a Salesian vision, means the educative environ-ment, family climate, and group work. every work canconsider itself an ecosystem in which the educatingCommunity, the individual persons, and the physicalstructures are essential basic elements and nourish a cli-mate that facilitates the educative process. the oratory,school, welcome centers are inserted in a broader ed-ucative environment. In them, a group of relationships,actions, and conditions exist that mutually relate witheach other. they involve everyone in an immense com-municative power capable of influencing institutions,educators, and the young in both educative contents andmethodologies. (Cf. fMa Institute, educommunica-tion: taking Small Steps in the new Culture, Gong 4Series, 2008, 40-41)

3.5 Methodology

the methodology that makes the strategies operative isborn in one’s own context and rooted in the time and spacewhere the action is realized. every local reality will identifythe most efficacious methodological steps. Keeping inmind the communication culture, it is suggested to prioritizejourneys that favor:

– Climate of participation, belonging, creativity

– Constructive approach to the emerging novelties (tech-nological, cultural, communicative, social),

– Promotion of a systematic vision in contrast to the frag-mentation, partiality, and short term vision,

– Management of change that reconciles what is worth sav-ing and what must be transformed, focusing on new real-

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ities, projects, and proposals to adopt in order to leavespace for the new.

3.6 Evaluation

evaluation of the Communication Plan is important forverifying the correspondence between planning and actual-ization of what the Plan itself foresees. It aims at awarenessof the effective attainment of the proposed objectives, ofthe real efficacy, efficiency, and feasibility of the identifiedcommunicative processes, and of the capacity for involve-ment.

there can be two aspects to evaluate. the first takesinto consideration the Communication Plan as such, its cor-rect drafting, its concrete feasibility in the various phasesin which it is articulated, its effective function as an instru-ment of innovation, its capacity to promote involvement,connection, and motivation.

the second verifies the concrete actualization of thePlan, particularly in regard to its efficacy for internal andexternal communication.

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ConClusions

We introduced ourselves in this fifth booklet of theGong Series by affirming our aim “to weave a conversationon the communication culture in an educative vision for theentire Institute and to create awareness of the impact of con-temporary scenarios on our identity and educative mission.”

at the end of this reflection, we express our wish thatour conversation will not end with this last page but ratherbecome an argument for further study, dialogue, and a re-search that is prolonged in our communities and in all ed-ucating Communities.

We have purposely inserted the subtitle, “a Map to ori-ent ourselves.” We believe that reflection on a theme thatis so crucial and necessary today calls for significant sup-port. this support comes from the concrete tapestry of life,that of the Provinces, communities, and individual personswho can enrich the analysis made by comparing and enrich-ing them with the lived realties of their own contexts. Weare aware, in fact, that the theme on which we have con-versed evolves with extreme rapidity and that the commu-nication culture is a paradigm in continuous change. thiscommits us to seek methods of approach that can providefavorable orientation in our educative mission to the youngwho are the first to interiorize the novelties and who liveimmersed in the media world, just as we are and, probably,even more.

the ecclesial journey is indicated to us by BenedictXVI. He encourages us to commit ourselves to roads of“truth, Proclamation, and authenticity of life in the Digitalage” (45th Message World Communications Day, 2011).He indicates the style as well, “Silence and Word: Path ofevangelization” because “educating ourselves to commu-

45


nication means learning to listen and to contemplate, be-sides speaking. this is particularly important for the agentsof evangelization” (46th Message WCD, 2012). the Popereminds us again that “today the profound transformationtaking place in the communication field guides the flux ofimmense cultural and social mutations. new technologiesare not only changing the way of communicating, but com-munication in itself… a new way of learning and thinkingis being born, with unheard of opportunities to establish re-lationships and build communion” (45th Message WCD,2011).

this touches us very closely as educators of the newgenerations.

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glossary

Cloud ComputingIt is the use of computing resources (hardware and software)that are delivered as a service over a network (typically theInternet). the name comes from the use of a cloud-shapedsymbol as an abstraction for the complex infrastructure itcontains in system diagrams. end users access cloud-basedapplications through a web browser or a light-weight desk-top or mobile app while the business software and user’sdata are stored on servers at a remote location.

Collective intelligencethis is a concept developed by the french scholar Pierrelévy in his book by the same name published in france in1994. according to lévy, “no one knows everything;everyone knows something. the totality of knowing residesin humanity.” the role of digital information technologiesis fundamental insofar as it allows for the “real-time coor-dination of intelligence” within a virtual scenario in contin-ual transformation.

Connective intelligencethe term was introduced by Derrick de Kerckhove, directorof the Mcluhan Program of Culture and technology intoronto, in a veiled polemic discussion with the frenchmanPierre lévy on his theory of collective intelligence. De Ker-ckhove substituted it with the term “connective” in his bookentitled Connective Intelligence (1997). In practice, con-nective intelligence is unleashed when the net works as aunified biological system. online communication has cre-ated a new category of mind, a connective mind, to whichthere “attaches” or from which there “detaches” without in-fluencing the integrity of the structure.

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Cracker/hacker1. Cracker: one who breaks security on a system. Coinedby hackers in defense against journalistic misuse of the term“hacker.”the term “cracker” reflects a strong revulsion atthe theft and vandalism perpetrated by cracking rings. 2. Hacker: a) a person who enjoys exploring the details ofprogrammable systems and how to stretch their capabilities.b) one who programs enthusiastically. c) a person who isgood at programming quickly. d) [deprecated] a maliciousmeddler who tries to discover sensitive information by pok-ing around. the correct term for this sense is “cracker”.

Cyber culturethe culture arising from the use of computer networks, asfor communication, entertainment, work, and business. Itis the culture within and among users of computer networks.this cyber culture may be purely an online culture or it mayspan both virtual and physical worlds.

Cyberspacea metaphor for describing the non-physical terrain createdby computer systems. online systems, for example, createa cyberspace within which people can communicate withone another, do research, or simply window shop. likephysical space, cyberspace contains objects (files, mail mes-sages, graphics, etc.) and different modes of transportationand delivery.

digital/analogIn analog technology, a wave is recorded or used in its orig-inal form. So, for example, in an analog tape recorder, a sig-nal is taken straight from the microphone and laid onto tape.the wave from the microphone is an analog wave, andtherefore the wave on the tape is analog as well. In digitaltechnology, the analog wave is sampled at some interval,and then turned into numbers that are stored in the digitaldevice. on a CD, the sampling rate is 44,000 samples persecond. So on a CD, there are 44,000 numbers stored per

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second of music. to hear the music, the numbers are turnedinto a voltage wave that approximates the original wave.

digital convergenceDigital convergence refers to the convergence of four in-dustries into one conglomerate (Information technologies,telecommunication, Consumer electronics, and entertain-ment). this provides new, innovative solutions to con-sumers and business users. Based on digital technologiesand digitized content it encompasses converged devices(such as smartphones, laptops, internet enabled entertain-ment devices and set top boxes), converged applications(e.g. music download on PC and handheld) and convergednetworks (IP networks).

digital divide(also known as technology gap) the term digital dividerefers to the gap between those people with effective accessto digital and information technology and those without ac-cess to it. It includes the imbalances in physical access totechnology as well as the imbalances in resources and skillsneeded to effectively participate as a digital citizen. Groupsoften discussed in the context of a digital divide include so-cioeconomic (rich/poor), racial (majority/minority), gener-ational (young/old) or geographical (urban/rural).

digital natives/digital immigrantsMarc Prensky coined the terms in his work “Digital natives,Digital Immigrants” published in 2001. a digital native isa person who was born during or after the general introduc-tion of digital technology and through interacting with dig-ital technology from an early age, has a greaterunderstanding of its concepts. other discourse identifies adigital native as a person who understands the value of dig-ital technology and uses this to seek out opportunities forimplementing it. a digital immigrant is an individual whowas born before the existence of digital technology andadopted it to some extent later in life.

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e-learningelectronic learning (or e-learning) is an umbrella term forproviding computer instruction online over the Internet, pri-vate distance learning networks or in-house via an intranet.In companies it is referred to the strategies that use the com-pany network to deliver training courses to employees. Inthe school setting, it is the use of computers to organize andmanage an instructional program for students. In the uni-versities, e-learning is used to define a specific mode to at-tend a course where the students rarely, if ever, attendface-to-face because they study on-line.

global villageGlobal Village is a term coined by Marshall Mcluhan. Hedescribed how the globe has been contracted into a villageby electric technology and the instantaneous movement ofinformation. this fosters the idea of a conglomerate yet uni-fied global community.

hardware/softwareall physical contents of a computer are hardware. this formis given to all electrical and mechanical devices attached tothe computer for the purpose of input, process, and storageand output operations. Software is a general term used forcomputer programs. a computer program is a planned, stepby step set of instructions that directs the computer what todo and how to do.

hypertextHypertext is a linkage between related information. By se-lecting a word in an article, more information about thatsubject is retrieved, which could be a definition, encyclo-pedic entry or another article. Hypertext is the foundationof the World Wide Web, enabling users to click on a link toobtain more information from a source anywhere in theworld.

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information TechnologyIt is an umbrella term for the entire computer industry. Itactually took 40 years before the industry settled on whatto call itself. first it was “electronic data processing” (eDP),followed by “management information systems” (MIS) andthen “information systems” (IS). However, this term isbeing more and more frequently substituted by ICt (Infor-mation and Communication technologies), which refers tothe convergence in act among the sectors of information andtelecommunication.

internet addiction disorderInternet addiction disorder (IaD) refers to the problematicuse of the Internet. It has been formally recognized as a dis-order by the american Psychological association. Peoplewho develop problems with their Internet use may start offusing the Internet on a casual basis and then progress tousing the technology in dysfunctional ways. the amount oftime by itself, however, is not as important a factor as theways in which the person’s Internet use is interfering withtheir daily functioning.

internet Telephony (voip)(also IP telephony or Voice-over-Internet protocol (VoIP))Internet telephony is the two-way transmission of voiceover a packet-switched IP network. IP telephony is an um-brella term for all real-time applications over IP, includingvoice over instant messaging (IM) and videoconferencing.

linuxlinux is the name usually given to any unix-like computeroperating system that uses the linux kernel. It is a very pop-ular open source operating system that runs on a variety ofhardware platforms. linux runs in most of the servers onthe Internet and in countless appliances and consumer elec-tronics devices.

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many-to-many Communication/ one-to-many Commu-nication Many-to-many communication, or narrowcasting, proper tothe www and e-mail, is differentiated from one-to-manycommunication or broadcasting, typical of the means ofmass communication, such as radio, cinema, and television.If in traditional media the control of the content and formof the message is all in the hands of the person who trans-mits it, here form and content may be produced and modi-fied by whoever is the active subject in the communication.

microbloggingIt is a broadcast medium in the form of blogging. a mi-croblog differs from a traditional blog in that its content istypically smaller in both actual and aggregate file size. themost famous example is twitter.

multitaskingIn computer, multitasking is a method where multiple tasks,also known as processes, are performed during the same pe-riod of time. the tasks share common processing resources,such as a CPu and main memory. Human multitasking isthe best performance by an individual of appearing to han-dle more than one task at the same time. the term is derivedfrom computer multitasking.

my mediaa term coined by nicholas negroponte in opposition toMass Media. My media refers to media that is highly per-sonalized, in which it is the user who composes the pro-gramming and decides what he/she wants to see, read orhear and asks it of the computer or tV. thanks to interactivemeans and software agents that find the desired informa-tion.

netiquettethe fusion of two words: network and etiquette. It is theneologism for “Internet politeness.”

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new mediathe collection of the new means of communication consti-tuted by the Internet, digital tV, multimedia support, cellphones and telemetric that are the result of technologicaladvancement on a common basis that came about towardthe end of the ‘60’s.

new nomadsa paradoxical condition of the contemporary person. theadvent of the new technologies would seem to favor totalimmobility. on the other hand, however, the widespreaddiffusion of cell phones, more and more similar to true andproper computers, and in general of wireless technologies,place into evidence the tendency toward nomadism, or thepossibility of using the benefits anywhere.

open source Refers to software that is distributed with its source code(goods and knowledge) so that end user organizations andvendors can modify it for their own purposes. Most opensource licenses allow the software to be redistributed with-out restriction under the same terms of the license.

paradigmIn the epistemological meaning, paradigm is the coherentwhole of theories and methods that characterize a phase ofthe development of a determined science.

portala web portal is a site that provides a single function via aweb page or site. It often functions as a point of access toinformation on the World Wide Web. Portals present infor-mation from diverse sources in a unified way. aside fromthe search engine standard, web portals offer other servicessuch as e-mail, news, stock prices, infotainment and variousother features.

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portable media playera portable media player (PMP) is a consumer electronicsdevice that is capable of storing and playing digital mediasuch as audio, images, video, documents, etc. the data istypically stored on a hard drive, microdrive, or flash mem-ory. a popular example is an apple iPod.

semantic webthe Semantic Web is a system that enables machines to“understand” and respond to complex human requests basedon their meaning. Imagine this scenario. You’re a softwareconsultant and have just received a new project. You’re tocreate a series of SoaP-based Web services. first, you needto learn a bit about SoaP, so you search for the term usingyour favorite search engine. there are listings for dish de-tergents, facial soaps, and even soap operas mixed into theresults. only after sifting through multiple listings and read-ing through the linked pages are you able to find informa-tion about the SoaP-based Web services. Because of thedifferent semantic associations of the word “soap,” the re-sults you receive are varied in relevance, and you still haveto do a lot of work to find the information you’re lookingfor. However, in a Semantic Web-enabled environment, youcould use a Semantic Web agent to search the Web for“SoaP” where SoaP is a type of technology specificationused in Web services. this time, the results of your searchwill be relevant.

sharewareSoftware freely distributed on the Internet which, if used,requires the payment of an amount (generally limited) to itscreator. It deals with programs covered by a copyright, andis different from freeware (software which is free).

smartphone/ feature phonea smartphone is a mobile phone built on a mobile operatingsystem, with more advanced computing capability and con-

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nectivity than a feature phone (a low-end mobile phone).examples of a smartphone are iPhone and Blackberry.

Tablet Computera tablet PC is a wireless, portable personal computer witha touch screen interface. the tablet form factor is typicallysmaller than a notebook computer but larger than a smart-phone. the most common type of tablet is the slate style,like apple’s iPad or Microsoft’s Surface.

usabilityWe commonly refer to the usability by the term userfriendly, to indicate those characteristics of the facility ofuse that also allow non-expert users to efficaciously interactwith the product. usability does not only refer to softwareproducts, but may be extended to all the means by whichthe person interacts: from work tools, to objects of daily use(such as the cell phone, microwave, and stereo), to the con-trol panel for processes.

user generated ContentIt is the production of content by the general public ratherthan by paid professionals and experts in the field. It is alsocalled “peer production,” and mostly available on the Webvia blogs and wikis, user generated content refers to mate-rial such as the daily news, encyclopedias and other refer-ences, movie and product reviews as well as articles on anysubject. It is one of the hallmark features that distinguishesWeb 2.0.

video game ConsoleIt is an interactive entertainment computer that produces avideo display signal which can be used with a display de-vice (a television, monitor, etc.) to display a video game.three popular game consoles are Sony’s PlayStation 3(PS3), nintendo’s Wii and Microsoft’s Xbox.

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web radioWeb radio (also internet radio, net radio, streaming radio,e-radio webcasting) is an audio service transmitted via theInternet. Web radio involves streaming media, presentinglisteners with a continuous stream of audio that cannot bepaused or replayed. It is distinct from podcasting, whichinvolves downloading rather than streaming. Many Webradio services are associated with a corresponding tradi-tional (terrestrial) radio station or radio network.

web Tv/internet TvInternet television is a general term that covers the deliveryof television shows and other video content over the internetby video streaming technology, typically by major tradi-tional television broadcasters. It should not be confusedwith Web television which is a technology that enable youto surf the Web on your tV. Most WebtV products todayconsist of a small box that connects to your telephone lineand television. It makes a connection to the Internet via yourtelephone service and then converts the downloaded Webpages to a format that can be displayed on your tV. Morerecently, the name WebtV has been trademarked by Mi-crosoft.

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In the Culture of Comminication A Map to Orient Ourselves · 3. a map To orienT ourselves ......

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