Engl. transl.: Transmedia literacy in the new media ecology: Teens’ transmedia skills and informal learning strategies

The emergence of new media and platforms has compelled media literacy scholars to review their theoretical frameworks and methodological approaches. Based on a new conception –‘transmedia literacy’– that moves from traditional media lite-racy (teaching critical media skills at school) to informal learning and participatory cultures, the research behind the present article aims to understand how new generations are doing things with media and how they learn to do the things they do. The outputs of this international research that involved 8 countries were organised into three sections: 1) transmedia skills, 2) informal learning strategies and 3) emergent issues regarding teens, new media and collaborative cultures. Finally, the article deals with the future perspectives of transmedia literacy as a research and action programme.

Authors remark the study focused on obtaining a better understanding and analyzing how teens engage in, develop and share transmedia skills in informal learning settings. The main output of this part of the research was an exhaustive map of transmedia skills specially designed for orienting future interventions in the context of (trans)media literacy actions. Consequently, the team activated the production of a series of didactic activities to take up and apply these skills inside the classroom (Teacher’s Kit) (See, Scolari et al., 2018: 810). The authors highlight that it was not easy to identify and analyse the informal learning strategies and state that "further research is needed in the field of teens’ collaborative culture and transmedia production/sharing/consuming practices" (Scolari et al., 2018: 810). They also remark that the most urgent issue is "to activate proposals for reducing the distance between formal educational environments and the extremely active ‘digital lives’ of teens in social media and online environments" (Scolari et al., 2018: 810).