Produzir comunicação na cibercultura: coisa de criança!

Abstract

This dissertation main objective is to investigate content produced by children on the internet, aiming to focus on children s possibilities of authorship in cyberculture through blogs, groups on Facebook, Youtube videos, profiles of digital content producers and co-authors of information and knowledge. The research is contextualised by an overview of the main theme and a dialogue with the concepts of childhood, cyberculture, creation and authorship, and also with official research data that helps to map children s internet usage in the Brazilian context. In order to introduce the children and their forms of authorship in the web 2.0, I developed an innovative research methodology that involved following the children in their own cyberculture networks. The field research led to the realisation that, among other things, cyberculture s characteristic fluidity is also pervasive in my interlocutors ways of using the web: children created profiles in social media following the newest trends. Thus, the research methodology was built around following the children in their own online journeys. The aim was to follow them wherever they were, independently of their interface or software of choice. Among the conclusions, we point out the possibility of horizontality in cyberculture by the children in relation to adults. The characteristics of a longitudinal research made it possible to observe children for almost four years, making note of their development and the noticeable differences in their relationship with and within cyberculture throughout this period