Andre H Caron

New information and communications technologies have become extremely dynamic. While content in the past was more or less controlled and regulated, it is now more and more free to access, and increasingly independent of any formal institutional framework. Images on screens, which used to be viewed on different platforms in specific locations and at more predictable times, now cross through space and time, and this particularly for the younger generations. Some questions arise in this context: what is the role and what are the effects, for example, of film content and video games on young people? What role does rating systems play with respect to these young people and their parents? In order to answer such questions, we need to understand their needs, expectations and skills. Some consider young people to be passive, easy to manipulate, unaware of their values and entirely lacking in critical thinking skills. Others see them instead as active users, capable of using knowledge and co...

En: Comunicar : revista científica iberoamericana de comunicación y educación Huelva 2002, n. 18; p. 15-19 Los autores del artículo, aun asumiendo las limitaciones de las herramientas metodológicas utilizadas en una investigación sobre nuevas tecnologías de la comunicación en el hogar, un estudio cualitativo sobre introducción y usos de los medios en la familia, presentan algunas de las conclusiones relacionadas con la construcción de significados entre los miembros de la familia y las tecnologías, p. 19

Des chercheurs d'horizons et de disciplines différents s'expriment et débattent de l'éducation aux médias en plaçant la problématique au cœur de ses enjeux sociaux et culturels : socialisation et cohésion sociale, élaboration d'une pensée critique, notions de contrôle et problèmes d'éthique, acculturation et question des savoirs… Cette question des jeunes et des médias est trop souvent traitée uniquement en réponse à un événement, sous l'angle passionnel. Ceux qui s'expriment ici éclairent ce débat public et donnent des pistes pour agir dans la durée à ceux qui oeuvrent auprès des jeunes. ISBN : 2-7475-6697-8 • juillet 2004 • 345 pages

The purpose of this article is to reflect upon the new media environment and specifically television and family behaviors. With today's important transformation of the home media environment, we propose to investigate family dynamics around television. We will, first, give an overall view of the media and technological environment present in Quebec homes and television viewing habits of Quebec children. We will then attempt to describe a parental mediation typology from a communication point of view. LA PSYCHOLOGIE ET LES MÉDIAS Résumé : Ce texte se veut une réflexion sur l'environnement médiatique, plus particulièrement télévisuel, dans un contexte familial. En effet, malgré les profondes transformations que cet environnement subit aujourd'hui, nous croyons que l'on peut encore parler de dynamique familiale autour du téléviseur. Nous situerons tout d'abord dans quel type d'environnement médiatique et technologique les familles québécoises se trouvent actuell...

Pratique constitutive du quotidien familial, l'écoute de la télévision structure les dynamiques et l'organisation sociale qui caractérisent une famille et est structurée par elles. Loin de fonctionner d'une façon déterministe, ce rôle semble plutôt dépendre des significations et des fonctions attribuées par les différents membres à cette activité, des usages qu'ils en font. De plus il dépend aussi des investissements de valeur et des interactions sociales que la télévision déclenche et de la place qu'on lui reconnaît parmi les autres activités du quotidien. À travers l'analyse du discours produit par les membres d'un échantillon de familles, l'étude met au jour comment et jusqu'à quel point parler de la télévision en famille devient un moyen d'autodéfinition de chaque membre. C'est aussi un lieu de construction d'une théorie de la famille

Divenuto onnipresente in meno di un decennio, grazie alle promesse di libertà e di contatto costante, il telefono cellulare ha trasformato radicalmente il modo di comunicare, e l’intero comportamento sociale, degli adolescenti. Basandosi sulla trascrizione di vivaci conversazioni e scambi di messaggi, gli autori mostrano come i teenager abbiano addomesticato e reinterpretato le nuove tecnologie comunicative, esplorando anche fenomeni come la genitorialità a distanza, la creazione di nuovi linguaggi e le comunità culturali mediate dalla tecnologia.

Whatever hesitations are expressed from time to time about the possible harm to free speech resulting from restrictions on either broadcast or Internet content for the “greater good”, people generally coalesce around the good of children. There appears to be general rallying to the justification of protecting children from content that may be harmful to them, despite the inevitable concomitant restriction on freedom of expression. It will, therefore, not be surprising to the reader to see this somewhat universal concern for children’s well-being at the root of legislative, regulatory and self-regulatory measures targeting emerging, as well as traditional, media discussed in the following pages. In Canada, the collective societal will to protect children has resulted in mechanisms designed to limit the exposure of children to inappropriate content on television and film; we are still taking the first shaky steps towards establishing frames of reference for new media. As would be expe...

[Français] La récente mise à disposition des étudiants de nouvelles technologies à des fins pédagogiques telles que la baladodiffusion dans plusieurs universités nord-américaines a souvent été faite rapidement, sans un suivi qui aide à comprendre les enjeux culturels et sociaux mobilisés. Porter une attention à ces dimensions sous l’angle particulier des usagers plutôt que de la technologie nous a permis dans la présente étude de mieux saisir la notion de mobilité associée à ce mode d’apprentissage dans un contexte universitaire. [English] Recent trends in North American universities to provide students with new learning technologies such as iPod’s have often led to rapid adoptions without taking into consideration the particular cultural and social dimensions of an academic setting. In the present study, we have investigated these issues from the users’ perspective rather than from the technology’s performance. This allowed us to better grasp the notion of mobility associated with ...

Since 1987, Canada has defined a number of policies to regulate audiovisual cultural products. There are two major reasons for this set of regulations and self-regulations: the protection of children from potentially disturbing media content, and the need to have a system that supposedly mirrors Canadian values and Canada’s self-representation as culturally and socially different from the United States. This cultural issue is particularly noticeable in the Canadian province of Quebec. This article addresses the issue of the rating systems as moral and cultural devices that define and are defined by a collectively shared ethos. Specifically, the article examines how parents’ discourse about the rating system in Quebec becomes a symbolic arena where they manage their self-image of “good parents” concerned with and committed to their children’s well-being and healthy media diet, construct their moral selves, and define themselves as “Quebecers.” KEYWORDS cultural identity; discourse an...

... L'invention et l'adoption de l'écriture, l'imprimerie, la photographie, le téléphone, le ... En soulignant le rôle des technologies émergentes de communication dans la construction d'une nouvelle ... tour de la délocalisa-tion et de la multilocalisation du sujet, de l'hybridation des temps ...

The disconnect in the appropriation of new technologies into the students' everyday life – A. Abstract Non c'è dubbio che gli studenti abbiano adottato con passione le nuove tecnologie all'interno della loro vita. Tuttavia, gli autori hanno voluto esplorare quali passi sa-rebbero necessari per garantire un utilizzo adeguato delle tecnologie in ambito ac-cademico. Questo articolo presenta un'indagine realizzata tra gli studenti in tre na-zioni rispetto alle attività accademiche e all'uso delle tecnologie nella vita quotidia-na. Anche se i numeri variano leggermente all'interno di ciascun paese, i risultati finali mostrano una differenza tra la quantità di tempo dedicato alle tecnologie e alle attività accademiche. Nel complesso, i risultati evidenziano un bisogno di maggiori dati sulla realtà attuale delle abitudini tecnologiche e accademiche degli studenti. Gli autori propongono una serie di possibili passi da compiere per com-prendere meglio questo fenomeno....

Contemporary claims for the adoption of mobile information and communication technologies as learning & teaching devices are often based on two main theoretical perspectives: the socioconstructivist model of the teaching& learning process and the continuity pattern in education. These two theoretical approaches to education have constructed what may be considered a cultural model of education. This cultural model of education is largely shared by members of the scientific community. It also has nurtured common educational practices and seems to be shared by people involved in the educational process: practitioners, administrators, teachers and students. The question remains: is this culture of education shared by all the actors involved in the learning process? The relevance of this issue is crucial given it is exactly in the name of a socioconstructivist cultural model and in the name of a continuity pattern in education, that mobile learning & teaching devices are often adopted or...

ABSTRACT Résumé Cet article soulève la question de l'écart grandissant entre les générations dites «éduquées technologiquement» et celles dites «technologiquement analphabètes». Il examine l'incidence, dans le cadre des jeux domestiques, de la nouvelle technologie interactive Vidéoway sur les amateurs de jeux vidéo que sont les jeunes et les autres membres du foyer. À cette fin, une analyse d'un échantillon représentatif d'abonnés à Vidéoway a été réalisée à travers les trois aspects majeurs que sont l'achalandage, la fréquentation et la consommation de ces jeux. Un questionnaire écrit a été diffusé à l'automne 1992 à plus de 1 300 foyers qui représentent près de 3 000 personnes (abonnés principaux, conjoints, adolescents et enfants). L'analyse des données, selon l'âge et le sexe des répondants, montre que la majorité des répondants, quel que soit leur âge et leur sexe, manifestent un grand intérêt pour les jeux télématiques. Par ailleurs, on observe que dans l'ensemble, ce sont les jeunes de moins de 18 ans qui sont les plus nombreux à utiliser ces jeux. Par contre, si l'on regarde l'ensemble des utilisateurs, on remarque que plus les répondants adultes vieillissent, plus ils fréquentent souvent et pour de plus longues périodes les jeux sur Vidéoway. Les facteurs de temps, d'accessibilité ainsi que la perception globale du système sont discutés en conclusion, dans une perspective d'analyse plus large incluant une redéfinition du terme «télévision» au sein des loisirs domestiques. Abstract This paper raises the question of the increasing gap between generations said to be “technologically educated” and those said to be “technologically illiterate”. It examines the impact, for home games, of the new interactive technology Videoway on video game lovers, both the young people and other members of the family. A study of a representative sample of Videoway subscribers was carried out, examining three main aspects: the type of clients, the consultation frequency and consumption. In the autumn of 1992, a written questionnaire was sent to more than 1 300 homes which represented nearly 3 000 individuals (main subscribers, spouses, adolescents and children). An analysis of the results according to the respondents' age and sex, showed that the majority of the participants, regardless of their age or sex, had great interest in television display games. Furthermore, on the whole, it was found that individuals under the age of eighteen were the largest users of these games. If, on the other hand, we look at all the users, the older the adult respondents were, the more often and the longer they played games on Videoway. In conclusion, time and accessibility factors as well as an overall view of the Videoway system are discussed within a wider perspective, including a redefinition of the term “television” as a home leisure activity.

ABSTRACT Purpose ‐ The purpose of this paper is to investigate how business executives perceive and account for their use of paratextual cues as a means of managing their professional impressions in business e-mails on their smartphone (i.e. BlackBerry, iPhone, etc.) and office computer. Design/methodology/approach ‐ Semi-structured, audio-recorded telephone interviews were conducted with a representative sample of 60 business executives from various sectors in Canada. The interviews examined executives' typical ways of writing e-mails for business purposes, both on their smartphone and office computer. All interviews were transcribed and then analyzed using a mix of quantitative and qualitative analyses. Findings ‐ This study shows how organizational leaders vary their ways of opening and closing business e-mails when comparing their smartphone to their office computer communication. To account for these differences, they routinely use folk categories that suggest distinctions between formal and informal relationships, internal and external communication, as well as the recipient's identity and their own. Hence, executives are aware of the social meanings inscribed in paratextual cues and even the absence of these cues is frequently used as a cue in itself. Originality/value ‐ E-mailing is a crucial part of contemporary corporate communications, yet few studies have examined organizational leaders' e-mail writing practices on their smartphone in relation to their office computer. While executives might seem very task-oriented in their communication, this study shows that their everyday e-mail-writing practices play an important role in the co-construction of professional identities and relationships.

ABSTRACT Interactive television or TV-i, a component of Vidéoway technology, is a new genre of programming that allows the viewer to intervene directly in the content of a programme during the broadcast through a remote control device Four major types of interactive segments have been identified content preference (e g selecting a song), story involvement (e g making decisions for a character), knowledge-base (e g solving a maths problem) and visual composition (e g selecting the viewing angle on a concert) Drawing both on the general research literature on children's understanding of linear television and on recent studies of TV-i for children, this article discusses the relevance of a cognitive developmental framework for the design of age-appropriate interactive programming The age of eight typically marks a turning point in children's comprehension of television narratives and characters and of the reality of television Accordingly, the article discusses TV-i in relation to Piaget's 'pre-operational' children and 'concrete operational' children respectively It also suggests that interactive television offers new opportunities for the creation of programmes that could facilitate children's learning and foster critical viewing skills In addition, the article raises a number of research questions relating to children and interactive television

ABSTRACT The purpose of this study was to focus on the subjective construction of the meaning people give to technologies and their uses within the family. The adoption and use of new communication technologies are interpreted as series of social actions undertaken by its members, under precise conditions, for specific motives. For this reason this research took us inside the homes of nine families (with and without children and teenagers), in a natural, everyday-life context of uses of communication technologies. We looked closely at the cumulating effects of household technologies in a contextualist-interactionist theoretical perspective and concentrated on analysing the synergy between three families of technology: telephone, television and the computer-internet.

This paper presents the main results of an exploratory qualitative study on the functions and meanings of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) in young people's everyday life. Specifically, this study concerns teenagers' cultural ways of interpreting the mobile phone and its uses, as they become part of their social world. Through their accounts and narratives about 'young people's use of the mobile phone', teenagers construct their specific cultural model of this communication technology: it is seen as a radically social performance. Insofar as it is conceived as such, the mobile phone (MP) becomes a detonator of social thinking: it provokes reflective thinking on the ethics, etiquette and aesthetics of everyday action and social life. Reflecting upon the forms of use of the mobile phone, teenagers also explore the identity-making processes involved in the presentation of oneself on a public scene. In other words, they interpret and make the uses of the MP work as a social grammar through which people are supposed to define themselves and those around them. In this sense, using an MP in a teenage-appropriate way is not a matter of technical competence; it requires larger communicative skills that are cultural knowledge of when, where, why and, moreover, how to use this technology. Interpreted in the frames of teenagers' specific culture, the uses of the MP are also a tool for constructing the main dimensions of this culture and are used as a laboratory for the development of the skills needed to become competent members of their own community.

ABSTRACT The purpose of this research was to investigate the effects of first time exposure to television on Inuit (Eskimo) children's (8-13-year-old) cultural "images" of their own and other cultural groups. A pretest and posttest design was used. The specific series chosen for the experiment were both pro-social in nature, with one portraying cultural groups from a number of different countries (the "Big Blue Marble" series) and the second portraying various aspects of the traditional Inuit way of life (the "Tuktu" series). Findings revealed that television may bring about some changes in children's images of familiar and unfamiliar cultural groups.

ABSTRACT This article examines the effects of Anglophone Canadian and American mass media on 814 Francophone Canadian adults' political and cultural knowledge and attitude levels. Random samples from a community with only Francophone television and a matched one with Francophone, Anglophone Canadian, and American television were employed. Use of all Anglophone Canadian and American media except television was low. Viewing Anglophone Canadian or American television had a number of effects on respondents including more favorable attitudes toward and information about Canada, the United States, and American products. The importance attributed to several political issues also differed for users of Anglophone and Francophone television. The inclusion of controls for interpersonal contact with Anglophones and sociolinguistic background slightly reduced most correlation coefficients.

... 8 Regie des services publics du Quebec, Etude comparative des nouvelles telivisees du ... Nous avons analyse les nouvelles selon quatre grands types de variables, soit ... NOUVELLES REFERENDAIRES: MODE DE PRESENTATION POUR LES CANAUX PUBLICS ET PRIVES ...

Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the International Communication Association (31st, Minneapolis, MN, May 21-28, 1981). Also sponsored through the Ministere des Communication, Quebec. ... National Association of Broadcasters, Washington, DC.; ...