Third International Conference on Communication & Media Studies

Abstract

This work presents an introductory analysis on the constitution of spaces, corporal experience, and the perceptions of agency in online environments among university students in online careers in the National University of the Southern Patagonia, Argentina. The theoretical and methodological approach combines socio-technical analysis and critical analysis with a gender perspective. We explore different categories in the approach: the ways in which the body is set, online spatial accessibilities, and the possibilities of expression, self-recognition, and participation, that is to say, of agency. We take into account the contexts of uses and consumption of IT among popular sectors in the Patagonian region. A geographically isolated region with a low population density inhabited mainly by seasonal migrants whose affective and community belongings are kept online, and which has connectivity access rates above the country’s average. Field data is developed based on a group of students in two online courses. We dig into the interactions in the institutional web environment and a private social network. We infer that it is possible to systematically describe from a gender perspective the interrelated relations between spaces, body and agency in the same group in different kind of environments, which will allow us to deepen into the knowledge of the located current characteristics of participation and habitability.