We are an interdisciplinary research group mining the technology invisible threads that weave society

Based on the perspectives of Information and Communication interdisciplinary research, we seek to better understand the relationship between emerging technologies/new media and social, cultural, physical and virtual spaces through digital methods and data science analytics and visualization

February, 2024

Janna Joceli Omena Leads SMU Study Group Discussions in February
January, 2024

SMU’s 10th Anniversary Celebrated with 'Data and Cultural Analytics Seminar 2024'; Lev Manovich Confirmed
December, 2023

Milena’ Study on Youth and Instagram Stories During COVID-19 Pandemic Published in the high-impact Information Research Journal
May, 2023

SMU Member Angelo Gozzi Delivers Lecture on Data-Driven Culture at USP

Janna Joceli Omena kicks off the SMU study group's activities in 2024. In February, the first SMU study meeting will take place virtually, based on the reading of the texts "O que são Métodos Digitais?" and "Fundamentos" derived from Janna Joceli Omena 's book "Métodos Digitais: Teória-prática-crítica' '. SMU researchers Tarciso Tadeu Salvador and Silvana Comunian will participate in the dynamic by presenting and reporting, respectively, followed by comments from the invited researcher. Janna Joceli Omena is a Teaching Fellow at the University of Warwick and an Invited Assistant Professor at Nova University Lisbon. Omena develops digital methods with and about AI, web technologies, platforms, and their (sub)cultures of use. Her research explores the practice and theory of digital methods, where she guides on the design and implementation of research with these methods. Dr. Omena investigates the technicality of computational means from conceptual, technical, and empirical perspectives, leveraging this knowledge to develop accessible and reproducible methodologies. Her work involves discussions on methodology and theoretical foundations.

"Data and Cultural Analytics Seminar 2024" is an event part of the celebration of the 10th anniversary of Smart Media & Users (SMU) research group at University of São Paulo, Brazil, dedicated to investigate the access and use of digital artifacts in contemporary culture by exploring digital methods. In the context of Software Studies, Information and Media objects are the main focus of SMU research, using computational, visualization, and other data science methods for exploring the nuances of digital culture. For this seminar, we are planning a full day of activities involving a talk with Lev Manovich: “Understanding Cultural Data”. He is an artist, theorist of digital culture and one of the main and most important contemporary authors in this area of research, discussing highlights of his books, such as The Language of New Media (2001), Software Takes Command (2013) and Cultural Analytics (2020). Lev Manovich is a Presidential Professor at The Graduate Center, City University of New York, and the founder and director of the Cultural Analytics Lab. This seminar is aimed to foster, enhance and publicize the discussion on Data and Cultural Analytics, calling attention for the necessary interdisciplinary perspective and promoting national and international research collaboration in this topic. The seminar is planned to occur in May-June 2024, at School of Communication and Arts at University of São Paulo (ECA/USP), São Paulo, Brazil. Further information is to be provided sooner.
The study titled "Youth and Instagram Stories: A Netnographic Study During the COVID-19 Pandemic," stemming from the research of the late Milena Possar Garcia, a member of SMU who passed away in 2021, has been published in the prestigious Information Research journal. This marks a moment of great joy for the group, as Milena's work can now impact researchers worldwide interested in the social relationships mediated by social media technologies. The study is accessible under the "Main Publications" tab.
Angelo Gozzi, a member of SMU, recently gave a presentation to students at the University of São Paulo (USP). The researcher had the opportunity to engage with undergraduate students from USP on Data-Driven Culture applied to big data. The talk took place within the context of the Information Technology Fundamentals course, taught by Alan Angeluci and attended by students from ECA (School of Communications and Arts) and other units, such as the Institute of Mathematics and Statistics (IME) and POLI (Polytechnic School). The knowledge exchange proved to be highly enriching for all involved.

February, 2024

Janna Joceli Omena Leads SMU Study Group Discussions in February

Janna Joceli Omena kicks off the SMU study group’s activities in 2024. In February, the first SMU study meeting will take place virtually, based on the reading of the texts “O que são Métodos Digitais?” and “Fundamentos” derived from Janna Joceli Omena ‘s book “Métodos Digitais: Teória-prática-crítica’ ‘. SMU researchers Tarciso Tadeu Salvador and Silvana Comunian will participate in the dynamic by presenting and reporting, respectively, followed by comments from the invited researcher. Janna Joceli Omena is a Teaching Fellow at the University of Warwick and an Invited Assistant Professor at Nova University Lisbon. Omena develops digital methods with and about AI, web technologies, platforms, and their (sub)cultures of use. Her research explores the practice and theory of digital methods, where she guides on the design and implementation of research with these methods. Dr. Omena investigates the technicality of computational means from conceptual, technical, and empirical perspectives, leveraging this knowledge to develop accessible and reproducible methodologies. Her work involves discussions on methodology and theoretical foundations.

January, 2024

SMU’s 10th Anniversary Celebrated with 'Data and Cultural Analytics Seminar 2024'; Lev Manovich Confirmed

“Data and Cultural Analytics Seminar 2024” is an event part of the celebration of the 10th anniversary of Smart Media & Users (SMU) research group at University of São Paulo, Brazil, dedicated to investigate the access and use of digital artifacts in contemporary culture by exploring digital methods. In the context of Software Studies, Information and Media objects are the main focus of SMU research, using computational, visualization, and other data science methods for exploring the nuances of digital culture. For this seminar, we are planning a full day of activities involving a talk with Lev Manovich: “Understanding Cultural Data”. He is an artist, theorist of digital culture and one of the main and most important contemporary authors in this area of research, discussing highlights of his books, such as The Language of New Media (2001), Software Takes Command (2013) and Cultural Analytics (2020). Lev Manovich is a Presidential Professor at The Graduate Center, City University of New York, and the founder and director of the Cultural Analytics Lab. This seminar is aimed to foster, enhance and publicize the discussion on Data and Cultural Analytics, calling attention for the necessary interdisciplinary perspective and promoting national and international research collaboration in this topic. The seminar is planned to occur in May-June 2024, at School of Communication and Arts at University of São Paulo (ECA/USP), São Paulo, Brazil. Further information is to be provided sooner.

December, 2023

Milena’ Study on Youth and Instagram Stories During COVID-19 Pandemic Published in the high-impact Information Research Journal

The study titled “Youth and Instagram Stories: A Netnographic Study During the COVID-19 Pandemic,” stemming from the research of the late Milena Possar Garcia, a member of SMU who passed away in 2021, has been published in the prestigious Information Research journal. This marks a moment of great joy for the group, as Milena’s work can now impact researchers worldwide interested in the social relationships mediated by social media technologies. The study is accessible under the “Main Publications” tab.

May, 2023

SMU Member Angelo Gozzi Delivers Lecture on Data-Driven Culture at USP

Angelo Gozzi, a member of SMU, recently gave a presentation to students at the University of São Paulo (USP). The researcher had the opportunity to engage with undergraduate students from USP on Data-Driven Culture applied to big data. The talk took place within the context of the Information Technology Fundamentals course, taught by Alan Angeluci and attended by students from ECA (School of Communications and Arts) and other units, such as the Institute of Mathematics and Statistics (IME) and POLI (Polytechnic School). The knowledge exchange proved to be highly enriching for all involved.

About

SMU research group was founded in 2014 and operated within the vibrant atmosphere of the Municipal University of São Caetano do Sul (USCS), in São Caetano do Sul, right in the powerful industrial pole of ABC region of São Paulo metropolitan area, Brazil.

In 2022, SMU became part of the School of Communications and Arts of the University of São Paulo (ECA-USP) – the best university in Latin America and the Caribbean and among the top one hundred in the world according to the QS World University Rankings. The new house in São Paulo and the contemporary technological transformations, combined with the group’s tradition, brought with greater force the demands for applied research that seek to better understand the relation between emerging technologies/new media and social, cultural, physical and virtual spaces through digital methods and data science analytics and visualization.

Over ten years, SMU has collaborated with the scientific training of more than fifty students, researchers and professionals, who have worked and work permanently or intermittently with the group’s projects.

SMU is deeply interested in international partnerships for R&D with companies, research institutions and universities. If you want to be a R&D partner or sponsor, contact us: [email protected].

SMU is a formally registered group in the directory of CNPq research groups.

Main Publications

Este estudo, de caráter exploratório, se propõe a investigar como a gamificação influencia na realização de as avaliações on-line, feitas no Google Maps, como fator que impulsiona a utilização da plataforma e fomenta a prática de realizar avaliações on-line, comportamento que vem sendo cada vez mais praticado em ambientes digitais na sociedade midiatizada. Este trabalho tem como objetivo geral entender a influência das avaliações online no comportamento humano, compreendendo a contribuição que causam na formação de opinião e decisões dos usuários do Google Maps, beneficiando ou prejudicando a percepção sobre determinados locais. E, também, como objetivos específicos, explorar abordagens teóricas produzidas sobre as avaliações online, e verificar de que forma a gamificação impulsiona os usuários do Google Maps a utilizarem as avaliações online como fator decisivo nas tomadas de decisão e construção de senso crítico. Inicialmente, são apresentadas diferentes visões sobre o entendimento de gamificação e o seu processo. Após, apresenta-se a metodologia utilizada para a extração dos dados: um script em linguagem Python para realizar a raspagem de dados, e então, a seleção de participantes para a realização de entrevistas semiestruturadas. Em sequência, apresenta-se resultados que demonstram o processo de gamificação como fator determinante para o estímulo e o engajamento dos usuários em realizar novas avaliações, expondo crescentemente as suas opiniões no ambiente digital, criando o hábito de realizar avalições on-line e aumentando a frequência de utilização da plataforma.

People

Permanent members from 2022-2024 period:

Alan César Belo Angeluci

Angelo Luiz Gozzi Mori

Carlos Henrique Sabino Caldas

Carolina Aguiar da Silva

Carolina Gois Falandes

Gustavo Moreira Calixto

Paulo Rogerio Nunes de Sousa

Silvana Comunian Soares

Anne Vitória Gomes do Rosário

Giovanna Cunha Soares Coelho

João Paulo Machado de Almeida

Marcello Tenorio de Farias

More

Universidade de São Paulo, Escola de Comunicações e Artes.
Av. Prof. Lúcio Martins Rodrigues, 443, Prédio Central, sala 265
Cidade Universitária
09530060 – São Paulo, SP – Brasil
Phone: +55 11 2648-1189