About us

The research group Images, Words, and Ideas explores young people and children everyday activities when interacting with digital media, especially social networks and video games. Communication contexts and entertainment environments inter-twine in our work, supporting responsible citizenship.

Research lines

  • Digital kids and multimodal literacies

  • Video games as cultural tools

  • Fandom and social activism

  • Transmedia storytelling

Services

We focus on children and young people online and offline practices.

  • Consulting and reports. We focus on children and young people online and offline practices.

  • Research coordination about how children use new media.

  • Workshops about the children’s use of mobile and digital tools.

  • Helping companies to grow their young audiences and to develop mobile strategies.
  • Video and multimedia productions

It is about transforming social reality through collaborative strategies with participants. The process of analysis relies on small and big data, from virtual ethnography and artificial intelligence.

Meet Our Team

We are an interdisciplinary team, around Audiovisual Communication, Psychology, Education and Sociology. Organized from the University of Alcalá, the UNED and the Complutense University also participate.

Pilar Lacasa
Pilar LacasaCoordinator
Children and adolescents. Fans communities, video games, narratives, and digital media.
Rut Martínez-Borda
Rut Martínez-BordaCoordinator
Video games, new technologies, and audiovisual narratives.
Laura Méndez
Laura MéndezAssociated Professor
The impact of technological tools in innovative and inclusive educational practices.
Patria Núñez
Patria NúñezAssociate Professor
Children and advertising, young people, and innovative educational methods, media literacy.
Héctor del Castillo
Héctor del CastilloAssociate Professor
Analysis of multimedia and digital literacy contexts, focusing his teaching and research on the fields of Education and Sports.
Sara Cortés
Sara CortésAssociate Professor
New technologies and video games as cultural tools to develop new literacies in a global world.
María Ruth García Pernía
María Ruth García PerníaAssociate Professor
Digital communication tools and children’s lives. Methodological innovation
Julián de la Fuente
Julián de la FuenteAssistant Professor
Independent producer and director since 2002, he has made all kinds of audiovisual materials such as ads, reports and music clips.
Julia Sabina Gutiérrez
Julia Sabina GutiérrezAssistant Professor
Screenwriter. Her scripts have been selected in the Script & Pitch of the Torino Film Lab, and other contests.
Sara Infante
Sara InfanteLecturer
Producer, Editor, and Director of Radio Programs. The Internet and radio communication,
Alba García-Vega
Alba García-VegaGraduate Student
Narratives on social networks. Interactive media
Iris Barrajón
Iris BarrajónGraduate student
3D productions, the technological evolution, and the socio-cultural dynamics of interactive media.
 Raquel Echeandía
Raquel EcheandíaGraduate student
Marketing plans for commercial and Indie Games. Education and innovation.

The children Rigths

1. The child shall have the right to freedom of expression; this right shall include freedom to seek, receive and impart information and ideas of all kinds, regardless of frontiers, either orally, in writing or in print, in the form of art, or through any other media of the child’s choice.

2. The exercise of this right may be subject to certain restrictions, but these shall only be such as are provided by law and are necessary:

(a) For respect of the rights or reputations of others; or

(b) For the protection of national security or of public order (ordre public), or of public health or morals.

Convention on the Rights of the Child, Article 13

States Parties recognize the important function performed by the mass media and shall ensure that the child has access to information and material from a diversity of national and international sources, especially those aimed at the promotion of his or her social, spiritual and moral well-being and physical and mental health. To this end, States Parties shall:

(a) Encourage the mass media to disseminate information and material of social and cultural benefit to the child and in accordance with the spirit of article 29;

(b) Encourage international co-operation in the production, exchange and dissemination of such information and material from a diversity of cultural, national and international sources;

(c) Encourage the production and dissemination of children’s books;

(d) Encourage the mass media to have particular regard to the linguistic needs of the child who belongs to a minority group or who is indigenous;

(e) Encourage the development of appropriate guidelines for the protection of the child from information and material injurious to his or her well-being, bearing in mind the provisions of articles 13 and 18.

Convention on the Rights of the Child, Article 17

Discover The Future

We are a multi-disciplinary team focussed on the children and adolescents digital lives

Contact Us