This paper explores how communication and media studies have engaged with the concept of the Anthropocene in recent years. The purpose of this study is to outline the most relevant theoretical and conceptual contributions from communication science and media studies to issues related to climate change, global sustainability and the Anthropocene. A literature review on the matter shows that the field of communication research is diverse and heterogeneous, and that it puts forward different concepts and theories that deal with media as the environment or the environment as media. Environmental communication and environmental humanities frame approaches to media representations of environmental issues, whereas elemental analysis focuses on the essence of media, its material dimensions and its entanglements with social practices. From the dialogue and interdisciplinary debates among these disciplines, new approaches such as environmental media studies arise. Differences among theories have to do with the definition of media or the consideration of humanity in relation to nature or technology. In sum, communication and media studies offer interdisciplinary approaches and a nuanced understanding of our socio-natural relations, which will become more and more mediated in the years to come.

Este texto presenta las principales disciplinas y aproximaciones teóricas que estudian el engagement en medios y adopta una comprensión interdisciplinar del término. A través de una extensa revisión bibliográfica se trata de problematizar el engagement atendiendo a los matices que aportan otros conceptos vinculados a él, como la interactividad, la economía afectiva, el compromiso y, fundamentalmente, la participación. Se apunta finalmente a la necesidad de interpretar los complejos fenómenos comunicativos que involucran a las audiencias partiendo de la base de una relación de confianza y respeto mutuo que reconozca sus desequilibrios de poder y sus implicaciones morales y afectivas.

Vox pops are seemingly unscripted interviews with ordinary people that are usually employed to represent public opinion in news broadcasts. It is the most common form of audience participation through mainstream television, but at the same time its use in news production has been, and still is, under discussion. Vox pops are controversial not just in themselves, but also in the way they are represented. This article conceptualizes vox pops in the age of digital television and problematizes this kind of audience participation in journalistic practice. It critically examines the role of vox pops in today’s television news programs and frames these processes as minimalistic forms of participation and as strategies for mediated authenticity. Through content and textual analysis, this research presents the evolution of the representation of vox pops in Spanish news broadcasts between 2010 and 2016. Attending to the participatory process, the identification of the citizens selected for interviewing, and their newsworthiness, different configurations are analyzed. The text concludes by reflecting on the need to recover vox pops as a practice for relational journalism and as a more balanced invitation to audience participation.

This article presents Planet Virtual Boy (PlanetVB) and Virtual Boy enthusiast practices in Spain as a case study for fan preservation of failed games and systems. Using a historical approach and contributions from cultural studies, fan studies and game studies, practices and motivations for fan curation are discussed. Online communities serve as a common ground where fandom collaborates and negotiates at different levels in order to support video game preservation. The tensions that arise and the practices that take place are explained and connected to previous theory. Virtual Boy in Spain illustrates how the fragile, ambivalent and chaotic nature of online communities can also contribute to a successful preservation of game culture and video game history.