Dr Jose Blazquez

José’s main research interests revolve around the study of audience/citizens participation and the intersection with new technologies and digital media, covering topics such as creative industries and practices (publishing, film, comic, videogame and photography), transmedia and interactive storytelling, game studies and immersive media. He has also been involved in research projects examining the representation of immigration in news, film and literature and the impact of transmedia narratives in creative industries. José worked with Professor Anna Feigenbaum and other colleagues in the AHRC-funded project ‘Comics in the time of COVID-19: How public health messages are communicated through web-based Comics’. He also led the ACE-funded project 'Press Start', in which he examined three transformative gaming practices (machinima, in-game photography and gamics) and the possibilities they offer to learn digital literacy skills. Additionally, José is working on the project 'Digital Narratives of the Amazon' with other BU and international colleagues of the University of Las Americas in Quito, Ecuador. Though this project, which also involves a Summer School, we are producing multiple media outputs alongside students that help native communities in the Amazon to preserve and share their culture, language, folklore and history.