Observatorios sociales y dromocracia cibercultural: relaciones, dominios y estados de coexistencia

Abstract

Social Observatories (OS) multidimensionality and nature allow them to distinguish between contemporary information phenomena, being surveillance systems that observe society in detail from interdisciplinary perspectives. This article analyzes and describes the relationship between OS and the Cybercultural Dromocracy (CD), the latter understood as a theory of analysis of current and future society. The research is characterized by being qualitative and descriptive, and it uses content analysis as a technique for analyzing data. The chosen sample of eight Brazilian OS was intentional and not probabilistic. Our methodology has four stages: i) Identification of the mission and objectives instituted by the selected OS; ii) Identification of the general and prospective information products and services in the selected OS; iii) Analysis of the defined analytical categories of the OS in conjunction with the categories selected for the CD analysis; iv) Representation of the existing interrelation between OS and CD based on the categories analyzed. Our study concludes with the analysis and representation of the relationship between OS and DC according to the theoretical-practical precepts analyzed, glimpsing two existing relationships between them: cyclical andexistential. The results obtained establish guidelines to understand how OS are instruments of alertness and social monitoring in the face of the possible effects of technological speed in contemporary society.