When people think about a career in communication, they usually imagine journalists, advertisers, or social media professionals. However, communication doesn’t limit itself to just that, there are a lot of other paths to follow, and being a researcher is one of them!
Researchers are essential in every craft, being responsible for a lot of discoveries, innovations, and changes in society, but have you ever thought about how one becomes interested in this career or how can you follow this path, especially in communication?
With that in mind, we sought out a researcher who could help us understand better how day-to-day work works, what are the challenges and how to get started in this field.
MEET LEONARDO FOLETTO
To better understand what an academic career in media studies looks like, We spoke with Leonardo Foletto, who’s been a notable researcher in Brazil for over a decade.
Foletto is currently a professor at the Department of Communication and Arts at ECA-USP (University of São Paulo) and a researcher in the fields of digital communication, digital culture, and artificial intelligence. He graduated with a degree in journalism from the Federal University of Santa Maria, in 2007.
However, Leonardo initially didn’t expect to become an academic: he slowly became involved with research groups and projects related to digital journalism, leading him to eventually pursuing a career in academia.
“What attracted me wasn’t exactly an academic career, but rather the curiosity to explore topics, gain a better understanding of the world, and research subjects that interested me,” says Foletto.
Back in 2008, while he was pursuing his master’s degree, Foletto and a friend started a project that would eventually become one of his most important works: the BaixaCultura website, where he discusses and publishes both personal and academic research, as well as articles by collaborators.
The BaixaCultura website explores the free culture movement, which discusses the open sharing, use, and distribution of creative works and knowledge. Leonardo explained that, even though the blog isn’t his main source of income, it is a great space for him to document his professional life through a very long period of time.
If someone asks me, ‘Oh, what have you been doing for the past 18 years?’ Well, BaixaCultura organizes my life. So that’s it, the period during which I lived in different cities, earned my master’s and doctorate, and worked in various places […] for me it’s a way of organizing and documenting what I’ve produced over that time. That’s why, even today, I have a number of other tasks that take up a lot of my time. I still make an effort to keep it updated at least a few times a month, or at least every two or three months I publish something. I keep it active precisely as a record of my professional and academic journey.”
In 2021, inspired by his research and all of the content on the website, Leonardo published the book A Cultura é Livre: Uma História da Resistência Antipropriedade, an important milestone in his career.
CLASSROOM TO RESEARCH, AND BACK AGAIN
When asked about his routine as a university professor and his role as a researcher, Foletto brought up the fact that his research feeds his teaching and vice versa, emphasizing the fact that, while he prepares his lessons for the week, he’s also researching and trying to bring the most interesting new things for the students, which also helps him with his on personal researches.
Besides the classes at USP, he also works as an academic researcher for the university, so due to that he has to reserve a time on his week to, as he said, read articles, take tests, research information, and keep up with calls from papers to journals and conferences related to the topic.
Foletto also said that most of the time he spends researching, he’s not alone at all. He has a research team, collaborators, students he advises, and international researchers.
BEHIND THE SPOTLIGHT
In addition to classes, research projects, and publications, academic life also presents challenges. Although Leonardo is really passionate about his academic life, the big challenge isn’t researching itself, but creating the conditions for research.
According to him, at first it is important to have a job that pays off and allows him to do it, and second of all is to have a schedule that gives time for him to devote to the survey.
Despite the challenges, Leonardo’s career is a reminder that there are many paths beyond traditional media careers. It is a path driven by curiosity and the desire to comprehend the world. For those who want to make a real difference in communication, research offers the opportunity to contribute to the field and help shape its future.
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The article below was edited by Eloá Costa.
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