The pandemic intertwining with mediatization 283 to examine it more carefully. The same cannot be applied, in a generalized way and without problematization, because when examining their “modes of existence,” we observe that, from a methodological point of view, there are different realities to which the notion of platforms is subordinated (LATOUR, 2019). However, the platforms must be specified and qualified in the interfaces that articulate offers and modes of use, but according to communication perspectives that generate a long and complex problem in theoretical and conceptual terms. Some- thing that goes beyond conceptual definitions used universally and does not take into account the contexts in which the plat- form would adapt to the conditions of the universe in which it is “received.” Under these conditions, the platform would not only have a life of its own, isolated but would also be permeated by logics and references of the realities in which it is installed or visited by them. 3. Pandemic, effect of mediatization We entered the third decade of the 2000s, when the university, like other institutions, was surprised by information about the occurrence of COVID-19 and its spread in 24 hours, moving to scenarios and geographies on several continents. It multiplied as a “surprise phenomenon” because this event did not inhabit, until then, the routines of institutions and social organizations per se. It was thus semanticized in different geographical and scientific contexts, as governments, in- stitutions, etc. gave, to its existence, descriptions of a generic character that gained contours wherever it passed and circulated. Within the scope of the educational system, the univer- sity receives instructions to change its routines, centered, as it is here, on self-referential logics and concerns. Rules pointed out the need to observe restrictions on social contact, implying the use of defense strategies against the virus and the suspension of activities that, fundamentally, were done around the presence and contact between humans. The instructions were received, in addition to surprise, with indignation and incredulity and, ac- cording to protests against the interruption of routines because
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MjEzNzYz