Etnografía Crítica y Procesos Comunicativos en el Barrio: Cómo Entender el Paso a la Comunicación en Red

This article offers a critical and systematic review of the processes of technological and communicative appropriation in communities, based on the semiotic dynamics that emerge in popular neighborhoods in Latin America. It adopts a methodological approach grounded in critical and digital ethnography. The main objective is to analyze how marginalized communities re-signify technology and digital platforms from their own cultural horizons, generating new forms of communication, social organization, and collective meaning-making. Through the review of empirical cases, regional reports, book chapters, and recent theses, the article identifies key changes in social life, methodological, ethical, and political challenges in research, as well as theoretical gaps and future lines of inquiry. The findings show that technological appropriation is neither linear nor homogeneous; rather, it involves creativity, resistance, negotiation, and collective agency, leading to complex communication systems and new repertoires of digital citizenship. The analysis highlights the importance of collaborative models, transdisciplinary approaches, and situated methodologies for doctoral research, promoting the construction of relevant, inclusive, and transformative knowledge in the digital era. This work contributes to consolidating the field of community communication and technology studies by offering concrete recommendations and paving the way for future doctoral research committed to social justice and technological equity.