FORMATS/AUDIOVISUAL COMMUNICATION MAGAZINE is a publication whose priority is broadcasting works of investigation and analysis on audiovisual communication. The Pompeu Fabra University basically offers, in FORMATS, an instrument of exchange among other universities and professional institutions oriented towards the audiovisual world.

The upsurge of Internet and the importance this medium will have in the future of communication has been determinant in the decision to give a digital support to the magazine. There are several advantages to this support, especially world-wide dissemination, as well as cost reduction. There are certainly some questions, such as the control of the authors' copyrights, but at the same time new forms of communication open up which are worth exploring, such as the direct relationship with authors by the e-mail or by establishing specialised forums. In any case, these are specific unknown quantities and possibilities of the new medium which the magazine's specific experience will help to clear up.

In spite of the novelty of the support, the magazine maintains the basic configuration of a publication of university nature with a scientific bent. The experience itself of transferring the magazine from paper to the web is a proof of the Pompeu Fabra University's commitment of participation in the powerful transformation of communications at the turn of this century.

The Pompeu Fabra University began Audiovisual Communication Studies in the 1993-94 course with the intention of offering a model for the training of audiovisual communication professionals, adequate to the requirements of contemporary culture and the new technology of communication. The model designed by the Pompeu Fabra University in this path of integration at the university of audiovisual communication teaching and the model of its insertion into the Catalan and European context of audiovisual communication professionals is based on five inter-related pillars: the degree in Audiovisual Communications, with a study plan adjusted to these needs; doctorate studies directly related to preparing professors, professional specialisation, and initiation in investigation; the Audiovisual Institute, especially oriented to training and investigation activities in new technologies applied to audiovisual production; the Department of Journalism and Audiovisual Communication, in which the professors of the Area of Knowledge of Audiovisual Communication and Publicity are integrated, which orients the Doctorate studies and investigation activities; and the Media Library integrated into the Pompeu Fabra University library which gives an essential support to training, investigation, and creation activities.

The publication of FORMATS/AUDIOVISUAL COMMUNICATION MAGAZINE intends to be a birth certificate and a declaration of intentions. From Barcelona and from Catalonia, we wish to reflect, pick up, participate, and motivate the debate on the present and the future of audiovisual processes and discourses.

Barcelona, 1997