Audiences: Technology & the Impact on Consumption

This week’s lecture was focusing on audience in terms of how technology has changed over to digital and onto new media platforms, as well as the impact that this has had on how audiences consume this new technology.  Recent technology as changed how not just the majority, but how everybody consumes television as there is now more choice of what to watch more than ever, whereas previously there were a choice of 5. This change has definitely has an impact on me as now I have no schedule for watching television as I can consume it whenever and wherever . I no longer need to sit down in front of the television at particular times to watch episodes, there are various ways to catch up and even watch future episodes before being broadcasted on television.

A reading taken from John Caldnell explores the change of technology by detailing about the flow of television and how adverting plays a part in this flow more than ever, however I decided to focus on how now the internet is now a huge part of audience interactivity with these programmes and channels.  I found this part of the reading to explain how I personally experience technology as I consume particular media like television shows throughout the day, long before or after the show has ended. The reading explains an example of how effective interactivity can be with “Homicide.com”. It explains how after an episode on television had been shown, it would then advertise that a new episode would be available online. I found this to be an excellent example of I consume media and also to show how the digital world has had an impact on television as they are not just interacting with the show whilst it’s just being broadcasted, but playing games and investigating the crimes themselves “on the Internet during the other “23 hours” of the day.” (Caldnell, 2003: 128). I thought this quote was good as it shows the result of how technology has evolved and in doing so, the audience has also changed. It suggests that we as an audience still consume and crave certain media even when it has ended, such as the example “Homicide.com” shows. I am also guilty of this kind of interaction with using the new forms of technology as I am able to go online and participate in a numerous of activities and watch things such as interviews with actors and so on.

For these reasons I would like to research further into digital technology and audience consumption in terms of the impact that this has had on audiences in ways they consume their media.  I would concentrate on how the audience has evolved with this change by researching into the interaction they have with a particular show, I’d go about this by conducting focus groups, in depth interviews and possibly researching further into fandom sites that are dedicated to the shows.

References:

Everett, A and Caldwell, J (Eds) (2003), New Media: Theories and Practices of Digitextuality, Routledge, London and New York - pp 127-144.

Representation: Ideology, Discourse and Power

This week’s blog post will be discussing readings that focus on representation, as the topic we covered in this weeks lecture was based on the representations that are created which can be shown through methods of ideology, discourse and power. 

The first reading is taken from the core media text book. This reading discusses the categories that people are subjected to, such as the gender and social class, this is important in relation to power. It explains how the media has become the focus point on this; due to this a new methodology of analysing texts has been formed. Discourse can be confused with the methodology of ideology as it focuses on the outcomes of what people do and say, however this reading informs us that discourse analyses deeper than ideology and focus away from the idea of “model of power”. (Long, 2012:363)

The second reading this week is written by Machin and Mayr, this reading agrees with the prior reading above about how the discourse methodology is more of a deeper and thorough analysis of language and texts. As it creates more findings on how texts use language to create meanings to make people think in certain ways, without them realising that these meanings are being represented to them. This reading discusses how different forms of communication, such as language, visual and so on, creates meaning and how all of these forms combined together creates possibly just one meaning.

Part Two of the reading from Machin and Mayr explains representation and discourse further and agrees with both readings on how we as audiences are persuaded on how to think. I find this interesting as all of the readings acknowledge how audiences don’t realise how easily led to certain representations. This reading makes my understanding on this more clearly, as texts reveal some ideologies and representations to the audience, but using a discourse analysis finds the hidden discourses and ideologies that are within texts.

The fourth and final reading I will discuss this week is a reading that I have found that discusses the purposes of using a discourse analysis and the relationship of power. I chose to use this reading as it agreed with my first reading of this week taken from the core text book, as both talk about the importance of power of the discourse methodology. My reading from Michael Karlberg discusses the control that the discourse method has within the society, “The ways we think and talk about a subject influence and reflect the ways we act in relation to that subject.”(Karlberg, 2005:1).

In terms of my own research I thought It would intriguing to look further into the discourses about the television show "Embarrassing Bodies". I thought about researching into this particular show as It would help me explore how the "diagnosis" they give to one particular person, can then be represented to the audience, who then may believe they have the same "diagnosis".  

References

Long, P and Wall, T (2012) Discourse, power and media IN Media Studies: Texts, Production, Context (2nd Edition), London: Pearson. pp 363-369

Machin, D and Mayr, A (2012) How to do a Critical Discourse Analysis, London: Sage. pp 1-29

M, Karlberg., (2005) The Power of Discourse and the Discourse of Power: Pursuing peace through discourse intervention [online] Available from: http://www.gmu.edu/programs/icar/ijps/vol10_1/Karlberg_101IJPS.pdf [Accessed 08 March 2013].

Audiences: What do people do with media?

This week’s lecture was focusing on audiences and what audiences do with media. In this lecture I gained knowledge on the different ways how audience use and consume media in various ways.

The first reading is taken from Marie Gillispie, this reading discusses the relationship between audiences and soap operas by focusing on the links that the audiences create from these soaps, to their owns lives. The reading suggests about the link that woman have with soap operas discussing the reasons why they find them relatable as the characters talk like them in terms of speaking informal, as well then woman have pleasure of ‘gossiping’ about the soap operas with others. I thought this finding intriguing as it discusses that this creates a bond within female friendships.

The second reading I will be writing about is taken from the core text book, the aspect I found intriguing was how it discusses how audiences use the media in a similar way to Gillispie’s reading, as it talks about how audiences create an identify from the media they are exposed to. The reading discusses that audience’s critic themselves in relation to the people in the media and create an identify for themselves from this. I think this reading shows how much influence the media has over an audience, but more importantly how much influence the audience allows the media to have over them for even simply things like the way they talk and dress.

The reading I have found myself for this week by Stuart Hall is very similar to the first reading from Marie Gillispie as I have chosen to focus on the aspect of the relationship that woman create from soap operas as I believe this shows what audiences can do with the media. My reading discusses again how the audience relates themselves to particular characters in this media form and believes that they are going through the same situations as these characters. This reading agrees with all the other readings this week as it secures the idea of how audiences use the media in their own lives. Hall’s reading adds to this as ties in with the theme of creating a personal identify which is mentioned in the core text book, it appears that audiences need to link their lives with the media for their own benefits.

In terms of my own research the methodology I would undertake to analysis how audiences consume media would be qualitative. The research I would produce would be based on conducting interviews and focus groups with female audiences of soap operas, as I would like to research further into the relationship that is created with them and the show.

References

Gillespie, Marie (2003) “Television, Ethnicity and Cultural Change” IN Will Brooker and Deborah Jermyn (eds.) The Audience Studies Reader. London: Routledge.

Hall, S., 1997. Representation: Cultural Representations and Signifying Practices [online] Available from: http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=dAqycFD4PBsC&pg=PA365&lpg=PA365&dq=soap+opera+female+audience&source=bl&ots=383X_NYag0&sig=fijAORUtarfMdna44HV8k1rhMyo&hl=en&sa=X&ei=TBpHUaSGKqSL7Aa2_IHIAQ&sqi=2&ved=0CEIQ6AEwBA#v=onepage&q=soap%20opera%20female%20audience&f=false [Accessed 15 March 2013].

Long, P and Wall, T (2012) ‘Investigating audiences: what do people do with media’ IN Media Studies: Texts, Production, Context (2nd Edition), London: Pearson. pp 300-337

Censorship, Effects & Moral Panic

This weeks lecture we discussed censorship, the effects and moral panic that is created with images in the media, which is what this weeks blog post will be about. I learnt how effective images can be in the media which can provoke either a positive or negative outcome from it's audience.

The first reading I read was by Jonathan Bignell, he discusses censorship around television and the semiotics of how the images can be meaningful to the viewers , this can lead to many assumptions can be made from this which leads to the media effects. Due to this censorship is important as the media is concerned about what response these image will receive from their audience, this is the reason why censorship is put into action to prevent negative responses. The reason why they are media effects can be through the viewer’s ideology of television as the decisions lies within them as in what images are correct and incorrect.

The second reading is taken from Jill Nelmes which also discusses censorship focusing on the US and the UK. It firstly discusses the United States as since 1952, film has been protected under the First Amendment to the Constitution of the US. This means that the states have control to sensor adult material if it is seemed as ‘obscene’ material. This is the reason that the ratings system was then established in 1968 as a way to protect children from seeing these images due to the effects that these images could have on a more vulnerable audience. The reading also mentions about a debate that there is more of an age classification on films, rather than censorship. The UK is similar to the US as the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) has a primary concern to classify films to protect children. However films that are produced for an adult audience are subject to broad legal censorship, as well as classification, unlike the US. This could be due to the Freedom of Speech that the US has.

I have found a journal article discussing the advantages and disadvantages of using censorship in television and film which agrees with both readings above on what advantages they are such as the protection of children. However I found the disadvantages are more interesting, as my reading discusses the effect that censorship causes and the moral panic that can arise from it, rather than the effect of showing. One of the key things that I noticed was that it states that the use of censorship withholds key information, for example “If sex-related topics are completely censored it becomes difficult to teach children and teenagers about the dangers of Sexually Transmitted Diseases and HIV/AIDS.” (Pillai, 2012) I found this example of a disadvantage good as it slightly disagrees with Nelmes reading, as not showing material such as this example can perhaps not protect children.

In terms of my own academic research, the methodology that I would apply to undertake further research into the censorship, effects and moral panic would be a rhetorical analysis. I would conduct a rhetorical analysis on a television show that has caused a moral panic such as "My Big, Fat, Gypsy Wedding" and   programmes where it's inappropriate language has cause a stir like "Mock the Week".

References

Bignell, J (2004) An Introduction to Television Studies, London: Routledge. pp 229-252

Nelmes, J (1999) An Introduction to Film Studies, 2nd Edition, London: Routledge. pp. 48-53

Pillai, P., 2012.  Pros and Cons of Censorship [online] Available from: http://www.buzzle.com/articles/pros-and-cons-of-censorship.html. [Accessed 01 March 2013].