Audience and Reception Studies

Challenging Audiences: Critical Ethnography in/for Oceania

by Rena Lederman

Emotions Elicited by Television Violence

by Juan Carlos Revilla

The effects of TV violence have been widely studied from an experimental perspective, which, to a certain extent,... more The effects of TV violence have been widely studied from an experimental perspective, which, to a certain extent, neglects the interaction between broadcaster and recipient. This study proposes a complementary approach, which takes into account viewers’ interpretation and construction of TV messages. Social dimensions influencing emotional experiences to TV violence will be identified and analyzed, as well as the way these emotions are construed in discourse, how they are linked to attitudes, ethical dimensions and courses of action. Eight focus groups (segmented by age, gender and educational level) were the basis of a discourse analysis that reconstructed the way audiences experience TV violence. Results show the importance of a first immediate emotional mobilisation, with references to complex emotions, and a second emotional articulation of experiences regarding repetition of scenes (type, classification and assessment of broadcasts), legitimacy (or lack thereof) of violent acts, and identification (or lack thereof) with main characters. In conclusion, the double impact (immediate and deferred) of emotions generates complex narratives that lead to a single course of action characterised by responsibility and guilt, which can only be taken into account by assuming the active role of viewer.

Wahl-Jorgensen, K., Williams, A. and Wardle, C. (2010). Audience views on user-generated content: Exploring the value of news from the bottom up. Northern Lights, 8, 177-194.

by Karin Wahl-Jorgensen

News organisations increasingly view user-generated content as a vital resource for audience engagement and... more News organisations increasingly view user-generated content as a vital resource for audience engagement and empowerment. Researchers have investigated the production practices and journalistic cultures surrounding user-generated content but have paid less attention to the audiences who produce and consume the content. This paper seeks to fill this gap in knowledge,  drawing on a series of focus groups to understand why audiences value particular forms of user-generated content and renounce others. Further, by comparing focus group findings to data from in-depth interviews with BBC producers and journalists, it explores how audience perceptions differ from those of producers. In particular, the paper focuses on why and how audiences value news-based user-generated content (in the form of images, footages and eyewitness accounts), which is perceived as authentic, immediate and “real.” This is contrasted with a dislike for audience comment, or opinion-based contributions, seen as ill-informed, repetitive and extremist. By contrast, BBC producers and journalists are more concerned with the UGC as a tool to supplement traditional news-gathering practices.

Swalwell The Early Micro User FINAL

by Melanie Swalwell

The Labour of Media Use: The Two Active Audiences

by Göran Bolin

published in Information, Communication & Society, online first (April 2012)

The ‘active audience’ has theoretically been conceptualized from two perspectives: in political economy, it is... more The ‘active audience’ has theoretically been conceptualized from two perspectives: in political economy, it is suggested that television audiences work for the networks while watching and that they contribute to the valorization process with their labour. Although contested, it has survived among media scholars, also feeding into the discussion on web surveillance techniques. The other conceptualization comes from reception theory, media ethnography and cultural studies, where the interpretive work by audiences is seen as productive and resulting in identities, taste cultures and social difference. This article relates these perspectives by considering audiences as involved in two production–consumptions circuits: (1) the viewer activities produce social difference (identities and cultural meaning) in a social and cultural economy, which is then (2) made the object of productive consumption as part of the activities of the media industries, the end product being economic profit. This article argues for the relevance of analysing these as separate circuits, with different kinds of labour at their centre, and that recent debates on the active audience often misrecognize the difference.

Who Do They Think They’re Talking To? Framings of the Audience by Social Media Users

by David Brake

International Journal of Communication, Vol 6 (2012) http://ijoc.org/ojs/index.php/ijoc/article/view/932

This article examines the understandings and meanings of personal information sharing online using a predominantly... more This article examines the understandings and meanings of personal information sharing online using a predominantly symbolic interactionist analytic perspective and focusing on writers’ conceptions of their relationships with their audiences. It draws on an analysis of in-depth interviews with 23 personal bloggers. They were found to have limited interest in gathering information about their audiences, appearing to assume that readers are sympathetic. A comprehensive and grounded typology of imagined relationships with audiences was devised. Although their blogs were all public, some interviewees appeared to frame their blogging practice as primarily self-directed, with their potential audiences playing a marginal role. These factors provide one explanation for some forms of potentially risky self-exposure observed among social media users.

The Listener as Remixer: Mix Stems in Online Community and Competition Contexts

by Dr. Samantha Bennett

Presented at: Experience, Engagement, Meaning: Biennial Conference of IASPM UK/ Ireland. University of Cardiff. September 2010

The Mighty Boosh: Femininity, Female Fan Practices and the figure of the 'Fangirl'

by Sarah Harman

The Mighty Boosh (dir. Paul King 2007 - present), once an underground cult text, has increasingly become rejected as... more The Mighty Boosh (dir. Paul King 2007 - present), once an underground cult text, has increasingly become rejected as 'feminine mainstream'. This gendering occurs through a number of processes: an association with consumerism and rabid consumption; an increasingly visible female fandom; and through an assimilation of these into the text itself. This paper argues that the rejection of The Mighty Boosh and its affiliation with the feminine typifies the gendering of television dialectics, as well as the gendered dichotomy of Cult verses Mainstream.

By examining female fan behaviour this paper explores the hierarchical structure of female Boosh fandom, problematising pre-existing fandom studies and their theoretical assumptions. This is primarily through what I term the Illegitimate and Legitimate fan, exploring how fans compete for dominance through their relationship to and with the text. In addition this paper takes as crucial the current phenomenon of the comedy 'fangirl' – the lowest position within this hierarchy –  concluded as central to feminist discourses of consumption, sexuality and identity whilst standing at odds with the traditional masculine position of the 'serious fan'.

"Lo spleen di Hollywood. Lo spettatore flâneur nell'era dell'algoritmo" in Federico Zecca (a cura), Il cinema della convergenza. Industria, racconto, pubblico, Milano / Udine, Mimesis, 2012, pp. 205-218.

by Alberto Brodesco

Lo spazio della (nuova) flânerie audiovisiva – flânerie crossmediale o cyberflânerie – è allestito nella struttura... more Lo spazio della (nuova) flânerie audiovisiva – flânerie crossmediale o cyberflânerie – è allestito nella struttura stessa del media franchise, nelle narrazioni larghe, che offrono ampi margini di divagazione; nel racconto incompleto, frammentato, percorso da faglie intratestuali; nella possibilità per lo spettatore di dialogare allo specchio con il proprio sé algoritmizzato... Il flâneur si muove senza impacci subendo contemporaneamente le leggi d’attrazione di due poli magnetici: l’imprevedibilità dei comportamenti di visione e l’inevitabilità del calcolo che li insegue, la spinta oziosa e improduttiva e il richiamo all’ordine dell’industria, la nostalgia come sentimento e come strategia di marketing, lo spleen da fine racconto e quello da mancato guadagno.

(With Press, Andrea; forthcoming 2013) Audiences: A cross-generational dialogue. Special issue of Communication Review, 16 (1), Taylor and Francis

by Ranjana Das

Special issue of Communication Review (forthcoming 2013) - guest-edited by Ranjana Das and Andrea Press.

This Comm Review special issue, guest-edited by Ranjana Das (University of Leicester, UK) with Andrea Press... more This Comm Review special issue, guest-edited by Ranjana Das (University of Leicester, UK) with Andrea Press (University of Virginia, Charlottesville, co-editor of the Taylor and Francis journal Communication Review) will feature essays by David Buckingham, Sonia Livingstone, Kim Schroeder, Pille Prulmann-Vengerfeldt, Martin Barker and Denis McQuail.

It brings together plenary addresses from the COST-YECREA-ECREA workshop in Brussels, April 2012.

Credibility of TV News in a Developing Country: The Case of Bangladesh

by Anis Rahman

Andaleeb, S.; Rahman, A; Rajeb, M.; Akter, N.; & Gulshan, S. (2012). Credibility of TV News in a Developing Country: The Case of Bangladesh. Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly, 89(1), 73-90. doi:10.1177/1077699011430060, Sage

Television has recently experienced unprecedented expansion in Bangladesh. Given its popularity and influence, and... more Television has recently experienced unprecedented expansion in Bangladesh. Given its popularity and influence, and with more people using it for their information, research on the credibility of TV news is warranted. Perceived independence of TV channels, their social role, source expertise, objectivity, and audiovisual quality were hypothesized to influence credibility perceptions of TV news. Based on factor analysis and multiple regression analysis, four of these five factors had a significant effect. Implications of TV news credibility in Bangladesh’s development efforts are discussed.

Comparing situated sense-making processes in virtual worlds Application of Dervin’s Sense-Making Methodology to media reception situations

by CarrieLynn Reinhard

Co-authored with Brenda Dervin, Ohio State University

What happens when a person engages with a virtual world? Are there unique processes of engagings that occur? One... more What happens when a person engages with a virtual world? Are there unique processes of engagings that occur? One approach to understanding how a person makes sense of a virtual world is to compare the engaging processes with other media technologies, focusing on situated performative and interpretive sense-makings. This article reports on a study conducted to compare how novices make sense of four media technologies: film, console videogames, massively multiplayer online role-playing games, and social virtual worlds. Using Dervin’s Sense-Making Methodology (SMM) and our conceptualization of media reception situations, we extracted five potential overlapping sense-making concepts to make comparisons that do not presume a priori the influences of characteristics of technologies and other structures. The five comparative concepts all focus on situated sense-making processes. Our purpose in this article is not to present a full study report but rather to illustrate the methodological approach used in the data collection/production and analysis of the study. Results of our analyses indicate the complexity of media reception situations, how they converged and diverged, and how they involve multiple potential influences on media reception outcomes.

The whats versus hows of film spectatorship: A comparison of genre films reception from a cognitive-affective perspective

by CarrieLynn Reinhard

This is a paper I wrote for a 2007 graduate studies seminar on film studies. It was my first foray into minutia reception studies, which is a line of research I am hoping to develop further.

Three approaches to media reception and audience reception studies

by CarrieLynn Reinhard

These are my thoughts on quantitative and qualitative media studies and film studies for how they approach understanding audience and media reception.

Das, R. (2012). Children reading an online genre: Heterogeneity in interpretive work. Popular Communication 10 (4). Forthcoming

by Ranjana Das

2012, Popular Communication Volume 10, Issue 4

In this paper, a conceptual repertoire from audience reception studies is mobilized to interpret findings from... more In this paper, a conceptual repertoire from audience reception studies is mobilized to interpret findings from conversations with children navigating the online genre of social networking sites. Divergence and consensus across age, in children’s perception of authorial presence and intention, perceptions of other readers/users, and their collection of stories around the text, is indicated with the use of a repertoire derived from many decades of research with audience reception analysis. The problems and prospects of using the text-reader metaphor for interactive media, are then discussed. It is concluded that the act of interpretation was always one that involved a range of responsibilities (literacies) on the part of the audience/spectator and in the case of textually unstable, immersive media, new media literacies as interpretive work continue to involve a range of responsibilities in navigating textual conventions, figuring out opportunities, coping with contextual resources and restraints and tackling interruptions in the text.

Gelegentliche Anmerkungen. Felix Salten schreibt über Gustav Klimt, in: Mattl, Siegfried [Hrsg.]: Felix Salten. Schriftsteller - Journalist - Exilant; [Publikation erscheint anlässlich der Ausstellung "Felix Salten. Schriftsteller - Journalist - Exilant" im Jüdischen Museum der Stadt Wien vom 5. Dezember 2006 bis 18. März 2007, Wien (Holzhausen) 2006, S. 80-85.

by Andrea Winklbauer

''No One Else Gets It': Unpopular Music and the Sustained Self'

by Scott Wilson

Delivered at The Popular Culture Association of Australia and New Zealand (POPCAANZ) 2nd Annual Conference. Auckland, New Zealand (2011)

From SunnO))) to Justin Bieber, The Legendary Stardust Cowboy to Anthony and the Johnsons, The Shaggs to... more From SunnO))) to Justin Bieber, The Legendary Stardust Cowboy to Anthony and the Johnsons, The Shaggs to Britney,  fans of popular culture engage in exclusionary tactics and practices based on strictly enforced axiological principles, central to which is the idea that non-fans simply lack the capacity to recognise the value of the cherished object in question. Thus the unpopular excludes and avoids the popular, the mass market, in favour of specialisation and the construction of the specialist (which is not to say that specialists are unpopular).

In this paper I explore the notion of unpopular music (however
figured and defended) as a site for identification and value-generation, and pay particular attention to the ways in which perceptions of unpopularity, in all of its guises, can function as an important factor in any fan's construction of themselves as fans.   

Das, R., Kleut, J & Bolin, G. (2013) Textual demands of ‘new’ genres and new roles for the audience? An overview of recent research. For Carpentier et. al. (Eds) Transformations: Late modernity’s shifting audience positions. Intellect. Forthcoming

by Ranjana Das

Highlighting the emergence of new genres in the age of the internet and the simultaneous academic interest in their... more Highlighting the emergence of new genres in the age of the internet and the simultaneous academic interest in their evolution, this paper reflects on what new demands are placed on audiences as they engage with, and indeed, create and participate in these new forms. We raise and respond to two related questions - what is the consensus on the novelty (or not) of the generic features of texts and technologies that surrounds us, and, relatedly, what new things are we, as audiences and users, expected to learn and do? Organised as an indicative, and far from exhaustive review of contemporary literature, we bring together a largely scattered coversation happening in the field, to provide a useful starting point for empirical pursuits in this area. We suggest that such an attempt is at this moment, necessary in the field for two reasons. First, a lot of rich research in and orbiting these matters seems to be happening around us and it is perhaps time to weave these into a narrative of sorts. And second, there is an interdisciplinary nature to these questions - scholars in departments of literacy theory, information systems and media studies ponder these questions alike and to that end, we aim to wave towards some of the resources that are available to those of us who wish to empirically pursue this area for future research.

The illusory everyday: narratives of pleasure in Australian'reality TV'

by Emma Price

"Wiseau Serious? How Audiences Transform 'The Room' From a Romantic Drama Into an Unintentional Comedy Sensation"

by Richard McCulloch

In February 2012, THE ROOM's director/star/writer/producer Tommy Wiseau and co-star Greg Sestero visited London for a... more In February 2012, THE ROOM's director/star/writer/producer Tommy Wiseau and co-star Greg Sestero visited London for a series of introduced screenings. This piece reflects on those screenings, providing an overview of the film and its cult following. I argue that it is the audience, and not simply the film itself, that is responsible for the production of such a riotous comedy experience.