Week 8

In chapter nine of ‘Media Studies: Texts, Production, Context’ (Long and Wall, 2012), I believe the key arguments to be looking at what audiences do with media forms, rather than how the media forms influence them.

   It isn’t obvious to be an audience member, as producers of media texts put their text out there, and it only becomes relevant to us when we need or want it. We all begin to engage with media texts in a different way, either passively or actively. A more active audience will look deeper into the text and identify themselves as active audience members, whereas passive members do the opposite. For example, if we were to watch television, an active audience are likely to engage with the text, further than surface level by looking into the topic at a more in depth analysis. However, a passive audience will watch without asking questions, simply absorbing the information.

   Media has an effect on its audience in terms of uses and gratifications. It looks at how each text satisfies its audience and what it provides. There are a number of categories for this; ‘surveillance’ is when an audience consumes media to satisfy need for knowledge, ‘personal identity’ is when the media becomes a part of defining who we are, ‘personal relationships’ refer to how the audience may gain insight into topics and form relationships from it and lastly ‘diversion’ is where the audience consumes a media text in order of escapism from their everyday life.

   It all comes down to the way the audience decodes the text, as the whether they become a passive or active member. Audience members branch off into even more levels, for example, subcultures and fandom. Some members become so obsessed with a media text that it becomes and crucial and constant part of their life, but some people however simply aren’t as fussed and choose now and then to watch a programme etc.

   This links to my research text ‘Blogging for Photographers: Explore your creativity & build your audience’.  Although this text doesn’t argue the same points, it demonstrates how to attract particular audience types, and how photographers can keep up with the online world in terms of keeping their work modern. This has changed the way I think about photography audiences, and how they too can be both passive and active, thinking more in depth about the meaning and context behind a body of work, or simply seeing it for the image it is.

   One option for undertaking more academic research in this area is questionnaires and interviews. They can target an audience and gain understanding as to whether or not they think they are an active audience member. You can give them a long period to complete it over and have their consent to keep it ethically correct.

  

Bibliography:

1.     Long, P; Wall, T (2012) ‘Media Studies: Texts, Production, Context’ pg. 300-341

2.     O’Dell, J (2014) ‘Blogging for Photographers: Explore your creativity & build your audience’