the audience in mass communication

1) course description and objectives: in this course, participants explore how mass media audiences interpret and actively use media messages and products as listeners, readers, and consumers; they examine the different stages of ethnographic research, audience meanings, and interpretations, pleasure and fanship, the role of media in everyday life, and the use of ethnographic research methods in communication studies. the course is intended to explore the who, where, when, why, and how of audience in mass communication and media. based on work in reception and audience studies, participants study print media, radio, television, music, etc., with a particular focus on media in mass communication. participants in the class study aspects of audience with approaches in reception and audience studies as well as cultural studies. in the class, individual and team projects will be assigned.

2) required text(s): joseph turow, media systems in society (longman, 1997). supplementary material for audience studies is provided at <http://clcwebjournal.lib.purdue.edu/library/audiencestudies.html>. for selected definitions for work in (comparative) cultural studies, communication, and media studies go to <http://clcwebjournal.lib.purdue.edu/library/definitions(communicationstudies1).html>

3) evaluation: media log/audience data 30%, formal presentation 15%, participation 15%, term paper 40%.

4) the media log / audience data serve to observe and reflect on communication in media, thus to perform hands-on audience research re mass communication and media. the objective of the media log / audience data is to record and to reflect on how various forms of culture in communication and media (music, movies, books, TV, newspapers, advertising, magazines, theater, radio, etc.) have entered into your life and the roles they play in it. of importance is that you record not only about the effects various media may have had on you but also about the uses you have made of images, characters, myths, ideas, and stories media have offered you. participants in the course are required to send data of questionnaire 1 each week by monday 12:00 a.m. (midnight) and data of questionnaire 2 by friday by regular e-mail to the instructor at <totosy@medienkomm.uni-halle.de> (but not in an attachment: if the paper is written in a word processing program, please cut-and-paste the text into a regular e-mail and send) (note: some of  the data format are developed from joseph harris, jay rosen, and gar calpas, media journal: reading and writing about popular culture. boston: allyn and bacon, 1999). audience data of the questionnaires are discussed in class in the context of the class textbook, media systems in society as well as other contexts relevant to audience studies.

demographic profile
male:        female:        age:       total income of household:     highest education in household:

daily record data of how long you
watch television
listen to radio
read newspaper
listen to music on CD
read magazine
surf world wide web
intake other form(s) of media

media intake, weekly
list type of TV you watch (name of show, channel, time of show)
list type of and media through wich you listen to music
list generic type(s) of web offerings you surf and/or use
list film in movie theater you see
list video you watch
list DVD you watch
list type of hard-cover text (book, newspaper, magazine, etc.) of reading you do
list genre of hard-cover text (novel, short story, magazine article, newspaper item, etc.) of reading you do
list other type(s) of media intake

which items on your lists belong to high-brow and which to low-brow cultural participation
high-brow items
low-brow items

in the last six months, how often
read book of fiction
read book of other genre(s)
see film in a movie theater
see video
see DVD
go to concert
see play in a theater
see/listen to other forms of entertainment
items of media intake other than english

last six months' media intake
films (title, director, film company)
books (author, title, place of publication, publisher, and year)
videos (title, director, company)
DVD (title, director, company)
music (title, artist, company
items of media intake other than english

list of your most favoured items of media intake / cultural participation
TV
film
video
DVD
music
book
newspaper
magazine
theater
opera
dance
concert
other

which items on your lists belong to high-brow and which to low-brow cultural participation
high-brow items
low-brow items

reflections
- which medium, if removed from your life, would leave a significant absence
- which media or media intake do you find most pleasurable and why
- which medium or media do you find most important and why
- if you could spend time as you please, which medium or media would you spend most of your time with
- which media experiences do you categorize as entertainment and which as useful/practical
- are there overlaps between categories of entertainment and useful/practical and if yes, list
- when and how were your habits of media intake established
- which type(s) of media do you intake most often
- do you read/watch advertisements (TV, magazine, newpaper, web)
- do different media serve different areas of your needs (list and explain)
- record your switch from or abandonement of a particular media offering and your reason(s) of switching or abandoning
- list which type(s) of media you use for intake of the following categories
    a) entertainment
    b) music
    c) celebrities
    d) gender issues
    e) politics
    f) new technologies
    g) fashion
    h) other culture(s) than american

Here is an example of audience data following the above schema:

WEEK TWO

Mon 01/08
watch television: 8 hrs.
listen to radio: 15 min
read newspaper: 0 hrs.
listen to music on CD: 0 hrs.
read magazine: 0 hrs.
surf world wide web: 0 hrs.
other forms: 2 hrs. reading a novel

Tue 01/09
watch television: 4.5 hrs.
listen to radio: 15 min
read newspaper: 0 hrs.
listen to music on CD: 2 hrs.
read magazine: 0 hrs.
surf world wide web: 1 hr.
other forms: 2 hrs. reading a novel

Wed 01/10
watch television: 4 hrs.
listen to radio: 15 min
read newspaper: 0 hrs.
listen to music on CD:
read magazine : 0 hrs.
surf world wide web: 30 min
other forms: 2 hrs. reading a novel

Thur 01/11
watch television: 5 hrs.
listen to radio: 15 min
read newspaper: 0 hrs.
listen to music on CD: 2.5 hrs.
read magazine 0 hrs.
surf world wide web 0 hrs.
other forms: 2 hrs. reading a novel

Fri 01/12
watch television: 3 hrs.
listen to radio: 15 min
read newspaper: 0 hrs.
listen to music on CD: 0 hrs.
read magazine: 0 hrs.
surf world wide web: 0 hrs.
other forms: 1.5 hrs. reading a novel

Weekly lists

TV
Family Feud, Ch. 38 UPN, 12:00-12:30 pm
To Tell the Truth, Ch. 38 UPN, 12:30-1:30 pm
The Simpsons, Ch. 25 FOX, 7:00-7:30 pm, 11:00-11:30 pm
WCW Monday Nitro, Ch. TNT, 8:00-9:00 pm
WWF Raw is War, Ch. TNN, 9:00-11:00 pm
3rd Rock From the Sun, Ch. 25 FOX, 11:30-12:00 pm
Tonight Show with Jay Leno, Ch. 7 NBC, 12:00-12:30 am
Late Night with Conan O'Brien, Ch.7 NBC, 12:30-1:30 am
Later with Bob Costas, Ch.7 NBC, 1:30-2:00 am
ER, Ch.7 NBC, 10:00-11:00 pm
Saturday Night Live, Ch. Comedy Central, 12:00-1:00 am
The Cosby Show, Ch. 25 FOX, 2:00-2:30 pm
Seventh Heaven, Ch. 56 WB, 5:00-6:00 pm

Radio
Howard Stern, Ch. 104.1 WBCN, 6:45-7:00 am, 8:45-9:00 am

Music CD
At the Gates, Nuclear Blast Records, Germany, 7:30-9:30 pm
In Flames, Nuclear Blast Records, Germany, 7:30-10:00 pm

Film on TV
Any Given Sunday, Producer Oliver Stone, HBO

Film in movie theater
The Whole Nine Yards, Directed by Jonathan Lynn, Warner Brothers, 1998

Web site
<http://www.games.com>

Hard-cover Text
Richard Bachman, The Regulators, New York: Penguin Books, 1994
Stephen King, Deperation, New York: Viking, 1996

Genre of Text
Horror

High/Low brow
all of them are low brow

6) the term paper consists of a research paper with a minimum of three secondary sources and in the length of 1,500 words. the topic for term paper is as follows: participants receive from the instructor a set of data selected from the total audience data received and it is these data which are analysed in the paper: start with an introduction of the theoretical and methodological framework to be used in the analysis (i.e., the ethnographic approach) and procede with the analysis of the data (quantitative and qualitative) in the proposed categories of audience research (the what, when, where, who, why, and how), and end the paper with a conclusion. the format of the paper is the MLA parenthetical sources and a works cited (no footnotes or end notes are allowed). the term paper is to be submitted by regular e-mail (not by attachment: if the paper is written in a word processing program, please cut-and-paste the text into a regular e-mail and send) to the instructor at <totosy@medienkomm.uni-halle.de>. it is encouraged that participants in the course submit the term paper to the instructor prior to the deadline in order to receive comments to improve the paper.

7) participation: students are encouraged to participate actively in all discussions taking place in class and the mark assigned to participation reflects involvement in class discussion.

8) discussion: class discussion occurs in groups assigned as well as in the form of open discussion.

    week one: introduction and explanation of objectives, terms, terminologies, tasks, and assignments and turow chapter 1
    week two assignment: media log / audience data and turow chapter 2; lecture and class work: what are audience and audience studies in communication and media studies
    week three assignment: media log / audience data and turow chapter 3; lecture and class work: research methods in audience studies
    week four assignment: media log / audience data and turow chapter 4; lecture: audience studies and literature
    week five assignment: media log / audience data and turow chapter 5; lecture and class work: audience studies and opera, musical, and theater
    week six assignment: media log / audience data and turow chapter 6; lecture and class work: audience studies and radio
    week seven assignments: media log / audience data and turow chapter 7/8; lecture and class work: audience studies and television
    week eight assignment: media log / audience data and turow chapter 9; lecture and class work: audience and film
    week nine assignment: media log / audience data and turow chapter 10; lecture and class work: audience and music
    week ten: presentations