Active audiencesdocx.docx
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Activeaudiencesdocx
Activeaudiences
1.Introduction
Inthemediaage,audienceswereoncepreviouslyconsideredtobeinactive,i.e.,theaudiencecan'tfeedbackortoparticipateinsocialeventsofthereportsandnarrative,orevenculturalproduction.Afterthetwo-stepflowofcommunicationmodelhypothesizesintroducedbysociologistPaulLazarsfeldandElihuKatzin1955(Lazarsfeld&Katz,1955),HallandMorleydevelopedtheactiveaudiencetheoryintothecontextofcontemporaryculturalstudies.Nowwearelivinginthenewmediaera,thedigitaleraofmasscommunication.Audiencesarenotonlyrecipientsofinformation,butactive.Theyhavetheirownmindandusespecificmediacontentandinformationtogetgratifications.Anactiveaudiencecanmeanthatpeopledonotsimplyacceptandbelieveeverythingtheyreceivefromthemedia.Itisundoubtedlythatdifferentaudiencesmayhavedifferentideasandattitudestowardamediamessagewiththeirownmindsandcanhavedifferentresponsestoit.Theseresponsesarenotchaotic,butareassociatedwiththeaudience'sage,educationlevel,commoncommunicationchannelsandotherpersonalcharacteristics.(Miller&Philo,2001).Astimewentby,theresearchesfocustostudytheactiveoftheaudience,ratherthanapassiveaudience.Differentexpertsputforwardadifferentpointofviewtosupporttheideathataudiencesareactive.Withtheadventofnetworkconvergencetechnology,ithasbecomeacommonphenomenonthataudiencesuseblog,mobilephones,Facebook,twitterandotherformsofcommunicationtoparticipateinculturalproductionactively.Theincreaseofthemassmediaalsomakestheattitudesoftheaudiencesundergoneamajorchange.
2.Earlydevelopmentinaudiencetheory
Anaudienceisagroupofpeoplewhoparticipateinashoworencounteraworkofart,literature,theatre,music,videogame,oracademicsinanymedium.Audiencetheoryisanelementofthinkingthatdevelopedwithinacademicliterarytheoryandculturalstudies.
2.1Thehypodermicneedlemodel
Thehypodermicneedlemodelthatdevelopedinthe1920sisthefirsttheorytoexplainhowmassaudiencesmightreacttomassmedia.Thismodelcanbeseenassomekindofforceinjectedtherepressiveideologydirectlyintothepublicconsciousnessandthought.Inthistheory,itisconsideredtohaveaneffectontheaudienceaftertheconsumptionofmediatextsanditisthoughtthatthiseffectisoftennegative.Accordingtothenameofthetheory,themediaiscomparedtoahypodermicneedlewhichinjectsmessages,attitudesandideasintotheaudiencesandtheaudiencesarepassiveandpowerlesstopreventit.Intheaudienceeyes,themediaislikeadrugandtheycandonothingbytoaccepttheinfluence.Ofcourse,duringthepasttimethistheorymayworkinsomecase.Butdifferentaudiencesmayhavedifferentmindsandareaffectedindifferentwaysbydifferentmedia.Ontheotherhand,nowadaystheaudiencesaremoreandmoreindependentandhavecriticallyawareofthemedia.Sothistheoryrootedinthe1930shaslargelybeenconsideredobsoleteintoday’snewmediaage(Berger,1995).
2.2Two-stepflowofcommunicationtheory
Thetwo-stepflowtheorywasfirstintroducedbyPaulLazarsfeld,BernardBerelson,andHazelGaudetin1944.Theydidastudytofindouttheprocessofdecision-makingduringaPresidentialelectioncampaign.Aroundthemassmediacampaigningtheydidalotofresearches,toinvestigatethevoters,inordertoconfirmthattheinfluenceofthemassmediatothevoterswillhaveaverypowerfulforce.Finallytheydiscoveredthatmasscommunicationdidnothavethepowertoaffectthevotingintentionofvotersandtheinformalpersonalcontactsplayedamajorroletoinfluencethevoters’votingbehavior.Withafurtherstudywiththisresult,KatzandLazarsfelddevelopedthetwo-stepflowtheoryofmasscommunicationin1955(Lazarsfeld&Katz,1955).
Thehypodermicneedlemodelconsidersthattheeffectsofthemassmediaaredirect,butthetwo-stepflowmodelstresseschoicesoftheaudiencealot.Itsuggeststhatifwediscusswithotherpeopleitwillbemorelikelyforustobeinfluencedbythemedia.Ontheotherhand,ouropinionsaffectedbythewayourfriendswhohavealreadyviewedthemedia.Themodelproposesaconceptcalledopinionleader.Theopinionleaderistheactivistwhichprovidesinformationforothersandaffectsthemintheinterpersonalcommunicationnetworks.Thistheorysuggeststhatmostpeoplemaketheirownopinionsbasedontheopinionleader.Itissaidthattheinformationfromthemediamovesintwodistinctstages.First,theopinionleadersreceivetheinformationandhavetheirownunderstandofit.Andthentheopinionleaderstransmittheinformationtootherpeopleaftertheirreprocessingoftheinformation.Theyhavetheabilitytoaffecttheattitudesofothersandtheyareinvolvedinmasscommunication,speedupthepropagationvelocityandexpandtheinfluence.Opinionleaders,astherelayandfilterlinksinthemedia,havesignificantinfluenceinmasscommunication.Infact,thismodeoftransmissionisnotjustbetweenthetwolevels,andoftenmulti-levelspreadofonetoten,hundred,thusformingthediffusionofinformation.Andthetwo-stepflowtheorysoondevelopedintothemulti-stepflowtheoryofmasscommunicationordiffusionofinnovationtheory.
2.3Usesandgratificationstheory
Ittakesalongtimeforthedevelopmentoftheusesandgratificationstheorysincethe1940s.Usesandgratificationstheorystandsonthepositionoftheaudience,byanalyzingtheaudienceusingmotivationofthemediatoexaminetheeffectivenessofmasscommunicationtothehumanpsychologicalandbehavioral.Itstressedthattheinitiativeoftheaudienceandhighlightedthestatusoftheaudience.Therearefivebasicassumptionsoftheusesandgratificationstheory:
1)“Theaudienceisconceivedasactive.”(Katz,Blumler,&Gurevitch,2011)
2)“Inthemasscommunicationprocessmuchinitiativeinlinkinggratificationandmediachoicelieswiththeaudiencemember.”(Katz,Blumler,&Gurevitch,2011)
3)“Themediacompetewithothersourcesofsatisfaction.”(Katz,Blumler,&Gurevitch,2011)
4)“Methodologicallyspeaking,manyofthegoalsofmassmediausecanbederivedfromdatasuppliedbyindividualaudiencemembersthemselves.”(Katz,Blumler,&Gurevitch,2011)
5)“Valuejudgmentsabouttheculturalsignificanceofmasscommunicationshouldbesuspendedwhileaudienceorientationsareexploredontheirownterms.”(Katz,Blumler,&Gurevitch,2011)
Thistheorysuggeststhatwiththepositiveuseofmediatheaudiencesinterpretandintegratemediaintotheirownlivesandpointsoutthattheuseofmediaisbasedentirelyontheindividual’sneedsandaspirations.Italsoremindstheaudiencethatthepurposeofusingmediacanbedifferentandmakesuspaymoreattentiontotheaudience.Thistheoryconsidersaudienceexposuretomediaisbasedonindividualneedsandemphasizestheaudience'sinitiative(Namsu,Kee,&Valenzuela,2009).Butthescientificbasisofthetheoryisnotreliableanditemphasistoomuchonthepersonalandpsychological,ignorethesocialconditionsandconstraintsoftheenvironment.What’smore,thetheorycannotfullyrevealthesocialrelationsoftheaudienceandthemedia.
3.Activeaudiencetheory
Asthedevelopmentoftechnologyofmassmedia,thetheoriesmentionedabovehavetheirproblemsandlimitations.Soanewtheoryoftheaudiencewasdevelopedsincethe1970s.Andthatistheactiveaudiencetheory.Itsuggeststhatpeopledonotsimplyacceptandbelieveeverythingtheyreceivefromthemedia.Itisundoubtedlythatdifferentaudiencesmayhavedifferentideasandattitudestowardamediamessagewiththeirownmindsandcanhavedifferentresponsestoit.Theseresponsesarenotchaotic,butareassociatedwiththeaudience'sage,educationlevel,commoncommunicationchannelsandotherpersonalcharacteristics.(Miller&Philo,2001).Thistheorywasdevelopedbyalotofcommunicationtheoriesandtheirresearches.
3.1EncodingandDecoding
In1970s,BritishsociologistStuartHallproposedamodelofmasscommunication,theencodinganddecodingtheory.Thistheorysuggeststhatthattheaudienceinterpretationsofthemediaandculturalproductsarerelatedtotheirpositionsinthesocialstructure.Encodinganddecodingtheorywasdevelopedfromthecritiqueoftraditionalmasscommunicationmodel.Thetraditionaltheoryofcommunicationconsideredthatthecommunicationisthelinearmotionofamessagefromthesenderdirectlytotherecipientandthemovementhaslinearcharacteristics.Thelimitationofthistheoryisthatitjustconsiderstheflowofinformationasalinearmotion,butnotconsidersthesituationsofallkindsofinterferenceandotherinformationthatmayappearinthecirculationprocess.Themodeloftherelationshipbetweentextsandaudiencesconsideredhowtextswereencodedwithmeaningbyproducersandthendecodedbyaudiences.HallbelievesthatmassmediatextsjustlikecommoditieswillalsogetthroughMarxismdescribedfourareasofcommodities:
theproduction,distribution,useandreproduction.Hesummarizedandpresentedthreedifferentreceiverdecodingmode:
dominant-hegemonicposition,negotiatedcodeandoppositionalcode.Inthedominant-hegemonicposition,itpresentslinearcharacteristicsbetweenthetransmittingandreceivinginformationsothatsameasdecodingandthetwocodesshaveisomorphismwitheachother.Sothedecodingcanbedoneinthesamewayaccordingtotheencoding.Inthenegotiatedcode,decodingcontainsamixofcompatibleandconfrontationfactors,whichmeanthedecodingsidedoesnothavetheabilitytocontendfortheencodingside.Andthecontradictionbetweenthet