Module description
The story of audiences has been told in many ways, but it has usually been a narrative of a transformation from a faceless, voiceless mass into a critical, responsive and interpretative collective. Does this still hold true? Who is “the audience” in the digital age – or are we rather users, producers, prosumers? The module draws on the legacy of audience studies which in various ways investigated the link between people and society through and around media texts, context and institutions. The module then urges students to confront those ideas with the changing, global digital landscape.
Firstly, this module will explore ways in which people and societies engage with media and digital technologies. The module will explore how changing technological affordances may have changed our ideas of interpretation and participation, and how newer phenomena of streaming cultures, digital fandom or creative practice link to theoretical and methodological debates surrounding audiences. Secondly, the module will urge students to critically consider the cross-cultural validity of traditional concepts in audience research through introduction of emerging case studies and modern technological and socio-political contexts in the Global North and the Global South.
Assessment details
1x 4000 word assignment
Educational aims & objectives
This module, informed by theories and empirical research from social science and humanities perspectives, aims to:
- provide a critical overview of audience theories and methodologies for the digital age;
- allow students to critically investigate and apply theoretical and practical perspectives on audiences to emerging areas of communication and the digitalisation of society;
- develop knowledge of theoretical concepts of interpretations, agency, participation and creation alongside case studies and innovations in digital technologies;
- provide students with tools to problematise the relationship between, on the one hand, media and digital technology, and on the other hand, a range of sociocultural, psychological and political aspects of everyday life;
- encourage students to reflexively investigate the complex interactions between audiences, media and society.
As such, the module serves both as a foundation for further study in audience studies in communication and humanities, and a resource for an audience-related career in digital industries.