Week 8 Reading: Audience
This week’s post will base on the reading “The Extended Audience”, written by Couldry, Nick. In the chapter, Couldry reviewed the issue on the contemporary researching on audience which indicated since the micro-electronic communication emerge in the recent days, the study of audience may shift the focus on central broadcast structure, and the audience is no longer only taking the passive role, but also participate in the process of production. Moreover, Couldry also explore on the argument “the technological challenge facing audience research is linked to a social / spatial challenge which base on idea of Abercrombie and Longhurst on three phases of the development of audience. Furthermore, Couldry provided case studies on “reality TV” in order to analyze the basic reaction on the media consume on the social dimension. And at last he explored the increasing mobility of media among the audience and webcasting at home.
The word in the title, “extended” is developed from the notion of Abercrombie and Longhurst on “diffused audience”. It is said that the “diffused of audience captures our sense that media, not just audiences, are everywhere” ( Couldry, 2005, 188). This statement indicates the features in contemporary society which are audience ship diverse in culture and everyday life culture. And Couldry took a further step in the diffused audience study by apply the term “extended audience” which more focus on the understanding on the relationship between media and media audiences as part of understanding of contemporary media culture (Couldry, 2005, 196). In other word, in his study of audience will focus on how audiences participate in the media performance and the relation to their everyday lives.
In my opinion, the perspective of this audience research which focus on audience behavior may give a clear idea on general audience integration with the electronic based media. It is because the electronic media is no longer have the central structure based on the local culture. It is more diverse and the audience can participate in the self-conduct promotion. The content of media is not necessary to be the most crucial criteria to address, but concern on the culture preference instead. For example, there are large amount of clips on You Tube to meet large amount of needs in different culture context, some of the video may be the Japanese animation clips, or an entertainment programs from Korea, but the amount of hits will depends on the preference of audience. Therefore, if just only focus on the how contends make the audience concern, it will be difficult to distinguish the multiple identities of the audience.
By Ying, Xiao z3283915
Reference: Couldry, Nick,. “The Extended Audience: Scanning the Horizon.” In Gillepie, Marie. Ed. Media Audiences. BerKshire: Open University press, 2005, 184-196 & 210-220
