kylerenpenning

[kylerenpenning]

Audience Studies (3P18) Blog #2

Audience Studies (3P18) Blog #2

Week 6

In week 6, the material looks to cover the uses and gratifications of media theory for online users, outlining the criteria that determine what makes an audience, as well as, exploring what motivates users to consume digital media, and examining the link between audience members conscious choice and the unconscious effects of their choices. In the lecture, we discussed the uses and gratifications theory which was interesting because it offers a glimpse of the evolution we have experienced throughout the decade because the technologies that are now used to explore audiences has served researchers well and are being used to draw upon more detailed, accurate conclusions on audience behavior and interactions. The theory understands that audiences have a goal in mind (active), that they are selective in the content that they choose to consume, they can be discriminative towards opposing ideologies, and finally that audiences make choices and can explain why we are making these choices (self-aware). 

The most prominent example from my life where I can see this theory being applied is through my university experience. The students can be recognized as active audience members because we are constantly participating in literature in our classes with the goal in mind to graduate and get a job. Students at brock university like myself are selective in the content we choose because we were all given a large variety of choice for programs when we first applied, and each individual chose the program that best suited themselves and the one that would help them make a career from the content they will learn. Each program can be viewed as a different audience that is part of a much larger audience which is Brock University as a whole. With regards to the discriminative part of the uses and gratifications theory, I have experienced in seminars people being discriminative towards ideas students present because they do not agree with what they propose. Although it is in a respectful manner, many dialogues in my seminars throughout the years have involved a disagreement and the two parties are trying to find some sort of middle ground to agree upon. This flows right into the self-awareness aspect because within the dialogue they can elaborate on their positions and provide an explanation on why they support the things they do which proves that audience members are self-aware of their beliefs for the most part. 

           The next area of focus this week which was really interesting to me was reading the research article that looked at what motivates users to consume digital media. The article’s main concern was to distinguish the differences between gratification sought and gratification obtained from the consumption of media content. For this distinction to become a reality, they defined gratification as ‘expectancy of a certain outcome as a function of certain behavior’ (Mirjana Pantic. 2 April 2019) The article teaches us that media use as ‘functional’ is important to understand because it implies that audience members seek out some sort of goal in the things they do as audience members, and we as audience members are looking to gain a sense of gratification through obtaining the goals we set in place for ourselves. Whenever my friends and I get heavily into a video game we tend to start competing against each other to see who is the best one at the game. In this case, being considered the best out of the friend group would be considered the ‘expected certain outcome’ and the ‘certain behavior’ that would emerge in each of us would be more hours played on the game. We would also take the game more seriously because everyone knows they need to put time into the game and get better if they want the satisfaction of being the best out of our friend group which would be considered the audience. 

           Finally, we examined Blumer’s theory and the link between audience members' conscious choice and the unconscious effects their choices have. This essentially explains that the awareness we have of the thoughts in our head is what drives us to do the things that we do (conscious choice). However, our actions have an effect either on ourselves or others that we are sometimes not aware of (unconscious effect). For example, When I was a little kid I sometimes would say hurtful things to my parents and at the time my thought may have been that the things I say will get me what I wanted. Now I know that some of the choices I made in the hurtful things I said had an effect on my parents' mental health that I was not aware of simply because I was young, immature, and still learning. As a result of me agitating my parents, they would respond by being less helpful to me if I needed it and made me understand that I need to respect them because my choices have an effect on their well-being.  

Week 7 

           This week, we headed towards interpreting and decoding mass media texts which Sullivan describes as studies that are focused on gaining a better understanding of how audiences interpret texts, especially media that contains behavior that is considered to be morally reprehensible (Granelli & Zenor, 2016, p. 5058). In lecture, we learned that large media owners have a great amount of power in society because of their ability to send out messages that a mass audience is going to be viewing and interpreting in several ways. However, the CCCS recognizes that audiences are decoders themselves, and have the ability to pick and choose which messages they believe/support. An audience experience from my life that I can see this occurring is from my time spent watching YouTube as there are a number of vloggers on the platform and with that, I get a chance to examine several personalities of influencers that are put on a pedestal in society because of their persona and the way they live. I understand the deeper meaning behind YouTube giving so much exposure to certain individuals over others is because whoever is in charge of managing what gets circulated on their platform believes that these people are model citizens and good people to look up to. I am proof that users can decode media content and challenge certain individuals that YouTube wants people to see as model citizens and I know this because I develop emotional attachments the biggest vloggers on the platform. Some of the most popular vloggers I enjoy watching, while others I despise such as Jake Paul for his irresponsible, and sometimes dangerous behavior that gets promoted as ‘cool’ and eventually is normalized to his younger audience that is still learning the difference between right and wrong and building their morals. 

           Another key concept we discussed this week which is supported in Sullivan chapter 6 was the reception theory and the three different outcomes of audience interpretation. The Dominant view is the position that most people claim to make the most sense and is the most widely accepted view (Sullivan, 2013, p. 148) An example of a dominant view in my life can be seen through the expectations that people have for how to handle this covid pandemic. The current dominant view is that this virus should be taken seriously in Ontario and people should stay in their homes and wash their hands more than they are ever. This would mean that the reports claiming this pandemic to be a ‘hoax’ represent the oppositional reading which is when the audience goes against the dominant view and takes the opposing side (Sullivan, pg. 148) Since the majority of audience members to this pandemic, including myself, believe that this pandemic is real and should be dealt with in a serious manner it solidifies my understanding that the oppositional group is those who think covid is not something to worry about. The final outcome of audience interpretation we learned about is the negotiated stance which is explained as supporting some aspects of the content they consume while they reject other aspects and come up with their own conclusions on the subject matter (Sullivan, pg. 148) Using the same example of the covid pandemic, the negotiated stance would be the groups of people who although believe that the pandemic is a reality and not a ‘hoax’, they may lie somewhere in the middle of the spectrum where they think the severity of the pandemic has been ‘blown out of proportion’ by media outlets and that fewer policies would not make a big difference in controlling the spread of the virus. 

           Another topic of discussion this week was the four modes of audience reception which aims to answer why audiences engage with certain texts and form emotional attachments to characters and themes they see within them. The first mode of reception we examined was the transparent mode which is when individuals view the text as ‘life’ and experience deep emotional attachment to the content, essentially leading them to forget that they are engaging in fictional content (Michelle, pg. 191). This reminds me of when I enjoy a tv show and the more I watch it, the more I invest emotion and time into the show, and I begin to develop my favorite and least favorite characters and when I speak about the show like they are real people going through real-life scenarios and if something bad happens to a character I like then it may change my mood during the day. This is an example of me experiencing a transparent reception because I am getting lost in the fictional content of the TV show. The next mode is the referential mode which Michelle explains as when an audience interprets content as ‘life-like’ and compares the content to things happening in their own life that they can relate it to understand better. Another type of audience reception is the mediated mode which occurs when audiences look at text strictly based on its content, without an emotional attachment to characters or themes that they may see while indulging in the content. I think of my film class when I think of mediated audiences because we take one episode a week of a television show that was aired many decades ago and we are asked to analyze the television show from a non-biased point of view, strictly to analyze the textual creativity of the content. Since we move onto a different show each week it is hard to form any emotional attachment to the characters which is why I would not classify this experience as a transparent or referential mode of reception. 

Week 8 

           This week’s content looks at reception contexts which open discussions about the importance of digital screens being found relatively anywhere in today’s day in age, and how audience experience differs depending on the location/setting of the screening. In the lecture, it was interesting for me to hear what Sullivan had to say about how digital media has impacted Television usage. Sullivan says, “The introduction of new media technologies has not fundamentally altered the amount of television use in the home” (Sullivan, p. 171) When I look at my at-home-life experience I can see how some people would disagree with this, while others would agree with it. When I am living at Brock for school and it is just me and my roommates who are all considered ‘younger generation’ we don’t even have cable set up for our TV because we know which streaming platforms to use to watch the shows or sports we want to watch. However, when I am at home in Oakville living with my parents we have cable set up on multiple televisions because my parents, who are older, still use the traditional television for things like the news, sporting events, television shows, etc. Furthermore, I understand that television still plays an important role in society because the older generations are still around to make use out of it, but it raises the question of how will the television industry be affected in future years? When the older generation is filtered out of society in a few decades I believe that there will be a major decline in the television industry because by that point most people will have fully switched from using cable TV to using streaming platforms and alternative media sources to acquire the same kind of entertainment television has provided us with for the lat several decades.

           In this week's reading, Kihan Kim and Yunjae Cheong Kihan take on “an approach that examines how viewing experiences differ based on the venues people watch sports in, rather than specifying and examining individual antecedent factors of sports viewing. The theater condition and home condition differ on multiple features simultaneously, including not only factors driven by technologies, but also social drivers of sports viewing.” (Kim, K. pg. 390) He studied the difference in the audience viewing experiences of watching sports at home vs when they watched sports at a theatre. The article concludes that because of the bigger screen size, better video and audio quality, the possibility for a 3D viewing experience, and the social factors associated with a theatre such as audience reactions, theatres are understood as the more favorable viewing experience. I can agree with this because in my family we enjoy watching movies together and most of the time we would watch movies in our own home and make popcorn and just watch on our television while being in the comfort of our living room. However, when there is a popular movie that comes out in theatres that we are all excited to see then we will go to the movies to watch for the “best experience possible”. Recently, the new Star Wars film ‘The Rise of Skywalker’ came out in theatres and since we have all been big fans of the series for a long time my parents decided to treat me and my brother to the theatre experience. During this theatre experience, I noticed the screen was ten times bigger than the tv in my house, the sound was much louder and better quality because it has a surround sound effect. Thus, I agree that viewing experiences differ based on the venues people watch them in because each venue offers different features that alter the viewing experience. 

Another concept we talked about in this chapter is appropriation which helps us understand how we have formed our media contexts and rituals. This looks to examine how communication technologies are introduced into people’s lives and the different ways in which people build an understanding of what the technologies are to be used for. When I look back at my experience of being introduced to technology, I think of the first cell phone I was given for my grade 8 graduation. My parents were hesitant to give me a phone because they thought it was too early for someone who is twelve years old to have open access to the online world knowing the dangers that surrounded the popular platforms like Facebook and MSN at the time. This is what caused them to make rules like handing in my phone every night at a certain time or having to ask for permission from my parents to get certain apps. This is an example of appropriation because it focuses on the introduction of technology in my life and exposes the ways in which I have learned to use the media the way I do today. 

The last concept we went over this week was ritual contexts in audiences. Rituals are formed over a long period of time and it is when you consistently do a certain set of things in preparation for/during an event. The most prominent example from my life that I can see an audience start to form rituals is when my family attends my Dad’s work celebration for Canada day every year. With my dad being a police officer in the peel region, he does what most officers do and bring their families out to celebrate with the entire police department where there are games, food, live shows, and fireworks to end the night. Since we do this every year for Canada Day and it is the same gathering, I would classify this as an audience experience that has become a ritual in my family. 

Week 9 

           This week’s content takes a closer look at media fandom and audience subcultures. To start, we developed a definition for what classifies someone as a ‘fan’ which we concluded was a person deeply invested in content and religiously stays on top of new the content produced, as well as engaging with old content to strengthen their connection with the material. Something I found interesting when reading the Sullivan chapter was that he mentions that there are no clear boundaries in media outlets anymore due to computers becoming more affordable, and platforms that are putting a lot more power into the audience by allowing them to expand from original texts to develop their own understanding of what the content means (Sullivan, Chapter 8) A platform I see myself engaging in that aligns with Sullivan’s belief that media boundaries are difficult to see now is Reddit. Reddit is an open forum of discussion for relatively anything you want to talk about, and it happens in an online environment where anyone is able to enter a topic of discussion and converse with other random users that are interested in the same topic as you. For example, in my time on Reddit, I once entered a chatroom where people were discussing the events that took place in a movie I had recently watched called ‘Mile 22’ because I wanted to see how others' perception of the movie compared to mine. I found that the more I read through the discussions on the movie the further I advanced myself into the fandom by increasing my knowledge on the events that took place in the film through my interactions with other fans of the movie. In this case, the original text would be the movie itself, and fans on Reddit are the proof that technology has allowed users to expand from original texts, and develop their own understanding of what the content means

Week 10 

           In this chapter, we look at how the role of audiences has changed since the introduction of digital media through the formation of new ways in which audiences can break through the barrier of just being a consumer and begin producing their own content and meanings on certain texts. 

           The first aspect we discussed this week to deepen our understanding of how the audience’s role in media texts has changed over time is the concept of digitalization. This is when content that originally was only found in hardcopy versions such as books, newspapers, magazines, etc is moved to an online format where only a computer or phone is necessary to retrieve the content. The digitization of banking is a prime example of something where at one point in time, I had to physically show up to the bank to deposit cheques, view my account balances, or transfer money. Banks have digitized much of their duties so that audiences can do everything they would need to go to a bank for right from their phones. Participatory culture is another result of media text being moved online because digital platforms provide something that traditional texts could never do, which is to allow the audience to respond to the content and express their agreement, disagreement, or changes they would make to the content. When I think about my personal experiences engaging in participatory culture, I think of the course evaluations that I must complete every semester. Throughout the entire term, I am given new content that I have never seen before and in the past, it would be very hard for schools to collect data about the success of their ways of teaching. Digital media, specifically the course evaluations that are electronically distributed has opened the opportunity for me to provide feedback to my professors and TA’s without having to go through barriers that make it hard for my opinion to be heard. This proves that participatory culture has increased throughout my lifetime and will likely experience further increases in the future. 

           Another concept we touched on this week is user-generated content, as well as the idea that users are able to store, create, and distribute content. First, user-generated content is any form of content, such as images, videos, text, and audio, that has been posted by users on online platforms such as social media. Places where I find myself posting user-generated content are on my Twitter, Instagram, and Snapchat profiles where I typically will post things that I find funny or interesting. I also sometimes store content because I know that it will be useful for me later like when a lecture is being presented and whatever is on the slide is too much content for me to quickly take notes on, I will use my phone to take a picture of the screen so that when I have the time, I am able to make the notes for the lesson. Not only does my experience prove that users are able to store content and put it into their own context, but it also exemplifies the concept of convergence because there is clearly an ability to show content across multiple devices such as the lecture screen and my phone screen. 

           In this weeks reading, we interrogate the dynamics and potentials of the big data paradigm in an era of user-generated content and commercial exploitation (Adrian Athique, p. 59) In the article we learn that since the introduction of media, large corporations are spending more time gathering analytics of what users are searching, posting, and buying so that they can produce products in the future that will have a greater chance of being successful in the market. I have had many scares in my life where I am shopping online, browsing through Amazon, or even just looking at imagines of commodities I am interested in obtaining and then, conveniently, the next time I go on YouTube for entertainment, an advertisement pops up on my screen for the exact same product that I was thinking about buying. This shows that corporations are using data they collect online to enhance their business success which is not necessarily a bad thing in my opinion because companies make more profit when they produce commodities and services that appeal to a larger audience. As a consumer, all this means is that as long as you are aware of the underlying meaning behind companies collecting big data and making personalized ads, you should benefit from this because, in the end, you are more likely to be exposed to products or content that appeal to you.

           Overall, this semester was filled with insightful concepts that I can see myself taking with me into the real-world and applying them into my thought process to give me a better chance at having positive audience experiences.

[kylerenpenning]

Audience Studies (3P18) Blog #1

Week 2

Our first-week material involved a lot of a general analysis of audiences for us to gain a better understanding of just how much control social media platforms and other online social networking sites have on the way our brains process different things. We developed a definition for what exactly an audience is which we described as a group of people who are hearing or are paying attention to someone proving verbal information. What I found interesting about this content was that it made me realize the large extent to which many people’s happiness, beliefs, morals, and friends are formed from a digital platform. We discussed how things were not always this way and that audiences before were commonly found at live events because social networking had yet to exist. As time has gone on people have developed ways to build an opportunity for an audience to participate in places that may have never seemed possible before until we were met with the introduction of social networking and media. When considering my own experiences as being part of an audience throughout my life, I agree that the number of opportunities to take part in an audience has increased over the years. For example, during the COVID-19 pandemic, I found myself using many new social networking platforms that were established before the pandemic but were not used nearly as much. 

With the pandemic forcing everyone into their homes for almost a full two months the benefits of having digital audiences are obvious. Multiple times a week I use platforms like Zoom, Microsoft Teams, and Lifesize to join lectures and seminars which is a prime example of a way that I take part in the audience every day now. Compared to life before the pandemic when most of my audience experiences happened in person such as going out to moose on Wednesday every week and having a couple of drinks with my peers and enjoy a night out. I notice switching to a digital technique to host lectures increases the sizes of the audiences substantially because when the lectures took place in person, people are much more likely to be lazy and not show up to class. With lectures now being online, it makes participating in the audience much easier because there is no need for travel. You can see the total number of viewers in each class and there are consistently over 100 people from all over the world joining the cyberspace environment which I would estimate to be a huge increase in participation levels.

To compare my personal experiences with digital audiences during the COVID-19 pandemic to the material we discussed in class, I think of how in chapter 1, Sullivan spoke about how audiences are for the most part working-class people who have no title or place in society yet and are working to do so. (Sullivan, P. 13) I interpret this as students attending digital lectures are working towards their degrees to get the job they have a passion for because they do not have a label yet in society and once we get a career we get a sense of purpose in life because we mean something to a greater society. The benefits I gained from having to get up out of bed to go to class was that I would gain a sense of routine in my life and I got to meet many new people who I now consider my friends. So, although audience sizes have increased in quantity because it is easier for people to attend lectures when they do not have to go anywhere, however, the quality of the audience experience deteriorates. There are certain components you need to achieve satisfaction with your experience as an audience member and doing strictly digital audiences like we have been doing this year has not provided the physical interaction needed to get the full experience. 

One of the final main points from the first week is the power of media and ability it must oppose destructive information into people's minds and shape their views on the world in a particular way. The mass, agent, and outcome are key terms that are an extremely important part of the process that is essentially capable of inducing detrimental norms in society that place some to advantage and others at a disadvantage. Using the same example as before about online lectures taking place at Brock this year, I will indicate which parties would be considered the mass, agent, and outcome. The agent is the audience member who is considered free to choose whatever content they want to consume online which is the students at Brock who are selecting the courses they want to study because it suits their interests. The mass is where we see the content being provided by professors at lectures and seminars and since students have no pre-existing knowledge of most of the topics we discuss in school it is their first time consuming such information, students must trust in the information hoping that it will benefit them in their future life. I think about this all the time when I go to class and why I am happy to be considered as an audience member of the Media Communications program. The outcome is the overall effect that the mass provided on media platforms have on its audience members. When I reflect on my audience experience, I firmly believe the outcome of me being a member of the media communications audience has been beneficial for me and has given me the skills to navigate through social media platforms with an awareness to the issues it contains which I would have never gotten if I didn’t trust the process and the information they were providing me to be correct.

Having the skill to be aware of the power of social media and the conflicts that can arise if you participate in audiences on their platforms I think will be extremely beneficial in the future because it is inevitable that new technologies and ways to interact on digital platforms rather than in person will begin to accelerate rapidly.

Week 3

This week’s content focuses on stories, primarily we were concerned with who the storyteller is because it influences the audience who is listening. If the storyteller or leader is well respected by the audience it is more likely that the information he is providing will stick with the audience and it will be carried on throughout the audience as they spread the information to their peers. There is a danger behind this however because if there is falsified information being provided and the audience receiving has trust in the storyteller that they are being given valid information it may cause false information to be spread. An example from my life when I trusted the information I was being given from a speaker is when I participate in sports betting, on sports that I am unfamiliar with. As an audience member with little knowledge of the sport of football, I ask my friends who are big fans to give me some advice on who they think is the better team in hopes that I will obtain new knowledge that will give me an edge in my bets. However, sometimes I mistake the person I ask for information as someone who has good knowledge of the game of football and I take their advice without hesitation because I discredit my ability to make an intelligent decision on my own. This causes me to place money on a team that I may not have picked had I not been told information from a third party and I end up losing the bet and my money. 

We can see this process happen on a much larger scale of audiences like in politics where people who are labeled “leaders” have a job to lead an entire country, one of the biggest and challenging audiences to handle. Governments have access to media platforms that hold substantial amounts of power because they can simply send out messages that will circulate through various media platforms. Government parties utilize this chain reaction to create social norms in society and try and push people to think a certain way because they know the information they put on social media spreads like wildfire! Week 3’s reading by William Brown supports the claim we examined in class as the study conducted concluded that “the rise of celebrity culture in the late 20th century has given media personae a privileged position of social influence that can shape, reinforce, and inculcate values and beliefs and promote specific social practices within diverse audiences across socioeconomic, geographic, and national boundaries” (J. B, Williams. P, 259).

Where do I even start?! The number of experiences I have had where the stars and celebrities I see on the digital networking sites I use like verified Instagram and Twitter accounts, popular Netflix actors. The most influential social media influencers in my life are on Twitch and YouTube because these two platforms allow me and the millions of others who watch to build a relationship with the star. This creates a feeling for the audience member that can seem like there is an actual relationship between the audience member and the celebrity. Twitch is a prime example of how a celebrity can have a direct influence on their audience because the influencer is live streaming and directly interacting with their fans. This creates a connection that a video was taken days/weeks in the past and edited cannot do for an audience like on YouTube which often the biggest stars are people who make ‘vlogs’ covering the activities they do in their daily lives but there is no live interaction with the individual the audience is viewing. This still has a large impact on the audience members because it gives them an idea of what the perfect life ‘should’ look like based on what they are watching a privileged celebrity vlog. The large influence that vloggers and streamers have validates Williams claims that the rise of celebrity culture in the late 20th century has given social media influencers a privileged position of social influence that can shape, reinforce, and skew values and beliefs on diverse audiences in any given society.

We also covered the Dependency Theory which explained some other factors which would affect peoples’ need for social media to hear about the stories they see every day, provide them with entertainment, and connecting them with their friends without location/distance being a factor. Dependency theory explains that all societies vary in structural stability so poor and underdeveloped countries will be less dependant on technology because there is less available to it and they have to learn to live and entertain themselves in other ways. Developed countries with plenty of wealth will have more ways to access technology that provides us with the entertainment and feeling of comfort that our phones give us every day of our lives. As a person who grew up extremely lucky growing up in Oakville, Ontario I always had the privilege to get my hands on the newest technology. When I graduated elementary school is when I got my first phone which looking back on it seems absurd but within the very first week of having the new phone I had signed up for Instagram, Facebook, and Snapchat. The cognitive effects that the exposure to these apps at such a young age must have had on me is scary to think about. Dependency theory explains that there are several behavioral and cognitive effects social media has on a person including an increased likelihood of depression and anxiety. I can see in some people I have been around where they always seem worried about something that someone is saying or doing online. Eventually, it makes them get so anxious just not knowing certain things and a lot of the time can create the feeling that things are being said or done behind your back online where what’s being said can easily be deleted. 

Week 3 also looked at Mass media and further breaks down how persuasion through the media occurs which creates subgroups of people in society who share common beliefs, lifestyles, humor, etc. In the lecture, we learned that there are two components to mass media which are the opinion leader who consumes large quantities of mass media, and then there are people who do not consume as much media. However, since they do not consume enough media in their own time, they come into contact with the opinion leaders they get persuaded by them. 

 Week 4

The evolution of public opinion was a major topic of discussion during this week as we learned that it was not always easy like it currently is to freely express yourself because there are so many platforms you can do so on. With the introduction, people are constantly allowed to express their opinion, verbally reject opposing opinions, and interact with one another to share opinions until we form what is known as social norms. Over time, audiences start to catch on to certain ideologies that are widely accepted by society, and people’s opinions can switch because of the pressure they face going against what society has deemed the dominant ideology. Multiple situations come to mind when I think about my audience's experiences and how the dominant ideology changed the way either myself or someone else was acting. 

Going out to the bars on the weekend last year at school is an audience experience where I have seen this process happen multiple times. The vast majority (over 90%) of people who are at the bars are from Brock University and I like to think of me as being a member of an audience because everyone there usually had the same goal in mind, to have a fun night out with friends and have a few drinks. Referring to the idea of public opinion, there was a public opinion in terms of how people should act and what ‘normal behavior’ looked like at the bar. Drinking, dancing, singing along to the songs being played were all things that the majority of people were doing as someone who doesn’t enjoy dancing too much I can say you feel like an outsider when your not performing the activities that you see in most of the people who go to your school are doing. This proves that a public opinion is formed when there is an ideology that is more preferred by the public. My small-scale example at the bar can be amplified to see the same pattern happening in any given society as when people see on social media platforms that certain opinions are respected in society while others are silenced. This creates a barrier and can make it very difficult for people who do not follow the norms to express their opinions and be active members of society. At the same time, it benefits the majority of people because they agree with what society has chosen to be the dominant ideologies.

Another topic of focus this week was how did we get to how things are the way they are in terms of creating a public opinion. The evolution of popular opinion is the key factor that formed ‘public opinion’ because logically the popular opinion is what is preferred by the majority of the public and is likely to have some sort of role in society. Plato the Athenian philosopher believed the power should be placed in the people to make their own decision, but he was skeptical that the ordinary person would not be able to make a rational decision. By mapping out the contrast between the two types of thinking, we were able to grasp the idea of why Plato believed that ordinary people’s opinions are sometimes disregarded by society. The contrast between Doxa and episteme helps us grasp the concept of how the public has the power to express their knowledge. Doxa is explained to be the popular belief in a society that does not have the warrants needed to validate their claims being made so that they could be mediated and turned into laws or social norms in society. Episteme is the knowledge that is validated by scientific principles and is cemented in society due to the unchanging nature of the world. In the real world, we see these two concepts surface all the time. For example, people who show up to protest in large groups would be considered Doxa knowledge because it is an opinion being expressed by the general public and for the most part comes from a suppressed group looking to create change that will benefit their lives. We often see protestors gathering outside government institutions because government officials are the ones with episteme knowledge who can take the ideologies they hear from the general public and create an official change in society. 

Week 5

          Week 5’s material analyzes audiences as active users of media and examines people’s use of media to give them the gratification they need to be satisfied with oneself, as well as what motivates the users to pay attention to live blogs/vlogs. It was addressed that people follow live blogs to fill their need for entertainment, to learn new information, hear other opinions, and express freely express their own opinion. The factors I just listed are considered the agents that motivate users to actively participate in these sorts of activities like streaming platforms that provide entertainment. With the restrictions in place currently to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic most people have been stuck in their homes and unable to do the things they would normally do to keep entertained like hanging out with friends, going out on weekends and socializing with new people, or attending concerts and other festivals that occur annually. The streaming industry has come out and said their platforms have benefitted greatly from this pandemic because the more people are stuck in their homes bored, the more people end up using streaming platforms to occupy their time. In my life, I have used streaming websites like Twitch and Mixer for years before the pandemic was happening and I have noticed a big difference in viewership numbers since the pandemic began. The games I watch mostly are Fortnite and Call of Duty and before the pandemic, there were roughly 50-70 thousand people watching streamers who are playing these games. Since quarantine started viewership numbers have increased to well over 100 thousand people concurrently watching Fortnite and Call of Duty streamers which validates the claim that the streaming industry has benefitted tremendously from the global pandemic. 

              Operationalizing audiences was also a major focus during the lecture which essentially explains why society has to invade people's privacy to figure out what their interests are so that they can keep producing commodities that they know will be successful in the market for the future. Quantifying an audience and analyzing the data is super necessary for theories to be created because there needs to be hard evidence to make a theory about people’s online interests and to find patterns about what people engage with. In the lecture we talked about how “quantitative data from the systems that track people’s online activities can help streamline audience diversity, can be exchanged for money, and have an air of objectivity.” (Good, Jennifer. 19 Oct 2020). Right now, there is an ongoing controversy in the United States involving the social media site TikTok because it is a Chinese owned website. America's government wants to ban TikTok in the United States, removing it from the millions of users in the country who use the app every day which would also mean the entire community that had been developed on a virtual platform would be removed in an instant. Why would they do this you may ask? Well, it is warranted in my opinion, the reason being that China has supposedly been able to freely access confidential information on all the American users who have an account on the app. This means financial information, personal information like date of birth, even access to a location in some cases are invaded by Chinese ownership of TikTok. America’s government is scared of what China is using the data for and so they want it banned completely in the States. 

 Quantitative data also allows producers to see data so that they can have more control over what is being produced as well as how much needs to be produced which helps prevent a case of overproduction. Small companies often fail because they overproduce and spend too much money on production to the point where they cannot end up making a profit. If producers can see how many people are engaging in a product or business, they will produce the correct product needed to support customers. 

Have you ever walked into a fast-food place and seen the screens that prompt a survey on their service while you were ordering at the restaurant? Or seen a survey on Twitter from Wendy’s or McDonald’s about what people would like to see on their menu? This is the kind of data that digital technology has allowed companies to collect to change their style of business to attract the greatest number of customers. Thus, quantitative data is important for companies to be aware of because it allows them to be one step ahead of their audience members and provide them with the commodities that will make them the most profit. Sometimes problems can arise from this because they may start to lose sight of what is in the best interest of their loyal audience. I’ve seen many companies or brands that started beloved by their audiences change because of their obsession over making maximum profit and they start producing commodities that are cheaper in quality for the customers but benefits the company because their profits will increase. 

Nike is a good example of this when the information came out that they use slave workers to mass-produce their products because it means saving a lot more money on good quality work that meets basic human rights and needs. Because of Nike’s incredible ability to brand itself, it had the whole world thinking that if you buy their products it makes you superior to someone without Nike. The reality is it is extremely disappointing what media platforms have been able to do for Nike by covering up the sickening backstory of their products with commercials of people’s favorite athletes and celebrities wearing their brand which makes ordinary people fall in love with the company.