Active audiencesdocx.docx

Active audiencesdocx.docx

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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