Tuesday, July 11, 2017

NDM: Audience and institution

Perhaps the most critical question in studying new and digital media is deciding whether audiences or institutions have benefited most from the rapid developments in technology.

Starter activity

You should have already read the Media Magazine article from MM52 - Two Key Concepts: The relationship between Audience and Institution (p9). This gives you an excellent introduction to the debate and should help you consider the different sides to the discussion.

Blog task - Media Factsheet 104: Audiences in the digital age

You now need to take this debate further by reading Media Factsheet 104: Audiences in the digital age. You'll find it in our Media Factsheet archive on the Media Shared drive: M:\Resources\A Level\Media Factsheets.

Important: remember that Drive Access on the school website has been shut down permanently due to security fears - so you'll have to save the factsheet to USB or email it yourself from school if you want access at home.

Complete the following tasks on your MEST3 Exam blog:

1) What was the relationship between institutions and audiences in the pre-digital age?

2) What is the definition of a mass audience? Give an example of a media product or institution aimed at a mass audience.

3) What is the definition of a niche audience? Give an example of a media product or institution aimed at a niche audience.

4) How has digitisation changed the distribution of information and media products in the music, television and news industries?

5) How have developments in new and digital media helped make audiences active rather than passive?

6) Provide specific examples of how audiences are now active in the music, news and film industries.

7) List THREE arguments that suggest the increasing power of audiences is a bad thing.

8) Return to the question from the original lesson: Have audiences or institutions benefited more as a result of the internet? Answer this in an extended paragraph justifying your opinion using examples and quotes.

Complete for homework if you don't get this finished in the lesson - due for your next exam lesson.

Monday, July 10, 2017

MEST4 Summer project: exemplar research

You should now have had your summer project text and topic approved by your coursework teacher.

Most of you will also have started the vitally important research blogpost by making detailed notes on the questions on media language and forms. Remember, the original research blog tasks are available here and the depth and quality of this work will go a long way to securing a top grade in your critical investigation next year.

We've had a few questions regarding what your research should look like and how it feeds into your Ignite presentation. The following research blogposts from last year should help - and note that Abayomi, Ladan and Sabrina all went on to secure full marks (48/48) in their critical investigations. There is absolutely no doubt that detailed, thoughtful and engaged research last summer contributed hugely to their A* essays.

One other important point: if you complete this project effectively there is no way you'll be able to include all of your research in your Ignite presentation. This is exactly the skill we need you to learn: how to research a huge amount and then critically select the most relevant information for the presentation to class. You only have 20 slides and five minutes so watch the Ignite examples carefully and plan a hard-hitting, informative and well-structured presentation.

Good luck!