Attitudes towards Active Audiences in Norway

Singapore.
The next speaker at ICA 2010 is Espen Ytreberg, whose interest is in active audiences; does convergence and digitalisation empower users and make them more active and independent? The term itself certainly has spread far beyond academia, although interpretations may vary between different users of it. Espen's focus is on the attitudes at the management level in Norwegian media.

One working notion is characterised by statements such as 'the audience want to be active', and if it is held by media workers it has consequences for the future shape of media products regardless of whether it is true. It has become an institutional discourse - it is language doing work and creating new media models. Espen explored these processes through 45 interviews with managers in Norwegian TV, radio, and press who were decisionmakers on media products.

So, one view is that it is natural for audiences to be active, that they have a natural desire to participate; new technologies simply enable such activity more easily. This is a relatively new realisation, however - some decades ago, television managers were saying exactly the opposite, for example. Another working notion is that of emotional engagement: a view that content which has strong emotional elements will always elicit a significant interactive audience response. Finally, managers believe that socialising is central for audiences: that being part of an audience (or user) community is highly important for their personal identity, as well as ensuring audience loyalty and generating return visits to the media product.

Such working notions are contingent, related to current contexts, but also essentialising - making fundamental pronouncements about the 'nature' of the audience (which was perceived to be rather different just a few years ago). These views are also 'assisted' by interactivity - interactivity is seen as a way to address the perceived nature of the audience.

Technorati : ICA 2010, Norway, active audience, change, media, participation
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