Exploring Audience Experiences & Concept Of Communication
Audiences by definition are a group of people who engage or encounter a work of art, literature, music, theatre, academics, and video games. Their experiences are basically the responses to how they affect or are affected by the different forms of art. There have been various studies aimed at understanding audience experiences in different media forms. However, to date, no comprehensive model can be used to study and understand how different processes of involvement interrelate.
There are theoretical concepts that seek to explain the concepts in communication using factors such as presence, absorption, and engagement. Some of them will be described below. The first is on the exploration of psychological, emotional forms of involvement. The idea is based on the definitions of involvement with the main focus on audiences' cognitive responses to a given message. The concept encompasses emotional reactions to both personalities and mediated messages. In this case, involvement refers to the extent of psychological response one has to a mediated persona or message. The process is considered to be dynamic as it incorporates both the consumption of media and the coproduction of media by means of mediated interactions. This perspective has been understudies in recent and is believed to have contributed to the development of the entertainment media theory. (Klimmt & Vorderer, 2003; Moyer-Gusé, Chung, & Jain, 2011).
In media consumption, Tan (2008) states that emotion plays a role in the creation of entertainment experience. Therefore, the involvement of personae in the production of mediated narratives can foster media enjoyment. The main weakness in the concept of involvement is the fact that as far as it describes the basis of social sciences in relation to individual experiences, it fails to adequately factor in collective experiences in the consumption of media (Brown, 2015).
According to Rubin and Perse (1987), involvement can also include behavioral, cognitive, and effective participation during media exposure. In the current society, media consumers, along with media consumption, also accentuate the usage through other forms of media especially social media like Twitter and Facebook. That is why theoretical models hold that media consumers are part of a continuous involvement process with mediated personae during and after media consumption. The aspect is crucial in the creation of consumer or audience experience; social media is also playing a supportive role.
Content and Material Creation
Secondly is regarding the creation of what essentially keeps the audience captivated. In audience research, scholars have to try to find out media dynamics that determine presumptions, imperatives, and motives that shape audience data. The paradigm has been in development after over two decades if aggressive and innovative management of information. Although some researchers believe that there is a need to restructure the epistemological premise of what is referred to as ‘data Arcadia,' some of the current techniques have yielded to success; this is confirmed by some media outlets and content creators who continue to command the sector (Athique, 2018). User-led systems are predominant in today's media production technologies. An example is YouTube; it is a digital platform that depends entirely on the owner's creativity to create value for the service. The owner exercises his or her creation freely and with no payment. YouTube or YouMedia is an example of cheap media production that is considered liberated in terms of not just cost but also expert intermediaries (Andrejevic, 2010).
The level and quality of content in the future looks significantly mundane or liberated with the primary logic being focused primarily on achieving the commercial value of the World Wide Web in different ways, whether this is a good thing for the audience experience remains to be seen. Free content in the modern production technologies is a good thing but also a major area of concern. The internet is now regarded as a medium of record whereby any action results in a specific data point. It is because of that factor that user tracking was incorporated into web browsers and individual addresses for personalized devices, well at least theoretically.
The move aims at permissibly identify individual users so that they can be held liable for their content. The same system has, subsequently, been used to create targeting strategies for advertising and other programs. The project was named Web 2.0, and it notably created consumer profiles and click trails. While the plan initially worked to ensure the safeguarding of technology users, it ended creating a broader shift in commercial logic whereby the internet became a new arena for online retailers, internet service providers, credit card companies, and other secondary usage potentials (Athique, 2018).
Information suppliers who do not depend entirely on the online platform like Nelsen as mentioned by Buzzard (2015) depend and compete through factors such as; measurement innovations, cost decisions, choice of delivery methods, and speed of delivery. They also have to take into account elements such as geographic and demographic markets to establish audience preferences. All the stated aspects are instrumental especially because each of them determines the final determination of scalability of the created content. Moreover, for such media, suppliers also tend to affect audience experience. For instance, for TV or radio ratings is an important determinant. Ratings are derived using various methods but are essentially based on audience size. On the other hand, audience size establishes the cost that is paid to a network.
Away from the creators and to the consumers; for audiences to remain interested in any given content, there has to relevance. Creators are always working towards creating what their target consumers are more likely to receive and enjoy. Developers, therefore, tread the line between the modes of engagement its moral implications. The study by Steven and Jason (2016) reveal that positive reading had a great influence on the receivership of what could have otherwise been regarded as moral ambiguity. However, is the writing, acting, or production of the cited shows had been poorly done; many people would have dismissed the show regardless of the moral standings of the featured characters. In essence, the process of content creation has an instrumental role in the achievement of positive audience experience. Producers who only focus on the monetary facet over the quality of their content can end up losing it all.
Reception Theory
This is the last step of the audience experience. As mentioned above, various factors can affect the whole facet of content creation and consumption. The studies by Brown (2015) indicate the influence cognitive forms of involvement can have on receivership of media content. The existing theories of involvement have, nevertheless, developed insufficient integration between involvement processes and media personae. As a result, there is a weak epistemic operationalization and conceptual inconsistencies; the same goes for the reception theory.
Research aimed at creating an insight into how audiences interpret media messages reveals a veritable boom in the production of audience ethnographies. Audiences just as any other consumers have ever-changing needs and preferences. Viewers always go for the more creative content that pushes their imagination, educates them, or just blows their minds. Because of this, it is quite challenging to define modes of audience reception, what is good for one might be bad for another.
In the attempt to create a better understanding of audience reception, Michelle (2009) proposed a systematic framework that aids in the categorization of the dominant modes of audience reception. She defines four different modes of reception derived from the multi-dimensional model of audience reception. In the first mode, she explains audience engagement as transparent, and that audience s read ‘text as life;' It entails situations whereby a person becomes lost in the belief in the fictional world of the text. Brown (2015) conquers with this in his involvement theory; he describes an imaginary interaction a viewer and television personality have. The relationship is entirely a one-way and is known as a parasocial relationship.
According to Michelle (2007), an individual can develop a strong immersion into the content and develop strong emotional feelings towards the themes and characters. The seconds is referential and involves audiences considering ‘text as like life.' In this case, a person compares the material to his r her actual life but as a basis for interpretation. The third is mediated and involves the reading of ‘text as a production:' an individual only considers the content as based on the aesthetics of the media production. These are the kind of people who do not get carried away by what they encounter; they may enjoy what they are reading or watching but are less likely to engage the messages or themes of the content. The fourth mode is whereby some audiences read the ‘texts as a message' (Michelle, 2009). These are the kind of people who try to find out the intended meaning of what they have watched or read. By so doing, those individuals create an ideological point of view by analyzing the dominant, negotiated, or oppositional aspects (Michelle, 2007).
Unlike other scholars, Michelle (2007) recognizes and acknowledges the fact that audiences approach the processes of deriving meaning differently depending on their experiences. Michelle's model also provides for the possibility that viewers can also rely on other resources to develop their ideological perspective and standing when interpreting any given content. Michelle (2007) also notes that four notes the four modes are not consistent or exclusive as they can vary depending on the form of art can change over time, and can differ from one individual to another even in a single content. It is because of findings by theorists such as Michelle that the television landscape is now characterized by antihero protagonists and audiences who are breaching what were once thought to be clear lines of good and evil. We are now celebrating moral ambiguity in our movies as creators strive to accommodate every wild thought (Steven & Jason, 2016).
