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Audiences (the theoretical framework)
Quick questions on The end of audience (Shirky and Jenkins) - Eduqas A-Level Media Studies audiences
5short Q&A pairs drawn directly from our worked dot-point answer. For full context and worked exam questions, read the parent dot-point page.
What is shirky?Show answer
In Here Comes Everybody Shirky argues that ordinary people can now organise and publish without gatekeepers, so the old one-way relationship between institutions and audiences becomes a two-way, participatory one. His idea of cognitive surplus is that the spare time and talent audiences once spent only consuming can now be pooled to make and share things (from reviews and wikis to whole creative communities).
What are jenkins?Show answer
Jenkins's participatory culture argues fans are active participants, not passive consumers. Through textual poaching they take elements of media texts and remix, rework and build on them to create their own meanings and products (fan fiction, fan art, fan videos). Fans form communities that circulate and produce content, and his convergence culture describes how the boundaries between producers and audiences blur as content flows across platforms and audiences help shape it. The audience is not just active in interpretation (Hall) but active in production.
What is the collapse of the producer-audience divide?Show answer
Both theories see a collapse of the producer-audience divide. This connects audiences directly to media industries (convergence) and to identity (Gauntlett: audiences select and create their own identities from media resources). The participatory products and forms (a platform with user creation, a brand with active social media, a fan community) are the clearest evidence of audiences crossing into production.
What is q1?Show answer
Explain what Jenkins means by "textual poaching". [5 marks]
What is q2?Show answer
Explain how Shirky's "end of audience" applies to one participatory product or form. [10 marks]
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