Contact: Prof. Alex Pardo
Contact: Dr. Olof Hedling
Contact: Prof. Paul McDonald
Inaugural Screen Industries Research Lecture
WHAT IT MEANS TO BE ONLINE IN 2013
Alison Preston
Head of Media Literacy Research, Ofcom
Wednesday 6 November 2013
Institute for Screen Industries Research
University of Nottingham
Ofcom is the UKs media and communications regulator. In this lecture Alison Preston, Head of Media Literacy Research at Ofcom, outlined how the regulatory authority carries out its research programme, giving examples of the research they provide and where to find it. To illustrate this work, the lecture provided an overview of three key recent studies – childrens media use; news consumption; and adults digital literacy. What changes have occurred in childrens media consumption over the last year? Which platforms are adults using for their news consumption, and what use is made of social media for news? To what extent do online adults have critical understanding of the activities that they carry out? These and other questions were addressed through the findings of Ofcoms studies. In addition, Ofcoms Media Lives qualitative, longitudinal study was used as illustration of some key themes relating to online habits and individuals digital journeys.
To access the reports referred to, please visit:
Children and Parents: Media Use and Attitudes Report 2013 (http://stakeholders.ofcom.org.uk/binaries/research/media-literacy/october-2013/research07Oct2013.pdf)
News Consumption in the UK 2013 (http://stakeholders.ofcom.org.uk/market-data-research/other/tv-research/news-2013)
Adults Media Use and Attitudes Report 2013 (http://stakeholders.ofcom.org.uk/binaries/research/media-literacy/adult-media-lit-13/2013_Adult_ML_Tracker.pdf)
Media Lives – Wave 8 2013 (http://stakeholders.ofcom.org.uk/binaries/research/media-literacy/wave8/Media_Lives_Wave_8_2013.pdf)
CHANNEL 4 AND BRITISH FILM CULTURE
Thursday 1 to Friday 2 November 2012
BFI Southbank, London
This two-day conference examined the role of C4 as producer-distributor and exhibitor-broadcaster of film. Hosted by the BFI Southbank, the event coincided with the 30th anniversary of the channels launch. Full details at:
www.c4film.co.uk/conference-2012
PROJECTS
2013-14 User Engagements with Online Distribution Services in Brazil, India, and Korea. Part of the Connected Viewing Initiative co-ordinated by the Media Industries Project, University of California, Santa Barbara (see
www.carseywolf.ucsb.edu/mip/article/2014-cvi-team). This project will gather both quantitative and qualitative data concerning user attitudes, tastes and behaviours related to online distribution services. Among the key questions are the following: What are the main characteristics defining the market environment for online film and television distribution services in Brazil, India and Korea; How are users engaging with those services; What forms of content do users prefer to access online and why; How are users expressing the entertainment value of online viewing? To answer these questions, we will develop a framework for the cross-cultural analysis of online viewing which may be applicable to other international contexts.
2010-14 Channel 4 and British Film Culture: An Assessment of the Broadcasters Film Policy and Programming, and Its Impact on British Film Culture (www.c4film.co.uk). Funded over four years by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC), this project examines and evaluates Channel 4s role as both a key sponsor of film production and as an innovative and occasionally challenging exhibitor of films. This research benefits from the support and assistance of Channel 4. A key outcome from the project has been the Channel 4 Press Packs 1982-2002 database (see
http://beta.bufvc.ac.uk/tvandradio/c4pp, password required), produced in collaboration with the British Universities Film and Video Council (BUFVC), giving online full text access to 80,000 pages in the 1,100 weekly Press Information Packs issued by C4 in the channels first two decades.
2011-12 Your Entertainment Set Free? Connected Viewing in Europe. Part of the Connected Viewing Initiative co-ordinated by the Media Industries Project, University of California, Santa Barbara (see
www.carseywolf.ucsb.edu/mip/article/2011-2012-cvi-research-team). Using comparative case studies of Sweden and the UK, this project examined the markets for digital distribution services and the ways teenage and young adult media audiences access, consume, and experience those services using multiple media platforms in socially networked environments. Focusing on the practices by which multi-screen viewers connect dispersed content and participate in various formats, the research asked specifically how perceptions of content value relate to new and emerging modes of social interaction. For the final report, visit
www.carseywolf.ucsb.edu/mip/article/CVIFinalReportYearOne
PUBLICATIONS
2013 Hollywood Stardom. Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell.
2013 Guest co-editor with Justin Smith for the Channel 4 and British Film Culture issue of the Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television 33(3). Emerging from the AHRC funded Channel 4 and British Film Culture project (2010-14), this issue brought together articles examining the historical importance of Channel 4 as a financier, producer and patron of film.
2013 Curator Mapping Media Industry Studies week on In Media Res (27-31 May) (http://mediacommons.futureofthebook.org/imr/theme-week/2013/22/cinema-journal-presents-mapping-media-industry-studies-may-27-may-31-2013). To launch a new collaboration between the Cinema Journal and In Media Res, this week thematically connected to the special In Focus Media Industries Studies published in the journal . Contributors: Michelle Hilmes (University of Wisconsin, Madison), Jennifer Holt (University of California, Santa Barbara) and Alisa Perren (Georgia State University).
2013 Editor Media Industries Studies. Cinema Journal 52 (2), pp. 145-98. In Focus special section reflecting on the purposes, practices and potential futures of media industry studies. Contributors: John Caldwell (UCLA), Nitin Govil (University of Southern California), Michelle Hilmes (University of Wisconsin, Madison), Jennifer Holt (University of California, Santa Barbara), Eileen Meehan (Southern Illinois University), Alisa Perren (Georgia State University) and Janet Wasko (University of Oregon).