Journalism, as we currently know it, is going through the biggest change in its history: while me... more Journalism, as we currently know it, is going through the biggest change in its history: while messages of few people or organizations used to have enormous impact on the opinions of audiences in the past, now the internet has allowed entire
communities and crowds to gain much of such influence. Consequently, traditional media try to engage their audiences in content production by different models of participatory journalism, such as user generated content, collective intelligence, crowdsourcing, open journalism or networked journalism, and thus engage them with their brand. While these models may differ in their final outcomes representing various forms of media products, the main principle, however, remains the same: to let amateur audiences take part in designing and creating journalistic content. Despite the fact that journalism has existed for 500 years and participatory journalism has been there since the Web 2.0 (around 10 years), the internet is disrupting many old business models and creating new ways to extract value from quality content.
This article discusses the value network of participatory journalism and analyses a number of cases or phenomena that we expect to have a significant impact on journalism: Scoopinion, Scoopshot, Pearltrees, Oma Olivia, and WikiLeaks-like platforms. From the analysis of these cases we derive trends that are steering the future direction of journalism: relevance, sharing, community-created content, a tendency towards mixing professional and amateur content, as well as richer content complementing text. We reflect these trends against the views of media professionals and finally forecast what kind of implications the ongoing redefinition of “journalism” might have on the journalistic process in the future.
The media field is progressively fragmenting and boundaries between genres are blurring. Personal... more The media field is progressively fragmenting and boundaries between genres are blurring. Personal media landscapes can contain over a hundred media titles, and there is an increasing need to understand the nature and scope of people’s media use. In this chapter I will be examining how people engage with media in the cross-media environment, especially with magazines. In the larger research project the media use of seven age-groups was studied, but here I focus on two groups: 45–55 year-old readers of the women’s magazine Kotiliesi and 16–19 year-old teenagers. Magazine publishers often define media engagement in terms of readership frequency, minutes devoted to an issue or the percentage of an issue that was actually read (Napoli, 2010). In my research I treat ‘engagement’ as the readers’ experiences with media titles – such as relaxing or getting practical tips (Peck and Malthouse 2011). I also include the spatial and actual media practices as a part of the media experiences. In order to examine the various forms of media engagement I used four qualitative methods: 1) online media diaries to record daily media routines; 2) Q-sorting interviews to map personal media landscapes and the interrelations between media titles; 3) observation to reveal users interacted with media at home; and 4) thinking aloud interviews in order to examine the thoughts that media content can provoke. I will present my preliminary findings, which illuminate the ways in which the participants engage with different media, genres and titles.
This review of the literature published between 2005 and 2014 presents an overview of the methodo... more This review of the literature published between 2005 and 2014 presents an overview of the methodological environment in which audience research is transiting towards the study of online audiences. Online audience research is a mix of long-established research rationales,
In recent years, alongside other participatory media, blogs have been a popular research interest... more In recent years, alongside other participatory media, blogs have been a popular research interest (e.g. Lövheim, 2011; Rocamora, 2011) and their surprising frequency a result (e.g. Vainikka & Herkman, 2013). Vittadini et al. (2014) propose that instead of focusing on measurable attributes of media use, different groups’ ‘modes of reception’ should be recognised. Here I concentrate on the most engaging media practices for ten 16-18 year-old teenagers: reading and writing blogs. In focus are active, passive, public and private modes of ‘audiencing’ that were related to using blogs and other social network sites (SNS). The data was collected using media diaries and media landscape interviews (based on Q-methodology). Reading blogs was the most engaging media practice for the participants. Nine out of ten read blogs frequently. Blogs and SNS have built-in active and social practices (Couldry, 2012; Tuomi, 2011), but these participants read blogs quite traditionally without even commenting them. There are contradictory results about Finnish youth’s blogging practices: in Kangas and Caven’s (2011) study 20%, and in Vainikka and Herkman’s (2013) study less than 15% had their own blog. In my research six out of ten participants wrote a blog. Many of the blogs were general and diary-like, a private space for their writers (see Hodkinson & Lincoln, 2008). Also learning and self-expression were reasons for writing a blog. Even though their blogs were public, they did not want to build a community of readers around them. The participants were active bloggers, but they did not participate actively in other public online sites. But as van Dijck (2009) proposes, active and passive audiencing or media use should not seen as opposing, but instead differentiate the ‘modes’. Many media, despite their socially or active encouraging practices, can be used in various ways.
This research explores fragmentation of media use and the reasons behind and ways of engaging wit... more This research explores fragmentation of media use and the reasons behind and ways of engaging with media. As media landscape has fragmented and the amount of media content has multiplied, it is increasingly important to examine those experiences and practices that are associated with the most important media titles and how media use intertwines with the practices of everyday. Previous studies of fragmentation of media use and selections of media often limit the amount of media, or focus on only one genre, such as news. The novelty of my research is starting from the perspective of the readers and users. The iterative methodological process provides tools also for media publishers for studying the media use of their audiences.
The data was gathered using four qualitative methods: online media diaries, media landscape interviews, ethnographic visits and reading aloud interviews. The analyses focus on the media use of five participant groups (n=55): 16–18 year-old high school students, 18–25 year-old young adults, 35–45 year-old readers of Tekniikan Maailma (special interest magazine of technology and vehicles), 45–55 year-old readers of Kotiliesi (women’s general interest magazine), and 45–55 year-old readers of Suomen Kuvalehti (news magazine). The number of participants varied between the methodical phases.
Fragmentation of media use is examined in personal media landscapes, which map all media and titles individuals use. Especially in the personal media landscapes of the 45–55 year-old participants fragmentation emerges as a great number of media titles, whereas the 18–25 year-old participants’ media preferences are more individualised.
Engagement with media is closely connected with everyday, for instance, social and solitary practices at home, or routines and rituals associated with the most important titles. On the other hand, magazines offer their readers engaging experiences when the title answers to the function that is provided with it, when the content has a connection with the reader’s life, and when the reader shares the values of the magazine. Moreover, people constantly compare media titles to similar ones and construct engagement through these comparisons.
I suggest that fragmentation of media use and media engagement are closely intertwined, and it is justified to approach them from the perspective of the users’ experiences and practices. First, even though people come across dozens of media titles on a weekly basis, the engaging ones are allocated time and used concentratedly. Second, as life phases and interests change, also personal media landscapes reshape frequently, even if media routines are strong. Finally, changing media practices enable increasing encounters with new titles and content, whereupon supplementing the personal media landscape – or replacing disengaging titles – is easy.
Journalism, as we currently know it, is going through the biggest change in its history: while me... more Journalism, as we currently know it, is going through the biggest change in its history: while messages of few people or organizations used to have enormous impact on the opinions of audiences in the past, now the internet has allowed entire
communities and crowds to gain much of such influence. Consequently, traditional media try to engage their audiences in content production by different models of participatory journalism, such as user generated content, collective intelligence, crowdsourcing, open journalism or networked journalism, and thus engage them with their brand. While these models may differ in their final outcomes representing various forms of media products, the main principle, however, remains the same: to let amateur audiences take part in designing and creating journalistic content. Despite the fact that journalism has existed for 500 years and participatory journalism has been there since the Web 2.0 (around 10 years), the internet is disrupting many old business models and creating new ways to extract value from quality content.
This article discusses the value network of participatory journalism and analyses a number of cases or phenomena that we expect to have a significant impact on journalism: Scoopinion, Scoopshot, Pearltrees, Oma Olivia, and WikiLeaks-like platforms. From the analysis of these cases we derive trends that are steering the future direction of journalism: relevance, sharing, community-created content, a tendency towards mixing professional and amateur content, as well as richer content complementing text. We reflect these trends against the views of media professionals and finally forecast what kind of implications the ongoing redefinition of “journalism” might have on the journalistic process in the future.
The media field is progressively fragmenting and boundaries between genres are blurring. Personal... more The media field is progressively fragmenting and boundaries between genres are blurring. Personal media landscapes can contain over a hundred media titles, and there is an increasing need to understand the nature and scope of people’s media use. In this chapter I will be examining how people engage with media in the cross-media environment, especially with magazines. In the larger research project the media use of seven age-groups was studied, but here I focus on two groups: 45–55 year-old readers of the women’s magazine Kotiliesi and 16–19 year-old teenagers. Magazine publishers often define media engagement in terms of readership frequency, minutes devoted to an issue or the percentage of an issue that was actually read (Napoli, 2010). In my research I treat ‘engagement’ as the readers’ experiences with media titles – such as relaxing or getting practical tips (Peck and Malthouse 2011). I also include the spatial and actual media practices as a part of the media experiences. In order to examine the various forms of media engagement I used four qualitative methods: 1) online media diaries to record daily media routines; 2) Q-sorting interviews to map personal media landscapes and the interrelations between media titles; 3) observation to reveal users interacted with media at home; and 4) thinking aloud interviews in order to examine the thoughts that media content can provoke. I will present my preliminary findings, which illuminate the ways in which the participants engage with different media, genres and titles.
This review of the literature published between 2005 and 2014 presents an overview of the methodo... more This review of the literature published between 2005 and 2014 presents an overview of the methodological environment in which audience research is transiting towards the study of online audiences. Online audience research is a mix of long-established research rationales,
In recent years, alongside other participatory media, blogs have been a popular research interest... more In recent years, alongside other participatory media, blogs have been a popular research interest (e.g. Lövheim, 2011; Rocamora, 2011) and their surprising frequency a result (e.g. Vainikka & Herkman, 2013). Vittadini et al. (2014) propose that instead of focusing on measurable attributes of media use, different groups’ ‘modes of reception’ should be recognised. Here I concentrate on the most engaging media practices for ten 16-18 year-old teenagers: reading and writing blogs. In focus are active, passive, public and private modes of ‘audiencing’ that were related to using blogs and other social network sites (SNS). The data was collected using media diaries and media landscape interviews (based on Q-methodology). Reading blogs was the most engaging media practice for the participants. Nine out of ten read blogs frequently. Blogs and SNS have built-in active and social practices (Couldry, 2012; Tuomi, 2011), but these participants read blogs quite traditionally without even commenting them. There are contradictory results about Finnish youth’s blogging practices: in Kangas and Caven’s (2011) study 20%, and in Vainikka and Herkman’s (2013) study less than 15% had their own blog. In my research six out of ten participants wrote a blog. Many of the blogs were general and diary-like, a private space for their writers (see Hodkinson & Lincoln, 2008). Also learning and self-expression were reasons for writing a blog. Even though their blogs were public, they did not want to build a community of readers around them. The participants were active bloggers, but they did not participate actively in other public online sites. But as van Dijck (2009) proposes, active and passive audiencing or media use should not seen as opposing, but instead differentiate the ‘modes’. Many media, despite their socially or active encouraging practices, can be used in various ways.
This research explores fragmentation of media use and the reasons behind and ways of engaging wit... more This research explores fragmentation of media use and the reasons behind and ways of engaging with media. As media landscape has fragmented and the amount of media content has multiplied, it is increasingly important to examine those experiences and practices that are associated with the most important media titles and how media use intertwines with the practices of everyday. Previous studies of fragmentation of media use and selections of media often limit the amount of media, or focus on only one genre, such as news. The novelty of my research is starting from the perspective of the readers and users. The iterative methodological process provides tools also for media publishers for studying the media use of their audiences.
The data was gathered using four qualitative methods: online media diaries, media landscape interviews, ethnographic visits and reading aloud interviews. The analyses focus on the media use of five participant groups (n=55): 16–18 year-old high school students, 18–25 year-old young adults, 35–45 year-old readers of Tekniikan Maailma (special interest magazine of technology and vehicles), 45–55 year-old readers of Kotiliesi (women’s general interest magazine), and 45–55 year-old readers of Suomen Kuvalehti (news magazine). The number of participants varied between the methodical phases.
Fragmentation of media use is examined in personal media landscapes, which map all media and titles individuals use. Especially in the personal media landscapes of the 45–55 year-old participants fragmentation emerges as a great number of media titles, whereas the 18–25 year-old participants’ media preferences are more individualised.
Engagement with media is closely connected with everyday, for instance, social and solitary practices at home, or routines and rituals associated with the most important titles. On the other hand, magazines offer their readers engaging experiences when the title answers to the function that is provided with it, when the content has a connection with the reader’s life, and when the reader shares the values of the magazine. Moreover, people constantly compare media titles to similar ones and construct engagement through these comparisons.
I suggest that fragmentation of media use and media engagement are closely intertwined, and it is justified to approach them from the perspective of the users’ experiences and practices. First, even though people come across dozens of media titles on a weekly basis, the engaging ones are allocated time and used concentratedly. Second, as life phases and interests change, also personal media landscapes reshape frequently, even if media routines are strong. Finally, changing media practices enable increasing encounters with new titles and content, whereupon supplementing the personal media landscape – or replacing disengaging titles – is easy.
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communities and crowds to gain much of such influence. Consequently, traditional media try to engage their audiences in content production by different models of participatory journalism, such as user generated content, collective intelligence, crowdsourcing, open journalism or networked journalism, and thus engage them with their brand. While these models may differ in their final outcomes representing various forms of media products, the main principle, however, remains the same: to let amateur audiences take part in designing and creating journalistic content. Despite the fact that journalism has existed for 500 years and participatory journalism has been there since the Web 2.0 (around 10 years), the internet is disrupting many old business models and creating new ways to extract value from quality content.
This article discusses the value network of participatory journalism and analyses a number of cases or phenomena that we expect to have a significant impact on journalism: Scoopinion, Scoopshot, Pearltrees, Oma Olivia, and WikiLeaks-like platforms. From the analysis of these cases we derive trends that are steering the future direction of journalism: relevance, sharing, community-created content, a tendency towards mixing professional and amateur content, as well as richer content complementing text. We reflect these trends against the views of media professionals and finally forecast what kind of implications the ongoing redefinition of “journalism” might have on the journalistic process in the future.
In this chapter I will be examining how people engage with media in the cross-media environment, especially with magazines. In the larger research project the media use of seven age-groups was studied, but here I focus on two groups: 45–55 year-old readers of the women’s magazine Kotiliesi and 16–19 year-old teenagers.
Magazine publishers often define media engagement in terms of readership frequency, minutes devoted to an issue or the percentage of an issue that was actually read (Napoli, 2010). In my research I treat ‘engagement’ as the readers’ experiences with media titles – such as relaxing or getting practical tips (Peck and Malthouse 2011). I also include the spatial and actual media practices as a part of the media experiences.
In order to examine the various forms of media engagement I used four qualitative methods: 1) online media diaries to record daily media routines; 2) Q-sorting interviews to map personal media landscapes and the interrelations between media titles; 3) observation to reveal users interacted with media at home; and 4) thinking aloud interviews in order to examine the thoughts that media content can provoke.
I will present my preliminary findings, which illuminate the ways in which the participants engage with different media, genres and titles.
Here I concentrate on the most engaging media practices for ten 16-18 year-old teenagers: reading and writing blogs. In focus are active, passive, public and private modes of ‘audiencing’ that were related to using blogs and other social network sites (SNS). The data was collected using media diaries and media landscape interviews (based on Q-methodology).
Reading blogs was the most engaging media practice for the participants. Nine out of ten read blogs frequently. Blogs and SNS have built-in active and social practices (Couldry, 2012; Tuomi, 2011), but these participants read blogs quite traditionally without even commenting them.
There are contradictory results about Finnish youth’s blogging practices: in Kangas and Caven’s (2011) study 20%, and in Vainikka and Herkman’s (2013) study less than 15% had their own blog. In my research six out of ten participants wrote a blog. Many of the blogs were general and diary-like, a private space for their writers (see Hodkinson & Lincoln, 2008). Also learning and self-expression were reasons for writing a blog. Even though their blogs were public, they did not want to build a community of readers around them.
The participants were active bloggers, but they did not participate actively in other public online sites. But as van Dijck (2009) proposes, active and passive audiencing or media use should not seen as opposing, but instead differentiate the ‘modes’. Many media, despite their socially or active encouraging practices, can be used in various ways.
The data was gathered using four qualitative methods: online media diaries, media landscape interviews, ethnographic visits and reading aloud interviews. The analyses focus on the media use of five participant groups (n=55): 16–18 year-old high school students, 18–25 year-old young adults, 35–45 year-old readers of Tekniikan Maailma (special interest magazine of technology and vehicles), 45–55 year-old readers of Kotiliesi (women’s general interest magazine), and 45–55 year-old readers of Suomen Kuvalehti (news magazine). The number of participants varied between the methodical phases.
Fragmentation of media use is examined in personal media landscapes, which map all media and titles individuals use. Especially in the personal media landscapes of the 45–55 year-old participants fragmentation emerges as a great number of media titles, whereas the 18–25 year-old participants’ media preferences are more individualised.
Engagement with media is closely connected with everyday, for instance, social and solitary practices at home, or routines and rituals associated with the most important titles. On the other hand, magazines offer their readers engaging experiences when the title answers to the function that is provided with it, when the content has a connection with the reader’s life, and when the reader shares the values of the magazine. Moreover, people constantly compare media titles to similar ones and construct engagement through these comparisons.
I suggest that fragmentation of media use and media engagement are closely intertwined, and it is justified to approach them from the perspective of the users’ experiences and practices. First, even though people come across dozens of media titles on a weekly basis, the engaging ones are allocated time and used concentratedly. Second, as life phases and interests change, also personal media landscapes reshape frequently, even if media routines are strong. Finally, changing media practices enable increasing encounters with new titles and content, whereupon supplementing the personal media landscape – or replacing disengaging titles – is easy.
communities and crowds to gain much of such influence. Consequently, traditional media try to engage their audiences in content production by different models of participatory journalism, such as user generated content, collective intelligence, crowdsourcing, open journalism or networked journalism, and thus engage them with their brand. While these models may differ in their final outcomes representing various forms of media products, the main principle, however, remains the same: to let amateur audiences take part in designing and creating journalistic content. Despite the fact that journalism has existed for 500 years and participatory journalism has been there since the Web 2.0 (around 10 years), the internet is disrupting many old business models and creating new ways to extract value from quality content.
This article discusses the value network of participatory journalism and analyses a number of cases or phenomena that we expect to have a significant impact on journalism: Scoopinion, Scoopshot, Pearltrees, Oma Olivia, and WikiLeaks-like platforms. From the analysis of these cases we derive trends that are steering the future direction of journalism: relevance, sharing, community-created content, a tendency towards mixing professional and amateur content, as well as richer content complementing text. We reflect these trends against the views of media professionals and finally forecast what kind of implications the ongoing redefinition of “journalism” might have on the journalistic process in the future.
In this chapter I will be examining how people engage with media in the cross-media environment, especially with magazines. In the larger research project the media use of seven age-groups was studied, but here I focus on two groups: 45–55 year-old readers of the women’s magazine Kotiliesi and 16–19 year-old teenagers.
Magazine publishers often define media engagement in terms of readership frequency, minutes devoted to an issue or the percentage of an issue that was actually read (Napoli, 2010). In my research I treat ‘engagement’ as the readers’ experiences with media titles – such as relaxing or getting practical tips (Peck and Malthouse 2011). I also include the spatial and actual media practices as a part of the media experiences.
In order to examine the various forms of media engagement I used four qualitative methods: 1) online media diaries to record daily media routines; 2) Q-sorting interviews to map personal media landscapes and the interrelations between media titles; 3) observation to reveal users interacted with media at home; and 4) thinking aloud interviews in order to examine the thoughts that media content can provoke.
I will present my preliminary findings, which illuminate the ways in which the participants engage with different media, genres and titles.
Here I concentrate on the most engaging media practices for ten 16-18 year-old teenagers: reading and writing blogs. In focus are active, passive, public and private modes of ‘audiencing’ that were related to using blogs and other social network sites (SNS). The data was collected using media diaries and media landscape interviews (based on Q-methodology).
Reading blogs was the most engaging media practice for the participants. Nine out of ten read blogs frequently. Blogs and SNS have built-in active and social practices (Couldry, 2012; Tuomi, 2011), but these participants read blogs quite traditionally without even commenting them.
There are contradictory results about Finnish youth’s blogging practices: in Kangas and Caven’s (2011) study 20%, and in Vainikka and Herkman’s (2013) study less than 15% had their own blog. In my research six out of ten participants wrote a blog. Many of the blogs were general and diary-like, a private space for their writers (see Hodkinson & Lincoln, 2008). Also learning and self-expression were reasons for writing a blog. Even though their blogs were public, they did not want to build a community of readers around them.
The participants were active bloggers, but they did not participate actively in other public online sites. But as van Dijck (2009) proposes, active and passive audiencing or media use should not seen as opposing, but instead differentiate the ‘modes’. Many media, despite their socially or active encouraging practices, can be used in various ways.
The data was gathered using four qualitative methods: online media diaries, media landscape interviews, ethnographic visits and reading aloud interviews. The analyses focus on the media use of five participant groups (n=55): 16–18 year-old high school students, 18–25 year-old young adults, 35–45 year-old readers of Tekniikan Maailma (special interest magazine of technology and vehicles), 45–55 year-old readers of Kotiliesi (women’s general interest magazine), and 45–55 year-old readers of Suomen Kuvalehti (news magazine). The number of participants varied between the methodical phases.
Fragmentation of media use is examined in personal media landscapes, which map all media and titles individuals use. Especially in the personal media landscapes of the 45–55 year-old participants fragmentation emerges as a great number of media titles, whereas the 18–25 year-old participants’ media preferences are more individualised.
Engagement with media is closely connected with everyday, for instance, social and solitary practices at home, or routines and rituals associated with the most important titles. On the other hand, magazines offer their readers engaging experiences when the title answers to the function that is provided with it, when the content has a connection with the reader’s life, and when the reader shares the values of the magazine. Moreover, people constantly compare media titles to similar ones and construct engagement through these comparisons.
I suggest that fragmentation of media use and media engagement are closely intertwined, and it is justified to approach them from the perspective of the users’ experiences and practices. First, even though people come across dozens of media titles on a weekly basis, the engaging ones are allocated time and used concentratedly. Second, as life phases and interests change, also personal media landscapes reshape frequently, even if media routines are strong. Finally, changing media practices enable increasing encounters with new titles and content, whereupon supplementing the personal media landscape – or replacing disengaging titles – is easy.