This article considers the impact of new technologies on the adolescent experience of live, literary theatre. Drawing together the work of theorists in literacies, new technologies and audience studies, together with brain research, and the results of a focus group of four secondary students who have seen four plays at Canada’s National Arts Centre, it examines the consequences of young people’s immersion in digital culture and the new mindset that often results. The expectation of instant access to data, inter-connectivity, stimulation and control can make it difficult for adolescents to decode the metaphorical aspects of a theatrical performance. The article concludes that language arts and dramatic arts educators have a key role in teaching students how to decode—and therefore enjoy and appreciate— a play.

This article considers the impact of new technologies on the adolescent experience of live, literary theatre. Drawing together the work of theorists in literacies, new technologies and audience studies, together with brain research, and the results of a focus group of four secondary students who have seen four plays at Canada’s National Arts Centre, it examines the consequences of young people’s immersion in digital culture and the new mindset that often results. The expectation of instant access to data, inter-connectivity, stimulation and control can make it difficult for adolescents to decode the metaphorical aspects of a theatrical performance. The article concludes that language arts and dramatic arts educators have a key role in teaching students how to decode—and therefore enjoy and appreciate— a play.

This article considers the impact of new technologies on the adolescent experience of live, literary theatre. Drawing together the work of theorists in literacies, new technologies and audience studies, together with brain research, and the results of a focus group of four secondary students who have seen four plays at Canada’s National Arts Centre, it examines the consequences of young people’s immersion in digital culture and the new mindset that often results. The expectation of instant access to data, inter-connectivity, stimulation and control can make it difficult for adolescents to decode the metaphorical aspects of a theatrical performance. The article concludes that language arts and dramatic arts educators have a key role in teaching students how to decode—and therefore enjoy and appreciate— a play.

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Mary Shelley’s novel Frankenstein has been the direct source for many adaptations on stage, television and film, and an indirect source for innumerable hybrid versions. One of the central premises of Julie Sanders’s Adaptation and Appropriation (2006) is that adaptations go through a movement of proximation that brings them closer to the audience’s cultural and social spheres. This essay looks at how this movement of proximation has impacted the monster’s form and behaviour and concludes that this is the main reason Shelley’s vision of her monster has rarely been accurately reproduced on screen. It is clearly impossible for an essay of this length to adequately cover the vast number of adaptations spawned by Frankenstein. It is clear that James Whale’s Frankenstein (1931), where the monster has a bolt through its neck and a stitched forehead, created the stereotype that has been the source for many other Frankenstein film adaptations. However, contemporary film adaptations cater to target audiences and specific genres, while also reflecting the current political climate and technological innovations. The conclusion reached here is that while the form and behaviour of Frankenstein’s monster in film has inevitably been revised over the years, precisely as a result of social and cultural factors, it is the stereotype created by Whale that has prevailed over the figure produced by Shelley. This, in turn, supports and confirms Sanders’s theory of movement of proximation.

Diploma thesis "Analysis of the Czech Media Market in 2009 - Constructing the Audience for Sale" aims to describe what kind of information do the Czech non- expert media use when constructing their audience for sale most often, what are the sources of such information and methods used for gathering them, and to what extent are those information, and the constructs themselves, verifiable, credible and relevant. Content analysis of publicly accessible materials the media provide about their audiences will be applied. In the first part of the diploma thesis we will define the audience within the media studies discourse and from the perspective of the advertisers. We will also apply the theory of social construction of reality to describe the process of the construction of the audience for sale. Brief overview of reported media audience characteristics and research and shielding institutions in the Czech Republic will follow. In the last part of the diploma thesis we will summarize the findings from the analysis and apply them on the prediction of the future development of the construction of the audience for sale. Complete list of media included in the analysis as well as raw data can be found in the appendix.

Thesis advisor: Maria E. Brisk / The influence of the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) has increased attention on the argument writing genre in K-12 writing and literacies. Approaches to argument have been informed by cognitive and structural approaches, with some attention to social dimensions (Newell, Beach, Smith, & VanDerHeide, 2011). Less attention has been given to language and the manner in which purpose and audience inform language choice, especially at the secondary level (Fang & Schleppegrell, 2010). Further, audience and language use are affected by context, culture, and community. To date, rural contexts have often been overlooked in education research, and particularly in writing and literacies (e.g., Azano, 2015). Drawing on appraisal theory (Martin & White, 2005) to inform the interpersonal dynamics present in student-audience relationships that inform language use, the current study explored five experiences of an argument writing project developed as a collaborative initiative by three secondary English / Language Arts (ELA) teachers participating in a rural education network in the Pacific Northwest region of the US. The study explored the relationship between writers’ audience and students’ language choices in their argument writing, as well as teachers’ instruction and support of language. Data collection sources included students’ argument writing samples, teacher interviews, student interviews, and instructional artifacts. Findings indicate that multiple factors inform students’ audience awareness and language choices, including the relationship between students’ rural identities and audience, and teachers’ instruction and support of audience and language. In student writing, audience awareness led to more intentional selection of reasons and evidence to support a claim, as well as effective use of technical and evaluative language. Having an explicit, authentic audience broadly resulted in more effective language use, but students experienced difficulty negotiating between local audience and global perspectives. Findings suggest that incorporating explicit, authentic audiences and providing instructional support in audience and language will lead to more effective argument writing. Implications for practice, policy, and research are discussed, emphasizing interpretation in rural contexts. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2017. / Submitted to: Boston College. Lynch School of Education. / Discipline: Teacher Education, Special Education, Curriculum and Instruction.

Social network sites are now ubiquitous and self-presentation on these sites is, for many people, a major part of everyday life. The sites provide a novel context for impression management in which presentations can be viewed simultaneously, 24 hours a day, by multiple audiences with heterogeneous expectations. The argument outlined here is that this situation can increase the chances of social anxiety and regulatory behaviour when these expectations are not met. Through four studies including two experiments, a survey and a collection of semi-structured interviews, this thesis examines the process by which users regulate their actions both on- and offline with respect to multiple audiences online. A model is created out of intrapsychic theories grounded on Carver and Scheier’s (2001) selfregulatory process, in order to explain impression management in this context. Research is split into two phases and addressing young users aged predominately aged from 18-24; the first aiming to provide support for different components within the model and the second, to test the process as a whole. Phase 1 finds strong support for the model by providing evidence, first for the assumptions underlying the multiple audience problem and second, that public self-focus increases when engaged with the technology. A third contribution of Phase 1 is its categorisation of preventive and reactive regulatory behaviours. Phase 2 supports the process in the model, showing that self-focus leads to comparison between what is presented and the standards of multiple audiences, resulting in self-regulation mediated by anxiety.

This study examines two television soap operas and their consumption by a select group of teenagers. The soap operas in question, Neighbours and Home and Away, are produced in Australia and watched by large audiences in the UK. The study's broadest aim is to discover the nature of the relationship between the programmes and their teenage viewers. In order to meet this aim, the study combines textual analysis and audience research. Following a review of the textual analysis of soap opera, Neighbours and Home and Away are examined in detail as texts. The audience study is then introduced and located. The empirical study involved tape-recording interviews with groups of 13-16 year olds in one Edinburgh High School, and with individual teenagers in their own homes. In total, 50 teenagers were interviewed. The recurring findings of the audience study are analysed in detail. The final two chapters of the thesis contextualize the findings and conclusions of the textual and audience studies. A selective genealogy is provided which theoretically locates Neighbours and Home and Away and their consumption as cultural practices in self-government. It is argued that the two programmes should be understood as integral parts of a broad but specific arena for learning. It is argued that interviewees use Neighbours and Home and Away as cultural resources. They learn how to conduct themselves in intimate and social relationships, and, in particular, learn how to practise and reconstruct their gendered selves. It is argued that the model of analysis elaborated is valuable because: it best explains the specific nature of Neighbours and Home and Away and their consumption; it provides a way of moving beyond something of an orthodoxy in soap opera analysis; and it avoids the binary logic of some recent arguments about popular culture and social change.

This dissertation posits a new model for understanding media audiences, bringing the scholarship of game studies to the critical analysis of audience practices. The concept of play proves beneficial for understanding the complex processes of media audiences, as they are able to traverse dichotomous categories when engaging media content. The genre of professional wrestling proves a perfect case study for examining these playful audience practices, and this study is an ethnographic account of the practices of wrestling fans. Focusing on the behaviors of fans at live wrestling events, in online contexts, and in the subcultural setting of a card game entitled Champions of the Galaxy, this study demonstrates the necessity of the concept of play for understanding what media audiences do when they engage media content. These practices, however, are always negotiated by the hegemonic power of the rules that structure how audiences are encouraged to engage content, resulting in ideological constraints on the possibilities play offers.