Audiences across media - a comparative baseline study

Bruhn Jensen, K. (2011). Audiences across media - a comparative baseline study. .

Update.pdf

Abstract: The COST Action ‘Transforming audiences, transforming societies’ presents a unique opportunity to undertake comparative research – in the first instance involving different parts of Europe, in a next instance perhaps reaching out to colleagues on other continents. One premise of the Action is that fundamental changes are currently witnessed globally in the communicative practices of audiences across media – one-to- one, one-to-many, and many-to-many. Who communicates with whom, to what extent, across what media, in which flows and networks? A monitoring of these questions holds significant potential for both theory development and policy considerations – and for tracking developments not just across space, countries, and cultures, but across time, as well. With such baseline information, research will be better equipped to answer additional questions of, with what consequences and implications? The baseline study would monitor media uses in participating countries of the Action, departing from the design presented in (Jensen & Helles, 2011), with appropriate modifications. Among the methodological questions to be considered is whether online surveys could serve as the key instrument, given different degrees of internet diffusion across Europe. It should be emphasized that, in addition to a small number of jointly agreed core issues to be covered, each country – or one or several sets of countries – would be encouraged to add issues of particular relevance in their cultural contexts. As part of the COST Action, links between this baseline and other empirical studies, ongoing or planned in the Action, should also be clarified before proceeding with the baseline study.