My Cinema experience…

(Image sourced from: http://livinginthesun.info/portugal-vs-england-the-cinemas/)

This week there wasn’t really anytime, nor any movie I actually wanted to see at the cinemas. This is due to the fact that my cinema experience is something that I value and make an effort for. Depending on the time of the day, I would normally get a meal before or after the movie, have it pre planned, and also go with people I enjoy spending time with. And for this reason, it doesn’t fit into my schedule this week.

Hagerstrand identified three constraints that acknowledged the way that social planning works. I thought about these things whilst I made my decision about going to the cinemas and they consisted of capability, coupling and authority.  In the area in which I live, it’s a 3 minute drive or about a 10 minute walk from the cinemas so I am not limited on this dimension. But there are external constraints that can limit this ability such as the weather; if it is raining, I have no way of getting there. The coupling aspect entails my ability to get there at the right time and possibly meet up with a group of friends. But most of us work or go to University so finding a time that best suits everyone can be difficult. As I live close and the cinema was refurnished and renovated this year, it is popular, meaning that at many times of the day, there would be a movie available for me to see. As a person of 19 years of age and my ability to interact in the public sphere, I do have the authority to attend the cinemas; I just choose not to be unless there is a movie worth watching. But if I wanted to see a movie with my younger sister who is 13, this may not be possible due to age constraints on certain movies.

According to the Australian bureau of statistics, In 2013-2014, more than 12 million people in Australian went to the cinemas. In a survey, cinemas rated the highest of event venues to attend as it is seen as an activity that most people enjoy (90% of people surveyed agreed to this) (ABS, 2011). It is seen that ever though the cinemas are popular, attendance rates decline with age. 94% per cent of people aged 18-24 years attended the cinemas in the past 12 months and only 37% of people aged 75 years and over.

An article by the ABC noted the competition with cinemas and online media streaming services such as Netflix. It was stated that some people just love going to the cinemas, and nothing can change that. This is a social experience, shared with complete strangers all as a joint group with the same purpose of watching a film. It is an experience that you just can’t receive at home at a computer or television.

So what’s my view in cinema attendance in the next 5-10 years? I think people will continue going as they are now. It may decrease a little but the cinema is an experience that you can share with people that you know personally or may be completely unacquainted with. It is a shared collective experience that you can use to create memories and with this, I think people will continue to go to the cinemas.

References

Australian Bureau of Statistics, http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/latestProducts/4114.0Media%20Release12013-14

Australian Bureau of Statistics
http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/Products/4172.0.55.001~March+2011~Main+Features~Cinema+Attendance?OpenDocument

Rosso, J. D 2015, A new golden age: how cinemas are surviving in the age of Netflix, ABC, 9 April, viewed 30 August 2015.  http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/finalcut/are-cinemas-dying/6377650

Fast Internet Connection = Happy Family

The generational divide in the household definitely shows the contrasting views of how good an internet connection is. For someone who uses the internet on a daily basis for both recreational and educational purpose, I can say that it needs to be faster. My mum, whom I interviewed previously, joined me again along with my family in a discussion about ‘the internet’.

In order to get an emic view for the idea of the internet and the accessibility and usage of it, further collaborative ethnographic research was needed. I interviewed my mum for her involvement with the television as she was growing up so I then wanted to ask questions about her experience with the internet. I am well aware of the state of the internet access in the household that she lives in as I also live there. The internet access/ speed is fairly average, but it is understanding due to the multiple media devices that are simultaneously connected. I am guilty of using a laptop, computer, iPad and iPhone on a daily basis and I can also say the same for all my siblings. Due to this immense amount of technology and features that are being used on these devices, the internet can, on occasion can be quite slow and frustrating.

I wanted to engage my family into a group discussion to discover their observation and experiences with the internet in the household. Just to see the effect of fast broadband internet access, I asked the question “Does the internet speed variance affect your mood?” A strong response and discussion was developed with my siblings yelling ‘YES!’ and my mum being unaffected as she only uses the internet for the minimal purposes of checking emails and the weather. There is a common misconception in my household that Netflix is actually the cause of the slow internet but I would prefer not to believe that.  This also led onto the discussion, if the internet has led us to situations where we needed it and it has cut out on us. Personally I’ve had it cut out on me when I was doing an online quiz, but really it hasn’t majorly affected my household.

Before this week, I wasn’t sure of the National Broadband Network (NBN) and what it entailed for me as a consumer and regular user of the internet. My eldest sister was the only one in the family that knew what the NBN was. So what is it? According to the website,

The aim is to enable access to fast, reliable and affordable phone and internet services, from a range of providers. The nbn™ network is designed to enable lifestyle enhancements including health, education, well-being, sustainability and wealth.

(The NBN access in my area)

So as it turns out, my household or surrounding is not yet able to connect to the NBN. You can check on the website if your household is able to access this service. I don’t know how greatly this will affect the internet in my household but hopefully for the near future, it will entail a decent connection.

Collaborative Ethnographic Research for Effective Data Collection

Ethnographic research is an intrinsic process that enables broadcasters and advertising agencies and their clients to gain a greater understanding of their audience. But this statistical knowledge can’t possibly measure the emotions and feelings of the audience, but rather provides numbers and ratings as a source of feedback. Ethnography measures ‘real life’ behaviour and that is why it is important to take into consideration the narratives and stories of the audience. Statistical data provides useful information about the media and media consumption by people, but this idea treats and audience as a market and not as a cohesive narrative.

(Sourced from: http://bizzypulse.com/PreSalesActivity.html#tab-2)

Measuring the media audience is very content focused and skews towards quantitative research. The accuracy of the data may also not be completely reliable due to the sample range and the types of individuals involved. This means that measuring the effectiveness of media use is achieved by ratings and total numbers of engaged viewers as this makes sense to broadcasting companies. We are able to judge a show by the number of ratings as this quantitative data makes sense. But there has been a shift in contemporary media use. In the ‘Australian on Screen report; Quarter 1 2015’, useful information was unravelled to gain a numerical, quantitative data on viewing trends across multiple screens. It was noted that the way in which people use their television sets are changing due to the emerging nature of technological devices. Television is still dominant, but the rise in Tablets and mobile devices are changing modes of accessing the content. I for instance have engaged in multiple media platforms including iPads, iPhones and laptops to access the media content I want to use.

Luke Erik Lasseter’s report defined ‘Collaborative ethnographic research’ as an approach to ethnography that emphasises collaboration, which means working together in an intellectual effort with the audience. This provides field work derived from local communities that consider multiple audiences. This would take into account the personal stories of the audience that contain conceptualized meaning that cannot be measured by statistics. Lasseter’s discovered, that to have an accurate idea of the audience, you needed an emic, or insider’s perspective to fully understand the culture and patterns of behaviour. He embarked on study of Narcotics Anonymous (NA), drug addiction, and recovery in which he met a man called Mike. Through gathering this first hand, primary information, this led to notion of collaborative ethnographic research as it was seen that just ethnographic data is limited and almost missing information.

Collaborative ethnographic research shows the customs of a culture which is why it is important in contemporary research. Gathering this data is rich and vital for researchers to have an accurate understanding of media experience in the home. I discovered this through last week’s blogpost where I did an interview with my mother. The information I had gathered would not have been achievable through quantitative information for ethnographic research, but rather through a collaborative effort, I gained a greater understanding of her television experience growing up. A specific comment I want to make is her access to the television.

“She was only allowed to watch televisions shows once she had completed all her chores and only in the night time. She was allowed to watch TV at dinner time with her family as they all sat at the dinner table. Specific shows that she remembered watching were ‘Doctor Who’ (even though it scared her) and ‘The Goodies’.”

This data is not obtainable through ethnographic research but can only been noted through the stories of the audience. Another important remark from the interview in last weeks blog post is her feelings and association with good memories towards television.

“When I asked, ‘How did you feel watching television’? she responded with ‘Happy’. Good memories were associated with Television time as it was seen as a treat. Once she had completed all her jobs and it was time to wind down for the night, that’s when she could watch it.”

When conducting the interview, I myself, reflected on this information and how my patterns my media use could not just be achieved through ratings or what I am viewing. Just because I use multiple media platforms and devices, does this mean I actually enjoy the content I am using? Do I associate good memories with certain shows like I discovered in my interview? How can this data only be measured with ethnographic research? Collaborative ethnographic research provides the fundamental and in-depth insider knowledge into media use in the home which is a great tool to measure the contemporary patterns of media use. The relational and interpersonal data of the consumers would allow broadcasting companies to keep up with the trends and changing patterns of media use which would create the best possible experience for the audience.

References

Lassiter, L. 2005, Defining A Collaborative Ethnography, University of Chicago Press, viewed 12 August 2015, http://www.press.uchicago.edu/Misc/Chicago/468909.html

Mother and Child Health: Research Methods, Journal of Tropical Pedidatrics Qualitative field research, pp. 196- 197. http://www.oxfordjournals.org/our_journals/tropej/online/ce_ch14.pdf

Nielsen, 2015, Australian Multi-Screen Report Quarter 1 2015, viewed 10 August 2015,http://www.oztam.com.au/documents/Other/MultiScreenReport_Q1-2015-Final%20amended%20P7.pdf

Said, D 2015, ‘Poor Television Connection Vs Poor Internet Connection’, WordPress, viewed 16 August 2015 https://danasaid.wordpress.com/2015/08/09/poor-television-connection-vs-poor-internet-connection/

Poor Television Connection Vs Poor Internet Connection

Imagine a world where the instantaneous nature of electronic entertainment wasn’t as it was today. Imagine not being able to stream Doctor Who whenever you wanted or even having to share a single television between five people. I decided to interview my mum, Donna as she grew up in the country and I knew her television experience would be vastly different to my own.

(Sourced from: https://www.pinterest.com/stellabrettiana/tom-baker/ )

My mother grew up in a small country house in Taree, in which she lived with her immediate family of her mother, father and two brothers. She had always grown up with a television in her house but as she lived in a remote area, the reception was poor and the television didn’t always work. When asked the question, “What do you remember about the television in your house?”, she replied “Very bad reception and it was never clear and you just hoped that you could see anything. Lines on the screen would keep rotating”.

I though the setting of the television would be different than she described it was. The television was located in the kitchen and not the lounge room. The television stood on a wooden cart that one of her brothers had made. There was also just the one television in the house.

The ‘television rules’ in the house dictated how my mums family would use the television. My mum lived on a farm and along with this came many chores and jobs to do. This included feeding the cows, horses, chickens, cooking and cleaning. She was only allowed to watch televisions shows once she had completed all her chores and only in the night time. She was allowed to watch TV at dinner time with her family as they all sat at the dinner table. Specific shows that she remembered watching were ‘Doctor Who’ (even though it scared her) and ‘The Goodies’.

(Sourced from: http://29.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_ln0uvcq3Mn1qdnwiro1_500.gif )

When I asked, ‘How did you feel watching television’?, she responded with ‘Happy’. Good memories were associated with Television time as it was seen as a treat. Once she had completed all her jobs and it was time to wind down for the night, that’s when she could watch it. To this day, generally my mum doesn’t watch TV till the night time once she has finished everything she has needed to do for the day so it’s interesting to see how this routine has stuck with her throughout life.

There were particular aspects pf this interview that I found interesting and also similar to me to some extent. I thought the poor television connection was quite interesting as I have similar struggles in a contemporary environment. I compared this to the internet connection in the house and how the connection drops and is quite slow sometimes. Another similar thing that I found in the interview was the association with the show ‘Doctor Who’. I myself, am a fan of the show and I personally look forward to episodes when they come out each week. Although, I don’t watch it on television, I have to either stream it online or download them.

Patterns of media space have changed overtime and it is evident through the experience of television. Television seemed to follow a routine or pattern when my mum was growing up, where now, it is a choice on what we do with it. I can watch television when I want and I have so much access to many different forms of electronic media that enable me to do so. All I can say to this interview is that I am grateful for how the ‘Television’ has developed overtime and has led to what it is today.

Hello, and welcome to my Media Space

Good evening everyone,

(Source from: http://runwiththeroushes.com/wedding-planning-explained-through-parks-rec-gifs/)

My name is Dana Said, and just to show my involvement with media space, as I am writing this blog post, I am also streaming Netflix, Using Messenger/ Facebook and flicking through my Instagram feed on multiple devices. I am quite involved with an online presence across many media spaces, over many different media platforms. But this is my introduction, just getting the hang of blogging again after spending my holidays, well; quite frankly most of it was spent at my computer.

I think my morning routine reflects my media presence, as I wake up and the first thing I do is reach over and grab my IPad (which sleeps right next to my pillow on my bed) and check every social media account I uses on a regular basis including Instagram, YouTube, Facebook, Snapchat, Team App, Gmail and Tumblr.

As bad as my media obsession sounds, I can actually survive without all this. There was a period of time last year for about 10 days where I was phoneless as I had broken it. I realised during this time that it was actually alright to be without a phone and not check social media multiple times an hour.

Every social media account reflects a different interest I have and I think that it is awesome. Media space is like a virtual reality that you can create, personalised to suit your specific interests and things you find entertaining. For instance, my Instagram feed is mostly food, fitspiration accounts to motivate me to go outside and puppies. Lots and lots of puppies. I can use my computer to stream Netflix and play video games. I can use Facebook to talk to people and to laugh at pointless photos and videos of memes that are currently trending. Currently, I am using up the spare time I have to watch Parks and Recreations Netflix! I feel as though this is an appropriate way to spend my spare time.

Anyways, this is an insight into my relation with media space and how it has been incorporated into a part of my life. It’s not JUST used for recreational use, media space is so diverse and it makes gathering information for assignments interesting and informative. I have access to so much information and knowledge that I am grateful for. It has also been a great university tool with platforms such as WordPress to simplify the world of blogging, and Twitter, to share these blogs along with other BCM240 students. I look forward to the rest of this semester and hopefully better a better insight into the world that is ‘Media Space’.