Audience Research in the Post-Audience Age: An Introduction to Barker and Morley

Modes of Reception: A Consolidated Analytical Framework

“…This is perhaps so; obviously the actual utility of this conceptual schema can only be demonstrated through its widespread application. Nevertheless, like Barker (2006), Morley (2006), and Press (2006), I perceive an urgent need to find some way through the current impasse if we are to avoid stasis, or worst, schism, in the field of audience studies. Thus, I suggest that if we are to preclude further diffusion and dilution of the power and focus of our collective endeavours and begin the process of consolidating and refining our theoretical understandings, the analysis of audience receptions needs to be reframed in a common language, such as is offered here.…”

“…Indeed, we continue to see a proliferation of studies documenting seemingly divergent receptions of an everincreasing range of genres (more "stories" about the idiosyncratic readings of "active audiences" Barker [2006]), but little work that draws together existing understandings into a coherent, unified model of audience reception (Schrøder, 2000). We still lack, as Press (2006) suggests, a common language for talking about audience reception in a cohesive way. As a result, neither typical nor divergent receptions are being appropriately contextualized in relation to all potential interpretive modes.…”

Who Do We Think We (and They) Are? The Audience and the Researcher as Participants in Sociomaterial Practice

“…question (cf. Press, 2006;Barker, 2006a;Morley, 2006;Livingstone, forthcoming), and it has been pivotal for those audience research approaches that take their point of departure in the everyday life challenges of human beings (e.g., Silverstone, 2005;Bakardjieva, 2005).…”

“…The elaboration on these onto-epistemological questions proposes an alternative "contextualist approach" (Morley, 2012) and is supposed to contribute to ongoing debates in the field of (active) audience research that have been most clearly addressed in a special issue published in The Communication Review in 2006 (cf. the contributions of Press, 2006;Barker 2006a;Morley, 2006). Allow me to set off my argument in medias res by re-narrating a few excerpts from my fieldwork materials:…”

‘What was your blood sugar reading this morning?’ Representing diabetes self-management on Facebook

“…Like figures of each Page (see Table 1) indicate that private and non-profit diabetes organisations have attracted larger 'active audiences' (Press, 2006) of subscribers than the most popular NHS diabetes Page on Facebook, meaning that individuals are more likely to encounter messages that reflect these organisations' commercial and third-sector agendas.…”