Media Studies: insight4me Media Studies – Media Audiences – Involvement & Production by Audience With Clare Precey From University of East Anglia & Dr Nathalie Weidhase From University of Surrey

• University of Surrey: Dr Nathalie Weidhase is Lecturer in Media and Communication in the Department of Sociology. Fans play an important part in contemporary media industries. This session will start with a short history of fandoms and how we think of them. We’ll look at fans as not just mindless followers of celebrities or artists, but critical media audiences, and often creative media producers themselves. From fanzines to fanfiction and vidding, fan audiences have a long history of media production that works in conversation with wider media cultures and industries. This interactive session will explore how understanding fandoms may help us understand wider audience behaviour in contemporary mediated societies. 
• University of East Anglia: Clare Precey, Course Director for Broadcast Journalism, School of Politics, Philosophy, Language and Communication Studies will discuss Radio Audiences and Interactivity. Before we can create content for media audiences we need to understand them and their needs. To serve those audiences we need to understand who they are and what they are interested in. In this session we will learn about different UK radio audiences, and we’ll come up with ideas for factual programmes. We’ll also look at how audiences interact with programme producers to co-create content and build a sense of ownership, identity and affinity. 

insight4me is a series of subject specific webinars for Year 12 & 13 students, and equivalent. The sessions directly support students’ current studies by giving an insight into particular curriculum areas whilst affording an understanding of how these subjects continue beyond A-levels, T-levels, IB, BTEC and equivalent qualifications, and how they vary between universities.

In this insight4me Media Studies online event for schools and colleges, University of East Anglia and University of Surrey will each have roughly 30 minutes to deliver a punchy, topic based ‘micro’ talk. Within an overall session theme of Media Audiences – Involvement & Production by Audience, the universities have the freedom to choose their own focus and use the time to convey the key points of the case studies for the students.

Our events are designed so that a group of students can take part from a classroom or students and teachers can take part as individuals, either from school or from home. This means that sessions will continue irrespective of possible school closures.

As a live, participative event, this session will not be recorded but slides and other resources will be shared after the event, where available.

Suitable for: Year 12 & 13 students (and equivalent) studying, or with a possible interest in studying, Media Studies and related disciplines. Student groups, and individual students and teachers are very welcome to join us.

Preparation/Pre-Reading: Students may wish to consider the 2 topics and discuss some of the key elements in advance. Students can also think about questions they have about studying Media Studies at university level.

The IT Setup: The event will be run on Bluejeans (similar to Zoom) and participants will be able to join using laptops, tablets, and mobile devices. If you are joining as a school group, we recommend connecting with one device and projecting on to a whiteboard. You will be able to interact with the university via a microphone and/or typed comments and questions. Full details will be sent to those who have registered (see below) prior to the event.

Booking a Place: This is free for schools and colleges. If you would like to take part in this event, please register your interest using the link to the registration form below: