“Great Shows, Thanks to You”: From Participatory Culture to “Quality TV” in Amazon’s Pilot Season

2016 ◽  
Vol 18 (5) ◽  
pp. 441-458 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cory Barker
Keyword(s):  
Participatory Culture ◽  
Original Series ◽  
Discursive Strategies ◽  
Discursive Analysis ◽  
Development Cycle ◽  
Promotional Materials ◽  
Significant Attention

Launched in 2013, Amazon Studios’s Pilot Season reportedly offers an alternative to the conventional Hollywood development cycle by soliciting viewer feedback through short surveys and star reviews to determine which projects are developed into original series. However, while Amazon Studios publicly assures us that viewers “Call the Shots,” the company has swiftly navigated away from such participatory discourse. Through a discursive analysis of promotional materials, executive and talent interviews, and responses from trade presses and critics, this article unpacks how Amazon Studios diminished the import of viewer feedback at the first sign of significant attention from the critical community and subsequently shifted to promotional discourses centered on markers of “Quality TV.” This case ultimately demonstrates that, as discursive strategies, participatory culture and Quality TV serve distinctive functions for the industry, with the former often relegated to attention-seeking gimmick and the latter functioning as a powerful tool of legitimation.

scholarly journals COERÊNCIA ENTRE O DISCURSO INSTITUCIONAL E O DISCURSO MIDIÁTICO SOBRE A SUSTENTABILIDADEDOI: 10.5773/rgsa.v4i3.329

2010 ◽  
Vol 4 (3) ◽  
pp. 70 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ana Lúcia de A. L. Coelho ◽  
Christiane K. Godoi
Keyword(s):  
Stock Exchange ◽  
Institutional Practices ◽  
Environmental Practices ◽  
Discursive Strategies ◽  
Discursive Analysis ◽  
Beliefs And Values ◽  
The Media ◽  
Environmental Causes ◽  
Media Discourses ◽  
Sustainability Report

O discurso da sustentabilidade imiscuiu-se no jargão dos negócios e tornou-se uma palavra de ordem no âmbito organizacional. Percebe-se que a mídia também ampliou a atenção, cujos protestos e causas ambientais realizados por meio da mídia passam a ser notícias de destaque. Norteado por fundamentos da análise sociológica do discurso, o objetivo desse estudo foi analisar a coerência entre as estratégias discursivas sobre sustentabilidade, extraídas dos Relatórios de Sustentabilidade (RS) de empresas de capital aberto com ações listadas na Bolsa de Valores de São Paulo, e as práticas ambientais dessas empresas relatadas no discurso midiático. No interior dos RS, além da análise discursiva de elementos norteadores da estratégia organizacional (discursos sobre missão, visão, princípios, crenças e valores), o estudo analisou outros trechos que forneceram o contexto para a interpretação discursiva. Em contraposição ao discurso institucional, foram analisadas as práticas dessas empresas relatadas pelo discurso midiático - jornais e revistas de grande circulação no país. Evidenciaram-se diversas incoerências entre os princípios norteadores das empresas e o discurso midiático. Observou-se que os padrões e funções discursivos transmitidos pelos RS, buscando uma imagem de empresa sustentável, operam de forma ideológica, procurando legitimidade por meio da repetição. Os RS apresentam-se como discursos prescritivos propondo regras de conduta e emitindo conselhos. Trata-se de discursos brilhantes na forma, acompanhados de símbolos e pobres de idéias, no sentido pejorativo da retórica. O estudo instiga reflexões acerca do accountability institucional e midiático e entre as contradições presentes no discurso e na prática institucional no que tange à sustentabilidade. Palavras-chave:Estratégias discursivas; padrões e funções discursivos; accountability; relatório de sustentabilidade. ABSTRACT Sustainability discourse has blended in business jargon becoming a watchword in organizational field. The media has also increased attention, whose protests and environmental causes have become prominent. This study examines the coherence between discursive strategies on sustainability, extracted from Sustainability Reports (SRs) of companies listed on the Brazilian Stock Exchange – BM&FBOVESPA, and environmental practices of these companies reported in media discourse. Discursive analysis of the guiding elements of organizational strategy (mission, vision, principles, beliefs and values discourses) within the SRs and media discourses – wide circulation newspapers and magazines in Brazil were contrasted and analyzed. The results showed several inconsistencies between institutional and media discourses. Discursive patterns and functions provided by the SRs operate ideologically and seek legitimacy through repetition. SRs presented prescriptive discourses and proposed rules of conduct and advices. The institutional discourses are brilliant in form and poor in ideas. This article contributes in order to reflect on institutional and media accountability and contradictions present both in discourse and institutional practices in regard to company sustainability. Keywords: discursive strategies; institutional and media discourses; accountability; Sustainability Report (SR).

scholarly journals The status of English in the EU institutions after Brexit: A discursive analysis of selected press articles

2021 ◽  
pp. 9-25
Author(s):  
Albert Guziak
Keyword(s):  
United Kingdom ◽  
Critical Discourse Analysis ◽  
Critical Discourse ◽  
Diverse Range ◽  
Discursive Strategies ◽  
Discursive Analysis ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
The Status ◽  
Selection Of ◽  
The Eu

The aim of this article is to find out what the status of English, currently the primary working language within the EU institutions, might look like once the United Kingdom leaves the EU structures. To that end, this paper will analyse a selection of press articles. Although the manner in which the so-called Brexit will take place is still uncertain, a diverse range of opinions and prognostications on what will happen to English is being expressed publicly, taking into consideration many factors (political, sociological and purely linguistic) which may contribute to a possible scenario or scenarios. This article does not lay claim to submitting any firm or reliable vision of the future as none such exists elsewhere. This paper intends to analyze some discursive strategies employed by the authors of the articles to place the discussed subject into a discursive framework by using tools of critical discourse analysis which mainly focus on the relation of power and language.

scholarly journals The colour-line of journalism

2021 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Camilla Dindler ◽  
Bolette B. Blaagaard
Keyword(s):  
Case Studies ◽  
Racial Disparity ◽  
Boundary Work ◽  
Race And Racism ◽  
Discursive Strategies ◽  
Construction Of Knowledge ◽  
Discursive Analysis ◽  
Critical Theories

This article argues that Danish journalistic boundary producing practices and principles uphold a representation of racial disparity. Based on critical theories of race and racism in journalism and a boundary work framework, we conduct a discursive analysis of two collective case studies that encompass 56 articles and 23 Facebook posts. Focusing mainly on 1) the construction of knowledge about potential racism, 2) who are positioned as authorities on the topic of racism, and 3) who are missing among the potential actors in the stories, we identify meta-journalistic discourses and the (re)establishment of journalistic principles and practices. We conclude that journalistic norms and practices, for now, withstand the challenges posed by minority media’s call for the recognition of race as structure by applying discursive strategies of firstly rejecting racism as structure and secondly asserting principles and practices of specific kinds of objectivity, utilising, for instance, elite sources.

Doing change and continuity: age identity and the micro–macro divide

2009 ◽  
Vol 29 (6) ◽  
pp. 863-881 ◽  
Author(s):  
PIRJO NIKANDER
Keyword(s):  
Baby Boomers ◽  
Middle Ground ◽  
Discursive Psychology ◽  
Age Identity ◽  
Discursive Strategies ◽  
Discursive Analysis ◽  
Institutional Settings ◽  
Frequent Use ◽  
Analytic Intersection ◽  
Theoretical Issues

ABSTRACTThis paper is a study of the discursive management of notions of change and continuity in interview talk. It presents selected short empirical examples from interviews with 22 Finnish baby-boomers, and discusses the methodological and theoretical issues that arise. Following a review of the major approaches to the study of age identity, the analytic intersection between qualitative gerontology and discursive psychology is explored. The analysis identifies how the frequent use of a ‘provisional continuity device’ enables speakers simultaneously both to acknowledge and to distance themselves from factual notions of physical or psychological lifespan change. The key methodological argument is that the discursive analysis of age-in-interaction cannot necessarily be achieved through the myopic micro-study of discursive strategies, but rather two suggestions are made. First, it is argued that analytically-anchored and rigorous discursive gerontology that both systematically draws on and contributes to the broad field of discursive research provides a means by which to test empirically post-modern conceptualisations of age identity. Second, it is suggested that analyses of age-talk in everyday and institutional settings provide an analytical and theoretical middle-ground between the macroversusmicro or ‘microfication’ debate in gerontology.

scholarly journals FATHERS AND SONS: DISCURSIVE STRATEGIES OF NETWORK COMMUNITIES IN CONTEMPORARY RUSSIA

2020 ◽  
pp. 117-125
Author(s):  
Наталия Николаевна Козлова ◽  
Сергей Валентинович Рассадин
Keyword(s):  
Family Values ◽  
Network Resources ◽  
Community Members ◽  
Discursive Strategies ◽  
Discursive Analysis ◽  
Network Communities ◽  
Modern Family ◽  
Discursive Strategy ◽  
Fathers And Sons ◽  
Demographic Policy

Актуальность исследования определяется противоречивостью современного прочтения ряда когерентных феноменов - семьи, родительства, материнства, отцовства, детства. Объектом исследования являются дискурсы российских сетевых сообществ отцов, которые выстраиваются вокруг проблем современной семейной и демографической политики. Новизна исследования состоит в дискурсивном анализе нарратива отцовских сообществ, рассмотрении представлений участников сообществ об отцовстве как социальном феномене. Анализируя интерактивный сайт Фонда поддержки семьи и семейных ценностей «Отцовство» и его сетевые ресурсы авторы приходят к выводу, что дискурсивно отцовство рассматривается в двух планах - как условие для развития ребенка и как часть личностной сферы мужчины. По результатам исследования выявляется новая дискурсивная стратегия отцовства - модель «отца-менеджера», в рамках которой актуализируются компетенции социально активного ответственного отцовства. The relevance of the study is determined by the inconsistency of the modern interpretation of a number of coherent phenomena - family, parenting, motherhood, paternity, childhood. The object of the research is the discourses of the Russian network communities of fathers, which are built around the problems of modern family and demographic policy. The novelty of the research lies in the discursive analysis of the narrative of paternal communities, consideration of the ideas of community members about paternity as a social phenomenon. Analyzing the interactive website of the Fund for Support of Family and Family Values «Fatherhood» and its network resources, the authors come to the conclusion that discursively, paternity is viewed in two ways - as a condition for the development of a child and as a part of a man's personal sphere. According to the results of the study, a new discursive strategy of fatherhood is revealed - the «father-manager» model, within the framework of which the competences of socially active responsible fatherhood are actualized.

scholarly journals A Discursive Analysis of the Gaza Conflict of 2008-09: Provocation and Proportionality in War Reporting

2015 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Nour Shreim
Keyword(s):  
Discourse Analysis ◽  
Historical Context ◽  
Discursive Strategies ◽  
Discursive Analysis ◽  
Construction Of Meaning ◽  
The Media ◽  
Discursive Strategy ◽  
Israeli Army ◽  
War Reporting

 The paper employs an interpretative discourse analysis, to investigate the cultural ideas evoked linguistically throughout the coverage of the Gaza War of 2008-09 (Operation Cast Lead). It aims to provide a historical context to better understanding Operation Protective Edge. To allow for a comparative dimension, the paper develops two ‘frames’ of analysis that systematically look at two recurring themes and scrutinise their discursive strategies and functions in the construction of meaning and ideology. These include Provocation, which examines questions of responsibility and culpability; and Proportionality, which embraces matters of legitimacy and authority in relation to the humanitarian aspect of the war. The findings indicate that the actions of a protagonist may be deemed legitimate with regard to provocation, but illegitimate with regard to their proportionality. The peculiar circumstances of the war pushed the media in the direction of greater separation from the predominant ideologies ensued by the Israeli Army. It suggests that BBC World Service lack a coherent discursive strategy at the level of the lexical in their reporting of Gaza.  

scholarly journals Streaming ambivalence: Livestreaming and indie game development

2021 ◽  
pp. 135485652110278
Author(s):  
Felan Parker ◽  
Matthew E Perks
Keyword(s):  
Community Building ◽  
Cultural Work ◽  
Costs And Benefits ◽  
Game Development ◽  
Development Cycle ◽  
High Level ◽  
Game Developers ◽  
Time And Energy ◽  
League Of Legends ◽  
Significant Attention

Commercial game makers at all scales of production have increasingly come to incorporate livestreaming into every stage of the game development cycle. Mainstream hits like Fortnite and League of Legends owe their ongoing success in no small part to their massive uptake by streamers, and triple-A releases from major publishers can reliably expect significant attention on streaming platforms. But what about smaller, lower budget games? For independent game developers, the costs and benefits of streaming are less clear. Based on interviews with small commercial indie developers in Toronto and Montréal, this article critically examines different discourses around streaming and commercial indie games, focusing on developer perceptions of the benefits and risks of streaming and its impacts on indie game-making practices, including production, promotion, and community-building. Contrary to persistent popular myths about streaming as the key to ‘discoverability’, commercial indie game development remains a precarious form of cultural work, and indie games collectively attract only a tiny fraction of the overall audience on streaming platforms. There is a high level of uncertainty about the factors that led to a given game’s success, leaving many indie developers ambivalent about leveraging influencer attention and even as they commit significant time and energy trying to doing so.

scholarly journals From sofa to frontline: The digital mediation and domestication of warfare

2021 ◽  
pp. 175063522198956
Author(s):  
Gregory Asmolov
Keyword(s):  
Information And Communication Technologies ◽  
Culture Media ◽  
Communication Technologies ◽  
Participatory Culture ◽  
Digital Platforms ◽  
Domestic Spaces ◽  
Discursive Analysis ◽  
Internet Users ◽  
Information And Communication ◽  
Institutional Actors

Much attention has been dedicated to how digital platforms change the nature of modern conflict. However, less has been paid to how the changes in the nature of warfare affect everyday lives. This article examines how digital mediation allows a convergence of the domestic environment and the battlefield by offering new ways for participation in warfare. It contributes to the discussion of how new participatory affordances change the nature of conflicts and whether they empower users or offer institutional actors more control over users. To this end, this research explores the transformation of domestic spaces, mediated via memes, as digital artefacts of participatory culture (see Confronting the Challenges of Participatory Culture: Media Education for the 21st Century, 2009, by Henry Jenkins). Building on the notion of domestication (see Domesticating the Revolution: Information and Communication Technologies and Everyday Life, 1993, by Roger Silverstone), the article conducts a discursive analysis of memes referring to the notion of ‘sofa warfare’ – an ironic description of internet users taking part in conflict without leaving their own sofas – in the context of the Russia–Ukraine conflict.

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