Learner response: OSP assessment

1) Type up your feedback in full (you don't need to write the mark and grade if you want to keep this confidential).

WWW: Good well structured approach to the questions.

EBI: Lacks detailed examples from the OSPs or enough named theorists.


2) Read the whole mark scheme for this assessment carefully. Identify five specific aspects from Figure 1 (the Google Home advert) that you could have mentioned in your answer (e.g. selection of image, framing and focus, colour, text etc.)

• Talk about colour (browns, oranges, sunlight from left hand side creates a warmth feelings)
• Talk about google being represented as unthreatening, safe and a natural part of middle-class family.
• Reinforces white, western, middle-class representation of family life
• Repetition of the word home may make audiences feel unsafe where multinational capitalist giants like Google can find them anywhere.
• Some audiences may reject the stereotypical gender roles with the mother playing with 2 kids at home where the father is not in shot (presumably at work)

3) Now use the mark scheme to identify three potential points that you could have made in your essay for Question 2 (Hesmondhalgh - narrow range of values and ideologies).

• Talk about the relationship between recent technological change and dominant ideologies in teh digital media landscape.
• Teen Vogue also replicates a lot of the mainstream hegemonic values and ideologies found in the magazine.
• Teen Vogue is owned by Conde Nast but still release stories about Capitalism which may suggest Teen Vogue being hypocritical.

4) Use your exam response, the mark scheme and any other resources you wish to use to write a detailed essay plan for Question 2. Make sure you are planning at least five well-developed paragraphs in addition to an introduction and conclusion.

Intro:

• Make a choice, yes they do or no they don't.
• Talk about the industry, the role of the cultural industries in society and the effects media products can impact on audiences.
• Link recent technological change and media production, distribution and circulation.

Para 1:

• Talk about the relationship between recent technological change and dominant ideologies in the digital media landscape.
• The different values and ideologies are constructed through different media products.

Para 2:

• Teen Vogue focus
• Clay Shirky 'End of Audience'
• Audiences are now producers
• Include some of the stories from Teen Vogue that support the above bullet point

Para 3:

• The other side of the argument
• Teen Vogue still reinforce many of the mainstream hegemonic values and ideologies
• This includes things such as conforming to the traditional eurocentric beauty standards
• Teen Vogue being hypocritical by talking about capitalism yet they are owned by Conde Nast which is a major global media conglomerate.

Para 4:

• The Voice gives audiences specifically black British perspectives of news in the UK.
• Mention some stories that that show the black British news
• This goes against the given statement of the cultural industries having a narrow range of values and ideologies

Para 5:

• The Voice should be successful since they offer a completely different perspective compared to mainstream news
• The lack of presentation of their website (includes design and grammar)
• Add in theorists like Paul Gilroy

Conclusion:

• Revert back to opinion
• Brief explanation as to why you believe so

5) Finally, identify three key areas you plan to revise from the OSP unit (CSP aspects or theories) having looked at your feedback from this assessment.

• Theorists
• Theories
• More research into the actual content of Teen Vogue and The Voice

Videogames: Introduction - Women in videogames

Women and videogames: blog tasks

Work through the following blog tasks to complete this introduction to women in videogames.

Part 1: Medium article - Is Female Representation in Video Games Finally Changing?

Read this Medium feature on whether female representation in videogames is finally changing. Answer the following questions:

1) How have women traditionally been represented in videogames?

• Women have been presented a submissive and weak character. They tend to be sexually objectified and end up needing to be saved by a male protagonist.

2) What percentage of the video game audience is female?

47% of the video game audiences are females.


3) What recent games have signalled a change in the industry and what qualities do the female protagonists offer?

• Tomb Raider
• Mirror's Edge
•  Uncharted

These games start to show a better realistic representation of females. This includes the addition of different looks, different personalities and different abilities.


4) Do you agree with the idea that audiences reject media products if they feel they are misrepresented within them?

I believe that this can be seen as true but only to a certain extent. Yes I believe that all audiences end up choosing what they want to look for in a video game whereas some players don't really think about the different representations and just want to play a ton of games. These audiences probably would not end up rejecting these media products because they do not focus on the representation of the characters but more of the aesthetic of the animation of the games.


5) What does the writer suggest has changed regarding recent versions of Lara Croft and who does she credit for this development?

Brianna Wu’s 2015 article in Polygon details how Crystal Dynamics saved Lara Croft by making some big changes in the reboot Tomb Raider (2013) and its sequel Rise of the Tomb Raider (2015). Rhianna Pratchett was hired who was very familiar with working on games which included complex female protagonists. Pratchett decided to create a protagonist in which players were able to identify with.


Part 2: Tropes vs Women in Video Games – further analysis

Visit Anita Sarkeesian’s ‘Tropes vs Women in Video Games Series 2’ YouTube playlist and watch ONE other video in the series (your choice - and feel free to choose a video from season 1 if you prefer). Write a 100 word summary of the video you watch:

Title of video:

100 word summary:

Sword and Sorcery has aspects that can be linked with the game called Legend of Zelda games. The games aim is to collect pieces of the Triforce. This quest became quite well known within the gaming community, specifically in the adventure/fantasy genre of games. The main character of this game is a female who is not overly sexualised and neither is weak and needs saving from a male protagonist. This subverts the female gender stereotype of always needing to be saved and the association of being weak. This shows audiences that female characters are able to do exactly what male characters can do in games too.


Part 3: Anita Sarkeesian Gamespot interview

Finally, read this Gamespot interview with Anita Sarkeesian of Feminist Frequency and answer the following questions:

1) What reaction did Anita Sarkeesian receive when she published her videos on women in videogames? You can find more information on this on Sarkeesian’s Kickstarter fundraising page.

People were outraged and constantly sent her a range of threats including death threats, sexual assault/ rape threats and death threats.


2) How does Sarkeesian summarise feminism?

She says that "feminism is the radical notion that women are human beings." and that "it's really about working towards the equal treatment of women socially, culturally, institutionally, and economically."


3) Why do stories matter?

Stories allow audiences to learn new things and these new things will affect someone's life directly or indirectly. By having a positive stories, it could possibly have a positive impact on the audience themselves.


4) How does Sarkeesian view Samus Aran and Lara Croft (the two protagonists from our upcoming CSPs)?

She says that:

• Lara Croft will always be sexualised and objectified in order to attract a strictly male audience.
• At first, she was happy to find out that Samus Aran was a female character which later on revealing that her female traits were only there as a reward rather than a normalised thing.

5) How has the videogame landscape changed with regards to the representation of women?

The evolution of female characters in games have not moved on very much and has arguably gotten worse. Most of modern day games have a default for what female characters should be like and game creators stick by these guidelines and change has yet to come in.


6) Why are Mirror’s Edge and Portal held up as examples of more progressive representations of women?

Mirror's Edge and Portal show a more positive representation showing stronger female characters who can hold their own without making them overly sexualised.


7) What are the qualities that Sarkeesian lists for developers to work on creating more positive female characters?

• Protagonists with agency not tied directly to their sex appeal
• Transformative story arcs
• Some emotional depth and expression

8) What is the impact of the videogames industry being male-dominated?

Since the videogames industry is dominated by males, the male gaze can be clearly brought into this. Females characters will be made to look sexualised while male characters would be made to look big, muscular and strong.


9) What did Sarkeesian hope to achieve through her ‘Tropes vs Women in Video Games’ series?

She wanted to make people aware of the fact that damaging stereotypes and representations of females are constantly appearing in the video game industry which is one of the largest current industry which is still growing at a rapid rate especially with the advancement of technology.


10) What media debates did Sarkeesian hope to spark with her video series?

She wanted a debate on the way females are presented in video games.

OSP: Final index

1) OSP: Clay Shirky - End of Audience blog tasks
2) OSP: Teen Vogue - background and textual analysis
3) OSP: Teen Vogue - audience and representation
4) Baseline Assessment learner response
5) OSP: Teen Vogue - industry and social media
6) OSP: Hall and Gilroy - media theory
7) OSP: The Voice - blog case study
8) OSP: Teen Vogue Week 1
9) OSP: Teen Vogue Week 2
10) OSP: Teen Vogue Week 3
11) OSP: Teen Vogue Week 4
12) OSP: The Voice Week 1

13) OSP: The Voice Week 2
14) OSP: The Voice Week 3
15) OSP: The Voice Week 4

The Voice Week 4

This black-owned swimming cap brand is the product you need 

• This is an article in attempt to sell swimming caps to black people with 'Long and/or thick curly hair'.

• This is also a sponsor which may hint at it only being there for profit uses.

• This is still black media related as the swimming caps are for black people who tend to have thick curly hair.

• They say this cap is what can allow black African people get into swimming to keep fit in order to bring down the numbers of obesity showed in the March 2019 statistics.

Teen Vogue Week 4

The K-Pop Beginner's Guide: BTS, Girls' Generation, and More

• Teen Vogue give a small list of K-pop songs at have had a huge impact on what they believe most K-pop fans should listen to.

• This fits their values and ideologies of being diverse by talking about music from other cultures. 

• This inclusive article on Korean pop music may attract new groups of audiences to read from their magazines.

• Each named song has a bit of writing to them describing a bit about the song.

• This allows an in depth learning to be made about some of these songs.

• This is also related to modern day society as the world of K-pop has been ever-growing at a rapid speed. With more articles about K-pop, audiences can see the attempt of Teen Vogue catching up with the trends.

The voice: blog case study

Language and textual analysis

Homepage

Go to the Voice homepage and answer the following:

1) What news website key conventions can you find on the Voice homepage?

Menu section

Adverts

Social media links

Search button

2) How does the page design differ from Teen Vogue?

This is much more compact with a lot more in a small area. In order words, Teen vogue shows a much more minimalistic side.

3) What are some of the items in the top menu bar and what does this tell you about the content, values and ideologies of the Voice?

News / sports / lifestyle / entertainment / faith / opinion / video. Most of these point out as a regular modern magazine but the faith and opinion section my suggest that the values of the Voice where they really value peoples voices and their thoughts. Faith may be hinting at a religious approach as well.

4) Look at the news stories on The Voice homepage. Choose three stories and discuss how they have presented the news from an angle or perspective that reflects The Voice's role as a voice for black Britons.

Fundraiser for National Caribbean Monument Charity- Suggests the support for native Caribbeans. 

University lecturer makes list of top 50 inspirational black women- This article features gender representation aswell as black success in a way that isn't usually praised

Mental health organisation partners with Haringey Council to support families affected by crime- The importance of mental health amongst the black community.

5) How is narrative used to encourage audience engagement with the Voice? Apply narrative theories (e.g. Todorov equilibrium or Barthes’ enigma codes) and make specific reference to stories on the homepage.

Narrative is used in The Voice by using enigma codes such as "This black-owned swimming cap brand is the product you need " which entices audiences in a black British society.

Lifestyle section

Now analyse the Lifestyle section of the Voice and answer the following:

1) What are the items in the sub-menu bar for the Lifestyle section and what does this suggest about the Voice audience?

fashion & beauty, food, health & well-being, relationships and travel

The Voice audience is that of working to middle class. 

2) What are the main stories in the Lifestyle section currently?

Stories are powerful – Just ask former child soldier Michel Chikwanine

Honourees aplenty at 2019 Black Magic Awards

3) How does the Lifestyle section of the Voice differ from Teen Vogue?

The Voice focuses on niche lifestyle content that caters specifically to Black Britons whereas Teen Vogue is more all-rounded.

4) Do the sections and stories in the Voice Lifestyle section challenge or reinforce black stereotypes in British media?

The sections and stories challenge stereotypes as they praise black people as opposed to ridiculing them.

5) Choose three stories featured in the Lifestyle section – how do they reflect the values and ideologies of the Voice?

Love Island star lands £1 million fashion deal

Naomi Campbell: Driving Diversity In Fashion

Rihanna Launches Fenty In Paris

These stories reflect as they talk about successful Black people in the beauty and fashion industry.

Feature focus

1) Read this Voice news story on Grenfell tower and Doreen Lawrence. How might this story reflect the Voice’s values and ideologies? What do the comments below suggest about how readers responded to the article? Can you link this to Gilroy’s work on the ‘Black Atlantic’ identity?

The story reflects the ideologies as the article focuses on a respected black woman.

The comments suggest a disappointment of Doreen Lawerence as she is said to abuse her title as a baroness. 

2) Read/watch this Lifestyle feature about the Black Magic Awards. How do the article and video content reflect the values and ideologies of the Voice? What do you notice about the production values of the video interviews?

The feature talks about successful black people but the production values are low and of an amateur level.

3) Read this feature about the Young, Gifted and Black Awards. What does this story suggest regarding how The Voice is trying to change the representation of black people in British media? 

They change the representation by showing young successful people in the community as opposed to the stereotype of them being dangerous in the mainstream media.

Audience

1) Who do you think is the target audience for the Voice website? Consider demographics and psychographics.

Psychographics: Reformer, succeeder and an aspirer. 

 C2 (skilled manual workers. Plumbers, builders, etc) and C1 (lower middle class. Office supervisors, junior managers, nurses, clerical staff). 

2) What audience pleasures are provided by the Voice website? Apply media theory here such as Blumler and Katz (Uses & Gratifications).

They offer surveillance through their news article and lifestyle tips etc.. aswell as personal identities of people in the BAME community.

3) Give examples of content from the website that tells you this is aimed at a specialised or niche audience.

Violence Reduction Unit to invest £4.7m to cut school exclusionsCommonwealth young champion named among TIME Magazine 100 leaders of tomorrow

4) Studying the themes of politics, history and racism that feature in some of the Voice’s content, why might this resonate with the Voice’s British target audience?

The Voice's content offers the allowance of black people to be themselves without being judged like they may have been in the past such as the Brixton Riots.

5) Can you find any examples of content on the Voice website created or driven by the audience or citizen journalism? How does this reflect Clay Shirky’s work on the ‘end of audience’ and the era of ‘mass amateurisation’?

Football: Should England walk off over racist abuse?"

This gives the opportunity for audiences to vote for themselves for topics in the mainstream media. 

Clay Shirky would suggest that this is an example of audiences becoming their own publishers- End of Audience.

Representations

1) How is the audience positioned to respond to representations in the Voice website?

They are positioned to support and praise The Voice for their efforts and representations.

2) Are representations in the Voice an example of Gilroy’s concept of “double consciousness” NOT applying? Why?

The voice subverts "double consciousness" by making the articles personal to a black British audience. 

3) What kind of black British identity is promoted on the Voice website? Can you find any examples of Gilroy’s “liquidity of culture” or “unruly multiculturalism” here?

The identity of an African or Carribean person living in Britain.

The adverts offer topics that link to people form these certain countries.

4) Applying Stuart Hall’s constructivist approach to representations, how might different audiences interpret the representations of black Britons in the Voice?

Dominant- The support and praise of black Britons.

Negotiated- A positive representation of Black people that may be too superficial.

Oppositional- Viewing the website as 'black supremacist' 

5) Do you notice any other interesting representations in the Voice website? For example, representations or people, places or groups (e.g. gender, age, Britishness, other countries etc.)

The representations of all ages in the content are very universal to every age and situation to a black Briton. 

Industries

1) Read this Guardian report on the death of the original founder of the Voice. What does this tell you about the original values and ideologies behind the Voice brand? 

They value the voice of Black people as they don't get enough coverage.

2) Read this history of the Voice’s rivals and the struggles the Voice faced back in 2001. What issues raised in the article are still relevant today? 

Being equal with everyone else/ The print sales fall/ The fall of circulating

3) The Voice is now published by GV Media Group, a subsidiary of the Jamaican Gleaner company. What other media brands do the Gleaner company own and why might they be interested in owning the Voice? You'll need to research this using Google/Wikipedia.

Voice UK, The Star, Go-Jamaica are all also owned by Gleaner company. This may be they are all magazines that publish Black media coverage.

4) How does the Voice website make money? What is your opinion of the 'asking for donations' approach that The Voice is now using?

They make their money through being sponsored by different companies for adverts to put on the website. Their current way of asking for money makes them seem a bit desperate which may damage some of their reputation.

5) What adverts or promotions can you find on the Voice website? Are the adverts based on the user’s ‘cookies’ or fixed adverts? What do these adverts tell you about the level of technology and sophistication of the Voice’s website?

Adverts such as the ultimate events guide advert is fixed adverts. Being a fixed advert seems outdated unlike the user cookies based advertising that most modern companies now use.

6) Is there an element of public service to the Voice’s role in British media or is it simply a vehicle to make profit?

I believe that this is simply a vehicle to make profit but there is an element of PSB in there.

7) What examples of technological convergence can you find on the Voice website – e.g. video or audio content? 

One example of digital convergence is the use of social media links that are put onto the website.

8) How has the growth of digital distribution through the internet changed the potential for niche products like the Voice?

Even though the digital distribution has changed over the years, people have yet to spend more time conversing with niche media products as seen by the struggles of The Voices struggles.

9) Analyse the Voice’s Twitter feed. How does this contrast with other Twitter feeds you have studied (such as MailOnline or Teen Vogue)? Are there examples of ‘clickbait’ or does the Voice have a different feel?

With the focus on specifically Black British news makes their tweets unique and niche compared to other mainstream twitter posts we see.

10) Study a selection of videos from the Voice’s YouTube channel. How does this content differ from Teen Vogue? What are the production values of their video content?

The difference in quality between the two are very visible. This could be because of the different budgeting numbers both sides have. Teen Vogue being a more mass magazine with higher budgets can afford to spend more into the video aspects of their online presence, whereas the voice as a niche magazine with small budgets can only do so much to not risk losing money and being unable to survive.