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Statement of Aims The aim of this Journal is to become
a focal point for research, debate and publication on all aspects of the study
of audiences for cultural and media products and practices.
The term 'audience’ is used as widely as possible, and with no intended
theoretical attachments. It
therefore includes readers, listeners, viewers, whole body participants; and
receptive and interactive modes of engagement. In what follows, the expression 'audience research’ should be
understood as a shorthand for the gamut of kinds of experience and relationship
implied in the above. The Journal is being established on
the following key grounds: we believe that audience research, conceived this
widely, is of enormous potential importance and value, yet at present it is in
many respects under-developed and under-recognised. Even where important work has already been done, and published, audience
research struggles for recognition, while at the same time often untested claims
and assumptions about 'audiences’ are used, sometimes influentially, within
both public and academic debates. Audience research is by its very
nature complicated. It involves the
examination of the ways in which people find many different kinds of meaning and
pleasure, in response to communicative and participative processes involving the
use of symbol systems, narratives, forms of talk and knowledge, the full range
of sensory modes of experiencing and complex semiotic arrays. The people who engage in these complexes encounter them within social and
cultural environments and historical moments. And the researchers themselves inevitably belong within
intellectual, cultural and political traditions, which play roles both in the
formulation and understanding of the research process, and in how those
researched may respond to research situations. All this means that methods of research, and conceptualisations of the processes involved, are also complex. And many approaches have things of importance to contribute to our understanding. The Journal is therefore founded on a principle of welcoming contributions from different fields (at the least, all areas of media research, including new media; dramatic and performance; literary; music and dance; museums and heritage; folklore studies; and media and cultural educational practices), and different disciplinary and methodological traditions. We recognise that at least the following have had important things to say
about audiences and reception processes: sociology, psychology, anthropology,
linguistics/discourse theory, folkloristics, cultural and media studies.
We also recognise that important sectoral work has been developed in a
considerable number of areas outside the current 'mainstream’ of media
audience research: for example, museum and heritage studies; literary studies;
educational studies. Within each of
these, a range of both quantitative and qualitative methods have been usefully
developed and deployed. We also recognise that there are important traditions of research into audiences within sectors other than academia. For various purposes, governmental and para-governmental bodies have from time to time promoted research, to lay the foundation of policy-initiatives. A wide range of commercial and marketing organisations conduct audience research of different kinds as part of their operations. Public opinion polling organisations have often included elements of audience research within their work. Cultural practitioners from time to time conduct audience research in connection with their output, their venues, and their programmes. There will inevitably be from time conflicts of interest and approach between the Journal and its academic constituency, on the one hand, and other research bodies, and it is essential that the Journal retains a critical integrity. However, at the same time, it is a founding commitment of the Journal that in principle all these have much to learn from each other. At present there is hardly any dialogue between them. We want the Journal to make some contribution to developing such dialogues, although we recognise that the task is hard, and that it will undoubtedly take a long time, and many individual initiatives to enable this to happen. Given these broad objectives, the remit of Particip@tions will be to:
The Journal will seek friendly and cooperative relations with as many other Journals as possible in cognate and overlapping areas, with a view to promoting mutual awareness, dialogue and possible cross-referral of submissions as appropriate. The Journal will also seek friendly and supportive relations with other web-journals, with a view to sharing experience on effective means of development. Particip@tions actively
encourages the members of its own Board and Advisory Board to submit their work
to the Journal. However, in order
to ensure that all such work is subject to the same scrutiny as other
submissions, in these cases acceptance cannot be based on less than two reports
from experts who are not members of the Editorial Board and, wherever possible,
will include one report from a person who is a member of neither the Editorial
nor the Advisory Board. The Journal will operate as far as is
possible on the basis of email submissions (with a preference for attachments in
Word, as standard). Articles and
other materials may be submitted therefore as email attachments. Referees will normally receive submissions by this route.
Reports on submissions will normally be submitted by the same method.
Because of the centrality of this, all participants in this process are
asked to take all reasonable steps to ensure that attachments do not carry
viruses within them. The Journal will seek means other than its web publication to promote both dialogue within, and wider recognition of, this field of work. Initiatives may include:
This page was last modified 15 May 2006 |