The Social Use of Media

Helena Bilandzic is professor of communication research at the University of Augsburg.Geoffroy Patriarche is professor at the Facultés Universitaires Saint-Louis, where he teaches communication, media and audience studies.Paul J. Traudt is professor of media studies at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.

• Introduction – Helena Bilandzic, Geoff Roy Patriarche and Paul J. Traudt PART I: AUDIENCE ACTIVITY AND INTERACTIVITY  Chapter 1: Mode of Action Perspective to Engagements with Social Media: Articulating Activities on the Public Platforms of Wikipedia and YouTube – Seija Ridell Chapter 2: At the Crossroads of Hermeneutic Philosophy and Reception Studies: Understanding Patterns of Cross-Media Consumption – Tereza Pavlícková Chapter 3: Cultivated Performances: What Cultivation Analysis Says about Media, Binge Drinking and Gender – Andy Ruddock Chapter 4: Motivations to Participate in an Online Violent Gaming Community: Uses and Gratifi cations in an Ethnographic Approach – María T. Soto-Sanfiel PART II: MEDIA USE AS SOCIAL AND CULTURAL PRACTICE  Chapter 5: Imagined Communities of Television Viewers: Reception Research on National and Ethnic Minority Audiences – Alexander Dhoest Chapter 6: Exploring Media Ethnography: Pop Songs, Text Messages and Lessons in a British School – Caroline Dover Chapter 7: Film Audiences in Perspective: The Social Practices of Cinema-Going – Philippe Meers and Daniel Biltereyst Chapter 8: Talking Recipients: An Integrative Model of Socio-Emotional Meta-Appraisal (SEMA) in Conversations about Media Content – Katrin Döveling and Denise Sommer Chapter 9: Parasocial Relationships: Current Directions in Theory and Method – David Giles PART III: CULTURAL, POLITICAL AND TECHNOLOGICAL PARTICIPATION  Chapter 10: From Semiotic Resistance to Civic Agency: Viewing Citizenship through the Lens of Reception Research 1973–2010 – Kim Christian Schrøder Chapter 11: For and against Participation: A Hermeneutical Approach to Participation in the Media – Lars Nyre and Brian O’Neill Chapter 12: Using the Domestication Approach for the Analysis of Diff usion and Participation Processes of New Media – Corinna Peil and Jutta Röser Chapter 13: Creating, Sharing, Interacting: Fandom in the Age of Digital Convergence and Globalized Television – Mélanie Bourdaa and Seok-Kyeong Hong-Mercier Conclusion: Exciting Moments in Audience Research: Past, Present and Future – Sonia Livingstone

It aptly covers the diversity in contemporary audience research, gathering contributions on various types of media practices, drawing upon multi-disciplinary frames and insights, both on the theoretical and empirical level. As such, a thought-provoking balance between new-fangled topics and historical reflections are united and adequately addressed. Hence, it is a recommended reading for all of us who intend to keep a finger on the pulse of audience research.