Category: Audience/Reception Studies
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Overview of Media Theories
This list was created in 2008 to help both my research and some writings I did with Brenda Dervin. If you find this useful, I also suggest checking out other work I did from that time period on conceptualizing audiences. 1) THEORY NAME: Diffusion of innovation TENETS: Distribution of innovative media products into society and…
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Why Is Sense-Making Methodology Methodological?
This is from a class paper I wrote for Brenda Dervin in 2006 at Ohio State University. The most efficient and useful way I can conceive of answering this question is by exploring it in relation to my phenomenon of interest, fandom. Fandom has been studied using both quantitative and qualitative methodologies, as a…
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Transjective Media Studies and Reciprocal Determinism
Yep, that’s right — I’m being one of those academics. Engaging in neologisms to make a name for myself. But what I am working through here is an idea for a book project, and I’d love peoples’ comments to help me to do so. Redefining Media Studies A medium is a technology for the storage,…
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Meet the PWSJ and PCSJ
The Professional Wrestling Studies Association announces the first issue of the Professional Wrestling Studies Journal from editor Matt Foy. This online, open access journal can be reached at https://www.prowrestlingstudies.org/professional-wrestling-studies-journal. The first issue contains scholarly essays and reviews from different disciplines, all considering various aspects of professional wrestling. Issues include how professional wrestling relates to the…
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When the Rebel Heart Met the Blackheart: Slash in Professional Wrestling
NOTE: This post was originally posted on the Professional Wrestling Studies Association blog and can now be found at this link. I’ve been working on this project for awhile now, and this presentation from MPCA/ACA 2019 contains my preliminary results on slash fanfic that feature NXT wrestlers Johnny Gargano and Tommaso Ciampa. This work began…
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A Communication Toolbox for Communication Literacy
The following is an excerpt from my book Fractured Fandoms: Contentious Communication in Fan Communities. To read all of the information, you will need to get the book, either from a seller or your local library. [Do not cite this blog post as it is an abridged version of what appears in the book. All…
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Trauma and Fractured Fandom
This blog post contains my presentation at MPCA/ACA 2019 from our panel on mental health and fandom. This presentation is the first step in a deeper analysis of my fractured fandom work to understand the traumatic experiences fans expressed in their self-interviews. “fear fearfearfearfear feeling hella unsafe”: The Trauma of Fractured Fandoms As a brief…
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Gender Schematic Men and the Somatotypes They Perceive: Influences on attraction and recall
The following is the first original empirical research project that I completed for my psychology research class at UW-Madison as an undergrad. I took the class at summer and went around asking men to participate in the study about how gender schema impacts perception of the female form in advertisements, making it my first audience…
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On Representing Our Subjects/Participants/Informants/People
One final old reflection to share, that appears more questions than answers, but, as with the previous one, shows me wrestling with how do to research in a way that validly represents those that I study. These questions are both why I love to study people, but also why I understand the frustration of studying…
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On Studying the Other
Sometimes it is very useful to go back, find those old writings, and revisit them to see the trajectory of your thoughts, and how much they have matured. In this 15-year-old piece that I wrote for a class, I can see some basic ideas I still have about people (especially given my exorcism cinema work),…
It's Playing, Just With Research 