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Open Access
Article
Publication date: 12 February 2020

Matthew Hanchard, Peter Merrington, Bridgette Wessels, Kathy Rogers, Michael Pidd, Simeon Yates, David Forrest, Andrew Higson, Nathan Townsend and Roderik Smits

In this article, we discuss an innovative audience research methodology developed for the AHRC-funded “Beyond the Multiplex: Audiences for Specialised Film in English Regions”…

Abstract

In this article, we discuss an innovative audience research methodology developed for the AHRC-funded “Beyond the Multiplex: Audiences for Specialised Film in English Regions” project (BtM). The project combines a computational ontology with a mixed-methods approach drawn from both the social sciences and the humanities, enabling research to be conducted both at scale and in depth, producing complex relational analyses of audiences. BtM aims to understand how we might enable a wide range of audiences to participate in a more diverse film culture, and embrace the wealth of films beyond the mainstream in order to optimise the cultural value of engaging with less familiar films. BtM collects data through a three-wave survey of film audience members’ practices, semi-structured interviews and film-elicitation groups with audience members alongside interviews with policy and industry experts, and analyses of key policy and industry documents. Bringing each of these datasets together within our ontology enables us to map relationships between them across a variety of different concerns. For instance, how cultural engagement in general relates to engagement with specialised films; how different audiences access and/or share films across different platforms and venues; how their engagement with those films enables them to make meaning and generate value; and how all of this is shaped by national and regional policy, film industry practices, and the decisions of cultural intermediaries across the fields of film production, distribution and exhibition. Alongside our analyses, the ontology enables us to produce data visualisations and a suite of analytical tools for audience development studies that stakeholders can use, ensuring the research has impact beyond the academy. This paper sets out our methodology for developing the BtM ontology, so that others may adapt it and develop their own ontologies from mixed-methods empirical data in their studies of other knowledge domains.

Details

Emerald Open Research, vol. 1 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2631-3952

Keywords

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 30 October 2019

Matthew Hanchard, Peter Merrington, Bridgette Wessels and Simeon Yates

This paper focuses on patterns of film consumption within cultural consumption more broadly to assess trends in consumerism such as eclectic consumption, individualised…

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Abstract

This paper focuses on patterns of film consumption within cultural consumption more broadly to assess trends in consumerism such as eclectic consumption, individualised consumption and omnivorous/univorous consumption and whether economic background and status feature in shaping cultural consumption. We focus on film because it is widely consumed, online and offline, and has many genres that vary in terms of perceived artistic and entertainment value. In broad terms, film is differentiated between mainstream commercially driven film such as Hollywood blockbusters, middlebrow “feel good” movies and independent arthouse and foreign language film. Our empirical statistical analysis shows that film consumers watch a wide range of genres. However, films deemed to hold artistic value such as arthouse and foreign language feature as part of broad and wide-ranging pattern of consumption of film that attracts its own dedicated consumers. Though we found that social and economic factors remain predictors of cultural consumption the overall picture is more complex than a simple direct correspondence and perceptions of other cultural forms also play a role. Those likely to consume arthouse and foreign language film consume other film genres and other cultural forms genres and those who “prefer” arthouse and foreign language film have slightly more constrained socio-economic characteristics. Overall, we find that economic and cultural factors such income, education, and wider consumption of culture are significant in patterns of film consumption.

Details

Emerald Open Research, vol. 1 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2631-3952

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 8 July 2010

Danny Budzak

This paper aims to describe the development of an online project in East London about local history.

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Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to describe the development of an online project in East London about local history.

Design/methodology/approach

The approach to the paper has been to combine the experience of building and developing a live online community of practice (around the subject of local history in East London) with both established historical theory and the emergence of self‐publishing “history from below”.

Findings

The project has revealed that the classification of history at a local level requires a detailed understanding of the theory of history, issues about classification of history, and the need to create a classification scheme that is usable in the context of user‐generated content.

Originality/value

The online project has been live for around 18 months. In this time, over 440 people have contributed almost 5,000 original posts. They have created a strong online community presence and there has been work to classify the contributions by professional and amateur historians and local people who are recording their personal memories.

Details

Aslib Proceedings, vol. 62 no. 4/5
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0001-253X

Keywords

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