In a recent study of the Tampa (Florida) market, TRAC Media Services acquired some interesting information about the market's response to its two public television stations. WEDU is a VHF-signal community station that reaches about 745,000 households in a week, and WUSF is a university-licensed UHF station that reaches about 547,000. Month-long…

If the arts are an essential means for cultural expression, then the study of arts participation is central to the understanding of U.S. culture and its evolution. This document aims to provide an understanding of arts participation at the national and local levels. To this end, the historical development of arts research is summarized and an…

A study examined how college students watch television: Are there gender differences in how students watch? Is watching a form of socialization or a means of escape and diversion? Is there a relationship between students' GPA and the number of hours they spend watching television? Subjects were 379 full-time undergraduates--half of whom were male…

The uses and gratifications paradigm, like the initial conceptions of media effects, can be viewed as a compatible elaboration of contemporary social and political theory. The fundamental assumptions of the uses and gratifications approach, particularly the assumptions regarding the nature and extent of audience activity and the ability of the…

While the capacity to recognize and appreciate beauty may be inborn in all of us, participation in the arts as an audience or artist usually involves a learning process. What is the relationship between childhood and early adult experiences with the arts and later participation? In 1982, with funding from the National Endowment for the Arts, the…

A case can be made for teachers to use audience-oriented teaching strategies that encourage children to write for a wide range of readers. Even so, questions remain about how writers, especially student writers, actually learn to consider an audience of readers when they write. Research suggests that a developmental trend exists in which children…

A study examined how well existing audience theory fits what really happens when writers write on the job. This ethnographic study focused on the process of revising one chapter from a guide to the DOS computer operating system designed for use by novices as well as intermediate and skilled users. Preliminary findings confirmed much of audience…

Presents a qualitative methodology employing workshop sessions for studying audience assessment of the mass media's service to the public. Finds that viewers are capable of a sophisticated critique of television, and raises implications both for the politics of communication and for further reception studies. (MG)

Presents a case study of a conversational storytelling in which a recipient redirects an ongoing storytelling. Finds that storytelling may be a way of accomplishing interpersonal activities, both for teller and recipients, and that the recipient can be an active participant in the storytelling. (MS)

Asserts that role-playing peer-response groups provide effective feedback and help students develop a sense of the characteristics of a particular audience. Illustrates with a sample lesson (a college application essay) by outlining five steps of the process. Offers other uses of the role-playing peer-response groups method. (PRA)

This article examines a performance event, "Life is Perfect," by Paul+a (Paul Jeff and Sarah Dowling), which took place on 2 October 2004 over a period of 24 hours at The Peterstone Court Hotel in mid-Wales. The site of this work was then revisited by TRAWS (The Inter-University research group for Performance in Wales) as part of an…

Aiming for experiences that are both culturally responsible and personally meaningful, the author offers guidelines to help museum educators and art teachers negotiate contextual information within group investigations of works of art. In people's encounters with art, dialogue exists on several levels. There is dialogue between a viewer and a…

A great deal of research has now established that written texts embody interactions between writers and readers, but few studies have examined the ways that small acts of reformulation and exemplification help contribute to this. Abstraction, theorisation and interpretation need to be woven into a text which makes sense to a particular community…

Recently, many new and veteran authors have begun creating modern vampires that are seducing readers with their tales of mystery, suspense, and hunger. Their audiences span most age groups, but teens especially seem to be drawn to these books. As such, librarians must develop a better understanding of which vampire stories really stand out. In…

In this article, an interview with Muslim author Mohja Kahf is presented. Kahf is the author of the novel "The Girl in the Tangerine Scarf" and "Emails from Scheherazad." During the interview, Kahf talked about how her religion has become the foremost factor in bringing her to her voice. She also related how she became dismayed with Islam being…