Personal media use & production diary
Name: Merry McDonnell
Student number: s4285498
Introduction:
This is the
very first assessment of Introduction to Journalism - a diary documenting my
personal media use.
Over the period
of 10 days, I have recorded my interaction with different forms of media. This recording
has included my interests in broadcast, print and Internet media. This post
will analyse the results of my media diary. The media outlets will be organized
into categories:
- ·
‘News
& Journalism’;
- ·
‘Communication’;
and
- ·
‘Entertainment’.
‘News and
Journalism’ will fundamentally include broadcast and print media.
‘Communication’ will include situations where I am able to communicate with
others and vice versa. Finally ‘Entertainment’ will include media outlets that
I typically use for entertainment purposes only. Although these categories
cross over frequently and share media outlets (i.e. all three categories are
available via the internet), I believe that the organisation is useful and
clear.
Findings:
Over the course
of the 10-day recording period, I had spent a total of 54 hours and 15 minutes
using media outlets. The extent of this use was very surprising to me as the
total number of hours is over 2 full days of constant media usage. Although I
used a great deal of this media as forms of entertainment and socialising, the
total quantum of time I had devoted to media use was shocking.
Throughout this
post, I will be comparing my media usage results with a media survey taken by
all students in 1111 Introduction to Journalism and Communication.
News & Journalism
My use of this
category of media was surprisingly small. Only 11% of my media use was related
to broadcast and print news. Of this 11%, the largest proportion (33% was spent
listening to the radio), with 5 % of my overall media usage being radio
related. Just over one-half (54 %)
of my 1111 class also listens to the radio for less than an hour on a daily
basis and most (83%) of these students listen while in the car. My radio use is
typical of my student peers.
Overall, my use
of online newspapers was lower than my 1111 class peers. The news website News.com, the U.Q. Library
website and podcasts each accounted for 2% of my overall media usage. I did not
use online newspapers during the diary period (i.e. recording 0% usage of
online newspapers). This is well below the average of my student peers, with 69%
of 1111 students indicating that they had received their news via online newspapers.
This is supported by 41% of 1111 students stating that they read news online,
while I spent less than 2% of my media usage reading news online.
My use of
podcasts is also below the average expressed by 1111 students. A small
proportion (6%) of 1111 students claimed to have spent the majority of their
online time downloading podcasts.
Personally, I have spent less than 2% of my media usage doing the same. Furthermore,
my use of the U.Q. library website
was only for university readings.
Finally my use
of newspapers/magazines was only 1% of my overall media consumption. I recalled
having read one article in the Women’s
Weekly. It was, however, interesting. This is below the 1111 student average
with 52% of 1111 students claiming to receive their news updates via hard copy newspapers.
News and Journalism Pie Graph
Communication
Compared to
other categories, my use of the media communication category was significant,
with one-quarter (25 %) of my overall media usage related to communicating.
This included acting as a recipient or sender in formats that were either (intended)
private or non-private.
A small
proportion (12 %) of my overall media consumption was focused on the
non-private, interpersonal website Facebook.
Disregarding Facebook, my Internet
related media (i.e. online news) accounts for only 4% of my overall media usage.
Considering 12 % is my highest percentage regarding online media, I fit in well
with the 92% of 1111 students who claim to spend most of their online time
visiting the Facebook site.
Furthermore, I
am like the other 95% of 1111 students who have a Facebook account. Additionally, similar to 95% of 1111 students, I
too use the Smart Phone Facebook application.
Finally, the
key way in which I differ from my 1111 student peers is that 48% of 1111
students claim to receive their news via Facebook.
As I use Facebook for communicating
to people I know for leisure purposes, I would not say that I am part of this
group.
All of my other
uses of media communication were comparatively small. My use of the
non-private, interpersonal website U.Q.
blackboard accounting for 6% of my overall media usage while my use of the Blog, a non-private, mainly sender
(myself) only communicating website, accounted for 4%.
Regarding use
of Blogs, I differ substantially to
the majority of my 1111 student peers.
Of these students, about one-third (33%) of 1111 students spend most of
their online time reading the Blogs
of others, whilst I do not. Furthermore, most (59%) of 1111 students at the
time of taking the media survey did not have a Blog. Unlike these students, I
already had one Blog, in line with
the 41% of 1111 students who also blog.
My use of the
(intended) private, sender/recipient functioning U.Q. email accounted for 2% of my overall media usage. This is in
marked difference to the 53% of 1111 students who claimed to spend most of
their online time focused on emailing. I would say I am below this average as I
spend very little time viewing and sending emails.
I do not
actively use Twitter or Skype and neither were used during the
diary period. Similar to about 90% of 1111 students, I do not spend most of my
online time using Twitter. In contrast
to most (80%) of 1111 students, I use the Smart Phone Twitter application. Furthermore, in line with most (88%) 1111
students, I do not receive my news via Twitter.
However, at the time of gathering data for the media survey, unlike most (68% 1111
students, I only had one Twitter
account. In line with the feedback from most (75%) 1111 students, I did not
spend most of my online time using Skype. This evidence shows that I mostly rely
on the Facebook and Email media outlets for communicating.
Communication Pie Graph
Entertainment
My use of the entertainment
media category was the largest, with a majority (61%) of my media usage related
to entertainment. This includes my using media for mostly relaxation or
enjoyment purposes.
The largest
proportion (30%) of my overall media consumption was watching television. The
majority (30%) of 1111 students (myself included) watch television for 1-2
hours per day. On average, I watched 1.6 hours of television per day during the
10-day period, which is inline with the viewing habits of my peers. The
majority of my television viewing was spent watching non-news related shows, although
a large portion of my television viewing was related to morning and evening
news and this is inline with other 1111 students – 71% of whom receive their
news in this way. Furthermore, differing to my peers, I do not watch television
programs/shows online (which is done by 37% of 1111 students).
Other
entertainment media use included:
·
12 %
of my media use was watching movies
·
9% was
spent reading novels and using smart phone applications (music).
Like other 1111
students (44%), I too have an Internet enabled smart phone. I use my Iphone
mostly to listen to music, although the Iphone is fundamentally for
communication. Most (89%) 1111 students listen to music using their smart phone
or iPod.
Entertainment Pie Graph
Conclusion
Overall, the
experience of reviewing my media and production diary has been eye opening.
While I was surprised by the overall quantum of time I spent using media, I did
not realise how little time I spent reviewing information from the more respectable
news outlets and sources. I have, however, not been surprised regarding the
amount of attention Facebook and smart phones both receive from my peers
and myself.
Reference: Dr
Bruce Redman – 2012 – Media survey - http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/MPHPL7K
Appendix A – Media diary
