Class Publics and Audiences

CU to address the concepts of public and audience and meet the various theories about the media and public reception.

Not applicable

I.         Introduction to the Public: Public Opinion and publics    II. PUBLICS AND AUDIENCES 1. Perspectives on the conceptualisation of publics and audiences.  2. Historical perspective(s) and the scope of the field - authors, methodologies and connections. 3. Developments within the Birmingham School and Cultural Studies. 4. Contexts of reception and participation. 5. Generational perspectives.  6. The invisible and the emerging.   II. AUDIENCES AND INFORMATION 1. Journalism(s) and the challenges of the new millennium. 2. A changing ecosystem.   III. THE DIGITAL AGE: HOW AUDIENCES (SURVIVE) 1. Social media, (persuasive) algorithms and AI. 2. Audiences and agency? 3. Datafication and design as elements of segmentation. 4. Dilemmas and the future.

Classes will be divided between theory and the resolution of practical exercises to analyze publics and audiences.

Babo, I. (2015). Espectadores e públicos activos. Vega: Lisboa.  Bourdieu, P. (2003). A Opinião Pública Não Existe. In Questões de Sociologia (pp. 233-245). Lisboa: Fim de Século. Brites, M. J. (2026). Rethinking news disengagement: Epistemic disconnection from news. Media, Culture & Society, 48(5), 1054-1066. https://doi.org/10.1177/01634437261433208 Das, R., & Ytre-Arne, B. (2018). A New Crossroads for Audiences and Audience Research: Frameworks for a Foresight Exercise. In R. Das & B. Ytre-Arne (Eds.), The Future of Audiences: A Foresight Analysis of Interfaces and Engagement. Palgrave. Dewey, J. (1927). The public and its problems. Alan Swallow.  Mathieu, D., & Vengerfeldt, P. P. (2020). The Data loop of media and audience: How audiences and media actors make datafication work. MedieKultur: Journal of Media and Communication Research, 36(69), 116-138.