Our world is full of monsters, some physical beings who reside in societies all across the world, others imaginary. Nevertheless, both are not far fetched from societal fears, desires or cultural unease. Whatever form, those faced with the word ‘monster’ tend to base it on their understanding of what does or what does not qualify as monstrous. Qualifying monsters and their roots of meaning and existence can be difficult. The monster is the enemy in the eyes of nature. It jeopardises the whole idea of nature, tradition, and normality. This idea has become a growing fascination to pop culture as the monstrous testifies to our continued desire to explore difference and prohibition.

–

The Twilight saga began as a collection of “Young adult” fantasy novels (2005), turned film series (2008) written by Stephen Meyer. Twilight’s two main protagonists throughout the whole series include 17-year-old Isabella (Bella) Swan and a 107-year-old vampire Edward Cullen who is frozen in his 17-year-old body. At first glance, the pilot Twilight movie seems like another ‘coming of age or ‘damsel in distress’ high school love story. However – although it is a forbidden love story – let’s not forget that Edward and his family are bloodthirsty vampires. Having said that, the film sagas can be alternatively pictured as themes of posthuman desires, humanising the dead and human inferiority to vampires, all of which coincided with anxieties and fear of the world’s rapidly developing technological economies and the worries of approaching new age. Twilight is a film that portrays an abnormal desire that crosses species lines and then embraces that desire within its ideological framework.

Edward Cullen’s vampire body combines fear, want, anxiety, and fantasy, giving him life and independence. This idea is linked to the theme of posthumanism and how it has become desired within these films. The classical vampire is between life and death, animal and human and so forth (Mondal, 2016). This is not static within the Twilight films, rather than stake out a third terrain, the vampires continually cross and trouble the existing category boundaries. It’s interesting to understand Meyer’s approach when curating these vampires, as they adopt a docile approach and ‘hide’ their vampire characteristics but project human qualities like attending school, engaging and participating within society and living in homes, unlike the stereotypical coffins, ultimately humanising the vampires. Yet is still very recognisable that through the posthumanist perspective, humans are not as exceptional or superior as vampires which can be seen through the projected attributes of super strength, lightning speed, mind and future reading. 

Jeffery Jerome Cohen composed a seven-theses essay called “Monster Culture” to help explain the “formation of contemporary monster theory” (Cohen, 1964). Cohen’s essay analyses many aspects of culture in society and the human condition by depicting them as monsters from various cultural times and places. The monster is multifaceted, unique, and ever-changing. 

Thesis II: The monster always escapes; this translates to how vampires return in different forms, revealing things about the culture that made them, which is prevalent within the Saga. This can be noticed within the ‘Volturi fight scene’ from the second film of the series Twilight: the new moon. The Volturi – the eldest, largest, most powerful coven of vampires who enforce the laws of the vampire world – held onto their favourite intimidating attire from the various eras they lived through inclusive of the 17th and 18th-century styles. However, the Cullen family dress to the society and era they live in, helping create human characteristics like individuality and an informal feel emphasizing their personalities.

When thinking of a monster, the majority would probably think of characteristics including grotesque, inhumane and most likely larger than a human being.  Nevertheless, in Twilight Edward is described as possessing impossible beauty characterised by pale skin. His skin sparkles in the sunlight; his body is as solid, perfectly carved, and smooth as a marble statue. Edward looks no less than the average teenager that attends the same high school. This resists the stereotypical vampire and paves a way for a new era of domesticated monsters. 

The Twilight Saga’s are films that endorse a posthumanist perspective through the desires of a forbidden love story between Bella and Edward. Edward as a vampire is standardized as a hostile creature who preys on the mortals, yet within the film, he accommodates human emotion and feeling toward Bella. This rectifies his bloodthirsty stereotype, creating a blurred line between human-vampire interaction. Notably, the irony of humanising the vampires throughout the film and hiding their superhuman mental and physical capabilities explores the boundaries of how society outcasts anything outside the norms. 

References 

1. Cohen, J. and Andrew, J., 2020. The Monster Theory Reader. [online] Google Books. Available at: <https://books.google.com.au/books?hl=en&lr=&id=VC_IDwAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PT6&dq=monster+theory&ots=9F0uwdvCy5&sig=gs7xcdz9ED-ncaepV4qSRrQvDf8#v=onepage&q=monster%20theory&f=false&gt; [Accessed 22 April 2022].
2. Fetters, A., 2012. At Its Core, the ‘Twilight’ Saga Is a Story About ________. [online] The Atlantic. Available at: <https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2012/11/at-its-core-the-twilight-saga-is-a-story-about/265328/&gt; [Accessed 27 March 2022].
3. Koenig-Woodyard, C., 2017. &quot;Lovie – is the vampire so bad?&quot;: Posthuman Rhetoric in Richard Matheson’s I am Legend. [online] Academia.edu. Available at: <https://www.academia.edu/40221109/_Lovie_is_the_vampire_so_bad_Posthuman_Rhetoric_in_Richard_Matheson_s_I_am_Legend&gt; [Accessed 27 March 2022].
4. Mondal, A., 2016. REPRESENTATION OF POSTHUMAN DESIRE IN STEPHENIE MEYER’S THE TWILIGHT SAGA | Ashvamegh Indian Journal of English Literature. [online] Ashvamegh Indian Journal of English Literature. Available at: <https://ashvamegh.net/representation-of-posthuman-desires-twilight-saga-stephenie-mayer/&gt; [Accessed 27 April 2022].
5. Ross, R., 2021. The Cultural Impact of Twilight. [online] The Monitor. Available at: <https://themonitormmc.com/1945/opinion/the-cultural-impact-of-twilight/&gt; [Accessed 25 April 2022].

Over the course of the last semester of BCM241, I was able to ideate, develop and grow my digital artefact of my chosen media niche of podcast’s – in particular ‘Its a lot’ pod hosted by Abbie Chatfield. 

Throughout the entirety of this semester and the research collected and dissected – as mentioned within previous blog posts – Lazarrfelds and Katz influencer theory was also at the centre of drawing my conclusions. This is due to the understanding of “…messages from the media may be further mediated by informal “opinion leaders” who intercept, interpret, and diffuse what they see and hear to the personal networks in which they are embedded” meaning that Abbie’s podcast being majority feminism pods and political opinions can create a divide and conflict within her audience and niche. 

To kick off my DA I defined and explored my niche. The term media niche often refers to a source of media that targets the needs of a specific audience (Moore, 2021). In this situation, it was clear that the media source connected to my research was, of course, available in the realm of social media. To determine which platform I would use, it was necessary to investigate where many individuals tend to feel the freest to comment and express their opinions, which may sound like any social media platform. But after thoroughly examining each platform Abbie utilised, I discovered her TikTok space was the media she received the most feedback and comments on – so TikTok became my choice of media outlet.

To provide an insight into the platform, TikTok, created in 2016 (formerly Music.ly) is a social media app for creating and sharing short videos. You can create and share short lip-sync, comedy and talent videos of 3 seconds to 1 minute. You can also create short looping videos up to 60 seconds to 3 minutes long (TikTok (formerly Musical.ly), n.d.). 

After identifying my niche my persona was next on the agenda. “A persona is a model of a user that focuses on the individual’s goals when using an artefact” (Blomkvist, 2002). Meaning that a persona represents patterns of users’ behaviour, goals and motives, compiled in a fictional description of a single individual, in order to make the persona more tangible and alive (Blomkvist, 2002). 

The persona I developed throughout my digital artefact really utilised the second dimension of ‘Mediatisation’. This is evident through my use of hashtags within my content posted to try and generate more interaction as well as gain a larger audience base. This expression of self is assembled through the use of communication inclusive of hashtags, comments and language used. 

Subsequently, one of the corroborating aims of developing my online persona was to explore the reactions of members of the niche through participant observation. Researching the audience’s reactions to specific videos and podcasts of Abbie’s channel helped guide my persona and content in the right direction in order to create interaction to help develop and dissect my research further. Ensuring my TikTok’s were consistent in terms of language and up to date podcats, presented my audience with a ‘real’ and authentic persona which helps tie into the dimension of performativity. 

As a result, this DA was carried out using an autoethnographic research technique. Autoethnography is defined as a study method that tries to investigate one’s own experience in order to better comprehend a larger cultural experience (Moore, 2021). I engaged in participant observation through reading and understanding comments and reviews within Abbie’s channels to help me gain a greater understanding of the audience’s reactions to her podcasts and videos – all of which were sourced in an ethical way. Through this observational research, I was able to develop and expand on my epiphanies. This was heavily linked to my paradigmatic framework of feminism, as I have been able to use my participant involvement within the media niche and take notes on which ideas the public domain primarily rely on the perceptions and attitudes of an influencer and as well as the reactions of audience members to these ideas. 

Additionally, Participating as an audience member in my own DA material and then reflecting on my observations on the wider culture of my audience allowed me to critically develop content that retains the interest of the audience. My goal was to create a DA that positioned itself in front of its intended audience by learning why some social media topics seem to capture the audience more than others, and what aspects keep them coming back. Connecting with my audience as a creator as well as a member of my DA enabled me to develop creative original content for its obvious media niche.

References: 

1. esaftey commissioner. n.d. TikTok (formerly Musical.ly). [online] Available at: <https://www.esafety.gov.au/key-issues/esafety-guide/tiktok&gt; [Accessed 27 October 2021].
2. Trendjackers. 2019. YOUR GUIDE TO INFLUENCER MARKETING IN 2019: THEORY & PRACTICE. [online] Available at: <https://www.researchgate.net/publication/317558972_Five_Dimensions_of_Online_Persona https://trendjackers.com/2019-guide-to-influencer-marketing/&gt; [Accessed 20 October 2021].
3. Blomkvist, S., 2002. Persona – an overview. [online] It.uu.se. Available at: <https://it.uu.se/edu/course/homepage/hcidist/vt05/Persona-overview.pdf&gt; [Accessed 27 October 2021].
4. Katz, E., & Lazarsfeld, P.F. (2006). Personal Influence: The Part Played by People in the Flow of Mass Communications (1st ed.). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315126234%5BAccessed 27 October 2021].
5. Week 1, part 3 – Moore, C 2020, ‘BCM241 2021 Week One, Introduction and Overview’, lecture, BCM241

Music: https://www.bensound.com

This week we have been asked to conduct another ‘Peer Feedback’ blog following our cohort submission of their BETA assessment. To have a look through my previous commentary blog click here! 

PEER COMMENTARY 1

The first DA I commented on was Maddy’s business/digital artefact “Break Free Marketing” which she develops through Instagram and Facebook – @breakfree.marketing 

Maddy utilises her time extremely well with her DA which is evident within her responses in her beta video. One thing that really stood out to me was how Maddy implemented her peer commentary feedback effectively within her DA and covered this within her beta video – one thing that I could have done in the same amount of depth. Maddy also clearly explains how she executes her autoethnographic skill in terms of her participant observation within her niche by observing other creator accounts within the same design niche – this is something I am participating in as well within my niche, so I’m excited to see how she responds to this research. 

PEER COMMENTARY 2

The second peer I gave feedback to was Pia. Her DA was very detailed and covered all aspects of the marking criteria. One thing that really stood out to me about Pia’s DA is how responsive she is to her audience. She mentions that within her Instagram account she post more stories over content posts as the stories gain more audience interaction. Understanding her strategy within her DA makes me considering why I don’t receive a lot of audience feedback/interaction and what I can do to change that. Pia also goes into depth regarding her peer feedback from last time, which is wonderful to see her taking on board and engaging with suggestions. Looking back on my own work, I need to also make sure I implement ideas from my peer feedback into my DA as my peers pick up things I miss/forget which is great! I will definitely be doing that this time around. 

During week 4, I started my road map for my bcm241 digital artefact within my pitch, explaining what and how my project will be focusing on my media niche of ‘Its a lot pod’ hosted by Abbie Chatfield through my research and participant observation.

These observations were carried out through the understanding of my paradigmatic framework of feminism closely linked with Lazarsfeld and Katz (1955) influencer theory, which can be further explained in this blog post. Using this framework I was able to research with insights into how audience members of this niche react and rely on Abbie’s perceptions and attitudes when it comes to ideas and issues. Whilst engaging in autoethnographic research by also reflecting on my experience with the impact her impressions have within my own beliefs and ideas.

My tik toks are authentic in the approach to engaging, entertaining and aiding the audience to search within the community of its a lot pod. This is also helped through the development of my online persona.

In relation to peer commentary from a few weeks ago, I have taken on board this feedback and tried to engage within the socials of Abbie Chatfield’s platforms to really immerse myself within the community. I have also accounted for the idea of language used within Abbie’s podcast and the different reactions between men and women who listen along collecting and dispersing their views on certain topics within the niche, optimising the level of engagement whether it be through like or dislike.

Below is my remaining schedule for the next 4 weeks:

References:

1. Anderson, L. (2006) ‘Analytic Autoethnography’, Journal of Contemporary Ethnography, 35(4), pp. 373–395. doi: 10.1177/0891241605280449.

2. Lecture; Week 1 – part 3: ‘Introduction to Persona’ BCM241

Following on from last week, this week I will be building and extending my 3 epiphanies and what I’ve uncovered through my auto-ethnographic data. 

If you missed last weeks blog about my epiphanies click HERE to read or listen to the summary!

Let’s jump into it

Expanding epiphany 1

As I’m sure your well aware, differing view, opinions, morals and experiences can create a divide between 2 people. But in this case, Abbie’s pro-vax podcast’s create a divide between an entire niche community. 

Investigating this epiphany further I was able to understand more deeply why some of Abbie’s audience members response defensively and aggressively towards her opinion sharing podcast’s. Engaging with Todd Kashdan’s research article “Curiosity enhances the role of mindfulness in reducing defensive responses to existential threat” (2011), he concluded from his research that 

“Mindful people show a willingness to consider new information about… their world without reflexive judgments. In the absence of curiosity, mindfully attentive people appeared to be defensive, rejecting ideas and disparaging people that challenge…”

I found this extremely interesting considering after I engaged with participant observation within these particular podcast’s, a lot of the members were not open to suggestions or ideas from other members as much as they weren’t with Abbie. 

My online persona responded to this epiphany by:

• Not posting directly about COVID-19 or vaccination 
• Post podcast’s/content that will appeal to the majority of the niche
• Create a space free of judgment

Exploring epiphany 2 

A troll aims to inflict pain, ridicule, or humiliate a targeted person. This happens on many occasions within Abbie Chatfield’s social media within her online community – with the ultimate aim of getting a response from her. To put the actual threat of trolling into perspective, consider that 26.67 % of the 2018 cohort of Superstars of STEM (who are trained and urged to expand their profile through social media) encountered trolling online, whereas 73.33 % did not. While 26.67% doesn’t seem like a lot, keep in mind that the digital world should be a space to freely express yourself and in fact, a large majority end up becoming trolled for the expression of opinion. 

As for my tik tok account, I haven’t received any sort of trolling within which could be suggested that the trolls are more directed at Abbie herself, than her podcasts?

Expressing Epiphany 3 

Much like ‘The Guilty Feminist podcast, feminism topics within Abbie’s podcasts, the central topic is explored through conversation, stand-up comedy and a panel discussion, which a range of guests participate in – but particularly her producer Elise. 

Explored within Raechel Tiffe’s article ‘Taking up sonic space: feminized vocality and podcasting as resistance’ (2017) I can draw on how feminists in society are often ridiculed for their way of expression, Tiffe suggesting that “We find it especially interesting that the voices of women on podcasts often reflect the exact qualities that are policed and criticized by contemporary society.” This concept can be related to both epiphany 1 and 2 in terms of within Abbies Podcast’s there are always multiple comments/reviews who describe her podcast’s as “un-interesting” or “mean” due to her outspoken nature. 

So with these epiphanies in mind, ill be able to apply these findings to my DA and online persona in hopes to create more content that is suitable for my niche’s audience.

References 

1. Tiffe, R. and Hoffmann, M., 2017. Taking up sonic space: feminized vocality and podcasting as resistance. [online] D1wqtxts1xzle7.cloudfront.net. Available at: <https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/14680777.2017.1261464 [Accessed 9 September 2021].
2. Scienceandtechnologyaustralia.org.au. n.d. HOW-TO DEAL WITH HARASSMENT ON SOCIAL MEDIA – PERSONAL ACCOUNTS. [online] Available at: <https://scienceandtechnologyaustralia.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/STA_HTG011-Dealing-with-Harassment-on-Social-Media.pdf&gt; [Accessed 9 September 2021].

3. Kashdan, T., 2011. Curiosity enhances the role of mindfulness in reducing defensive responses to existential threat. [online] Science Direct. Available at: <https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0191886911000900&gt; [Accessed 9 September 2021].

This weeks blog post is all about epiphanies! 

Within this blog, we have been asked to introduce and dissect our newly discovered epiphanies that have been brought to mind throughout our auto-ethnographic experience. 

BUT FIRST…

What exactly is an epiphany? 

As Chris mentioned within lecture 4 part 3,

 “Epiphanies are the most significant or important moments within the experience.” 

Meaning, epiphanies are formed by analysing my experiences within my chosen niche and extracting the experiences/occurrences which are most effective in communicating potential understanding or experiences that are the most useful to assess. This prompts thought as to what is the most relevant or significant element of that experience. 

EPIPHANY 1 

Vaccine podcasts create a whirlwind of mixed reviews/comments for the audience – typically negative

Within Abbie Chatfield’s podcast’s she covers a lot of different, relevant topics. So of course she loves to talk about the current global situation of COVID-19 and vaccination – you could probably even go as far as saying she’s pretty much a vaccine advocate. Within her podcast channel and her pro-vax pod’s, she creates a lot of conflict within her community with comments describing her lack of compassion and understanding when it comes to anti-vaxxers. 

Investigating this epiphany I have understood why this may be so contentious amongst the audience, simply due to different perspectives, cultures, understanding and characteristics within the audience members. Drawing on further public sources like other podcasts that talk about the same topic of vaccination and COVID-19 will help create a deeper understanding of whether or not it is just Abbie’s audience that creates a divide due to her outspoken nature or if this is relatable to other podcast creators/host’s.

• 

• 

• 

EPIPHANY 2 

Audience members who ‘Troll’ are still audience members 

Going off epiphany 1 above, there are many audience members within the niche of ‘Its a lot pod’ who can be identified as trolls. These are the members who would rather not associate themselves within this niche and who create a sense of collision and negatviity within Abbies podcast’s suggesting that she is “un-interesting”, “condescneding” and ultimately would not call themselves a fan of her podcasts or opinions. Though these ‘trolls’ neglect the idea that they are in fact apart of the niche in a different way. 

This epiphany has got me thinking if these members understand that even though their commenting negative and unsupportive comments, that they are contributing their experiences and participation within this media niche or if they think because what they are commenting is combatting Abbie Chatfield that they are so far beyond this niche to even be associated with it? 

EPIPHANY 3

Podcasts between Abbie and her producer Elise are always the favourites – feminism pods

Though Abbies pod’s receive mixed reviews all the time, a ‘shoe in’ for all time favourites are Abbie’s podcasts with her producer Elise. This has been recognised through my participant observation with many reviews and comments suggesting that the feminists balance each other out with views and articulating ideas over the podcast. 

This epiphany has enlightened me to understand that the niche’s audience loves feminist podcasts which helps tie in with my paradigmatic framework of Feminism. Drawing on other public sources, I can investigate whether this same reaction is shared among other feminist podcast and relate/compare the results which can aid in creating content for my DA. 

• 

• 

• 

References

1. UOW lecture 4 part 3

Utilising peer review and self-assessment as a tool for researching helps to “identify flaws in design and analysis or interpretation, to suggest improvements, to direct manuscripts to the most appropriate outlets [resources], and to discourage repetition in publishing”(Dancik, 2010), as well as weed out information that can sometimes be disguised by an individual’s predisposition or tunnel vision. Although peer review is not without flaws, referee-suggested modifications typically enhance the quality of published research. 

A good peer review should include suggestions or constructive criticisms aimed at helping the authors strengthen their work rather than transforming it into something different. Reasonable evaluations simply make reasonable requests of the authors concerning the work and its stated goals. They do not request tangential additions or ‘nice-to-have modifications. Peer commentary should always be polite and professional to express your views as fairly and considerately as possible. 

PEER COMMENTARY

Katrina’s pitch was about her ethnographic research into Goodreads – a large database of books – and her explanation into leaving reviews/reactions/ratings on specific books to further understand the representation of her specific niche within modern culture. Analysing her blog and pitch has shown me that I could explain my autoethnographic approach better in terms of how I’m going to apply this within my DA. When writing her feedback I should have included useful sources on how to effectively compare reviews as this would have complimented and created leverage to my suggestion. 

Oreyms pitch discussed his approach to his DA of UX designing for the Sims 4 simulation. His intention for his Da is to create a design portfolio to demonstrate his understanding of Game design as well as design research practice. Oreym Highlighted his specific analytical framework and the communities he will be engaging in well. I provided a resource about autoethnography as he didn’t mention this within his blog or pitch – which can help him communicate how he’s going to be using this method throughout his DA. Through examining his pitch, I can understand the aspects of creating an online portfolio niche and the technical side of this. 

Lastly, Camellia’s pitch addressed her niche of wellness culture. Focusing on her journey when it comes to developing her DA, through gathering data by the means of participant observation and how influencers/businesses organise their personas within their platform. Camellia’s pitch was very engaging, straight to the point and concentrated on her concept effectively. My feedback comment wasn’t very strong in terms of constructiveness, I should have included a request that would help her strengthen her overall pitch such as suggesting to compare her approach to wellness culture in contrast to influencers and businesses with a large following, coupled with useful links on how to compare and write without bias. 

References:

1. Dancik, B., 2010. Importance of Peer Review. [online] Tandfonline.com. Available at: <https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1300/J123v19n03_11&gt; [Accessed 26 August 2021].

The first 4 weeks have been a wild ride for me, this is because I decided to change my chosen media niche 2 times already (talk about indecisive, I know). In saying that I have narrowed down my ideas into a formulated plan of attack for my digital artefact. ‘It ‘s A Lot pod’ was developed by Abbie Chatfield to include laughs, advice, education and relatable life experiences. The classic “education but make it fun” mantra. This field site spans beyond the podcast and covers a range of social media, participants, and influencers that I will integrate in my investigation. 

My research will be focused on learning about the essential relationships and interactions that the podcast attracts and the effective promotional techniques used to establish such an engagement between the public, and myself as a member of the online community. To guide me through this investigation I will be referring to Lazarsfeld and Katz’s 1955 Influencer theory coupled with a paradigmatic framework of feminism. My digital artefact will consist of an instagram page and tik tok channel which I will post on weekly to help create a large interaction then understand the media niche in more depth. Using autoethnography I will be able to understand my public persona that I create within this media niche. Below is my schedule that I believe will allow me to collect and fulfill my investigation. 

The ethical boundaries I will abide by include anonymity, confidentiality and integrity. The safety and privacy of my individuals and communities will be kept throughout my observations. Interpreting and understanding of content will be critical. 

Below is a video with more details about my plan. 

References

1. Schrag, B., 2009. Piercing the Veil: Ethical Issues in Ethnographic Research. [online] Springer Link. Available at: <https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11948-008-9105-2&gt; [Accessed 19 August 2021].
2. Ellis, C., Adams, T. and Bochner, A., 2011. Autoethnography: An Overview. [online] Qualitative-research.net. Available at: <https://www.qualitative-research.net/index.php/fqs/article/view/1589&gt; [Accessed 18 August 2021].
3. Dawson, C., 2007. How to Carry Out Participant Observation. [online] Available at: <https://moodle.uowplatform.edu.au/pluginfile.php/2937169/mod_resource/content/1/How%20to%20Carry%20Out%20Participant%20Observation%20Practical%20Research%20Methods%20A%20User-Friendly%20Guide%20to%20Mastering%20Research%20Techniques%20and%20Projects%20by%20Catherine%20Dawson%20%28z-lib.org%29.pdf&gt; [Accessed 19 August 2021].
4. winter, R. and Lavis, A., 2019. Looking, But Not Listening? Theorizing the Practice and Ethics of Online Ethnography. Everyday Experience and Ethics of Social Media Research Practice.

Traditionally, a field site is a physical location where a researcher would travel and be physically present to execute their research. However, since technology has advanced and digital media has come to play such an important role in today’s culture, networked field sites have been established and have proven beneficial to researchers, allowing them to not be confined in their studies. Mapping as a form of a qualitative research tool takes its place within the concentration of a field site. This is “because as with most mapping methods, social maps have been used by researchers as a means to document and analyze social networks and interactions as well as by those whom they study to gain an understanding of participant perspectives” (Powell, 2010). 

After determining my public persona and the network of my media niche – Abbie Chatfield’s “it’s a lot” podcast-  last week, I began unearthing the field site associate within this niche. This involved finding a balance across platforms, personalities, trends, and personas to develop a niche-appropriate field site. Pictured below is the Field site I created about the “Its a lot” podcast. 

Within the field map, you’ll see branches that represent parts of the medium that offer information to prospective and resources that link the community and help them create their persona.

PLATFORMS 

The most common platform that the audience would listen to “it’s a lot podcast” would be Spotify as this is the platform with the easiest accessibility as Spotify can be downloaded on iPhone and Android. The Spotify app offers a follow button that can allow their audiences to follow the podcast and get updated with a new episode that has been released. 

Much like Spotify, Apple podcasts also allows the audience to follow the podcasts that get updated weekly. Often interacting occurs within the reviews of the channel, with 1.9k reviews and a 4.4 / 5 star rating, interaction is not short when it comes to Abbie Chatfield’s podcast. Though this medium limits the audience to only apple/iPhone users. 

Both these mediums are also home to several other competitive feminism podcasts that can be selected within.

References

1. Powell, K., 2021. Making Sense of Place: Mapping as a Multisensory Research Method. [online] Academia.edu. Available at: <https://www.academia.edu/1166571/Making_Sense_of_Place_Mapping_as_a_Multisensory_Research_Method&gt; [Accessed 19 August 2021].