Audience as community: Corporeal knowledge and empathetic viewing

This essay focuses on community in the form of audiences, and in particular, screendance audiences. A specific focus is given to a collection of screendance experiences from viewing a selection of contemporary dance films. The term screendance is used in this research as suggested by Douglas Rosenberg as "stories told by the body" and "not told by the body." What follows, for this essay, are theories borrowed from the discipline of audience and reception research detailing what we may perceive audiences to be and how the idea of 'audience' as a community may influence the way filmmakers approach the very audiences they hope to reach. Kinesthetic empathy will be used as a framework to understand the pleasures and displeasures that are experienced by the viewer from an embodied perspective. While considering kinesthetic empathy with audience and reception research, the main focus for this essay is nuancing the idea of audiences as a community that is enriched with corporeal knowledge. This knowledge reveals itself as empathetic and sympathetic viewing of the media

Review: Maya Deren: Incomplete Control

No abstract available

Implications for alcohol minimum unit pricing advocacy: what can we learn for public health from UK newsprint coverage of key claim-makers in the policy debate?

On May 24th 2012, Scotland passed the Alcohol (Minimum Pricing) Bill. Minimum unit pricing (MUP) is an intervention that raises the price of the cheapest alcohol to reduce alcohol consumption and related harms. There is a growing literature on industry’s influence in policymaking and media representations of policies, but relatively little about frames used by key claim-makers in the public MUP policy debate. This study elucidates the dynamic interplay between key claim-makers to identify lessons for policy advocacy in the media in the UK and internationally. Content analysis was conducted on 262 articles from seven UK and three Scottish national newspapers between 1st May 2011 and 31st May 2012, retrieved from electronic databases. Advocates’ and critics’ constructions of the alcohol problem and MUP were examined. Advocates depicted the problem as primarily driven by cheap alcohol and marketing, while critics’ constructions focused on youth binge drinkers and dependent drinkers. Advocates justified support by citing the intervention’s targeted design, but critics denounced the policy as illegal, likely to encourage illicit trade, unsupported by evidence and likely to be ineffective, while harming the responsible majority, low-income consumers and businesses. Critics’ arguments were consistent over time, and single statements often encompassed multiple rationales. This study presents advocates with several important lessons for promoting policies in the media. Firstly, it may be useful to shift focus away from young binge drinkers and heavy drinkers, towards population-level over-consumption. Secondly, advocates might focus on presenting the policy as part of a wider package of alcohol policies. Thirdly, emphasis on the success of recent public health policies could help portray the UK and Scotland as world leaders in tackling culturally embedded health and social problems through policy; highlighting past successes when presenting future policies may be a valuable tactic both within the UK and internationally

Representations of minimum unit pricing for alcohol in UK newspapers: a case study of a public health policy debate

Background: Mass media influence public acceptability, and hence feasibility, of public health interventions. This study investigates newsprint constructions of the alcohol problem and minimum unit pricing (MUP). Methods: Quantitative content analysis of 901 articles about MUP published in 10 UK and Scottish newspapers between 2005 and 2012. Results: MUP was a high-profile issue, particularly in Scottish publications. Reporting increased steadily between 2008 and 2012, matching the growing status of the debate. The alcohol problem was widely acknowledged, often associated with youths, and portrayed as driven by cheap alcohol, supermarkets and drinking culture. Over-consumption was presented as a threat to health and social order. Appraisals of MUP were neutral, with supportiveness increasing slightly over time. Arguments focused on health impacts more frequently than more emotive perspectives or business interests. Health charities and the NHS were cited slightly more frequently than alcohol industry representatives. Conclusion: Emphases on efficacy, evidence and experts are positive signs for evidence-based policymaking. The high profile of MUP, along with growing support within articles, could reflect growing appetite for action on the alcohol problem. Representations of the problem as structurally driven might engender support for legislative solutions, although cultural explanations remain common

Characteristics and experiences of volunteers in a psychiatric hospital setting : a qualitative case analysis : a thesis presented in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Psychology at Massey University

The primary aim of the present research was to describe the characteristics and experiences of all of the volunteers in a psychiatric hospital setting. A second aim was to relate the findings to current theories and evidence on volunteers. A third aim was to explore practical implications of the findings from an organisational perspective. A qualitative case approach was adopted which used an interview schedule formulated for the present research to address general issues of motivation, expectation, satisfaction, and involvement. Specific questions concerned volunteers' initial expectations, reasons for volunteering, what the volunteers actually do, good and bad experiences, changes in perceptions of volunteering, difficulties and how coped with, perceived need for help, support, and training, extent of involvement, and, reasons and intent to continue. In addition, the 'Perceived Rewards from Volunteering Scale' (Gidron, 1983) was used to provide a quantitative measure of job satisfaction. Information about respondents' gender, age, ethnic background, marital status and dependent children, socioeconomic status, religion, residence, regular commitments, other volunteer work, and time spent as a volunteer was also recorded. The group consisted of 34 middle to late middle aged women, who were church based, and resident in a small rural community. Analysis of the results were made for the group as a whole but predominantly at the case level, using techniques of pattern matching and explanation building as described by Yin (1984). The case approach makes difficult a satisfactory summary of the main findings, however, notable results included a sociodemographic profile of the present volunteers not atypical of the general population, that volunteers rated that they were satisfied with their work, similar good and bad experiences by all volunteers, different perceived roles of their work by individual volunteers, and evidence of volunteer participation as a changing phenomenon. The utility of the present approach supports both the integrative model of Smith & Reddy (1972) and the need for further development of theories within an integrative framework. A number of practical implications were drawn, particularly concerning the need for training and information, monitoring the progress of volunteers, and for general hospital policy in the recruitment and utilisation of volunteers. Suggestions for future research were also made

A quantitative content analysis of UK newsprint coverage of proposed legislation to prohibit smoking in private vehicles carrying children

This project was funded by Cancer Research UK (MC_U130085862) and the Scottish School of Public Health Research. Cancer Research UK and the Scottish School of Public Health Research were not involved in the collection, analysis, and interpretation of data, writing of the manuscript or the decision to submit the manuscript for publication. Shona Hilton, Karen Wood and Chris Patterson were funded by the UK Medical Research Council as part of the Understandings and Uses of Public Health Research programme (MC_UU_12017/6) at the MRC/CSO Social and Public Health Sciences Unit, University of Glasgow. Thanks to Josh Bain and Alan Pollock for coding assistance.Peer reviewedPublisher PD