Research Proposal on "Communication & Technology Since the Advent"

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Research Proposal 7 pages (1928 words) Sources: 10 Style: APA

[EXCERPT] . . . .

Communication & Technology

Since the advent of the Internet in the early 90's, it has played a significant role in the way people communicate and transmit information. With the convenience and variation it offers, it quickly assimilated itself in the lives of modern individuals.

The Internet has shaped and re-defined traditional forms of communication and information dissemination. Books are being digitized through Project Gutenberg. Newspapers such as the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal have online counterparts. Radio has in its place podcasting, and TV is made digital with YouTube. The Internet has provided both access and platform for groups and individuals to share and consume information right off the top of their desks.

But a long-standing debate ensues. With this new technology come new threats that pose certain dangers to individuals and industries. The propagation of mp3 and music-sharing sites in the mid-90's brought the demise of a number of music recording companies. The Internet is being used to peddle prostitutes and spread child prostitution. Newspapers with low circulation are forced to close down and transfer the news to a cheaper medium -- the Web. The means, convenient as it may, have been used and then later, abused. With this in mind, will the dawn of YouTube and Peer-to-Peer file sharing networks likewise bring forth the demise of the decades-old television?

This paper, then, aims to look into the effects of electronic consumption of TV shows to the TV viewing habits of

RATIONALE

It is interesting to note the increased popularity of downloading TV s

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hows over the Internet. Likewise, many of us now prefer viewing TV shows in virtual boob tubes (e.g. YouTube) over shows aired in cable TVs. Remarkably, not much is known and studied about University students as television consumers vis-a-vis their being Internet consumers. The general aim of this research, therefore, is to open doors for further research on the subject, which very much lacks local literature content.

THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK

This study will be patterned after two communication theories, both of which fall under media studies. These are the Uses and Gratifications Theory and Ball-Rokeach and DeFleur's Dependence Theory. In consolidating these theories, it is highly important to connect the media consumers (i.e. University students) and two specific mediums, namely television and Internet.

Uses and Gratifications Approach

This approach gives attention to the audience member or media user, proposing that the audience member is an active and discriminating user of media rather than a passive one. It looks into how an audience member's direct experience with the media affects his/her communication behavior. It also suggests that in knowing what their needs are, audience members will also know how to gratify those needs and as such choose what media will satisfy those needs.

Dependency Theory

Stemming from the Uses and Gratifications Approach is the Dependency Theory, originally proposed by Sandra Ball-Rokeach and Melvin DeFleur. This theory extends beyond the earlier approach as it suggests that an integral relationship exists among media audiences, media and the larger society (Littlejohn, 2008).

As with the uses-and-gratifications theory, this theory proposes that the media user depends on media information in order to meet particular needs and attain certain goals. However, a media user's dependency on each type of media is not on equal ground because, according to Ball-Rokeach and DeFleur, there are two factors which influence a user's dependency on media.

Firstly, no one medium can meet a user's needs. Thus a user will depend more on media that satisfy a number of his/her needs rather than on media which only satisfy a few of his/her needs. What information is of greater importance to a user determines the weight of dependence that user gives to particular media.

Secondly, social conditions determine media consumption. In times of increasing social change, instability and other significant happenings in society, a user increases his/her dependency on media for information. On the other hand, in times of relative stability dependency on media may decrease.

Thus the dependency theory suggests that larger society and media structures affect how needs, interests and motives are created among audiences. Consequently, audiences choose sources of information from among the different types of media, thus creating various levels of dependency on those media (Littlejohn, 2008).

Integration of Theories

Grounded on these theories is the assumption that media consumers, with the use of television and the Internet, seek gratification of their needs and interests. By means of either or both mediums, consumers view reruns of a particular television show, view television shows not produced and not airing in the country, or view television shows aired later on local television.

However, through changing times, most of these needs are satisfied through the Internet. This leads now to the more significant questions in focus: What are the effects of electronic consumption of TV shows to the TV viewing habits of University students and what are their motivations for consuming these shows over the Internet?

REVIEW of the LITERATURE

New Method of TV Consumption: Online Downloading and Viewing

Different innovations in computing technology heightened the accessibility of electronic consumption of TV shows over the Internet. During the past several years, file-sharing programs such as Napster, which began in late 1998, Kazaa, Limewire, BearShare and uTorrent, have provided means for file redistribution over different Internet protocols such as Gnutella and BitTorrent (Foulke, 2000).

Initially, the most common files to be largely shared over the Internet are music files in mp3 format, primarily due to the fact that the compression rate is much higher with mp3 than in standard CD, wave or windows media files, which are exponentially larger in file size.

Electronic consumption of TV shows did not become widespread in reach until early 2006 with the revolutionary Web 2.0 application which we have come to know today as YouTube. YouTube, essentially, enables the end-user to view videos over the Web without the need to install external software (Grecco, 2006). Wider accessibility and streamlined downloading time makes YouTube one of the video-sharing sites of choice today based on the number of audience drawn to its website (Allen, 2007). Coupled with the steady increase in broadband Internet penetrability -- approximately 298 Million broadband subscribers worldwide in 2007, from 217 Million in 2005 and about a 131.5% growth rate locally -- people are now more adept at consuming online video through video-sharing sites such as YouTube (Madden, 2007).

With the steadily growing popularity of YouTube, other video-sharing sites such as Revver, CrunchyRoll, Blip.tv, Stage6, among others, soon emerged. Consumers of online video started growing to as much as 80% of Internet users in 2007 (from only 62.8% of Internet users in 2006) and are projected to reach 86.6% of Internet users by 2011 (Streaming Media Magazine, 2007). But a study on online video consumption entitled Online Video places the figure at only about 57% of Internet users (Madden, 2007). However, they are similar in findings that males aged 18-24 are the most common consumers of online video. And contrary to popular belief, the online viewing demographic transcends almost all age groups, not just users aged 18-24 years old (Lafsky, 2007).

This growing statistic prompted TV networks to explore the uncharted territory of online video viewing. According to a University of Pennsylvania study, as of July 2007, about five major TV networks in the United States have made their episodes available for free viewing online. ABC.com offers full episodes of about twenty of its series, but is limited only to consumers in the United States (Waldfogel, 2007). However, the same episodes that are authorized to be viewed online can also be viewed illegally through other video sharing sites or be downloaded through peer-to-peer file sharing networks.

But which group represents the largest and the most intent consumers of Internet shows? Latest statistics from Big Champagne, an Online Media Measurement firm, places the average number of users logged onto these networks in 2005 to about 9,284,558 people worldwide, or a 36% percent increase from the previous data in 2004 (Aughton, 2004). A report by the Federal Trade Commission of the United States of America entitled Peer-to-Peer File-Sharing Technology:Consumer Protection and Competition Issues places the most notable group who download and view shows online are those in their late teens and early twenties (Federal Trade Commission, 2005).

TV Viewing Habits vs. Electronic Consumption debate on whether or not electronic consumption of TV shows has a clear and delineated effect on traditional TV consumption thereby ensues. The nature of the debate is mainly rooted on the fact that file sharing of music files had a staggering effect on worldwide music sales (Lafsky, 2007). Swedish broadcast statistics institute MMS reports that in 2006, Swedish TV networks lost about 24% of the 16-30-year-old demographic to online video viewing (TorrentFreak, 2006). Recent figures about TV-viewing habits in the United Kingdom show that 40% of people under 30 years old prefer to watch television shows "on demand" (Lafsky, 2007).

However, some argue that instead of preying over the audience share of TV networks, online video… READ MORE

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Quoted Instructions for "Communication and Technology Since the Advent" Assignment:

“

Requirements

The paper should be typed, using Times New Roman size 12 font or similar, with 1***** margins on all sides.The paper should be double-spaced, with a recommended page count of 8 to 10 pages. The paper should not exceed more than 15 pages. The instructor expects that outside sources will be gathered and used for this paper. A minimum of ten (10) sources must be used. All ideas that do not originate from the author of

the paper must be cited in proper APA format. A complete reference page must follow. The paper must be submitted online through the turnitin.com website by noon on November 13. If you are using Windows Vista, please remember to save all documents as .doc extensions, as opposed to the default .docx extension. Absolutely no late papers will be accepted. It is incumbent on the student to check whether the paper was properly downloaded at the end of submission. The paper is worth 145 points total.

Objective

The broad goal of the paper is to acquaint the author with scholarly writing. Here, you are asked to pick a communication topic relating to technology ex. (cyber-stalking). There are a multitude of topics from which you can choose. The objective of the paper is to strengthen the way in which you select salient/relevant outside sources, build arguments, tie together convergent constructs, and propose hypotheses or research questions.

Components of the Literature Review

Below are the necessary components of the review of literature you will be conducting. The final paper

should be thought of as an empirical article similar to those we read in class, up to the methods section.

After the introduction, you will be reviewing salient literature related to the constructs in which you are

interested, and building arguments to your proposed hypotheses and/or research questions (stating the

existence of a relationship between two or more variables).

Important Note: In any science (hard or soft), we are concerned with the existence of relationships

between variables. Never should posit the non-existence of a relationship between two variables.

Components:

I. Introduction

It will be useful to write a complete intro paragraph or two noting the significance of your topic and the

significance of your personal investigation. In addition to the goals outlined (e.g., engaging the reader,

defining terms, etc.), the intro paragraph should include summary statements of:

a) Broad goals for the project (preview of hypotheses/RQs in more general terms)

b) Outline of where the paper as a whole is going (a preview of structure)

II. Rationale (Problem Statement)

Briefly describe the significance of the research you are reviewing and the important of conducting your

study. There are two basic strategies for articulating rationale. A negative rationale is where you might

argue that previous research has failed to address a particular area of concern. A positive rationale is

where you might claim there would be practical or theoretical benefits to exploring some topic in more

detail. Positive rationale is generally perceived as the stronger of the two strategies. A mixture of both

rationales, however, is generally the norm.

III. Theory

Introduce a theoretical framework from which you are able to develop your hypotheses or research

questions. The theory should not be included for ornamental purposes. You must actually use assumptions

of the theory in developing the hypotheses and/or research questions. In the theory section, discuss what

the theory is explaining, central assumption/tenets, areas to which the theory has been applied (including

technology), and finally, how the theory informs your specific topic.

IV. Review of Past Research

The review is more than just a string of individual abstracts. It is a thorough review organized around a

specific thesis. The problem statement should provide clear focus for the review. Clear and smooth

transitions between main points are especially important. The read should be guided to a clear conclusion

by the information and arguments presented in the review. In a review of literature, some sources may be

treated in great detail, while others are mentioned only briefly as examples of supporting evidence.

V. Hypotheses and/or Research Questions

A statement of the study*****s hypotheses and/or research question, justified on the basis of the review of

literature, is required. A minimum of two hypotheses, research questions or a combination, are mandatory

for this paper. The hypotheses should naturally flow from the argument you develop in the literature

review. An example of a hypothesis and research question appear in the outline section.

Things to be kept in Mind:

1. Separate sections that address key areas or themes or RQs.

2. Use headings and subheadings.

3. Be clear on the goals for each subsection*****”what is it doing?

4. Make each section (and each paragraph) relatively self-contained with an introduction, body, and

conclusion of its own.

5. Within each section (and each paragraph) maintain focus*****¦ remove extraneous material and don*****t

repeat information from one section in another section.

6. Don*****t be afraid to reorder sections.

7. Write clear transitions between sections that indicate how each is moving you towards the broader

goal of the paper.

8. Once argument is complete for any particular RQ / Hypothesis, present it, and move on*****”do not

repeat.

9. If you are having trouble organizing your thoughts, consider visual representations of the concepts*****”

draw a model. Consider presenting the model in your paper and organizing the paper around it. If you

do this, present the model earlier rather than later*****”it*****s not a detective novel.

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