Brainstorm for Primary Research

Introduction
As well as academic research, there needs to be some primary research undertaken in order to understand the question fully. Before, research is undergone there needs to be some thought on what type of research whether it be quantitative or qualitative.


The Final Idea


Extracting research from children can be difficult as a simple questionnaire cannot be handed out to children as it may be confusing and foolish to think they can independently fill it in. Also, a questionnaire would possibly not capture a child's attention and therefore, a research method that proved to be fun for children but insightful in research methods is essential.


The main questions that need to be answered are:

1. What are your favourite websites?
2. What do you like best about these websites?
3. How long do you spend on the computer everyday?
4. What would your perfect website look like?
5. Have you got a CBBC account?
6. How easy did you find logging in on the CBBC website.

The main idea was to make the questionnaire an activity for the children and almost like a game. The question is going to be posed to the children and they are going to be given lots of cut outs with many websites on them, then, the children will choose their top 3 from the pictures and options. Although, question 4 will be a separate activity that will allow the children's creativity and imagination to show as they will be given paper and other resources to make their perfect website. This activity is not expecting the children to draw a perfect website explaining all the technical details, however, this will show what they want and may highlight ideas that are overlooked by an older generation.

Wargrave community centre opens its doors to children aged between 5-10 every Thursday afternoon acting as a after school club. This seemed the perfect place to conduct research as we had a wide age range which fell into the target demographic the question is aimed at. After choosing a perfect location, many phone calls were made about accessing the community centre. There were many constraints but having a CRB check already, did help. Also after talking to the leader of the centre a letter to every child's parent had to be made.  

A date has been arranged to visit the community centre to conduct the research with the children and a meeting has already took place with Michelle Curran (One of the leaders at the community centre) to outline the centres rules. The rules that the community centre abide by resemble the rules the CBBC must follow, reinforcing how important a child's safety is on-line. Some of the rules are:

1. Do not accept any requests from children from the centre.
2. Do not allow the children to go on any instant messaging websites.
3. Moshi monsters is banned.
4. Children are only allowed on the computer for 30 minutes at a time. 

The Next Step is to go and carry out the research at the community centre and compile the results. 

Plan of Action for the CBBC Question

Introduction:
In order to answer the question posed there needs to be a plan of action. The research needs to be split into two categories which will be academic research and primary research techniques. The academic research will not only provide a theory to prove right or wrong but it will provide more stability to the main argument.


The primary research techniques will involve some sort of interaction with the target demographic for the CBBC question in order to find out what the age range of 8-12 want out of a website and more importantly, how they use the internet.


Plan of Action: De-Constructing the Question

How can we create a safe environment for children online without discouraging participation?

The question posed at first could be misleading and suggest that the focus is on the specific section of signing in or logging on. The main focus should be placed on "create" as the CBBC are looking for a way to life their website to the next level and attract more users. However, they still have to maintain a safe environment and they definitely do not want to discourage participation as this would possibly make them lose members. 

The logging in stage for the CBBC website is time consuming and has a lot of agreement forms that can confuse and discourage their members. Therefore, the website needs to add more features that resemble their top competitors such as Facebook without breaking any of their rules. 

Plan of Action for Academic Research:

There are many media and social studies theorist that have many ideas about technology and participation, however, the research for this question needs to be specific and focus on theorist who have specialised in children's participation habits. David Buckingham and Sherry Turkle have done an in-depth study on technology and children and therefore, some research on these two theorist would be a valuable source. 

Also, in the plan of action there needs to be an argument that supports the primary research which gives the whole presentation some credibility. 

The Next steps are to research theorists and link them to suitable areas in the question posed. 

Plan of Action for Primary Research:


Primary research such as questionnaire and focus groups will give a further understanding to what children want out of the internet.  The next plans for the primary research is to draw up a plan for a suitable research method that will be relevant and understandable to children aged 5-11. 

Assignment Teams Announcement

The Chosen Question:


Now that the three industry visitors have all visited the class and posed their questions it is now time to start researching and gathering information on the question that has been delegated to each group.  The question chosen for my group was the CBBC question:


"How do we create a safe environment online for users without discouraging participation?"

CBBC Presentation

The Question:

This weeks question was posed by 'The BBC's Children's Research and Prototyping' department. There question was:

"How do we create a safe environment for children on-line without discouraging participation?"

Background Information:

Since the internet evolved, its landscape has changed many times and in recent years the success of social networking websites have have pressurised the BBC to try and hold on to their target demographic as many are opting to spend their internet time on sites such as Facebook. 

The BBC highlighted that the 8+ market of children are more attracted to joining social networking websites and become apart of the wider community.  The CBBC want to offer a journey from the Cbeebies to CBBC as this is where games,websites and other media content is seen to young or too old for them. The CBBC are motivated in finding an in-between ground for children to have an on-line identity but while also protecting them from threats and abiding child safety regulations. At a time where the internet is almost taking away parental control the CBBC team are trying to remain a strict, solid,  foundation for children in order for them to have fun and remain in a safe position.

Audience Participation:

The main body of the question is to create a safe environment but what must not be forgotten is to make sure that the demographic still participate in the sign in process. Audience participation is a complex matter especially where children are concerned. 

Child Safety Laws:

It would be naive to suggest that the question could be easily solved by allowing users to interact more freely with each other and upload their own pictures as there are many child laws and regulations that they have to abide by. The BBC for instance must stick to the rules as there place in society is to remain a public service broadcaster that abides by its remit. Therefore, they cannot be seen to be making the vulnerable demographic that is the youth susceptible to any threats from child paedophiles or even peer group bullying.

As well as the government rules of child safety there is some criteria from the BBC themselves in order to filter out any potential threats in their Cbeebies and CBBC environment.  For instance, if any external web links are posted onto a message board on the CBBC sign in page they will be removed. Also, any comment that could be seen as misleading or that carries any sub text will be removed.  If the user continually post inappropriate content on the message boards then there ID will be banned, although they could easily just create another ID which is a problem.  These rules may be seen as strict but they have to be in order to protect all the children who have signed up. 

The Future:

In the presentation the CBBC outlined their future plans. They plan to launch a "Me, my mates, my CBBC" which focuses on personalisation and anonymous multi-player games that bring the CBBC environment together. 

Reflection on the Question:

The question requires research on the legal constraints around child safety on the internet. A thorough understanding of what the CBBC team have to abide by will help when thinking about audience participation. Also, the age range the CBBC have given is specific as the 8+ age range are seen to not be catered for so it would be crucial to talk to that age range as opposed to the 12 year old demographic. Overall, the question is split up into two halves with each half being important. The CBBC website has to stand alone as it provides a service that is unique and individual and with a safer environment with more audience participation it could prove popular among the age range that at the moment is captured into the social networking crowd. 

Useful Links:

Child safety online

CBBC website

The UK council for child internet safety

Visit from Rebel Play

Introduction:
Last week Rebel Play came in and posed a question. Rebel Play is a games website specialising in digital distribution.  

The Presentation:
From there presentation it was found that more games are advertised to a male demographic specifically aged 30, as58% of men are playing these games as opposed to only 48% of women. This has become a catalyst for their question as it is:


"Do media platforms and genres have specific gender appeal?" and also "Why don't more women play console games?"


This question could fall down to the production of the games. According to http://careers.guardian.co.uk/live-q-a-why-aren-t-there-more-women-in-games 11% of game producers are women which leave men as the majority which may be one of the reasons into why console games may have a specific gender appeal to males.  Furthermore, the site goes on to say that "85 per cent of all video game characters are male."  A video game that contains a male character may not appeal to a female audience. Further research will enable me to gain a better insight to this theory. 


Maybe, the step to making more women play console games and therefore breaking the barriers that are gender appeal in gaming would be to hire more women. This would also involve advertising gaming at degree level and make it look appealing to more women in order to even out the male dominated gaming workplace. 


Along my way I also found an interesting link below which I though i would embed into the blog.
http://www.womeningames.com/


However, the ratio to men and women in the gaming industry may not be the only aspect to research. Are women not playing video games because they are not appealing? It is proven that there is a market for women playing games as in Rebel Plays presentation they highlighted that more women play social games than men. These social games are tetris and Facebook games such as farmville. These games involve almost the rinse and repeat method where there are levels to get through and solve. These games unlike the male targeted games such as Fifa 12 and Call of Duty do not have a zero sum outcome as in a game of tetris for instance there is not a winner and a loser. 


Women over 18 are the fastest demographics which poses itself as a perfect market for the gaming industry, but if games are constantly made with mainly male characters and female characters showing an unrealistic portrayal of women (look at Lara Croft for instance) this demographic will be left behind.   


On the other hand, video games may not be appealing due to there aesthetic look of the game and of the particular console it is played on.  Rebel Play wanted us to think about the look of the game and console , for example:

• Do women prefer a big console or a small console that can be easily stored away.
• Black or White console?
• What type of control do they prefer to use?
• Has xbox connect attracted more females?

The image of the advert for the wii above clearly shows a pair of woman's hands. This could be their target demographic and how Nintendo see women. They think women want to play games on the wii that are not confrontational like wii fit and Zumba. 

With all this said, it would be stereotypical of me to suggest women want to play domesticated games such as 'cooking mamma' and games where there only duty is to look after a pet. This can be seen as degrading and taking a step back in time to when a woman's role was purely domesticated. I believe it is about finding the right balance which ultimately will attract more women to play video games.  The video below is a trailer for 'Cooking Mamma' and is obviously aimed at the female sector as it is pink and sparkly and has a woman's voice sounding enthusiastic about a simple game.  Therefore, a balance is required as games such as 'Cooking Mamma' could offend women. However, there has been over 2 million 'Cooking Mamma' games sold which could lead towards an opinion that this is what women want.

Conclusion: 
Rebel Play stated they wanted to "challenge the  norm" and with some in-depth research there may be a solution to there question. Before research can be done for this question all the stereotypes about video games and women need to be forgotten in order to uncover the truth. This is a in depth question and the answer could be to do with the advertising of games,  the content within games or any other issue surround the gaming world.


Useful links:
http://www.media-awareness.ca/english/parents/video_games/concerns/gender_videogames.cfm

http://careers.guardian.co.uk/live-q-a-why-aren-t-there-more-women-in-games

http://www.rebelplay.com/


http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/3615278.stm

Hurricane Film Visit

Introduction:
Last week two members from Hurricane Films presented a question that related to their company to our class, in order for us to research and answer them in the best way possible. The part of their company that they focused on was their 'People's Stories' website. 'People's Stories' is a website devoted to collecting old photographs, film footage and most importantly stories from people around the Merseyside area who have an interesting story to tell.

The website (which was launched in October 2010) www.peoples-stories.com requires members to sign in and create a account. The service is free to use and has around 1000 members to date. The demographic for this website and concept are an older generation although it has a world-wide appeal. The question posed from Hurricane Films was 'How do you encourage users, especially those from an older generation to participate?' and 'How can you engage an online audience in storytelling?'


The website relies on users to provide content as it is almost a virtual archive and was described by Hurricane as a 'live time capsule'. Although there is already content on the site, Hurricane Films are eager for people to produce more content and generate new, fresh stories. It is essentially a platform for a community of users to share their life stories and experiences with each other which is why it is essential that more users sign in and participate.


The demographic will be the main reason that Hurricane Films are short on members as the older generation have not been used to the digital age of computers and the internet and some research would be have to be carried out to enable us to have a clear idea on how many people in Hurricane Films target demographic use the internet or furthermore how many own a computer.


'People's Stories' has a small advertising methods but nothing on a large scale. They go to reading groups and coffee mornings that their target demographic also attends in order to gain new stories. They also bring computers and show users how to access the website and how to update content. This as imagined can be time consuming and it would be beneficial if there was a bigger advertising campaign as if more members join, Hurricane Films simply cannot go around and communicate with all their users.


Conclusion:
Overall, research needs to go underway to find out why the free service that is being offered is not being taken advantage of. However, along with engaging an older generation, Hurricane Films are eager to involve a younger demographic as their stories will be valuable in years to come.


The questions posed need a lot of research behind them in order to generate new ideas and solutions for 'People's Stories' and research into possibly funding opportunities would be a great help as 'Hurricane Films' have not secured any funding for this project.

Georgina Anderton

 My interest in the media started at an early age in my last year in primary school. All my classmates wanted to be teachers, scientists or pop stars and I wanted to be a photographer. I don't exactly know why but at the time this seemed the appropriate thing to do  (my favourite possession was a Polaroid camera that I got for my 10th birthday and I still have now!).

The polaroid I hope I still own in 50 years!

Years later my photography dream had disappeared and I wanted to be a radio DJ. I visited a local radio station and introduced a song, when I was 13 and I thought I had found what I wanted to do.  The ambition to go on the radio had stayed with me until my last year in high school and then I started to wonder, that with all the new technologies that were being produced and all the new ways to interact with the media, would radio still be as vital in a society full of the 'facebook generation' who can find and listen to what they want with a click of a button?


Even though my dream of being on the radio faded, my love of entertaining picked up as I started to do stand up comedy. I got into the finals of the 'North West Young Comedian of the Year' being the only girl out of 350 to make the top 10. I wrote all my own material and realised that I loved getting on stage and making people laugh. I performed at the Royal Court Theatre in Liverpool along with the Rawhide comedy club and other small venues.  Stand up comedy will always be apart of me and I continue to write material down in the hope that it will come in useful in years time.

One performance at the Rawhide Comedy Club.

When I arrived at college I chose Media A-Level to study. I loved it. I got to think about  all aspects of the media and I was able to carry on my interest in journalism by producing some articles within my coursework. My first year went great having scored 100% in my exam and my second year followed with more success as I left with an A in Media and a place at Liverpool John Moores University to study Media Professional Studies.


While in my first year of uni, I created short profile films about local charities and local issues while also concentrating on a business and academic side to the media. From designing business plans and researching theorists who have brought different perspectives to arguments, to researching what is needed to piece a 10 minute children's programme together I have benefited from this broad degree.


Now, I am in my 2nd year at university. I am still very much interested in photography and I admire street photography, especially the work of Vivian Maier, but I know this is not where my career  lies. This year I am looking forward to getting in the TV studio in semester 2 as I am hoping that is where I thrive. For the mean time, I am on the hunt for work experience and am currently volunteering at NeetTv which is amazing and I have just got a volunteer spot at WA12 newton radio.

A Vivian Maier Photo (My favourite as it is mysterious and you dont know where the glamorous lady is going or why and it make you ask so many questions. It is also a beautiful shot!)

So that is a bit about myself but throughout this blog I will be providing my research to my Applied Media Research module at university that I hope you find interesting and insightful.