JOUR1111: Media Use and Production Diary

There are two sides to media: the use of content created by others, and the production of one’s own material. I have logged ten days of my own media use and production, the results of which are displayed in two separate components below, beginning with media use:

Rather than display ten separate days of media usage, I have decided to only show the total results of each category. My varying daily schedule makes it difficult to form a trend across the week; it is therefore easier to simply show the end result.

As shown, the forms of media I use most are radio and social networking. It is also apparent that these two categories far outstrip the other forms of media I make use of. This is easier to identify in the following pie chart:



While it appears that these two categories make up almost 70% of my media usage, this chart does not account for passive and active use.

Much of the time I’m listening to radio whilst driving and working. As such, it is passively ‘running in the background’. The time I spend actively listening to the radio is far less than the total amount shown above. Similarly, whenever I’m using the internet, I am usually signed in to my Twitter and Facebook profiles; these are normally passive in another webpage while I use the internet for news sites and course readings on Blackboard.

I am actively using radio and social networking only around a quarter of the total time spent. With this in mind, the pie chart changes:

This refined chart shows that my media usage is roughly equal throughout all categories. Little distinction is made between ‘new’ and ‘old’ media. This is due to the fact that I have easy access to all mediums, as well as the time to make use of them.

In comparison to my widespread media use, my production takes place on a smaller scale:

I prefer to blog/post/tweet only when I have something interesting or important to say. As it’s difficult to keep pumping original content out continuously, my ability to produce material is somewhat limited, as evidenced above. Furthermore, an interesting relationship can be seen between media and journalism. My media production all took place online through social networking. It can therefore be construed that it is easier to produce media online, likely due to the ability to quickly utilise other material. This reflects on the shift to online media that the field of journalism is experiencing today.   

In regards to the media use and production of the JOUR1111 cohort shown by the Survey Monkey survey, my own use and production mostly follows the pattern of the group:

As shown, a fair portion of the cohort makes use of the majority of the mediums I have listed above. It is possible to deduce from this that the majority of the cohort are in the same position as me, in that they have easy access to multiple forms of media, for both use and production.

To conclude, I feel that the main reason my media usage is approximately even across the board is that I am able to access many different forms of media with little difficulty. I believe that this gives me an advantage in the field of journalism; by not favouring one form over the rest, I am able to widen my knowledge base, thus increasing my chances of successful and enjoyable employment in the future. Furthermore, my online production is following the same trend that journalism is experiencing today, further increasing my abilities relevant to the field. As I’ve heard more than once in the last few weeks, there’s never been a more exciting time to be a journalist!