Conference Papers
NOTE: PLEASE DO NOT CITE WITHOUT AUTHOR’S PERMISSION
Please feel free to contact me if you are interested in any of these, as updated versions may exist.
Ksiazek, Thomas B. (2009). A network analytic approach to understanding cross-platform audience behavior. Annual Conference of the Midwest Association for Public Opinion Research. Chicago, IL. November 20-21.
Abstract:
This methodological paper explains and implements a network analytic approach to the study of cross-platform audience behavior. It begins by conceptualizing large-scale patterns of media consumption in network terms, treating media outlets as nodes and the levels of audience duplication among them as relations, or ties. Following that, it explains two common measures of audience duplication, Both Duplication and Primary Duplication, and offers a new measure, Deviation-from-Random Duplication. In doing so, techniques for converting duplication data into network data are discussed. Potential research agendas are offered to illustrate the value in adapting network analysis to the study of audience behavior. Using data from Nielsen’s TV/Internet Convergence Panel, these studies analyze patterns of audience fragmentation and polarization, and identify “media publics,” or audience segments defined by common consumption patterns across platforms.
Peer, Limor & Ksiazek, Thomas B. (2009). YouTube and the challenge to quality journalism. 95th Annual Conference of the National Communication Association. Chicago, IL. November 12-15.
(NOTE: A more recent version will be published in Journalism Studies. See Publications.)
Abstract:
This paper presents a content analysis of 882 videos on YouTube to address concerns in the news industry regarding the production of successful online video content. Results show that successful online news videos adhere to traditional production standards, but relax these standards when it comes to content. Moreover, compromises in content standards predict greater viewership, while adherence to production standards has no impact on popularity. A subset of 2008 election videos revealed no significant predictors.
Ksiazek, Thomas B. (2009). Coping with media abundance: A network analytic approach to understanding repertoires of news and partisan media use across TV and the Internet. Harvard Political Networks Conference. Boston, MA. June 11-13.
Abstract:
In an environment of media abundance, individuals increasingly rely on coping strategies to guide their consumption patterns. Media repertoires, or subsets of media content to which people are regularly exposed, are one such mechanism. This paper examines repertoires of news and partisan media across TV and the Internet. Applying network analysis to data from Nielsen’s TV/Internet Convergence Panel, repertoires are identified as network subgroups based on patterns of audience duplication (ties) between items of media content (nodes). This analysis contributes to research on the polarization of news consumption (e.g., Prior, 2007) and the potential for partisan polarization resulting from media use (e.g., Sunstein, 2007), as well as extending the application of network analysis to the realm of media use.
Ksiazek, Thomas B. (2009). Repertoires of Media Use Across Platforms: Understanding Patterns of Audience Duplication Through Network Analysis. 59th Annual Conference of the International Communication Association. Chicago, IL. May 21-25.
Abstract:
Over the past several years a number of trends have come to define the current media environment. First, digital capabilities have led to the emergence of new distribution platforms. Second, within those platforms we have seen a rapid increase in the number of available content offerings. Finally, as a result of the first two trends, individuals increasingly spread their attention across a wide range of media, both within and across platforms. A common mechanism for coping with an abundance of content and finite attention is a reliance on repertoires of media offerings. This study presents an empirical analysis of cross-platform media repertoires using duplication data from the single-source, electronically collected TV/Internet Convergence Panel, administered by The Nielsen Company. Using the network analysis tool UCINET, media properties are grouped based on the structural equivalence of their duplication patterns (i.e., a measure of the similarity in linkage patterns among nodes in a network). The analysis explores patterns of fragmentation, polarization, and content loyalty across media. The results show that while fragmentation does exist, audiences also regularly attend to a smaller number of popular, general interest media properties. The findings also suggest that concerns about audience polarization may be overstated on certain dimensions. Related, while some media repertoires suggest audience loyalty to distinct content types, others are more heterogeneous in their composition.
Peer, Limor & Ksiazek, Thomas B. (2008). What works online: Characteristics of successful videos on YouTube. Annual Conference of the Midwest Association for Public Opinion Research. Chicago, IL. November 21-22.
Abstract:
By any measure, YouTube is a media phenomenon. One of its defining characteristics is the publication of collective content preferences, represented in data about the number of people who accessed, emailed or recommended particular videos. For scholars, these data provide a fairly accurate, unobtrusive, and immediate portrayal of the public’s preferences regarding media content, sidestepping many of the shortcomings of survey research and other audience measurements. For media professionals and educators these data on audience’s preferences shed a more focused light on the preferred content and its characteristics. For this group, understanding what it is that audiences prefer is a high stakes venture due to an increasing realization that online video is essential to the success of a news company. Media professionals and educators are particularly concerned about appropriate standards for the production of successful online video news content. Do viewers prefer videos produced by traditional broadcast standards? Is it something else? Perhaps it is a mix of traditional and non-traditional elements that works best? To answer these questions, we systematically analyzed a sample of 882 videos from YouTube measuring content elements (e.g., topic, tone, fairness), and production elements (e.g., editing techniques, presence of natural sound, text graphics). We also coded the number of views for each video as a measure of its popularity and indicator of success among audience members. Results show that, on the whole, successful online news videos adhere to most traditional broadcast standards when it comes to production elements, but display more relaxed standards when it comes to their content. Interestingly, we find that compromises in content standards are rewarded with a higher number of views, while adherence to production standards has no impact on popularity. In the particular case of videos about the 2008 election, however, we find that neither content nor production elements predict larger viewership.
Walejko, Gina K. & Ksiazek, Thomas B. (2008). Blogging from the niches: The sourcing practices of political and science bloggers. 9th Annual Internet Research Conference, Association of Internet Researchers (AoIR). Copenhagen, Denmark. October 15-19.
(NOTE: A more recent version will be published in Journalism Studies. See Publications.)
Abstract:
Digital media lowers barriers to entry and offers a “long tail” of specialized subject matter, providing niche bloggers the ability to renegotiate the traditional structure of news. However, it remains to be seen whether or not niche bloggers actually challenge popular practices. Previous studies indicated that offline journalists predominantly used government officials as sources while online media institutions typically cite their own pages and those of traditional news media. We analyze the sourcing practices of 158 political and science bloggers in a sample of 600 blogposts that discussed global warming or intelligent design between 2004 and 2007. We operationalize hyperlinks as sources and code the 4575 hyperlinks in these posts. Results indicate that niche bloggers link to government sources the least. Instead, they link to blogs and the online articles of traditional news media. We then code the sources from a sample of these traditional news media articles. We find that online news articles cite government sources more than bloggers, but these proportions do not approach those reported in past studies. We conclude
that niche bloggers have the ability to challenge whose voices get heard online.
Ksiazek, Thomas B. (2008). Predicting DVR Use: Structural and individual determinants of time-shifting. 2008 Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication Convention. Chicago, IL. August 6-9.
Abstract:
This study analyzes patterns of DVR time-shifting. Motivated by extensive research on VCR time-shifting in the 1980s and more limited, recent research on DVR time-shifting, regression models are fit to test the predictive power of a number of potential determinants of time-shifting across 60 television networks. The analysis is based on a sample of 1216 individuals armed with Portable People MetersTM (Arbitron, Inc.) to measure their patterns of time-shifting. The models include both structural and individual determinants that can be considered either media or audience factors. The results indicate that structural factors, such as network share (media) and household size (audience), have the most predictive power. Other variables (dayparts, employment, and premium channel subscriptions) exhibit more limited influence on the likelihood of time-shifting. The results are discussed in terms of a mutually constitutive television environment where structures and agents constantly act and react to one another. At the same time, DVR technology may be tipping the balance of power in favor of the audience members as time-shifting data provides more granular, precise measures of not just media choices, but preferences as well.
Ksiazek, Thomas B., Malthouse, Edward C., & Webster, James G. (2008). Newshounds and avoiders: Understanding patterns of total news consumption across media and what it means for civic participation. 58th Annual Conference of the International Communication Association. Montreal, Canada. May 22-26.
Abstract:
This study examines patterns of news consumption across multiple media platforms and relates them to civic participation. Analyzing a national sample of close to 25,000 respondents, we classified nearly half the adult population in America as news
“Avoiders,” and the other half as “Newshounds.” We then tested the relationship between civic participation and news consumption, for each of six media platforms individually, and to an overall index combining those sources into one measure. In general, we found a positive relationship with civic participation, but the influence of Total News Consumption on civic participation was greater for Avoiders than for Newshounds.
Walejko, Gina K. & Ksiazek, Thomas B. (2008). The politics of sourcing: A study of journalistic practices in the blogosphere. International Conference on Weblogs and Social Media. Seattle, WA. March 30-April 2.
Abstract:
Digital media lowers barriers to entry and has the ability to renegotiate traditional news-making power structures. However, it remains to be seen whether or not the people that use tools like blogs actually challenge those frameworks. Offline reporters predominantly use government officials as sources while online journalists and newspaper institutions typically cite their own pages and posts. In order to understand whether or not journalistic norms are challenged in the blogosphere, we look at the sourcing practices of a diverse group of 40 bloggers. Specifically, we sample 400 blogposts that discussed global warming between 2004 and May of 2007. Operationalizing hyperlinks as sources, we then code the 3264 hyperlinks in these posts. Results indicate that government sources are linked to the least. Instead, bloggers tend to link to the online versions of traditional news media as well as to other blogs. However, we find that bloggers also link to miscellaneous and civic sources such as academics and non-profit organizations about one-quarter of the time, somewhat challenging the dominance of government and traditional media. We conclude that blogging on non-traditional topics may subvert who gets heard in an online world, but further research is needed on this topic.
Ksiazek, Thomas B. & Webster, James G. (2007). The role of cultural proximity in audience behavior: Media choices among Hispanic Americans. 93rd Annual Conference of the National Communication Association. Chicago, IL. November 15-18.
(NOTE: A more recent version is published in the Journal of Broadcasting and Electronic Media. See Publications.)
Abstract:
Cultural proximity is a multi-dimensional concept, most often used to explain media preferences across national boundaries. This research reveals its power to explain audience formation within the United States. Portable peoplemeter data from Arbitron, Inc., was used to compare patterns of television and radio use across Spanish-speaking Hispanics, English-Speaking Hispanics, and Non-Hispanics in Houston, Texas. The results indicate that language preferences play a powerful role in determining audience behavior. Furthermore, while English-Speaking Hispanics exhibit multicultural fluency, the other two populations show evidence of cultural polarization.
Ksiazek, Thomas B. (2007). United States international broadcasting: Rationalizing the mission before and after 9/11. 57th Annual Conference of the International Communication Association. San Francisco, CA. May 24-28.
Abstract:
United States government-sponsored, non-military international broadcasting has been an important tool of public diplomacy since the beginning of the Cold War. As evidenced by previous histories, the rationalization of its mission has fluctuated from abstract to specific in response to the emergence of an external threat. As a case study in the institutionalization of a communication medium, this paper attempts to gain a deeper understanding of those fluctuations in a contemporary context. Frame analysis is employed to identify the selective foregrounding of certain aspects of reality, or frames, in congressional hearings between 1996 and 2006. Four frames are located to illustrate the discursive shift that occurred after 9/11: (1) clear and effective communication of U.S. ideals and interests, (2) accuracy and objectivity, (3) freedom and democracy, and (4) free flow. Thematic constructs, based on American press ideals, maintain the coherence of the frames across the two historical periods. The result of the analysis is an intellectual history of the rationalization of a broadcast institution. This paper contributes to the descriptive and interpretive histories of United States international broadcasting. Additionally, it offers an alternative application of frame analysis, traditionally utilized in news media studies.