Professor Joseph Turow
Mass Media and Society
Fall 2008 Research Paper

Message boards—that is, discussion groups, chats, and blogs--that center on individual television programs represent a digital phenomenon that is changing the way traditional television is experienced. For this paper, you will explore the message-board phenomenon by comparing the contemporary posts created on a space hosted by a firm or person related to the show (an “authorized” discussion group) with posts created on a space that is independent from the producers, distributors or exhibitors of the program (a “non-authorized” discussion group). You can often find an authorized blog at the site of the TV network that shows the series. You can find a non-authorized blog by using a search engine.

a. Choose a current television series that has both an authorized and non-authorized message board (a discussion group, a chat area, and/or a blog) online.

b. Describe the program—its genre, format, its dates on TV, and its ratings history.

c. Then conduct a systematic qualitative analysis of the posts on both an authoritative and non-authoritative message board during the same period of time. Make sure that you have at least 100 messages (initiating and commenting) for each message board.

d. After getting a sense of the writings, come up with a way to categorize your data using specific themes that you find particularly interesting. Create a form that will help you keep track of what you consider relevant aspects of the comments of each message during the first 100 messages in each community. Among the issues you might consider are:

a. The role and presence of moderators

b. The extent to which one board has more or fewer favorable comments than the other

c. The specific topics of the boards

d. What and how much the writers reveal of themselves

e. Topics that one board covers and another doesn’t, or covers differently

f. Differential discussions of gossip or controversies

g. Other media channels mentioned (including TV programs and other message boards)

e. You are welcome to consult with friends in the class on the creation of the analytical instrument.

f. Print out the messages you are analyzing.

g. After you have “coded” the 200 comments in each board, analyze them and write a 5 page paper in which you compare and contrast the contents of the authoritative and non-authoritative boards. In your paper, discuss what your findings say about the cross-media nature of programs and the kind of discourse that takes place around them.

h. Email your paper and instrument to your TA. Include as a separate file the messages that you analyzed.

i. The paper is due on Tuesday, November 25

EXAMPLE OF CATEGORIES:

Name of Program

Name of Message Board

Type (Authorized / Non-Authorized)

Message #: _ _ _ _ _ _ UserName ______________

Is the User the Moderator? Yes/No

Nature of the message: (1) New idea (2) Reply to previous Post (3) New and reply (4) Moderator’s instructions (4) other

If the message discusses continuing characters, is it positive, negative, neutral, mixed?

What does it say?

If the message discusses actors personal lives or personalities, is it positive, negative, neutral, mixed?

What does it say?

If the message discusses a particular plot, is it positive, negative, neutral, mixed?

What does it say?

If the message discusses the show as a whole, is it positive, negative, neutral, mixed?

What does it say?

If the message discusses the network or production firm, is it positive, negative, neutral, mixed?

What does it say?

If the message discuss controversy around the show, is it positive, negative, neutral , mixed?

What does it say?

Does the message discuss topics that do not relate at all to the show? If so, what?