COP Proposal for practical work

What is your research question?

My essay question is 'With the high impact of new media and the internet, what is publication today?'  so within this there are various things that I could research into to think of a question for the practical side of COP. I could look into such as publishing including magazines, newspapers and books. New media including social media, new technologies and the ways in which we are adapting and getting hooked to them. 

Do you have a hypothesis (an assumed conclusion that you will endeavour to prove)?

I kind of want to prove that publication is becoming more digital however I am not happy that it is. I feel as if there are many points that I would like to prove and wouldn't be able to choose one some of these points are: 
- that people are becoming obsessed with new media technologies
- how people are finding there voices thanks to new media, how news can travel in a flash
- we have no need for newspapers anymore thanks to new media
- we will always have a love for niche good looking magazines that are published via print 
- if you have something printed it has a better value than something digital

Sources of primary/ secondary research? 

For primary research I conducted a survey for my essay and got some good feedback about how people tend to get there news and whether people actual subscribe to digital publications, this was useful and may help me decide on what I want to do for my practical. For secondary research I used the internet reading various blogs and articles relating to the topic. I also took a few books out from the library on new media semiotics and publishing. 

How will your practical work relate to your written work (synthesis)?

I am unsure exactly what I want to do yet I need to develop my ideas further but my initial idea is to make something completely digital into something printed making it more substantial and worth more, or the other way around. 

What methods will you use to research, develop, create and test your work?

I will research further by using the internet and the library again, in terms of primary research instead of doing another survey I could could just ask for peoples opinions on the topic, I could ask people of a variety of age range to see how there opinions differ. 


To move forward I need to focus my research into one specific area and ask myself a question as I feel as if there are so many things I could look into with my essay question, I need to think about a time line and even the work out so I don't leave everything till the last minute, I also need to think about booking a print space in advance. 

Study Task 4- Practice Based Research Workshop

TECNIQUE, CONTENT, COMMUNICATION

Based on the above, extract the practical issues/ aspects surrounding your chosen field of interest 

I am now going to start to think about the practical aspect of COP and thinking about these points may help

ESSAY QUESTION 

With the high impact of new media and the internet, what is publication today? 


Technique

New Media
-Apps
-Social Media 
-Internet
-Tablets

Publication
-Grids
-Type
-Layout 


Content

New Media
-News updates
-Magazines 
-Videos

Publication
-Gender identity
-Image
-Photography 
-Layout
-Typography


Communication 
- Newspapers 
- Magazines 
- Apps
- Interactive
- Signs and codes within magazines 


My practical research should have the following factors: 


Research / Analysis / Exploration / Evaluation / Testing

COP Essay further planning

I have tried to structure my essay as much as possible to help with the writing of it. I did plan to just focus in on magazines and not do newspapers however after further research and reading I have really enjoyed looking into the news trade and how it has developed so it seems relevant to mention it in my essay. There are quite a few points I would like to make in each sections of the essay, and the order I would like to make them in:


Magazine section order 

-the competitive magazine industry 
- consumerism
-subscriptions
-lifestyle
-gender roles
-something physical and collectable
-flourishing both digital and printed


Media section order 

-news/newspapers (how fast news moves)
-mobile phones, how many people use them?
-keeping up to date
-are young people becoming more obsessed with social media? 
-generations
-why do things go viral 

COP Essay- Primary Research Results

I got 24 responses for my questionnaire. Here are the statistics from the questionnaire, they are quite interesting and as I expected. 

Everyone out of the 24 people owned a smartphone of some kind.

The highest percentage of people having social media apps on there phone are 3-5, this probably being Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and maybe one or two others.

Nearly 70% of the people that I asked had a news app on their smart phone keeping them up to date on what is happening in the world. 

Only 4.17% (one person) actually get there news from a printed newspaper, the highest percentage of where people get there news from is the internet. I think this is because it is easily accesable, free and updated regularly compared to a newspaper where you have to pay for them and only get printed once a day and by the time they are printed and you have picked one you have already heard or been updated about the news through apps. 

Only 2 people out of the 23 have ever subscribed to a magazine digitally, I don't think this is very surprising as more people like to have there magazines as a hard copy something to keep and look back on, also some people have collections of magazines that would work better as hard copies. 

This statistic is how I was expecting for this question. 

From this questionnaire that I have carried out it has proved that more people are getting there news updates digitally and the news trade is turning more digital where as the magazine industry is still remaining just as popular printed. 

COP Essay Research

I have taken out some books from the library that are useful in the compiling of this essay but there are also some interesting online articles that have been interesting to read that I will reference in my essay

http://www.theguardian.com/media/2012/jun/03/who-says-print-is-dead

http://www.theguardian.com/news/datablog/2013/aug/19/digital-magazines-popular-circulation-figures

Below is a partially interesting article about how easy it is to portay the perfect life on Facebook. A video of a man faking his Facebook life all in a bid to gain ‘likes’ from his friends online.

'A fifth of young people admit their online profile bears little resemblance to reality, and that their recollection of past events has been distorted by their own fabrications.

Young adults, aged between 18 and 24, say they frequently lie about their relationships, promotions at work and holidays.'

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/women/womens-life/11327120/Facebook-perfect-life-One-man-proves-how-easy-it-is-to-fake-it.html

COP Essay- Primary Research

Now I am half way through my essay and starting to think about the new media and internet side of things I have decided to gather some primary research to help me. The questions that I would like answering are:

- do you own a smart phone? yes/no

- how many social networking apps do you have on your phone? 0-3 3-5 5+

- do you have any news apps on your smartphone? yes/no

- how do you get your news updates? television/ internet/ apps/ radio 

- have you ever subscribed to a magazine digitally? yes/no

- how many magazines do you by a year? 0-10 10-20 20-30 30+

I have published the questionnaire on survey monkey and posted it on Facebook and on the graphic design group to hopefully gather a few responses to help me with my essay. I think the questions are relevant, I will be gathering young peoples opinions and seeing how they get there news updates and how they get their magazines. I am going to leave the survey open for just one day to gather the responses.