The roles and relationships of traditional and new media appear to be constantly changing. This is particularly true of their approach towards audiences. The following is an exercise you can conduct in order to flesh out the similarities and differences between old and new media by focusing one roles played, people media talk about, and the audiences.

For this exercise you may want to form three groups (at least two people per group). Each group answers one of the question sets below (Group 1 – Media; Group 2 – Persons; Group 3 – Roles) and writes down the answers in the boxes provided. Take 25 minutes to discuss the questions and write down your answers. After all the groups have completed their boxes you can discuss together. Do you agree or disagree with the answers? What would you add? Would you phrase differently? How? Why?

Media:

1. How are old and new media similar and different? Explain by example.
2. What are the roles of media (new and old) - to provide information, to think critically about information, to share information, to create community, to advertise, to lobby, to raise awareness, to educate, etc.? Reflect one at least three of these by referring to specific examples.

Persons:

1. Who are the people media talk about (politicians, celebrities, ordinary people, etc.)?
2. Give examples on different kinds of people represented in media. Give as much detail as possible – What they do? What they look like? Where they’re from? What is their gender? Ethnicity? Socio-economic background? Are they important and why? Who is more important? Who do you identify with and why?

Roles:

1. What are the roles played by audiences (to receive information, to create information, to think critically about information, to share information, to advertise, to lobby, to raise awareness, to educate, etc.)? Reflect one at least three of these by referring to specific examples.

This section looks at how investigative and awareness-raising reporting and stories are made. In addition, it offers exercises on the use of various sources (online research, video, reporting) towards gaining a fuller understanding, and more complete information, of particular issues. In short, it aims is to provide example of how we can become better informed, by also pointing to ethical issues in media.

Mapping Exercise: Critical reading

For this exercise you will engage in the critical reading of information and the interpretation provided in two articles focused on bullying in schools.

Bullying in schools is a problem that worries many parents, school administrators, and teachers. Most of all it endangers the physical and emotional wellbeing of those bullied, but also raises concern of causes, i.e. the physical and emotional well being of bullies themselves.

The media have also been engaged in pointing to the problem and raising awareness about the many aspects of bullying, including physical and psychological violence, mental heath, educational performance, institutional responses, etc.

For this exercise you can split into two groups, but two people can also conduct the exercise. One person/group reads Article 1 and the other Article 2.

Article 1

http://www.kosovotwopointzero.com/article/1445/ngacmimi-ne-shkollat-kosovare-dhe-pergjegjesia-jone

Article 2

http://www.telegrafi.com/dhuna-ne-shkolla-alarm-per-institucionet-shkollore/

Once you have read the article answer each of the questions below. Write down your answers.

• What is bullying?
• Who is the bully?
• Who is bullied?
• What is the story about? What is it saying?
• Who is “speaking” in the story”?
• Are the sources reliable? Why?
• What information is new to you?
• What else would you like to know?
• What does it make you think?
• What does it make you feel?
• Did the story change the way you think about bullying?

Once you have written your answers the two groups/persons conduct a comparison. Go through each questions/answer and discuss ways in which the articles are the same or different.

For the end, discuss what you have learned from the exercise. Perhaps, you can write a blog about the exercise and your learning experience. See Section XX on how to write critically.

Mapping Exercise: Critical viewing

Watch Behind the Lines (link) an Innovations Lab Kosovo (?) production on bullying.

Here we can add a brief synopsis on the video.

Following the same steps outlined for the exercise about compare the articles and the video. Answer the same questions:

• What is bullying?
• Who is the bully?
• Who is bullied?
• What is the story about? What is it saying?
• Who is “speaking” in the story”?
• Are the sources reliable? Why?
• What information is new to you?
• What else would you like to know?
• What does it make you think?
• What does it make you feel?
• Did the story change the way you think about bullying?

Conduct comparison:

• What forms and types of media are used by the two sources (the article and the video), e.g. the article is from both a printed and online e media outlet, it uses social media, but relies on traditional media production
• How is the right to receiving and imparting information, bias and independence, part of the information provided and the format in which it is provided (e.g. the role of informing the public and raising awareness, creating sharable content, commenting by the audience, availability in social media)
• The role of traditional media and new media in informing and raising awareness  - how are these different or the same, while referring to the article and video
• What is gained by looking at multiple sources? Do we gain a better understanding? Who benefits? How? Who is speaking?
• Are new media changing the relationship between media and audiences? Discuss through examples.

A large part of conducting research online, and of information provided by media (election polls for example) relies on quantitative research and data. For example, media continually track ways in which users (audiences, the public) use their platforms – what they read, what they buy, what they share – and use that information to generate data and products.

The same data helps shape marketing strategies, it effects how a medium makes information available/suggested to us, can shape political and other campaigns and how they target supporters, etc. Therefore skills in reading quantitative data are valuable and help to better understand how information is produced and presented. Otherwise, as an audience, we uncritically accept what is provided to us without our ability to interrogate information that is presented as fact.

Surveys and polls are used to generate quantitative (numerical) data, usually presented through graphs and tables. Interviews, desk research, ethnography, oral history, etc., are considered as qualitative methods, and generally are part of analysis provided in narrative form.

Much of media content relies on research either carried our by the specific media outlet, or research conducted by organizations, institutions, institutes, academics, etc. They all have particular perspectives and can provide diverging interpretations.

Data reading exercise:

See the following document:

“Action Document on Violence and Safety in Public Schools in the Municipality of Prishtina”

http://www.undp.org/content/dam/kosovo/docs/actionpaper/action_papper_alb.pdf (Handout 2)

You can conduct this exercise alone or with a friend/class mate.

Choose any two graphs from the report and write your commentary. The following questions can help:

• What is being measured? What questions are asked and what responses are given?
• What is the issue/topic that is being researched?
• What research methods were used?
• What does the data say? In what ways does the data help you understand the issue?
• Is this data similar/same/different from the information you gained by reading the articles in the previous section (II.2)?
• Does this data collaborate or dismiss claims made in the articles? Give examples.