Shirky and the end of the audience

Overview

Shirky's first key idea, shirky's second key idea and end of the audience.

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

Questions from this subtopic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

1. 1

   Which theorist argues that audiences can no longer be seen as passive consumers?

   Model answer

   Clay Shirky makes this argument in his end-of-audience theory. Shirky writes about the internet's effect on the relationship between media and individuals.

2. 2

   State Shirky's first key idea.

   Model answer

   Shirky argues that the internet and digital technologies have profoundly affected relations between media and individuals. The old one-way relationship has broken down.

3. 3

   State Shirky's second key idea.

   Model answer

   Shirky argues that calling audiences passive consumers of mass media no longer holds. Consumers now produce and answer back.

4. 4

   What does Shirky mean by audiences speaking back to the media?

   Model answer

   Audiences reply publicly through comments, posts, reviews and their own content. Criticism now reaches producers and other audiences directly.

5. 5

   What is meant by the end of the audience?

   Model answer

   The end of the audience describes the collapse of the division between producers and consumers. Almost anyone can now publish.

6. 6

   What is cognitive surplus?

   Model answer

   Cognitive surplus is the collective free time and skill that audiences can spend creating and sharing. Shirky argues that the internet lets it be pooled.

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