Theme 3: Research and theory [post 1]

Journal: Media Culture & Society, issue: January 2012; 34(1), Impact 

factor: 1.092

The title of the journal says “Media Culture & Society” and the title itself 

almost explain what the journal is about. This issue of the journal contains 

different articles that has different standpoint in media. But it also has a very 

strong standpoint in different culture and society and it talks about how media

in different ways has affected culture and our human behaviour. There was 

one article (research paper) that I felt was the most interesting to me, and I 

will talk about it more and analyze its theories. But this journal is not only for 

the authors it is for all and has different forums where you can discuss what 

authors have written and how they felt about it. They also provide major peer-

reviewed articles so they are of a high quality.

Article(research paper): The institutionalization of YouTube: From user-

generated content to professionally generated content - Kim.J (2012),

USA Collage of Saint Rose. 

As the title of the Article says it’s about YouTube and how the big companies 

like Warner changed the way it worked. This article had a lot of historical 

facts about YouTube that was interesting to know. Things that made you 

understand how much YouTube have helped the online streaming business 

as well as the online video broadcasting business. But apart from that there 

where some things I did not really feel was right. Some of the sentences and 

part of this Article felt unfinished, like there was something missing. I thought 

that the focus was more on statistic and revenues than the actual reason for 

YouTube’s changes. The author could have mention more technological 

reasons for YouTube’s changes and not only what the big media companies 

“made” them do. But over all it followed the topic well and I could see how 

you could make more articles from this article.

Briefly explain to a first year student what theory is, and what theory is 

not.

A theory is a confirmed idea, or as some say is an idea that is accepted in the 

research area in which the theory is presented. But there has been many 

discussions on theory and that a lot of people use hypothesis when they 

should use the word theory.  In the paper “Nature of theory” the authors have 

divided theories into different types that I think is useful. There are a total of 

five theory type and I will try to explain theory more by listing these five types 

and explain them briefly.

Theory for Analysis: What is it? Analyzes what is and does not explain 

causality or try to predict generalization.

Theory for Explanation: What is, how, why when and where? Tries to explain 

but does not try to predict anything in detail.

Theory for Prediction: What is and what will be. This is what “Explanation” is 

not, it tries to predict with precision but doesn’t necessarily have to explain it.

Theory for Explanation and Prediction(EP): Is almost a combination of the 

second and third types. Some say it should not be combined but these

authors decided to use it because of their papers focus.

Theory for Design and action: How to do something. Gives detail explanation 

on how to construct a specific thing or artefact.

Describe the major theory or theories that are used in your selected

paper. Which theory type (see Table 2 in Gregor) can the theory or

theories be characterised as?

I cannot say that the paper I chose had a specific theory but if I would but a 

theory type on it, it would probably be Theory for Analysis. As explained 

above the text try to tell us about YouTube’s history and tries to analyze the 

changes that has happened and why it has happened.

Which are the benefits and limitations of using the selected theory or

theories?

The benefits are that you can control it and not be confused on what you are 

supposed to write. It will almost be a guideline for you to follow and even if 

your theory is not clear to begin with it will be in the end if you have selected

one to use. The limitations, as with almost everything, is that it is hard to

change theory when you’ve started to use on and if changed it could

complicated what you have already done and what you will do.

References:

Kim.J, The institutionalization of YouTube: From user-

generated content to professionally generated content (2012),

USA Collage of Saint Rose.

Journal: Media Culture & Society, issue: January 2012; 34(1), Impact 

factor: 1.092

Gregor.S, The nature of theory (2006) AUSTRALIA, The Australian national 

University