Interaction and participation: investigating the impact of mobile technologies on screen-based industries and audiences

This PhD explores the changing nature of audience participation in screen-based media. The research, conducted over six years, analyses the motivations and methods of industry professionals working at the forefront of interactive television and film. It focuses on the impact of mobile devices in media production and consumption, across a range of television genres, and analyses the concept of the ‘second screen’ as part of the history and evolution of innovation in interactive TV and film.Four outputs are included in this PhD by published works, including three printed research publications and a film project. Each one adopts similar qualitative methodological approaches which are rooted in interviews, content analysis and industry case studies. The research analyses media production within the scope of theoretical frameworks: the dichotomy of active / passive audiences, the notion of user agency and the converge with interactive gameplay, and the shifting concepts of immersion and digital transmedia storytelling.The work has been informed by the researcher’s own professional background as a reporter and producer in TV news and current affairs, as well as his work as a filmmaker within the academy. One of his recent ‘practice-as-research’ film projects has also been included in this PhD to explore how both traditional and practice methodologies can enhance and complement each other around the study of TV and digital interaction