Lexington Books Para-Interactivity and the Appeal of Television in the Digital Age

Para-Interactivity and the Appeal of Television in the Digital Age focuses on broadcast television's attempts to transition from a mass medium to one which addresses viewers as potentially active participants in simulated interactive communication. It explores both the transformations and the continued popularity of television in an age of social media and competition from interactive digital media. It presents the concept of "para-interactivity," which contains features or elements that echo interactive communication processes considered characteristic of digital media and participatory culture translated into television's language. This novel idea helps to understand contemporary television and identify current and traditional strategies it employs in order to survive in a changing media environment. Review From the earliest days of research on television there has been a counterintuitive stream of study that considers viewers to be "active." Recall Herzog's "Professor Quiz," McLuhan's connecting the dots, Blumler's seeking of gratifications, Horton and Wohl's talking back, Dayan's performative publics. This book tells how the broadcast industry is trying to further "activate" the audience, hoping to find a place for TV among the social media.--Elihu Katz, University of Pennsylvania and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem TV is dead: Long live TV! Amid the back-and-forth between those who would write television's obituary, and those who think it has at last achieved value and maturity, Oranit Klein Shagrir provides a theoretically compelling and empirically-grounded understanding of the place of television in the contemporary mediascape. Proposing the concept of 'para-interactivity' as a key industrial-commercial strategy and a set of prevailing textual practices, the book builds impressively on traditions of television research, media production and digital media studies to shed light on how television strives to retain cultural and social significance. Para-Interactivity and the Appeal of Television in the Digital Age is a key work for anyone interested not only in contemporary television as a cultural and social force, but in how so-called 'old media' construct ways to adapt, survive and thrive in digital times.--Paul Frosh, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem This book--and the concept Para-Interactivity as its main axis--brilliantly packages contemporary television strategies, encapsulates future promises for its audiences in the digital age, and offers stimulating critical terms to understand television 'outside the box.'--Motti Nieger, Netanya Academic College About the Author Oranit Klein Shagrir is senior lecturer at Hadassah Academic College.