Interactions: Studies in Communication & Culture 9.3 is now available

Intellect is happy to announce that Interactions: Studies in Communication
& Culture 9.3 is now available! For more information about the issue, click
here >> https://bit.ly/2PVvRnH  <https://bit.ly/2PVvRnH>

This is a special issue, featuring discussion surrounding visual fields in
the changing media and entertainment environment in India.

*Content*

*Visual fields in the changing media and entertainment environment in India*

Authors: Pooja Susan Thomas
Page Start: 269

*Watching Game of Thrones in India: Notes on programme culture, television
and YouTube*

Authors: Susan George
Page Start: 275

Network programme viewing culture, though only three decades old in India,
has now evolved to include digital platforms, embracing the revolutionary
potential of Internet video and YouTube in particular. Questions of
transcience, newness, instantaneity and physical presence lose their
centrality in the digitalized domain where all viewing consumption is in
the past, and temporal cultures of collective or individual viewing,
collective remembering and individual creative production have been
radically transformed. This overview of the move from television to
Internet and the changing techne of video programming, uses HBO’s Game of
Thrones viewership in India as an illustration of urban new media practices.

*At the limit of the personal: The Kashmir conflict via explorations in the
ethical space of film*

Authors: Max Kramer
Page Start: 289

This article is a critical appreciation of the often misunderstood and
controversial filmmaker Ajay Raina, who frequently finds himself at a
discursive crossfire, being criticized by both Hindu and Kashmiri
nationalists. Through a discussion of Raina’s three Kashmir-related
documentary films, I will indicate the limits of the personal film as a
challenge to official or hegemonic conflict narratives. The analysis
focuses on the mediation of exile narratives, conflict testimony and visual
evidence in the ethical space of film. I will argue that, through ethical
protocols of film production and the vérité-form, Raina opens a complex
space for the negotiation of conflict narratives. These openings are,
however, under threat of ideological closure because of attempts to anchor
the audio-visual testimony through his personal voice-over and a narrative
of secular nationalism. Finally, I am drawing on the concept of embodied
memory to better understand these ambiguous moments when his intentions are
crossed by divergent readings from different audiences.

*Memes in digital culture and their role in marketing and communication: A
study in India*

Authors: Harshit Sharma
Page Start: 303

The word ‘meme’, though coined in 1976, started gaining popularity in the
digital sphere in 2012 and slowly began dominating the space on our social
media walls. This article is an attempt to explore how brands can engage
with Indian netizens using the growing trend of Internet memes. It deploys
netnography as a method of primary research to analyse the behaviour of
Facebook users in India and cross-validates it with experts’ opinion.

*Understanding the rise of augmented reality–based apps post-Pokémon GO*

Authors: Samrat Nath
Page Start: 319

Augmented reality (AR) platforms integrate virtual ambience with the
real-life environment of a user. One of the recent innovative usages of AR
was Pokémon GO app, which was a stupendous success owing to its huge user
base and the convenient usage of technology. This article attempts to
understand the proliferation of AR-enabled apps post-Pokémon GO using
content analysis. The study uses primary data from the Google Play Store
(Android) and the App Store (iOS) (Indian versions) to inductively infer
the current market trends. In conclusion, the article looks at the
plausible functions of the platform as a media channel.

*Children’s entertainment television in India: The changing scenario and
the Indian child*

Authors: Shukla Das And Saesha (Sashank) Kini
Page Start: 335

Indian children’s commercial television started in 1995 with foreign
channels and gathered momentum in the early 2000s. After 2008, the spurt in
home-grown programming added an indigenous dimension. However, the
home-grown programmes fall short in numbers as compared to their foreign
counterparts and are plagued with various issues such as lack of diversity
in genres, inadequate educational programming, regressive character
portrayals, stereotypical gender representation and underrepresentation of
the India’s cultural treasure trove. This article reviews the shortfall of
home-grown children’s programming. It then examines the genres, themes,
characters, age segmentation, gender balance and cultural inclusiveness on
Indian children’s television and suggests how the programming can improve
in quality and create an original, relevant and contemporary world on
television for the Indian child.

*Disruptions: The changing landscape of film production 2005–18*

Authors: Udita Bhargava
Page Start: 353

=====
General list info and FAQ: http://comm.umn.edu/~grodman/cultstud.html