OSP Assessment - Learner Response

1. Type up your feedback in full (you don't need to write the mark and grade if you want to keep this confidential).
21/34 = C

2. Read the whole mark scheme for this assessment carefully (posted on your Google Classroom). Identify three specific aspects from Figure 1 (the Bioshock Infinite game cover) that you could have mentioned in your answer (e.g. selection of images, colour scheme, text etc).

• Behind him is a burning American flag, with flames visible in the red and white stripes.

• Burning American flag: This is very symbolic. It connotes patriotism, but the fact it's burning

suggests conflict, rebellion, or a critique of the American ideology. It signals that the game

may deal with political tension, perhaps pointing to corruption, decay, or the darker side of

nationalism.

• Myth of American exceptionalism: The burning flag mythologizes America itself — not as

purely heroic, but as deeply flawed, possibly self-destructive. It evokes ideas about national

identity, pride, and the cost of that pride.

3. Now use the mark scheme to identify three potential points that you could have made in your essay for Question 2 (Jenkins - participatory culture or Curran and Seaton's - concentration of ownership).

• Heavy reliance on online advertising reflects Curran & Seaton’s media power theory, where

market pressures shape production more than diversity or plurality.

• The Voice’s ability to publish continuously and cheaply online reflects Hesmondhalgh’s view

of media industries minimising risk through flexible production models.

• Targeting diaspora audiences through social platforms illustrates globalised digital

distribution, central to Jenkins’ ideas about networked societies.

4. Write down two other CSPs from across the course that you could have referenced in your essay which link to digital convergence in relation to production, distribution and consumption and how they have impacted their products.

-BBC Radio 1

-Sephora Black beauty is beauty advert

5. Use your exam response, the mark scheme and any other resources you wish to use to write a detailed essay plan for Question 2. Make sure you are planning at least three well-developed paragraphs in addition to an introduction (thesis statement) and conclusion.

• how media producers target, attract, reach, address and potentially construct audiences

• how media industries target audiences through the content and appeal of media products

and through the ways in which they are marketed, distributed and circulated

• Music videos structured around layered meanings demonstrate Barthes' theory of polysemy,

encouraging multiple interpretations.

• Digital-first video design reflects Jenkins’ convergence culture, where content is created with

multi-platform distribution in mind (YouTube, TikTok, Instagram).

• Curated online persona highlights Swift is constructed across convergent media as both

authentic and mythologised.

• Streaming as the dominant mode of consumption embodies Shirky’s idea of the end of

traditional gatekeeping, with users controlling when and how they listen.

• Search engine optimisation-driven headlines and thumbnail optimisation show digital

convergence shaping production, supporting Van Zoonen’s view of digital media as data-

driven and responsive to online structures.

• Representation of Black British communities is shaped by real-time analytics — illustrating

Hall’s encoding/decoding model, as editors respond to dominant and negotiated readings

online.

• Audience interactions (comments, reposts) demonstrate Jenkins’ participatory culture,

where representation isn’t fixed but evolves through audience co-creation.

• Audiences who share and comment contribute to Jenkins’ collective intelligence, shaping

which stories circulate.

• Heavy reliance on online advertising reflects Curran & Seaton’s media power theory, where

market pressures shape production more than diversity or plurality.

• The Voice’s ability to publish continuously and cheaply online reflects Hesmondhalgh’s view

of media industries minimising risk through flexible production models.

6. Finally, identify three key areas you plan to revise from the OSP unit before the January mock exams (e.g. CSP elements of media theories) having looked at your feedback from this assessment.

-Revise other csps to make my synoptic question stronger

-Revise theorists

-Make intros and conclusions for my 25 mark essays