Monday, 29 August 2011
Thursday, 25 August 2011
Do people engage with online news?
For some time now I've been trying to come up with something interesting to blog about for #QUTOJ1 and let me tell you, ideas have not been forthcoming. So I decided to start having a look into other people's interest in online journalism and came across this gem of a thesis by Arthur D. Santana, Randall Livingstone and Yoon Cho about how audiences are able to engage and recall online and print newspapers:
The thesis begins by saying that "increasingly, newsreaders are abandoning the print newspaper in favor of online news." No 'news' there. However, the research that the trio completed about how people engage with the news yielded some very interesting results. Without going into too much details, a test group, half of whom read the New York Times in print, and half of whom read it online were questioned on "the extent to which the news stories made an impression." They found that those who read the print stories remembered much more than those who read online articles, and changes made to story formats online over the past decade had made little difference to how well the information was retained by the audience.
Interesting stuff. Personally, I find I have difficulty concentrating for extended periods when staring at a computer screen which is a challenge when reading in-depth news articles online. However, the brilliance of online sources to me is the sheer quantity of information that’s available at the touch of a button. Possibly one of the reasons online readers retain less information is because they are processing much more information all at once. For example, take a look at the home page for Melbourne’s ‘The Age’:
Offhand I was able to count over 150 links to articles listed on their homepage alone. This didn’t include links to other news providers, nor what was available when clicking on an article link. In comparison, the front page of the print newspaper offered links to less than twenty articles.
I think that even though print media may be retained more easily by audiences, online journalism allows audiences a much greater variety and immediacy of sources, which can only help people to be more informed, right? MAYBE...as long as the quality and accuracy of reporting is up to scratch, but that's an entirely different can of worms.
Don't agree with me? Let me know...I'd love to hear your feedback.
Thursday, 4 August 2011
numero uno
Testing...testing...first blog post! I'll be updating this thing sporadically so if you want to read the random ravings of a 22-year-old journo student you've come to the right place.
Unsure how often I will be posting as yet; you can also follow me at @jaydlm
Unsure how often I will be posting as yet; you can also follow me at @jaydlm
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