Studying the intersection of journalism, interactive communications and public discourse
Before the 2007 MTV Video Music Awards aired on cable television, the show’s producers announced that the network would broadcast the ceremony only once in its traditional linear form. Any future TV broadcasts of the VMAs would be ‘remixed’ versions of the show, producers said, as created by viewers and/or MTV. The change in how …
According to Jakob Nielsen, the guru of Web usability, most people don’t read Web pages at all. They scan them. A recent study showed that 79 percent of Web users scan any new page for individual words and sentences. Only 16 percent read it word-for-word. The implications? Nielsen suggests using: – highlighted keywords – sub-headings …
If you wanted to go see the pros play golf this week at the Travelers Championship in Cromwell, Conn. you had to do it without your cell phone. PGA tour event organizers banned all cell phones, PDAs and other electronic devices from the tournament regardless of “silent mode.” In return, officials set up sponsored “AT&T …
Louise Horstmanshof and Mary R. Power wrote in their 2005 paper, “Mobile Phones, SMS and Relationships” that people are embracing SMS (Short Message Service) communication because it is quick, efficient, cheap and convenient. I agree. More than ever before, SMS is allowing human beings to maintain social and familial connections both locally and overseas. When …
Diversion: escape from routine or problems; emotional release Personal relationships: companionship; social utility Personal identity: self-reference; reality exploration; value reinforcement Surveillance (forms of information seeking) – from “McQuail’s Mass Communication Theory: 5th edition,” 2005
Modern society suffers from “divided consciousness,” according to Kenneth J. Gergen’s 2002 essay, “The Challenge of Absent Presence.” Our attention spans have become increasingly diverted by new communication technologies, especially the mobile telephone. They make it easy for people to be physically present, yet “absorbed by a technologically mediated world of elsewhere.” Gergen’s got a …
Shorter is better. Why? Because people don’t read online. They scan. You have about 5 seconds to get the user’s attention. So write in simple, direct language that communicates thoughts efficiently. Use an active, conversational voice with strong verbs. Don’t be passive. The best verbs demonstrate action, movement, things happening. Sources: Attribution = credibility. Let …
Before you can fill a house with furniture, install rugs or paint walls, a house first needs rooms. It needs defined areas with floors and doorways and ceilings. The structure of the house must be in place before its interior can be filled with stuff, and style. The basic principle is the same when designing …
Here are three websites that do not follow conventional web standards. The sites incorporate Flash-heavy designs with unusual navigation and layout to grab and hold users attention. The unconventional structure of these sites may contribute to confusion among some visitors, but may also enthrall others. paramountvantage.com/babel – Official web site for the movie “Babel” The …
Most people use the World Wide Web as a tool, a device to find, retrieve and exchange information so they can carry out the business and leisure of daily life. The Internet’s most useful/popular web sites tend to be those that don’t force people to solve a navigational puzzle. Rather, these websites incorporate standard design …