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TopNewspaper and television news organizations have long-established traditions for distributing news in their respective media (print or television). The inherent attributes of these media greatly influence how people access and comprehend news as well as how news is reported. Pipps, Walter, Endres, and Tabatcher (2009), for example, report on research showing that content recall for television and radio news was lower than recall of textual information. Access to a news story and learning from it is directly affected by many contextual features or interferences that make up the social and behavioral state of the environment in which a person acquires news (DeFlettr, Davenport, Cronin, & DeFleur, 1992, p. 1011). Television broadcasts provide a vastly different news gathering experience compared to newspapers. People adapt their behavior to accommodate the differences. A person may view a TV news broadcast in a room with other people or while engaging in some other activity. Television is a passive medium wherein viewers watch and listen as content gets delivered to them. Broadcasts present short video-based stories sequenced linearly within a specified timeframe at a fixed location for on-air viewing. One’s access to and the sequencing of such stories is controlled by the news organization. People can record TV broadcasts for archival purposes. Once recorded, the broadcast can be controlled by the individual.
Key Terms in this Chapter
Digital Interface: A digital interface is the medium through which humans interact with computers. Interfaces represent an amalgamation of visual, auditory, and functional components that people see, hear, touch, or talk to as they interact with computers (digital devices).
Human-Computer Interaction and Learning: Refers to interactional processes between learners and computational devices and the extent to which that interaction supports or impedes learning.
Usability: A process of determining how effectively and efficiently people are able to use products or systems created by designers. A core aspect of usability is having people use the product or interface and examine how easy or difficult it is to use. Based on these data, designers make refinements to the system.
Responsive Design: Designing web content in such a way that is responds to any device on which is it viewed. Working from the content structure, designers design web sites so when they are viewed on varying sized viewpoints, users can easily access them.
Interface Design: The process of designing the visual, metaphorical, functional aspects of a product or system. The process of interface design begins with understanding people, the tasks they perform, and the goals they are trying to reach. Based on this information, interface designers create the medium to help users interact with products or systems so they may to reach their goals.
Interface: A mechanism that mediates the conversation between a person and a product or system. An interface is a means to make the conversation between the human and machine or product easier.
User Experience Design: Concerned with the total effect or effects felt by users as they interact with a system, device or product. It encompasses usability and usefulness as well as what the user feels internally (Hartson & Pyla, p. 19, 2012).