‘Eyetracking’ How Online What Are Readers Consuming

University of North TexasDepartment of JournalismOnline Journalism 3340

February 21, 2008

Today’s Lineup Today’s News

http://www.dallasnews.com/video/dallasnews/hp/index.html?nvid=219982

Eyetracking – Why This Matters In-Class Writing Assignment Homework for Tuesday

Read “Digital Storytelling – Genre” and “Digital Storytelling Tools” Chapters

Be prepared to discuss “The Five I’s” and provide examples from websites that address these issues

“This has everything to do with journalism. How people consume information, how they comprehend information it is a huge piece of the puzzle. If you can’t provide information in ways they can understand it and access it, then you’re wasting your time as a journalist. And we can’t afford to waste time.”

Keith Woods, Dean, Poynter Institute of Journalism

“We have learned as an industry we are backward in research and that we are not seizing the new technologies and discoveries of recent years. … As an industry we must improve and expand, or we dwindle and die.”

Nelson Poynter Nov. 2, 1946

Key Observations More story text read online, than print

And most read all the text Jumps were read Two types of readers

Methodical – Mainly ‘print’ readers Read top to bottom Re-read some material Use drop down boxes, nav bars, searches Read a higher percentage of text

Key Observations Scanners – Mainly online readers

‘Scan’ headlines and text, never reading any one story specifically

Read parts of stories, look at photos Look at story lists to choose stories

The response (Page 31) Media has to move to alternative storytelling More interactive elements

Q&A, a timeline, a fact box or a list – drew a higher amount of visual attention, compared to regular text in print.

On average, we saw 15 percent more attention to what we call alternative story forms than to regular text in print. This number rose to 30 percent in broadsheet format.

Key Observations Graphics Elements

Big is better: Headlines & Photos Large, color photos (p. 45) Mug shots get lost

Online readers use the navigational elements