Converting Science News for the Web

Challenges for old and new media

In 1993, Redish described a process she called satisficing, which refers to a mechanism readers use to cope with overwhelming amounts of information. In this situation, readers must make choices about where to focus their time and energy, often skimming or only grasping main points before moving on to the next demand. Although Reddish was referring to the work environment, this concept can be extended to free time, as well, where the non-captive reader may quickly lose interest.

Print media are well aware of this phenomenon. The traditional journalistic style calls for inverted pyramid style of reporting, based on the assumption that a reader may lose interest by the end of the piece and thus must be fed the important details first. To avoid losing readers, print media also use strategies such as engaging imagery, conflict, and human interest (Nelkin 1995), as well as using illustrations to visually break up white space. However, stories are still presented in long columns of text that may continue for pages.

On the Internet, presenting text in this fashion may lead to the quick loss of an audience (Nielsen 2000). The tendency for a non-captive reader to lose interest is intensified on the web, where competing sites are only a click away (Farkas and Farkas, 2001, Nielsen 2000). This presents special challenges for creating compelling, appealing hypertext content. Emerging research (Haas 1995, Strain and Berry 1996, Nielsen 2000, Farkas and Farkas 2001) has resulted in guidelines for converting text to hypertext, both in terms of structure and content. Should existing print media simply be thrown onto the web with no modification? The consensus is a resounding no, yet for publications such as Science News and New Scientist, as well as many others, this creates a dilemma.

On the Internet, presenting text in this fashion may lead to the quick loss of an audience (Nielsen 2000). The tendency for a non-captive reader to lose interest is intensified on the web, where competing sites are only a click away (Farkas and Farkas, 2001, Nielsen 2000). This presents special challenges for creating compelling, appealing hypertext content.

Emerging research (Haas 1995, Strain and Berry 1996, Nielsen 2000, Farkas and Farkas 2001) has resulted in guidelines for converting text to hypertext, both in terms of structure and content. Should existing print media simply be thrown onto the web with no modification? The consensus is a resounding no, yet for publications such as Science News and New Scientist, as well as many others, this creates a dilemma.

The question becomes how to preserve the style, rigor, content, and coherence of the magazine while still creating an appealing product for online consumption. In addition to this tension, designers also must choose whether or not to take advantage of the opportunities offered by the internet that are not possible in print, such as linking, use of audio and animated elements, and video.

Finally, there is the challenge of boundaries-with print, there is a cover and a binding, a well-defined beginning and end. With hypertext, this is not the case. This can lead to disorientation and decentralization for the reader (Keep et al. 1995).

Abstract, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, Works Cited

 

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