An era of new readers has arisen as a result of new technologies which have enabled digitization of content. I will gather previous research done on the topics of through books and articles necessary to establish the correlation between digital formats and an increase in newspapers readership. I will be researching the key factors which immerse readers to engage in online newspapers. As themarketingsite.com stated, “According to the recently-released Nielsen Online Ranking Report, which reveals online readership figures for the first quarter of 2009, there has been a 28.5% growth in total visitors* from 8.6 million in the first quarter last year to over 11 million in the first quarter of this year; and a 25.2% increase in local visitors*, from 4.8 million last year to over 6 million visitors this year” (themarketingsite.com). This should be addressed because as technology has evolved it impacts the traditional methods which we were accustomed to. The newspaper has transitioned its format from print to web increasing readership. Therefore my final research paper will focus on the digitizing of newspapers and how this new medium is effective through the internet’s capabilities of interactivity and multimedia.
Sources:
Chung, Deborah S., and Chan Yun Yoo. "Audience Motivations for Using Interactive Features: Distinguishing Use of Different Types of Interactivity on an Online Newspaper." Mass Communication and Society 11: 357-97.
This article addresses the reasons for online newspaper usage and the different tools that facilitate interactivity within digital content.
Johns, Adrian. The Book of Nature and the Nature of the Book. The Book History Reader. Routledge, 2006. 255-272.
In this book John talks about the fixity and credit of books and how books encountered issues of piracy when print was first developed. I’m going to use this article to compare how issues of credibility are still relevant with the digitization of content.
Murray, Janet Horowitz. Hamlet on the Holodeck: the Future of Narrative in Cyberspace. Cambridge, MA: MIT, 1999. Print.
The book analyzes what makes an artifact interactive and how factors such as hypermedia text deliver messages efficiently to readers. I will use this book to determine the interactivity of online newspapers specifically with reference to The Huffington Post an online news outlet.
“Recent stats show online readership growing at over 25%. Themarketingsite.com (2009): Web. 11 Dec 2010. http://www.themarketingsite.com/live/content.php?Item_ID=9225.
This article gives statistics regarding 2009 readership of online newspapers. I will use this source to provide available figures of the current readership of online newspapers.
