Connectist: Istanbul University Journal of Communication Sciences

SUBMITINFORMATION
EnglishTürkçe

Research Article


DOI :10.26650/CONNECTIST497463   IUP :10.26650/CONNECTIST497463    Full Text (PDF)

Reading Digital News: Hypertextual Usage Habits and Learning Practices Among U.S. Communication Undergraduates

Bilge Narin

Hypertext as a nonlinear, computer-based or digital text that is now used along with conventional, linear printed text and can be described as a relatively advanced text type. Moreover, hypertextuality is among the characteristics which differentiate online news from printed news. While digital writing has become more advanced with hypertextuality, its impact on users’ reading habits has gained importance as an underlying matter. In this context, the present research aims to provide an analysis of users’ experiences of reading digital news in the context of hypertextuality. This study begins by summarizing the studies on hypertextuality and news users. Following this, a case study is presented to analyze newspaper users’ reading habits in a digital setting to propose empirical evidence for the theoretical ideas of poststructuralist thinkers on hypertextuality. This part focuses on the hypertext reception practices of UMASS/Amherst Department of Communication undergraduate students through analysis of their news consumption patterns via an online survey. Based on the findings, this study contributes to the literature regarding journalism, technology, and digital writing by identifying the advantages and disadvantages of reading digital news. Although hypertextuality invites both writers and users to think in a nonlinear and cooperative way, it also leads to polarized opinions and newly emerging ethical issues. 

Keywords: Digital news, online news, hypertext, users, newspaper reading

EXTENDED ABSTRACT


The Internet is extensively based on hypertext, a nonlinear, computer-based or digital text that is now used along with conventional, linear printed text as a relatively new text type (Voss et al., 2009, p. 62). Moreover, hypertextuality is among the characteristics which differentiate online news from printed news (Heinonen, 1999). While digital writing has become more advanced with hypertextuality, its impact on users’ reading habits has gained importance as an underlying matter. In this context, the present research aims to provide an analysis of users’ experiences of reading digital news in the context of hypertextuality. This research examines how the department of communication students read, interact with, and learn from digital news in the context of hypertextuality. The students were allowed to identify their digital reading habits with an online questionnaire rather than through experimentation. Users were also questioned about their methods of dealing with fake links while reading online news within the context of hypertext ethics.

This study begins by summarizing the studies on hypertextuality and news users. Following this, a case study is presented analyzing newspaper users’ reading habits in a digital setting to propose empirical evidence for the theoretical ideas of poststructuralist thinkers on hypertextuality. This part focuses on the hypertext reception practices of UMASS/Amherst Department of Communication undergraduate students through analysis of their news consumption patterns via an online survey. Interested participants, solicited through an open-call email, were prescreened for the study by completing the questionnaire. The sample of the present study shares similar features with the population of the Department of Communication / UMass (which has 1000 students) in terms of average age, average education, and attendance. A total sample of 152 undergraduate students participated in the study through random sampling in January and February of 2018. 

Based on the findings, this study contributes to the literature regarding journalism, technology, and digital writing by identifying the advantages and disadvantages of reading digital news. Although hypertextuality invites both writers and users to think in a nonlinear and cooperative way, it also leads to polarized opinions and newly emerging ethical issues.

Although the students preferred to read news online, their preferred text type was basic linear text. Additionally, students were reluctant to share news by adding their comments. For this reason, it was observed that the students did not practice reading cooperatively. Most of them are neither cowriters or rewriters as poststructuralist thinkers’ claimed. Additionally, hypertextuality did not prevent semantic closure as predicted by poststructuralist thinkers. On the contrary, it has become a form of technology that only accelerates the circulation of certain ideas. 

Those participants who paid a lot of attention to visual digital news items were not interested in the zoom and color features– features that are especially useful to people with disabilities and senior citizens in helping them access digital news. Since the digital divide is beyond simply having access to technology, it is considered that the topics of critical media literacy may include themes related to the principles of universal design and web accessibility.

Furthermore, even though mainstream media may be mostly unreliable and may even make up facts, it is still seen as reliable by a considerable amount of communication students. In addition, social influence is still influential in the debate on the truth of the news.

Lastly, it was determined that hypertextuality does not cause opinion polarization at the moment of choosing a link to click. Rather, an interesting topic and a reliable source are more important factors in the participant’s choice. However, students tend to share links that often support their own views, rather than balanced news that covers all perspectives. This shows the relationship between the echo-chamber effect and hypertextuality that allows the news to be easily disseminated through the sharing of links.


PDF View

References

  • Bakhtin, M. (1981). The dialogic imagination (M. Holquist, Ed., C. Emerson & M. Holquist, Trans.). Austin, TX: University of Texas Press. google scholar
  • Barnet, B. (2000). Hypertext and association: Space, time and hypomnesis. Convergence: The International Journal of Research into New Media Technologies, 6, 76–100. google scholar
  • Baron, D. P. (1994). Electoral competition with informed and uninformed voters. American Political Science Review, 88, 33–47. google scholar
  • Barthes, R. (1984). La mort de l’Auteur. In Essais critiques IV. Le Bruissement de la langue (pp. 61–67). Paris, France: Seuil. (Original work published 1968) google scholar
  • Bazerman, C. (2009). Intertextuality: How texts rely on other texts, In B. Charles & P. Prior (Eds.), What writing does and how ıt does ıt (pp. 83–93). New York, NY: Routledge. google scholar
  • Beam, M. A., & Kosicki, G. M. (2014). Personalized news portals filtering systems and increased news exposure. Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly, 91(1), 56–77. google scholar
  • Binark, M., & Löker, K. (2011). Sivil toplum örgütleri için bilişim rehberi [Informatics guide for non-governmental organizations]. Ankara, Turkey: Sivil Toplum Geliştirme Merkezi. google scholar
  • Birkerts, S. (2006). The gutenberg elegies: The fate of reading in an electronic age. New York, NY: Faber and Faber. google scholar
  • Bolter, J. D. (1991). Writing space: The computer, hypertext and the history of writing. New Jersey, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum. google scholar
  • Bolter, J. D. (2003). Critical theory and the challenge of new media. In M.E. Hocks & M.R. Kendrick (Eds.), Eloquent images: Word and image in the age of new media (pp. 19–36). Massachusetts , MA:The MIT Press, Massachusetts Institute of Technology. google scholar
  • Bucy, E. P. (2004). The interactivity paradox: Closer to the news but confused. In E. P. Bucy & J. E. Newhagen (Eds.), Media access: Social and psychological dimensions of new technology use (pp. 47–72). London, UK: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Publishers. google scholar
  • Burnett, R. (2004). How images think? Cambridge, UK: MIT Press. google scholar
  • Canavilhas, J. (2008). Hypertext newswriting effects on satisfaction, comprehension and attitudes. Retrieved from http://online.journalism.utexas.edu/2008/papers/Canavilhas.pdf google scholar
  • Chen, C., & Rada, R. (1996). Interacting with Hypertext: A Meta-Analysis of Experimental Studies, Human-Computer Interaction, 11(2), 125–156. google scholar
  • Clark, C. and Douglas, J. (2011). Young people’s reading and writing: An in-depth study focusing on enjoyment, behaviour, attitudes and attainment. London: National Literacy Trust. google scholar
  • Colleoni E., Rozza, A., & Arvidsson, A. (2014). Echo chamber or public sphere? Predicting political orientation and measuring political homophily in Twitter using big data, Journal of Communication, 64, 317–332. google scholar
  • Conklin, J. (1987). Hypertext: An introduction and survey, IEEE Computer, 20(7), 17–41. google scholar
  • Dahlgren, P. (1996). Media logic in cyberspace: Repositioning journalism and its publics. Javnost/The Public, 3(3), 59–72. google scholar
  • De Stefano, D., & LeFevre, J. A. (2005). Cognitive load in hypertext reading: A review. Computers in Human Behavior, 23(3), 1616–1641. google scholar
  • Derrida, J. (1981). Writing and difference (A. Bass, Trans.). London, UK: Routledge and Kegan Paul. google scholar
  • Derrida, J. (1999). Platon’un eczanesi [Plato’s pharmacy] (Z. Direk, Trans.). Toplumbilim: Derrida Özel Sayısı, 10, 63–82. google scholar
  • Doherty, S. (2014). Hypertext and journalism: Paths for future research. Digital Journalism, 2(2), 124–139. google scholar
  • e Silva, E. C. (2016). Beyond links: Understanding meaning and control in political blogs, New Media & Society, 18(1), 82–98. google scholar
  • Eco, U. (1989). The open work (A. Cancogni, Trans.). Cambridge, UK: Harvard University Press. google scholar
  • Eveland, W. P., & Dunwoody, S. (2000). Examining information processing on the world wide web using think aloud protocols. Media Psychology, 2, 219–244. google scholar
  • Eveland, W. P., & Dunwoody, S. (2001). User-control and structural isomorphism or disorientation and cognitive load? Learning from the web versus print. Communication Research, 28(1), 48–78. google scholar
  • Festinger, L. (1957). A theory of cognitive dissonance. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press. google scholar
  • Fredin, E. S. (1997). Rethinking the news story for the internet: Hyperstory prototypes and a model of the user. Columbia, SC: Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication. google scholar
  • Haneef, M., & Shuaib, M. (2010). Intertextuality and interactivity in hypertext reading of www.timesofindia.com. Journal of Creative Communications, 5(3), 189–205. google scholar
  • Heinonen, A. (1999). Journalism in the age of the net. Finland: University of Tampere Bookshop. google scholar
  • Hocks, M. E., & Kendrick, M. R. (2003). Introduction: Eloquent image. In M. E. Hocks & M. R. Kendrick (Eds.), Eloquent images: Word And image in the age of new media (pp. 1–16). England: The MIT Press. google scholar
  • Huang, S., & Orellana, P., & Capps, M. (2016). U.S. and Chilean college students’ google scholar
  • reading practices: A cross-cultural perspective. Reading Research Quarterly, 51(4), 455–471. google scholar
  • Huesca, R., & Dervin, B. (2003). Hypertext and journalism: Audience respond to competing news narratives. In H. Jenkins & D. Thorburn (Eds.), Democracy and new media (pp. 281–306). Cambridge, London, UK: The MIT Press. google scholar
  • Iyengar, S., & Hahn, K. S. (2009). Red media, blue media: Evidence of ideological selectivity in media use. Journal of Communication, 59(1), 19–39. google scholar
  • Jones, D. A. (2002). The polarization effect of new media message, International Journal of Public Opinion Research, 14, 158–174. google scholar
  • Jones, R. H., & Hafner, C. A. (2012). Understanding digital literacies. Canada: Routledge. google scholar
  • Kroker, A. (1996). Virtual capitalism. In S. Aronowitz, B. Martinsons & M. Menser (Eds.), Techno science and cyber culture (pp. 167–179). London, UK: Routledge. google scholar
  • Kellner, D. (2002). Critical perspectives on visual imagery in media and cyberculture. Journal of Visual Literacy, 22(1), 81–90. google scholar
  • Kirsner, S. (1997). Web of confusion. American Journalism Review, July (19), 34–39. google scholar
  • Landow, G. P. (1997). Hypertext 2.0., Hypertext: The convergence of contemporary critical theory and technology. London, UK: The Johns Hopkins University Press. google scholar
  • Landow, G. P. (2006). Hypertext 3.0: Critical theory and new media in an era of globalization. London, UK:The Johns Hopkins University Press. google scholar
  • Lassen, D. D. (2005). The effect of information on voter turnout: Evidence from a natural experiment. American Journal of Political Science, 49, 103–118. google scholar
  • Lauren, M. S., & Alexander, P. A. (2016). Reading across mediums: Effects of reading digital and print texts on comprehension and calibration. The Journal of Experimental Education, 85(1), 155–172. google scholar
  • Lee, M. J. (2005). Expanding hypertext: Does it address disorientation? Depends on individuals’ adventurousness. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 10(3). http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1083-6101.2005.tb00255.x google scholar
  • Li, L. Y., Tseng, S-T., & Chen, G. D. (2016). Effect of hypertext highlighting on browsing, reading, and navigational performance. Computers in Human Behavior, 54, 318–325. google scholar
  • Manovich, L. (2001). The language of new media, Cambridge, UK: MIT Press. google scholar
  • Meyrowitz, N. (1991). Hypertext – does it reduce cholesterol, too? In J. Nyce & P. Kahn (Eds.), From memex to hypertext: Vannevar Bush and the mind’s machine (pp. 287–318). Boston, MA: Academic Press. google scholar
  • Miall, D. (1997). Reading, hypertext and the fate of literature. Retrieved from www.arts.ualberta.ca/~dmiall/hypercad/opening.htm google scholar
  • Opgenhaffen, M. (2009). Multimedia, interactivity, and hypertext in online news: Effect on news processing and objective and subjective knowledge, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven Faculteıt Sociale Wetenschappen. google scholar
  • Opgenhaffen, M., & d’Haenens, L. (2011). The impact of online news features on learning from news: A knowledge experiment. International Journal of Internet Science, 6(1), 8–28. google scholar
  • Patterson, N. G. (2000). Hypertext and the changing roles of reading. English Journal, November, 74–80. google scholar
  • Pew Research Center. (2008). Internet overtakes newspapers as news outlet. Washington. DC: Pew Research Center for The People & The Press. google scholar
  • Punch, K. F. (2005). Sosyal araştırmalara giriş: Nicel ve nitel yaklaşımlar [Introduction to social research: Quantities and qualifications] (D. Bayrak, H. Bader Arslan & Z. Aköz, Trans.). Ankara, Turkey: Siyasal Kitabevi. google scholar
  • Robertson, G. L., & Hix, D. (2002). Making the computer accessible to mentally retarded adults, Communications of the ACM, 45(4), 171–185. google scholar
  • Rost, A. (2002, July). The concept of hypertext in digital journalism. 23 Conderence and General Assebly, IAMCR/AIECS/AIERI, Barcelona. google scholar
  • Rowlands, I., Nicholas, D., Williams, P., Huntington, P., Fieldhouse, M., & Gunter, B. (2008). The Google generation: The information behavior of the researcher of the future. Aslib Proceedings, 60(4), 290–310. google scholar
  • Schneider, R. (2005). Hypertext narrative and the reader: A view from cognitive theory. European Journal of English Studies, 9(2), 197–208. google scholar
  • Slatin, J. (1992). Reading hypertext: Order and coherence in a new medium. In P. Delaney & G. P. Landow (Eds.), Hypermedia and Literary Studies (pp. 153-169). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. google scholar
  • Sunstein, C. R. (2001). Republic.com. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. google scholar
  • Sunstein, C. R. (2004) Democracy and filtering. Communications of the ACM, 47(12), 57–59. google scholar
  • Tremayne, M. (2004). The web of context: Applying network theory to the use of hyperlinks in journalism on the web. Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly, 81, 237–253.
 google scholar
  • Turow, J. (2008). Introduction: On not taking the hyperlink for granted. In J. Turow & L. Tsui (Eds.), The hyperlinked society (pp. 1–18). Ann Arbor, MI:The University of Michigan Press. google scholar
  • Virilio, P. (2003). Enformasyon bombası [Information bomb] (İ. K. Şahin, Trans.), İstanbul, Turkey: Metis Yayınları. google scholar
  • Voss, A., Blatt, I., Boss, W., Goy, M., Kraska, L., & Pfeifer, M. (2009). Reading competencies of fourth-grade students: Comparing print and hypertext literacies. Systemics, Cybernetics and Informatics, 7(4), 62–65. google scholar
  • Weinberger, D. (2008). The morality of links. In J. Turow & L. Tsui (Eds.), The hyperlinked society (pp. 181–191). Ann Arbor, MI: The University of Michigan Press. google scholar
  • Williams, A. P., Trammell, K. D., Postelnicu, M., Landreville, K. D., & Martin, J. D. (2005). Blogging and Hyperlinking: Use of the Web to enhance viability during 2004 US campaign. Journalism Studies, 6(2), 177–186. google scholar

Citations

Copy and paste a formatted citation or use one of the options to export in your chosen format


EXPORT



APA

Narin, B. (0001). Reading Digital News: Hypertextual Usage Habits and Learning Practices Among U.S. Communication Undergraduates. Connectist: Istanbul University Journal of Communication Sciences, 0(55), 143-169. https://doi.org/10.26650/CONNECTIST497463


AMA

Narin B. Reading Digital News: Hypertextual Usage Habits and Learning Practices Among U.S. Communication Undergraduates. Connectist: Istanbul University Journal of Communication Sciences. 0001;0(55):143-169. https://doi.org/10.26650/CONNECTIST497463


ABNT

Narin, B. Reading Digital News: Hypertextual Usage Habits and Learning Practices Among U.S. Communication Undergraduates. Connectist: Istanbul University Journal of Communication Sciences, [Publisher Location], v. 0, n. 55, p. 143-169, 0001.


Chicago: Author-Date Style

Narin, Bilge,. 0001. “Reading Digital News: Hypertextual Usage Habits and Learning Practices Among U.S. Communication Undergraduates.” Connectist: Istanbul University Journal of Communication Sciences 0, no. 55: 143-169. https://doi.org/10.26650/CONNECTIST497463


Chicago: Humanities Style

Narin, Bilge,. “Reading Digital News: Hypertextual Usage Habits and Learning Practices Among U.S. Communication Undergraduates.” Connectist: Istanbul University Journal of Communication Sciences 0, no. 55 (Dec. 2024): 143-169. https://doi.org/10.26650/CONNECTIST497463


Harvard: Australian Style

Narin, B 0001, 'Reading Digital News: Hypertextual Usage Habits and Learning Practices Among U.S. Communication Undergraduates', Connectist: Istanbul University Journal of Communication Sciences, vol. 0, no. 55, pp. 143-169, viewed 26 Dec. 2024, https://doi.org/10.26650/CONNECTIST497463


Harvard: Author-Date Style

Narin, B. (0001) ‘Reading Digital News: Hypertextual Usage Habits and Learning Practices Among U.S. Communication Undergraduates’, Connectist: Istanbul University Journal of Communication Sciences, 0(55), pp. 143-169. https://doi.org/10.26650/CONNECTIST497463 (26 Dec. 2024).


MLA

Narin, Bilge,. “Reading Digital News: Hypertextual Usage Habits and Learning Practices Among U.S. Communication Undergraduates.” Connectist: Istanbul University Journal of Communication Sciences, vol. 0, no. 55, 0001, pp. 143-169. [Database Container], https://doi.org/10.26650/CONNECTIST497463


Vancouver

Narin B. Reading Digital News: Hypertextual Usage Habits and Learning Practices Among U.S. Communication Undergraduates. Connectist: Istanbul University Journal of Communication Sciences [Internet]. 26 Dec. 2024 [cited 26 Dec. 2024];0(55):143-169. Available from: https://doi.org/10.26650/CONNECTIST497463 doi: 10.26650/CONNECTIST497463


ISNAD

Narin, Bilge. “Reading Digital News: Hypertextual Usage Habits and Learning Practices Among U.S. Communication Undergraduates”. Connectist: Istanbul University Journal of Communication Sciences 0/55 (Dec. 2024): 143-169. https://doi.org/10.26650/CONNECTIST497463



TIMELINE


Submitted19.03.2018
Accepted05.10.2018

LICENCE


Attribution-NonCommercial (CC BY-NC)

This license lets others remix, tweak, and build upon your work non-commercially, and although their new works must also acknowledge you and be non-commercial, they don’t have to license their derivative works on the same terms.


SHARE




Istanbul University Press aims to contribute to the dissemination of ever growing scientific knowledge through publication of high quality scientific journals and books in accordance with the international publishing standards and ethics. Istanbul University Press follows an open access, non-commercial, scholarly publishing.