Learning Journal Tasks

Find some examples of, and discuss websites that invite the user to have an interactive role.

The most obvious examples of websites that encourage users to have an interactive role are ones such as Myspace and Facebook etc. These are online communities where users can create social networks and post photos, blogs, comments on eachothers pages etc.

What's the nature of that role?

Lister mentions that interactivity is part of new media, and that 'old' media only offers passive consumption (pg.20). Comparing sites such as Myspace to other sites that don't offer interactivity displays this. When a person logs on to Myspace, they are not expected to simply consume passively, but to become involved and to interact with other members, and the site itself. An interactive role instantly offers the user more choice, and the user takes a definite active role, rather than a passive one. Lister argues that the ''audience for new media becomes a 'user' rather than the 'viewer' (pg.21); switching from a passive role to an active one.

What are the interactions on offer?

Myspace has a number of features that allow the user to actively interact with other users first and foremost. Users can comment on eachothers profiles/pictures, send direct messages to eachother and join groups which allows users to post on forums. Users can also interact with non-individuals, such as bands or comedy groups etc. Myspace offers a download service which allows users to download certain music from musicians' pages.

How can you understand them (the interactions) in terms of theories of interactivity?

I AM NOT REALLY SURE HOW TO ANSWER THIS QUESTION YET, I WILL DO SOME MORE RESEARCH ETC AND THEN ATTEMPT TO ANSWER IT LATER.

How, in your opinion/experience, does hypertext shape the experience of using the World Wide Web?

In my experience, hypertext makes navigation on the internet much easier and simple than it would be if none of the information available online was linked in any way. Hypertext allows for organisational format that allows for ''pathways'' (Lister pg.24) to other linked information, and this has made the internet more simple to use, and definitely more efficient in my opinion.