Integrated research model for web interfaces: toward a taxonomy of quantitative and qualitative analysis for digital native media [open access journal article]

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Abstract

In a context marked by the emergence of new platforms and interfaces, digital native media face the challenge of organizing and presenting their content in an effective and eloquent way. This milestone requires ongoing work toward the identification and conceptualization of the dimensions that map the structural and formal requirements necessary for fluid communication with audiences and adequate visibility in the digital ecosystem.

This study, which adopts a quantitative–qualitative methodological design, proposes, describes, and applies a taxonomy for the analysis of digital media web interfaces. Based on a review of the literature, two rounds of expert judgment, and a pilot test, the research identifies 14 thematic dimensions, 36 indicators, and 69 variables.

The study focuses on the importance of renewing research about taxonomy related to structural dimensions that address narrative, quality, usability, information search, and content redissemination and socialization, among other aspects. The study of web interfaces applied to journalism demands long-term research work with a holistic approach that, at a conceptual and practical level, can offer proposals for analysis and diagnosis on the basis of an integrated method.

Keywords

Internet; Web; Journalism; Digital journalism; Content; Communication; Interfaces; Digital; Slow journalism; Benchmarking; Indicators; Models; Taxonomies; Quantitative analysis; Qualitative analysis; Digital native media; Cybermedia; Narrative; Quality; Usability; Search.

Introduction

The global communication ecosystem is giving increasing importance to digital native media. The migration of legacy media to the digital scene has given way to an explosion of new journalistic projects and developments conceived “from” and “for” cyberspace (Salaverría, 2020a).

In this scenario, the study of the properties of their websites, conceived as the nerve centers of their communication strategy, constitutes an important area of study and research.
Although it has not been part of the mainstream of studies in digital journalism, understanding journalism from each era requires knowledge of its foundation, that is, the scenario in which it occurs. Thus, at various points, understanding journalism implied understanding the properties of printed publications (the written press), the spoken word (radio), or the moving image (television).

Currently, the study of the digital platform (the media’s website) thus becomes essential to understand the media, especially digital native media, and their dynamics (Salaverría, 2020b). Although it lacks a dominant role at the research level, previous work in the academic literature has dealt with this subject.

The study of “what are” and “what are not” new media (Cabrera-Méndez; Codina; Salaverría, 2019) has become a recurrent line of research during the last decade (López-García et al., 2022; Salaverría; Martínez-Costa, 2021; García-Orosa; López-García; Vázquez-Herrero, 2020). The classic studies of the particularities of multimedia, hypermedia with a special emphasis on links (Landow, 1995; 1997), or information architectures (Wurman, 1997) have given way in recent years to various studies about organic positioning in search engines, innovation in formats and narratives, business models, Big Data, or trends such as slow journalism (Romero-Rodríguez, Tejedor; Castillo-Abdul, 2021; Le-Masurier, 2015; 2016; Zelizer, 2009).

The study of links and thereby hypertextuality forms part of the class of works that have the digital as a focus of study and, therefore, as one of the genuine characteristics of online journalism (Stroobant, 2019). In that paper, Stroobant looks at hyperlinks as navigational cues that can guide users through the information available in the digital ecosystem.

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Citation

Tejedor, Santiago; Romero-Rodríguez, Luis M.; Codina, Lluís (2022). “Integrated research model for web interfaces: toward a taxonomy of quantitative and qualitative analysis for digital native media”. Profesional de la información, v. 31, n. 6, e310619. https://doi.org/10.3145/epi.2022.nov.19

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