Karen McGrane Chauss
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
Good writers recognize that readers read actively. No
writer expects the reader to sit passively, eyes glazed,
taking in ideas and words without question. Writers
understand that readers make choices, create meaning,
and take an active role in the communication of
information.
When writing is published to the World Wide Web (WWW), the reader's activity becomes interactivity. Hypertext and hypermedia provide the thinking reader with the opportunity to interact both intellectually and physically with the text, images, icons, and buttons on the screen. The active reader's decisions are translated into physical actions, like selecting from options, pointing at links, and clicking to confirm choices. The web is more than simply an electronic display of information. It is an interface. Web pages share common ground with both papertext writing and with software interfaces. In the same way that writing techniques and theoretical approaches which are appropriate to print media can be applied or adapted for use in electronic media, theories and research from interface design, human-computer interaction, and cognitive science can be used to improve web page interfaces. The intent of reader- centered writing and user-centered design is the same: to support the needs, tasks, and goals of the audience.
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The recent excitement
about hypermedia systems and their potential
for restructuring information in previously impossible ways has led some
researchers to forget or
overlook the fact that
even with such systems,
a user (learner, reader,
information seeker,) still
ultimately interacts with a
machine.This fact alone
necessitates careful consideration of the interface
issues. (Dillon 1990)
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