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Encoding the UX: user interface as a site of encounter between data journalists and their constructed audiences.

Anderson, Bissie; Borges-Rey, Eddy

Authors

Eddy Borges-Rey



Abstract

This paper examines how data journalism producers encode their audiences’ user experience–or how they construct meaning within the parameters of a user interface. We argue that interfaces enact data journalists’ perceptual image of their audience, and are therefore a meaningful object of study to explore: (a) the relationship between data reporters and their publics; (b) the tensions that emerge from that relationship; and (c) how those tensions are negotiated. Our combined evaluation of producer and artefact perspectives is based on interviews with 12 data journalism producers in legacy UK newsrooms, and interaction design, and multimodal discourse analysis of 12 stories produced by our informants. Findings suggest that data journalism producers’ efforts to create content that resonates with their audiences have resulted in the diversification of data journalism formats, and a more mature view of interactivity, with producers striving to offer experiences in whose meaning negotiation the reader takes centre stage. The reader is perceived as a co-creator of meaning through the expectation of either physical interaction or cognitive immersion. Yet, the paternalistic element, even in the most discovery-/reader-driven stories, remains stronger, manifesting in a carefully crafted experience and pointing to journalism producers’ traditional self-perception as gatekeepers of information.

Citation

ANDERSON, B. and BORGES-REY, E. 2019. Encoding the UX: user interface as a site of encounter between data journalists and their constructed audiences. Digital journalism [online], 7(9): data journalism research: studying a maturing field, pages 1253-1269. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1080/21670811.2019.1607520

Journal Article Type Article
Acceptance Date Apr 2, 2019
Online Publication Date Apr 29, 2019
Publication Date Oct 21, 2019
Deposit Date Sep 14, 2022
Publicly Available Date Oct 4, 2022
Journal Digital Journalism
Print ISSN 2167-0811
Electronic ISSN 2167-082X
Publisher Taylor & Francis (Routledge)
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 7
Issue 9
Pages 1253-1269
DOI https://doi.org/10.1080/21670811.2019.1607520
Keywords Audiences; Data journalism; Encoding; Interactivity; Multimodality; User experience; User interface
Public URL https://rgu-repository.worktribe.com/output/1752870

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