Investigating Suspense as a Predictor of Enjoyment in Sports Video Games

This study investigated suspense as a predictor of sports video game enjoyment by including the variable as a key part of a working model that also included presence, fanship, disposition, skill, and outcome. Results of a path analysis indicate a complex network of relationships impacting enjoyment. Suspense strongly impacted presence, which was an important determinant of enjoyment, while skill and outcome also explained a large portion of variance in enjoyment. The study highlights the complexity of the enjoyment experience as it relates to video games, and provides direction for future work on a theoretical model of video game enjoyment.     

Content Analysis of Video Games: Challenges and Potential Solutions

A handful of recent content analyses have explored video games to date, focusing primarily on violence and gender issues. Further work in this area is needed, but several methodological challenges must be addressed. In particular, scholars need to consider the problems of effectively unitizing and sampling interactive content, accounting for nonindependence. In addition, they need to improve coder training and take steps to mitigate potential bias in favor of hypothesized patterns. Existing work in the field is used to illustrate both problems and potential solutions involving these issues.     

The Quality of Video Games: Subjective Quality Assessments as Predictors of Self-Reported Presence in First-Person Shooter and Role-Playing Games

Based on the Theory of Subjective Quality Assessments, the present study examined players’ assessments of video game design features (qualities) as related to self-reported feelings of presence in role-playing games (RPG) and first-person shooters (FPS). An initial qualitative study with 8 focus groups (Study 1) was conducted to explore important game quality dimensions. Afterwards an online survey was designed to explore the association of those discrete dimensions with recollections of presence (Study 2). Using a quota sample of RPG and FPS gamers in Germany (N = 5,180), survey results show that recollections of presence were associated with positive quality assessments regarding a game’s environment, the player’s interaction with non-playable characters in that environment, and the environment’s.     

Shirts vs. Skins: Clothing as an Indicator of Gender Role Stereotyping in Video Games

This research uses content analysis to examine the portrayal of women in 47 randomly selected games from the Nintendo 64 and Sony PlayStation console gaming systems. We suggest that video games, similar to other media forms, are sources of information that children and young adults may use to determine what behaviors and attitudes are considered appropriately masculine and feminine. This analysis revealed a significant sex bias in the number of male versus female characters found in the games and among the way in which the male and female characters were dressed. Of the 597 characters coded, only 82 (13.74%) were women. The Nintendo 64 games had the fewest number of female characters, and the majority of the female characters wore clothing that exposed more skin than the male characters.     

Interactivity on Traditional Media Web Sites

This study compares the radio industry's use of interactivity to that of other traditional media on the Web such as newspapers and television stations, along the dimensions of audience-oriented interactivity and source-oriented interactivity. A content analysis of 112 traditional radio station Web sites, 282 traditional newspaper Web sites, and 128 traditional television station Web sites found that traditional radio station Web sites provided more audience-oriented interactivity compared to other traditional media Web sites, and traditional newspaper Web sites offered the most source-oriented interactivity. A general conclusion of this study is that although traditional radio stations were more likely to transmit live and archived sound than other media, all traditional media Web sites have held back from developing interactivity beyond e-mail, and have limited the transmission of streaming media, as well as archived audio and video content.     

Game as Book: Selecting Video Games for Academic Libraries based on Discipline Specific Knowledge

In response to the increased use and study of video games in academic work, academic libraries have started building or have expanded their video game collections. Collection development practices, however, have focused on collecting video games based on their format and not on their subject and disciplinary content. The authors of this article suggest that video games, while “read” differently than monographs, can communicate knowledge in unambiguous and discipline specific ways. Using the discipline of history as an example, the authors examined four World War II commercial video games to see how well these games communicated discipline-specific knowledge. Although none of the four video games evaluated would be identified as scholarly, two of the video games could be considered as sources of historical knowledge. As scholars begin to explore the creation and use of video games as secondary or tertiary sources in addition to primary sources or objects of study, academic libraries should include video games in their collections based on the video games' disciplinary content and the scholarly arguments that they present. The authors recommend a process for evaluating video games that could be used for most academic disciplines.     

政府门户网站互动性评估模型

文章试图建立政府门户网站的互动性指标体系，并运用层次分析法对互动性指标进行分析，在此基础上建立互动性评估模型，运用该模型对广州市政府门户网站互动性程度进行评估。     

Interactivity in Television: Use and Impact of an Interactive Program Guide

This study is designed to examine the uses and impact of interactive program guides (IPGs), a television technology that enables viewer inter- activity. Data were obtained from a television survey of 365 IPG users in a medium-sized Midwestern community. Results showed that age, premium channel subscribership, perceived IPG utility, and IPG complexity were significant predictors for IPG use. Further, the study found evidence that the IPG has influenced users' viewing behaviors. IPG use was related to watching more television, viewing enriched program types, and having a larger digital cable channel repertoire.     

Interactivity and Generalizability: New Media,New Challenges

This paper discusses potential challenges to research generalizability in studies on interactive communication. In interactive media contexts where users are enabled to individualize their communication, the generalizability of individual studies is likely lower than it is in studies on more conventional one-to-many communication. We discuss research strategies related to sample size and heterogeneity, focus on structural-invariant elements of communication media and processes, and finally refer to the recording and analyses of messages and communication processes as potential remedies to generalizability problems. A more explicit reflection on generalizability both in empirical studies as well as in the way the discipline deals with replication of previous work seems to be necessary.     

The Effects of Profanity in Violent Video Games on Players' Hostile Expectations,Aggressive Thoughts and Feelings,and Other Responses

Although effects of violence in video games have been researched extensively, no empirical studies have examined effects of profanity, a form of verbal aggression, in video games. An experiment (N = 321) investigated effects of profanity used by protagonist and antagonist characters in a “first-person shooter” game on players' hostile expectations, accessibility of aggressive thoughts, aggressive feelings, and other responses. Profanity used by both protagonist and antagonist characters increased hostile expectations, a direct precursor to aggressive behaviors. Findings suggest that profanity in video games may affect aggressive outcomes, emphasizing the need for more research investigating effects of profanity in media.     

Interactivity reexamined: A baseline analysis of early business web sites

This study reexamined the concept of interactivity and proposed that interactivity be defined as the extent to which the communicator and the audience respond to each other's communication need. Interactivity was construed as consisting of five dimensions: 1) playfulness, 2) choice, 3) connectedness, 4) information collection, and 5) reciprocal communication. Web sites for products, services, and retail outlets appeared to differ significantly in terms of connectedness, information collection, and reciprocal communication.     

Second Generation Net News: Interactivity and Information Accessibility in the Online Environment

This study assesses the ways in which local television news operations and major metropolitan newspapers in the top 40 U.S. media markets are making information accessible and structuring interactive experiences online as the industry transitions into a third generation of Internet news. As Net news approaches its first decade of existence, online news sites are assumed to be evolving from a noninteractive, passive model of information delivery into an environment of increased immediacy, content richness, and user control. To investigate this question, a content analysis was performed in 2 waves, once during fall 1998 and again during fall 2000. For comparative purposes, differences across years are examined. In addition, the efforts of local television news sites are contrasted with the online activities of dominant newspaper sites, which have assumed a commanding lead in building a local online audience. The analysis argues for valuing Net news sites less from a profit-loss standpoint and more for the nonmonetary contributions they make in relation to the broader news mission, namely, enhanced coverage, brand loyalty, and news credibility.     

高校图书馆《信息检索》网络课程交互性研究

文章对目前国内10所高校图书馆<信息检索>网络课程的交互设计情况进行了调研和分析,指出了存在的问题,并提出了改进措施.     

相互背景下的传统媒体与因特网生存逻辑

本文从理论的角度对因特网与传统媒体的生存逻辑作了一点探讨.在探讨时,不是孤立地强调某一方,而是根据因特网和传统媒体生存的现实,取一种相互参照的视角.由此,本文提出了一个新概念"相互背景"(Interbackground).     

Video in the Collections

No abstract available for this article.     

Civil Interactivity: How News Organizations' Commenting Policies Explain Civility and Hostility in User Comments

The digital transformation of journalism enables new modes of interactivity with the news. While user comments are nearly ubiquitous across news Web sites, there is little understanding about how to improve the quality of discussion spaces that many characterize as hostile and vitriolic. This study uses a keyword content analysis of user comments across 20 news Web sites to understand the organizational policies that encourage more productive dialogue. The findings show that specific policies regarding user registration, moderation of comments, and reputation management systems are effective facilitators of civil discussion.     

试析传播新格局下电视与新媒体的相互借力与共赢

电视在火爆、强劲发展了半个多世纪之后,已经被称为传统媒体,面对以互联网为代表的新兴媒体的冲击,摆在电视面前的发展道路是什么?电视与新媒体的关系是怎样的?新媒体给电视带来诸多的机遇与挑战,电视借助于新媒体拓展了传播疆域,突破了频道制生存,实现了点播收视,获得了搜索引擎,电视凭借内容优势纷纷抢滩新媒体领域,在媒介融合背景下不断实现节目样态的改革与创新,电视与新媒体相互借力,形成了全新的传播格局。     

Educational Video

Ignacy Waniewicz's Broadcasting for Adult Education (Paris: Unesco [available in this country from New York: Unipub, Inc.], 1972–$4.50, paper)

Alan Hancock's Planning for ETV: A Handbook of Educational Television (New York: Humanities Press, 1972—$12.50)

John Quick and Herbert Wolff's Small-Studio Video Tape Production (Reading, Mass.: Addison-Wesley, 1972—$11.95)

Fred Powledge's Public Television: A question of Survival (Washington, D.C.: Public Affairs Press, 1972—$1.00, paper)     

Dear Radio Broadcaster: Fan Mail as a Form of Perceived Interactivity

In an attempt to learn more about perceived interactivity, this study explores the perceptions of radio listeners during the 1920s and 1930s. Radio provides an interesting case for exploring interactivity because, although the medium lacked interactive technological features, millions of listeners perceived that the opportunity to “interact” with radio existed through fan mail. The study finds that fan mail reflects several dimensions of interactivity often associated with the technological features of a medium: user input and feedback, medium responsiveness, two-way communication, and system monitoring. The results suggest that interactivity may be dependent on media content rather than media technology.     

Video Disc

No abstract available for this article.