Artefact Description
The sixth artefact was a non-functional prototype of a ‘professional news website’ with a unique selling point that users can upload media content to the articles. Participants then answered a questionnaire about the mock-up.
Artefact Analysis and Evaluation
My previous artefacts found that infotainment is becoming more and more expected to accompany news articles, putting pressure on news organisations to deliver. I also found that citizen journalism is becoming more and more prolific due to the availability of blogs, and their freedom to create more conversational content has put pressure on professional news sites to ensure they still have the interest of their consumers.
Subsequently, for this artefact I wanted to test a theory that a combination of citizen journalism and infotainment could pressure the online news industry into reshaping their business models to allow contribution of media content from the public, to assist articles that would otherwise be text based. I built a non-functional mock-up of a professional news website that allowed users to upload media content to articles and asked participants to look at the design and get a good idea of how the site might operate. Finally, participants (who were experienced/enthusiastic web users) answered a questionnaire, providing contextualised answers. This allowed me to acquire informed and educated qualitative data.
Firstly, 100% of participants said they would rather read the article in the mock-up if it included media content, strengthening the findings from my earlier artefacts.
Additionally, participants were cautiously positive that a scheme like the one in my prototype could be successful on the website of a large news organisation, but showed awareness of the possible pro’s and con’s.
Furthermore I found that generally, participants thought that it would be difficult to maintain credibility when utilising such a scheme; however, as long it was carefully regulated, this issue should remain minimal.
To conclude, responses suggest that citizen journalism contribution to professional news websites will only increase in significance, through more prioritised discussion areas and through the need to supply consumers with actual event footage.
