Publication Type: Extended Abstract
Abstract: In online journalism, multimodal presentation forms have been developed which hypertextually combine visual features like video, animation, or photos with written text or audio files. These forms are often referred to as multimedia features, interactive infographics or audio slideshows, just to name some examples. In a qualitative study with 21 subjects we combined eye-tracking, think aloud procedures and interviews to analyze the reception of these complex forms of presentation. Within an action oriented theoretical framework, media reception is therefore defined as a process of interaction between recipients and media, determined by features of the media as well as by characteristics of recipients. Findings indicate the importance of visuals for the sequence of reception: Salient visual features like colour or size determine non-intentional as well as intentional phases of reception and thus have an important effect on multimodal information integration. But visually mediated information is also decisive for orientation and navigation within hypertextual structures. The study could show the impact different visual systems have on these tasks. With the integration of time-dependent visual content like video, animations or automated slideshows the dimension of content control has to be considered as well. User interaction with these forms is also to a high degree driven by the visual features of control systems.