Navigation Profiles of Online Newspaper Users: A Study of NCTU Students

• Main Authors: Cheng An-Shou, 鄭安授
• Other Authors: Chien Chou
• Format: Others
• Language: zh-TW
• Published: 2001
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/40244050612885265844

碩士 === 國立交通大學 === 傳播所 === 89 === Online newspapers are unlike traditional printed news not only because they represent a web-based medium, but also because their readers can process the hypertextual structure in a nonlinear, random-access manner. The purpose of this study is to inspect navigation profiles of online newspaper readers. Cluster analysis was used to generate online newspaper readers’ navigation patterns based on the data collected from 149 voluntary students in National Chiao Tung University. Data on participants’ navigation patterns were captured in computer log files and their self-reported affective data were collected by paper-and-pencil questionnaires. Analyses of these data revealed three different types of participants’ navigation patterns: knowledge seekers, disenchanted users, and feature explorers. “Knowledge seekers” are the earnest readers. They are object-oriented, spent more time on online newspaper than the other two groups. This group browsed the largest number of nodes, had the highest linearity and level of depth, and seldom skip over nodes. “Disenchanted users” are impatient readers. They had the least number of browsing nodes and level of depth, and spent the least amount of time on navigating online newspaper. This group also had the highest skip-over rate and nonlinearity degree. “Feature explorers” are feature-oriented readers. They had the modest performance in the amount of time spending on the online newspaper and the number of nodes browsing in news itself. This group also made the most image choices and index-screen searches. Several suggestions are made for the designers of online newspapers based on the results of this study. 1. A key word search capability would be useful for knowledge seekers who are looking for a specific piece of information. 2. An eye-catching headline and explicit links of news would be helpful for attracting disenchanted users. 3. Interactive functions and a well-organized structure would be beneficial for feature explorers to surf online newspapers.