Ninth International Conference on Communication & Media Studies

Abstract

With the advent of online media screen reading skills become an important part of person’s education and literacy. Recent research on audiences and practices of participation in online media suggests that reading on paper has some advantages over reading on a screen, but little research is devoted to understanding the processes involved in reading online media on a screen. The choice of text navigation on the screen can also affect understanding, remembering, or simply the pleasure of reading. The current research seeks to contribute by investigating the differences of text navigation (scrolling vs paging) on mobile devices, at the same time measuring comprehension, memory, and need for backtracking of online media texts. An experiment was conducted during which we asked the participants (409 in total) to read the informational text on the mobile device screen using text paging and text scrolling navigation. In order to track screen reading behavior the specific application with reading interfaces for text reading task and recall and comprehension assessment questions after the reading task was created. The implications of the study emphasizes potential differences on remembering and comprehension of online media text when using different text navigation (paging vs scrolling), dealing with time control, as well as text backtracking behavior when respondents read an online media texts on their own smartphones. Results of the study can be useful for mass media publishers to understand how to better present their online information so that it is easier and more convenient for readers to accept and understand.