Erik P. Bucy

Interactivity in Society: Locating an Elusive Concept

Interactivity has been identified as a core concept of new media, yet despite nearly three decades of study and analysis, we scarcely know what interactivity is, let alone what it does, and have scant insight into the conditions in which interactive processes are likely to be consequential for members of a social system. This article attempts to address this deficiency by critiquing three self-defeating tendencies and an erroneous assumption of interactivity research, then proposes four basic propositions around which systematic knowledge regarding interactivity in society may be built. In the spirit of bridging mass and interpersonal processes, a model of interactivity is proposed to initiate discussion about the concept as a cross-level and multivalent phenomenon—one with both positive and negative consequences—and to spur more socially relevant research. For interactivity to succeed as a concept, it must have some meaningful social and psychological relevance beyond its technical status as a property of media systems or message exchanges.

Social Access to the Internet

The relative costs and expertise associated with using the Internet, labeled technological and social access, have led to a concern about the rise of a “digital divide” between information haves and have-nots. To address whether and to what extent the Internet has become a medium of the masses and to identify the factors associated with social access to the Internet, I examine Internet use data from two statewide surveys, the Carolina Poll and the Indiana Poll, conducted during spring 1998. Multivariate analysis reveals that income, education, age, and family structure are important social determinants of on-line access and that Internet use is lowest among single mothers, members of lower socioeconomic groups, and older respondents. Although the online population is beginning to diversify, the Internet cannot yet claim a committed, nonelite mass audience. It is argued that the disparities in Internet use portend a looming information gap between those with access and those without.

Media Credibility Reconsidered: Synergy Effects between On-Air and Online News

This experimental investigation of media credibility examined the combined, or synergistic, effects of on-air and online network news exposure, placing student and adult news consumers in broadcast news, online news, and telewebbing conditions. Results indicate that perceptions of network news credibility are affected by channel used. Perceptions of credibility were enhanced when the channel used was consistent with the news source being evaluated, suggesting a channel congruence effect. In addition, evidence is offered for the existence of a synergy effect between on-air and online news.

Media Participation A Legitimizing Mechanism of Mass Democracy

This article reconsiders civic involvement and citizen empowerment in the light of interactive media and elaborates the concept of media participation. Departing from conventional notions of political activity which downplay the participatory opportunities inherent in communication media, the authors argue that since 1992 new media formats have made accessible to citizens a political system that had become highly orchestrated, professionalized and exclusionary. A typology of active, passive and inactive political involvement is presented to accurately distinguish civic involvement from political disengagement and to categorize the types of empowerment and rewards - both material and symbolic - that different modes of civic activity afford. Even if only symbolically empowering, civic engagement through new media serves as an important legitimizing mechanism of mass democracy.

The Mediated Moderation Model of Interactivity

This paper argues for enhanced consideration of third variables in interactivity research and proposes a “mediated moderation” model to bring increased sophistication to bear on the study of information technology effects. Interactivity, a central phenomenon in new media research, is an elusive concept that has enduringly intrigued and confused scholars. Extant conceptualizations have produced incomplete causal models and have generally ignored the effect of third variables. We conceptualize interactivity as technological attributes of mediated environments that enable reciprocal communication or information exchange, which afford interaction between communication technology and users, or between users through technology. Specifying roles for mediator and moderator variables, this paper proposes a model that incorporates interactive attributes, user perceptions (mediators such as perceived interactivity), individual differences (moderators such as Internet self-efficacy), and media effects measures to systematically examine the definition, process, and consequences of interactivity on users. Lastly, statistical procedures for testing mediated moderation are described.

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.

Presidential expressions and viewer emotion: counterempathic responses to televised leader displays

Despite the biological predisposition to recognize and mimic facial expressions, research has shown that contextual or experiential factors may elicit emotionally incongruent, or counterempathic, responses. This experimental study reports how counterempathic responses to televised leader displays may be evoked in political communication. Findings suggest that unexpected nonverbal communication is subject to cognitive appraisal, which may influence emotional responding. Subjects were shown a series of four news stories, each followed by a 30-second televised reaction of President Bill Clinton. The story–reaction sequences varied by story topic, level of emotion and degree of leader display appropriateness. Physiological (heart rate, skin conductance and facial muscle activation, or EMG) and emotional self-report measures indicated that evaluations of display appropriateness moderated how much attention was given to the display, the affective direction of viewers’ facial muscle activation and the level of autonomic activation, or arousal. The EMG data showed that viewers frowned in response to positive expressive displays that followed positive news. Smiling activation also decreased for high-intensity, positive displays. By manipulating the valence and intensity of the associated news event, facial mimicry, and emotional responses to leaders generally, are shown to be situationally influenced by the larger social and informational context.

Emotion, Presidential Communication, and Traumatic News Processing the World Trade Center Attacks

During traumatic national events, attention to the news and scrutiny of leader communication becomes particularly acute. The terrorist actions of September 11, 2001, and ensuing U.S. response focused public attention on the president to an extent unknown before the attacks. This article reports on an experimental study of audience responses to televised news coverage of the World Trade Center attacks. As the coverage of the attacks and compelling images featured on television illustrate, news can be regarded as a type of survival-relevant information with immediate consequences for viewers. Within this framework, the study examines how, in the after-math and ongoing processing of this traumatic event, a political leaders televised behavior evokes emotional and evaluative responses in viewers. For the experiment, adult and student participants were shown a series of news reports featuring negative compelling images of the attacks followed by close-up reactions and statements by President Bush. The news images varied in their intensity, while the presidential reactions varied in their potency. Results indicate that varying degrees of image intensity and communicator potency significantly influenced emotional responses to the crisis and viewer feelings of self-control. When paired with low-intensity images of traumatic news, potent presidential communication had the effect of allaying viewer anxiety; in contrast, potent appearances appeared to lose this influence when shown in conjunction with high-intensity images.

The micro‐ and macrodrama of politics on television: Effects of media format on candidate evaluations

A series of focus groups conducted during the 1992 presidential campaign were shown four clips of then‐candidate Bill Clinton in different political communication settings. Analysis of the focus group discourse reveals that viewers process media formats featuring close‐ups in terms of individual candidate attributes, while they regard political advertising and televised town meetings with multiple actors (candidate, audience members, and journalists) as contextualized social phenomena. Findings suggest that production techniques and stage factors, including varying shot lengths, image graphication, and the social context of media appearances, can either associate candidates with other elements on the media stage, or disassociate them from externals while focusing on their persona.

The Power of Television Images in a Social Media Age Linking Biobehavioral and Computational Approaches via the Second Screen

There is considerable controversy surrounding the study of presidential debates, particularly efforts to connect their content and impact. Research has long debated whether the citizenry reacts to what candidates say, how they say it, or simply how they appear. This study uses detailed coding of the first 2012 debate between Barack Obama and Mitt Romney to test the relative influence of the candidates’ verbal persuasiveness and nonverbal features on viewers’ “second screen” behavior—their use of computers, tablets, and mobile phones to enhance or extend the televised viewing experience. To examine these relationships, we merged two datasets: (1) a shot-by-shot content analysis coded for functional, tonal, and visual elements of both candidates’ communication behavior during the debate; and (2) corresponding real-time measures, synched and lagged, of the volume and sentiment of Twitter expression about Obama and Romney. We find the candidates’ facial expressions and physical gestures to be more consistent and robust predictors of the volume and valence of Twitter expression than candidates’ persuasive strategies, verbal utterances, and voice tone during the debate.