| Summary: | 碩士 === 國立交通大學 === 傳播研究所 === 86 === With the popularity of the Internet and the World Wide Web
(WWW), web-based newspapers become prevailing rapidly in the
recent years. Web-based newspapers are different from
traditional printed newspaper in designing and packaging message
effectively. The purpose of this study is to investigate the
effects of informational graphic, or infographic, presentation
modes and reader*s cognitive styles on their recognition tests,
browsing time and attitudes in a web-based newspaper
environment. Infographic in thisstudy is defined as information
concisely presented in a visual form.A 4 * 4 two factors
experiment was executed in this study. The two independent
variables are: infographics presentation modes and readers*
cognitive styles. The dependent variables include subjects*
information recall, browsing time and their attitude toward the
web-based newspaper.Two hundred and sixty-eight subjects were
participated in the experiment stage 1. They were tested on the
Verbalizer-Visualizer Questionnaire (VVQ) developed by Kirby,
Moore, & Schofield in 1988. Based on subjects* test scores, they
are classified into four cognitive styles groups: verbal-
oriented, visual-oriented, high verbal-visual and low verbal-
visual. Among 268 subjects, 176 voluntary participants were
randomly assigned to four versions of web-based newspapers in
the experiment stage 2. The four versions of newspapers used in
this study were designed by the researcher, and were different
in terms of graphics presentation manner: no graphics (text-
only), plain infographics, infographics with adornment and
hidden infographics. Upon completion of reading all news,
subjects received a recognition test and a five-point Likert
scale questionnaire which assessed their attitude toward the
reading experiences.The main results of this study are:1.
Recognition performance: Readers* recognition scores were
significantly better when message were redundant in both text
and graphics those with only textual stories.2.Browsing time:
Subjects who read infographics with adornment spent
significantly more time in browsing the newspaper than the other
three groups. The low verbal-visual group spent significantly
more time in browsing newspaper than the verbal-oriented
groups.3. User* Attitude:(1)All subjects expressed strong desire
for graphics.(2)All subjects considered infographics to be
useful tools helping them understand and remember the story,
make them be more interested in reading news story.(3)Those who
read plain graphic and adornment graphic thought the web- based
newspaper more appealing than those who read text-alone
stories.(4)When the graphics were hidden in a button, the reader
expected decorative graphics when they were full-size
presented.4.Although cognitive styles was thought to influence
people*s information-processing performance, this study found
that the cognitive style only had significant influence on
browsing time. There was no significant interaction between
graphic presentation modes and cognitive styles on any of the
dependent variables.
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