Article: Taxonomy of
Interactivity on the Web
Internet communication and interactivity go hand-in-hand. If
a website is set-up with interactive elements and the site user is engaging
with these elements, then communication is happening. The site is communicating
something to the user and the user is responding by interacting. In this
article, Taxonomy of Interactivity on the
Web, author Kumiko Aoki gives an in-depth description of interactivity
including a look into the different types along with their effects on users,
site quality, marketing, etc.
According to Ha and James, Interactivity is defined as “the
extent to which the communicator and the audience respond to, or are willing to
facilitate, each other’s communication needs” (1998). This definition shows
just how directly related internet communication and interactivity are to each
other. The article talks about five dimensions of websites including
playfulness, choice, connectedness, information collection, and reciprocal
communication. These dimensions parallel with the two aspects of interactivity
which are interactivity with the web and interactivity through the web. In
interacting with the web, media richness and personalization are key factors
for success. In interacting through the web, being able to easily communicate
with the site publisher along with other users of the site is very
important.
This article also talks about ways to measure this
interactivity on the web. Aoki states that “ the most common way of measuring
interactivity is to count the presence of interactive tools and features on the
website”. Basically, the greater amount of interactive tools equals the greater
chance for more user interactivity. It is also mentions that the degree of
interactivity between the site publisher and site users can be measured “by the
volume of information presented and the frequency of updating the content of
the website”. In terms of interactivity among multiple site users, Aoki states
that this is measured “by the number of tools and features that enable this
type of interactivity and the volume of messages exchanged among the users”. As
interactivity becomes more and more of a necessity for successful websites, the
more opportunities there will be for better measuring its success.
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