An Introduction to Interactive Media Theory

Page 5

Erik
Furlan
  “identifies
how
people
are
motivated
to
use
particular
communications
tools
 to
meet
particular
needs”
  tied
to
Maslow’s
Hierarchy
of
Needs
from
the
social
sciences
–
physiological
 needs,
safety
and
security,
love
and
belonging,
self‐esteem,
self‐actualization
  Lasswell
(1948)
–
functions
of
media
on
a
macro‐sociological
level:
 surveillance,
correlation,
entertainment,
cultural
transmission
  Katz,
Gurevitch,
Hass
(1973)
–
media
users
have
the
same
categories
of
 needs:
cognitive,
affective,
personal
integrative,
social
integrative,
escapist
  User‐oriented
dimensions
of
interactivity,
part
of
U&G
–
involvement,
 benefits,
threats,
inconvenience,
sociability,
isolation
  Ha
and
James
(1998)
‐‐
Five
dimensions
of
interactivity
–
playfulness,
choice,
 connectedness,
information
collection,
reciprocal
communication
 Before
we
travel
too
far
down
the
rabbit
hole,
let’s
step
back
and
examine
why
U&G
 is
important,
especially
to
the
interactive
media
profession.

Simply
put,
to
make
 your
communication
as
effective
as
it
can
be,
you
have
to
take
into
account
your
 potential
audiences
and
what
gratification
they
may
be
seeking
when
using
your
 communication.

Also,
the
“interactive
communicator”
needs
to
remember
that
uses
 and
gratifications
are
not
static
and
set
in
stone,
they
differ
from
person‐to‐person,
 novice
user‐to‐experienced,
even
day‐to‐day.

Especially
today,
the
multitude
of
 multimedia
options
available
to
users
has
opened
the
floodgates
to
a
wide
range
of
 uses
and
gratifications;
each
user
with
a
smorgesboard
of
choices,
their
unique
 approach
and
a
level
of
control
thanks
to
the
interactive
realm
in
which
they
 operate.
 Key
points
of
Knowledge
Gap
Theory
  Tichenor,
Donohue,
Olien
(1970)
–
first
stated
  “with
each
new
medium,
the
gap
between
the
information‐rich
and
 information‐poor
widens
because
of
differences
in
access
to
the
new
medium
 and
the
individuals’
capacity
to
use
it
effectively”
  AKA
–
digital
divide
when
talking
about
Internet
 Schools
of
thought
when
it
comes
to
theory
–
constructivists
and
determinists
  social
construction
of
reality/social
constructionism
–
social
factors
and
 technology
features
are
connected
and
affect
use
together
 o Adoni,
Mane
(1984)
–
Three
part
model:
Objective
reality
(real
world,
 facts);
Symbolic
reality
(art,
literature,
media);
Subjective
reality
 (constructed
from
objective
and
symbolic
by
the
person)
 o Gerbner
–
cultivation
theory
–
approach
to
research
on
social
 construction
  Exposure
to
the
same
messages
produced
a
“long‐term
 teaching
(cultivation)
of
a
common
worldview,
common
roles
 and
common
values”
  Technological
determinism
–
advances
in
technology
are
the
“central
causal
 element
in
processes
of
social
change”
 o McLuhan
(1964)
–
“the
medium
is
the
message”
 o 1965
–
technology
effects
don’t
appear
at
the
opinion
level,
“but
alter
 sense
ratios
or
patterns
of
perceptions
…”
(the
technologies
used
 affect
habits
or
perception
and
thinking)

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