Promises and Pitfalls: Taking a Closer Look at How Interactive Infographics Affect Learning From News.

Author(s)
Esther Greußing, Hajo Boomgaarden
Abstract

This study investigates how interactive infographics affect individuals’ understanding of news. We conducted a survey experiment (N = 293) to isolate the effects of a clickable graph and a slider graph on memory of the interactive graphical content and the surrounding text-based content, respectively. Moreover, to shed light on the underlying mechanisms linking interactive infographics with individuals’ cognitive responses en route to learning, we test a model with interface assessment, absorption, and elaboration as key mediators of information acquisition. Overall, the findings point to a negative impact
of interactive infographics on news consumers’ memory. However, allowing users to interact with information displayed in graphics cannot be expected to uniformly affect the learning process; instead, the impact of interactive visual content depends on how the use of specific interactive modalities initiates both affective and cognitive processes in audiences when reading online news.

Organisation(s)
Department of Communication
Journal
International Journal of Communication (IJoC)
Volume
15
Pages
3336–3357
ISSN
1932-8036
Publication date
2021
Peer reviewed
Yes
Austrian Fields of Science 2012
508012 Media impact studies
Portal url
https://ucrisportal.univie.ac.at/en/publications/promises-and-pitfalls-taking-a-closer-look-at-how-interactive-infographics-affect-learning-from-news(896378ee-7786-4b2c-b877-9a0a68090bc3).html