| Chapter 2: | The Internet as an Object of Study |
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directly addressed to the communicator rather than voiced publicly on a forum, blog, or Web site.
When further examining the characteristics of the Internet, Williams, Rice, and Rogers (1988) proposed that it possesses at least three attributes of data not commonly associated with traditional media: 1. demassification, 2. asynchroneity, and 3. interactivity. And while it may be argued that in the rapidly changing and evolving case of the Internet, the source might date back a bit too far to offer authoritative insight, it does separate the core features of the Internet in a way that still provides valuable insights. Demassification is the control of the individual over the medium, which allows tailoring messages to user needs and selecting from wider menus. Unlike traditional mass media, the Internet offers selectivity characteristics that allow the user to choose from a large selection according to his or her individual preferences and needs. Asynchroneity, then, refers to the exchange of communication at different times and at the convenience of the user. A user may send, receive, or save messages, again depending on individual preference, which offers far greater control. And finally, Williams et al. defined interactivity as ‘the degree to which participants in the communication process have control over, and can exchange roles in their mutual discourse’ (p. 10). While demassification and asynchroneity are addressed again in a later section on selectivity, when the necessity to actively select online and the concept of the active audience are revisited, the issue of interactivity is examined next.
2.3. Interactivity
Despite the fact that many scholars have argued that the term interactivity is still undefined or underdefined (Hanssen, Jankowski, & Etienne, 1996; Rafaeli, 1988; Schultz, 2000), several attempts have been made to alter this situation. In his assessment of past and current research within the uses and gratifications (U&G) tradition, Ruggiero (2000) noted that within the Communication literature, six different user-oriented dimensions of interactivity have been identified, including threats (Markus,