1.31.2007

infodensity and the modern media consumer.

Infodensity: When I talk about this, what I mean is the amount of information shared in a matter of time, or length of text, or conversation. Information density can thought of in an old media context as a matter of medium. As in, text in a novel is not at all dense, a textbook can be very dense, and TV shows have gotten denser over the last few decades

The modern media consumer: The most common thing you will hear from the uninitiated in terms of the current generation of media consumers, is that we don't have any attention span. They’ve been saying it since the MTV generation was actually a label that people cared about. The general assumption is that we deal with the landslide of information that gets thrown at us every day by not caring about anything.

This is a completely acceptable interpretation, up until the point you think about it.

In general, this is the most media-literate generation in history. More reading, more watching, and definitely more education, despite what parents say when they see the homework their kid brings home. Simply parsing this amount of information into what you care about and don't care about indicates an absolutely astounding level of understanding of media as information distribution. This isn't the generation that doesn't care; it's the generation that refuses to take any shit at all. Think about it. We’ve been parsing commercials from drama since birth, and we're already starting to parse product placement from genuine content. Why would we be willing to invest undue time in anything that wasn't going to be of use?

Old media doesn't get it, for the most part. Newspapers think they are invincible because they are an institution, but the keep shrinking and losing actual importance. TV news isn't about content, it's about sound bites. This is why it is watched, but still irrelevant. Magazines are probably the best thing old media has going for it, but they fall on their own sword in two places. First; they don't actually understand what they have, and second; they don't think it makes sense to demand that everything be selectively dense, even though most columns or articles have the base concept embedded in their structure.

Selective infodensity: The idea that something can be taken as a whole, or as elements, without automatically losing context, purpose, or value. In other words, the creation of a media experience that is only as time or effort intensive as the user demands. Something that has value at every level of interaction, as well as a greater total value.

The best example of selective infodensity in relation to old media forms is the magazine, as mentioned before. When you read a magazine article, you get the core text. This is the 'point' of it all. But you also get sidebars, images, image captions, and at times references to other articles, web links, sourcing footnotes, etc. Each of these elements adds something to the core text, while usually having some value of their own. However, it's important to note that this isn't perfect. The core article is usually not-so-dense to begin with, and often there's only a tangential connection between the secondary information, and the core. But, it's a start. You can read some of the side elements as stand-alone, or read just the core, and still have a media experience with value. Magazines are naturally tailored to allow a consumer to define their own level of interaction.

This is something that web media in particular, but most interactive new media forms, could excel at. But, this isn't an issue that I have seen discussed regularly in terms of the design of web media, especially that created for the sole purpose of sharing information.

Just something I'm toying with. These are ideas that are equally applicable to fiction and nonfiction. They are also ideas in their infancy. So. This requires further exploration.

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