The looking glass : a comparative study of the way in which technology and health print publications use the Internet

[摘要] ENGLISH ABSTRACT : The use of the Internet as a publishing tool is often seen as a threat by thosein the traditional media. Claims that online publishing will one day supplantmagazines, newspapers and books fuel this negative perception of themedium, yet the Internet holds a host of possibilities for those in thesetraditional media. Magazine publishers in particular can leverage the Internetas an audience research tool and bridge the gap between long lead-time,thereby cementing the relationship with readers.By examining what magazines in South Africa and the United States arealready doing with the Internet and by surveying the views of South Africanand US media and the general South African public, this study hopes topropose a set of flexible guidelines for the successful utilisation of the Internetas a supplement to and complement of the traditional print magazine.This study has found the importance that media and users place on thecreation of an online community as part of Internet use by media asparticularly interesting in light of the fact that very few of the sites surveyed inthis study offer chat rooms to their users. This implies a broadening of theterm community to encompass a range of possibilities, including but notlimited to online forums and bulletin boards, email links and newsletters andaccess to original content.The study has found that value-added services, which can be free or pay-toview,are the crux of the success of online magazine web sites. Users will pay- though not large amounts - if publishers give them what they want.The recommendations made in this study include the drafting of a clear visionfor online operations to ensure that the online brand complements the existingprint brand, the creation of value-added subscription services and onlinecommunities, the use of the Internet as a mini-focus group to gleaninformation from users and cement a two-way relationship and the leveragingof existing content in dynamic ways, particularly in offering archives online.In this way, the study proposes that the Internet can indeed be a supplementto and complement of existing print media.

[发布机构] Stellenbosch University