The Role of Written Text for Online Communication
2007-06-27 12:53 | 06. Characteristics of Web Texts , 02. Internet Usage
According to 
Kana et al. (2003), critics of our modern culture find fault with lacking ambitions of people in general to read and write. If this was the case, how then can texts on the Web be communicative at all? This article shall explain how written text fits into the frame of the Web, though. Comparing the quality and manner of communication via Web texts with communication via classical text media (e.g. books) will answer the question why we still deal with written text on the Web and succeed in doing so.
The Internet Intensified Reading and Writing Practice
Whereas those critics mentioned by Kana et al. (2003) blame e.g. the omnipresent television1 for the decline of our ‘book culture’, the authors point out that the increasing Internet usage opposes to that tendency. In fact, the Internet established a variety of new text types and even intensified reading and writing practice. As the average man became an Internet user, according to Kana et al. (2003), he seemed to have never written that much before, whether during chat communication or e-mailing. With the Internet, the role of written text seems to have ‘regained’ its communicative function.
The fact that written text only takes a tiny proportion of the file size of comparable speech recordings or graphics is not the only reason why texts still serve the communicative needs on the Web. According to Wagner (2002), an important realisation concerning the use of written text, and language in general, for any electronic user interface is that the more briefly language is used the more knowledge must be taken for granted at the side of the user.
Additionally, the growing private usage of computers and the Internet on everyday life – as described in an earlier posting – has forced Web developers to adjust their designs and contents to non-experts. As a consequence, elements of natural language gained in importance (see Wagner 2002). Language and written texts create a direct and non-technical access to the user, who is, naturally, familiar with language communication.
Web Content Allows Getting to the Point Much Faster, Printed Media Allow for More Details
However, there is also another aspect that emphasises the important role of written text for the Web. In fact, the communication that is proposed by Web texts appears to be of another quality than the communication between, for instance, the author of a book and the reader. Therefore, people who suggest that the ‘Web culture’ tries for driving off the ‘book culture’ are mistaken (see Kana et al. 2003).
As even my research for literature to my M.A. thesis has shown, the quality and manner of the information stored in books allow a deeper but slower arguing on the topic; whereas Web resources such as Nielsen’s Alertbox allow getting to the point faster, but with fewer details. This may be why a scientific and therefore profound discussion of my topic is hard to find on the Web. It seems to be in the nature of online communication that users do not stare on the screen for hours, reading prose, as one would read a book. One must rather notice that the advantages of comprehensive writings have been complemented by a ‘powerful partner’ that serves the needs that a book could just hardly fulfil, as books require enduring reading to get to the point. Web texts generally are ‘designed’ to provide quick information and thus do not challenge the information stored in books or papers.
Consequently, there is no need to be worried about using written language for Web sites. Users are familiar with texts; they only need to be well prepared. Moreover, Web texts don’t automatically consist of poor information compared to e.g. books. Their information value can just be of another quality that, for instance, would allow readers to get to the point of an issue much faster.
Besides that, Web texts must be seen as the most important elements on each Web site anyway, since the content is the reason users visit the Web site in the first place.
Text is also essential for allowing users to find other contents, such as pictures or music files, since one cannot expect a site’s complete content on a single page. Menus, which after all consist of words, lead the users to other pages; such elements can be seen as textual communication, too. What should we do with a Web site’s content, if its pictures, sounds, and videos would not be composed to meaningful units with the help of texts?
1 A possible reason for the critics’ concerns is the fact that “texts in contemporary society are increasingly multi-semiotic; […] Television is the most obvious example, combining language with visual images, music and sound effects.” (Fairclough 1995, p 4)
Published by Christian Kuhn
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