Research
- (1998). Presented as The illusion of nonmediation and formal features of television by Ditton, T. B., Lombard, M., Bracken, C. C., Snyder, J., Pemrick, J., Linder, J. M., & Kaynak, S. to the Information Systems Division at the annual conference of the International Communication Association, Jerusalem, Israel.
This project is part of a large systematic content analysis of structural (formal) features of television (which could eventually be expanded to other media). Many writers and researchers have argued that in addition to virtual reality and similar 'cutting edge' technologies, film and television offer viewers a sense of presence, or "the illusion of nonmediation," with a variety of consequences for physiology, attention, memory, emotion, and evaluation. While the illusion is based on characteristics of the mediated content and the media user, a major factor in generating the illusion concerns the formal features of the mediated presentation. No one has examined the extent to which the formal features media users actually encounter are likely to encourage or discourage the illusion of nonmediation. This study establishes and illustrates a framework to accomplish this using a content analysis of selected formal features of television. Two coding instruments were developed, one for television programs and one for variables at the level of a single frame, a 10-second interval, a transition (edit), a complete program segment, and an inter-segment interval. A sample of approximately 400 hours of television from 25 broadcast and basic cable stations during all day parts was recorded during the fall of 1995. Results are used to illustrate the proposed framework and suggestions for future use and enhancement of the framework are presented.
- coding manual 1: Program coding
- coding manual 2: Timepoint coding - part 1 of 2
- coding manual 2: Timepoint coding - part 2 of 2
Last updated: August 16, 2004