Modes of public communication, ranging from journalism to architecture, can be understood not only in relation to space (their geographical setting) but also in relation to time. 'Public address' of different kinds has a frequency, from the (high-frequency) instant to the (low-frequency) millennium. This paper explores some of the implications of analysing public 'writing' in terms of its frequency, and considers how changes in frequency, in journalism especially, may affect the cultural form and public understanding of the medium in question. The relations between spatial and temporal aspects of public communication are discussed, and comparisons made between 'writing' of different frequencies, including journalism (high frequency), academic and scholarly writing (mid frequency) and public architecture (low frequency).

[The complete text of this Robert Huesca's and Brenda Dervin's paper is available.]

The advent of new communication technologies has generated a robust and provocative research literature examining the implications of hypertext on the conventions of writing. The nature of online narratives are summarized to be, among other things, nonlinear, fragmented, participatory, in flux, impermanent, and designed to change. On the whole, these characteristics challenge accepted notions of "good writing" and of narrative conventions across genres. For the genre of print journalism, these challenges to textual norms also have implications for reporting practices. This paper reports on a study of the viability of the hypertext form for journalism. The study asked readers to compare a conventional, online news article with a redesigned, hypertext version of it. Following basic hypertext design principles, a team of researchers reformatted linear news features published by the Los Angeles Times. A group of 20 volunteers was then asked to read one of the articles, comparing the original version to the hypertext. Following the reading exercise, qualitative interviews were conducted to explore responses to the competing narrative forms. This paper is based on an analysis of the transcripts of these 20 interviews. The findings reinforce some traditional values and routines of the press, but also suggest an expansion of the roles, functions, and practices of journalists. Readers were split evenly among those who voiced a strong preference for hypertext or for linear narratives. A large number of readers noted that each form had advantages and disadvantages, and that preference for one form over the other depended on reading context and purpose. Finally, some of the reasons given for disliking hypertexts cited features that have been described as their inherent characteristics (fragmentation, absence of authorial voice). 

This case study explores the impact of newer technologies on newspaper coverage, specifically looking at the introduction of television into the media mix in the 1952 presidential nominating conventions and the introduction of the Internet into the mix in the 1998 Starr report. The research indicates change does occur in the older medium's coverage, both suddenly and over a period of time, though it does not indicate this change has a negative effect on newspapers.