The Imagined User: Creating Interactive Narratives in Journalism

Authors Renée van der Nat, Piet Bakker, Eggo Muller
Published in Journalism Practice
Publication date 2025
Research groups Kwaliteitsjournalistiek in Digitale Transitie
Type Article

Summary

Designing for interactivity for audience engagement in journalistic narratives is a new practice that emerged after The New York Times’ success with Snow Fall in 2012. Journalists have begun collaborating with designers in interdisciplinary teams to design these interactive narratives. Few studies describe the new practice that is the result of this collaboration. In this study, we examine the production processes of three journalistic interactive narratives and their design for audience engagement by focusing on the imagined user as part of the production process. Our analysis shows how producers develop the role of users by considering the narrative’s experience and accessibility. Together, these two concepts underpin the practice of designing for audience engagement and subsequent entextualisation. Our findings show that, although producers claim that they approach users differently when designing texts for interactive audience engagement, their concepts of the interactive user are grounded in more traditional notions of authorship and audience in journalistic practices.

On this publication contributed

  • Renee van der Nat
    Renée van der Nat
    • Researcher
    • Research group: Kwaliteitsjournalistiek in Digitale Transitie
Language Engels
Published in Journalism Practice
Year and volume 19 9
Key words audience engagement, Interaction design, journalism design, interdisciplinary teams, practice theory
Digital Object Identifier 10.1080/17512786.2024.2305641
Page range 2080-2102

Renée van der Nat

Renee van der Nat

Renée van der Nat

  • Researcher
  • Research group: Kwaliteitsjournalistiek in Digitale Transitie