1What is online journalism? - Ayo Menulis FISIP UAJY

Online story construction 141
Linkage
The power to link lies at heart of the Web. It is the ability to read
a document and then move to a completely different document,
often stored on a completely different computer. This concept is
based on human thought patterns. You think of one thing and that
makes you think of another. However, as an individual, you are
limited by the extent of your personal experience. It is difficult to
think of things you do not know, unless, of course, you use that
other powerful tool – your imagination. Imagination has a very
firm place in the canon of journalistic skills and knowledge.
However, it has its limitations if you are trying to recall factual and
accurate information. In theory, with the Web, you can remove the
limitations of personal experience and knowledge and plug your
reader into a mainframe, built from the knowledge and experience
of countless others.
In practice, of course, it can be very different. The instantaneous
mental link within the brain cannot be replicated online.
Download delays, broken links and irrelevant material can
confound the user experience and provide headaches rather than
enlightenment. So the online journalist must think carefully about
which links to offer and provide them in a user-friendly or even
intuitive way, whilst also making sure that the simple mechanics
work.
Fundamentally, there are two type of links – internal and
external.
Internal links are:
navigational links that guide the user around the site, such as
the Home button;
links that take users to other sections of the same story or to
additional features such as audio files; and
links that take people to similar stories on the same site or the
site archive.
External links are those to other sites.
All of these links are critical in facilitating that ‘intuitive’
process. The site that has inconsistent or confusing navigation is
less likely to keep its users long enough to engage in any