Audience Engagement
Lamot tells: “News media nowadays use analytics that analyse user behaviour in terms of clicks and attention, to navigate a more competitive digital news environment. Many believe that audience engagement could be the solution to ongoing crises in journalism such as financial instability and news avoidance.”
She continues: “However, the present use of audience engagement as a quantified phenomenon is somewhat limiting, and risks misapprehension of what audiences truly appreciate about journalism. This project aims to elucidate the complexities surrounding metrics. It will move beyond metrics and develop a closer-to-the-ground understanding of the audience in the digital era, and the consequences for democratic society.”
Mobile Experience Sampling
She is delighted to have been awarded the Veni grant. "We will use the money to set up innovative methods such as mobile experience sampling and experiments in the Antwerp Social Lab where we can measure click patterns simultaneously with facial expressions. With these insights, we hope to eventually contribute to the development of better metrics for news editors that capture a fuller picture of user experience."
Kenza Lamot is Assistant Professor of Journalism and Media at VU Amsterdam. She studied Media Studies at the University of Antwerp, where she obtained her PhD on 'Metrics for News'. The uses and Effects of Analytics in Journalism.
Veni
Veni, along with Vidi and Vici, is part of the NWO Talent Programme. Veni is aimed at researchers who have recently obtained their doctorates. Within the Talent Programme, researchers are free to submit their own subject for funding. In this way, NWO encourages curiosity-driven and innovative research. The grant has a maximum of 320,000 euros.