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An influential meta-analysis of education research found that media made little or no difference
in learning compared to others factors (Clark, 1983). Clark, in his review of media technology
experiments, found no significant effects of channel on the primary dependent variable –
learning. He used a trucking metaphor to describe the influence of media: It makes little
difference what type of vehicle is used (chalkboard, television, etc.); it’s the content that matters.
Clark did find some small effects in experiments where content was not rigorously controlled,
and he attributed these differences to the content, not the media.
Unlike those in education, researchers studying mass media use have often found
differences when comparing the effects of media (a review appears in Neuman et al., 1992).
While findings are modest when content is carefully controlled, sizable effects are observed
when it is not.
The characteristics of another media channel are the focus on this research project. Use
of the World Wide Web as an information source has been on the rise since the early 1990s.
This new medium offers at least two characteristics not offered by traditional media. One,
content can appear in a combination of modalities – as text, as still images, and as audio or
video. And two, the channel allows for message sending by any user – that is, the channel
supports interactive exchange.
Media research on these topics is still in its infancy. At least one researcher has tested the
impact of Web page multimedia on comprehension and recall and found no significant effect
(Berry, 1999). This finding is in line with Clark’s (1983) view that the delivery vehicle should
have little or no impact on learning. However, Clark’s “delivery” metaphor is telling, because it
describes a dominant Twentieth Century view of both the education and mass communication
fields – that the learner/receiver is relatively passive. When this is indeed the case, as it is for a
Convention