Making Connections：Exploring the Interactive and Integrative Dimensions of Magazine Influence
建立联系：从交互式和一体化的角度探索期刊的影响
W.David Gibson
摘要：在媒介传播领域，期刊通常被看做是一个相当平常的事物：平淡、可预测和理所当然。然而，如今尽管多数注意力都集中在“新”媒体的拓展能力上，局势仍然迫切需要我们充分了解作为更加传统和更被大众所熟知的媒介手段——期刊正在发挥的交互式和一体化的作用。本文透过日常生活中的人际关系维度，以及期刊与其他媒体整合的角度，探讨了其建立联结的多种能力。
In menagerie of mediated communication，the magazine is frequently seen as a rather mundane beast-tame，predictable and taken for granted.Other seemingly more exotic media creatures-television，cell phones，music video，the Internet-are perceived as more impressive audience grabbers，and they tend to attract the lion's share of scholarly attention as well.Both media users and scholars are especially fascinated by the interactive and integrative possibilities of the“new”media.The amazing ability of the Internet to link people-to facilitate friendships，enhance intellectual collaboration，even spark romance.The extraordinary capacity of cell phones to enable connections，whenever and wherever.The varied talents of personal digital assistants to serve our needs in diverse ways.And，through digital technology，the unprecedented opportunities to pull together all manner of gadgetry into highly integrated computer-mediated communication systems.
Yet，while much attention has rightly focused on the expanding capabilities of the new media，there is also crucial need to fully appreciate the ongoing interactive and integrative contributions of a more traditional and familiar medium，the magazine.Both by editorial intent and by force of circumstance，magazines exert connective powers that shape and reshape the communication environment.
The exploration of these connective powers may illuminate crucial，underlying principles，can inform not just about magazines，but about the study of mediated communication in general.As DeFleur and Ball-Rokeach(1989)emphasized even before the current surge of interest in digital communication technology，it is important to study the principles of all media forms：
Today the principles governing printed communication in newspapers，magazines，and books tend to take second place to more fashionable concerns with television.However，the continued search for those principles is as important to the developing discipline as it was in earlier times.(p.232)
When considering the principles governing magazines，this paper considers one especially appropriate frame for analysis to be the magazine's interactive and integrative capacities as demonstrated in numerous and diverse contexts.This paper examines the multiple abilities of magazines to make connections-through relational dimensions in peoples'everyday lives，and through dimensions of integration with other media.Magazines challenge the defining parameters of mediated communication and interpersonal communication；reconfigure and blur the boundaries between one medium and another；and defy maxims about constraints of time，space and identity.
Here magazine connectivity is addressed in a broad fashion-beyond the conventional focus on editorial influence.While editorial intent certainly is a major factor，connective influence is considered more holistically to include the numerous points of intersection where magazines may have an effect on everyday life.Consequently，in discussing the capacity of magazines to build connections，the focus here is neither restricted to producer intentions nor to consumer demands.What a publisher declares a magazine means to its audience and what an audience member expects of a particular magazine are undeniably important.However，of at least equal importance，in the view of this paper，are the connective possibilities that can occur through an ongoing interplay of forces-many of them unintentional or unexpected.
Thus，according to conventional wisdom，a consumer magazine publisher might view an issue of a magazine as most meaningful when it is on the newsstand-when it is“current，”fully in public view，presumably most available to potential readers，and capable of earning maximum revenues.Once pulled from the stands，the publisher would assume that the meaningfulness of the publication is greatly diminished.The perspective here，however，would suggest that a copy of a magazine may still be meaningful-possibly even more so-when discovered five years later in a dusty pile in the attic.
Indications of the interactive and integrative abilities of magazines can be found in literature on magazines，including such sources as Tebbel&；Zuckerman(1991)，Owen(1991)，Rogers(1986)，Abrahamson(1996)，Mogel(1992)，Janello&；Jones(1991)，Johnson&；Prijatel(1999).In addition，evidence of the interactive nature of magazines can be found in a host of sources from the literatures of mediated communication，visual communication，art，and management-and，of course，from magazines themselves.
Connections：Interaction and the Personal Touch
It is the position of this paper that the influence of media-especially on questions of identity，or perceptions of people about their role in their worlds-can be viewed in broad terms to include all impacts in everyday life，both large and small.In both obtrusive and subtle ways，magazines can be seen as familiar features of everyday life.In this context，it is frequently the very taken-for-grantedness of magazines that gives them powerful potential.Like air and liquids，magazines represent a fluid medium，wending through our lives-comfortable and familiar both in such public places as supermarkets or newsstands，and in such private places as boudoirs or bathrooms.
