Radnai Márk’s Months-Long Project Collapsed as Soon as It Launched

Közhang, Radnai Márk’s project on Hungary’s public media, begins with eight chapters containing videos, charts and written material. The videos range from about one to nine minutes, but the site’s structure quickly becomes its main weakness.

Users cannot simply open the second chapter, return to the first or skip a section that interests them less. The platform moves them through the material step by step, with a “Continue to the next step” button appearing after each item.

The site also requires participation from people who may only want to read. One task in the first chapter asks users to explain what they believe the mission of public media should be. That can encourage active engagement, but the platform does not allow users to continue without submitting an answer. It therefore combines information-sharing with opinion-gathering while leaving little freedom to move between the two.

Another concern involves the treatment of user input and the content itself. The site’s material cannot easily be copied. Someone who wants to share an interesting sentence or piece of data must effectively retype it, raising questions about how user-friendly the platform is as a tool for public-affairs information.

“

Continue to the next step