Tracing public values through the ARD Mediathek’s interface: a historical interface analysis

Abstract

This thesis investigates how the ARD Mediathek, one of Germany’s public service broadcaster video-on-demand platforms, constructs and negotiates public values through its interface over time. Using a historical interface analysis method grounded in web archive research, it examines three interfaces of the ARD Mediathek from 2008, 2018, and 2023. The thesis explores how navigation tools, content categorization, and visual design contribute to or detract from the construction of key public values: universality, diversity, information, entertainment, and innovation. The analysis reveals a gradual shift in the ARD’s interface priorities moving from a focus on informational content in 2008 toward a more visually dynamic, entertainment-oriented interface by 2023. The ARD must balance these public values, as it is a core obligation for public service broadcasters. The thesis argues that public values are not passively contained within content but are actively constructed and sometimes compromised through the interface’s design, structure, and visual hierarchy. As the ARD adapts its interface in accordance with dominant commercial streaming services, it increasingly mirrors its aesthetic and navigational conventions, thereby diminishing specific core public values over time.