Future of Digital Reading Through the Lens of Horizon Scanning

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the future of digital reading and present possible scenarios for designing digital reading experience. Author uses a foresight method called Horizon scanning which consists of desk research focusing on published experimental research studies within the field of reading on screen and on paper. Psychological and cognitive aspects of reading are presented here. Second part of the Horizon scanning method is a review of up-to-day emerging technological trends. Possible future scenarios for digital reading are discussed

Books without Scent, Shape, or Weight

Over the course of several centuries, the printed book has evolved into a medium which can facilitate deep and attentive reading in a highly productive manner. This ability results to a large extent from specific material properties of paper-based books. As few of these properties can be replicated effectively on digital devices, the transition to screen-based texts invariably leads to different forms of reading. While the immateriality of digital books may affect our capacity to concentrate on texts and to remember their contents, the plasticity and the computability of digital words simultaneously engender innovative ways of engaging with books.Wetensch. publicati

Categorias imanentes do livro em tela: a experiência dos leitores

O objetivo deste artigo é descrever as categorias imanentes do livro em tela. Primeiramente, discute-se o “livro em tela” como objeto, substancialmente afetado pela mediação digital. Em seguida, trata-se das condições epistemológicas dadas para sua investigação. Partindo de uma concepção teórico-crítica do fenômeno, buscou-se compreender como o livro em tela aparece para o seu leitor. Esta pesquisa envolveu entrevistas semiabertas (gravadas e sem aplicação de questionário) com dez leitores adultos e brasileiros, focalizando as imagens do livro em tela que compareciam nas falas dos entrevistados. A análise destas imagens permitiu identificar as seguintes categorias imanentes do livro em tela: efemeridade; bidimensionalidade; alta-portabilidade; inconstância do fundo; disposição em rede; responsibilidade; inflexibilidade; multifuncionalidade; personificação; conservação temporária; acessibilidade imediata; e semipadronização. Espera-se que este estudo possa tornar mais evidentes as mudanças recentes da forma do livro, que se encontram articuladas à estrutura de nossa experiência no contexto da digitalização da cultura.Palavras-chave: Livros-texto. Leitura. Novas mídias. Experiência. Teoria crítica

Categorias imanentes do livro em tela: a experiência dos leitores

O objetivo deste artigo é descrever as categorias imanentes do livro em tela. Primeiramente, discute-se o “livro em tela” como objeto, substancialmente afetado pela mediação digital. Em seguida, trata-se das condições epistemológicas dadas para sua investigação. Partindo de uma concepção teórico-crítica do fenômeno, buscou-se compreender como o livro em tela aparece para o seu leitor. Esta pesquisa envolveu entrevistas semiabertas (gravadas e sem aplicação de questionário) com dez leitores adultos e brasileiros, focalizando as imagens do livro em tela que compareciam nas falas dos entrevistados. A análise destas imagens permitiu identificar as seguintes categorias imanentes do livro em tela: efemeridade; bidimensionalidade; alta-portabilidade; inconstância do fundo; disposição em rede; responsibilidade; inflexibilidade; multifuncionalidade; personificação; conservação temporária; acessibilidade imediata; e semipadronização. Espera-se que este estudo possa tornar mais evidentes as mudanças recentes da forma do livro, que se encontram articuladas à estrutura de nossa experiência no contexto da digitalização da cultura.Palavras-chave: Livros-texto. Leitura. Novas mídias. Experiência. Teoria crítica

Lettura su schermo e processi cognitivi: superare le dicotomie per continuare a leggere

La pandemia di Covid-19 ha reso ancora più urgente la questione di come formare i lettori del 21° secolo, per prepararli ad affrontare uno scenario mediale di economia dell’attenzione, disinformazione, infodemia e post-verità. Il presente contributo analizza le nuove sfide che i lettori devono fronteggiare, attraverso la lente di alcune questioni dicotomiche fondamentali per il presente e il futuro della lettura: informazione contro conoscenza; lentezza contro accelerazione; attenzione contro distrazione; noia contro iperattività. Quali sono le differenze cognitive tra la lettura digitale e la lettura su carta? Cosa rischiamo di perdere in questi conflitti? E cosa possiamo fare per continuare a comprendere quello che leggiamo?  The Covid-19 pandemic has made the matter of how to train 21st century readers even more urgent, preparing them to deal with a media scenario of attention economy, disinformation, infodemic and post-truth. This paper analyzes the new challenges that readers have to face, through the lens of some fundamental dichotomous questions for the present and the future of reading: information versus knowledge; slowness versus acceleration; attention versus distraction; boredom versus hyperactivity. What are the cognitive differences between digital reading and reading on paper? What do we risk losing in these conflicts? And what can we do to continue to comprehend what we read

Does the medium matter? Digital vs. paper reading for leisure and foreign language learning

Die Auswirkungen und Folgen der digitalen Techniken auf unseren Alltag, auf die Weise, wie wir lernen und wie wir in Zukunft lesen werden, sind in den letzten beiden Dekaden Gegenstand verschiedener Forschungsanstrengungen. Besonders das Themenfeld Lesen hat eine hohe, nicht zuletzt auch öffentliche Aufmerksamkeit auf sich gezogen. Zahlreiche Studien haben sich zum Ziel gesetzt, die Nachteile oder negativen Auswirkungen digitaler Geräte im Vergleich zu ihrem analogen Pendant empirisch zu belegen. Die vorliegende Dissertation ist Teil dieser Forschungsanstrengung. Sie versammelt eine Reihe von einzelnen Experimenten zum Lesen und Lernen im digitalen Zeitalter und versteht sich als ein Beitrag zur Versachlichung der Debatte über die zukünftige Ausrichtung der Forschung zum digitalen Lesen und Lernen. Die in dieser Arbeit berichteten Experimente untersuchen genauer das Phänomen des literarischen Lesens aus verschiedenen Blickwinkeln und konzentrieren sich nicht nur auf die Differenz analog vs. digital. Vielmehr fassen sie das Lesen als ein komplexes Phänomen auf, das in eine komplexe Gesellschaft eingebettet ist. Die vorliegende Arbeit ist in zwei Teile gegliedert. Im ersten Teil werden zwei Studien zum digitalen Lesen von Literatur zu Freizeit- oder Unterhaltungszwecken vorgestellt. Das erste Experiment untersucht, ob die literarischen Wertzuschreibungen der Leser durch den Leseträger (gedruckt vs. digital) beeinflusst werden, um zu herauszufinden, ob das gedruckte Buch in der digitalen Gesellschaft noch über ein soziales Prestige verfügt. Im zweiten Experiment wird der Faktor Alter in Bezug auf digitales vs. analoges Lesen untersucht. Ausgehend von der 2001 von Mark Prensky geprägten Metapher “digital natives/digital immigrants” wurde eine Studie durchgeführt, um deren Tragfähigkeit zu testen. Besonderes Augenmerk wurde auf die Untersuchung der Lesegewohnheiten und -neigung von jungen und älteren Menschen in Bezug auf das literarische Lesen auf Papier vs. Lesen am Bildschirm gelegt. Der zweite Teil dieser Arbeit behandelt Fragen der Bildung und untersucht detaillierter das literarische Lesen in einer Fremdsprache, hier dem Englischen, und die Nutzung von gedruckten und digitalen Wörterbüchern, um neue Wörter durch das Lesen von Literatur zu lernen. Besonderes Augenmerk wird auf die Nutzungsgewohnheiten im Umgang mit Wörterbüchern und auf den Wortschatzerwerb beim Lesen langer literarischer Texte in einer Fremdsprache (Englisch) gelegt. Die in dieser Arbeit berichteten Experimente, sowohl über das Lesen zum Vergnügen als auch über das Lesen im didaktischen Kontext, belegen, dass die Vertrautheit mit dem Medium, die Lesegewohnheiten und Lesepraxen für die gelingende Lesen und Lernen ausschlaggebender sind als die in der Öffentlichkeit so intensiv diskutierten Formate Druck und Digital. Die Ergebnisse dieser hier versammelten Studien sind daher ein Beitrag zur Versachlichung einer allzu aufgeregt geführten Debatte und eine Handreichung für die Lese- und Lernförderung.In the last two decades more and more researches were dedicated to the impact of new technology on our everyday life, our learning processes, our reading activities. Digitization become an umbrella term to cover this change. Numerous studies on reading stuck on the purpose to prove empirically the disadvantages or the negative effects of digital devices compared to its analogue counterpart. This dissertation is a compilation of publications that seek to contribute to a more fact-based debate on future direction in research on digital reading and learning. The experiments reported in this work study the phenomenon of literary reading from different angles not focusing only on analogue-digital divide, but looking at reading as a complex phenomenon embedded in a more complex society. The goal of the experiments, reported here, is to give evidence-based advice how to read and learn in todays’ society. The present work is divided in two sections. In the first part, two studies on literary (e-) reading for recreational purposes are presented. The first experiment investigates whether the readers’ attributions of literary value might be affected by the reading support (paper vs. digital), in order to explore whether the paper book still carry a social prestige in the digital society. In the second experiment the factor “age” in relation to digital vs paper reading is investigated. Starting from the metaphor “digital natives/digital immigrants” created in 2001 by Mark Prensky, a study was conducted in order to test its reliability. Particular attention was paid to the investigation of the reading habits and inclination of young and elderly people in relation to literary reading on paper vs. on screen. The second part of this thesis moves to the educational context and explore the literary reading in a foreign language, here English, and the dictionary use (paper vs digital) in order to learn new words. A particular attention is given to students’ dictionary-using habits and to vocabulary acquisition while reading long literary text in a foreign language (English). The experiments reported in this work, both in the reading for pleasure and in didactic context, give evidence that familiarity with medium and reading habits, were more determinant for the outcomes than the support (paper vs digital) in itself. The results of the following experiments contribute to a more evidence-based debate, so tightly fought in recent years, and are a handout how to support reading and learning in the digital society.2021-06-2

Digital Scripture: An Investigation of the Design and Use of a Mobile Application for Reading Sacred Text

Digital sacred text reading is rapidly growing as digital devices such as mobile smartphones are becoming more common across the globe. Although sacred text can have strong influence on identify and behavior, the effects of a digital revolution on scripture reading practices are not well understood. In particular, current research literature indicates that more information is needed about the design and use of digital sacred text applications (apps) such as mobile Bibles across different religious groups or cultures. Therefore, this study builds upon and extends previous work to analyze a religious text app, Gospel Library, which is designed and largely used by members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Data about the design of the app were collected by analyzing app store description text, conducting a technical app walkthrough, and interviewing current app design team members. Data about the usage of Gospel Library were collected by gaining permission from the design organization to access user analytic data collected during normal app operations. Results of the study show that this digital sacred text app is designed and used in ways that support religious or cultural reading values and norms. In particular, this study suggests that Latter-day Saints appear to value the King James Version of the English Bible and other unique religious text such as the Book of Mormon and General Conference sermons or messages. Results also suggest Latter-day Saints value church-wide directed scripture reading efforts situated in a culture of listening and receiving interpretation as opposed to social discussions of scripture. Furthermore, this study reports unique features or affordances that digital sacred texts can offer including audio capabilities, videos, search functions, sharing, highlighting, and other annotations. This study contributes to the research field of digital sacred text literacy by offering data gathered from an app design organization including interviews and user analytic data. It also adds to the broader conversation about religious literacy and digital versus print-based reading

Reading in the Digital Age - Tablet in the Reader's Personal Information Environnement

Title: Reading in the Digital Age - Tablet in the Reader 's Personal Information Environment Author: Mgr. Tomáš Bouda Abstract: In this dissertation thesis we observed the phenomenon of reading in the context of personal information environment in digital age. An analysis of the evolution of reading and its implication on reading habits has been done. Secondly, we introduced phenomenology approach to study reading phenomena. The goal of the qualitative research was to describe an experience of intensive tablet users while reading scientific literature in digital format. Interpretative phenomenological analyses and Positive and negative affect scale (PANAS) were used as research methods with six participants. Conceptual structure representing the phenomenon has been developed as an outcome. It contains a) broader context of personal information environment, b) reading, annotating and underlining of digital text and c) reading experience with a focus on somatosensory perception. Comparison with two similar research studies has been done. As a practical outcome, several weaknesses in a design of tablets and reading applications were identified.Název Práce: Čtení v digitální době - tablet v osobním informačním prostředí čtenáře Autor: Mgr. Tomáš Bouda Abstrakt: V této disertační práci zkoumáme fenomén četby v době digitální se zaměřením na tablet v kontextu osobního informačního prostředí čtenáře. V první části práce byl popsán historický vývoj čtení a jeho dopad na čtenářské návyky. Jako vhodný vědecko-analytický nástroj pro výzkum čtení jsme představili fenomenologii. Cílem praktické části práce bylo detailně popsat prožitek a zkušenost intenzivních uživatelů tabletu při četbě odborných textů. Výzkum byl realizován na vzorku šesti respondentů za využití kvalitativní výzkumé metody Interpretativní fenomenologické analýzy a škály na měření pozitivní a negativní afektivity (PANAS). Výsledkem je konceptuální struktura vnímání, která reprezentuje zkušenost cílové skupiny se čtením odborných textů na tabletu. Mezi hlavní koncepty patří a) kontext osobního informačního prostředí čtenáře, b) čtení a práce s elektronickým textem a c) zážitek a prožitek čtenáře s důrazem na somatosenzorické vnímání. Uvedená konceptuální struktura byla komparována se dvěma podobnými studiemi. V rámci výzkumu byla zmapována slabá místa v designu tabletu a aplikací pro zobrazování a práci s textem.Institute of Information Studies and LibrarianshipÚstav informačních studií a knihovnictvíFaculty of ArtsFilozofická fakult