An application of activity theory to the “problem of e-books”

The “problem of e-books” is defined as the difficulty improving the adoption rates of e-books by students. The adoption rates of e-books for academic use remain low, and research into the reasons for this have resulted in inconclusive findings. Factors such as student perception, and variations in experimental methodology and technology, contribute to difficulties in generalising findings and establishing conclusive causes for this problem. To better understand the causal factors for low adoption rates and the student's experience with ereaders and digital text, an investigation was conducted by the lead researcher as a student enrolled in a postgraduate course. The experiment was designed using e-book and digital text documents on an ereader for academic study and the results analysed with the framework of Activity Theory. This methodology allowed exploration of the problem within the authentic experience of a student to examine the effects of this social environment on ereader and e-book use. Analysis of the work domain was conducted and a comparative assessment of the observed effect of using the digital documents on an ereader compared with the paper book. Findings show that attempts to apply self-regulation and metacognitive learning techniques within the activity using the ereader were abandoned due to breakdowns in operations, and that this resulted in a perceived lower quality of achievement. The effect on the processes used by the student were extreme and were observed to be highly dependent on the student's use of specific learning strategies. The experimental methodology employed in this investigation enabled identification of the role of the social environment in the use of course documents on an ereader for academic study. The functionality of the ereader was such an extremely poor fit with the observed academic processes that a redesign approach for ereader and e-book technology is proposed as a solution to the low adoption rates of e-books

Are e-readers suitable tools for scholarly work?

This paper aims to offer insights into the usability, acceptance and limitations of e-readers with regard to the specific requirements of scholarly text work. To fit into the academic workflow non-linear reading, bookmarking, commenting, extracting text or the integration of non-textual elements must be supported. A group of social science students were questioned about their experiences with electronic publications for study purposes. This same group executed several text-related tasks with the digitized material presented to them in two different file formats on four different e-readers. Their performances were subsequently evaluated by means of frequency analyses in detail. Findings - e-Publications have made advances in the academic world; however e-readers do not yet fit seamlessly into the established chain of scholarly text-processing focusing on how readers use material during and after reading. Our tests revealed major deficiencies in these techniques. With a small number of participants (n=26) qualitative insights can be obtained, not representative results. Further testing with participants from various disciplines and of varying academic status is required to arrive at more broadly applicable results. Practical implications - Our test results help to optimize file conversion routines for scholarly texts. We evaluated our data on the basis of descriptive statistics and abstained from any statistical significance test. The usability test of e-readers in a scientific context aligns with both studies on the prevalence of e-books in the sciences and technical test reports of portable reading devices. Still, it takes a distinctive angle in focusing on the characteristics and procedures of textual work in the social sciences and measures the usability of e-readers and file-features against these standards.Comment: 22 pages, 6 figures, accepted for publication in Online Information Revie

Exploring design principles for self service technologies: The case of a ticket vending machine

The principal goal of this thesis was to research self service technologies used in public spaces, and how they can be improved upon. The main research question posed for this thesis was: "How well do the existing design principles support the ongoing development of self-service systems and are they su?cient?". There were also two sub-questions posed to further explore the topic: "How can novel design principles be used to improve the usability of self-service technologies?" and "Which methods are optimal for researching self-service technologies?" In order to answer these questions a range of research methods were used. These methods included observations, focus groups, usability testing and a review of existing literature. For the purpose of having a clear focus a speci?c self-service technology was chosen, the Skyss ticketing system. A prototype version of the existing system was created and tested with users, leading to a novel design principle that was named integration. A second iteration was also created to demonstrate the concept of the novel principle. The conclusion of the research was that a novel design principle can potentially enhance SST. However, there is still much room for improvement in the domain of self-service technology, and more research into design principles and methods is a feasible way of doing so.INFO390MASV-INF

An exploration of ebook selection behavior in academic library collections

Academic libraries have offered ebooks for some time, however little is known about how readers interact with them while making relevance decisions. In this paper we seek to address that gap by analyzing ebook transaction logs for books in a university library

Judging a book by its cover: interface elements that affect reader selection of ebooks

Digital library research has demonstrated the impact of content presentation on both search and reading behaviours. In this paper, we scrutinise the influence of ebook presentation on user behaviour, focussing on document thumbnails and the first page view. We demonstrate that flaws in presentation increase the volume of short time-span reading, and reduce the likelihood of long-span reading when compared to other documents. This reflects other patterns of information seeking behaviour that demonstrate increased short-term reading when information content is uncertain, and suggests an ineffective use of reader time on less useful content

Authentic And Concurrent Evaluation –Refining An Evaluation Approach In Design Science Research

This paper addresses the need for more detailed accounts for evaluation in design science research literature. By revisiting a design project regarding the future e-newspaper we give detailed descriptions of its authentic and concurrent evaluation approach by illustrating the what, why and how of all evaluation activities throughout the whole project. The project produced seven different design artifacts that were evaluated. The utility and theoretical outcomes of the evaluation activities clearly influenced design decisions regarding newspaper design, user value and business model design as well as decisions on strategic levels. We emphasize a holistic and concurrent approach to evaluation compared to the general design science research thinking and argue that reflecting on how to seek authenticity is important. By authenticity we refer to the notion of how closely an evaluation captures the context and actual use of an artifact. With the holistic approach we encourage evaluation to be inclusive of different aspects and relationships between stakeholder groups in the evaluation activities. Further we think that concurrency is not narrowed to evaluation but also regards theorizing. While it makes sense for planning to distinguish between phases and stages of evaluation and theorizing, in practice they are intrinsically interlinked and concurrent

You Can Check It Out But It Will Never Leave: Characterising Ebook Borrowing Patterns

What does it mean for a reader to borrow an ebook? Ebook technology means that borrowing can take different forms, for example printing and reading. We do not know, though, which of these options readers actually use. Ebook technology generates logs that allow us to understand ebook borrowing patterns over time, both by individual readers and in aggregate. Despite the ready availability of ebook logs, this area remains under-researched. In this paper we present an exploratory log analysis of ebook borrowing, comparing printing and reading, discovery patterns, single- and multiple-book sessions and identifying specific borrowing patterns

Usability evaluation model for mobile e-book applications

Evaluation for mobile e-book applications are limited and did not address all the important usability measurements. Hence, this study aimed to identify the characteristics that affect user satisfaction on the usability of mobile e-book applications. Five characteristics that have a significant effect on the user satisfaction of mobile e-book applications have been identified namely readability, effectiveness, accessibility, efficiency, and navigation. A usability evaluation was conducted on three mobile e-book applications namely Adobe Acrobat Reader, Ebook Reader, and Amazon Kindle. 30 students from Universiti Utara Malaysia evaluated the mobile e-book applications and their satisfaction was measured using questionnaire. The outcomes discovered that the five characteristics (i.e., readability, effectiveness, accessibility, efficiency, and navigation) have a significant positive relationship with user satisfaction. This provides insights into the main characteristics that increase user satisfaction. It also designed a task scenario and a satisfaction questionnaire which help in evaluating mobile e-book applications

Book selection behavior in the physical library: implications for ebook collections

Little is known about how readers select books, whether they be print books or ebooks. In this paper we present a study of how people select physical books from academic library shelves. We use the insights gained into book selection behavior to make suggestions for the design of ebook-based digital libraries in order to better facilitate book selection behavior