Category Archives: eBooks

October 19, 2010 · 3:30 pm

eBooks, eReaders and Speed of Reading

A recent report at CNN caught my attention.  The study examined reading speeds of people using four mediums (printed books, computers, iPad, and Kindle).  The results…people who read on an iPad or Kindle reader slower than the printed word, 10.7 percent and 6.2 percent respectively.  The study also revealed that people prefer on the iPad followed by the Kindle with the printed book finishing third, and of course a computer last.  The difference between iPad and printed books is hardly noticeable, but there nonetheless.

This research in quite interesting.  Pundits argue that reading digitally speeds up their reading.  For example, Nicholas Carr’s The Shallows argues that the speed gained in reading digitally sacrifices comprehension.  Well this research shows that the reader actually slows down.  Perhaps eReaders bring us closer to Slow Reading.

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Filed under eBooks, eReading, research

October 14, 2010 · 5:37 pm

Digital Textbooks — Remix and Mash-up

A recent article in the Chronicle of Higher Education points out that many textbook publishers are offering professors the ability to modify textbooks.  That is, professors can remove unnecessary elements (chapters) and add other pieces in.  This services has been around for some time, but was seldom used.

Well Create from McGraw-Hill allows professors to create electronic textbooks that mix-and-match from other McGraw-Hill books.  The many advantages include, a cheap book (The Chronicle example jumped from $6 for an electronic copy to $17 for a printed copy), decreasing information overload by reducing unnecessary chapters, tayloring the book to meet the needs of the particular class, etc…

The other interesting part of the article describes how professors will need to navigate various publisher websites to create such content.  All I know is that we really do live in interesting times!

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Filed under eBooks, Mash-up, Remix, web 2.0

October 8, 2010 · 12:50 pm

eBook Readers

As many of you know, I am in the beginning stages of actually testing reading habits on eReader plaforms.  I will be testing comprehension and speed of reading.  However, I recently came across a blog post at the LA Times in which they reveal that people who use eReaders read more (a lot more) than people who do not own such devices.  Granted, this research is not the greatest research (it could be assumed that people who read a lot are more likely to purchase such a devise, it is nice to see some research emerging.

The study does show that

Those who own dedicated reading devices such as the Kindle spend 50% more time reading newspapers and 45% more time reading books, according to the poll.

Where does all that time come from? People evidently are watching 25% less television and spending 20% to 30% less time cruising the Web, according to the online survey of 1,816 U.S. consumers.

This is great news!  Libraries will need to engage in conversations so that they are ready for this new format; for this new style of reading.

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