Screen reading
Screen reading is the act of reading a text on a computer screen, smartphone, e-book reader, etc. It is often contrasted with the act of reading a text on paper, in particular a printed text.[1]
In a study conducted by Jakob Nielsen, a leading web usability expert who co-founded usability consulting company Nielsen Norman Group with Donald Norman, it was discovered that generally people read 25% slower on a computer screen in comparison with a printed page.[1] In eyetracking tests, Nielsen also discovered that people read Web pages in an F-shaped pattern that consists of two horizontal stripes followed by a vertical stripe.[2]
Critics have voiced serious concerns about screen reading, though some have taken a more positive stance. Kevin Kelly believes that we are transitioning from "book fluency to screen fluency, from literacy to visuality".[3][4] Anne Mangen holds that because of the materiality of a printed book the reader is more engaged with a text, while the opposite is true with a digital text in which the reader is engaged in a "shallower, less focused way".[5][6]
Also through the Weekly Michigan Technologies Poll, one of the questions of January 2012 that was proposed to a general public of students, but also anyone who visits the site https://ctools.umich.edu/portal asked "How do you prefer reading documents?" and after a rising 7000 respondents it is clear that on paper reading is highly preferred over on screen reading. 80% of the respondents choose the traditional "on paper: vs. the 11% who opt for "On a computer screen". As more and more Professors assign readings provided online and classes are facilitated through the web it will be interesting to follow this on screen reading progress and level of satisfaction.
How do you prefer reading documents?
On paper-80% (5401 Responses)
On a computer screen-11% (767 Responses)
On a tablet computer (e.g., iPad)-5% (323 Responses)
On an e-reader (e.g., Kindle, Nook)-3% (231 Responses)
Other-1% (54 Responses)
Total: 6776 respondents Powered By:Qualtrics
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ a b Alex Beam (2009-06-19). "I screen, you screen, we all screen". The Boston Globe. http://www.boston.com/ae/media/articles/2009/06/19/paper_vs_computer_screen/.
- ^ Jakob Nielsen (2006-04-17). "F-Shaped Pattern For Reading Web Content". http://www.useit.com/alertbox/reading_pattern.html.
- ^ Kevin Kelly (2008-11-21). "Becoming Screen Literate". The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/23/magazine/23wwln-future-t.html.
- ^ Christine Rosen. "People of the Screen", The New Atlantis, Number 22, Fall 2008, pp. 20–32.
- ^ Anne Mangen (2008). "Hypertext fiction reading: haptics and immersion". Journal of Research in Reading 31 (4): 404–419. doi:10.1111/j.1467-9817.2008.00380.x.
- ^ Mark Bauerlein (2008-09-19). "Online Literacy Is a Lesser Kind: Slow reading counterbalances Web skimming". The Chronicle of Higher Education (Washington, D.C.) 54 (31): Page B7. http://chronicle.com/free/v55/i04/04b01001.htm.
