Summary

“Digital Reading Spaces: How expert readers handle books, the Web and electronic paper” - Terje Hillesund

Central issue: “(…) I have argued that there is a relation between text materiality and ways of reading.” (TH, p.13)
                                > Findings:
                                                » “Sustained reading is typically done on paper, especially reading of long-form text.” (Ibid.)
                                                                * “(…) immersive imaginary reading, such as reading of novels, is usually continuous, from beginning to end.” (Ibid.)
                                                                * “Immersive reflective reading, studying, on the other hand, is characterized by discontinuous and often treacherous reading.” (Ibid.)
                                                                                - “Experts seldom read a scholarly article or book from beginning to end, but rather in parts, and certainly out of order, actively using hands and fingers in flicking back and forth, underlining and annotating, often connecting their reading to their writing, and usually spreading pieces of paper around their desk.” (Ibid.)
                                                                                - “(…) expert readers use computers and the Web for overview, actively using the mouse and keyboard in search for information and literature in a manner characterized by skimming, browsing and bouncing – that is discontinuous and fragmented reading.” (Ibid.)

Definitions:
   - Sustained reading = “(…) all lengthy acts of reading (…).” (TH, p.6)
   - Immersive imaginary reading = “(…) readers get involved in a story, conjuring up vivid images of persons and places, living through situations, empathizing with characters. (…) Immersive imaginary reading is often associated with narratives and requires reading to be fairly fluent.” (TH, p.8)
   - Immersive reflective reading = “(…) readers get involved in argumentative texts, eager to understand, interpret and learn, to see connections and consequences, and to widen their understanding. (…) As with imaginary reading, reflective immersion requires reading to be fluent.” (TH, p.8)
   - continuous/discontinuous reading = “(…) text is laid out in space and read in time, and (…) always deals with some kind of subject matter. (…) [hence], reading can be described by degrees of continuousness, including temporal and spatial continuousness, and thematic connectedness.” (TH, p.6)

Observation: “(…) most traditional research has tended to treat reading in a rather abstract way, as if all reading were more or less the same, as an individual, silent and inward act of interpretation.” (TH, p.2)
                » “While physical aspects of paper reading are usually taken for granted – and thus focus on content – new tools inevitably direct attention to the materiality of text and the tactility of reading.” (Ibid.)
                » “While this focus on new form factors may be obvious, at some point all reading technologies have been new, and for coming generations it takes years of practice to internalize the use of dominant reading technologies in society, whether they be clay tablets, scrolls, manuscripts, printed books or computers.”(TH, p.3)
                                > Research question: “(…) how users react to new reading technologies, such as e-book reading devices.” (Th, p.2)
                                                > Sub questions:
                                                                - “(…) how do we arrange our surroundings when reading?” (TH, p.5)
                                                                - “How do we position our bodies, how do we handle the object (the book, printed papers, the computer or the mouse)?” (Ibid.)
                                                                - “What do we look for first – and last?” (Ibid.)
                                                                - “What makes us start reading a text in a linear fashion – and what makes us stop, or continue browsing?” (Ibid.)

Methodology:
                > “(…) a study among experts readers, represented by a group of academics, enquiring about their digital and paper-based reading.” (TH, p.1)
                > “In 14 semi-structured qualitative interviews, 10 participants – all established humanist scholars and social scientists – were asked about their reading: how and where is it done, how they sit when reading and how they use their hands and fingers. The participants were asked about their note-taking and underlining, if their reading was continuous or done in parts, following links or linear, embedded in scholarly practices or parts of ongoing communicative acts. (…) During interviews, I prompted respondents to go beyond commonly held notions about reading. At the same time, I wanted the respondents to recount and reflect freely on the issues, being cautious not to speak for them.” (TH, pp.5-6)

Observation: “Evidently, changes in text cultures have taken place throughout history, and written discourse has never been static. Philologists have repeatedly shown that supposedly stable written texts are by no means fixed entities, neither in the manuscript tradition nor within the print culture. Specific texts change and, as the history of the book reveals, so do their general material and typographical features. Moreover, literacy studies give convincing evidence of great variations in reading practices over time.” (TH, p.13)
                > “In contrast to previous modifications, the ongoing digital transformation fundamentally changes the physical form of text. In computers, the written text is no longer physically tied to the surface of a medium that simultaneously stores, and represents the text.” (Ibid.)

                                » Remark:
                                                Through analogous reasoning, one could say that the medium of written text allows the author to distance thought from the bodily ‘surface’ normally required to express thought in unmediated interaction.
                                                Or else: In printed texts, thoughts are no longer physically tied to the surface of a medium that simultaneously stores, and represents these thoughts.
                                                                               
Discussion: “(…) I [Terje Hillesund] agree with John Bradely (2008), who suggest that tool builders would have greater success if digital tools were more in line with the ways in which literacy events actually take place. By including a corporeal and material perspective in reading research, and by broadening studies to include different age groups and circumstances, a richer description of reading may result and probably a better understanding of how reading and technology interact in real-life situations. Such insights might assist developers and companies in their efforts to create enhanced reading applications and devices.” (TH, p.14)
                > This is also tied to: “Sellen and Harper’s (2002) study shows that the computer system is superior in the actual making and remaking of documents, in storing, accessing and retrieving documents, and in facilitating the distribution of documents. Paper, on the other hand, is used in many creative tasks such as editing, commenting and collaboration on text and in tasks that require certain levels of sustained concentration, such as reading, in which annotation, quick navigation and spatial layout of documents allow readers to deepen their understanding and to create a plan for their own writing.” (TH, p.5)

                                » Remark:
                                                I think that recent developments within the field of digital reading tools and applications are in line with the suggested focus on: literacy events/practices and the importance of a corporeal/material perspective… (e.g.: E Ink electronic paper (Amazon Kindle), finger flicking/swiping (iPad), highlighting (Amazon Kindle, Copia, *OpenMargin, SubText), annotating (Copia, *OpenMargin, SubText), browsing & connecting different reading material (SubText), connecting reading and writing (Finding), etc. …)
                                                > This remark concurs with Hillesund’s observation (anno 2010) that: “Quite different then, is the new generation of devices based on electronic paper, such as the ‘Amazon Kindle’ and ‘Sony Reader’, specifically designed for reading.” (TH, p.9)