Legal Research

eReaders and Reading Speed

By admin

There’s an interesting conversation going on right now which ihas been generated by Jakob Nielsen’s latest research:

iPad and Kindle Reading Speeds

“A study of people reading long-form text on tablets finds higher reading speeds than in the past, but they’re still slower than reading print.”

This has been picked up by the mainstream media and reported poorly. As libraruians we might wawnt to look a little deeper.

Fuirst read the original study. It’s only article length anyway.

Then read some of this commentary:

Study: E-books take longer to read than print

“The study did not prove that the iPad allowed for faster reading than the Kindle.”

Digital Reading Tests Prove Little?

“However the numbers are very small and the time taken was very similar. Nielson says that based on the tests, reading on the iPad is more difficult then a normal book, as the story took 6.2 percent longer to read, with the Kindle being even slower. Some suggest that the new or unfamiliar interface of the ereaders would easily account for the variance in results and that over time this would be obviated. Some would suggest that the tests ignored the benefits of the technology platforms and merely focused on one aspect reading. Some would also question whether speed actually matters?”

Lord knows that I remember when studies showed that typing was slower on newfangled computers than by a good typist in the pool. Doesn’t it just take time to get speed up to par?

Anyway, I wonder if it took into account you bookmark falling out of the print book?

Stephen

Full post as published by Stephen's Lighthouse on July 06, 2010 (boomark / email).