In another line of the ongoing thread of discussion surrounding e-book readers, David Rothman at TeleRead responds to a piece by Christine Rosen. What I like about his post as well as Rosen’s is that they look at the question of concentration, namely, does an e-book reader undermine it, especially if it’s networked to the Web?
The role of concentration plays an important role in educational contexts, which is what grabs my interest. Anecdotally, what I hear from students is that they want good screen clarity that allows for sustained viewing (e.g., no eye strain or headaches) and the ability to annotate. There have certainly been progressions on the screen front, as well as on the annotation front. (Amazon’s Kindle is one device that has annotation capabilities even though it’s demo video doesn’t mention it.)
Going back to the Rothman post, most of what I’ve read to-date on e-book readers has been polemic: either the writer is for or against them. Taking a lead from Steve Krug, this seems like a prime opportunity for user testing, so that the conversation can be based less on ideology and more on actual user experiences.
Filed under: Design, Distance Education, Tech, Usability
