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Like an open book? A student-centred view of e-books and a new model for delivery. Muir, L.J., Veale, T. and Nichol, A. Presented by: Dr Laura Muir.
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Like an open book? A student-centred view of e-books and a new model for delivery. Muir, L.J., Veale, T. and Nichol, A. Presented by: Dr Laura Muir
“Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested: that is, some books are to be read only in parts, others to be read, but not curiously, and some few to be read wholly, and with diligence and attention.” Sir Francis Bacon (1561-1626)
Reading a Book Easy to read? Usable? Accessible? Portable?
What is an E-Book? • Electronic ‘picture’ of a book • Viewable resource in an online repository • Reflowable narrative text • Searchable browsable database • Learning object and toolkit • (Carden 2008)
Like an Open Book? • How do students use academic e-books? • What is the best model for e-book content delivery?
Previous Research on Usage and Attitudes • Drivers are 24/7 availability, ease of storage, full-text search (Chu, 2003). • Barriers are difficulty in reading/browsing/annotating content, need for special equipment, no sense of ownership during frequent use over an academic year and preference for print (Rowlands et al 2007; Tenopir and Rowlands 2007). • Subject and content influence degree of use. Content suitable for quick reference is more widely used (Chu 2003; Williams and Rowlands 2007) and positively influenced by prior experience. • Specific issues for use are navigation time relative to time spent viewing content, perceived barriers to access which dissuade use and the need for simplicity and standardised easy-to-use interfaces (CIBER 2008).
Researchers have called for information and library research to move towards “monitoring the actual online seeking behaviour of their users” (CIBER 2008). Rowlands (2007) argued that “no one is watching the users” and “there is generally a lack of research in user evaluation of expensive online resources”.
How do Students use Academic E-books? • Taste, swallow whole or chew over and digest? • Look-up, view, skim, scan, skip, immerse and enjoy?
How do Students use Academic E-books? • Qualitative study of user behaviour and experience: • Design of e-book task • Pre-task questionnaire • Direct observation and recording of the student during the task • Post-task interview
How do Students use Academic E-books? • Highlight text and bookmark paragraphs and sections • Take notes and paraphrase sections • Flick and scan to evaluate content • Refer to the Table of Contents and Subject Index • Search for keywords • Read for topic understanding • Read for quick reference • Read pages sequentially for long periods from one book and from more than one book in a single session
How do Students use Academic E-books? • What aids reading: • Signposting within the e-book content • Full-text searching and useful results display • Subject index hyperlinked to the relevant section • Digestible page and section lengths • An always available, dynamic and detailed Table of Contents
How do Students use Academic E-books? • What hinders reading: • Poor display of search results • Lack of progress indication • Interrupted flow – split content (table, text) and scrolling • Cluttered content and user interface • Slow performance – e.g. navigation, highlighting, notes, access • Poor quality screen display …
Jepsen’s PixelQi low-cost low-power ‘e-paper’ screen technology on a laptop and the Kindle E-Book Reader (IEEE Spectrum, 9 June 2009)
What is the best model for E-book content delivery? Principle-Based Systems Analysis (Alter 2002) of e-books from a business perspective: • Pleasing the customers (users) • Performing work efficiently • Serving the participants • Creating value from information • Minimising effort absorbed by technology • Deploying infrastructure as a genuine resource • Minimising conflicts and risks Further work: More user studies and development of a new model for delivery with proof of concept based on user evaluation of prototypes.
References ALTER, S., 2002 Information Systems; The Foundation of E-Business. New Jersey: Prentice Hall. (Chapter 2) CARDEN, M.T.J., 2008. E-books are not books. Conference on Information and Knowledge Management. Proceedings of the 2008 ACM workshop on research advances in large digital book repositories. California: ACM, pp 9-12 CHU, H., 2003. Electronic books: viewpoints from users and potential users. Library hi tech [online] 21(3). Available from www.emeraldinsight.com/10.1108/07378830310494526 [Accessed 15 October 2008] CIBER, 2008. Information behaviour of the researcher of the future. [online]. London: University College London. Available from: http://www.jisc.ac.uk/whatwedo/programmes/resourcediscovery/googlegen.aspx [Accessed 25/1/08] PERRY, T., 2009. Low-Cost Low-Power Screen from Dream Jobber Jepsen. [online].IEEE Spectrum, June 09, 2009. Available from:http://www.magnet101.com/ls.cfm?tid=3566194817&trk=yes&r=127922959&sid=6769300&m=753799&u=IEEENY&s=http://www.spectrum.ieee.org/blog/semiconductors/devices/tech-talk/lowcost-lowpower-screen-from-dream-jobber-jepsen ROWLANDS, I., 2007. Superbook: Planning for the eBook revolution. [online]. London: University College London. Available from: http://www.ucl.ac.uk/slais/research/ciber/superbook/ [Accessed 25/9/08] ROWLANDS, I., NICHOLAS, D., HAMID, R.J. and HUNTINGTON, P., 2007. What do faculty and students actually think about e-books?. [online]. London: University College London. Available from: http://www.homepages.ucl.ac.uk/~uczciro/findings.pdf [Accessed 25/9/08] TENOPIR, C. and ROWLANDS, I., 2007. Age-related information behavior : Work package III. [online]. London: University College London. Available from: http://www.ucl.ac.uk/slais/research/ciber/downloads/GG%20Work%20Package%20III.pdf [Accessed 26/9/08] WILLIAMS. P. and ROWLANDS, I., 2007. The literature on young people and their information behaviour: Work package II. [online]. London: University College London. Available from: http://www.ucl.ac.uk/slais/research/ciber/downloads/GG%20Work%20Package%20II.pdf [Accessed 16/10/08]