E Reading
Kress (2005) explained that the nature of text has changed with the rise of digital print and with it reading has changed. According to Kress digital text has afforded readers to enter a piece of text from any point. When we visit a web page, we are free to click on any section of the page and consume the text in any order we choose. Kress argues that this is different from traditional text that was linear and laid out in chapters or sections.
In response to Kress Prior (2005) suggested that while electronic text is changing the way that we read, entering the text from multiple points is nothing new: There are many traditional texts can be entered from multiple points. I think of reading poetry books. I love to flip the book open to a page and discover the poem that is waiting there, or in an anthology I will search out my favourite poet. I love to find a new Philip Larkin poem and this is my usual starting point in a poetry anthology. As readers, we have never had so much choice as to how we read or where we begin, but it is not a new phenomenon. Prior (2005) suggests that we look to our past and project what we find into our future.
I tend to avoid reading on line. I much prefer to print my readings and curl up with a pen and a pad of sticky notes. I realize that electronic texts offer me the ability to make annotations, highlight important passages and share with others but I am much more comfortable doing my academic reading on paper and recording my thoughts privately then post them once I have had time to mull them over.
I do however enjoy reading on my Kobo. It connects to my local library’s website where I can borrow books and download magazines. My e reader affords me the ability to access a vast wealth of literature for no fee as long as I have the understanding and ability to connect to my local library.
Bolter (2001) explains that the mass production of bound books lead to the development of the modern dust jacket. When I buy physical books in a bookstore, my initial attraction tends to be toward the cover. I am attracted to the art and the title as well as the book display in the store. The cover of the book is of no importance to me when I buy digital books for my Kobo. I tend to search the Kobo story or the public library site for my favourite authors and then I look at books other readers have downloaded. I am less influenced by my immediate surroundings or by my own personal friends than I am by the tastes and recommendations of strangers who have similar tastes to myself.
Electronic readers could also shape the relationship between authors and readers. Amazon is experimenting with a new form of publishing/selling books. Authors will be paid according to how much of a book a reader actually accesses. If a reader reads the entire book she will pay the entire cost of the book. If a reader reads only 11 percent of a book and realizes it is not to her liking, she will pay for only 11 percent of the book (D’Orazio, 2015). This changes the relationship between reader and writer and places more power and authority in the hands of the reader.
Bolter, J (2001). Writing space: computers, hypertext and the remediation of print. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Kress, G. (2005). Gains and losses: New forms of texts, knowledge, and learning. Computers and Composition, 22, 5-22.
D’Ozario, D. (2015). Amazon will pay some authors for every page you read instead of for every book you download. Retrieved from http://www.theverge.com/2015/6/21/8820373/amazon-kindle-royalties-based-on-pages-read-not-downloaded-copies
Prior, P. (2005). Moving multimodality beyond the binaries: A response to Gunther Kress’ “Gains and Losses.” Computers and Composition, 22, 5-22.
I didn’t know about Amazon’s new experiment – thanks for sharing! It’s a very intriguing concept, but it makes sense in our era of hyper-personalization. Every piece of media we read or discard forges our identity as citizens of a digital world, just as the New London Group (1996) suggested in their article this week. Our identities are a myriad of what groups we belong to, and in this case, what we purchase or choose to pursue, or not.
References
The New London Group (Cazden, Courtney, Bill Cope, Mary Kalantzis et al.). (1996). ‘A Pedagogy of Multiliteracies: Designing Social Futures.’ Harvard Educational Review, 66(1), 60-92.
I really enjoyed reading your blog post this week. As I read it I found myself identifying with you on many different points. Like you, I am a person who never really liked reading online, preferring a hard copy over a digital copy because I never liked sitting at my computer desk to read. I find that I can concentrate more when I am comfortable. That all changed for me when I got my iPad a few years ago. I found this to be the happy medium; I could read electronically from the comfort of my own couch with my notepad and pencil to take notes.
I found it interesting the way you challenged Kress’ (2005) point about electronic text affording readers to choose where to enter text in different from wherever they choose differing from printed books. You mentioned that you can open a printed book from any place you choose and read from there, selecting poems etc. You are right, you can open a printed book from wherever you choose and start reading from there (we all know at least 1 person who likes to read the end of the book before reading the entre story). These books, whether containing poetry, fiction or factual in nature are put together in a linear way where their ideas flow. With a website this structure doesn’t really exist meaning that you could unintentionally be reading information in a non linear way. I think that what Kress (2005) is saying is that when you read a website the information doesn’t flow in the same way as a book or even a chapter; it is broken up into smaller segments and include far more images than books. With these changes we need to learn to decode information differently than in the past.
Thanks for sharing the new Amazon experiment as well! I hadn’t read this yet! There have been several times when I bought a book based on the blurb found online and have been disappointed and not finished my book! This is something that is great for consumers, but not as beneficial for authors.
Kress, G. (2005). Gains and losses: New forms of texts, knowledge, and learning. Computers and Composition, 22, 5-22.
Thanks for the comments. I have been thinking about Kress’ (2005) argument and I agree with you Anita that the intended meaning was that websites are non-linear and printed books are linear in nature. I think that we don’t always give credit to printed materials that are not printed and bound in book format. Plans for buildings contain an incredible amount of information and much of it is visual rather than printed. Building plans are not read from top to bottom or left to right, rather the reader jumps into the text from any point that makes sense. Different building trades use different parts of the plan as well. Plumbers and electricians have little or no use for the foundation plan, plot plan or legal description while the machine operator digging the hole for the foundation will have no use for the floor plan but will get a lot of information from the plot plan and elevation views.
Thanks again for the comments,
James.
I do almost all of my reading on my Kindle, I only read paperbacks now when someone loans me a book. I am quite proud of my growing digital library and while I miss having it on display in bookcases, I enjoy having reclaimed that space in my house.
I had not heard about their experiments in dynamic pricing. I love that idea. I have to confess, I got scammed into buying a science fiction book through some clever online marketing and I wish I could have got my money back. I didn’t even read one page. The author or publisher of the book had created a website listing the top 100 science fiction novels. I was scrolling through the listed checking off the ones I had read, when I came across a new book I hadn’t seen before. I went to Amazon, and it was only $0.99, so I bought it. I went back to the list, and as I continued to scroll down, it popped up again. That was when I noticed it was an advertisement, not actually part of the list. I was so angry with myself for falling victim to this advertising ploy that I immediately went and deleted the book from my Kindle without reading a page. I wish they had implemented the dynamic pricing you mentioned in your post.