Why the Smart Reading Device of the Future May Be Paper
1–10 of 28 posts
Re: Why the Smart Reading Device of the Future May Be Paper
#2> And research finds that kids these days consistently prefer their textbooks in print rather than pixels.
My students only look at their textbook for the assigned exercises. I'm sure they'd prefer not to have one at all.
Re: Why the Smart Reading Device of the Future May Be Paper
#3Print is particularly important for learning and "deep" reading. I find my IQ is at least a few points higher when reading in print rather than on screen. eInk devices are kind of good, but made awkward by the 0.5 sec screen refresh delay...
There is something to be said about the versatility of hypertext, but I think we lose something in concentration, attention span, etc. because of the links.
Re: Why the Smart Reading Device of the Future May Be Paper
#4> The most influential factor, he found, was whether they could see pages in their entirety. When they had to scroll, their performance suffered.
There are still no good electronic devices for large format, color books. Which includes most textbooks. If a larger iPad is released, that will presumably be the primary target market.
I'm looking forward to such a device myself, as a nerd with a large collection of tabletop RPG PDFs.
Re: Why the Smart Reading Device of the Future May Be Paper
#5> And research finds that kids these days consistently prefer their textbooks in print rather than pixels. My students only look at their textbook for the assigned exercises. I'm sure they'd prefer not to have one at all.
What are they studying?
I find that scientific textbooks (machine learning, etc) are much more usable as books than as pdf, as I need to often jump from one chapter to another and it needs to be the matter of a split second (or I won't bother to look for the information).
But perhaps mileage varies.
Re: Why the Smart Reading Device of the Future May Be Paper
#6Am I the only one here who highlights, underlines, and writes furiously in the margins? I don't know how you can process a text or technical book without being able to touch it.
Re: Why the Smart Reading Device of the Future May Be Paper
#7Anecdotally, I find this to be true. Also for note-taking. During projects where I used pen and paper for jotting down thoughts and ideas, the information tends to be stickier. There seems to be a direct connection between tactile senses and the thoughts and memories in the brain (and from what I recall from psychology, there's some truth to this.)
Re: Why the Smart Reading Device of the Future May Be Paper
#8> And research finds that kids these days consistently prefer their textbooks in print rather than pixels. My students only look at their textbook for the assigned exercises. I'm sure they'd prefer not to have one at all.
Yeah, my digital textbooks (Algebra II and Biology) are consistently awful Flash-apps, with all the disadvantages of paper, no copy-and-pasting and bad search.
Re: Why the Smart Reading Device of the Future May Be Paper
#9For years, before Instapaper and Readability, I used a little script that copied the text out of the current page and pasted it in plaintext, then printed it from TextMate monospaced and 4-up. I'd shove the pages in a pocket or the backseat and read them in my free time.
It's a great way to take notes, circle interesting bits, and compare them later. I haven't been able to replicate that system digitally.
Re: Why the Smart Reading Device of the Future May Be Paper
#10Asimov wrote an essay in 1973 "The Ancient and the Ultimate" about a portable reading device that didn't need power etc; it turned out it was the book.