Very interesting point Cory Doctorow makes in this article:
“I don’t like reading off a computer screen” — it’s a cliché of the e-book world. It means “I don’t read novels off of computer screens” (or phones, or PDAs, or dedicated e-book readers), and often as not the person who says it is someone who, in fact, spends every hour that Cthulhu sends reading off a computer screen. It’s like watching someone shovel Mars Bars into his gob while telling you how much he hates chocolate.”
The behaviour he outlines for the way we read on computer screens, even if we do it all day, is spot on. He concludes that, “Mostly, we can read just enough of a free e-book to decide whether to buy it in hardcopy — but not enough to substitute the e-book for the hardcopy. Like practically everything in marketing and promotion, the trick is to find the form of the work that serves as enticement, not replacement.”
Probably, most of us won’t read whole novels on screen, except in some circumstances, like while travelling. Then, an electronic version is an additional choice the consumer can make, not a replacement.
But what about more technical things, like all the “how-to” books for various aspects of marketing online? You can refer to them on screen whilst carrying out some instruction they explain in another window. Or do you still find that easier with a printed document alongside?
Do you print ebooks out, or if you read them on screen, is there a limit to how much reading you are prepared to concentrate on?
Just estimating, but I’d say that I don’t mind reading a 30 - 50 page document on screen, so long as it reads well and I can do it one sitting. Any bigger and I start to treat it as a reference book to be skimmed, searched and referred to only, but that’s just me.
Cory Doctorow: You Do Like Reading Off a Computer Screen Via: BoingBoing
If you found something you like here, why not subscribe?
Sponzurz
