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Are ereaders suitable tools for scholarly work Results from a user test

Are ereaders suitable tools for scholarly work Results from a user test Purpose The purpose of this paper is to offer insights into the usability, acceptance and limitations of ereaders with regard to the specific requirements of scholarly text work. To fit into the academic workflow, nonlinear reading, bookmarking, commenting, extracting text or the integration of nontextual elements must be supported.Designmethodologyapproach A group of social science students were questioned about their experiences with electronic publications for study purposes. This same group executed several textrelated tasks with the digitized material presented to them in two different file formats on four different ereaders. Their performances were subsequently evaluated in detail.Findings Epublications have made advances in the academic world however ereaders do not yet fit seamlessly into the established chain of scholarly textprocessing focusing on how readers use material during and after reading. The authors' tests revealed major deficiencies in these techniques.Originalityvalue The usability test of ereaders in a scientific context aligns with both studies on the prevalence of ebooks in the sciences and technical test reports of portable reading devices. Still, it takes a distinctive angle in focusing on the characteristics and procedures of textual work in the social sciences and measures the usability of ereaders and filefeatures against these standards. http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Online Information Review Emerald Publishing

Are ereaders suitable tools for scholarly work Results from a user test

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Publisher
Emerald Publishing
Copyright
Copyright © Emerald Group Publishing Limited
ISSN
1468-4527
DOI
10.1108/OIR-12-2011-0221
Publisher site
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Abstract

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to offer insights into the usability, acceptance and limitations of ereaders with regard to the specific requirements of scholarly text work. To fit into the academic workflow, nonlinear reading, bookmarking, commenting, extracting text or the integration of nontextual elements must be supported.Designmethodologyapproach A group of social science students were questioned about their experiences with electronic publications for study purposes. This same group executed several textrelated tasks with the digitized material presented to them in two different file formats on four different ereaders. Their performances were subsequently evaluated in detail.Findings Epublications have made advances in the academic world however ereaders do not yet fit seamlessly into the established chain of scholarly textprocessing focusing on how readers use material during and after reading. The authors' tests revealed major deficiencies in these techniques.Originalityvalue The usability test of ereaders in a scientific context aligns with both studies on the prevalence of ebooks in the sciences and technical test reports of portable reading devices. Still, it takes a distinctive angle in focusing on the characteristics and procedures of textual work in the social sciences and measures the usability of ereaders and filefeatures against these standards.

Journal

Online Information Review – Emerald Publishing

Published: Jun 14, 2013

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