The Chronical of Higher Education (2010, June 13). Do You Like Your E-Reader? - The Chronicle Review - The Chronicle of Higher Education. Retrieved June 22, 2014, from http://chronicle.com/article/Do-You-Like-Your-E-Reader-/65840/
I chose an article with a series of scholarly authors voicing opinions about the e-reader. The article is taken from The chronicle of Higher Education. The first review is by James O'Donnel, provost and professor of classics at Georgetown University. He tries to understand why anyone would really want to choose a computer book over the actual paper book. For the author, books function as resources and he explains how he needs to be able to remove parts of text as he thumbs through multiple books simultaneously.
Another chronicle of e-readers is written by Alice E. Marwick, doctoral candidate in media, culture, and communication at New York University. She discusses the Kindle. Other than weighing little and the ability to easily read and turn pages while holding onto the subway handles, this author has little use for an e-reader. She mentions the facts that e-books can't be shared with a friend, use functions to edit or create like you can on a computer, or print the text. For Alice, the e-reader is only for those that read and discard books. Not a good choice for Alice.
John Palfrey, professor of law and vice dean for library and information resources at Harvard Law School looks at the e-reader from a different perspective. As a reader, the author basically feels he could take it or leave it. But as an author and writer, he looks at the possibility of the reader being able to research, communicate, and be directed to more resources about the topic. Its function can create a method for the reader to expand their understanding of the content which may even cause the reader to ask more questions.
Several other authors voice their opinions about e-readers throughout the article. My take away from all of these reviews is that some like e-readers, some don't, and one is waiting for the e-reader to become more innovative. The innovative e-reader requestor wants the digital text to include links to videos, maps, songs, and may even change story lines based on your actual location as you read the book. I have been using an e-reader to read for my Literacy class and it has been my first time doing so. I like it, but I am not very picky about having the actual paper in my hands. I just want the story and I want to read and use it for pleasure. It may be different if I was trying to read an academic text using an e-reader.
Kristen, there were some interesting perspectives presented here. I can relate to a few of them. As in my post, I can see some of the 'perks' of the e-readers, but also can imagine some of the negative aspects as well. I don't own an e-reader. I am one of those people that LOVE to have the feel of the book in my hand as I read. I love to turn the pages and see what adventure awaits! I love having my friends pass a good book on to me and vise versa. I would miss those things too much if I had an e-reader. I enjoyed reading your perspective on this topic!
ReplyDeleteKristen, good points! I don't have an e-reader, but I think I would like to use it to read leisurely. As far as academic texts, 90% of the time I like to have the book or have the actual paper in my hand. I'm the type of person that likes to underline and make notes to refer back to. In my article it talks about how the e-readers was hard for some people to go back and remember where you saw the information in the first place. I think there also needs to be a balance in school with e-readers and traditional books. E-readers is more of a solitaire experience and kids also need back-and-forth communication with the teacher/parent when reading.
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