I’ve written previously about my ongoing experiences with eReaders eBooks and my evaluation continues as my use of these devices as well as my appreciation grows dramatically so I wanted to give you a quick review of my experiences with all of them so far. For me reading is a vital part of learning and something which is as important and necessary for me as air to breath. I have therefore long been experimenting with any and all ways to improve the effectiveness of my reading and hence my learning. I should also not that similar to the word and concept of a “phone” the word/concept of “reading” seems to be going through some dramatic changes and expansions. Some people rarely ever use their “smart phone” to talk on yet we still call them phones, smart or otherwise. Perhaps we will create a new term, though I’m happy with just letting the definitions expand, and don’t know of a better choice (please let me know if you do) so my use of the word “reading” here will be very broad and inclusive to essentially be any “consumption” and interaction with typically large collections of “readable” content such as text, illustrations, animations and video. In some ways this is not new as we say that we read magazines when they may have more images than text and some say they just read a great audio book. In any case the migration from the paper based printed word to our current consumption of multiple medias on digital screens would seem to be yet another example of how we are very much living in a world of abundance and exponential rates of change. Furthermore, I believe we are just now hitting the tipping or inflection point of the exponential curve of reading and as always things are radically different on the other side of these tipping points. Here is how I see the differences. Choose the Right Tool (category) for the Job
By my count, there are about four different classes or types of devices that we have to choose from for reading; dedicated eReaders such as the Kindle, tablets such as the iPad, computers (laptop/desktop) and handhelds (aka phones). Since we humans first started using tools, choosing the right tool for the job is very important to doing the job well whether you are building a house, moving furniture and now reading a book or magazine. You might think that with the increasing transportability of eBooks across all four of these different devices, it would matter much less which device you used to do your reading and in part this is true. Amazon in particular gets huge kudos from me for how seamlessly they have made my reading of all my Kindle content on whatever device I happen to have handy from my laptop to my phone to my Kindle or my iPad. All fully synched up so all the content knows where I left off, what I’ve read, etc. no matter which device I last read it on. This is extremely valuable in that we are closer to anytime anywhere reading, however my experience is that matching the device to the type of reading and content is a more critical choice than ever for a great reading experience. I. Computers (laptops & desktops:
Computers, be they laptops or desktops, typically have several strong benefits for reading including; a large, bright high resolution color display, a keyboard for controls and text entry, additional software for editing and note taking, good network connections, plenty of computing power and complimentary capabilities such as word processing, audio, video, browsers, and the like. Even more importantly in my experience though is that our physical position when using a computer is usually sitting upright, in a comfortable chair, with both hands free. This makes them most conducive and comfortable for things like editing content, text entry for notes, looking things up and therefore this is the best choice when your “reading” will involve these types of tasks. II. Handhelds (aka phones)
Phones and handhelds have the primary advantage of ubiquity; they are the device we are most likely to have with us the most amount of time and situations. This combined with their instant on and almost always connected features has given us an abundance of more choices of when and where we can do our reading and expanded the “social” side of reading by enabling us to do more sharing with others, both in person and from a distance or virtually. While the screens and processors are typically smaller, both of these have been improving exponentially and it is now quite an enjoyable experience to do more “reading” on our “phones”. However, again and as is the case in all these devices, is often our physical position while using them and the situations they allow us to use them in that is proving to be the most telling for me and determines which one is the right tool for the job at hand. In the case of handhelds or phones this means that we can use them when we are walking around, in a crowd, when we only have one hand free and we seem to have them on our person, literally at our fingertips, almost all the time. III. Dedicated eReaders:
Dedicated eReaders most popularized by the Kindle have the typical advantages of a device or tool that is made to do one job only; it does it VERY well. In the case of eReaders my experience is that they are ideal for reading a large amount of text, such as reading a book or long papers and articles. You can read my previous posts for much more detailed accounting of my experience with the Kindle so suffice it to say that it continues to be my hands down first choice for feeding my voracious appetite for books and long articles. For me the key advantages include a screen that is as good as or better than paper for reading text, (also just as bad in that it requires good light) gives me direct search and a built in instant dictionary, lets me easily underline and take notes as I read and manages them as both integrated yet separate files, it is an ideal size and weight to hold by hand (thumb & finger) and I have almost immediate access to almost any book, newspaper or printed article, which is an advantage for all but a true gift in my situation out sailing in some of the most remote locations in the world. As I noted in my Kindle article, it passed the acid test for me with flying colors in that it becomes completely transparent to my reading experience. I can easily loose myself within the great book I’m reading as I am transported fully into the story, forgetting that I’m reading at all. IV. Tablets/iPad
Most recently we have a fourth category and choice to meet our reading needs that of tablets and in particular the incredible popularity of Apple’s iPad. Thanks to my good friend and colleague Elliott Masie I’ve had an iPod for the past few months and have been using it daily for a wide range of purposes, though I will focus on my reading experiences in this article. Tablets such as the iPad provide a unique new collection of capabilities which make them significantly different than any of the other three categories above, more so than I and most others would have thought before using one for a while. This unique combination creates a new category and also makes tablets the best tool to choose for some kinds of content and reading situations. The primary advantages for reading I’ve experienced with the iPad include the great color screen, which works surprisingly well in almost all light conditions from bright sunlight to no light at all, the ability to have embedded high quality images, animation and video, and the multi touch interface. There is one thing with the iPad, which will be rectified in the future I'm sure but which drives me nuts daily, is the lack of multi-tasking. Even when I’m using it as “just” a reader I often like to listen to music as I’m reading, which the iPad does very well of course. But, if I need to do anything such as select a song or skip forward, I have to stop reading, quit my reader, start up my audio app, do whatever task I need to such as skip the current song, then quit the audio app, start up the reader app and finally get back to reading! Or when I want to go back and forth between two or more books or articles, I can’t have them open at the same time so I have to go through the same frustrating process of shutting down one book to start up the other and then repeat to go back. OK, end of rant and let me be clear that when it comes to reading content such as magazines or anything that has lots of color illustrations, video, audio, etc. then the iPad is my hands down #1 tool I reach for. As good as all these features are and just as with all the other three categories above, perhaps even more so in the case of the iPad, the key bit of context to determine when it is the right tool to choose is the physical position and situation you are in when using it. Some of this is obvious for the tablets like the iPad such as being able to read it while more reclined such as lounging in a comfortable chair or in bed, but the most striking and surprising thing to me has been how much this is a “social” device. By that I mean it seems to compel you to share it with others. You find yourself showing more people things on the iPad than on any other device I know, either by looking at it together, which works very well as when you flip it over to show the person across from you the image flips right way up for them to see, or you just hand them the iPod to them and let them read or use it. With the simplified multi touch interface even first timers have no problem quickly figuring out how to move navigate, turn pages, run videos and even more interesting to me there doesn’t seem to be any reluctance to do so for fear of “breaking something” that is still common when you share your laptop. I’ve also noticed that there is very little sense of invading someone’s privacy when sharing your iPad with others compared to the very strong sense of doing so when sharing your laptop. It is partly due to the type of content that you most often seem to be viewing on the iPad such as magazines, articles, videos, etc. but I suspect it is much deeper than this. In any case I now tend to bring my iPad with me everywhere because it is so shareable and such a great source of reference when you are with others. In my case that is things like maps and charts when I’m with other “yachties” but I’ve found the same thing when I’m with friends and family or with any other group of people engaged in just normal conversations and socializing. For reasons I don’t fully understand these tablets just naturally invite you to hold them and the touch interface is not only very natural and intuitive but also what I would call a very “intimate” interface where you are acting directly with what you are reading. It sounds like a small thing and a small distance to cross from interacting via mice, track pads and keyboards to directly touching the content on the screen with your fingers, but in my experience and especially sharing it with others, this is a quantum leap that makes a huge difference. Great Choices, but More of Them!
The one down side of having these four very separate categories of devices is that you end up needing, or at least wanting, to buy and carry around all four of them. While there is certainly some overlap between them, my experience has taught me clearly that none of them eliminates or replaces the other. If you are not a big book or long article reader I can see that you may find a tablet such as the iPad will serve perfectly well as your main eBook reader and you don’t need to have a dedicated one like a Kindle. And if you are not a big consumer of content (are there any such people?) then perhaps you don’t need an iPad and your laptop and phone will do just fine. However for most of us and certainly for myself, I now have all four of these devices and I am delighted to have the additional choices enable me to have the just the right reading tool to match my needs at the time. Abundance may bring with it the need to make more choices, but fortunately, thanks to lots of experiential learning, it is now very clear to me which device is the right one to grab for any given task. I hope that with this article and some hands on learning for yourself, you too will find it much easier to choose the right reading device and by doing so, your reading experiences and your learning experiences will improve dramatically. Wayne
Ambassador at Large for The Masie Center Coming to you today from:
Aboard s/v Learnativity
17 06.775 S, 179 05.487 W
Namena Island, Fiji Email: wayne.hodgins@gmail.com
Email @ sea: whodgins@ocens.net
FaceBook page @ www.facebook.com/wayne.hodgins
Learnativity blog @ www.learnativity.typepad.com
OCOT blog @ http://waynehodgins.typepad.com
Skype: whodgins
Twitter: WWWayne
Sat phone text messages: send short 140 character Text msgs via Email to: 881632510270@msg.iridium.com
By my count, there are about four different classes or types of devices that we have to choose from for reading; dedicated eReaders such as the Kindle, tablets such as the iPad, computers (laptop/desktop) and handhelds (aka phones). Since we humans first started using tools, choosing the right tool for the job is very important to doing the job well whether you are building a house, moving furniture and now reading a book or magazine. You might think that with the increasing transportability of eBooks across all four of these different devices, it would matter much less which device you used to do your reading and in part this is true. Amazon in particular gets huge kudos from me for how seamlessly they have made my reading of all my Kindle content on whatever device I happen to have handy from my laptop to my phone to my Kindle or my iPad. All fully synched up so all the content knows where I left off, what I’ve read, etc. no matter which device I last read it on. This is extremely valuable in that we are closer to anytime anywhere reading, however my experience is that matching the device to the type of reading and content is a more critical choice than ever for a great reading experience. I. Computers (laptops & desktops:
Computers, be they laptops or desktops, typically have several strong benefits for reading including; a large, bright high resolution color display, a keyboard for controls and text entry, additional software for editing and note taking, good network connections, plenty of computing power and complimentary capabilities such as word processing, audio, video, browsers, and the like. Even more importantly in my experience though is that our physical position when using a computer is usually sitting upright, in a comfortable chair, with both hands free. This makes them most conducive and comfortable for things like editing content, text entry for notes, looking things up and therefore this is the best choice when your “reading” will involve these types of tasks. II. Handhelds (aka phones)
Phones and handhelds have the primary advantage of ubiquity; they are the device we are most likely to have with us the most amount of time and situations. This combined with their instant on and almost always connected features has given us an abundance of more choices of when and where we can do our reading and expanded the “social” side of reading by enabling us to do more sharing with others, both in person and from a distance or virtually. While the screens and processors are typically smaller, both of these have been improving exponentially and it is now quite an enjoyable experience to do more “reading” on our “phones”. However, again and as is the case in all these devices, is often our physical position while using them and the situations they allow us to use them in that is proving to be the most telling for me and determines which one is the right tool for the job at hand. In the case of handhelds or phones this means that we can use them when we are walking around, in a crowd, when we only have one hand free and we seem to have them on our person, literally at our fingertips, almost all the time. III. Dedicated eReaders:
Dedicated eReaders most popularized by the Kindle have the typical advantages of a device or tool that is made to do one job only; it does it VERY well. In the case of eReaders my experience is that they are ideal for reading a large amount of text, such as reading a book or long papers and articles. You can read my previous posts for much more detailed accounting of my experience with the Kindle so suffice it to say that it continues to be my hands down first choice for feeding my voracious appetite for books and long articles. For me the key advantages include a screen that is as good as or better than paper for reading text, (also just as bad in that it requires good light) gives me direct search and a built in instant dictionary, lets me easily underline and take notes as I read and manages them as both integrated yet separate files, it is an ideal size and weight to hold by hand (thumb & finger) and I have almost immediate access to almost any book, newspaper or printed article, which is an advantage for all but a true gift in my situation out sailing in some of the most remote locations in the world. As I noted in my Kindle article, it passed the acid test for me with flying colors in that it becomes completely transparent to my reading experience. I can easily loose myself within the great book I’m reading as I am transported fully into the story, forgetting that I’m reading at all. IV. Tablets/iPad
Most recently we have a fourth category and choice to meet our reading needs that of tablets and in particular the incredible popularity of Apple’s iPad. Thanks to my good friend and colleague Elliott Masie I’ve had an iPod for the past few months and have been using it daily for a wide range of purposes, though I will focus on my reading experiences in this article. Tablets such as the iPad provide a unique new collection of capabilities which make them significantly different than any of the other three categories above, more so than I and most others would have thought before using one for a while. This unique combination creates a new category and also makes tablets the best tool to choose for some kinds of content and reading situations. The primary advantages for reading I’ve experienced with the iPad include the great color screen, which works surprisingly well in almost all light conditions from bright sunlight to no light at all, the ability to have embedded high quality images, animation and video, and the multi touch interface. There is one thing with the iPad, which will be rectified in the future I'm sure but which drives me nuts daily, is the lack of multi-tasking. Even when I’m using it as “just” a reader I often like to listen to music as I’m reading, which the iPad does very well of course. But, if I need to do anything such as select a song or skip forward, I have to stop reading, quit my reader, start up my audio app, do whatever task I need to such as skip the current song, then quit the audio app, start up the reader app and finally get back to reading! Or when I want to go back and forth between two or more books or articles, I can’t have them open at the same time so I have to go through the same frustrating process of shutting down one book to start up the other and then repeat to go back. OK, end of rant and let me be clear that when it comes to reading content such as magazines or anything that has lots of color illustrations, video, audio, etc. then the iPad is my hands down #1 tool I reach for. As good as all these features are and just as with all the other three categories above, perhaps even more so in the case of the iPad, the key bit of context to determine when it is the right tool to choose is the physical position and situation you are in when using it. Some of this is obvious for the tablets like the iPad such as being able to read it while more reclined such as lounging in a comfortable chair or in bed, but the most striking and surprising thing to me has been how much this is a “social” device. By that I mean it seems to compel you to share it with others. You find yourself showing more people things on the iPad than on any other device I know, either by looking at it together, which works very well as when you flip it over to show the person across from you the image flips right way up for them to see, or you just hand them the iPod to them and let them read or use it. With the simplified multi touch interface even first timers have no problem quickly figuring out how to move navigate, turn pages, run videos and even more interesting to me there doesn’t seem to be any reluctance to do so for fear of “breaking something” that is still common when you share your laptop. I’ve also noticed that there is very little sense of invading someone’s privacy when sharing your iPad with others compared to the very strong sense of doing so when sharing your laptop. It is partly due to the type of content that you most often seem to be viewing on the iPad such as magazines, articles, videos, etc. but I suspect it is much deeper than this. In any case I now tend to bring my iPad with me everywhere because it is so shareable and such a great source of reference when you are with others. In my case that is things like maps and charts when I’m with other “yachties” but I’ve found the same thing when I’m with friends and family or with any other group of people engaged in just normal conversations and socializing. For reasons I don’t fully understand these tablets just naturally invite you to hold them and the touch interface is not only very natural and intuitive but also what I would call a very “intimate” interface where you are acting directly with what you are reading. It sounds like a small thing and a small distance to cross from interacting via mice, track pads and keyboards to directly touching the content on the screen with your fingers, but in my experience and especially sharing it with others, this is a quantum leap that makes a huge difference. Great Choices, but More of Them!
The one down side of having these four very separate categories of devices is that you end up needing, or at least wanting, to buy and carry around all four of them. While there is certainly some overlap between them, my experience has taught me clearly that none of them eliminates or replaces the other. If you are not a big book or long article reader I can see that you may find a tablet such as the iPad will serve perfectly well as your main eBook reader and you don’t need to have a dedicated one like a Kindle. And if you are not a big consumer of content (are there any such people?) then perhaps you don’t need an iPad and your laptop and phone will do just fine. However for most of us and certainly for myself, I now have all four of these devices and I am delighted to have the additional choices enable me to have the just the right reading tool to match my needs at the time. Abundance may bring with it the need to make more choices, but fortunately, thanks to lots of experiential learning, it is now very clear to me which device is the right one to grab for any given task. I hope that with this article and some hands on learning for yourself, you too will find it much easier to choose the right reading device and by doing so, your reading experiences and your learning experiences will improve dramatically. Wayne
Ambassador at Large for The Masie Center Coming to you today from:
Aboard s/v Learnativity
17 06.775 S, 179 05.487 W
Namena Island, Fiji Email: wayne.hodgins@gmail.com
Email @ sea: whodgins@ocens.net
FaceBook page @ www.facebook.com/wayne.hodgins
Learnativity blog @ www.learnativity.typepad.com
OCOT blog @ http://waynehodgins.typepad.com
Skype: whodgins
Twitter: WWWayne
Sat phone text messages: send short 140 character Text msgs via Email to: 881632510270@msg.iridium.com
In addition to the non-scientist audience I had in mind originally, there are several other academic situations where the book might be useful.
Posted by: phoenix medical marijuana card | November 12, 2011 at 02:09 AM