Presentation delivered at ALT2021 Winter Conference. Related reading on https://doi.org/10.21252/e01f-8m82.

1. Innovations in
Reading and Writing:
What Should Learning
Technologists Know?
Dominik.Lukes@ctl.ox.ac.uk | @techczech

2. This is a quick top
level overview!

3. More on bit.ly/oxfordreadinglab

4. Is this what it is about?

5. Or is this what it’s all about?

6. Strategies come before
technologies.

7. Technologies can help but
also get in the way.

8. Just came
out
bit.ly/
readingaffordances
2021

9. Articulation of
Reading

10. Reading is an articulated activity
Decoding
Understanding
Planning
Strategic attention

11. Reading modalities
Text
Audio and text
Audio
Video

12. What makes reading
easier

13. Enlarge Listen
Navigate Strategize

14. Enlarge: Reduce
barriers to decoding

21. New Edge has Immersive Reader built in

22. Advanced text display options

23. Additionally also supports line focus

24. Additional language support features

25. Can even help with some languages

26. Reading with your
ears

27. Natural voices

33. Listening tips
2x
Listen at
higher speed
Crop
Remove
footers
Skip
Find shortcuts
to navigate

34. Navigation

35. Abstract
Introduction
Methods Results
Discussion
Conclusion Acknowledgements
References
Texts have structures

36. Navigation Pane in Word is an essential tool for reading and writing

37. Chrome PDF viewer

38. Microsoft Edge PDF viewer

39. Read strategically

40. “The vast quantities of
information that are available
mean that it is important that you
read as intelligently as
possible. For most social
science literature, this means
‘skim reading’ a document or
book before reading line-by-
line.” (Steve New)

41. Three Modes of Reading
Linear
• Read from
start to finish
• As in fiction
• Most texts
formatted for
this
Skiming
• Read for gist
to get a
sense of
overall
meaning
quickly
• Strategy to
decide is
more is
needed
Scannning
• Read for
specific
information
• Use on
second pass
or in research

42. Most digital reading
interfaces assume the
linear mode!

43. This is why digital
textbooks are so slow to
take off!

44. Where does technology
come in?

45. Affordances of
Reading

46. Affordance is the property of
an object that allows the user to
interact with it in order to
achieve a particular goal
without conscious
deliberation.

47. Affordances of a printed schedule

48. Affordance of a digital schedule

49. Affordances of books

50. Physicality (Weight / 3D)
Touch
Ink absorption
Visibility – Comparison
Movability
Affordances

51. Most e-reading tools do
not take into account key
affordances of reading.
We must evaluate them
from this perspective.

52. It took Amazon 13 years to figure out people read books non-linearly

53. Affordance of the body

54. Publishers seem to be
remarkably ignorant of the
affordances of reading.

55. Not thinking about the ereader as content consumer but as paper replicator

56. Reading hardware
and software

57. What can you read with
Computer
Smart phone
Tablet
E-reader
Scanner

58. Comparing hardware solutions
Computer
• 👍 Always there
• 👍 Many tools
• 👎 Bad posture
• 👎 Screen glare
Smart phone
• 👍 Portable
• 👍 Flexible
• 👎 Small screen
• 👎 Battery
• 👎 Screen glare
Tablet
• 👍 Portable
• 👍 Large screen
• 👍 Side by side
• 👍 Pen option
• 👎 Screen glare
E-reader
• 👍 No screen glare
• 👍 Long battery
• 👍 Touch/pen
• 👎 Single function
• 👎 Slow refresh
Scanner
• 👍 Stand alone
• 👍 Printed text
• 👎 Single purpose
• 👎 Expensive

59. E-readers

60. Remarkable

61. Kobo

62. Boox Max Lumi

63. Onyx Boox

64. Scanners

65. Cpen

66. ORCam Reader

67. Tablets

68. iPad

69. Touch interfaces

70. Active styluses

71. Passive styluses

72. Drawing tablets

73. Apps

74. MarginNote – reason to get an iPad

76. LiquidText finding new affordances

77. Touch affordance demo

78. DRM – Elephant in the
room

79. What does download mean?

80. Reading experience with DRM is bad

81. No tool that is designed to
support DRM has kept up
with reading innovation!
Publishers, shame on
you!!!

82. Workflows

83. Workflows are just
as important as the
tools.

84. Amazon pioneered
workflows with the Kindle.

85. Types of workflow
Books to e-reader
Books to app
Annotations from app
Annotations into notes
Notes into memory

86. Readwise.io

90. Strategies before
technologies
Thank you and more on bit.ly/oxfordreadinglab