Book of Abstracts - phase 14 - elektroninen.indd - Oulu

Digital Humanities 2008
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to apply to the digital domain (Makri et al. 2007). Humanities
researchers are aware of the available functions as well as
the problems of digital environments, and are concerned
with accuracy, selection methods, and ease of use (Warwick
et al. 2007). They require information about the original item
when materials are digitized and expect high-quality content:
anything that makes a resource diffi cult to understand – a
confusing name, a challenging interface, or data that must be
downloaded – will deter them from using it (Warwick et al.
2006).
It is therefore vital that such insights into the information
behaviour of humanities scholars should be used to inform
future studies of reading. It is also vital that this research is
informed by the insights from other members of the wider
research group, who work on textual studies and interface
and resource design. The paper will therefore end with a short
discussion of future plans for such collaboration.
References
Bolter, J. David. (1991). Writing space: the computer, hypertext,
and the history of writing. Hillsdale, NJ: L. Erlbaum Associates.
Blandford, A., Rimmer, J., & Warwick, C. (2006). Experiences
of the library in the digital age. Paper presented at 3rd
International Conference on Cultural Covergence and Digital
Technology, Athens, Greece.
Landow, G. P. (1992). Hypertext: the convergence of
contemporary critical theory and technology. Baltimore, MD:
Johns Hopkins University Press, 1992.
Makri, S., Blandford, A., Buchanan, G., Gow, J., Rimmer, J., &
Warwick, C. (2007). A library or just another information
resource? A case study of users’ mental models of traditional
and digital libraries. Journal of the American Society of
Information Science and Technology, 58(3), 433-445.
Nunberg, G (ed.) (1996) The Future of the Book. Berkeley,
University of California Press.
Sutherland, K. (Ed) (1997) Electronic Text: Investigations in
Method and Theory. Oxford, Clarendon Press
Warwick, C., Terras, M., Huntington, P., & Pappa, N. (2007) “If
you build it will they come?” The LAIRAH study: Quantifying
the use of online resources in the Arts and Humanities
through statistical analysis of user log data. Literary and
Linguistic Computing, forthcoming
Paper 3: A Book is not a Display: A
Theoretical Evolution of the E-Book
Reader
Kirsten C. Uszkalo and Stan Ruecker
In our part of this panel session, we will discuss the design
of the physical electronic book—the reading device—from
a user perspective. There has been a tendency on the part
of producers of information to disassociate the information
from its media. This makes sense in a digital age: there are
ineffi ciencies in production that can be made more effi cient by
remediation. Additionally, there is little intrinsic justifi cation for
preferring one medium over another, unless one wishes to take
into account the situated context of use. Designers, however,
insofar as they are distinct from producers of information,
have had a longstanding tendency to become absorbed in the
situated context of use.
When the conventions of HTML were determined in such
a way that they discounted formatting, and for very good
reasons of cross-platform compatibility, designers began the
uphill battle of changing the conventions, because they felt
that formatting, and not just content, was important. For
example, Travis Albers says of his recent project Bookglutton.
com: “BookGlutton is working to facilitate adoption of on-line
reading. Book design is an important aspect of the reader, and
it incorporates design elements, like dynamic dropcaps.”
The issue at stake with existing electronic book readers is their
function as an interface, which can, according to Gui Bonsiepe,
create the “possibilities for effective action or obstruct them”
(62). Interface issues like eye strain, contrast, and resolution are
being addressed through the use of E-Ink’s electronic paper in
Sony’s 2007 / 2007 Sony E Book, Bookeen, iRex Technologies,
and Amazon’s Kindle (2008) electronic book readers. Samsung
and LG Philips are addressing object size of ebook readers
with 14 inch lightweight epaper formats; and Polymer Vision’s
Readius, “a mobile device” is a “fl exible 5-inch e-paper display
that unfurls like a scroll.” However, these formats lack the
intuitive, familiar feeling of the book. Acknowledging that
ebook proprietary software issues, copyright, and cost might
keep people from investing in a reading device in order to be
able to read a book, and noting the continued superiority of
the paper book in both form and function over the electronic
book reader, we will look to the range of design issues which
continue to plague the potential viable sales for the electronic
book reader.
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