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Angela DiGioia's picture

Technology's affect on Interaction with Texts

I cannot read a book on a kindle or ipad (yet).  I love reading a book as the author originally intended--reading each word at a specific place on the page.  Whether it's a journal article or a book that I'm reading for pleasure, I cannot read--and interact and engage--with the text unless it's on a piece of paper in my hand.  Otherwise, I am distracted by the millions of other inputs that are begging my brain not to focus on the words on the screen.  However, if the purpose of reading is to skim and not truly to be absorbed (unconscious) in the reading, then reading on a computer or a device would be adequate for me.  Perhaps this process is an evolution; I would suspect that I will be reading-- and absorbing-- text from a kindle or an ipad in due time.  I suspect that I will evolve, although slightly behind the early adopters.  However, I believe that, right now, I need to define the purpose of reading because it will affect the format in which i read it and thus, how I engage and interact with the author and text.  Whether I am more able to learn, retain, apply, and assess the information in these two situations is perhaps a hypothesis that I could develop and test in the future.

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