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Abstract
Purpose - This study attempts to investigate reading behavior in the digital environment by analyzing how people's reading behavior has changed over the past ten years.
Design/methodology/approach - Survey and analysis methods are employed.
Findings - With an increasing amount of time spent reading electronic documents, a screen-based reading behavior is emerging. The screen-based reading behavior is characterized by more time spent on browsing and scanning, keyword spotting, one-time reading, non-linear reading, and reading more selectively, while less time is spent on in-depth reading, and concentrated reading. Decreasing sustained attention is also noted. Annotating and highlighting while reading is a common activity in the printed environment. However, this "traditional" pattern has not yet migrated to the digital environment when people read electronic documents.
Originality/value - Implications for the changes in reading behavior are discussed, and directions for future research are suggested.
Keywords Reading, Behaviour, Print media, Electronic media
Paper type Research paper
Introduction
The advent of digital media and the growing collection of digital documents have had a profound impact on reading. It was argued that the development of digital libraries "is participating a general societal trend toward shallower, more fragmented, and less concentrated reading" (Levy, 1997).
Previous studies attempted to explore reading in the digital environment through examining the evolution of reading or observing how people read documents (especially electronic documents) within a specific period of time. The goal of this study is to explore reading in the digital environment from a different perspective. Instead of observing how people read electronic documents, this study attempts to investigate reading behavior in the digital environment by analyzing how people's reading behavior has changed over the past ten years. Understanding changes in reading behavior would help in designing more effective digital libraries and empower users in the digital environment.
Review of related literature
The impact of digital media on reading has increasingly been the object of empirical and theoretical exploration by researchers from a wide range of disciplines, notably psychology, computer science, education, literacy studies, and library and information science. Each discipline has developed its unique research focuses and methodology. It is not the purpose of this study to review all the different approaches and studies. Nevertheless, an examination of the related literature reveals that...