Perception of reading habit
Description
With the development of modern technology, people’s way of living and social behavior is experiencing changing constantly, including the reading habit in daily life. Still a lot people are used to reading newspapers during breakfast, however, people are inclined to get less and less used to read books. Not surprising, the percentage of real books are decreasing while percentage of reading e-books or digital materials are increasing dramatically. In general, people in the US do not seem to be reading a lot of books, with one study citing that 80% of US families did not buy or read a book in 2005. People are finding their information in other ways. Especially the young generation, they find it convenient to read virtual books or e-books.
Enablers
- Spending more time in front computer that entails more chance to read all kinds of e-materail
- Less cost of money compared to real books
- The big memory digital devices to store digital book
- Tendency of knowledge sharing
- Distant education
Inhibitors
- Reading online or on screen still is not as comfortable as printed books.
- Real books still dominate the book market as a majority format of books
Paradigms
- In the university, professors are no longer handing out papers to students, instead, they send digital paper in PDF to students. It is less costly and more efficient.
- Now people have more chance to travel for business or trip. They are obsessed by the problem of bringing heavy books with them, so instead, they store the e-books in computer or other digital devices (eg. it could be cell-phone)
Experts
Timing
Late 90s as the internet and IT expanding quickly all over the world
Web Resources
http://parapublishing.com/sites/para/resources/statistics.cfm/