Zoran Velagic
Croatia
zvelagic@ffos.hr
MC Member – WG3, WG4
Position Paper
Research into ergonomics of reading includes understanding of readers’ interactions with both media (or better technology of content delivery) and delivered contents, primarily textual, but also visual and multi-medial. The medium and organization of the contents inside the medium condition understanding of the text and the possibility of interacting with it. My current research tries to answer questions as to how the form of medium, the possibility of presentation of contents that the medium offers, the organisation of contents and the extra connotative elements in the e- or p-book affects the possibility of text-reader interaction. For the moment, it is entirely impossible to correlate the interactions enabled by printed books on one hand and electronic books on the other, for the interactivity of the e-book is crucially dependent on the device. My further research will focus on structural changes, information architectures and organizational principles of the printed and the electronic book. I see my contribution to the project in questioning and analyzing such aspects of reading ergonomics, but also in connecting publishing studies with reading research, particularly regarding development of methodological tools which would correlate publishing practices and readers’ behaviour.