Reading usability of ereaders and ebooks for information technology students

Abstract

Electronic reading devices and books present a convenient, cheap solution to university students who are required to buy expensive textbooks. However, these devices may not be suitable for reading academic texts, particularly in specialized fields such as Information Technology. This study investigated whether reading IT academic texts are influenced by the presentation medium, namely a Kindle eReader, an iPad, an Android tablet, a PC and paper.Eye gaze is an established means of detecting whether reading difficulty is being experienced. Reading speed on the text portions was not significantly different between devices. However, reading speed on the iPad was significantly faster than on the Kindle, paper and PC for the entire text.No significant difference was found in fixation durations when reading code, but there was a significant difference when reading text only, where, fixations were, on average, significantly longer on the PC than the other devices.When reading code, the PC had significantly fewer fixations and visits but visits were longer when reading text. The tablet, had significantly more fixations and longer visits than the iPad, Kindle and paper and the Kindle had significantly fewer fixations than the paper.Reactions to all the devices were very positive in terms of ease of use, readability and appearance. The appearance was also positively experienced and navigation was found to be easy.