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Fledchen · 01-16-2009, 05:08 PM

I read an article about a similar study done by the same organization a couple of years ago. I was not impressed, because their criteria for what constitutes "reading" seemed ridiculously limited to me. It was limited to novels, short stories, plays, and poetry. It didn't include nonfiction or periodicals. There is also no information about how their data was collected. Telephone surveys disproportionately pull in results from high-income, high-education households, and do not include households that do not have landline telephone service. How did they survey people who do not speak English well enough to complete the survey? Did they use a relay service to talk to deaf or hard of hearing people? Over a million Americans are legally blind--did they count braille and audio books the same as print books?

Is choosing to read a newspaper instead of a novel a symptom of cultural decline? How about going to a professional production of a play rather than reading it? I hardly think so.

I'm legally blind, and I also have a pervasive developmental disability. Despite this, I am a media sponge. Last year, I would estimate that I spent an average of 2 hours a week watching television or other video material, and most of the rest of my free time listening to or reading books or periodicals.

* Are you reading more than you did in 2002?
In 2002, I was still adjusting to my declining visual ability and working out alternative means of accessing books. Now that more options have become available to me, and I am increasingly comfortable using them, I read more.
* Do you read more because of e-books?
As a multiply-disabled person, electronic access to books has been wonderful. I started beta-testing the downloadable audio book service from NLS (http://loc.gov/nls) in October 2006 and my book-reading rate jumped dramatically. Now that I have a portable device that lets me read any ebook as a large print book, I anticipate a drop in audio-reading and an increase in visual reading. With ebooks, I don't have the accessibility problems or transportation (to bookstore or library) problems I've had with physical format books.
* Do you read more because of MobileRead.com?
I've been a member for about a month, so it's hard to say.

01-16-2009, 05:08 PM	#11
Fledchen Guru Posts: 663 Karma: 84658 Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: Minnesota, USA Device: PB360+, Sony950, VR Stream, iPod Touch, iPad	I read an article about a similar study done by the same organization a couple of years ago. I was not impressed, because their criteria for what constitutes "reading" seemed ridiculously limited to me. It was limited to novels, short stories, plays, and poetry. It didn't include nonfiction or periodicals. There is also no information about how their data was collected. Telephone surveys disproportionately pull in results from high-income, high-education households, and do not include households that do not have landline telephone service. How did they survey people who do not speak English well enough to complete the survey? Did they use a relay service to talk to deaf or hard of hearing people? Over a million Americans are legally blind--did they count braille and audio books the same as print books? Is choosing to read a newspaper instead of a novel a symptom of cultural decline? How about going to a professional production of a play rather than reading it? I hardly think so. I'm legally blind, and I also have a pervasive developmental disability. Despite this, I am a media sponge. Last year, I would estimate that I spent an average of 2 hours a week watching television or other video material, and most of the rest of my free time listening to or reading books or periodicals. * Are you reading more than you did in 2002? In 2002, I was still adjusting to my declining visual ability and working out alternative means of accessing books. Now that more options have become available to me, and I am increasingly comfortable using them, I read more. * Do you read more because of e-books? As a multiply-disabled person, electronic access to books has been wonderful. I started beta-testing the downloadable audio book service from NLS (http://loc.gov/nls) in October 2006 and my book-reading rate jumped dramatically. Now that I have a portable device that lets me read any ebook as a large print book, I anticipate a drop in audio-reading and an increase in visual reading. With ebooks, I don't have the accessibility problems or transportation (to bookstore or library) problems I've had with physical format books. * Do you read more because of MobileRead.com? I've been a member for about a month, so it's hard to say.