Comparing iPad and Kindle reading speeds

Jakob Nielsen, who normally writes and teaches about web page design, did a small group study of iPad and Kindle reading speeds. It might be an important indicator for anyone interested in the purchase of an e-reader or educators working in classrooms or libraries who have a professional interest in the reading performance. The article can be found online at:
http://www.useit.com/alertbox/ipad-kindle-reading.html

While reading text on iPad and Kindle tablets is faster than in the past, they're still slower than reading printed text. PC screens were much slower for reading long-form text. Like a good friend and former director of media services for a Florida school district usually says, I suspect we'd both like to see a larger, more comprehensive study, but at least it may have be a hint that we should be careful when we use desktop computers or laptops to measure reading speed during computerized instruction and testing.

As one who used to read Washington Post articles and other news on my old Palm Pilot, I still think I'll wait for a tablet-sized device with a useable plug-in keyboard (like my old Palm) and the Android operating system. The next two or three years may really be interesting as computer form factors continue to evolve.

In the meantime, Nielsen's article on iPad and Kindle useability may help if you're thinking about moving to an e-book reader.


UPDATE 1: Our own local feedback on tablet computing has been all over the map for the past several days. One of our friends who works with technology and computer networking received an iPad for her birthday last week and thinks it's a wonderful tool. Another friend who deals with research, is very analytical and like my own look at e-readers, is still evaluating their potential use. A third friend and former reporter/editor is seriously looking at the lower priced Kindle ($189) with the software upgrades and improved type, but not with the improved screen of the more expensive DX model (yet). Her goal for a Kindle is mostly for convenience and saving trips to the library or used book store. All are what I'd call "serious readers."

Whatever the future holds for tablets, I don't want to be limited by Amazon's e-book inventory, Apple's online store or any set of vendors. I want to replenish the contents of a tablet from an infinite variety of sources, any video, audio and text in any format that will download and play on a conventional computer. I do most of my current daily reading online and more listening to books on tape and podcasts when Katy and I are on trips, unless she has one of the several books from her "book bag" already in her lap while I'm driving and I'm listening to NPR via Sirius Radio or an MP3 podcast through a single ear-bud.

Maybe I just forgot if I ever heard it before, but I do not remember seeing earlier attempts to quantify the difference in reading speed between printed pages, e-readers/tablets and at the slow end, desktop computers. It's more likely academic research was being done but without any notice by the popular media. The reading speed issue caught my attention because I've always believed that someday, it would be more economical for schools to move beyond textbooks and laptops by purchasing e-readers or enhanced tablets.

The enhanced tablets that students could carry between home and school would contain individualized student lessons as well as expanded resources including text, audio and video materials. These tablets would allow student progress to be monitored, software and student work backed up - even new lessons automatically reloaded by school wireless networks drawing from additional online servers (easily and inexpensively updated from regional or state-level networks). Think of a Florida Online School expanded statewide or even regionally or nationally with broad university participation and public funding for course development. Students could advance at their own pace and on their own vocational path as they grew older. Teachers could actually serve as mentors and advisers more than lecturers.

I may never live to see universal access to educational technology for every student, IF that's what it would eventually be, but I can also safely predict that the future of education will probably NOT take the actual form that technologists or anyone else predicted even 15 years ago. Never the less, age has not dimmed the goal that one day educators can have the tools at their fingertips to evaluate a child's education by what he or she has actually learned - their "entire body of work" - and not by the length of time they remain in school or their performance on a few superficial tests.

Thanks to all who commented via email or in conversations for stimulating a few more ideas into the discussion topic this week. I really appreciate the exchange.

UPDATE 2: PCWorld.com has picked up the story and added some of the questions that might be answered by a more extensive comparison of e-readers, tablets, laptops and desktop PCs. The story has also been picked up by Lifehacker.com and the British e-zine, The Register.

UPDATE 3  The ars technica website reports as of July 19, 2010, "Kindle books are now outselling Amazon's hardcover books in the US." Lowering the price of the smaller Kindle to only $189 has tripled the Kindle's sales in the past month. 

PC Questions and Answers: Learning from each other

The first trial "PC Questions and Answers," workshop, quickly nicknamed "The Doctor is IN," provided a free walk-in computer Q&A clinic Wednesday afternoon, March 3rd. I was joined by the very knowledgeable P.J. Williams, a librarian who deals with technology at the Fort Smith Public Library. All the questions were throughly aired. The spontaneous and unrehearsed session was considered a success with seven participants attending. Some of the major discussion topics included:

I don't have a computer. Should I purchase a laptop or desktop?
That question has filled entire chapters in several books! Google lists 22,000,000 articles, blogs and entries for the search term "laptop or desktop."One of the most comprehensive easy-to-read guides can be reached at Consumer Reports online "Computer Guide". A subscription is required to get to specific ratings (well worth the annual subscription fee) or you can visit your local Fort Smith Public Library and use their subscription. Bottom line: it depends on what you want to do with your computer. Let Consumer Reports help you work through that decision.

What brand of computer is more reliable?
Reliability ratings based on input from thousands of consumers just like you are included in the Consumer Reports ratings mentioned in the above question. Almost every computer magazine writes hardware and software reviews. In addition to Consumer Reports, I use CNET, PC Magazine, PC World Online among many others. Keep in mind that quality and reliability can vary between different models of the same brand and even individual machines. Make sure your machine comes with a strong warranty backed by a reliable company. I'll save the question you're just about to ask concerning extended warranties for another Q&A session. 

How do I make sure personal data files are removed from the hard drive prior to recycling the old computer?
I thought a former governor's staff used the best solution when they allegedly smashed the hard drives taken from their computers in the Arkansas Governor's office and buried them in a land fill. That certainly tends to derail any future Freedom of Information Act requests.

Computer technicians usually have software that can erase and write over hard drives a number of times making it very difficult for crooks to recover information about your bank accounts and investments. You'd be surprised at what computer techs have tripped over (and some have shared with others) while they were working on someone's personal computer. It's OK to be a little paranoid about where your financial, medical and other personal data files end up.

Jason Fitzpatrick, weekend editor for Lifehacker, posted a comprehensive article, "Properly Erase Your Physical Media," in February 2009 which goes into more detail than you may want to know about erasing a hard drive and includes links to software programs that offer ways to properly erase your hard drive, and yet leave it so that it can be reformatted and reused. If you're aware that your data can be stolen from a computer or hard drive you recycle or give to a charity, you're smarter than 40 percent of the people who sell hard drives on eBay.

All in all, the small size of the group meant that the discussions were lively, informal and people could ask several follow-up questions. There is still one question about a glitch in Internet Explorer that we're still working on. I think I've found a possible answer to test on the errant machine. I'll post an update later if it works. Not a perfect score, but nobody knows everything. I'm sure there will be more we can learn from your questions.

The next PC Questions and Answers is scheduled for April 7, 2010 at 1:30 P.M. in the Fort Smith Library Computer Lab.

A version of this entry is also posted on the Fort Smith Seniors Blog