Co-reading: investigating collaborative group reading

  • Authors:
  • Jennifer Pearson;Tom Owen;Harold Thimbleby;George R. Buchanan

  • Affiliations:
  • Swansea University, Swansea, United Kingdom;Swansea University, Swansea, United Kingdom;Swansea University, Swansea, United Kingdom;City University London, London, United Kingdom

  • Venue:
  • Proceedings of the 12th ACM/IEEE-CS joint conference on Digital Libraries
  • Year:
  • 2012

Quantified Score

Hi-index 0.00

Visualization

Abstract

Collaborative reading, or co-reading as we call it, is ubiquitous; it occurs, for instance, in classrooms, book-clubs, and in less coordinated ways through mass media. While individual digital reading has been the subject of much investigation, research into co-reading is scarce. We report a two-phase field study of group reading to identify an initial set of user requirements. A co-reading interface is then designed that facilitates the coordination of group reading by providing temporary `Point-out' markers to indicate specific locations within documents. A user study compared this new system with collaborative reading on paper, with a positive outcome; the differences in user behavior between paper and the new interface reveal intriguing insights into user needs and the potential benefits of digital media for co-reading.