Survey on eBook Readers: Understanding User Experiences and Preferences
The explosive growth of eBook readers a few years ago was soon followed by a steady decline in public interest. Dedicated reading devices apparently lost popularity quickly in the tech world. So much so that the end of eReaders was regularly predicted. Smartphones and tablets were thought to be the better reading devices, according to some market observers.
However, the market has actually evolved differently, with dedicated reading devices featuring E-Ink displays firmly establishing themselves as their own category—alongside the supposed rival devices.
This may have some practical reasons (long battery life, better readability, eye-friendliness, etc.) but might also be emotionally driven. Exactly how the use of eBook readers is perceived is only hinted at in a few forum posts. It hasn’t been systematically investigated yet.
This gap is now being addressed by an ongoing master’s thesis. Since it can be quite challenging to reach the appropriate target group for studies and surveys, and because I’m personally very curious about the results, this article was created to draw attention to the survey currently being conducted on the subject.
It focuses less on the specific functionality of devices and much more on the assessment of how usage is experienced. The results are expected to be briefly presented here over the course of the year. For this to succeed, it would be great if as many people as possible participated in the survey. You can find more details on the survey page:
