About the project
Reading is no longer limited to paper these days. We can carry a world of information with us and access this information through a wide range of portable digital devices. However, are we able to comprehend this information equally well on all these devices? Does it matter how the text is presented, in which context we read it, and are we able to ignore distractions when reading on these devices?
With digital course literature readily available, often at a lower cost, students are increasingly opting for digital versions of their textbooks. This opens up for the possibility of reading complex text not only in books or on an e-reader, but also on laptops, tablets and even phones. Reading on these types of devices might come with additional challenges such as small text or additional scrolling due to screen-size, superficial reading and multitasking, and distractions caused by other notifications and apps popping up on the screen. Previous research comparing reading on digital devices mainly comes from the area of Ergonomics and Technical Design, with a focus on user experience and preference. These studies often do not include a thorough measure of reading comprehension. In this project, the focus lies on individual differences in reading comprehension when reading from digital devices, and investigating the impact of varying screen-size, text presentation (scrolling vs. paging), multitasking and distractions (e.g. pop-ups / text notifications).