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Zhaolu Song

UX Studio Practices | Week 8 - UX of Reading I

Team: Sylvester Liu/ Alex Newson/ Sebastian Ervi/ Zhaolu Song

Brief: Design an experience that reveals what happens when we read.

Research Methods: Literature Review & Prototyping

Time: 11.12.2020 -17.12.2020



Literature Review

Firstly, we did research about reading separately. Through massive skimming, I was interested in individual reading cognition and reading mechanism.


In the article Cognition and Reading Cognitive Levels as Embodied in Test Questions, Alderson and Lukmani (1989) found that both people in different mother tongues and people who have different levels in reading, skills, word knowledge have different interpretations.


Peter et al., (2014) confirmed that skipping rates and gaze duration impact word-recognition processes in the article Individual differences in reading.


Willingham (2017) argued that emotional motivation and a rich understanding of knowledge about the world impact readers’ understanding in The Reading Mind.


Besides, the encoding process in people’s brains could differ largely. In the article What Happens When We Read, Musgrove (2005) tested his students and found they have different forms of interpretations in their heads.



What is Reading


To figure out the nature of reading, we discussed what is reading and the forms of reading firstly. From what we read, we concluded that reading is readers bring and get meaning from the writer through words, text, emoji, poster, diagram, etc.



The Nature of Reading


Our team made a diagram to help us to understand the process of reading better and find some design opportunities.


The nature of reading. Diagram by Team.


From what I read, I figured that the personal interpretation could be in different forms, for example, visual image, meaning, concept, etc., and came up with an initial idea about the reading mechanism.My idea about the reading mechanism


My idea about the reading mechanism. Sketch by me.



Concept: Subjective Interpretation


After discussions, we decided to focus on personal interpretation and discussed two different influencing factors, one is the personal experience and the other one is the forms of reading information.


“…the reading experience is highly variable, both within and between subjects” (Moore, A. and Schwitzgebel, E., 2018.)

“…literary experience involves a reader ’s personal engagement with characters’ thoughts, feelings, experiences, and conflicts, with the thrill of the rise and fall of language, with the escape into another reality…” (Laurence, 2005.)


Ideation


Based on subjective interpretation, our team came up with some ideas. My idea is that how cultural differences and the different forms of reading the information will influence interpretations.

My idea about reading interpretation. Sketch by me.


“The UX of reading” book idea. Design by Sebastian.


Crazy 8s ideas. Sketch by Team.


Considering the possibility to implement and effect, our team decided to use the idea that combining texts with objects and arrange them in different places to form an influential reading setting.


Our team will make prototypes and test them in the next step.



To Be Continued...



References


  1. Charles, A.; Yasmeen, L. (1989) ‘Cognition and Reading: Cognitive Levels as Embodied in Test Questions’, Reading in a Foreign Language, 5(2), pp. 253-270.

  2. Gordon, P. (2019) ‘Individual differences in reading: Separable effects of reading experience and processing skill’ Memory & Cognition 48(1) pp. 553-565. doi: https://doi.org/10.3758/s13421-019-00989-3

  3. Laurence, M. (2005) ‘What Happens When We Read: Picturing a Reader’s Responsibilities’, The Journal of the Assembly for Expanded Perspectives on Learning, 11(7), pp.52-63.

  4. Moore, A. and Schwitzgebel, E. (2018) ‘The experience of reading’, Consciousness and Cognition, 62, pp.57-68.

  5. Qiufen, Y. (2014) ‘Understanding the Impact of Culture on Interpretation: A Relevance Theoretic Perspective’, Intercultural Communication Studies XXIII: 3, pp. 83-102.

  6. Willingham, D. (2017) ‘Reading Comprehension’ The Reading Mind: A Cognitive Approach to Understanding How the Mind Reads. San Francisco: Jossey-Base pp. 105-134.

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