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Running head: SOCIAL READING

Social Reading and Libraries

LIS 768: Participatory Services and Emerging Technologies Allison Mennella April 29, 2011

Social Reading, Page 1 Introduction The amount of time people spend reading and writing has almost tripled since 1980. Currently, ordinary citizens are composing and consuming over 1.5 million blog posts, and collectively writing 12 billion quips in the form of text messages on their phones per day (Kelly, 2010). Because we have evolved into a culture that shares everything from our current thoughts and feelings, to our specific location, reading and writing have become collaborative, communal activities, increasing peoples engagement with information and conveying it across several different mediums both on and offline. Social reading is a natural extension of the type of reading we have been doing since the early days of campfire stories, however, these previously casual conversations about books are now being moved to the online space where they have the infinite possibility to blossom into something richer (Esposito, 2010). As a society, we have transitioned from reading mainly on paper, to reading on screens. As this transition intensifies, most of us will begin to read more in terms of quantity, but in shorter intervals, and with less dedication (Anderson, & Rainie, 2010, p. 16). Social reading, however, combats this problem by making content meaningful, thus increasing peoples engagement with text and strengthening the readers ability to convey and share information as a whole (Anderson, & Rainie, 2010, p. 18). This essay seeks to define, describe, demonstrate, discuss and determine the future of social reading. The essay will begin by offering explanations and examples of social reading, it will move on to discuss the various forms of social reading (traditional book clubs, online book clubs, social media platforms for books, and eBook reading) before concluding with personal observations made during my journey exploring social reading in its different facets. The last section of the essay will discuss the role libraries should play as facilitators of this phenomenon

Social Reading, Page 2 before offering predications, suggestions and final thoughts on the current and future trends of social reading. What will hopefully manifest in this easy is the observation that social reading is not a new concept, but one that has been redesigned by the advantages and availability of Web 2.0 tools and concepts. Part 1: Defining Social Reading Social reading, as a concept, is actually quite simple: people want to share what they have read with other people and receive feedback about their thoughts and ideas. Technology is the great enabler for social reading, and the natural place for this activity to cultivate. We have become a society that values sharing our collected thoughts and observations (Johns, 2010) We post status updates on Facebook, share professional articles on Twitter, check-in to locations on Foursquare and blog about our daily lives, professions, passions and more on a multitude of blogging platforms. We value feedback and confirmation; even criticisms are welcome in our increasingly social-sharing society. Reading socially is only one aspect of our desire to connect with people over a common topic. If the point of books is to combat loneliness (Johnson, 2010), and if reading a book should not be a passive exercise, but rather a raucous conversation: (Shores, 2011), then the idea of social reading, in all its various forms should be an encouraged activity in our daily lives. Social reading has several key characteristics. First, social reading is an extremely public activity. Gone are the days of selfish, private reading: reading alone in the bathtub, alone under the covers, alone on the couch, alone in the park, etc. Social reading exists because of the interactions between two or more persons and the text, whether in-person or digitally. Second, social reading extends the readers experience. It takes the reader out of the book and

Social Reading, Page 3 encourages the reader to make connections, draw conclusions, summarize thoughts, and ask questions in conversation with others. Social reading helps a book become memorable; it can be a conversation starter between two new friends, or a way to develop online skills like reviewing, recommending, communicating via social media platforms, and exploring what it means to be part of a community of shared interests (both on and off line). In that sense, it is important to point out that user-added content is also a crucial aspect of social reading. Readers must be willing to express their points of view and leave a lasting impression on the work whether it is by posting comments on a review board, or leaving notes in the margins of a loved book, then loaning that book to a friend to read. Social reading also leads to shared writing and shared thoughts which fosters better idea formation and explanation, than solitary, deep-focus reading (Johnson, et. al, 2011, p. 8). Finally, social reading [allows] journeys through worlds real and imagined, undertaken not alone, but in the company with other readers (Johnson, et. al, 2011, p. 8). In short, social reading is a way to connect with others and explore thoughts and ideas that might have gone unnoticed in a solitary reading of the text. Part 2: Describing Social Reading in its various forms It is now time to examine the various forms of social reading. The first is the traditional book club. A traditional book club consists of a group of readers who meet in person, typically once per month, to discuss a specific book in-depth (Book-Clubs-Resource.com, 2007). The demographics of book club members do vary, but typically club members tend to be almost exclusively females and a majority of book club goers are either over sixty-five years old and retired, or mid thirties and forties, and stay-at-home-moms (AuYeung, Dalton, & Gornall, 2007, p. 1-2). Although the concept of the traditional book club has been around since the beginning

Social Reading, Page 4 of mass literature production, book clubs have enjoyed renewed popularity as of late, due in part to influences from popular media like Oprahs Book Club and the Harry Potter Series (Scharber, 2009, p.433). While the stereotype of a hushed, proper book club filled with the elite elders of society and high scholars may still resonate, the book club of the 21st century is a far cry from that quiet, isolated group of the past (DAndrea, 11). There are numerous reasons why people join traditional book clubs. Perhaps the main motivation is for the social interaction between group members over a common interest (AuYeung, Dalton, & Gornall, 2007, p. 3). People are constantly looking for ways to connect with one another, and the traditional book club setting offers a chance to be part of a real community of people who share similar hobbies (Hoffert, 2006, p. 37). This type of communal reading has many benefits. For example, Reading with a group can feed your passion for a book, or help you understand it better. Social reading may even persuade you that you liked something you thought you didnt (Rich, 2010). Also, many people choose to participate in this type of communal reading to stretch their ability to read certain books that would be challenging to approach alone. Finally, social reading in a traditional book club has a number of other advantages such as the ability to meet new and interesting people, the opportunity to read things outside of ones typical repertoire of works, and to receive recommendations and reviews from other avid readers (Lloyd, 2010) The next form of social reading is the online book club. An online book club offers several advantages over the traditional book club model. One advantage is the variety of book clubs available online, many dedicated to a specialized interest, genre, author or series. Also, online book clubs tend to be more convenient as participation can take place at any time of day (Book-Clubs-Resource.com, 2007). Online book club participants tend to be younger and more

Social Reading, Page 5 varied in demographic than traditional book club attendees. The description of an online book club participant can often be described as: adult reader, primarily female, but also including men, twenty to forty years old, Internet savvy, with at minimum, a medium reading level (AuYeung, Dalton, & Gornall, 2007, p. 7). People join online book clubs because they are often a motivating and convenient environment to encourage voluntary book reading (Scharber, 2009, p.433). Joining an online book club can be a great way to ease people into the book discussion format as there is less pressure to participate and participants have the option to remain anonymous until they are comfortable with joining in the discussion. The 24/7 environment is also more convenient for people who have busy schedules and cannot always make it to a scheduled meeting, or for those who live too far to travel to the meeting destination. Online book clubs are also great for those who want to have in-depth analysis and discussion about a particular book, genre, author, topic, etc because the online format gives every member ample time to express their points of view without running into the time constraints of a more traditional book club setting (AuYeung, Dalton, & Gornall, 2007, p. 3). Of course, online book clubs are not without flaw. One major con of online book clubs is the idea of membership. Membership in online book clubs can often be unpredictable and less interactive. In fact, a majority of readers prefer to read others messages and get reading suggestions without commenting themselvesthe majority of online book club members might be looking for readers advisory rather than participatory activities (AuYeung, Dalton, & Gornall, 2007, p. 4). This is reflective of an observation made by 21st Century Learning in an article titled The Art of Building Virtual Communities, that discusses the different categories of online participants: linking, lurking, learning, and leading. As evident from the quote above,

Social Reading, Page 6 many participants in online book clubs tend to be linkers or lurkers. Linkers are often in a testing mode and might just browse the club, reading others comments, and gathering recommendation for books to read on their own before they decide that they want to participate in the discussion. Others are lurkers who pay attention to the activity of the group and participate occasionally, but tend to hold back on producing greater involvement because they either do not know how, or they do not feel that their contributions are worthy (21st Century Learning, 2007). While membership commitment may be an issue for the online book club reader who is looking for stability, many people are perfectly content with the revolving door atmosphere of the online book club, and value the ability to come and go as they please. A healthy mixture of the traditional and online book club has manifested itself through social media platforms designed for cataloging, recording, discussing, recommending, reviewing and searching books that anyone from anywhere is currently reading, has read, or wants to read. While some readers still get their book recommendations from newspaper reviews or Oprahs Book Club, increasingly book lovers are turning to their friends and social media contacts for recommendations (Hartley, 2010). Think along the lines of Facebook for readers, and one can imagine the types of social networks being discussed in this section. Social media has taken reading and sharing literature to the masses, catalyzing conversations and perspectives from eager readers who want to share their thoughts to a broader world (DAndrea, 2010, p.11). Users can post updates, comment on others reviews, show appreciation or dissatisfaction for a book through a ratings system or build conversations inside the book itself on these social media sites designed specifically for books (Johns, 2010). While there are many different online networks for avid book readers, two in particular have gained tremendous popularity with social media users: GoodReads and LibraryThing.

Social Reading, Page 7 GoodReads, with its tagline A website for book lovers boasts more than 4,500,000 members who have added more than 120, 000,000 books to their virtual shelves. GoodReads members recommend books, compare what they are reading, keep track of what they have read and would like to read, form book clubs and much more(GoodReads.com, 2011) via the social media platform. GoodReads knows that its services work best when users find their real-life friends, colleagues, family members or acquaintances on the site because people are more likely to get excited about a book that their friend has read and can personally recommend over a strangers recommendation (Starr, 2008, p. 43). LibraryThing focuses more on collective cataloging from its 1,300,000 members who have listed, tagged or recommended more than 10 million worksa collection that, were it not virtual, would be the third largest private library in the United States behind Harvard and Yale (Schubert, 2007, 50). LibraryThing offers three very strong features for book lovers: an interactive and highly maintained cataloging tool, a social element, where users can interact with one another to discuss books, and a book recommendation tool that is based on the collective intelligence of member and institution collections. (Starr, 2007, p. 26). There is a slight fee associated with LibraryThing if you wish to catalog more than 200 books. The fee is nominal at $10 per year, or $25 for a lifetime of membership. One might ask why they should pay to catalog their books when they could do it for free elsewhere, but for readers with an eclectic, scholastic or antique collection, LibraryThing can connect to over 80 libraries around the world including the Library of Congress and university libraries to make sure that the rarest books can be properly cataloged and tagged (Schubert, 2007, p. 50). Other social aspects of LibraryThing include the ability to join online discussions about a book, swap a book from third-party swap sites, or simply browse

Social Reading, Page 8 others collections whose tastes are similar for recommendations and conversation fodder (Starr, 2007, p. 27-28) The latest form of social reading is experiencing unprecedented attention from readers and publishers alike and deserves extensive attention. As time progresses, readers have turned their attention from the physical, paper-based text, to the screen. Screens encourage more utilitarian thinking as compared to the contemplative minds physical books encourage. When users read text on a screen, they have access to so much more at their fingertips. If an unfamiliar word or phrase pops up, the reader is provoked to do something, rather than contemplate it. Whether its looking the word up in the online dictionary, polling their friends for thoughts and opinions about a particular chapter, or creating a bookmark to return to the page for more discussion, readers are interacting with text in ways that were previously unimagined. This progression towards screen reading has lead to the introduction of the eBook and eReader which are beginning to challenge the very definition of what constitutes as reading. For example, eBooks are visual, audio, interactive, extremely social, and a relatively new phenomenon that will no doubt begin to see magnificent and significant changes and additions to newer additions. EBooks have the ability to extend the readers experience into the larger world, connect readers with one another, and enable deeper, more collaborative explorations and interpretations of the text (Johnson, et. al, 2011, p. 8). However, it is important to note that eBooks, while wonderful inventions, are only as social as the eReader device they are read from. In order for an eReader to fully maximize the potential of an eBook and propel the notion of social reading, the eReader itself must be fully social. A great example of an eReader manufacturer that has accounted for the more social aspects of eBook reading is the Amazon Kindle. The Kindle has recently introduced several new features that encourage readers to share

Social Reading, Page 9 their thoughts with other Kindle users around the globe. The most popular and most controversial feature is called popular highlights. Popular highlights appear as dotted lines under phrases in books that multiple Kindle readers have highlighted (Johnson, 2010). Popular highlights appear when Kindle users have turned on their Public Notes feature. This feature lets Kindle users choose to make their book notes and highlights available for other to see. Now, any Kindle user can choose to share their thoughts on book passages and ideas with friends, family members, colleagues, and the great Kindle community of people who love to read. This is a new way for readers to share their enthusiasm and knowledge about books and get more from the books they read. (Dilworth, 2011). Another newly added social feature is called Before you Go. This application prompts users to not only rate a finished eBook on a 5-star scale, but to share their thoughts on the book with their social networks (Facebook and Twitter). Recommendations for future eBook reads are also provided at this stage (Dredge, 2011). Finally, the Kindle has also introduced a lending function that allows readers to share the book with a friend after completing it (Cain Miller, 2011). Friends that borrow the book will be able to see the previous readers notes, comments and ratings, making the read a more personal, social experience. Of course, not everyone is touting praises for the Kindles new social updates. Many argue that features like public notes take the privacy out of reading, because not only is the ebook not yours to be with alone, it is shared at Amazon which shares with you what it knows about you reading and the readings of others. And lets you know that you are what you underline, which is only a number in a mass of popular views (Codrescu, 2011). Others worry that popular highlights will perpetuate compulsive skimming, linking and multitasking that will undermine the deep, immersive focus that has defined book culture for centuries (Johnson,

Social Reading, Page 10 2010). Finally, some accuse eBooks and eReaders of stripping the reader of a nostalgic and valuable experience that occurs with physical books, claiming books that weve known and handled often have a personal, physical connection to the past that e-books wont be able to capture (Ng, 2010), noting that connections are made between reader and book based on components like the cover, spine, colors, paper type and fonts. Because the Kindle is so much less personalized, in their opinion, some worry that the purpose of books and the reading experience itself will be lost (Harland, et. al., 59). No matter which side of the argument a reader falls on, the popularity of the Kindle, and other eReader devices like the Barnes and Noble Nook, the Sony eReader, and the Kobo are certainly worth noting. With consistent additions and improvements being made to the eReading experience, libraries are and should continue to monitor the ways in which eReading and its social capabilities will affect current and future aspects of the patron-book relationship fostered through the library. Part 3: Demonstrating social reading As part of the research process, I wanted to take the opportunity to try the various forms of social reading: traditional book clubs, online book clubs, social media sites, and E-books. In exploring these platforms, I had two main goals: determine which form of social reading was most social, and determine which format gave me more out of the reading experience, so that I may offer suggestions for implementation of social reading outlets in the library. For the traditional book club experience, I did a quick search online for book clubs in Naperville, IL and found that the local Andersons Bookshop held monthly book club meetings. I called to register and began reading Aprils book, The Book Thief by Markus Zusak. The

Social Reading, Page 11 reading process itself was very lonely. I read the book, took notes in my spiral, and waited patiently for the date of the meeting to arrive. While I was reading the novel, there were many instances when I wanted to reach out to someone to see what they thought of a particular passage, or plot twist, but instead, I felt isolated. The actual meeting, however, was an incredibly, almost overwhelmingly social experience. There were about 15 people in attendance and a leader who was in charge of facilitating the discussion. When I arrived at Andersons, I was greeted by friendly staff, cookies and punch. I must have looked new, so many of the regulars introduced themselves to me and made polite conversation. The meeting went about an hour and a half and as the conversations about the book progressed, I realized that I was learning a great deal about the people in the room from their comments. On the way out, I received many verbal invitations asking me to come back next month, and even got the phone number of a girl who lives in my same subdivision. After friending me on Facebook, the girl and I have planned to meet up for coffee sometime in the summer for more literary conversation. Overall, while the actual reading process was very isolated, the physical meeting experience was not only social, but incredibly personal and fun. I met new people, discussed a great book and found a new, local shop in Naperville that I plan on returning to. The online book club provided an almost completely opposite experience. For one thing, it took me almost two weeks to find a book club to join online. A Google search was not helpful, as it returned only old, outdated websites with facilitator contact information that was invalid. It was only after I signed up for a GoodReads account that I realized I could join a book club through that community. I decided to choose something fun and around a genre that I do not typically read, so I joined a Chic Lit book club that boasted 556 members. Once I was a registered member, the rest was very easy, and incredibly convenient. The book was broken

Social Reading, Page 12 down into sections of five chapters. After reading each set of five, I would click on a link and be taken to the discussion question for that section. The questions were lighthearted, easy to respond to and varied. I especially liked that every time someone new answered the question, I received an e-mail alerting me of the updates so that I could follow along with the conversation and add my own comments or replies to the thread. Another great feature of the online book club was the absence of deadlines. In the traditional book club, there are specific meeting dates, times and places that one might not always be able to attend. Online, I just signed on when it was convenient (sometimes I even answered the questions via my iPhone) and jumped into the conversation at anytime. However, while the reading process was very social, there was little personal connection made between myself and the other members of the group. I did not learn anything about the women and men in the Chic Lit Group aside from their thoughts and feelings on the book of the month. I do not know where they live, what else they like to read, what their other interests are, etc. Thus, whereas the traditional book club lacked convenience and flexibility, the online book club lacked the ability to create intimate connections beyond the screen. Social media platforms try to provide a healthy balance between the traditional and online book club in terms of offering both flexibility and a 24/7 environment while also seeking to provide users with personal connections between book lovers. GoodReads was not the only social media site I explored, although it was by far my favorite. I also looked at LibraryThing, Copia and Shelfari. While each site boasts a number of advantages, I found that the reason I did not like these three sites as much as GoodReads is because I did not find a single person in my Gmail, Facebook or Twitter contacts that used those social media platforms. These platforms are much more fun when you can see what people you actually know are reading versus a bunch of

Social Reading, Page 13 strangers. LibraryThing definitely has a great cataloging system, Copia has an excellent e-book desktop application and Shelfari has great book extras, but they all lacked the two way communication and social action that GoodReads gave me. For example, I mostly just looked, or lurked on LibraryThing, Copia and Shelfari at what other people were reading or watching, but on GoodReads, I was able to interact with my friends and fellow classmates when they posted their latest reads. My favorite experience on GoodReads happened when my cousin, who I seldom keep in contact with, found me on GoodReads and commented on several books I had marked as to-read. This comment launched us into a conversation about what type of books we liked to read, and where we go to find new recommendations. Our online communication continued in the real world when I saw him for Easter and we were able to discuss the Hunger Games series. The fact that people I know in the real world actually use GoodReads will keep me interested in the site because I feel more connected to it than the other sites where I knew no one. Lastly, I wanted to comment on my experience with e-book reading. I decided to read the book Born Digital on a Kindle I borrowed from my brother. I tried to recruit other people to read along with me via my blog, but I was unable to drum up much interest. I created the hashtag #borndig to attach to my shared comments and went to work reading each chapter and tweeting various passages I found interesting. I would highlight a passage in the chapter and then ask a question about it in order to spark discussion. I actually had several people respond to my questions and was able to create a healthy dialogue around the book via Twitter. I also found the controversial Popular Highlights feature to be quite interesting, as I enjoyed seeing what other people found relevant or interesting. I think this feature would be even more useful if you could see notes that other people left regarding the highlight (without having to follow them).

Social Reading, Page 14 I think this type of eBook reading would be excellent to implement in a classroom setting, as it would encourage discussion and dialogue outside of the classroom. It would also be a great way for authors to communicate with their readers if they chose a hashtag for their book and facilitated discussion of their work via social sharing sites by highlighting passages and tweeting/posting questions and comments for readers to respond to. Also, authors would be smart to highlight passages they find relevant and make their notes public for a more personal reader/author experience. To conclude this section, my ideal social reading experience would encompass all four of the above mentioned forums. I would create a book club that met in person once a month. I would use GoodReads as an online portal for the book club to facilitate structured dialogue about the book as the readers progressed through the story. I would encourage the book club members to create and maintain profiles on GoodReads so that members of the group can get to know one another and receive recommendations, reviews and ratings from the fellow members. Also, I would encourage members to read the book via the Kindle or eReader, highlighting passages along the way and making their notes public so other members of the group could read the instant, thoughts of other readers. I would also pick a hashtag for the book so that members can tweet relevant passages, discussion points, thoughts, or questions in real-time. The physical book club meeting would focus more on overall impressions of the book and discuss questions that members brought up through the month that may have gone unanswered. Mixing these four mediums would absolutely create the ultimate social reading experience. Part 4: Discussing Libraries and Social Reading

Social Reading, Page 15 Libraries are in a unique position as they have the ability to both encourage and stifle social reading depending on their openness to the concept. In order to avoid the later scenario, libraries must take a greater look at what makes social reading a successful and necessary component of the reading experience. One of the biggest factors for successful implementation of social reading in the library is the participation of librarians and the willingness to adopt, work with, and, in some cases, develop Web 2.0 tools to assist in facilitation of social reading scenarios. There are essentially three steps that librarians can follow in order to promote and create thriving social reading experiences in their libraries. Step 1: Develop a social network, online, so that the social reading experience can continue away from the physical building To increase both the library's appeal and stress its value to users, libraries should consider implementing customizable and participatory services for social reading. There are a number of ways to accomplish the creation of this social space from designing blogs, podcasts, a wiki or even using an existing social media platform like GoodReads. The key is to build and maintain a site that uses moderated trust to give patrons a voice in this social space. If possible, libraries should give patrons the opportunity to design and manage their own space within the librarys broader social platform. In doing this, libraries will encourage user participation, a crucial component in Library 2.0 and the backbone of successful social reading. Ways to encourage user participation includes allowing: customizable interfaces, tag creation, and the [ability to] write reviews, or provide ratings of materials (Casey & Savastinuk, 2007, p.14). The

Social Reading, Page 16 creation of this online space and the presence of user participation will help create a strong foundation for online social reading to occur in the library. Step 2: Encourage patrons to start book clubs of their own that use both the physical library and/or the library website or social network as a meeting space As Michael E. Casey and Laura C. Savastinuk (2007) point out in their book, Library 2.0: A guide to participatory library service, patrons enjoy a mix of the traditional and newer services of Library 2.0 (8). There is much to be said about the ability to meet in person to discuss a book versus meeting strictly online. Libraries must be willing to hold on to the more traditional elements of their service models while supplementing these features with electronic resources and updated ways of thinking about and promoting reading. Step 3: Encourage participation from everyone Book clubs traditionally provide a place for people to discuss the hits, in other words, the books that are very popular. The social reading experience, however, aims to include the long tail of readersthose who enjoy the non-hitswhich will always be great than those who prefer the hits (Casey & Savastinuk, 2007, p.64). Social reading, especially in an online space or via an eReader like the Amazon Kindle, allows people who are part of the long tail to connect and discuss their niche subjects in more depth (Casey & Savastinuk, 2007, p.67). Librarians must be willing to encourage participation from all usersnew, existing, inactive and unfamiliarin order to provide a wide variety of social reading groups for readers to join. One way of accomplishing this is to allow everyone the ability to create a reading group for virtually any topic within both the physical and virtual library setting. Likewise, the long-tail

Social Reading, Page 17 aspect of social reading could be maintained through the purchase and lending of eReader devices like the Amazon Kindle that allow readers to follow their favorite books and see the highlights and notes from other people who have also read the book and have similar shared interests. Providing patrons with appropriate and varied ways to connect with others to discuss a text should be a main goal of libraries seeking to enhance and enrich the social reading experience for their patrons. Part 5: Determining the future of social reading To conclude, social reading has been predicted to develop drastically over the next five years. One of the biggest changes in development is that literary content will become more dynamic and retrievable, especially through the use of eReaders and eBooks. Some predicted capabilities of future eBooks that will help enhance social reading are listed in Appendix A. With the eBook in high demand, libraries need to recognize that social reading is not just a trend, but rather a shift in preference. In order to stay abreast of this cultural shift, libraries will need to play an important role in the distribution and promotion of social reading via traditional, online, and eReader spaces in order to enhance the user experience and evaluate the staying power and usefulness of different forms of social reading. With the ubiquity of technology, libraries have many tools at their disposal to create, maintain and develop new and existing avenues of social reading. While no one can predict the future of the book, or new forms of social reading, libraries can maintain the momentum of change (Casey & Savastinuk, 2007, p.xxv) and prepare themselves and their patrons for whats to come.

Social Reading, Page 18 References

@KevinRose. (Producer). (2010). Some random ideas for eBooks. [Web]. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=odQfE48wM_M 21st Century Learning, Initials. (2007, August 5). The art of building virtual communities [Web log message]. Retrieved from http://21stcenturylearning.typepad.com/blog/2007/08/theart-of-buil.html About GoodReads. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.goodreads.com/about/us Anderson, J.Q., & Rainie, L. (2010, February 19). The future of the internet. Retrieved from http://www.pewinternet.org/~/media//Files/Reports/2010/Future%20of%20internet%202 010%20-%20AAAS%20paper.pdf Anderson, S. (2011, March 4). 'What I really want is someone rolling around in the text'. The New York Times (Online), Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/06/magazine/06Riff-t.html AuYeung, C., Dalton, S., & Gornall, S. (2007). Book buzz: online 24/7 virtual reading clubs and what weve learned about them. Canadian Journal of Library and Information Practice and Research, 2(2), Retrieved from http://journal.lib.uoguelph.ca/index.php/perj/article/view/237/527 Book-Clubs-Resource.com. (2007). What is a book club? Retrieved from http://www.book clubs-resource.com/book-club.php Cain Miller, C. (2011, February 7). Kindle books get page numbers and social features. The New York Times (Gadgetwise), Retrieved from http://gadgetwise.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/02/07/kindle-books-get-page-numbers-and social-features/ Casey, M.E., & Savastinuk, L.C. (2007). Library 2.0: A guide to participatory library service. Medford: Information Today, Inc. Codrescu, A. (Producer). (2011, March 7). E-book tarnishes the reader-book relationship [Audio Podcast]. All Things Considered (National Public Radio). Retrieved from http://www.npr.org/2011/03/07/134342235/E-Book-Tarnishes-The-Reader-BookRelationship

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D'Andrea, D. (2010). Reading 2.0: From Solitary to Social. School Librarian's Workshop, 31(1), 11-12. Retrieved from EBSCOhost. Dilworth, D. (2011, February 7). Amazon updates Kindle software [Web log message]. Retrieved from http://www.mediabistro.com/ebooknewser/amazon-updates-kindlesoftware_b5699 Dredge, S. (2011, February 8). Kindle gets more social with public notes and sharing features [Web log message]. Retrieved from https://www.mobile-ent.biz/news/read/kindle-getsmore-social-with-public-notes-and-sharing-features Esposito, J. (2010, October 28). The Stein taxonomy: An analytic model for social reading [Web log message]. Retrieved from http://scholarlykitchen.sspnet.org/2010/10/28/the-steintaxonomy-an-analytic-model-for-social-reading/ GoodReads.com. (2011). Welcome to GoodReads. Retrieved from http://www.goodreads.com/ Hartley, M. (2010, December 9). Social media invades book world. National Post, Retrieved from http://www.nationalpost.com/arts/Social+media+invades+book+world/3950884/story.ht ml Hoffert, B. (2006). The book club exploded. Library Journal, 131(12), Retrieved from http://www.libraryjournal.com/article/CA6349024.html Johns, J. (2010, August 16). The meaning of social reading and where it's headed [Web log message]. Retrieved from http://e2bu.com/the-meaning-of-social-reading-and-where-itsheaded/ Johnson, L., Smith, R., Willis, H., Levine, A., and Haywood, K., (2011). The 2011 Horizon Report Retrieved from http://net.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/HR2011.pdf Johnson, S. (2010, June 19). Yes, people still read, but now it's social. The New York Times (Online), Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/20/business/20unbox.html Kelly, K. (2010, August). Reading in a whole new way. Smithsonian.com, Retrieved from http://www.smithsonianmag.com/specialsections/40th-anniversary/Reading-in-a-WholeNew-Way.html Lloyd, D. (2010, February 25). Five reasons to join a book club. Huffington Post, Retrieved from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/delia-lloyd/five-reasons-to-join-a-bo_b_476162.html

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Social Reading, Page 21 Appendix A Predicted capabilities of future eBooks that will help enhance social reading (Ideas borrowed from @KevinRose in his video Some Random Ideas for eBooks on Youtube.com)

Clickable character information: o As you read throughout the book you will be able to pull up information on the different characters in the story. This information will include:  Full bios,  Statistics  Relation to other characters  Other helpful tips, or links o This information will all be added by authors, publishers and readers themselves. Friend annotation: o Many avid eBook readers are hoping for the ability to highlight a passage in an eBook, leave a voice or text annotation and then have that annotation be available to friends that follow their annotations, and vice versa. Lending an eBook: o Readers want to be able to share books with other friends, complete with their personal eMarginalia notations for a designated period of time before having thing book return to their virtual shelves. Integration of rich media: o The ability to (directly from the eReader):  Pull up Wikipedia articles for unfamiliar words or topics  Search for YouTube videos relating to the book or concepts found in the book  Follow a twitter stream dedicated to the book, or written from the perspective of the characters in the book Virtual book clubs that will take place within the book itself via the eReader device. o This will allow for real time virtual discussion about a book as it is being read.

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