ページめくりの操作性に着目した電子書籍端末の評価

抄録

This paper describes a series of experiments to evaluate the readability of short stories on electronic devices focusing on the operability of page-turning. We compared reading speed from an iPad and a Kindle against that from a paper book and a notebook PC. As a result, although no significant differences were found among the four media without accompanying page-turning, reading from a paper book was significantly faster than a Kindle and the notebook PC when they turned pages. We also investigated usability of different user interactions for turning pages on iPad. Speed and cognitive load of reading was compared between three conditions: an iPad in which page-turning interaction was restricted to swiping (swiping condition), an iPad in which page-turning interaction was restricted to tapping (tapping condition), and a paper book. As a result, we could not find any significant differences in speed and cognitive load in the case of reading without turning pages. However, in the case of reading with page-turns, reading from the paper book induced less cognitive load than reading from both conditions of the iPad, and swiping induced less cognitive load than tapping. These results suggest that page-turning on paper books is performed almost unselfconsciously, and swiping of iPad is an effective interaction technique, as well as it provides an attractive user interface. Moreover, we discuss methodologies to improve electronic reading devices.