The increase in remote work and e-learning sparked by the COVID-19 pandemic means more people are reading in digital formats, from eye-straining, small-text documents to PDFs that have embedded pictures and graphics. But there 麻豆精品 S檚 a bigger problem 麻豆精品 S� the technology doesn 麻豆精品 S檛 lend itself easily to help enhance reading speed or comprehension.
Other than being able to change font size and background lighting, digital readers are left with few options. That 麻豆精品 S檚 why the University of Central Florida is partnering with global software company Adobe and others to improve the technology. This partnership is being highlighted today at the Adobe Max 2020 Creativity Conference that 麻豆精品 S檚 being held online this year.
UCF specifically is working with Adobe on a digital reading project that aims to reduce information overload. The project is part of Adobe 麻豆精品 S檚 continuing efforts toward creating products that empower people to change the world, such as its recent collaboration with a UCF-spin-off, the nonprofit Limbitless Solutions Inc.
The initiative includes a consortium of industry, nonprofit and university collaborators, including Readability Matters, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Stanford University and the University of Arizona.
Using Adobe 麻豆精品 S檚 Liquid Mode technology, a reader can adjust text aspects 麻豆精品 S� such as font size, style and character spacing 麻豆精品 S� on PDFs that were previously set to a fixed text style and layout. UCF researchers, meanwhile, are building tools to match readers to reading formats that enhance their speed and comprehension.
麻豆精品 S淚n early studies we have been able to accelerate some adults 麻豆精品 S� reading by more than 25 percent, 麻豆精品 S� says Ben Sawyer, an assistant professor in UCF 麻豆精品 S檚 Department of Industrial Engineering & Management Systems leading the research at UCF.
麻豆精品 S淚f your job requires you to read multiple hours a day, this is a huge potential workload reduction, 麻豆精品 S� he says.
Reading is important for job success and civic engagement as poor reading skills are associated with unemployment, lower wages and voter apathy, according to studies from the National Center for Education Statistics.
With the advent of the pandemic, people are reading more electronic books, and remote learning has meant an increase in instruction and assignments through digital documents with fixed text.
But large screens, such as on personal computers, are not always readily available for people reading documents remotely, says Rick Treitman, entrepreneur in residence at Adobe, and Zoya Bylinskii, a research scientist at Adobe. Treitman and Bylinskii are facilitating the research.
Instead, people may have to use a tablet or smartphone if they don 麻豆精品 S檛 have their own computer or if they have to share a single computer with other family members.
麻豆精品 S淲e are seeing that a lot of remote learning is happening on phones because someone else in the household may be using the only computer, 麻豆精品 S� Treitman says. 麻豆精品 S淚t’s yet another device, and so if we can make the PDF experience on the phone better, then one student could do their reading on the phone, while another uses the laptop. 麻豆精品 S�
Furthermore, when text is fixed into a certain style and layout in a document, it can cause problems as everyone sees text differently, so one text format doesn 麻豆精品 S檛 fit all, Treitman says.
For instance, one person may see normally spaced text as all scrunched together, thus hindering their reading. However, with digital text, this is a problem that can be easily addressed if readers can create their personal reading formats, as they can in Adobe Reader 麻豆精品 S檚 Liquid Mode.
For instance, even on older digital documents that may be already set in a small font size with tight spacing, a reader using the technology could adjust the text to suit their needs.
This takes control of the text display from the designer and gives it to the user, Treitman says.
麻豆精品 S淲e’re flipping the script, 麻豆精品 S� he says. 麻豆精品 S淎nd that 麻豆精品 S檚 why we 麻豆精品 S檝e turned to UCF and others to start this research. Text has always been designed by the author or by the publisher, and now we’re letting the reader design it. That’s a whole new paradigm. 麻豆精品 S�
Sawyer 麻豆精品 S檚 team is currently collecting readability data from a large number of readers through the lab 麻豆精品 S檚 research website, Readabilitylab.xyz.
Sawyer says they hope to soon bring some of their participants into the lab for electrophysiological monitoring to record the electrical activity of the brain while a person reads; track people 麻豆精品 S檚 eye movements as they read digital text; and measure people 麻豆精品 S檚 reading speed and comprehension of different passages of digital text.
麻豆精品 S淐OVID-19 is a challenge to in-person research, so we are testing 3D-printed eye-and-brain activity trackers and webcam reading tracking, all in an attempt to collect lab-quality data from people in their homes, 麻豆精品 S� Sawyer says.
Current study participants are adult readers, but the researchers plan to expand their work to include younger and older readers, as well as non-English readers.
麻豆精品 S淥ur initial research has told us that there’s not a one-size-fits-all solution, 麻豆精品 S� he says. 麻豆精品 S淟ike a pair of prescription eyeglasses, we want to provide a reading experience personalized to an individual. 麻豆精品 S�
Some of the lab 麻豆精品 S檚 findings have already been incorporated into existing Adobe software.
Sawyer 麻豆精品 S檚 collaborators include Benjamin Wolfe, a postdoctoral researcher at MIT, and Jonathan Dobres, a consulting psychophysics scientist with a doctorate in cognitive sciences. Esat Boucaud and Sarah Minion, laboratory assistants in Sawyer 麻豆精品 S檚 Virtual Readability Lab, are also supporting the initiative. Boucaud is a sophomore majoring in computational physics, and Minion is a junior majoring in electrical engineering, both at UCF.
Sawyer says not only will the research efforts help workers and students read digital documents better, it will also help reduce information overload.
麻豆精品 S淣othing about the modern world is trending toward delivering us less information, 麻豆精品 S� he says. 麻豆精品 S淭hese technologies can provide some relief from that and can give people help with reading. 麻豆精品 S�
Sawyer received his doctorate in human factors psychology and master 麻豆精品 S檚 in industrial engineering from UCF and completed his postdoctoral studies at MIT. He joined UCF 麻豆精品 S檚 Department of Industrial Engineering & Management Systems, part of UCF 麻豆精品 S檚 College of Engineering and Computer Science, in 2018. He is also director of LabX, an applied neuroscience group addressing human performance, and a joint faculty member of UCF 麻豆精品 S檚 Institute for Simulation and Training, School of Modeling Simulation and Training.
