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Print or digital? Critical reading in the information era
Yoram Eshet and Nitza Geri
Critical thinking in the information era: A survival skill for the information consumer
The manipulative nature of news headlines
International Business Times, May, 19th, 2007
According to Dor (2001), most information in news resources is manipulative or biased.
Manipulative Headlines
The problem: Are we able to consume information critically?
Chalked to death
Tel Aviv:
Air pollution 4 times
than allowed
Tel Aviv: Air pollution 3 times then recommended
News representation taxonomy (Dor, 2001)
• “Objective” representation• Naïve bias• Wicked bias
And why is it so important?“In the book 1984, humans are indoctrinated against their
will whereas in the modern era, they are being indoctrinated in a free will"
Slavoj Žižek (2002) Welcome to the Desert of the Real
People, but especially youth are easily manipulated
(Eshet & Hamburger, 2004)
Bombarded by information
• A constant increase in the exposure to digital information• Forecast: By 2020, 70% of information will be digital
(Romano, 2000).• Ambiguous findings concerning critical reading in a
digital format
Past and future use of print vs. digital information (after Romano, 2000)
0
10
2030
40
50
6070
80
90
1990 1995 2000 2005 2010 2015 2020
Year
%
Digital
Print versus digital:What do we know?
• Reading: Slower in a digital text• Cognitive load: Higher in a digital text• Ownership: Lower in a digital text• Navigation: Disorientation problems in a digital text• General preferences: Short text : Digital. Long text: Print
The research: Is there a difference in critical reading between print
and digital format?Participants• 40 high school students (20 males & 20 females)• 40 college students (20 males & 20 females)Print group• 20 high school students (10 males & 10 females)• 20 college students (10 males & 10 females)
Digital group• 20 high school students (10 males & 10 females)• 20 college students (10 males & 10 females)Tasks• Critical analysis of 5 news items (sport, politics, science, art, economy)• Each item appears in both print and digital formats.• Identify all manipulations made in news items• Write a critical reportGrading• Close similarity between the referees’ grades and the grades given by the authors
(Pearson Correlation range 0.809 to 0.997, all significant at the 0.01 level, two-tailed) suggests a high coherence of the evaluation criteria utilized in this research.
Total (n=80)
0
20
40
60
80
100
Politics Science Economy Sport Art
Digital
Findings: Print vs. digital Total sample
No significant influence of format for total participants group
Total Females (n=40)
0
20
40
60
80
100
Politics Science Economy Sport Art
Digital
Total Males (n=40)
0.0
20.0
40.0
60.0
80.0
100.0
Politics Science Economy Sport Art
Digital
Print vs. Digital: Gender influence
No significant influence of format in a gender level
Print vs. digital: Age influenceTotal High School (n=40)
0
20
40
60
80
100
Politics Science Economy Sport Art
Digital
Total College (n=40)
0
20
40
60
80
100
Politics Science Economy Sport Art
Digital
High school: More critical in a digital format
College: More critical in a print format
High school vs. college(regardless of format)
Total (n=80)
0
20
40
60
80
100
Politics Science Economy Sport Art
High School
college
Significant differences in critical reading
Males vs. females(regardless of format)
Total (n=80)
0
20
40
60
80
100
Politics Science Economy Sport Art
Males
Females
Significant differences in critical reading
The medium and the message (M. McLuhan):
Summary of major findings
Significant influence of age on performance:• High school students performed better in digital compared to print
formats.• College students performed better in print compared to digital
formats.
Significant differences in sub-groups (e.g. PH, PC, DH, DC)
Significant differences regardless of format:• Age• Gender
Discussion: 3 perspectives of print vs. digital
• The usability perspective
• The cognitive perspective
• The information economics perspective
The usability perspective
The usability principle: Users perform better in familiar and friendly environments
The generation gap: Youth are more used to digital & adults to print platforms
The cognitive perspective
Youth perform better than adults in non-linear, branching hypertext environments
Eshet & Hamburger (2004)
The information economics perspective
• The performance of users reflects the perceived value they assign to of information.
• Format affects the information’s perceived value and user performance.
We hope this talk has inspired you with some new ideas
THANKS
