Google or Gutenberg Generation: Chilean university students’ reading habits and reading purposes

Parodi, Giovanni, Moreno-de-León, Tomás, Julio, Cristóbal and Burdiles, Gina Google or Gutenberg Generation: Chilean university students’ reading habits and reading purposes. Comunicar, 2019, vol. 27, n. 58, pp. 85-94. [Journal article (Paginated)]

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English abstract

It has always been in the public interest to know the reading habits of readers of various ages and levels of schooling, as well as their opinions with regard to the consumption of reading materials. Lately, researchers have given increased attention to digital texts. Although progress on these topics has been made as reported in published research, there is yet incomplete information regarding readers’ habits and opinions at university and professional levels. This study describes the self-reported habits of university students belonging to two disciplinary domains (Human Sciences and Economic and Business Sciences) regarding reading on paper or on digital media for three purposes: academic, entertainment, and information seeking. The results reveal that the readers’ preferences vary according to the three purposes. These readers reported using different media but had a clear preference for paper; they also reported distinguishing between cognitive processes (memory, comprehension, and learning), with the discipline to which they belonged having no radical effect on their preferences. All of this leads us to conclude that currently there exists a generation in transition, a ‘Gutenberg-Google’ generation, which still recognizes the relevance of paper, in particular for academic purposes.

Spanish abstract

Conocer los hábitos de lectura de sujetos de diversas edades y niveles de escolarización, así como su opinión respecto del consumo de materiales de lectura, ha estado siempre en el interés público. En los últimos tiempos, mayor énfasis se ha puesto en los textos digitales. Si bien se ha avanzado en la investigación en estas áreas, aun es parcial la información a nivel universitario y profesional. En este estudio se describen los hábitos declarados por estudiantes universitarios de dos áreas disciplinares (ciencias humanas y ciencias económicas y administrativas) respecto de lectura en formato papel y en digital en virtud de tres propósitos: académico, entretenimiento y búsqueda de información. Para ello, se diseñó y aplicó una encuesta a una muestra de 894 estudiantes en dos universidades chilenas y en cinco carreras. Los resultados revelan que los lectores muestran variación en sus preferencias de lectura según los tres propósitos. En otras palabras, estos lectores declaran emplear soportes diferentes, pero con una clara tendencia a preferir mayoritariamente el sustrato papel, y distinguir procesos cognitivos diversos (memoria, comprensión y aprendizaje), sin que el área disciplinar de procedencia incida de modo radical en sus preferencias. Todo ello, en general, nos lleva a concluir que en la actualidad existe una generación en transición «Gutenberg-Google», la cual aún reconoce y otorga alta relevancia al soporte papel, en particular frente a propósitos académicos.

Item type: Journal article (Paginated)
Keywords: Reading; reading habits; digital media; reading purposes; university students; Google; Gutenberg; multimodality; Lectura; hábitos de lectura; medios digitales; propósitos de lectura; estudiantes universitarios; Google; Gutenberg; multimodalidad
Subjects: B. Information use and sociology of information > BJ. Communication
G. Industry, profession and education.
G. Industry, profession and education. > GH. Education.
Depositing user: Alex Ruiz
Date deposited: 01 Apr 2019 14:54
Last modified: 01 Apr 2019 14:54
URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10760/33842

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