The Next 5 Months

The next 5 months promise to be busy. I have a research project to manage, comprehensive exams to study for, my final semester to finish, a wedding to plan and a job hunt to boot. And of course a blog to update. Out of that list I can currently finish at least one of those now and so here I am. Today I'll talk a little bit about the research I am hoping to finish in the next few months.

My primary interest is in how people are using technology. I've been a techie all my life since my father first let me log onto his old Prodigy account. I am fortunate to have grown up with the Internet and see the way it has changed the way people interact and I've been drawn back time and again to thinking about just HOW are we talking differently now? What's new? What no longer works? What HASN'T changed?

Of course lacking funding or grant money I can only take a narrow look but hopefully one that is significant all the same. I'm hoping to get some data on how people are using electronic documents versus paper hard-copy. The idea is to see whether messages are interpreted differently when we read them on the computer screen. Are we more likely to remember e-text? More likely to be persuaded? Current research has shown people prefer hard-copy for things like taking tests or reading a book but few (that I've seen at least) look beyond what people think of these media and examine how they are impacted.

So, blogosphere, give me your Qual data. What do you like in your electronic documents? What do you like about physical copies? Those of you with Kindles and Nooks, how do you like them?