Change search
CiteExportLink to record
Permanent link

Direct link
Cite
Citation style
  • harvard-cite-them-right
  • apa
  • ieee
  • modern-language-association-8th-edition
  • vancouver
  • Other style
More styles
Language
  • de-DE
  • en-GB
  • en-US
  • fi-FI
  • nn-NO
  • nn-NB
  • sv-SE
  • Other locale
More languages
Output format
  • html
  • text
  • asciidoc
  • rtf
Audiobook apps: exploring reading practices and technical affordances in the player features
University of Borås, Faculty of Librarianship, Information, Education and IT. (Informationspraktiker och digitala kulturer)ORCID iD: 0000-0002-1813-8046
2022 (English)In: Information research, E-ISSN 1368-1613, Vol. 27, no 4Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]

Introduction. Audiobooks are increasing in popularity and are now widely used through apps from subscription services. While these apps are part of audiobook practices, there is scant research on this topic. This article contributes to an understanding of the audiobook player function and the features therein.

Method. The article builds on an interview study with ten young Swedish users and a study of the apps from subscription services Storytel, BookBeat and Nextory.

Analysis. The player functions in the apps were explored using a feature analysis and the interview material was analysed using qualitative content analysis. The focus was on affordances of the different app features, and how these related to audiobook reading practices.

Results. There were ten to twelve features each in the different players. Four common user practices emerged in the interview material: adjusting the speed, selecting a track, setting a sleep timer and rewinding the audiobook.

Conclusions. The apps play a significant part of audiobook reading practices. However, while the apps afford certain practices, some features create hindrances to other reading practices. 

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Borås, 2022. Vol. 27, no 4
Keywords [en]
Audiobooks, Apps, Digital methods, Reading practices, Reading by listening, Feature analysis
Keywords [sv]
Ljudböcker, Appar, Digitala metoder, Läspraktiker, Lyssnande läsning
National Category
Information Studies
Research subject
Library and Information Science
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:hb:diva-29146DOI: 10.47989/irpaper943ISI: 000929944500001Scopus ID: 2-s2.0-85144832520OAI: oai:DiVA.org:hb-29146DiVA, id: diva2:1720233
Projects
Sound Reading: Exploring and conceptualising audiobook practices among young adults
Note

Artikeln ingår i avhandling: Sound Reading: Exploring and conceptualising audiobook practices among young adults

Available from: 2022-12-19 Created: 2022-12-19 Last updated: 2023-03-06Bibliographically approved
In thesis
1. SOUND READING: Exploring and conceptualising audiobook practices among young adults
Open this publication in new window or tab >>SOUND READING: Exploring and conceptualising audiobook practices among young adults
2022 (English)Doctoral thesis, comprehensive summary (Other academic)
Abstract [en]

Audiobooks and subscription services are becoming increasingly popular in Sweden as well as many other parts of the world. This compilation thesis develops knowledge and conceptualisations of audiobook reading practices in the context of subscription services and apps. This is carried out by exploring audiobook use among young people, with a particular emphasis on the temporal and spatial aspects of the practices and the tools used. The context of the thesis is Sweden, with subscription services and users in the country. The thesis takes an explorative approach, where several theories and research methods are operationalised in four different articles. Schatzki's practice theory forms a foundation for the thesis, with the theory of timespace applied to consider temporal and spatial aspects of activities. Furthermore, the theories of remediation and affordances have been included to examine the digital technology related to contemporary audiobooks. Different aspects of audiobook practices have been explored; firstly, with temporal transaction logs collected from a subscription service. Secondly, semistructured interviews with ten young audiobook users, and thirdly, an app feature analysis focusing on the player function in three audiobook apps. As such, the approaches are both qualitative and quantitative, and digital methods are employed together with more traditional research methods in virtual forms.

The transaction log study reveals that the average subscription-service user listens to audiobooks for a considerable amount of time every day. There also appears to be a correlation between audiobook listening and the work or school day, with more audiobook use carried out during daytime on weekdays, but also at bedtime. The analysis of the interview study highlights that audiobook reading practices have become part of users' everyday routines, and listening is closely interwoven with other daily activities. For young people, audiobooks are combined with commutes, schoolwork, chores, exercise and leisure activities. Listening has become routine for specific purposes, such as improving the enjoyment of another task, increasing reading time or supporting the user's wellbeing. Audiobook apps play a significant role in contemporary audiobook practices. The app feature analysis explores features in the player function of three subscription service apps and has found that some features make certain reading practices easier, while others create hindrances for users. Some app features are used for adjusting time, such as changing the speed of the book, setting a sleep timer or rewinding the audiobook when the user has lost focus. Moreover, some users alternate between the printed and audio version of a book title, and when possible, then use a feature for selecting the track to switch between formats. Finally, the thesis also contributes by developing and clarifying concepts relating to audiobooks, subscription services and reading. For example, the concepts of reading by listening, mobile reading and stationary reading are introduced here to highlight the specificity of different reading practices. Furthermore, the business models of subscription services have been conceptualised as following either a library model or bookshop model. Research on digital and subscription- based audiobooks is still in its initial stages. An ambition with this PhD thesis is to contribute with new knowledge and lay some conceptual groundwork relating to this topic.

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Borås: Högskolan i Borås, 2022
Series
Skrifter från Valfrid, ISSN 1103-6990 ; 73
Keywords
audiobooks, reading practices, subscription services, apps, practice theory, timespace, transaction logs, interviews, digital methods, young adults
National Category
Information Studies
Research subject
Library and Information Science
Identifiers
urn:nbn:se:hb:diva-27165 (URN)978-91-983397-5-8 (ISBN)978-91-983397-4-1 (ISBN)
Public defence
2022-03-25, C203, Högskolan i Borås, Allégatan 1, Borås, 13:00 (English)
Supervisors
Available from: 2022-03-04 Created: 2022-01-11 Last updated: 2023-01-04Bibliographically approved

Open Access in DiVA

No full text in DiVA

Other links

Publisher's full textScopus

Authority records

Tattersall Wallin, Elisa

Search in DiVA

By author/editor
Tattersall Wallin, Elisa
By organisation
Faculty of Librarianship, Information, Education and IT
In the same journal
Information research
Information Studies

Search outside of DiVA

GoogleGoogle Scholar

doi
urn-nbn

Altmetric score

doi
urn-nbn
Total: 944 hits
CiteExportLink to record
Permanent link

Direct link
Cite
Citation style
  • harvard-cite-them-right
  • apa
  • ieee
  • modern-language-association-8th-edition
  • vancouver
  • Other style
More styles
Language
  • de-DE
  • en-GB
  • en-US
  • fi-FI
  • nn-NO
  • nn-NB
  • sv-SE
  • Other locale
More languages
Output format
  • html
  • text
  • asciidoc
  • rtf
http://hb.diva-portal.org/smash/record.jsf?pid=diva2:1720233
hb.diva-portal.org
CC-MAIN-2024-30
89336
application/http; msgtype=response
sha1:GPIWHLBGSPJADICNJ2LZAYTTHTWZ6EU6
<urn:uuid:7f73ea94-3e8e-4a91-92d9-740bdf07ce19>
2024-07-22T04:53:36Z
130.238.7.114
application/xhtml+xml
sha1:BQTASQTHYYWUYDOW7GVMAQFKYSELL3NK
<urn:uuid:b4e989ca-2e75-4f03-9589-a68c61479012>
http://hb.diva-portal.org/smash/record.jsf?pid=diva2:1720233
response
<urn:uuid:de9845d5-0279-40f9-b538-8d72a1d16323>
isPartOf: CC-MAIN-2024-30
publisher: Common Crawl
description: Wide crawl of the web for July 2024
operator: Common Crawl Admin (info@commoncrawl.org)
hostname: ip-10-67-67-246
software: Apache Nutch 1.20 (modified, https://github.com/commoncrawl/nutch/)
robots: checked via crawler-commons 1.5-SNAPSHOT (https://github.com/crawler-commons/crawler-commons)
format: WARC File Format 1.1
conformsTo: https://iipc.github.io/warc-specifications/specifications/warc-format/warc-1.1/