Caren Milloy, JISC (United Kingdom): huge survey of users with over 23,000 responses on ebook use from students and academics and librarians. Data presented was all about students, despite the title.
Highest users of ebooks: business students used them a lot more than other areas and medical titles were hardly used at all.
How did they get ahold of the ebook: most student got them through the university library, as opposed to free, off the web, pirated, etc. Very few students actually purchased etextbooks.
How did they read them, part or all of the book: read “in and out” by chapters as opposed to reading the whole book.
Reading method: most viewed ebooks online as opposed to using devices.
How much time did they spend viewing an ebook: 13 minutes
How much time spent on a single page: spent less than a minute a page. Go to page, get the info and then get out.
When did they look at the books: most used during lunchtime as opposed to the morning or evening.
Impact on publishers print sales: no negative impact on the print sales during or after the project and in some cases an increase occurred in the print sales of the book.
I am not sure this is sound data—my sole experience with an e-textbook, they did not allow the option to read it on-line, so of course, everybody read it on the computer…
I’m by and large agree with you. but, in ubiquitous learning environment, student like to private device.