Displaying Invisible Objects: Why People Rarely Re-read E-books

This study of paper and e-books investigates how specific affordances of physical and digital objects relate to people’s valuations and uses of those objects over time. We found that while the visibility of paper books amplified the meaningfulness of organizational and display actions taken with regards to those objects, the systems that supported interactions with e-books instead tended to make such actions less meaningful. We argue that these systems also discouraged re-uses of e-books for most participants – the important exceptions being several participants who used the book-focused social networking site Goodreads. This paper details how the affordances and limitations that resulted from the material constructions of paper and e-books impacted participants’ uses of and feelings towards those objects, and examines the implications of using a supplementary online system for displaying digital objects.