Page 112 - AC/E Digital Culture Annual Report

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tion society compiled by Fundación Telefónica (2017).17 The study also stresses that the number of young people who use the Internet as an edu- cational tool rose by 8.8 points, just as the use of the Web by over-65s increased significantly. Are these Internet users readers? We do not know
to what extent, but part of their Internet activity no doubt involves reading and writing.
Platforms offering digital leisure and cultural content on demand, such as Spotify, Netflix and Storytel, are also having a very significant impact on the consumption of cultural and entertain- ment content.18 So great is the influence of these subscription platforms that, according to the data analysis firm Statista, the digital market in Spain is expected to record revenues of more than 1.5 billion dollars by 2021. The same source reckons that 20% of this amount is expected
to relate to video on demand, audiobooks and digital music. As for the number of users of this form of accessing the abovementioned content, which reached 3.3 million in 2017, a 66% increase is forecast for the next four years, bringing the figure up to 5.5 million.
As for the world of books, the latest report on trends in eBooks in Spain and Latin America,19 compiled by Dosdoce.com in collaboration with Bookwire, shows that subscription platforms have boosted their total sales figure from 1% to 5% within a short period of less than a year.
All these data are reliable indicators that the consumption of cultural goods, among them reading materials, is undergoing major changes and taking place in situations that are neither re- flected in the statistics nor envisaged in reading plans and campaigns. Therefore, as pointed out by the lecturer Gemma Lluch,20 it is important we ask what we are doing to promote reading and to provide all citizens, youngsters and adults alike, with equal access so that the digital gap does not accentuate the differences in skills and opportunities between various sectors of the population.
In short, it is necessary to reflect at length on information and communication technologies (ICTs) in order to gain a deeper understanding of their impact on society. In this regard it is appro- priate to underline the importance of creating forums and spaces for analysis and debate such as that proposed by the magazine Telos pub- lished by Fundación Telefónica since 1985, which has become a leading name in the field of thought, science, technology and society.
Figure 1. Cover photo of no.108 of Telos. Source: https://telos.fundaciontelefonica.com/
This publication was recently revamped21 to adapt to the changes we are currently witness- ing. Maintaining its high scientific standards, it is now also geared to new readers with a first issue devoted to the “digital human” and a new civilisation in which humans and machines work together towards a “transhumanist” future.
READING
Readers in the digital age