Page 146 - AC/E Digital Culture Annual Report

146
• Combine topicality and quality.
• Balance the aesthetic, information and entertainment aspects.
• Examine the many genres, styles and for- mats.
Criteria relating to the works themselves
An analysis and assessment of the reading material itself, whether it is fiction or nonfiction, on paper or digital, should be the main reason for choosing it or not; additional considerations will relate to the context of the production, each particular mediator’s strategy for promoting reading, etc.
Whatever the type of work, the criteria we adopt will affect both the material and technical elements that make it up, as well as its structure and content. These aspects, depending on whether we are dealing with fiction or nonfiction and the medium in question, vary and affect the overall quality of the work differently.
In practice, many of the criteria used to analyse and select digital reading materials are the same as those employed to analyse and assess print reading materials. Others, however, are more specific to reading materials in digital format.
The first observation is often related to the content in general: the subject, its originality, its interest and how appropriate it is to the read- er-user at whom it is directed, its message and its approach, once again also bearing in mind the reader-user.
It will also be necessary to analyse its constituent elements: text, image (static or moving), audio (narration, sound effects, soundtrack), interactive elements, gamification features... We will assess their quality separately but also judge how they
relate to each other in the digital content envi- ronment (application, web...).
Taking as a basis the analytical scheme proposed by lecturers Araceli García Rodríguez and Raquel Gómez Díaz,93 we can highlight a series of fun- damental parameters and indicators for selecting a digital work. It is appropriate to ask a series of questions about the specific aspects of a digital work in order to ascertain its value:
• How is the content arranged and viewed?
• What customisation options does it incor- porate?
• What functions does it offer for searching for words or incorporating annotations?
• What type and degree of interactivity does it propose?
• Who is responsible for the content and what experience do they have: author, illustrator, designer, developer, composer, etc.?
• What is its date of creation and that of its various versions?
• How ergonomic is it and what is viewing the content like?
• How does it fare with respect to usability and to what extent can users interact with the application efficiently and intuitively?
• How accessible is it and what is browsing like?
• What security, confidentiality and privacy levels does it have?
• What about its availability and acquisition conditions?
READING MATERIALS
Readers in the digital age