Page 150 - AC/E Digital Culture Annual Report

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Cloud reading services
Cloud services also offer a broad range of read- ing materials to their users through an affordable monthly subscription. The materials are acces- sible through any device and operating system. They usually offer either open-source content
so that users can try the service or a free trial period. The best known in Spain are 24symbols117 and Nubico.118 But Skoobe,119 Scribd,120 Nube de Libros121 and Amazon’s Kindle Unlimited122 also offer interesting content. Prominent among the services that revolve around specific formats such as audiobooks, which are really taking off
in Spain, are Audible’s123 Audiomol124 and the newcomer Storytel.125
Some of these services are designed for a particular target audience. Such is the case of Metaforic,126 a subscription reading service for readers aged from six to eighteen. It offers af- fordable access to literature in Spanish in digital format. It is an initiative designed to encourage reading and contribute to the literary education of children and teenagers by recommending quality works and fostering their participation
in a community of readers who discuss their reading experiences. Another service for children is eBooKids 127 (which also includes audiobooks as well as eBooks).
Other services have been developed for specific environments like schools to promote reading among students and help improve reading comprehension. Examples are mimetaforic,128 a service that comes under Metaforic’s Reading Plans; YoLeo,129 which is also geared to families; and the recently launched platform Intralíneas130 which incorporates a large corpus of fiction and nonfiction texts related to the school curriculum and current affairs.
Subscription reading services inspired by new reader habits such as the use of messaging apps like WhatsApp and Snapchat have recently emerged. Such is the case of Hooked (available for iOS131 and Android132), Adela,133 Cliffhanger
(also available for iOS134 and Android135) and Amazon Rapids,136 among others. Spain has seen the advent of Leemur137 (which is free for the time being), an app that provides access to a large collection of short pieces belonging to different genres in chat format. The aim is the same as that of the other products listed above: to lure readers by getting them to feel like a character in the story.
Other formulas and tools for digital reading
Many applications are also helping people discover books and authors and furthermore provide access to copyright-free books or part of their collections. Some of these applications allow users to download content, and to read it they need to install an application for reading digital books on the device; others enable them to read directly from the application, such
as Ebook Search 3.0,138 Worldreader,139 Free- Ebooks.net140 and OpenLibra.141
There are also platforms that encourage new authors to create and have assembled huge content libraries, such as the iconic Wattpad,142 which recently expanded into reading in chat format with Tap by Wattpad143 to promote the development of new ways of telling stories among users who are creators and to encourage reading among users who are readers. There are many general and niche services of this kind; some are even designed to test and optimise books before they are published on paper or in digital format.
Together they are giving rise to a huge eco- system of digital readers and perform a whole spectrum of tasks designed to promote reading and the development of reading habits and skills.
READING MATERIALS
Readers in the digital age