Page 53 - AC/E's Digital Culture Annual Report 2015

AC/E Digital Culture Annual Report 201553should be the epicentre of each and every action in the world of culture.Some of the challenges faced by several of the digital culture sectors, all focused on creating this user experience, are listed below.Digital readingIt is a fact that digital editions of a book provide completely different experiences from reading a print book. If we further consider the growing penetration of mobile technology (tablets and smartphones), the publishers of books, magazines and periodicals should, at least, be capable of providing content on several mobile platforms in order to offer a broad variety of digital channels.Why do readers prefer digital editions? Accord- ing to a study by The Mobile Magazine Reader,2 the reasons are:• Easy access to additional content and articles related to the work (70%)• Portability and possibility of storage on the same device (53%)• Interactive features such as videos, photo galleries and 3D views (40%)And additional reasons given by a study con- ducted by Axel Springer3 are:• It is more fun (62%)• Multimedia experience (78%)And what if digital technology were to engender a new and different distribution model at a fraction of the cost of the current industry and were to offer content in both physical and digital format directly to the reader at any time and place? Actually, the main aspect of the funda- mental challenge posed by this digital revolution in books of offering unique experiences is alien to the paper medium, as how we relate to print books has also changed radically.Today building a permanent relationship with readers is a basic challenge that is fully achievable in a digital strategy.Therefore, the challenges faced by the book world are related not only to changes in reading habits or the emergence of a new type of social reader, but also to the appearance of major operators such as Google Books and Amazon, which are doing away with some of the interme- diate links in the chain.My question here is: the technological disrup- tion during reading and in how it is accessed is fully clear, but what about before reading? In my view, one of the most important challenges in the book world lies here too: how can I reach readers or possible readers of my work in a completely digital world, where relationships and the desire to compete prevail?The following graphs taken from a study by the The Economist4 clearly show how experts in theMarta Rodríguez