Kindle Non-Readers

1. Reading the
Kindle’s (Non-
)Readers
Real, ideal or
implied…? The Reader
in Stylistics
Simon Rowberry
University of Winchester
@sprowberry #reader14

2. Platform Studies
RECEPTION/OPERATION
INTERFACE
FORM/FUNCTION
CODE
PLATFORM
CULTUREANDCONTEXT

3. DEDICATED
DEVICE
MOBILE
DEVICE
PERSONAL
COMPUTER
DEDICATED
SOFTWARE
WEB
APPLICATION
PDF
MOBI
POCKET
AZW TXT KF8
FORMAT
SOFTWARE
HARDWARE

4. HARDWARE

7. Readers Who Read
• “Reread Game of Thrones: A Song of Ice
and Fire: Book On by George R.R. Martin
and gave it 5 stars [link]
• “…alternating from week to week between
cocaine and ambition…”
– “nice use of freetime”

10. Methodological Problems
• Users can be as young as 8 – ethical
issues
• Amazon make it very difficult to extract
data
• What’s available changes with each visit
• The following is a sample
• Anonymised readers

11. “Haha… and yeah fb
isnt rlly that popular
anymore”

12. “Hi I'm just using my dad
acount”
“I HAVE MY KINDLE BACK”
“I know that [user] broke his
kindle”

13. “Is... is anyone on?”
“Oh yeah, been around for almost 2 years now,
nobody really cares I’m here, so yeah”
“How long has it been since ive been on here?
Like, 6 months or something?”
“i gtg finish once upon a time.”
“I might be on tonite c ya till then@everyone”
“Nobody's ever here. And thats the way it
should stay. Get. A. Life.”
[response] “by the end of summer yall will be so
bored and this place will ebe an insane asylum”

14. “Im 13 and im nit really supposed to be
watching youtybe either, but i am, cuz my
web's nit blocked.”
“Are u a girl @rika”
“Jake u do know tht I'm. 17 right @jake”
“OH SHAUNA I REMEMBER LAST YEAR
WHEN WE WERE ON THE EDGE OF OUR
SEATS LIKE "AHO THE HELL IS
A?!?!!!!?!?!!!!!!”” [watching TV show]

15. “The streets find
their own use for
things.”
William Gibson, “Burning Chrome”

16. Reading the
Kindle’s (Non-
)Readers
Real, ideal or
implied…? The Reader
in Stylistics
Simon Rowberry
University of Winchester
@sprowberry