Renewable energy sources have emerged as a current subject matter in Sweden amidst discussions regarding energy costs, climate change and development of energy production. This study explores how Google Search is used for seeking information about wind power and how utilised search queries contribute to the understanding of this energy source. Adopting a practice theoretical perspective, the study explores search queries as doings and sayings, and understands search engines as an established part of everyday routinised information seeking-activities. Data collection was carried out in a trace ethnographic vein through the automatic retrieval of search queries enacted between November 2021 and October 2022. Through a digital methods approach, the search queries were analysed and visualised according to their prevalence and character string composition. A qualitative, multiple coding approach was moreover used for the identification and interpretation of themes and subthemes. The results show that geographical locations, wind power functions and small wind turbines comprise the most prominent subthemes of the search queries. This is replicated also in the search term frequencies, providing further insights to queries related to wind turbine’s efficiency as well as subthemes of advantages and disadvantages. Moreover, the study shows the tendency to phrase search queries as simple questions for complex matters, with nuances being lost in the pursuit of austere, uncomplicated answers. Altogether, the results contribute to a wider understanding of how environmental information seeking is conducted today.

Vad är avgörande för att det ska vara läsning? Är det att tillgodogöra sig text? Spelar det då någon roll vilket sinne som används? Läsare är olika. Precis som att alla människor inte tycker om alla författare, utför inte alla läsning på identiska sätt, skriver biblioteksforskaren Elisa Tattersall Wallin.

Introduction. Audiobooks are increasing in popularity and are now widely used through apps from subscription services. While these apps are part of audiobook practices, there is scant research on this topic. This article contributes to an understanding of the audiobook player function and the features therein.

Method. The article builds on an interview study with ten young Swedish users and a study of the apps from subscription services Storytel, BookBeat and Nextory.

Analysis. The player functions in the apps were explored using a feature analysis and the interview material was analysed using qualitative content analysis. The focus was on affordances of the different app features, and how these related to audiobook reading practices.

Results. There were ten to twelve features each in the different players. Four common user practices emerged in the interview material: adjusting the speed, selecting a track, setting a sleep timer and rewinding the audiobook.

Conclusions. The apps play a significant part of audiobook reading practices. However, while the apps afford certain practices, some features create hindrances to other reading practices. 

Purpose: This article explores, identifies and conceptualises everyday audiobook reading practices amongst young adults.

Design/methodology/approach: Semi-structured interviews were conducted with ten Swedish audiobook users aged 18–19. The material was analysed using qualitative content analysis and focused on their audiobook use during an average weekday, as this was the time that they listened the most. The theoretical framework consists of theories on practice, time and everyday routine.

Findings: Five timespaces emerged when audiobook practices were most prevalent: morning routines, commuting routines, school routines, after school routines and bedtime routines. Within these timespaces, several practices could be identified and conceptualised. Three mobile practices were commute listening, exercise listening and chore listening while more stationary practices were homework listening, schoolwork listening and leisure listening. An unexpected finding was how audiobooks routinely were used to aid respondents’ wellbeing. This wellbeing listening was used to alleviate stress, loneliness and help listeners relax or fall asleep. Furthermore, respondents switch between Music, Audiobooks and Podcasts, which is conceptualised as MAP-switching.

Originality/value: There is a scarcity of research on audiobook use, and this paper contributes with new knowledge on audiobook reading practices, how audiobooks fit into everyday routine and provides concepts to aid further research on audiobook practices.

Kapitlet är en del av en festskrift för att fira Bibliotekshögskolan 50 år, och handlar om mitt avhandlingsprojekt om ljudböcker samt hur det var att vara doktorand inom biblioteks- och informationsvetenskap. Jag disputerade våren 2022 vid Bibliotekshögskolan med avhandlingen Sound Reading: Exploring and conteptualising audiobook practices among young adults. Jag är därmed en av Bibliotekshögskolans "jubileumsdoktorander", dvs vi som disputerat samma år som BHS firar 50 år. 

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to clarify issues related to the contemporary study of audiobook practices, in order to aid subsequent research on topics related to reading, digital audiobooks and streaming subscription services.

Design/methodology/approach

Using the concept of remediation, this paper covers four messy issues for audiobook researchers, primarily by developing the concept of reading by listening and then exploring the different remediations of the audiobook, clarifying the audiobook as a book and exploring the context of streaming subscription services.

Findings

Reading is here conceptualised according to the human sense used when making meaning from text, with reading by listening suggested for reading done with the help of the ears. Three different forms of remediation can be seen in subscription-based audiobooks, related to format, content and sense. Audiobooks simultaneously follow traditions of reading aloud, remediates the printed book and previous audiobook formats. It is suggested that the content is what makes an audiobook a book. The concepts library model and bookshop model are introduced to understand different audiobook subscription service models.

Originality/value

This is a research area on the rise with several messy issues and the concepts and clarifications in this paper may benefit future research.

Audiobooks and subscription services are becoming increasingly popular in Sweden as well as many other parts of the world. This compilation thesis develops knowledge and conceptualisations of audiobook reading practices in the context of subscription services and apps. This is carried out by exploring audiobook use among young people, with a particular emphasis on the temporal and spatial aspects of the practices and the tools used. The context of the thesis is Sweden, with subscription services and users in the country. The thesis takes an explorative approach, where several theories and research methods are operationalised in four different articles. Schatzki's practice theory forms a foundation for the thesis, with the theory of timespace applied to consider temporal and spatial aspects of activities. Furthermore, the theories of remediation and affordances have been included to examine the digital technology related to contemporary audiobooks. Different aspects of audiobook practices have been explored; firstly, with temporal transaction logs collected from a subscription service. Secondly, semistructured interviews with ten young audiobook users, and thirdly, an app feature analysis focusing on the player function in three audiobook apps. As such, the approaches are both qualitative and quantitative, and digital methods are employed together with more traditional research methods in virtual forms.

The transaction log study reveals that the average subscription-service user listens to audiobooks for a considerable amount of time every day. There also appears to be a correlation between audiobook listening and the work or school day, with more audiobook use carried out during daytime on weekdays, but also at bedtime. The analysis of the interview study highlights that audiobook reading practices have become part of users' everyday routines, and listening is closely interwoven with other daily activities. For young people, audiobooks are combined with commutes, schoolwork, chores, exercise and leisure activities. Listening has become routine for specific purposes, such as improving the enjoyment of another task, increasing reading time or supporting the user's wellbeing. Audiobook apps play a significant role in contemporary audiobook practices. The app feature analysis explores features in the player function of three subscription service apps and has found that some features make certain reading practices easier, while others create hindrances for users. Some app features are used for adjusting time, such as changing the speed of the book, setting a sleep timer or rewinding the audiobook when the user has lost focus. Moreover, some users alternate between the printed and audio version of a book title, and when possible, then use a feature for selecting the track to switch between formats. Finally, the thesis also contributes by developing and clarifying concepts relating to audiobooks, subscription services and reading. For example, the concepts of reading by listening, mobile reading and stationary reading are introduced here to highlight the specificity of different reading practices. Furthermore, the business models of subscription services have been conceptualised as following either a library model or bookshop model. Research on digital and subscription- based audiobooks is still in its initial stages. An ambition with this PhD thesis is to contribute with new knowledge and lay some conceptual groundwork relating to this topic.

The increasingly popular audiobook has become a highly mobile book format, possible to use on the go. Understanding where and when audiobooks are used is of relevance to those interested in changes in reading practices and information use. Building on rich material from a semi-structured study with ten Swedish young adult audiobook users (Tattersall Wallin, 2022a; 2022b), this poster explores mobile audiobook reading practices in 2020, both before and during the Covid-19 pandemic. The aim of this poster is to visualise some reading by listening practices found in the interview study, and explore how these complex and intricate practices are interwoven in everyday routine. These visualisations were first created by the author during the analysis of the transcribed interviews, to enable clearer understanding of the material at hand. 

Audiobook listening is here studied as a reading practice and conceptualised as reading by listening (Tattersall Wallin & Nolin, 2020; Tattersall Wallin, 2021). Based on the work of Schatzki (2002; 2005; 2010), practices are here understood as open-ended and routinised activities, which are situated in time and space and performed using tools or objects. This poster is part of a larger project exploring audiobook practices and two of the figures have been published in the summary essay of the doctoral thesis Sound Reading: Exploring and conceptualising audiobook practices among young adults (Tattersall Wallin, 2022b). 

Det här kapitlet handlar om bokläsning i Sverige under 2022, och hjälper oss följa hur läsvanor förändras över tid. Vi kan bland annat se att andelen som säger att de läst någon bok under året ligger på den lägsta nivån sedan mätningen började 1995.Framför allt verkar män ha minskat sin läsning av tryckta böcker. Ljudböcker är det enda bokformat som ökat i användning under 2022. Samtidigt ser vi att unga vuxna 16–29 år fortsätter visa stort intresse för läsning efter sin markanta ökning i tryckt bokläsning från föregående år. I den yngsta åldersgruppen har det nu även skett en betydande ökning av ljudboksläsning. När det gäller hur läsare får tag på sina böcker, kan vi bland annat se en ökning av personer som köpte tryckta böcker via fysisk bokhandel, även om siffrorna inte är tillbaka på samma nivå som tiden före pandemin. I kapitlet resonerar vi kring 2022 års statistik och vad förändringar i läsvanor kan bero på.

I det här kapitlet undersöker vi bokläsning i Sverige under 2021. Vi jämför läsningav de tre olika formaten tryckta böcker, ljudböcker och e-böcker i olika grupper. Vistuderar också högläsning för barn, samt varifrån människor får tag på sina böcker.Den nationella SOM-undersökningen för 2021 visar att läsning av alla tre bokfor-maten har ökat under året, vilket skulle kunna bero på pandemin. Särskilt intressantär att andelen unga vuxna 16–29 år som läst tryckta böcker har ökat tydligt sedan2020. Samtidigt ser högläsning för barn ut att ha minskat något under 2021. Underpandemiåren 2020–2021 har färre personer köpt böcker i fysisk bokhandel, ochandelen som lånat tryckta böcker via bibliotek minskade också under 2021. Inköpvia nätbokhandel har ökat, och något fler har också lånat digitala böcker via bibliotekeller strömmat dem via prenumerationstjänster. I kapitlet resonerar vi kring åretsförändringar och vad de kan bero på.

With remediation of the printed book into audiobook subscription services, reading by listening is becoming a popular alternative to reading by seeing. This article explores when people read by listening and whether there may be a shift regarding the places and times people read by listening rather than by seeing. Based on a considerable dataset from a Swedish subscription service for digital books, this article reveals that audiobook reading takes place at somewhat different times than expected and that subscribers read significant amounts each day. The findings indicate that the remediation into reading by listening using digital audiobooks may close the gender gap common in reading, as the reading practices of men and women are very similar, with men even reading slightly more than women. The reading practices of young adults are also similar to the larger population. Furthermore, the concepts stationary reading, mobile reading and stationary/mobile reading are introduced.

Det här kapitlet behandlar frågor som på olika sätt rör böcker, bokläsning och distri-bution av e-litteratur på den svenska bokmarknaden. Exempelvis analyseras hur stor andel av svenska folket som läser böcker, i vilka format de läser, och hur ofta de läser. Olika samhällsgruppers läsvanor analyseras, liksom hur läsningen har förändrats över tid. Några av de resultat som framkommer är att läsning av e-böcker fortsätter öka. Andelen som läser e-fackböcker har ökat från 13 till 16 procent mellan 2017 och 2018 samtidigt som andelen läsare av e-skönlitteratur har ökat från 16 till 18 procent. Lyssning av ljudböcker har ökat för facklitteratur från 9 till 14 procent medan lyss-ning av skönlitteratur har ökat från 26 till 29 procent. Statistik från bokbranschen tyder på att allt fler använder sig av prenumerationstjänster för sin konsumtion av digitala böcker, vilket är en fråga som kommer att diskuteras i kapitlet tillsammans med tillgången till digitala böcker via folkbibliotek och bokhandel.