Where did the book go? - An empirical study about reading habits and reading ecologies of Swedish Kindle-users

Sammanfattning: Through the introduction and popularisation of e-books and e-readers, the way books are read is changing. This paper aims to investigate the reading habits of five Swedish-based Kindle users to understand their reading ecologies and what place the Kindle has in their reading ecologies. The Kindle proves an interesting research focus as it is one of the most sold e-readers in the world, but has yet to establish itself on the Swedish market. The research focuses on three main themes: the reading ecologies and habits of the interviewees; why they use the Kindle; and how they use reviews on Kindle Store. The research uses the methods of communicative ecology mapping and qualitative interviews for collecting empirical data, which is then contextualised and analysed through the theories of communicative ecology, mediatization, and media as practice. The research shows that the interviewees prefer reading on digital devices, and that particular practices of reading are done in specific spatial dimensions. Three practices of reading are visible in the interviewees’ reading ecologies: news-reading, social media-reading, and Kindlereading. The interviewees use the Kindle as a replacement of the physical book, which is shown in the way the interviewees list the e-ink technology and lack of backlit screens as motivations for using the device, in addition to the vast amount of niched literature available on Kindle Store. Moreover, reviews on Kindle Store are valuable to the interviewees when buying books, but the type of book changes how much validity the reviews hold. The reviews, no matter if they are being read or written by the interviewees, are viewed as helping the community of readers who use Kindle in finding ‘good’ literature.