Reading and Writing Innovation Lab
Your opportunity to access our collection of hardware and software to investigate the impact of the digital transformation on reading and writing
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The lab has moved
The Reading and Writing Innovation Lab is now located in the Innovation Space at 13 Banbury Road. This means it is now more accessible, and that we can offer more opportunities for in-person visits as well as online consultations.
What is it?
As more and more of reading is moving to the digital realm, the Centre for Teaching and Learning has established a Reading and Writing Innovation Lab to help us keep track of the impact of the digital transformation on reading and writing.
The purpose of the lab is to:
- collect and test software and hardware and its various affordances for digital reading and writing
- enable the academic community to make better decisions about best technologies
- establish a platform for further research of digital scholarship
- provide a wider range of assistive technologies available to all.
Ultimately, we hope that as a result, more students and academics will be able to acquire the knowledge and skills necessary to develop the same level of fluency with digital reading and writing as they are used to with paper.
How can you access it?
Book a consultation
You can book an individual or small group consultation session to:
- try one of these devices hands on in the Innovation Space at 13 Banbury Road
- get an online consultation about an appropriate device.
Attend a tools showcase
We also run periodic showcases of the technologies, as well as other sessions.
Contact ReadingAndWritingLab@ctl.ox.ac.uk for more information, or sign up to our mailing list to be kept informed.
What tools can you try?
iPad |
Both 13in and 10in versions are included for testing of the impact of the screen size on reading certain types of texts – such as non-reflowable PDFs with small font and multiple columns. |
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Kindle Fire |
This tablet from Amazon is included to both offer an Android alternative and to be able to test Amazon services. |
Remarkable 2 |
This e-ink reader is very popular for its pen like experience but is also known for relatively little flexibility when working with large PDFs. |
Onyx Boox Reader 13 |
The large screen factor and the support for Android apps of this e-ink reader were behind the inclusion decision. |
Kobo Elipsa |
The Kobo is included primarily because it supports public libraries and digital rights management. |
C Pen Reader |
A scanning pen will be included to demonstrate possibilities of converting printed text into audio or digital highlights. |
Styluses and digital pens |
Pen input is an important modality for interacting with digital text for many users. Users also have very idiosyncratic preferences. A variety of active and passive styluses will be included. |
Wacom Tablet |
Even desktop computers benefit from pen input, the entry level Wacom tablet is a good example of this modality. |
Surface Studio |
The Microsoft Surface Studio will serve for demonstrating both Windows-based touch interfaces as well as Windows based software. |
MacBook Air |
It is important to include MacOS in consideration given the wide range of popular writing and notetaking apps that are available primarily or exclusively on the Mac. |
The list of software selected for the lab is quite long and evolving. It includes both free, paid and subscription apps from multiple categories. Selected categories apps to highlight include:
PDF and eBook Readers |
For a rich and meaningful interaction with text, a text reader that takes advantage of the digital affordances while taking into account the reader’s physical needs is important. Some examples of such apps are:
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Text to Speech tools |
Engaging other modalities is a key advantage of digital text. This functionality can be built in or a key feature of a dedicated reader app. Some examples of tools:
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Text accessibility tools |
There are a wide variety of tools that help modify text for the reader’s needs. These can be dedicated or built into other tools.
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Note taking apps |
Taking notes is an essential part of reading. The hardware devices will have a number of note-taking apps installed to test different needs and modalities. Examples will include:
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Mind Mapping tools |
Mind mapping and concept mapping tools proliferate. It is important for users to be able to make informed decisions about them. They will include:
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Writing assistants |
Writing assistants of all kinds have become increasingly popular. These range from grammar and style checking tools (such as Grammarly or Sapling), to text prediction (such as Lightkey). There is also an increasing number of tools powered by machine learning models that generate substantial portions of text from basic prompts (for example Rytr or Linguix). The lab will give users a chance to try different tools for their needs rather than simply relying on advertising. |
Book a consultation
Book an online or in person consultation if you would like to try one of these tools or would like more information.
Contact us
Email ReadingAndWritingLab@ctl.ox.ac.uk, if you are interested in holding a showcase or in a using one of our tools for research.