A Study Of User Annotations In Social Reading:Based On Content Analysis

With the progress of internet technology,the widespread popularity of mobile devices and the development of social media,Social Reading has a rich soil for growth and become the development tendency of digital reading at present.Social annotation is an important function of social reading and also one of its typical features.Through social annotation,readers can add annotations and comments to the reading resources,and realize online sharing of annotation content and reading context.The user annotation data generated in social reading can reflect the real thinking and expression of users in social reading.Without doubt,social annotation is of great value to the research of user communication patterns in social reading and its impact on deep reading,but it has not been fully explored and analyzed.Taking the Reader's Response theory and knowledge Building theory as the theoretical basis,this paper constructed the content analysis framework respectively from the two aspects of content subject and the degree of knowledge building.Then,user annotation data in a popular social reading platform was collected and analyzed.Finally,the development status of social annotations in social reading platforms was summarized,and suggestions for the development of social reading platforms were put forward.To be specific,this paper summarized the relevant studies of social reading,social annotation and user communication in virtual learning communities firstly,and the two theoretical basis of knowledge construction theory and reader's response theory were explained and reviewed.Next,the social reading platform with the largest number of monthly active users in China – ‘i Reader',was selected as the research case.The user annotation data generated in the fiction and non-fiction reading was collection.Based on the constructed content analysis framework,the annotation data was analyzed and compared from the aspects of quantity and content.The results of data analysis showed that:(1)When using social annotation,users have the consciousness of expression.The reading attribute is still stronger than the social attribute in social reading;(2)There is a significant correlation between the text features and the content of user annotations.Users show different ways of using social annotations in fiction reading and non-fiction reading;(3)Social annotations promote readers' self-expression and sharing,but their replies and interactions are still limited;(4)Users are lack of enthusiasm and motivation for in-depth discussion.The social rewards offered by social reading platforms may be not enough.In order to improve the application effect of social annotations,this study put forward some suggestions on the construction of social reading platform from the perspective of promoting interaction and knowledge building.