Numbers, Facts and Trends Shaping Your World
As part of our exploration of the new ecosystem of books, we asked respondents in our December 2011 survey about the way they discover books and then obtain them. We found that personal recommendations dominate book recommendations. At the same time, logarithms on websites, bookstore staffers, and librarians are in the picture, too. In our […]
Background The past several years have brought changes to the bookselling ecosystem, including the rise of e-commerce (and of Amazon in particular) and the continuing decline of independent bookstores and the bricks-and-mortar mega-bookstore. Borders declared bankruptcy in 2011. The current bookstore landscape now includes Barnes & Noble and Books-A-Million, as well as smaller chains and […]
Just-in-time Information through Mobile Connections The rapid adoption of cell phones and, especially, the spread of internet-connected smartphones are changing people’s communications with others and their relationships with information. Users’ ability to access data immediately through apps and web browsers and through contact with their social networks is creating a new culture of real-time information […]
Respondents’ thoughts About half of survey respondents selected the more upbeat scenario positing that a significant number of the features of the Home of the Future might finally arrive by 2020. The respondents who said the scenario will not unfold by 2020 said it is still too soon for smart systems to become deeply rooted […]
Respondents’ thoughts Descriptions of future economic stress and economic divides were prevalent in responses to this survey question on higher education. While some who chose the first scenario said educational institutions are too static and will not move forward quickly to implement new digitally assisted approaches, others who chose that scenario said such change is […]
Reading trends have fluctuated during the decades that polling organizations have been asking questions about Americans’ reading habits, especially when it comes to books. Our survey introduced several new dimensions of this exploration by asking about people’s purposes for reading, by looking at new technology formats, and by paying particular attention to the role of […]