From "one volume in hand" to "one screen of ten thousand volumes" online reading has become a way of life

Readers in Hohhot, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, read e-books in the library. The image comes from the Internet

In ancient times, reading books was "one volume in hand", and now reading books is "one screen ten thousand volumes". Online reading has become a way of life and one of the important ways for people to obtain knowledge and information. With World Book Day approaching on 23 April, many places in China are launching a variety of online reading activities, allowing readers to read books without leaving their homes.

Read thousands of books without leaving home

"In order to better meet the reading needs of young children, we have moved our services to the Internet, so that children can enjoy the intimate service of the library at home." Zhen Mars, director of the Children's Library in Wuhan, Hubei Province, said. Wuhan Children's Library recently launched the "I am a child of the Yangtze River • International Children's Book Day Cloud Carnival" activity, taking children to "cloud tour" the humanistic and historical activities of provinces and cities along the Yangtze River, and feel the traditional culture.

Online public lectures, short video book recommendations, online poetry competitions... The Hefei Municipal Library in Anhui Province launched an online activity with the theme of "Measuring the World with Books", which attracted many readers to participate. In addition, Hefei Municipal Library also provides readers with massive online collection resources and "Book Express" services. The "Online Reading" and "Mobile Library" columns of the library's WeChat public account provide more than 1 million electronic literature resources and more than 3,000 kinds of humanities journals. The "Book Express" service can send books borrowed by readers to their homes, making it easier for readers to read books in various collections.

The Library of Huludao City, Liaoning Province, recently held an online public welfare reading meeting, which was held in the form of lecture exchanges through DingTalk online live broadcast. Huludao City Library has also launched columns such as "Red Story Painting", "Comic Book Reading Recommendation", and "Good Book Delight Reading" on the WeChat public account, and at the same time carried out online prize quiz on the knowledge of epidemic science popularization, online answer questions on the theme of cultural construction for the whole people, online interaction of "finding chapters and excerpting sentences, guessing the name of the book", and online exhibition of modern aesthetic poetry collections.

"The epidemic prevention and control has greatly increased the demand for digital content, and digital reading has become the norm, bringing opportunities for the cultivation of digital reading habits and emerging cultural consumption." Ao Ran, executive vice president and secretary general of the China Audiovisual and Digital Publishing Association, said in an interview with this newspaper that working from home has strengthened the online learning and reading habits of some users, and the demand for new publishing forms such as e-books, audiobooks, online literature, and knowledge services has increased significantly.

Share your thoughts remotely

Technology empowers not only the iterative update of reading methods, but also the scenes of people's reading and communication are more diverse.

Teachers and students of Deqing County Experimental Primary School in Huzhou City, Zhejiang Province, recently used online classes to read good books and share their experiences with primary school students in Keping County, Aksu District, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, through video. Lu Lingling, a teacher at Deqing County Experimental Primary School, said that the online reading activity used books as a link to enhance the understanding between the two sides.

"Every month, the WeChat reading platform will publish a monthly book list, showing which books are the most searched, recommended, commented on, read, and purchased by people on this platform." After reading the recommendation, the book I selected has been read, I think it is good, I have sent a recommendation reason on the WeChat reading platform and the circle of friends, and now there are already 3 friends reading this book. Ms. Jiang, an office worker in Xiamen, Fujian Province, said that the WeChat reading "monthly book list" is generated by the big data of reading in the month, which can help readers select good books in multiple dimensions.

"I participated in a reading punch card exchange group, the group owner released reading themes and recommended book lists at the beginning of each month, and the group friends had to share their reading situation and reading experience in the group every week." Xiao Tang, a sophomore in Beijing, said, "Quantitative change produces qualitative change, and I have persevered for a long time, not only reading the book carefully, but also thinking about writing down the experience, but also knowing the ideas of others, and can make progress together and harvest full." The reading exchange group breaks the restrictions of time and space, and there is both the invigorating freedom of communication and the warmth of cheering each other up. ”

In the view of Ma Jie, director of the Digital Publishing Department of the People's Publishing House, various forms of online and offline co-reading activities are very popular, because the activities include personal intensive reading, thinking sharing, discussion and collision, compared with ordinary individual reading, the participants' experience is more open, in-depth and profound. Through the book club activities, readers gradually increase the reading time, and the interest in reading is also stimulated.

Technical support content is king

Digital reading relies on the Internet environment, and all kinds of content providers should accelerate the innovation and exploration of digital reading product forms and online service models, so that the content presentation and touch mode is more in line with user characteristics and reading habits.

"The rapid development of digital technologies has made libraries richer and more diverse in terms of access to and provision of resources. With the development of information technology such as 5G networks and artificial intelligence, the National Library of China is promoting the construction of a smart library system to provide readers with richer, more convenient and smarter reading services. Xiong Yuanming, director of the National Library of China, said that the National Library of China has rich online book resources and can let people enjoy the joy of reading. The library's website is visited 1.1 billion times a year, and the average annual mobile phone visit is 100 million times.

Use 5G networks, panoramic video, virtual reality and other new technologies to create an immersive reading experience such as "panoramic exhibition hall" and "reading tree"; launch the "Online Book Fragrance , Reading Beauty" mini program, through more than 1,000 public libraries, free high-quality digital reading resources for the public; jointly hold a series of online and offline activities such as "Going to the Library" in libraries at all levels across the country, attracting millions of readers to the library to "read classics", "find treasures" and "change good books", and through WeChat, Douyin and other platforms. Make and share personalized electronic postcards... In recent years, the National Library of China has innovated the use of modern information technology to continuously expand the position of online and offline reading services and improve the ability of digital reading services.

The development of online technology has greatly expanded the space and scene of digital reading, bringing a more immersive and vivid experience. Weng Changshou, a researcher at the Research Center for Journalism and Social Development at the School of Journalism of Chinese University, said that the vigorous development of the Internet and the supply of digital content resources such as e-books have become the mainstream, which will bring readers a new experience and real convenience, and technological development will provide a more imaginative space for digital reading in the future.

No matter how technology develops, high-quality content is still the key to all kinds of digital reading platforms, and platforms should increase the cultivation of high-quality content. At the same time, it is also necessary to do a good job in big data analysis based on user reading behavior, accurately grasp user needs, and optimize content and services. (Li Xueqin)

Source: People's Daily Overseas Edition