Sprecher
Beschreibung
Digital audiobooks pave the way for new forms of reading. Through a smartphone and a couple of headphones, it is possible for the reader to read “on the go” or take part in other activities such as housework, commuting or exercising while consuming audiobooks (Linkis and Pennlert, 2022; Have and Pedersen 2015).Earlier studies have examined the individual reader’s audiobook experiences and reading practices through qualitative or quantitative methods (Have and Stougaard Pedersen, 2015, Wallin 2022, Berglund 2024). It is more uncommon to study collective experiences or discussions about audiobook experiences among readers. Such social dimensions can be approached through methods such as focus-group discussions or book-circles dedicated to audiobooks where readers meet in groups and share their experiences.
The proposed presentation focuses on insights from so-called “audiobook circles” which have been conducted as part of the project “Between Sound and Text: Production, Content and Experiences of Multimodal Audio Literature” (PI: Sara Tanderup Linkis, Lund University), funded by The Swedish Research Council 2024-2026.
The audiobook circles consisted of three groups of audiobook users who met for three times, both in physical and digital format during spring 2025. Based on this material, the presentation will answer the following questions: How can audiobook experiences be investigated through group discussions among readers? What benefits and pitfalls might occur and how can we, as researchers interested in this developing field of research, tackle these aspects?
Julia Pennlert has an PhD in comparative literature and works as a senior lecture in reading and reading promotion at SLIS (Swedish Schoool of Library and Information Science) at Universty of Borås, Sweden. Her research interest covers audiobooks, digital reading, sociology of literature and digital humanities. She is a currently a researcher in the project “Between Sound and text”