Why would someone prefer electronic more?
Preference of Media by Category
* If they are consuming a whole issue of a technical magazine
or journal issue, there was an equal split between media
preference.
- We periodically get requests for a way to download entire
issues from IEEE Xplore.
* If they are consuming one article at a time (non-subscription)
the preference is 56% electronic, with only 32% saying print.
* The reasons were supplied in the survey, but the
percentages are not surprising.
Why would someone prefer print issues?
How frequently do users self-print their
electronic content?
* Note that the top reasons refer to resting from the computer.
IEEE ceasing to print will necessitate their self-printing for
this "rest."
* The usability features most noted for print: browsing
("paging") 58% and also ease of annotation/note-taking 51%.
* Single journal papers received are often/always self-printed
when received electronically by 42%.
* Surprisingly, even 10%-13% of respondents say they often/
always self-print whole magazine/journal issues when they
receive them electronically.
* Student preferences do not differ significantly from other grades.
If we stopped print, would you continue to consume the content electronicly?
* Having a category "entire journals" as well as "single journal
article" may have muddied the answer a bit. Using just the
single article as a guide, we would potentially lose 10% of
readers if we ended print journals.
* If we ended print magazines, 21% of readers may be lost.
FIgURE 11. A survey of IEEE readership to establish patterns of access and preferences.
october 2015
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IEEE Consumer Electronics Magazine
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