The NEREIDE research project (NEw Reading Experiences In the Digital Ecosystem) aims to investigate new reading practices and habits connected to the evolution of the digital ecosystem, focusing in particular on the interaction between different reading practices (both on paper and on screen) and their social, cultural, and informational context.
Within this framework, NEREIDE has shifted attention from the technical features of the medium (printed book vs. ebook) to understanding the ways in which readers combine analog and digital tools in their actual reading practices, alternating between them or using them simultaneously.
Particular reference has been made to the key concept of augmented reading (Roma Tre Research Unit), understood as the integration of traditional reading with digital tools that expand the textual experience through online searching and the use of multimedia resources, hypertexts, collaborative annotations, and interactions with other readers.
Alongside the concept of augmented reading stands that of social reading (Sapienza Research Unit), grounded in the awareness that reading is no longer solely a solitary activity: social reading platforms, forums, in-person and online reading groups allow readers to discuss books, share annotations, write reviews, and take part in collective reading experiences. This phenomenon profoundly reshapes the reading experience, transforming it into a collaborative and interactive activity that the organization of shared reading spaces, such as libraries, must also take into account.
Specific attention has been devoted to the strategies through which readers integrate the text with additional content, using it to strengthen comprehension, broaden the context, or enrich textual interpretation.
Through these two lines of inquiry, the NEREIDE project has sought to outline a theoretical and methodological framework for reading studies aligned with the new reality of hybridization between the analog and the digital, capable of interpreting the complexity of readers’ behaviors and the dynamic nature of the contemporary information environment.
The research unit of the University of Roma Tre analyzed augmented reading behaviors through an examination of reading modalities on paper, aimed at identifying trigger words and expressions that prompt further exploration, and through the analysis of on-screen reading using an Eye-Tracker at the CoSMIC Lab. The study, conducted across three age groups, employed both narrative and non-fiction texts with varying densities of references. The data reveal the existence of common exit points from the text across all three sample groups, as well as age-specific behaviors, with a strong convergence between conscious exit points (identified through computer-assisted qualitative text analysis software) and implicit eye movements (recorded through heat maps).
The research, resulting from the collaboration between the Sapienza Research Unit and the University of Turin, pursued a dual objective. On the one hand (Sapienza), it aimed to analyze how and why readers intensify their augmented reading practices and which strategies they adopt. The complexity that emerged was captured through the construction of archetypes of “augmented readers,” understood as interpretive models of recurring configurations of behaviors and motivations. On the other hand (UniTo), it sought to design a Retrieval-Augmented Generation architecture applied to a personal collection, assessing—through a structured set of questions—its accuracy, relevance, and capacity to reconstruct connections as a tool for mediation and enhancement in the digital environment.
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