【简介】感谢网友“雕龙文库”参与投稿，这里小编给大家分享一些，方便大家学习。
It takes the average reader just seven hours to read the final book in Suzanne Collins's 'Hunger Games' trilogy on the Kobo e-reader─about 57 pages an hour. Nearly 18,000 Kindle readers have highlighted the same line from the second book in the series: 'Because sometimes things happen to people and they're not equipped to deal with them.' And on Barnes & Noble's Nook, the first thing that most readers do upon finishing the first 'Hunger Games' book is to download the next one.
普通读者用Kobo电子阅读器看完苏珊娜·柯林斯(Suzanne Collins)的《饥饿游戏》(Hunger Games)三部曲的最后一部只需七个小时，差不多每小时看57页。该系列第二部中的一句话──“因为有时候人们总会遇到一些事，但又没有做好处理的准备。──被近18,000名Kindle用户高亮标示出来。至于巴诺书店(Barnes & Noble)Nook电子阅读器的用户，他们读完《饥饿游戏》第一部后做的第一件事就是下载下一部。
In the past, publishers and authors had no way of knowing what happens when a reader sits down with a book. Does the reader quit after three pages, or finish it in a single sitting? Do most readers skip over the introduction, or read it closely, underlining passages and scrawling notes in the margins? Now, e-books are providing a glimpse into the story behind the sales figures, revealing not only how many people buy particular books, but how intensely they read them.
在过去，出版商和作家都无从了解读者的阅读情况。他们无从了解读者是看了三页就不看了呢还是一口气把书读完了？大多数读者会跳过介绍还是会仔细阅读它、会不会在一些段落下划线、会不会在空白处做笔记？而现如今，电子阅读器能够让出版商和作家一窥销售额背后的故事，它们不仅仅能够显示某些书吸引了多少购买者，还能揭示他们的阅读强度。
For centuries, reading has largely been a solitary and private act, an intimate exchange between the reader and the words on the page. But the rise of digital books has prompted a profound shift in the way we read, transforming the activity into something measurable and quasi-public.
数世纪以来，阅读基本上是一种单独的、私密的行为，它是读者与书页上的文字之间的亲密交流。然而，随着电子阅读器的兴起，我们的阅读方式发生了深刻的变化，阅读转变为某种可以测量的半公开的行为。
The major new players in e-book publishing─Amazon, Apple and Google─can easily track how far readers are getting in books, how long they spend reading them and which search terms they use to find books. Book apps for tablets like the iPad, Kindle Fire and Nook record how many times readers open the app and how much time they spend reading. Retailers and some publishers are beginning to sift through the data, gaining unprecedented insight into how people engage with books.
目前，电子书出版领域的主要竞争者有亚马逊(Amazon)、苹果(Apple)和谷歌(Google)，它们能够轻松跟踪读者的阅读进度、花在阅读上的时间、以及搜索图书时使用的关键字。iPad、Kindle Fire和Nook等平板电脑的图书软件能够记录用户打开软件的次数并能记录他们的阅读时长。电子书零售商和一些出版社开始细致研究这些数据，从而对人们的阅读行为获得前所未有的了解。
Publishing has lagged far behind the rest of the entertainment industry when it comes to measuring consumers' tastes and habits. TV producers relentlessly test new shows through focus groups; movie studios run films through a battery of tests and retool them based on viewers' reactions. But in publishing, reader satisfaction has largely been gauged by sales data and reviews─metrics that offer a postmortem measure of success but can't shape or predict a hit. That's beginning to change as publishers and booksellers start to embrace big data, and more tech companies turn their sights on publishing.
说到揣度消费者的爱好和习惯，出版界要远远落后于文娱业的其他领域。例如，电视制作人孜孜不倦地通过焦点小组来试播新节目，电影公司通过一系列试映来播放影片，然后根据观众的反应重新进行调整。然而，在出版界，读者满意度主要是通过销售数据和书评来衡量，这些指标往往只是在事后对一本书的成功做出衡量，并不能促成或是预测到一本书的热销。如今，由于出版社和书商开始获得大量数据，再加上更多科技公司将目光转向了出版界，这种情况正开始发生转变。
Barnes & Noble, which accounts for 25% to 30% of the e-book market through its Nook e-reader, has recently started studying customers' digital reading behavior. Data collected from Nooks reveals, for example, how far readers get in particular books, how quickly they read and how readers of particular genres engage with books. Jim Hilt, the company's vice president of e-books, says the company is starting to share their insights with publishers to help them create books that better hold people's attention.
巴诺书店借助其电子阅读器Nook在电子书市场占有25%至30%的份额，该公司最近开始研究消费者的电子阅读行为。例如，从Nook收集而来的数据能够显示读者看某些书的进度、他们的阅读速度以及某些特定类型的读者的阅读方式。巴诺书店负责电子书业务的副总裁吉姆·希尔特(Jim Hilt)称，该公司正开始与出版商分享他们的调查结果，以帮助他们创作出更能抓住大家的吸引力的书籍。
The stakes are high for the company as it seeks a greater share of the e-book market. Sales of Nook devices rose 45% this past fiscal year, and e-book sales for the Nook rose 119%. Overall, Nook devices and e-books generated $1.3 billion, compared to $880 million the previous year. Microsoft recently invested $300 million for a 17.6% stake of the Nook.
这件事对该公司而言利益攸关，因为其正努力寻求提高自己在电子书市场的份额。在过去这一财年，Nook平板电脑的销售额上升了45%，Nook电子书的销售额则大升119%。总的说来，Nook平板电脑和电子书的销售额从上一财年的8.8亿美元升至13亿美元。最近，微软(Microsoft)投资三亿美元收购了该公司17.6%的股份。
Mr. Hilt says that the company is still in 'the earliest stages of deep analytics' and is sifting through 'more data than we can use.' But the data─which focuses on groups of readers, not individuals─has already yielded some useful insights into how people read particular genres. Some of the findings confirm what retailers already know by glancing at the best-seller lists. For example, Nook users who buy the first book in a popular series like 'Fifty Shades of Grey' or 'Divergent,' a young-adult series by Veronica Roth, tend to tear through all the books in the series, almost as if they were reading a single novel.
希尔特称，该公司依然处于“深度分析的最初阶段，正在对“超出他们所能运用的数量的数据进行细致分析。但这些数据──聚焦于不同的读者群体而非个人──已经在揭示人们对特定类型书籍的阅读方式方面带来了一些很有助益的发现。例如，购买像《五十度灰》(Fifty Shades Of Grey)这样的畅销系列小说或是薇诺妮卡?罗斯(Veronica Roth)所作的《分歧者》(Divergent)这样的青少年系列小说第一部的Nook用户往往会把该系列全部读完，彷佛他们读的就是一本小说。
Barnes & Noble has determined, through analyzing Nook data, that nonfiction books tend to be read in fits and starts, while novels are generally read straight through, and that nonfiction books, particularly long ones, tend to get dropped earlier. Science-fiction, romance and crime-fiction fans often read more books more quickly than readers of literary fiction do, and finish most of the books they start. Readers of literary fiction quit books more often and tend skip around between books.
对来自Nook的数据进行分析之后，巴诺书店确定，人们在读非小说类书籍时往往会有间歇，读小说时一般会连续把书读完，而且非小说类书籍、特别是篇幅长的，往往会更早被读者扔在一旁。科幻小说、言情小说和犯罪小说的爱好者的阅读速度常常比文学类小说读者的速度快得多，而且他们会把看的书大多数都看完。文学类小说的读者读书半途而废的情况更常见，并且常常会同时交替阅读不同的书籍。
Those insights are already shaping the types of books that Barnes & Noble sells on its Nook. Mr. Hilt says that when the data showed that Nook readers routinely quit long works of nonfiction, the company began looking for ways to engage readers in nonfiction and long-form journalism. They decided to launch 'Nook Snaps,' short works on topics ranging from weight loss and religion to the Occupy Wall Street movement.
这些发现已经对巴诺书店在Nook上出售的书籍的类型产生了影响。希尔特称，当数据显示Nook的读者经常弃读长篇幅的非小说类书籍时，该公司就开始想办法来吸引读者阅读短篇幅非小说类作品和长篇报刊文章。他们决定推出“Nook Snaps，其中均为短篇作品，内容涉及从减肥、宗教到“占领华尔街运动的五花八门的话题。
Pinpointing the moment when readers get bored could also help publishers create splashier digital editions by adding a video, a Web link or other multimedia features, Mr. Hilt says. Publishers might be able to determine when interest in a fiction series is flagging if readers who bought and finished the first two books quickly suddenly slow down or quit reading later books in the series.
希尔特称，确定读者心生厌烦的时间也可帮助出版商通过增加视频、网络链接或其他多媒体功能来推出更具吸引力的数字版本。如果发现某系列科幻小说的读者在购买并迅速读完头两本后突然放慢了速度或者不再读该系列的书时，出版商或许能够确定该系列小说什么时候开始丧失了吸引力。
'The bigger trend we're trying to unearth is where are those drop-offs in certain kinds of books, and what can we do with publishers to prevent that?' Mr. Hilt says. 'If we can help authors create even better books than they create today, it's a win for everybody.'
他还说，“我们试图发掘的大方向是读者在阅读某些类型的书籍时于何处停止阅读，我们能够与出版商合作采取哪些措施来避免这种情况发生？如果我们能够帮助作家未来创作出比现在更棒的作品，这对每个人都有好处。
Some authors welcome the prospect. Novelist Scott Turow says he's long been frustrated by the industry's failure to study its customer base. 'I once had an argument with one of my publishers when I said, 'I've been publishing with you for a long time and you still don't know who buys my books,' and he said, 'Well, nobody in publishing knows that,' ' says Mr. Turow, president of the Authors Guild. 'If you can find out that a book is too long and you've got to be more rigorous in cutting, personally I'd love to get the information.'
部分作家对此前景持欢迎态度，其中美国作家协会(Authors Guild)主席、小说家斯科特·特罗(Scott Turow)便表示长期以来他对出版业未能研究消费群感到失望。特罗说，“我曾经和我的一名出版商发生争论，我说‘我和你合作出书那么长时间了，你仍然不知道哪些人买我的书，’他说道‘好吧，出版界都没有人知道’。如果你能发现书的篇幅太长了，那么你就要狠狠地删减，就我个人而言我乐意获得这种信息。
Others worry that a data-driven approach could hinder the kinds of creative risks that produce great literature. 'The thing about a book is that it can be eccentric, it can be the length it needs to be, and that is something the reader shouldn't have anything to do with,' says Jonathan Galassi, president and publisher of Farrar, Straus & Giroux. 'We're not going to shorten 'War and Peace' because someone didn't finish it.'
其他作家则担心，这种以数据推动的创作方式可能会阻碍那些有可能创作出伟大文学作品的风险性创新。Farrar, Straus & Giroux出版社总裁及发行人乔纳森·加拉西(Jonathan Galassi)认为，“一本书的独特之处在于它可以是超乎寻常的，它可以是它所需要的长度，这应该是与读者没有任何关系的事情。我们不会因为有人读不完《战争与和平》(War and Peace)就把它改短。
Publishers are only just beginning to mull over the potential uses for e-reading data. Many are skeptical that analytics can aid in the industry's ongoing battle to woo consumers who are increasingly distracted by games and social media. But at a time when traditional publishers are losing ground to tech giants like Amazon and Apple, better analytics seem to offer tantalizing possibilities.
目前，出版商仅仅是刚开始细致考虑电子阅读数据的潜在用途。许多人对分析学是否能够对出版业抢夺逐渐被游戏和社交媒体所吸引的消费者的持续大战提供帮助持怀疑态度。然而，在传统出版商在与亚马逊和苹果等科技巨头的大战中节节失利的情况下，更好的数据分析似乎带来了一些让人无法抗拒的希望。
Amazon, in particular, has an advantage in this field─it's both a retailer and a publisher, which puts the company in a unique position to use the data it gathers on its customers' reading habits. It's no secret that Amazon and other digital book retailers track and store consumer information detailing what books are purchased and read. Kindle users sign an agreement granting the company permission to store information from the device─including the last page you've read, plus your bookmarks, highlights, notes and annotations─in its data servers.
其中，亚马逊在这个领域拥有特别的优势，因为它不仅是零售商，也是出版商，这些因素让它在利用其收集的消费者阅读习惯的数据方面具有得天独厚的优势。亚马逊和其他一些电子书零售商跟踪和存储有关消费者购买和阅读什么书的消费者信息已不是什么秘密。Kindle用户购机时会签署一份协议，授权亚马逊将来自Kindle的信息存储在其数据服务器上，其中包括用户最终的阅读进度、书签、高亮标记处、笔记以及注释等。
Amazon can identify which passages of digital books are popular with readers, and shares some of this data publicly on its website through features such as its 'most highlighted passages' list. Readers digitally 'highlight' selections using a button on the Kindle; they can also opt to see the lines commonly highlighted by other readers as they read a book. Amazon aggregates these selections to see what gets underlined the most. Topping the list is the line from the 'Hunger Games' trilogy. It is followed by the opening sentence of 'Pride and Prejudice.'
亚马逊可以确认电子书的哪些段落受到读者的欢迎，并能通过“最受关注的段落列表等此类功能将其中部分信息公布在其网站上。读者在用Kindle看书时可以用按键将节选出来的区域以数字方式高亮标出，他们在读书时还可以选择查看其他读者共同高亮标记出来的句子。亚马逊将这些节选出来的句子汇总在一起，查看哪些句子被高亮标出的频率最高，其中次数最多的是《饥饿者游戏》三部曲中的那句话，位居其次的是《傲慢与偏见》(Pride and Prejudice)开篇第一句话。
'We think of it as the collective intelligence of all the people reading on Kindle,' says Amazon spokeswoman Kinley Pearsall.
亚马逊发言人金莉·佩尔索尔（Kinley Pearsall）称，“我们认为这是所有用Kindle看书的读者的集体智慧。
Some privacy watchdogs argue that e-book users should be protected from having their digital reading habits recorded. 'There's a societal ideal that what you read is nobody else's business,' says Cindy Cohn, legal director for the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a nonprofit group that advocates for consumer rights and privacy. 'Right now, there's no way for you to tell Amazon, I want to buy your books, but I don't want you to track what I'm reading.'
一些隐私监管机构提出，应保护电子书读者的电子阅读习惯不被记录下来。倡导消费者权利及隐私的非营利组织电子前沿基金会(Electronic Frontier Foundation，简称“EFF)的法务总监辛迪·科恩(Cindy Cohn)称，“有一种社会理想状态是，你看什么书与他人无关。但是现在你却没有办法告诉亚马逊说‘我想买你们的书，但是我不希望你们跟踪我在读什么书’。亚马逊拒绝就该公司如何分析和利用其收集的Kindle数据置评。
Amazon declined to comment on how it analyzes and uses the Kindle data it gathers.
EFF已推动立法工作，防止电子书零售商在未获得法院批准的情况下将有关个人阅读习惯的信息作为证据交给执法机构。今年早些时候，加州制定了《读者隐私法案》，它加大了执法机构获取消费者的电子阅读记录的难度。依据这项新法案，执法机构在获得法院命令之后才可要求电子书销售商提供披露消费者浏览、购买并高亮标示了哪些书的信息。美国公民自由联盟(American Civil Liberties Union)和EFF曾联手谷歌和其他组织推动这项立法，如今它们正努力推动美国其他州也制定同样的法案。
