Let’s give a chance to audio articles, a new initiative being trialed by Nature Clinical Practice. “These are FREE full-text audio versions of printed content from the March 2007 issue of Nature Clinical Practice Rheumatology. The aim of the Nature Clinical Practice journals is ‘to translate the latest findings into clinical practice’ by highlighting important original research papers so that busy doctors don’t have to read every journal associated with their specialty. The unabridged audio articles will extend this concept by enabling on-the-go doctors to make the most of their time through learning by listening, for example when commuting, exercising or driving.”
Ok, that’s the theory so far, but what is the practice behind? I listened to the demos (via iPhone on an airplane) and filled out a Surveymonkey survey.
For protocols, research and practical articles (full with numbers) it is not a good format as you cannot turn your eye back checking the earlier information (usually people are not reading scientific articles in a linear way but in circles, for instance reading abstracts firsts, than scanning figures and conclusion, then going into details in results, materials, methods, discussion and so on). Shorter, opinionated, journalistic pieces are preferred for audio content like the editorial, and viewpoints formats.
The articles are read out by natural voices, not by machines and softwares just like iSpeak It. Read the rest of this entry »
