To anyone who reads scriptures on iPad, Kindle, etc...

[CommanderSouth]

Is it just me or does anyone else have a harder time focusing(mentally, not with my eyes) when reading on a device? I don't know if it's all just mental or if there is something to it but when I read on my iPad I am less engaged it seems, which is a shame because I love the integrated sync in the gospel library app, that app is amazing.

Anyone else notice this or know any way to combat it?

Just curious...

[annewandering]

It is easier to 'engage' nearsighted. Not joking. How large is your device? How large is the type? Those make a difference to me.

[CommanderSouth]

I'm running an iPad mini and normal res (obviously) Palantino 20 pt...

[CommanderSouth]

And the mini is 7.9in BTW

[Anddenex]

I believe I am exactly the opposite. I love using my iPad2 when reading scriptures. I love the option the gospel library app allows for taking notes, highlighting, and linking other scriptures. In my notes, I can easily now write down a quote from one of our leaders and connect it with the right verse, instead of cutting out the words from the magazines and taping them into my scriptures. Much easier to highlight, copy, and then paste.

The ability to sync, is awesome as well.

[annewandering]

I believe I am exactly the opposite. I love using my iPad2 when reading scriptures. I love the option the gospel library app allows for taking notes, highlighting, and linking other scriptures. In my notes, I can easily now write down a quote from one of our leaders and connect it with the right verse, instead of cutting out the words from the magazines and taping them into my scriptures. Much easier to highlight, copy, and then paste.

The ability to sync, is awesome as well.

I absolutely love the ability to search across every source in the app and there are a lot of them. It is amazing!

[Tough Grits]

I do not have trouble with the type or font when using my kindle fire.

I know when I am reading books on my kindle that I prefer to change the font color to white, and the background to black. It is easier on my eyes...since I mostly read my fiction books at night before bed.

I have not tried it for the scriptures, not sure how much you can play with the settings on the Church app.

[rameumptom]

I have no problem with my kindle touch. I adjust the size setting according to how my eyes are working for the day. My wife loves having her kindle read out loud to her as she follows along, which helps her focus.

[Bini]

Or leave the iPad mini settings alone and use the Read feature. That zooms in just enough but not too much and is easy access one touch. No in and out of icons, settings, etc and etc.

I'm really tech trendy (not techie) and I don't use my iPhone 5 or iPad mini at church. Probably because I'm so easily distracted by other things on them. So I roll old school.

[JosephP]

I use the iPhone app and prefer it to the printed version. I feel bad because my printed scriptures were a gift and it seems somehow thoughtless to leave them unused on the shelf for month after month.

Nothing can compare with having access to the scriptures anytime/anywhere. Now if only I could access them through a voice question to Siri!:)

[Vort]

I'm one of those people who write lots of notes in the margins, circle words, draw arrows between verses on facing pages, and so forth. The usability of physical scriptures is very high and the learning curve very low. What can Kindle or other electronic media offer in replacement for this? (Besides convenience -- basically, I'm wondering if I can sufficiently replace the raw functionality of dead trees.)

[dahlia]

So, a couple of things. When I first started going to church, I was one of the few people using an iPad or other device to access the scriptures. Now, almost everyone has some kind of device, including smart phones, for accessing scriptures. As someone who examines technology and society, I find this a fascinating example of innovation diffusion. It's also interesting that electronic devices are being used across all ages, and not mostly by the young.

Second, my dissertation research included information technology use by the participants. Almost all of my participants were 50-ish. We know from research that older people have a hard time doing a lot of reading on computer monitors. This becomes problematic in organizations that have paper-reduction initiatives without considering how their workers actually use paper and that due to physical changes in the aging eye, it may be nearly impossible to expect middle-aged people to read all of their work-related info on a screen.

In terms of middle aged and older people using electronic devices in church, it would be interesting to see if they also used them at home, or preferred a book version. I have a beautiful quad given to me when I was baptized, and a 'regular' BoM and the Bible. They are hard as heck to read. I imagine a large print version would be huge. I'm just as happy using my iPad, but then I'm not used to annotating and underlining in my books (I understand now why Mormons do it, but I still find it an unusual practice to mark up a book like that).

That said, Kindle technology must be something different. Perhaps it is the way it looks like a sheet of paper and not a computer screen, but based on observation and church and my mother's Kindle use, middle-aged and elderly people don't seem to have a problem reading on Kindle devices.

I see a research project on the horizon. : )

[Anddenex]

I'm one of those people who write lots of notes in the margins, circle words, draw arrows between verses on facing pages, and so forth. The usability of physical scriptures is very high and the learning curve very low. What can Kindle or other electronic media offer in replacement for this? (Besides convenience -- basically, I'm wondering if I can sufficiently replace the raw functionality of dead trees.)

Notes, very basic (actually easier with the iPad), easily accomplished. Win for the iPad.

If you enjoy circling and drawing arrows, then "the raw functionality of dead trees" at this moment scores for physical scriptures. Lose for the iPad.

However, with technology booming, more apps are allowing such actions as circling and drawing arrows, so in the future I wouldn't be surprised if iPad actually has this function for the gospel library app.

However, I think everyone should always keep a copy of physical scriptures at home. This way if electricity were no longer available for an extended or short period of time, a person could still read.

:)

[Just_A_Guy]

However, I think everyone should always keep a copy of physical scriptures at home. This way if electricity were no longer available for an extended or short period of time, a person could still read.

:)

Call it vanity; but I've always kind of looked at my marked-up, dead-tree scriptures as a potential legacy for my posterity - a way for them to get to know me and the way I approached my spirituality (such as it is).

It will be interesting to see if electronic media--an LDS.org account, or a blog, or a data file for an iPad or whatever--have that kind of staying power in the long run. Having an electronic set on my phone is a wonderful convenience, but if I ever upgrade my "study" scriptures it will most likely be from my regular set to a large-print set.

Edited February 19, 2013 by Just_A_Guy

[Connie]

My hubby loves his Nexus 7. He uses it exclusively with the church's scripture app. He can highlight or underline in a few different colors, make his own notes and make his own links, linking whatever scriptures he wants together or even linking to church manuals or conference talks. He can then link all of that directly to his LDS.org account and print out all his notes and highlights if he wants a hard copy. It's pretty cool.

[Anddenex]

Call it vanity; but I've always kind of looked at my marked-up, dead-tree scriptures as a potential legacy for my posterity - a way for them to get to know me and the way I approached my spirituality (such as it is).

Awesome. This is actually part of the reason I still have two of my scripture sets and I want to hand them down also.

I would like to call it...thinking ahead...or the spirit of Elijah.

It will be interesting to see if electronic media--an LDS.org account, or a blog, or a data file for an iPad or whatever--have that kind of staying power in the long run.

Great question, I would assume as long as we have electricity and the internet...the staying power is forever.

However, I wonder what the Church would do once one of the members dies. Does the Church only hold this information while the member is still alive? Hmm.... if so, then I can't pass them down...loss for electronic device note taking.

[Vort]

but then I'm not used to annotating and underlining in my books (I understand now why Mormons do it, but I still find it an unusual practice to mark up a book like that).

You didn't ask a question -- quite the opposite, in fact -- but I'm going to pretend you did.

• I'm reading along in Luke 22 and I come across verses 31 and 32:

  And the Lord said, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat: But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not: and when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren.

  Huh. Look at that. I never noticed it before, but Jesus used plural "you" when talking about who Satan desires to have, but then uses the SINGULAR "thou" (and "thee" and "thy") when telling Peter who he (Jesus) has been praying for. That is, Jesus is telling Peter that Satan desires to have all of Christ's disciples, but that Jesus has been praying specifically for Peter. In any other language, this is obvious, but in English it's a revelation to me.

  So, I underline or circle the relevant pronouns in my scriptures and perhaps write a note in the margin to remind myself. Maybe something else occurs to me, so I also make a note that "Peter was not yet converted" -- something I may have just realized and don't want to forget next time I read it.

  How do I do this with electronic media?

• I'm reading in the book of Jacob 7, and in verse 21 I see that all the Nephites passed out when Sherem renounced his evil teachings and then kicked the bucket. It occurs to me that the passing-out motif is pretty common among the Lehites. So, in the margin at the top of the page, I list the Book of Mormon incidents of people passing out in such situations: Mosiah 27:19, Alma 15:35, 18:42, 19:13-15, 22:18, 27:17, Helaman 9:5, 3 Nephi 1:15, 11:12, 17:18. Now I can compare and contrast these episodes at my leisure in years to come.

  How do I do this with electronic media?

• I'm reading in the Doctrine and Covenants, and I decide it would be nice to make up a short name for each section. So in the top margin above each section heading, I write something like "Section 111: Trip to Salem" (or whatever short name I think fits the section).

  How do I do this with electronic media?

• I reach Section 131 of the Doctrine and Covenants, and read verses 5 and 6:

  5 (May 17th, 1843.) The more sure word of prophecy means a man’s knowing that he is sealed up unto eternal life, by revelation and the spirit of prophecy, through the power of the Holy Priesthood.

  6 It is impossible for a man to be saved in ignorance.

  Oh, wow. We quote verse 6 All The Time at Church and in talking about the gospel, but I just noticed that the "ignorance" mentioned in verse 6 probably refers to the "knowing" in verse 5. This gives a completely different meaning to verse 6: It is not saying that we need to learn lots of stuff in order to be saved, but that we need to have our calling and election made sure -- we need gain the "more sure word of prophecy", to KNOW that we are sealed up unto eternal life (in this life or the next, I assume). Only then can we finally be saved.

  What a revelation to me! So I circle or underline "knowing" in verse 5 and "ignorance" in verse 6, then draw a line connecting the two words, thus preserving my insight.

  How do I do this with electronic media?

• I'm reading in Revelation, a book I'm not all that comfortable with. I just simply don't get the imagery or symbolism in many cases. So in chapter 12, verse 14, I read that a woman persecuted by a dragon grows two eagle's wings to fly into the wilderness, "in her place, where she is nourished for a time, and times, and half a time, from the face of the serpent."

  Huh?

  No idea what that italicized phrase above might mean. Even if I assign meanings to the woman and her baby and the dragon and eagle's wings and so forth, the "time" and "times" and "half a time" thing leaves me utterly nonplussed. It clearly means something, but I haven't a clue what. So I underline the phrase and put a question mark out on the margin, to signal that I need to give this more thought. (Btw, I have lots of question marks in my scriptures.)

  How do I do this with electronic media?

I could give a bunch more examples, but I expect the point is made. I would love to have a slim, convenient, easy-to-carry electronic device for my scriptures, but I don't know how I would record my own insights or questions on such a device. Any insights?

(This has taken me quite a while to write, since I'm working and trying to do several things at once, so my apologies in advance if someone has already responded.)

[Windseeker]

Vort do you have a smart phone? If so download and install the LDS Gopel Library application.

Open up to any scripture, conference talk, manual available by the church (need to download to the app first) and you can hightlight take notes etc. You can even add your own link to another passage of scripture, church magazine ariticle, conference talk or manual lesson. You can tag, note, link and highlight and copy and paste anything in the gospel library.

Another amazing thing is you can link to your church account to the app and it saves all your stuff. So if your phone or ipad or nook get's lost, you have all your notes and links and stuff. It also means you save something on your phone it will be on your nook when you open it up.

It's insane, they literally have thought of everything.

Edited February 19, 2013 by Windseeker

[Anddenex]

It's insane, they literally have thought of everything.

Almost everything...the two things I do miss: circling (although highlighting is a type of circling - however underlining and circling represented two different thoughts for me with physical scriptures) and drawing arrows of connection.

[Windseeker]

Vort do you have a smart phone? If so download and install the LDS Gopel Library application.

Open up to any scripture, conference talk, manual available by the church (need to download to the app first) and you can hightlight take notes etc. You can even add your own link to another passage of scripture, church magazine ariticle, conference talk or manual lesson. You can tag, note, link and highlight and copy and paste anything in the gospel library.

Another amazing thing is you can link to your church account to the app and it saves all your stuff. So if your phone or ipad or nook get's lost, you have all your notes and links and stuff. It also means you save something on your phone it will be on your nook when you open it up.

It's insane, they literally have thought of everything.

[Windseeker]

Almost everything...the two things I do miss: circling (although highlighting is a type of circling - however underlining and circling represented two different thoughts for me with physical scriptures) and drawing arrows of connection.

Yeah that would be nice. But you can highlight in different colors and you can tag. So you can tag something with a question mark and you can choose a different colors to be different things.

[Anddenex]

Yeah that would be nice. But you can highlight in different colors and you can tag. So you can tag something with a question mark and you can choose a different colors to be different things.

Good point about the different colors which could represent an underline or a circle. I do wish though we could connect closely related verses with an arrow.

Right now, I am trying to figure out how my comment right now, as of 2:20pm MST, is showing before yours...it appears now that I am prophetic ... responding to your post without it being posted...genius

[Windseeker]

I made a grammatical error and after I fix it, it says 'edited by windseeker', so to appear more intelligent I delete and repost the entire message so I look more like Vort who makes no mistakes.

I probably shouldn't do that, you were just quicker then my edit attempt.

[Windseeker]

I do wish though we could connect closely related verses with an arrow.

Rather than an arrow can you just create a link, so when you click it, it zips you to the related scripture and then that one can have a link that zips you back.

mmmm...wonder if they tested that out and see if you can get in an endless link loop?

[Vort]

Vort do you have a smart phone? If so download and install the LDS Gopel Library application.

I do not have a smart phone. Smart phones are for rich people. But it's good to know that functionality is present, because it's only a matter of time until regular people can buy smart phones, too.