3 - Detailed conclusions

1. One of the most basic functions of the human brain is pattern-recognition. We recognize and match patterns unconsciously and unceasingly while we are awake. This behavior developed for survival in pre-human (animal) evolution, and humans have developed it to a highly sophisticated level. It is coded into our DNA. The growth in size of the visual cortex in the human brain is believed to have resulted from the increasing importance to us of this faculty.
2. The book has evolved from primitive writing and languages into a sophisticated system that hooks into this basic human function at such a deep level we are not even aware of it. The effect is that the book “just disappears” once it hooks our attention.
3. The book succeeds in triggering this automated process because it is a “system” whose purpose is to Optimize Serial Pattern Recognition. From the outside it looks simple – not surprising, since it’s designed to become invisible to the reader. There are no bells, whistles, or flashing lights. But “under the hood” the technology is as complex as an internal combustion engine, and similarly it depends on a full set of variables that must be tuned to work together for maximum efficiency. Much previous research has failed to grasp this because of researchers’ tendencies to take the traditional path of attempting to isolate a single variable at a time. To gain full value from these variables requires first setting some invariable parameters, then adjusting complex combinations of variables for readability. I have called this complete system OSPREY (from Optimized Serial Pattern Recognition).
4. OSPREY has an “S-shaped” efficiency curve. Readability improves only slowly at first as individual variables are tuned. But once enough variables are tuned to work together, efficiency of the system rises dramatically until eventually the law of diminishing returns flattens the curve to a plateau. Conversely, it takes only two or three “broken” or sub-optimal variables to seriously degrade readability.
5. Reading is a complex and highly automated mental and visual process but makes no demands on conscious processing, leaving the reader free to distill meaning, to visualize, and to enter the world created by the writer. That world is in reality a combination of the writer’s creation and the reader’s own interpretation of it.
6. Interaction with this technology changes the level of consciousness of the reader. A reader who becomes “lost” in a book is in a conscious state that is closest to hypnotic trance. OSPREY allows the reader to achieve this state of consciousness by reaching his or her own “harmonic rhythm” of eye movements and fixations that becomes so automatic the reader is no longer aware of the process.
   All of the parameters and variables needed to achieve OSPREY are already known for print. They can be duplicated on the computer screen, but some technology improvements are required. Where the computer screen is weakest in relation to print is in the area of fonts and font rendering, which has the greatest effect on the way letter and word shapes are presented to the reader. In the course of this research, the author and others have carried out research in this area and have developed a new rendering technology (Microsoft® ClearType™) that greatly improves the quality of type on existing screens.
7. OSPREY can be produced algorithmically, with no requirement for manual intervention. Now we have proved that ClearType™ works, all of the required technologies are known. But they have never been assembled into a full system and tuned for the screen with OSPREY goals in mind. Since no such complete systems for displaying text on screens have yet been built, screen display of text is currently on the “low efficiency” segment of the S-Curve. This explains why people prefer to read from paper than screen, especially for longer-duration reading tasks – a fact documented by many researchers, and by our own experiences.
8. OSPREY technology will allow Microsoft to deliver electronic books that set new standards for readability on the screen. The technology can be folded back into mainstream Web browsing and other software to bring major improvements in the readability of all information on the screen.
9. Many attempts have been made over the years to develop alternative methods of improving reading speed and comprehension. Examples include technologies such as Rapid Serial Visual Presentation (flashing single words on a computer screen at accelerated rates) that are claimed to greatly increase reading speeds. They have failed to gain acceptance because they do not take the holistic approach needed to achieve the OSPREY state, and fail to take into account the wide variations in reading speed shown by a single reader during the course of reading one book. However, the possibility remains that some new technology can be developed to revolutionize reading, and further research should be carried out to fully explore alternative approaches. Any such “revolutionary” technology will have to be extremely powerful and easy to learn and apply in order to succeed. Not only will it have to improve the immersive reading experience, it will then have to be widely adopted as a replacement for the current system, which has evolved over thousands of years into its current mature technology and is highly bound up with the nature of humans.
10. We are now building an OSPREY reading engine from existing components and new technologies. For success, the team must continue to have a mix of software developers, typographers and designers. An important part of this project will be work on new fonts for reading on the screen, especially new font display technologies outlined in this paper to squeeze additional resolution from the mainstream display technologies which are likely to remain at or near their current resolution level for some years.
11. Once an OSPREY system is built, we should carry out further research into cognitive loading – a way of measuring the demands that the reading process makes on our attention. We should compare cognitive loading values for the printed book, for current Web-based documents, and for tuned OSPREY systems. This research will validate the OSPREY approach and provide valuable data for optimal tuning of OSPREY systems. We must develop arange of metrics for immersive reading, and tools to track them.
12. Using these measures will enable Microsoft to take the book to a new level that is impossible to achieve in print, and then apply the same technologies to all information. Understanding the basic OSPREY principles and implementing a system will enable us to use computer technology to enhance and reinforce the OSPREY effect without breaking it, for example by:
    • Creating new typefaces and font technologies to enhance pattern-recognition, especially for LCD screens.
    • Providing unabridged audio synchronized to the text so the reader can continue the story in places they would normally be unable to read – for example while driving – switching transparently between audio and display.
    • Using subtle and subliminal effects such as ambient sound and lighting to reinforce the book’s ability to draw the reader into the world created by the author. (Subtle is the keyword here: effects must enhance the OSPREY state without disrupting it). This utilizes the “Walkman Effect” to allow the reader to more quickly move from the physical world into the world of the book and keep her attention there by enhancing the book’s already-powerful capability to blank out distractions. At this point, this is merely a possibility; there is no proof that it will work, or that it might not run contrary to maintaining the flow of reading. This should be investigated in further research.
    • Defining new devices or improving existing desktop PCs with displays tuned to the “sweet spots” which are identified by the OSPREY research. Documents can be formatted for these “sweet spots” and intelligently degrade to provide maximum readability on other devices. A key to this will be the implementation of “adaptive document technology” (Microsoft patent applied for) which will automatically reformat documents to be read on any device while still adhering as closely as possible to OSPREY principles within device constraints. This technology, and the devices that run it, will help drive the paradigm shift from the desktop PCs of today to the portable, powerful, information-centric devices of tomorrow.