For the past three years, Spritz has been working on software apps that allow people to read text like speed readers, only naturally. That is, the text itself shifts in front of your central focus instead of your eyes having to seccade from side to side of the text.
I had imagined this software, myself, several years ago but it was difficult (no impossible) convincing others to join the team to create this type of software. I tried to pull together a team to create this type of software. Many whom I approached had determined that speed reading was not "real" reading and others were convinced that we should not allow the machine to do the "work" of reading, or even assist in this way. Truth is, nearly all the people that try speed reading eventually give it up.
It is not what I had envisioned but now someone else has made this type of software. Try it yourself. See http://www.spritzinc.com/the-science/
Other types will emerge, I am sure. There are problems reimagining the texts that go with this type of reading. As with any type of speed reading done in the past, there are those that will resist the speed of it all but I do believe that in the next 5 years we will see a total change in the way we think of text, and the human speed of reading will shift.
Spritz is an "out there" experiment in changing reading. As more and more ideas enter the reading sphere through apps, there is bound to be something that ubiquitously changes what we do. Further to viewing these new experiments it is equally important to read the critiques. Here is a valuable critique of Spritz http://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/2014/03/19/comment-spritz-and-other-speed-reading-apps-prose-and-cons
Another wonderful software for speed reading is Spreeder. Try it at http://www.spreeder.com/ and find yourself improving over time. Consider the difficulty of the material as you read because unfamiliar words may cause you to stop and think. This is not a bad thing but just a part of the processes involved in reading. Why read slowly when you can read more easily and comprehend better as you read quickly? That is the basic lesson I learned from this software.
I had imagined this software, myself, several years ago but it was difficult (no impossible) convincing others to join the team to create this type of software. I tried to pull together a team to create this type of software. Many whom I approached had determined that speed reading was not "real" reading and others were convinced that we should not allow the machine to do the "work" of reading, or even assist in this way. Truth is, nearly all the people that try speed reading eventually give it up.
It is not what I had envisioned but now someone else has made this type of software. Try it yourself. See http://www.spritzinc.com/the-science/
Other types will emerge, I am sure. There are problems reimagining the texts that go with this type of reading. As with any type of speed reading done in the past, there are those that will resist the speed of it all but I do believe that in the next 5 years we will see a total change in the way we think of text, and the human speed of reading will shift.
Spritz is an "out there" experiment in changing reading. As more and more ideas enter the reading sphere through apps, there is bound to be something that ubiquitously changes what we do. Further to viewing these new experiments it is equally important to read the critiques. Here is a valuable critique of Spritz http://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/2014/03/19/comment-spritz-and-other-speed-reading-apps-prose-and-cons
Another wonderful software for speed reading is Spreeder. Try it at http://www.spreeder.com/ and find yourself improving over time. Consider the difficulty of the material as you read because unfamiliar words may cause you to stop and think. This is not a bad thing but just a part of the processes involved in reading. Why read slowly when you can read more easily and comprehend better as you read quickly? That is the basic lesson I learned from this software.
