@TellMeWhatUReadingbot: the Multi-modal Strategy of the READ-IT Project for Collecting Experiences of Reading

Hypertext readership has been placed under extensive scrutiny. At the same time, little to no work has been done on how hypertext systems can contribute to reading scholarship. This contribution reports on the experience of the EU Joint Programme Initiative for Cultural Heritage (JPI-CH) funded READ-IT project and the development of an interactive, multimodal system to crowdsource testimonies of reading experiences. The contribution describes articulating the research infrastructure aimed at federating research case studies across Europe in several languages and about the readership of different kinds in different periods. The infrastructure aims to broaden the understanding of reading in Europe. The infrastructure included a system to collect sources (testimonies of reading experiences) to be studied within and beyond the project. The infrastructure also provided a combination of online forms, postcards, and a chatbot to facilitate reflection on reading by members of the public. This contribution accounts for the experience of using this system in several countries and throughout a wide range of initiatives.