In a world where technology is rapidly expanding, yet another advancement has been made.

Digital reading devices make finding and reading books easier.

Amazon’s Kindle and Sony’s Digital Reader are the most common types of wireless reading devices.

Associate communication professor Laura Vazquez said she does not know how popular digital readers are right now, but said she thinks they have potential to make an impact.

“This [digital reader] would make for much faster access to material,” Vazquez said. “There would be no delivery for books, and [materials] could be posted online. There could be significant cost savings.”

But Vazquez said it will take some time before books become obsolete.

“I think it will be a while before people will give up wanting to hold a book,” Vazquez said.

Gregory Morley, former journalist and communication graduate student, said digital readers have already impacted the world of communication and will continue to do so in the future.

“The technology that gives us the digital reader is electrophoresis, commonly referred to as e-ink,” Morley said. “Because electrophoresis does not require an independent power source to illuminate the screen, the number of appliances and applications this technology can be customized to is infinite.”

Although the future of digital readers remains unknown, Morley suggested a possible outcome.

“Wouldn’t it be great to have all our textbooks loaded on to a digital reader the thickness of a pad of paper ... And downloading the day’s learning objectives while uploading your assignments to the professor’s digital reader?” Morley said.

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