Amazon X-Ray. Augmented reading
Jeff Bezos explains how Amazon X-Ray works
” is a tool for Amazon Kindle Touch and later models, Kindle Fire tablets, Kindle apps for mobile platforms, Fire phones and Fire TVs.
The general reference information is preloaded in a small file on the Kindle device or application, so when using the feature, there is no need to have Internet. X-Ray displays dictionary, encyclopedic or metadata entries, or information about featured actors in a movie.”
Exploring the bones of a book
“X-Ray allows users to explore the contents of a book in greater depth. X-Ray lets you explore the ‘bones of a book’. Also view more detailed information from Wikipedia and Shelfari, Amazon’s community encyclopedia for book lovers.”
Amazon X-Ray is today the best corporate expression of augmented reading.
Matching system
X-Ray works as a concordance system, listing the most commonly used names of characters, locations, topics or ideas, which are classified into the two main categories “People” and “Terms”. For example, readers can use it to search for the first appearance of characters, which is often useful in novels with many characters.
Publishers can curate information
Publishers have an area on the Kindle dashboard to configure the terms they want to annotate and confirm that the results are satisfactory.
Augmented reading
Amazon X-Ray ‘s augmented readingtools provide readers with an index to access, from terms marked up by publishers, passages in books that feature characters, concepts and places.
The Kindle query window displays the dictionary and options to query X-Ray and Wikipedia.
