Q and A about Electronic lit.

Q: Hayles mentions in chapter two of his book, "electronic literature raises complex, diverse, and compelling issues." What do you think these issues might be, and how do you think the American culture specifically, would react to the idea of getting rid of print literature all together and leaving literature as digital files before they become books. 


A: There are a lot of people who are big literature lovers out there. People who would never dream of reading a book off of a computer screen, or a nook screen, or kindle, etc. These people want to have a physical book in their hand, something that doesn't require a battery charger, something they can physically look at and physically flip the pages instead of scrolling. However, some might argue that reading a book on a computer can have particular impact to the brain, eyes, and comprehension. One study shows that reading from a computer screen, actually forces one to read slower than they would read paper. 

"By far the most common experimental finding is that silent reading from screen is significantly slower than reading from paper ( Kak,1981; Muter et al, 1982; Wright and Lickorish,1983; Gould and Grischkowsky, 1984; Smedshammar et al 1989). Figures vary according to means of calculation and experimental design but the evidence suggests a performance deficit of between 20% and 30% when reading from screen."

Others claim reading from a computer screen takes away from focus, and can be incredibly distracting. One contributor (Norwegian researcher Anne Mangen) to the Boston Globe writes: 

“The feeling of literally being in touch with the text is lost when your actions - clicking with the mouse, pointing on touch screens, or scrolling with keys or on touch pads - take place at a distance from the digital text, which is, somehow, somewhere inside the computer, the e-book, or the mobile phone,’’ Mangen writes.

Her conclusion: “Materiality matters. . . . One main effect of the intangibility of the digital text is that of making us read in a shallower, less focused way.’’ 


I feel if publishers were to switch to a fully electronic book world, many Americans would fully reject it. We all know that just about anything can be found online, however when the internet turns into the only place we can receive literature, many people will suffer. Not just readers, but booksellers, shipping companies, and even online booksellers. As a college student its always nice to not have to pay for books, however if children, and teens were doing all their academic reading from a screen, I think we would see a big downturn in students' reading comprehension, and focus.