About the Book:In this study, Christian Vandendorpe examines how digital media and the Internet have changed the process of reading and writing, significantly altering our approaches toward research and reading, our assumptions about audience and response, and our theories of memory, legibility, and context. Reflecting on the full history of the written word, Vandendorpe provides a clear overview of how materiality makes a difference in the creation and interpretation of texts. Surveying the conventions of reading and writing that have appeared and disappeared in the Internet’s wake, Vandendorpe considers various forms of organization, textual design, the use (and distrust) of illustrations, and styles of reference and annotation. He also examines the novel components of digital texts, including hyperlinks and emoticons, and looks at emergent, collaborative genres such as blogs and wikis, which blur the distinction between author and reader. Looking to the future, reading and writing will continue to evolve based on the current, contested trends of universal digitization and accessibility.Table of Contents: Series Preface — Ray Siemens and Susan Schreibman vii 1. Introduction 1 2. In the Beginning Was the Ear 5 3. Writing and the Fixation of Thought 8 4. The Power of the Written Sign 10 5. Writing and Orality 12 6. Standards of Readability 15 7. Linearity and Tabularity 22 8. Toward the Tabular Text 28 9. Meaning and Effect 40 10. Filters in Reading 49 11. Textuality: Form and Substance 52 12. Textual Connections 56 13. Instances of Utterance 59 14. From Interactivity to the Pseudo-Text 63 15. Varieties of Hypertext 70 16. Context and Hypertext 77 17. The Limitations of Lists 80 18. Aporias of Hyperfiction 82 19. Reading Images 87 20. The Writer and Images 94 21. The Rise of the Visual 97 22. The Period, the Pause, and the Emoticon 102 23. Op. cit. 105 24. The Reader: User or Consumer of Signs/ 108 25. Intensive and Extensive Reading, or the Rights of the Reader 112 26. Metaphors for Reading 116 27. Representations of the Book 119 28. The Role of the Publisher 121 29. The CD-ROM and Nostalgia for teh Papyrus Scroll 123 30. Giving the Reader Control 125 31. Text and Interactivity 129 32. Managing Hyperlinks 131 33. I Click, Therefore I Read 133 34. The End of the Page? 136 35. On the Fragment 143 36. The Body of the Text 146 37. The Decline of the Novel 149 38. The Rise of the Blog 152 39. A Culture of Participation and Sharing 155 40. Toward the Universal Digital Library 159 Notes 167 References 177 Index 187