Kress (2005) explained that the nature of text has changed with the rise of digital print and with it reading has changed.\u00a0 According to Kress digital text has afforded readers to enter a piece of text from any point.\u00a0 When we visit a web page, we are free to click on any section of the page and consume the text in any order we choose.\u00a0 Kress argues that this is different from traditional text that was linear and laid out in chapters or sections.<\/p>\n
In response to Kress Prior (2005) suggested that while electronic text is changing the way that we read, entering the text from multiple points is nothing new: There are many traditional texts can be entered from multiple points.\u00a0 I think of reading poetry books.\u00a0 I love to flip the book open to a page and discover the poem that is waiting there, or in an anthology I will search out my favourite poet.\u00a0 I love to find a new Philip Larkin poem and this is my usual starting point in a poetry anthology.\u00a0 As readers, we have never had so much choice as to how we read or where we begin, but it is not a new phenomenon.\u00a0 Prior (2005) suggests that we look to our past and project what we find into our future.<\/p>\n
I tend to avoid reading on line.\u00a0 I much prefer to print my readings and curl up with a pen and a pad of sticky notes.\u00a0 I realize that electronic texts offer me the ability to make annotations, highlight important passages and share with others but I am much more comfortable doing my academic reading on paper and recording my thoughts privately then post them once I have had time to mull them over.<\/p>\n
I do however enjoy reading on my Kobo.\u00a0 It connects to my local library\u2019s website where I can borrow books and download magazines.\u00a0 My e reader affords me the ability to access a vast wealth of literature for no fee as long as I have the understanding and ability to connect to my local library.<\/p>\n
Bolter (2001) explains that the mass production of bound books lead to the development of the modern dust jacket.\u00a0 When I buy physical books in a bookstore, my initial attraction tends to be toward the cover.\u00a0 I am attracted to the art and the title as well as the book display in the store.\u00a0 The cover of the book is of no importance to me when I buy digital books for my Kobo.\u00a0 I tend to search the Kobo story or the public library site for my favourite authors and then I look at books other readers have downloaded.\u00a0 I am less influenced by my immediate surroundings or by my own personal friends than I am by the tastes and recommendations of strangers who have similar tastes to myself.<\/p>\n
Electronic readers could also shape the relationship between authors and readers.\u00a0 Amazon is experimenting with a new form of publishing\/selling books.\u00a0 Authors will be paid according to how much of a book a reader actually accesses.\u00a0 If a reader reads the entire book she will pay the entire cost of the book.\u00a0 If a reader reads only 11 percent of a book and realizes it is not to her liking, she will pay for only 11 percent of the book (D\u2019Orazio, 2015).\u00a0 This changes the relationship between reader and writer and places more power and authority in the hands of the reader.<\/p>\n
Bolter, J (2001). Writing space: computers, hypertext and the remediation of print<\/em>. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.<\/p>\n Kress, G. (2005).\u00a0 Gains and losses: New forms of texts, knowledge, and learning. Computers and Composition, 22<\/em>, 5-22.<\/p>\n