From family histories to creation stories, story telling has always been a major aspect in human civilization. Oral story telling, being the oldest method if story telling, was (and in some regards still is) often used in religion as a way to pass on laws and stories between generations. Although over time these stories go through a process of ‘broken telephone’ and subsequently change between generations, oral story telling has often been sought after due to the interactions it enables between the speaker the audience. On the other hand in most western cultures, the second method of story telling, being written stories, are viewed as more factual, as the story or history has not changed since it were recorded. Though factual, this method allows stories to become outdated as they do not interact with the readers and do not allow for questions to the author.
There has always been a clear distinct difference between oral and written stories. However due to the WWW, and the presence of digital publication and social media, this clear difference has become blurred through a new form of story telling combining the positives aspects of both original methods.
Firstly, the largest hurdle with written literature, is the ability for someone to get published and distributed. This issue has been abolished with the WWW’s tools that allow for anyone to publish their work. Between blogs and social media, everyone (with access to the internet) has the ability to publish their work, and tell their stories, for people all over the world. However, while digital publication conquers one of the largest hurdles associated with literature, it does not quite contain the reputable advantages of written literature. The WWW abolishes the role of the editor, allowing for anyone to publish work, regardless of written quality, or accuracy. This hurts the reputation of written literature, as no longer can one argue that if something is written then it is true, as much on the WWW is biased, and false.
Additionally, as previously mentioned, another large issue with published literature is the lack of interaction between the author and the reader. Drawing on the the largest positive from oral story, digital publishing has allowed the reader and author the ability to interact with one another. It allows for online comments and replies, as well as the authors ability to return to their work at any time and edit anything they want. However the most significant difference is the ability to hyperlink additional information into ones stories. Allowing the reader to essentially ‘choose-their-own-adventure’, creates a new dialogue between the author and the reader as it allows for a different story to be told dependant on whether or not the reader clicks on the hyperlink. Aside from hyperlinking and commenting, simply being on the WWW allows for anyone to easily search any additional information they may want on a topic they are reading about. This acts as the new form of question asking to a verbal story teller, that was not present in written and published literature.
Overall, I believe that these additions have positively impacted literature, as they are not taking away from the previous methods. Hard published written stories and articles are still the most reputable, and well written sources and stories. Additionally, verbal stories are still more interactive, regardless of how much editing or hyperlinks an author puts into their work. However this new form of publishing allows for an easier access to more wide spread publishing, with some interactions to written work, which has created a whole new, and more accessible, form of story telling.