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