ARIN2610 - Physical forms of texts vs. electronic versions

Ebooks and electronic versions of text will probably become the dominant form of text. This is because access to an online article/book is easier than having to go to a bookstore and search for it/order it to the bookstore and return to pick it up. Online access is easier, it can be done from home/uni/anywhere an internet connection is present; it is also cheaper because the author does not have to pay a publisher to print and distribute the book. Sometimes books can be hard to find, they get damaged easily, and prices vary significantly between bookshops and online ordering of those books. Comparatively, online texts will have to be competitive because it is easier for the customer to search for the 'best choice' online.

However, psychical texts will still remain popular, just as vinyl records do. Some people prefer the reading experience a physical text can provide, older generations will find the switch hard (as they often find new technologies challenging) and books may become a collector’ s item. People also like to display books as coffee table books or even in bookshelves, an ebook/online text doesn’t have the same aesthetically pleasing look.

Access and technology must also be taken into consideration. Some people don’t have access to the internet – whether they don’t have it in the home, can’t afford it or don’t like to use it. Perhaps they are in a country where internet resources are limited. This then limits the reader’s access to online texts and books.

Even so, it seems that online texts whether they are read on a computer screen or on an ereader seems to be the way that ‘reading’ is going.

http://p.printingchoice.com/e-books-vs-real-books/

ARIN2610 - The status of an author on Twitter

On Twitter, the status of the author is contributed to by numerous elements. These include the username which provides ownership of the 'tweets' (text). There is also the 'About Me' that Twitter users can enable on their homepages, for browsers and followers to read and understand who the author is. Other Twitter users follow a 'persona' that the author has created, i.e. their favourite celebrity or a fictitious character from a book/movie. However, fictitious characters enacted by someone creates a problem. Who claims ownership of the ideas? The fictitious character or the anonymous author pretending to be that fictitous character? It allows the 'author' to pretend to be another person, this further creates the problem of a 'fake identity' which a user can use to post mean (or suggestive/bullying etc) tweets and not really have to take responsibility for their actions because they have done so behind a 'mask'. Twitter has become an online medium for authors (an online author, an author of a book, a celebrity, a 'famous' blogger, friends and even a common person etc) to connect with their readers/fans/friends/relatives/students (etc), freely, with easy access and on a personal level. This is similar to Chesher's idea of "interpersonal communication...a public alternative to email" (pg7). Although it is hard to pinpoint someone's identity (Twitter is often the subject of fake celebrity accounts/anonymous users/pseudonyms/fake characters) the content/tweets are still being authored and re-tweeted - the status of the author on twitter is similar to a blogger's authorship, and somewhere down the line similar to someone who authors a book. However, on Twitter, the author has taken on an 'identity' - real/anonymous/fictitious/celeb.

Sweets.

"my dreams, your dreams, dreams you wish you knew, and dreams you wished were your own.
each dream is captured by a snapshot."

"your body lay dead"

Nightmare.

12:35Lauren

LOL

i had the most fucked up dream

12:35Kat

what was it?

12:36Lauren

ok, ready for this

12:36Kat

yep

12:36Lauren

so we were on our way to renees, and you were all

lets get taxis

so matt, ellis alex and some random were in a taxi, and i was holding onto the back of it with these 3 other peolp

and my dad was beside me because he didnt want me travelling on the back of a taxi, and then somehow we flipped the taxi over

and the taxi driver ran after me calling me a fugitive and that it was all my fault and dad and i escaped from him into the oak

i mean the sheaf

but then we had to hide from heaps of policemen- so we went to this house on the beach, and this murderer was like i dont have a key, can you be in my house and let me in when i come back

so we were like, ok, but we knew he was a murderer, and i knew (dont know how) that he was going to die if we didnt let him back in so we agrees

*agreed

so the murder went out adn killed all these mafia men, then they klled him, then the head of the mafia wanted to get into the house

and then the murder killed him

and then got caught in a tree, which slid down teh hill firing bullets at innocent civiliians, then slipped off a cliff and he died and dad and i were safe

12:40Kat

wtf

did you eat msg last night?

12:42Lauren

LOL

12:43Lauren

ive been having a lot of fucked up dreams lately

Apocalypse Now.

"I watched a snail crawl along the edge of a straight razor. That's my dream. That's my nightmare. Crawling, slithering, along the edge of a straight... razor... and surviving."

Archival Dreaming.

"Japanese Red Army Soldier Dreams of Going Home"