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.