Between Page and Screen is an incredibly interesting and creative piece of digital literature. The pairing between using a physical book and using a screen to read it relies on two tools, the book and the digital device, instead of only one. When reading the book through the reflection of the webcam a reader can also see themselves, they can see themselves reading and reacting to the story, which is uncommon, unless someone reads in front of a mirror. This aspect, seeing oneself while reading, makes readers more aware of how a work makes them feel, they can see the surprise, sadness, or joy on their own faces.

The appearance of the text relies on both a webcam and the book. Without both the text is unreadable and causes the reader to have to shelve the book or look back at the webcam disappointed. By having to hold up the book to the screen a reader must feel comfortable relying on digital technology, and the technology has to rely on the person. I find it interesting that typically only a person relies on a device, but in this scenario, the device must also rely on the person to be able to have the book to read and take symbols from, that is a unique interaction. I would like to see more pieces of digital literature like this, ones that ask for cooperation between a person and their device, not just usage in one direction, but an actual partnership between the screen.

Between Page and Screen is what I also imagine using AI generators like ChatGPT must be like for those who use it to create images of documents. In generating images from prompts the computer and the person must, “talk,” through the chat box to produce work that is made by the computer by inspired by the words of the person. In Between Page and Screen the reader communicates with the computer while turning the page and presenting the glyphs and the screen speaks back through translating the book’s story.