For many centuries, authors of centuries ago were tasked to write with two objects: the stylus and the document. Though before even writing, the author knew the work was constrained by whichever document or medium they chose. In ancient Greece, that document could be wax or papyrus. In ancient Egypt, it could also be papyrus. This is to say, the setting and time largely determine the capabilities of the document, as well as the reproducibility and interactivity. In the midst of our digital era, the document has transformed, allowing the largest breadth of capabilities known to humankind. In doing so, our readership has been changed, though not forgotten.
The days are mostly gone when people begin writing manuscripts by hand. Whether it’s a public desktop at the library or a personally owned laptop, most writing relies on digital products. This is espoused by a study from CNET showing that over 50% of adults get their work done via laptop. So, already, the game has changed. Instead of digitizing older texts, the new norm is to make digital products physical.
With this change, authors are able to open endless doors of possibilities. Like artists’ books, authors use their medium to their advantage, for example, the novella Pry with its acclaimed cinematic experience. And while it may diverge in qualities from the typical books we’re taught in school, it is a prime example of the capabilities of electronic literature. Further, it touches on the line from Borsuk relating, “the extent to which any book is a negotiation, a performance, a dynamic event, that happens in the moment and is never the same twice.”
As claimed by Borsuk, reading indeed takes the form of a negotiation, rather than a one-person operation. Though with the modification of the medium, has reading changed, or rather, been stripped of its essence? While this seems to be a subjectively answered question, take one example, of books measuring length in “read time.” Rather than judging by the words on the page, the reader is judging by minutes left, which, previously to now, was an unknown factor. Now, with the adoption of audiobooks online, students may judge their workload on how fast they can sit through a YouTube video at 2x speed, rather than the amount of words on the page. In that regard, gone is the aspect of leisure in reading, and in is the time-crunching factor of stress.
Readership may be changed, though a book will always require a reader. Whatever form that may take in the coming years is sure to be different, as comparison continues to show, and the difference is determined by the medium.