mediafinal23

[mediafinal23]

Introduction To New Media Final '23

This thread is a final project made for my FNMS 231 Introduction To New Media class, analyzing how the digitization of literature has impacted culture and society as it evolves. How did we go from purely written works circulated in niche book clubs to the ever-evolving mass of online literature and media-curated communities? 

I would be remiss not to start this by addressing the debate of what constitutes literature in the first place. The definition varies depending on the audience asked, which literary critic Jonathan Culler sums up neatly in his work What is Literature and Does it Matter? when he states that the answer of a five-year-old will vastly differ from that of a literary critic, and a better way to look at the definition is to ask ourselves what makes someone treat work as literature. However, one of my college peers defined it as "written work that has some meaning to its readers." Ultimately, the terminology is up to individual interpretation, but this thread will be discussing literature as an entity that contains written works such as novels, research papers, news articles, and other creative written works such as fan fiction and poetry. For the sake of practicality and conciseness, this will also only focus on the digital evolution of 'English' literature. If you're interested in reading more of Culler's thoughts, they can be found here. 

With this context, the original form of 'English' literature dates back to approximately 975-1025 CE with the poem Beowulf, an Old English period work about a hero-turned-king. Obviously, this pre-dates any digital technology by far, but it's essential to start with the beginning in order to dissect the timeline efficiently. There are eight different periods of English literature, ranging from Old English to the current Postmodern phase. The names of all the ones in between, with additional information, can be found here in the archives of The Library of Congress. Throughout this, the physical manifestations of literature have developed over time, leading to its current digital presence. Long gone are the days of writing on strips of papyrus or painstakingly making one copy of a book at a time, either by hand or printing press.

The first record of digitized ‘English’ literature was in 1952 when Christopher Strachey created a love letter generator that operated precisely how it sounded and was considered literature. From there, literature slowly began to be incorporated online until it was flung into the world of media with the arrival of the ebook around 1998. Sony came out with a Data Discman, which, to my understanding, operated as CDs that would portray text onto a screen, and another company named NuvoMedia produced their product, which they dubbed the ‘Rocket eBook.’ For the first time, entire novels were available at the push of a button rather than a trek to the nearest library or bookstore. Despite this, reading digitally didn’t truly become socially accepted until the release of Amazon’s Kindle in 2007. The first version of the Kindle was already relatively advanced and allowed buyers/readers to have access to 200 books, along with limited internet access. 

This impacted society in multiple ways. First of all, due to the accessibility and easy access to online novels, libraries began to have a diminished amount of visitors and patrons. To keep up with society, they began loaning out ebooks to draw people in once more. Fortunately for them, certain publishing houses didn’t participate in Kindle’s program, and the newer in-demand books stayed in their physical manifestation to be checked out from libraries or bought at a bookstore. Secondly, more people began to read the literature surrounding them - just not in its traditional form. Nevertheless, it provided a new topic for society to address and made it much easier for people to talk about literature with such easy access to popular novels. 

Cartoon by Jim Morin, published in the Miami Herald, in July 2010.

With this new digital era arrived a new issue: ebook piracy. Despite 'English' literature being more accessible to obtain, the companies releasing the ebooks still charged users a fee to access their expanding online library. Since people were already pirating music, books were the next logical course of action. This heavily impacted the book industry, a topic that the Author's Guild broached semi-recently: "Each year, the publishing industry loses hundreds of millions of dollars in lost sales to piracy—and with each lost sale, authors lose royalty income. There is a clear correlation between the decline in income from writing and the exponential growth of online pirate channels dedicated to distributing and selling illegal ebook copies." Continue reading this article here. 

Oral stories have always been a part of literature and pre-dates the practice of writing anything down. In fact, most of the older written works stem from stories passed down through generations by speech alone. According to the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS), audiobooks were first created via vinyl in 1932 for individuals who were visually impaired, with some of the first works recorded being some of Shakespeare's plays and The Constitution. That particular part of the literature industry has expanded largely, with them being utilized by a large section of English society today. Students who are auditory learners have found them to be extremely useful in academic settings, and those who do not have the attention span necessary for a physical book have enjoyed being able to hear the words as they do other activities, such as driving or walking.

It could be argued that the many forms of online literature have cultivated a more robust reading community. More people across the world have access to the same materials and content and can gain each other's perspective on the works through platforms such as Tumblr, TikTok, and Instagram. In the late 2000s, entire blog pages were dedicated to discussing specific books and sharing opinions with others, and many are still active today. More recently, a social media group known as 'BookTok' formed on TikTok, where creators post videos about their favorite books, pieces of literature, and even screenshots of digitized copies of their latest read. Many of these creators will tag others in their posts, curating a group united entirely through their love of reading. Without the online presence of 'English' literature, this group would have far fewer participants and less of an impact. It has allowed individuals to expand on their own creativity and keep literature relevant in a media society. 

Speaking of creativity, having platforms dedicated to literature has led to another outlet for hyper-fixated individuals on certain books, genres, or ‘fandoms.’ Fanfiction has become a large yet not entirely socially accepted part of literature, where individuals rewrite or make extensions of their favorite works. While it applies to movies and celebrities, a large portion of the community relies on books and literary works. Apps such as Wattpad provided a place for these individuals to collaborate and share their work - yet another place for literature to be uploaded online (although there is a considerable debate on whether fanfiction counts as literature - based on the definition of literature that was declared at the beginning of this thread, it does). More websites were soon to follow, the most popular being a platform called Archive Of Our Own, fondly referred to as AO3 by its users. The anonymous creators on this platform let their imaginations run wild and often update classic/popular books to reflect on the current state of society. For example, in 2017, an individual with the username MsKingBean89 uploaded a 188-chapter Harry Potter ‘fic’ about the generation before the one that the series revolves around. With over 50 translations available, this rewrite of the Harry Potter backstory referenced social issues such as class issues, politics, and homophobia. With over 12 million readers, it has primarily impacted platforms such as ‘BookTok’ and inspired the creation of multiple other literary works. 

So, time for a recap:

The forms of literature have evolved far beyond what could have ever been predicted and continue to do so.

Kindles and other ebooks have caused a decline in library usage and bookstore shoppers.

Audiobooks are an academic tool that doubles as literary entertainment.

The digitalization of literature has allowed society to connect even more, and ‘BookTok’ has replaced traditional book clubs.

And last but certainly not least, individuals have taken the production of literature into their own hands to curate socially accepted works.