“The Shape of Text to Come: The Texture of Print on Screens” by Stephen A. Bernhardt
Published in College Composition and Communication. May 1993, Vol. 44, No. 2.
Stephen A. Bernhardt proposes that electronic media exploits the dimensions writing. He says that on-screen text tends to be:
- Situationally Embedded – (Text is bound up within the context of the action.)
- Interactive – (Text invites the reader to actively engage, both physically and mentally, with it.)
- Functionally Mapped – (Text displays are cues to the readers.)
- Modulars – (Text is contained in blocks or chunks.)
- Navigable – (Text supports reader movement across large pools of information.)
- Spacious – (Text is unconstrained by physicality.)
- Graphically Rich – (Text integrates graphic display to facilitate interaction.)
- Customizable and Publishable – (Text is fluid, changing, and dynamic.)
Readers are really using text rather than reading text insomuch that they can seek and maneuver the information to conform to their needs.
Reading becomes more functional and interactive through electronic media. For example, hot links provide the ability to multitask learning in non-linear ways. Bernhardt points out, “Through two-dimensional, screens offer the compelling illusion of depth” in a layering effect (163). Ultimately, the written text and electronic media will form a “cross-breeding” or interrelation of information. Moreover, the possibilities evident through the use of electronic media produce a non-static environment that can take reading and writing to levels that paper text cannot.
