The
computer has dramatically changed the format and accessibility of text. Paper
and ink are replaced by a lighted screen and microchips. Text is not fixed;
it can be altered and rearranged at the touch of a key, raising questions
about permanence, ownership, and the diffusion of information. The computer's
capacity to provide endless links to related information transforms the very
notion of how a book works. The discussion of text as an object, especially
as one of physical beauty, has been inexorably altered. With a surge of electrons
come new questions about design, representation, speed, and global simultaneity,
but the familiar problems of censorship, security, copyright, and privacy
remain part of the discussion. |