Reflecting on digital literature, I am considering the following: What makes a good digital text, what counts as one, and what purpose do digital texts serve? Firstly, what makes a good digital text? After engaging with digital texts for this assignment I have decided that a good digital text is one that is accessible both in terms of cost, platform, and ease of use. Other elements that comprise a good digital text are if it is engaging or enjoyable (in terms of the story and how the app is used), does it meet my usage purpose (education or leisure)? Finally, execution of the digital text.

Secondly, what counts as digital text? In my opinion, this can be described broadly but should have at least two key components: storytelling and incorporation of some audio and/or visual elements such as videos, images, or music. However, there is some debate on this topic, for instance, Alderman (2013) discusses how video games are typically not considered digital literature despite a vast majority comprising epic story telling (e.g., The Witcher video which is based on The Witcher book series) along with earlier mentioned elements. Several video games fulfill many digital storytelling, such as combining storytelling with digital content supported by a point of view, an emotional component, pacing, and a soundtrack (Beverly, 2021), therefore, video games can be considered a digital text.

And lastly, what purpose do digital texts serve? Within the context of public libraries, digital texts should be able to support learning across wide age ranges. This includes supporting school learning along with learning for personal growth and enjoyment. For instance, a public library could provide digital texts to support hobbies such as gardening or astronomy. Aside from providing eBooks on these topics, interactive apps can be preloaded on devices and lent to patrons for day use.

Comparing my experience of reading digital texts with reading print, when I read a printed book I’m switched off from the digital world, I make a point of leaving my phone on Do Not Disturb for a couple of hours. When I am reading an eBook on my iPad, I am still able to see all my notifications, and this does affect my emersion. This is discussed in Rose (2011, p. 520 – p. 521), it was found readers who want to focus on a book felt distracted by screens and this disturbed their reading along with a strong awareness of the screen. I do not feel like I should have to change all my settings on my iPad for a couple of hours just so I can read a book. Furthermore, I still read the same digital texts that I would read if I were reading print (fantasy books, classics, and comics). Furthermore, as reinforced by points raised in Evans (2017, p. 314 – p. 315), I enjoy the sense of progression and tactile feel of books along with reading in a space that I consider to be a calm and comfortable environment. I am unable to achieve these feelings when reading eBooks.

The digital text I enjoyed most was the digital story “How to Rob a Bank” by Alan Bigelow. I enjoyed it because it was very different experience to an interactive story and an eBook. I enjoyed the story’s use of pictures, video clips, music, and text to tell a story without directly describing what was happening as a book does. With regard to incorporating digital stories into library programs, it should be beneficial to patrons. A library can do more than just provide access to digital stories to support learning and reading for leisure, libraries can provide resources for patrons to create their own digital stories. Sources such as Twine, a free and open-source tool that can be used to create games that are nonlinear, interactive, networked, and multimodal can be used for this purpose (Miles & Jenkins, 2017). Libraries can support such projects by providing library guides for patrons.

Additionally, when considering the use of digital texts to support learning it is important to consider possible issues surrounding comprehension. Articles on the topic of the use of digital texts compared to print with regard to learning of secondary and tertiary aged students, Ross et al. (2017) identified technical issues which hampered digital texts, this included navigation. Ross et al. (2017, p. 3) discuss difficulty around navigation, display and scrolling within digital texts as factors that impede reading comprehension.  This will be important for librarians to bear in mind as they may need to provide additional support such as providing a tutorial or guide on how to use a particular digital text prior to a patron using it.

 

References:

Alderman, N. (2015). The first great works of digital literature are already being written. The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2015/oct/13/video-games-digital-storytelling-naomi-alderman

Beverly, I. (2021). LibGuides: Digital storytelling: essential elements. Atlanta University Centre. Robert W. Woodruff Library. https://research.auctr.edu/c.php?g=197213&p=1297353

Evans, E. (2017). Learning from high school students’ lived experiences of reading e-books and printed books. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 61(3), 311–318. https://doi.org/10.1002/jaal.685

Miles, A.P., & Jenkins, K. (2017). (Re)Born Digital—Trans-Affirming Research, Curriculum, and Pedagogy: An Interactive Multimodal Story Using Twine. Visual Arts Research 43(1), 43-49. https://www.muse.jhu.edu/article/666529.

Rose, E. (2011). The phenomenology of on-screen reading: University students’ lived experience of digitised text. British Journal of Educational Technology, 42(3), 515–526. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8535.2009.01043.x

Ross, B., Pechenkina, E., Aeschliman, C., & Chase, A. M. (2017). Print versus digital texts: understanding the experimental research and challenging the dichotomies. Research in Learning Technology, 25(0). https://doi.org/10.25304/rlt.v25.1976