Text online can be circulated so much easier than a physical form of the text such as a book or magazine. With search engines such as Google and Yahoo it is at the touch of a button to find whatever text you could want. Not only is it easy to find the text you want or need to read, but there are now online libraries. Washington
State University uses an online library system where one can find academic articles online. This is different than having a print form because with print form only one person at a time could read it. With the digital age and having text online multiple people can utilize it and benefit it.
In Darnton's communication circuit the reader has slightly changed from what the reader has been in previous times. A more contemporary outlook on the reader is that the reader does not need to leave home to do gain access to the text. With academic and online books being available it is not necessary for someone to be a purchaser in regards to going out and actually buying an item. The reader can also now be a just a reader and not a purchaser. For example an online library not only allows this but it can benefit more than one person at a time. This is much more contemporary in term of gaining text.
You bring up an interesting section. Now more classes are offering online snippets of what we need to read about, much like this class. It saves us a lot of money when we don't have to buy tons of books. That brings up the question are we going towards a time when it's rare to ever buy a book for a class? I think it will be a hard shift to completely make as there is big business in text books and they will not give up without a fight.
ReplyDeleteI like the fact that you picke the reader to talk about because not many people did. It is interesting to think that maybe because of our easy access, the number of readers is multiplying. If snippets of books are now available, will it possibly increase the number of readers per text? I it popularizing reading in general?
ReplyDeleteI agree that the reader is now able to gain access to different readings and text almost exclusively online these days. In fact, in my DTC 475 class we were discussing resources for an upcoming project, and my teacher mentioned that we don't even have to actually go in to the WSU library because all books are available to you online, in a digitized form (and I think she said something about being able to have the physical book sent to your house). Does this mean we have come to be too lazy to get up and go to the library? Or is it just more convenient for the reader to have access online because peoples lives are so busy these days? I would say overall the reader benefits a lot from todays contemporary approach to access to texts online.
ReplyDeleteI would like to point out that people could read without purchasing before too, because of normal libraries, it was just less convenient; of course, that doesn't factor gas or late fees.
ReplyDeleteI had a similar idea after reading this week's material. It is interesting to think that even textbooks or other academic resources can be found online, through our own University's website. We without a doubt live within a digital era, and this holds true with the fact that collegiate institutions provide texts such as these online. The communication circuit is the same conceptually, yet it can be described as completely digital in today's culture.
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