Technology and new digital sensibilities: Impact of Digital Text 2.0

Technology has always played a vital role in making material available to readers, since the printing press was invented in the fifteenth century. Various improvements in the technology of the print, from offset to desktop, have had dramatic impact on the cost and access of printed material. However, with the arrival of Digital Text, we may now be entering an entirely new era of publishing, which, we think, will substantially alter the relation between the reader, the text and the mediating digital technology. A rich hyper-linked text that invites a reader to digitally explore several other web-linked ideas and references will begin to produce a substantial ´nonlinear´ engagement with the text. This Digital Text 2.0 will introduce, in our opinion, a radical shift in how we relate, understand and engage with textual information. Such digital text, when viewed through a plethora of digital devices such as desktops, eBook readers or mobile telephones, will serve to richly increase both access and new sensibilities. Through an extensive literature review and selected cases, we would like to specifically examine how such digital [hyper-linked] technology is altering the textual landscape and how it can be better managed from the perspective of the end user.