Birkerts says that it is a confusing time between two reading periods; the novel and digital text (121) and that the overlap leaves readers with confusion. All through out Birkerts novel "The Gutenberg Elegies" he reminisces about his childhood and his love of reading. All the details just prove one thing: he, himself, doesn't want reading to change, so he spends his time criticizing digital texts, and in doing so, he overlooks the positive effects they may have. Quotes such as "reading was like a drug" (37) and "I was a dreamer and books were my tools for dreaming" (35) prove his almost obsessive love for books. Birkerts himself says that we are in an overlap of periods of reading, so we haven't fully evolved into a period of digital text. Since we haven't fully made the transition, the "kinks" in digital texts are still being worked on and can be improved which Birkerts might not have taken into consideration, that all his criticisms over time, could be improved. Murray even says, "The only constant in the course is that every year what is written is even more inventive than what was written the year before." (9), talking about her job as a professor to a computing class and the creations by her students. So it is safe to say that the digital world has been, and still is, on the move to improving. Murray started off as having similar views to Birkerts, even permanently resigned from a position because her employer made a comment about digital text being the "output" of humans, however she was able to see the positive effects digital reading could have.
"The Museum" is a perfect example of an electronic text that, may be viewed as a distraction, but has qualities that allows the reader to be deeper involved in the plot. Birkerts would view this text as he views all other digital texts, as distracting, however every "page" of the story has links within that page that provides extra little stories enhancing the larger story. So there is a basic structure to the story but then goes in more detail at every part of the frame. "The Museum" is a good compromise for Birkerts; it is interactive with the reader and has more hidden details but at the same time has a basic structure that could be followed. And this text is a perfect example of Birkerts being too enthused with his argument that he can't see the other side. He is so focused on criticizing digital texts that he cannot see the good that can come out of them. Murry agrees by saying "For my experience in humanities computing has convinced me that some kinds of knowledge can be better represented in digital formats than they have been in print" (6). Because Birkerts loved reading so much as a child, he cannot accept that the visuals of digital texts such as picture and videos and more interactive reading styles, may actually help the reader get lost deeper into the story than just black words on a white page.
Even though "The Museum" is a digital text that compromises with Birkerts argument, it still is very confusing for the reader. I also enjoy reading novels where there isn't too much to think about, you just turn to the next page and continue reading, so reading this digital text where each page had multiple stories woven into it was confusing. Each wing of the museum has a page and throughout the story, certain words would be a link that would lead to another story, and sometimes in these there were even more links. So as you read these links you got further and further from the 'main' page. The confusing part was getting back to the main wing pages and continuing to the next wing. It was interesting to read a digital text and find new links however I agree with Birkerts argument; following the links, though it gave the reader more information, was distracting from what was happening in the story. Even though it was confusing to read, I got a lot more information out of it than if this story was printed in a novel. And even though this form might not be for me, I can see that others would enjoy following the links and getting other 'nuggets' of information. This is where I differ from Birkerts, I enjoy novels better but, unlike Birkerts, I can appreciate the effects digital effects can have and how other people would really enjoy them.
In his closing of "Gutenberg Elegies," Birkerts makes a really controversial comment comparing new technologies to the devil. I understand Birkerts feels really strongly about his argument but this particular comparison is taking it too far. I admire a writer who sticks to his opinion but going this far is unnecessary especially since he is hypocritical. There is a passage in his book where he talks about other forms of technology such as the telephone and television and how they do good things for us. But what he is missing is that there was a time when many people were skeptical of the telephone and television, just like he is of digital texts. So to says that other technologies that were once criticized now have many good uses but then turn around and compare digital texts to the devil is contradictory to his whole stance.
Birkerts also believes that the novel is dying out, and will be replaced by all digital texts. This is a possibility but I do not see novels as a whole disappearing. There are many people in the world who share Birkerts opinion, maybe not to the same degree, but there are still too many people who enjoy novels for them to completely die out. For example, there are books that have been printed as collectors' items, these will never disappear, people will always want classic novels. Also I know that books I have read and absolutely love, I will never get rid of, just because I still read them. My best friend saved her favorite books from when she was a little girl so she can one day read them to her kids this is not an uncommon thing to do. There are many reasons people save books and because of this, I highly doubt books will ever disappear completely.
Reading "The Museum" made Birkerts argument more clear to me but also gave me some insight into how these digital texts could be helpful to visual learners or people who prefer to see things rather than read them. If Birkerts took more time to explore different kinds of digital texts, he still may be opposed to them but he may see the positive effects they can have on the learning community and not be so critical of them and maybe diminish some of his heavier comparisons of digital texts. Also if he stopped and read some of his arguments he would see that he can be hypocritical and realize that digital texts are on the rise and he should jump on the band wagon, but also know that books won't completely disappear.
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