Part I of our webpage focused on the e-book, a handheld electronic device that
can be used for reading full-text materials downloaded from the Internet.  This
device costs upward of $300 and related acessories (including readable texts) have
an additional cost.  Part II will explore free e-literature -- that is, literature 
available over the Internet for no additional cost above regular Internet servicefees.

     We've already given the general definition of Internet literature, but
this section will define some of the genres of this medium. The amount available
might surprise you.

Audiobooks - MP3, RealAudio, and MediaPlayer versions of recorded
             readings of various texts, including self-help, novels, and bio -
             graphies.  At Audiohighway.com
             many of the available free audiobooks are not in the public domain.

E-Zines - Short for electronic magazine, these texts cover every 
         topic imaginable.  These are usually accessible online or you can 
         subscribe and receive them through e-mail.  We were unable to link
         directly to an index of e-zines because of the questionable content of 
         some of them.

Fan Fiction - Sites and newsgroups where amateur authors post
              stories and poems featuring characters from a favorite movie
              or television series.  Unfortunately, because many of these
              sites contain explicit material, we can not provide direct links. 

Newsgroups - Similar to message boards, newsgroups provide 
           disscussions on specific topics.  Participants can ask for
           and offer advice, support, or alert others to important news
           pertaining to the group topic.  An example can be found at
           alt.arts.ballet. Newgroups played
           a vital role in recent debates on Lotus MarketPlace and the
           government-backed Clipper Chip, disscussed in depth in the book,
           Persuasion and Privacy in Cyberspace by Laura Gurak.

Online Periodicals - These differ from e-zines in that a paper
                   version of these publications is also available. Examples
                   include The Daily Oklahoman Online
                   and New York Times On the Web.

Online Databases - These provide quick and easy access to large 
                  numbers of novels, poems, and research materials in one place.
                  The largest and most extensive is The Gutenburg Project.
                  Another interesting database is 
                  The HTI American Verse Project, which has an extensive 
                  collection of poetry and a searchable database.

      PRO: It's Free!

      CON: Because it's free, selection is limited.  Works in the public
           domain are readily avaiable at The Gutenburg Project,
           or at MysteryNet.com, 
           which provides full-text copies of short stories featuring Sherlock
           Holmes. Unpublished works by amateur authors are readily available on
           fan fiction sites, but the only place we found professionaly published
           works for free was at Audiohighway.com.  
           

      PRO: Viewers of Internet literature have the option of printing the texts
           (thus creating a traditional paper version) or reading them onscreen.
           This is not usually possible with e-books without the purchase of extra
           accessories. 

      CON: If a viewer chooses to print every text, the cost of paper and ink
           could equal or exceed the cost of buying the texts in bound form.  If the
           viewer reads the text from the screen, they could wind up with, as Umberto 
           Eco says, "eyes ... like two tennis balls".  Also, the location of most
           computer consoles can not be read from a favorite recliner or couch.

      PRO: Free research materials on the Internet are plentiful, such as The Perseus Project
           make it easy for those who can not easily access libraries to do research.

      CON: The amount of unreliable materials on the Internet, and the difficulty of
           verifying the information on many sites can lead to papers based on false
           information.  Or, as we have personally experienced, even sites known to 
           be reliable can be placed off limits for research by professors or other 
           supervisors who have come to distrust the Internet's reliability.

          As we researched Internet literature, we discovered that many genres
had unique features only possible online.  Although these features were not 
present at every site where they might have been employed, the presence of these
features showed the flexibility of this medium.

          Search options. All online databases feature some type of search
engine within its domain.  These can range from simple keyword searches to Boolean
searches to Proximity searches.  These are all in use at the The HTI American 
Verse Project.  Often, sites featuring indicidual texts will provide a keyword
search.  Although some of this information can be found in traditional print
form, such as a concordance or index, search engines offer quick access to the
desired information, and often cover texts a printed index might not be available
for.

          Hypertext. Some online works offer links to related sources
embedded in the text. An excellent example is the hypertext version of
Harriet Jacobs' book, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl.  This work 
links certain words in the text to a glossary defining those terms, as well as
links to pictures and other sources at appropriate places in the text.  Although,
traditional print literature often features glossaries, these links decrease the 
amount of time it takes to look up a word and return to the text.  With pictures,
viewers have the option of interrupting their reading to view the picture, or to 
bypass it, not always an option in printed literature where pictures are juxta-
posed with the text.

          Sound. Paper can not talk, but computer chips can.  This has 
many different effects on Internet literature.  Audiobooks, available for free
only on the Internet, provide the option of synthesizing a work while performing
another task.  Sound bites also can act as hypertextual sources, as discussed abve.
Music with some kind of connection to the text can also be provided. This will
never be possible with traditional print literature without using some kind of
electronic equipment.

     In Part I, we discussed the effect the invention of electronic reading
devices are having upon traditional print literature, concluding that, at least
for recreational purposes, the paper-based book is in no danger of extinction.
We still hold this to be true.  However, we have seen that the advantages of
Internet literature can enhance the reading experience, both for educational
and aesthetic purposes.  These advantages will only become more prevalent as
computer technology develops. Jay David Bolter and many others claim that the 
visual properties of the Internet will have a negative effect on literacy. 
Umberto Eco not only refutes this claim, he argues that, "the problem is not to 
oppose written to visual communication.  The problem is how to improve both."
Our examination of Internet literature reveals that this problem is being addressed,
as visual, aural, and textual materials are used to enhance each other. This
multimedia approach makes e-literature in some ways superior to traditional print
literature.  The portability of the paper-based book and its independence from
power sources such as batteries, however, remain features in which e-literature may
never surpass traditional print literature.

Questions or Comments?
Contact:
Heather Boyd heathermboyd@hotmail.com
Whitney Steen tourjete@ou.edu