Cyber Literature: A Reader – Writer Interactivity

Rizki Maulana Ardiansyah

Ngudi Waluyo English literature

GunungPati, Semarang, Jawa tengah

rizukimaulana27@gmail.com

 

Abstract: Cyber Literature is a term known since the coming of the internet which brings a convenience, changing habit and world view. This study is a survey-based on respondents' opinion about the existence of cyber literature on social media; of its benefit and impact to the reader. This study limits to the poems on Facebook group. The reason is simple; it favors the short form. For the study of a reader-writer interactivity in cyber literature is more likely on poetry. The approach is reader response literary theory with focus on the reader-writer interactivity on Facebook. This research aimed at uncovering the motivation of readers to response the uploaded text, the reasons why they love it and what its advantages. The results showed that cyber literature is successfully to introduce a new literary genre as well as to raise motivation and creativity of authors to make use the internet space.

Keyword: Cyber Literature; Poetry; Social Media; Facebook; Interactivity; Reception Theory; Reader Response

 

1.    Introduction

 

Literature is a reading that contains elements of entertainment, education, and information. It is an author's creative work poured in beautiful language. Literature stimulates the sensitivity of its readers. It presents various aspects of life and even constantly parses life, or may be, a reflection of life. Literature was born since humans inhabit this earth. Even since before humans know writing system, literature has already become the part of human life. Literary works are a part of the culture. As a cultural product, literature develops in line with the development of human life. Human history has noted various developments of literary media. One of them is the birth of the internet as one of the media of information and science development, which in turn is also being used as a media of promoting literary works. Numbers of works that are read through the internet media are categorized as cyber literature. One of the hallmarks of this genre is it can offer 'reader-writer interactivity. It is not easy in conventional literary work.

 

Many terms used so far for cyber literature such as literary machine (Nelson, 1993), cybertext (Eskelinen, 2012), digital literary (Hoover, et al. 2014), digital media (Ryan, 2013), digital literature (Sanz, 2007), and electronic literature (Hayles, 2001). The electronic literature also has close affinities with the digital arts, computer games, and other forms associated with networked and programmable media. It is also deeply entwined with the powerful commercial interests of software companies, computer manufactures, and other purveyors of apparatus associated with the networked and programmable media (Katherine, 2008).

 

 In this article, the writer will be using the term „cyber literature‟ to refer to the written literary texts, distributed (uploaded) and read on screen of computer. Because the formation of computer networks, together with the volatility of inscription of digitized information, allows fictional worlds to grow, to be modified from the inside and outside, and to give birth to other worlds (Ryan, 2013). The reason for preferring this term (cyber literature) to others is that it alludes to the two umbrellas of this broad category of text: the literary tradition and the literary on computer. In some cases, the study of cyber literature is closely related to the study of cybertext. Cybertext focuses on ergodic literature, where the user has to do non-trivial work to traverse the text (instead of merely interpreting it) after a through critique of existing paradigms (Eskelinen, 2012).

 

Cyber literature was born as the impact of technological development. The new following five centuries of domination of the book is moving into the "margins of literate culture" (Bolter, 1991). As he claims that print no longer defines the "organization and presentation of knowledge" or even the nature of knowledge itself. Electronic texts, shaped by readers as writers, will continue to replace single-voiced and unified print texts. The computer, like all technologies, defines a particular "physical and visual" field. Its writing space transforms writing to something fluid, not fixed.

 

If the previous literary media used newspapers and magazines as the medium, and so the medium of the cyber literature is electronic space (internet). Comparing to literary newspapers or magazines, in cyber literature, writers experience the ease in the appearance of their work to the reader because there is no strict selection of the literature. It is impressed, everyone can become a poet and everyone can become a literary critic.Therefore, it is likely that the electronic medium as a means of expressing one's expression will overwhelm and shift the previous medium. All that happens because of the rapid development of technology. The reader judges the quality of the work. However, a good work will certainly always have its own readers, and the loyal readers forever

 

2.   Cyber Literature and Social Media

The genre of literary works is divided into prose and poetry. Novel, drama, short-story belong to prose, while poem, verse, lyric, proverb, joke, minstrelsy, and Malay pantun belong to poetry. Poetry is a piece of literary work written by a poet in expressing various emotions which are expressed by the use of variety of different techniques including metaphors, similes personification and onomatopoeia. Poems often make heavy use of imagery and word association to quickly convey emotions (Wellek & Warren, 1956). These methods are what commonly used to distinguish poetry from prose.

Some poetry types are specific to particular genre and culture and they respond to characteristic of the language in which the poets write, such as Malay pantun and elegy. Poetry is a work that consistently exploits the potential of words used strictly and meaningfully. The power of poetry lies in the use and selection of words and the forms of expression.

3.   Finding & Discussion

In principle, the single question in this study is "do you read cyber literature?". " To whom answer "yes‟, after the answers are grouped, it is found a number of reasons as follows 1) cyber literature is exciting it is entertaining it is relaxing , and others cyber literature is junk it is boring it is not interesting and others , such as wasting time, less useful, and the like. These reasons can be ascertained as a representation of respondents‟ perceptions of the presence of cyber literature by utilizing social media . The appreciation of literature through online media is one of the opportunities to see the application of writer-reader interactivity in cyber literature.

Based on the response of the respondents, it is certain that a number of respondents reading cyber literature and doing an interaction with writers, or if they are writers, they also interact with their readers. This number is significant enough to state that cyber literature on Facebook is enough to have a positive impact on literary readers, especially on literary work of poetry. The coming cyber literature, it promotes the cyber writers in cyber space. The cyber space suddenly became something like a showroom for promoting literary expression especially poetry.

 

 

4.   Conclusion

The birth of cyber literature is something that cannot be avoided. It was born by utilizing the facilities provided by cyber space. Cyber literature is mediated by technology of computer. In some cases, both printed publication and cyber publication have differences and similarities.

The era of technology has at least shifted the perspective and attitude of the people about the importance of documenting a literary work. Through the internet space, the literary documentation becomes easy. It is just like a book or any pieces of literature that can be recorded as source of document where the writer and reader can look them back at what they have written. The research concluded that facebook can be a medium of cyber literature with unlimited space.

In turn, literary learners can appreciate cyber literature through facebook with a writer-reader interactivity. The theory belongs to reader response of literary text.

 

 

References

Bolter, J. D. (1991). Writing Space: The Computer, Hypertext and the History of Writing. Hillsdale, N.J.: Erlbaum.

Nelson, T. (1993). Literary Machines. Sausalitu, CA: Mindful press.

scholar.google.co.id

Sanz, A., & Romero, D. (2007). Literatures in the Digital Era: Theory and Praxis. Newcastle: Cambridge Scholars Publishing.