The question of whether computers and the Internet offer anything actually “new” is apparently quite heated. This is surprising to me. I’ve come to think and know of the time period we’re living in as the “digital age” where new things are happening, and everyone is all excited. At the Poesis Symposium ideas where presented that challenge this assumption. Block and Cramer suggest that much of what makes up computer and net art in reference to literature can be traced back to historical ideas. I’m having a hard time thinking of the computer and Internet as not being innovative. Cantz thinking is more inviting.
If I write a word on paper, and then write the same on screen, the two are going to be fundamentally different. I’m not sure how one really argues this. The medium always will change the message. I think of the process of choosing a medium as choosing a tool to create or deliver a message. I think this concept is only amplified when considering a literary text as a whole.

...to be continued...