EXPLORING DIGITAL TEXTS: SHIFTING FIXITY, REDEFINING AUTHORITY, INSPIRING HYPERTEXT FORMS, AND UNLOCKING BOUNDLESS CREATIVE POTENTIAL

Abstract

The advent of digital technologies has also inclined the world to shift from traditional books and textbooks to digital texts. In line with this development, it becomes inevitable to explore the features of the digital text. The current research study aims to explore the impact and influence of digital text on the traditional notions of fixity and authorship, along with its evolution into the new hypertext forms. Besides, it also aims to explore the elements of linearity, textual patterns and the creative potential in the digital text.Therefore, this research study critically delineates the functionality of the digital text by taking into account a qualitative research methodology, with a purposive sampling technique, in a bid to accomplish the objectives.This research is fundamentally a critical review of digital texts chosen for this study, and is guided by the theories given by Jannet Murray (1997) and Marry Lauren Ryan (2000). The research concludes that digital text has turned the tables for the traditional printed texts, as it challenges the notions of fixity, allows readers to partake in the meanings making process, has a creative potential, and proves to be conducive to different patterns and forms of text forms and hypertexts.