Since the advent of the printing press untill today, the author´s concept has moved to set the idea of what we now understand as such. The process of setting the text, considering the need for a literate society, recognizing the sovereignty of the author, encouraging the creation of a canon of literary works and the birth of every one of the market and book professionals, was a slow process that took centuries. However, the birth of hypertext has broken with two of the main concepts which were added to author´s figure: the setting of the text and the membership of the same material. This means that the concept of authorship has changed.
The author has lost now part of his power and also of his mastery because once he publishes a document on the internet it becomes available to all the internet surfers. Some critics claim that electronic text, and hypertext in particular, is killing the author, and there are many reasons for thinking so because nowadays anyone can copy a document as if it was his/hers. Other critics don´t think the hypertext carries bad consequences for the authors. They say that now the reader has much more opportunities and that benefits the author´s figure.
References:
- María Jesús Lamarca (15th February, 2009). El autor y la autoría en el mundo digital. Retrieved 27th September, 2009 at 21.22 from: http://artesadigital.blogspot.com/2009/02/el-autor-y-la-autoria-en-el-mundo.html
- Jakob Nielsen. Multimedia and hypertext: the internet and beyond. (1995). Retrieved 27th September, 2009 at 21.25 from: http://books.google.es/books?id=KgZXCCfP0rQC&dq=Jakob+Nielsen.+Multimedia+and+hypertext:+the+internet+and+beyond&printsec=frontcover&source=bl&ots=OEqm_1KoDq&sig=6_7ZpZ3mMyKQ-h9jquw2o9ZAEds&hl=es&ei=z7u_SuOjIMHajQf8gf1F&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CAgQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=&f=false
- Author. (2009, September 4 at 05.34). In Wikipedia, The free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 27th Sepember, 2009 at 21.30 from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Author
- Authorship (December 17, 1999). Authorship guidelines. Retrieved 27th September, 2009 at 21.34 from: http://www.hms.harvard.edu/integrity/authorship.html
- “Hypertext and the role of the reader and writer”. Part of the examination for the doctoral program in English at Michigan State University. Retrieved 27th September, 2009 at 21.38 from: http://faculty.gvsu.edu/patterna/hyperreading.html
