Journal 2

Materiality is defined as the quality or character of being material. The materiality of written works can vary from many different mediums, including online text, print, or thousands of other forms of text. A network is described as a group of interconnected people or things. Networks show that a lot of texts, events and other things are often connected, and are easily tied to other things. Every text has a different materiality, and the materiality of the text can help to determine its network. For example, a post card and an online blog are different materials, and will also have different networks. This being said, two works with of the same material will not necessarily have the same network. This also is true for the opposite that just because two different works are different materials does not mean that they cannot have the same network. As technology has grown over time we have been able to see many new forms of materiality be created and utilized. Technology has introduced us to many things including online blogs, online newspapers and even things like online forums. These newly created mediums for writing have also increased the growth of networks. The bigger an audience a text has corresponds to a bigger network. Online materials can now reach thousands of readers within seconds, making networks much larger and more interconnected. For example, if one person shares an article on their Facebook page, most of their friends will see it, even if they don’t read it, they could still have a connection to it. This creates and weaves a huge network between readers. That being said, a postcard for example, will have a smaller network because it only has a few readers, and even if they pass it on to friends, it will not reach nearly as many people as something that is shared on the Internet. This is why the Internet has been such a useful and beneficial tool for writers and other professionals. The Internet has made it easier and faster to achieve a larger audience and network. It is interesting to think how different many aspects of writing were before the creation and use of the World Wide Web. Materiality and specifically online materials, have a huge affect on not only the network of a text but also other aspects like the circulation and the situation.