By Philip Fernando, former Deputy Editor Sunday Observer, Sri Lanka

WebƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s immense outreach in connectivity has produced a robust literary culture and its new icons have emerged. The new ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-DigiteratiƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚ complement the revered literati as millions access the ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-digital frontier. LankawebƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s expose of public affairs exemplified the throbbing discourse now occurring. ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-Computers are not about computers anymore, itƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s about life,ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚ prophesied Bill Gates.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ InternetƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s unique expressiveness has changed the public discourse before our eyes. Web-driven resurgence in reading has reached new levels spurring a look at core beliefs and assumptions considered sacrosanct. We have over 35 million hotel reviews posted on TripAdvisor revealing everything from stuck-up staff to filthy toilets, and sometimes the reviewers have set their own picky standards.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Critical thinking capacity

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Many search engines sustain readersƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢ intellectual prying giving an impetus to critical thinking capacity. This year Stieg Larsson became the first author to sell over 1 million eBooks through the internet. LarssonƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s trilogy, starting with ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo,ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚ reached the top of the bestsellers lists and became the most downloaded in public libraries Connectivity site un US.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Cyberspace Digiterati seemed tilted towards populous substitutes in the shape of science fiction, adventure, self-help guides for growth and teen romance emblematic of a more deeply formative ways of apprehending the world than during any previous technological transformation. Bill GateƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s world is here to stay.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Shakespeare Quarterly

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ The prestigious 60-year-old Shakespeare Quarterly embarked on an unusual experiment in 2010 September issue making it the first traditional humanities journal to open its reviewing to the World Wide Web.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Mixing conventional and new methods, the journal posted online the four essays designed for publication. Web readers, a core group of experts ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢¢”š¬‚ popularly called ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-crowd sourcing reviewed them. The renowned Web site, MediaCommons, a scholarly digital network received all the reviews. Reportedly, more than 350 comments came in, many of which elicited responses from the four authors.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ The revised essays were then made the final cut before printing. The Shakespeare Quarterly trial, along with a handful of other trailblazing digital experiments, goes to the very core of the review process. Traditionally peer review has shaped the way new research has been screened for quality control and accessing the readers. That is changing.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ A small group of digitally adept scholars had rethought how knowledge was understood and judged by inviting online readers to comment on books in progress. The Shakespeare QuarterlyƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s experiment has so far prompted at least one other journal ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢¢”š¬‚ Postmedieval ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢¢”š¬‚ to plan a similar trial for next year.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Exclusiveness avoided

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Exclusiveness of what was generally seen in academic review with some charges of cronyism and bias may not appear when reviews get done by the digiterati. Peer reviews so far by a smaller exclusive club, considered anonymous helped prevent triviality, but it made reviewers less accountable. Now the range of feedback and participants is expanding getting a wider and consensual element.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ That Wikipedia approach where anyone can post a comment has spurred many to get into reviewing process. Wikipedia, on balance, has become a valuable reference resource, an encyclopedia run by large group of interested experts

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Traditional peer review by scholars would not disappear but the digiterati are making their presence felt. Scientists and economists in particular, now rely on online repositories for unpublished working papers that are more quickly adapted to digital life.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ The Digiterati believed that the goal is not necessarily to replace peer review but to use other, more open methods as well. In the humanities, in which the monographs ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢¢”š¬‚the scholarly papers had been centre of research, there is more inertia. But things are changing. Some though seemed wary of turning peer review into an ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-American IdolƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚-like competition.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Many also asked whether people would be as frank in public, and they worry that comments would be short and episodic, rather than comprehensive and conceptual, and that know-nothings would predominate. That debate will go on.