ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the way the web tends to be read non-linearly and in snippets and how this might be replacing any deep engagement in sustained argument, the size of the web and fears of information overload; and the ephemeral, unstable and ultimately less authoritative nature of online texts. The advantages of the potentially dynamic nature of online text are clear - not only can errors be instantly corrected but knowledge continually built upon. Furthermore, Google's power is gradually being curtailed by what are known as walled gardens being set up by social network sites such as Facebook, whose private content is inaccessible to the search engine. People are increasingly accessing information which is channelled to them by the people they know - on the one hand, a useful filtering device but, on the other, another way of limiting our exposure to ideas which challenge or develop what we know.
