Alternative Models of Electronic Literary Criticism: Intermedial and Ergodic

Abstract


Introduction
Electronic literature is a fast-expanding discipline that has altered how people read, write, and appreciate literary work.The emergence of electronic literature also referred to as cyber or digital literature, has led to debate.The debate over the arrival of this new form of literature lies in how it is defined as it is a sort of multimodal work (Bluijs, 2021).The category, scope, and inclusion of literary types become the problem of how to define them (Palwicka, 2017).The following questions are part of the debate: whether or not electronic literature is work which is created and distributed solely in digital formats, such as websites or multimedia applications or it refers to any literary work, printed or digitalized, that can be presented or placed on the internet, such as social media, blog, or website.The other controversy which distinguishes electronic literature from printed literature is whether or not it should bring the ability of the reader to influence the narrative or enjoy an immersive experience.
In addition to causing debate, electronic literature has generated various negative and positive responses.The controversy of its response revolves around questioning the quality and legitimacy of its work and authors on the one hand (Gunawan, 2019;Yulhasni & Suprayetno, 2018;Fitriani, 2007) and providing space for plagiarism (Sulaiman, 2020).On the other hand, multiple benefits can be gained from this genre: fast and massive distribution (Setiyowati et al., 2020), publication without the approval of the editor of the book publisher, subversion against the establishment and dominance of printed literature (Yulhasni & Suprayetno, 2018;Yulhasni & Suprayetno, 2018), open space for creativity due to the addition of multimedia (Rahman, 2017), and intensive interaction between writers and readers (Fediyanto et al., 2021;Wahyudi & Wati, 2021;Nurhidayah et al., 2019).
The debate on definitions and the controversial responses to the emergence of electronic literature has resulted in the lack of suitable models of electronic literary criticism that will be used to study, assess, and appreciate works of cyber literature.There is not enough literary criticism of electronic literature, which is the kind of analysis that goes beyond just describing it and looking at it critically (Pawlicka, 2017).Electronic literary criticism has not been developed (Nugroho & Suyitno, 2020) like other established literary criticisms, such as new criticism, formalism, post-structuralism, psychoanalysis, and other literary criticisms because it does not yet have a strong foundation and agreement on its definition, form, quality, and aesthetic values.The basic question in this article is how electronic literature should be appreciated, judged, and valued.Some alternative models, therefore, should be proposed and set.For this reason, this article is presented to offer alternative models of how to give literary criticism to electronic literature.The alternative model must, of course, be based on the contextual definition and the positive response to the existence of electronic literature.The concept of electronic literature in this article refers to literary works designed to be read on electronic devices, such as computers, smartphones, tablets, and ereaders.This literary genre is distinguished by its incorporation of digital technologies, such as multimedia elements, interactivity, and hypertext.

Electronic Literature: Perspectives and Agreement on its Definition
Agreement on the definition of electronic literature and the history of its development form the basis for literary criticism.Electronic literature is a new field of study that can be approached from a variety of perspectives.It can be defined in a variety of ways.Without a clear and rigorous definition, electronic literature is a difficult object of study to categorize and clearly describe (Hayles, 2008).Some similar definitions have been put forward by academics who have an interest in electronic literature, such as Hayles, Rettberg, Rosario, Flores, and even scholars in Electronic Literature Organization (ELO).Besides the definition, electronic literary researchers, such as Pawlicka, contributed to depicting the chronological development of this kind of literature.

Hayles
(2008) defines electronic literature as a literary form that employs digital technologies in its development, distribution, and interpretation.This concept spans a wide range of works, from early computer-generated poetry to interactive multimedia storytelling.Hayles contends that electronic literature challenges established assumptions of what literature is and opens up new channels for expression and experimentation.She emphasizes that electronic writing often blurs the boundaries between reader and author since the reader is often called upon to contribute to the creation of meaning through their interactions with the text.Additionally, electronic literature can use digital media's inherent qualities, such as nonlinearity, hyperlinking, and multimedia, to generate new forms of storytelling and expression.Hayles's definition emphasizes the significance of technology in the development and interpretation of electronic literature and the notion that electronic literature is not just digitized traditional literature, but rather a new kind of literary expression.To sum up, Hayles underlines that this new genre excluded print literature although it has been digitized, it is digitally born, a first-generation digital object created on a computer and meant to be read on a computer.Similar to Hayles, Retterberg also describes electronic literature most simply as new forms and genres of writing that explore the capabilities of the computer and network.It is literature that would not be feasible without the current digital milieu.He adds that electronic literature has grown rapidly as a field of creative practice, academic research, and pedagogy in the last half-century, most notably from the 1990s to the present.Computers and the internet have drastically changed many aspects of life for a large proportion of the world's population.Textuality and communication are now mediated digitally.Therefore, electronic literature reflects new situations through the work of writers and artists who consciously investigate the potential of new media for new modes of storytelling and poetic practice (Rettberg, 2018).This kind of digital literature emphasizes the need to avoid digitizing printed literature in defining electronic literature.Rosario defines electronic literature as a type of writing that began to pop up when computers and digital technology became more common.It's written for the digital age, but readers shouldn't think of it as digitized print literature (Rosario, 2021).
This digital genre can be viewed as art that focuses on writing and uses the expressive power of digital and electronic media.It is not about printing which transforms into digital writing.To understand this concept, the following analogy will be useful.Even though poetry has its roots in an oral culture, literature as an art form and field of study has been shaped by writing and printing for hundreds of years.Electronic literature is the study of writing in electronic and digital media, which combines computation, multimedia integration, and interactivity through a variety of input devices, networked data, and digital culture itself.As digital culture grows and develops, it has a bigger impact on the people who make electronic literature (Flores, 2021).All the above definitions more or less fit what the Electronic Literature Organization outlines electronic literature as "works with important literary aspects that take advantage of the capabilities and contexts provided by the stand-alone or networked computer" (Electronic Literature Organization, 2022).
To summarize, electronic literature is not merely putting written or printed works of literature on the internet and then the readers read them.It involves computer and digital technology, immersive experience, intermediality, interactivity, and between the writers, readers, works and the multi-media.Hence, electronic literature is a literary work created or published with the help of digital technology.Novels, poems, plays, and other works of fiction that are published online or in electronic formats, as well as works that incorporate elements of digital technology into their storytelling or creation process, are examples of this.Electronic literary works can also be interactive, allowing readers to interact with the content in work ways.

Viewpoints on the Historical Development of Electronic Literature
The definition of electronic literature cannot be separated from its historical development.Literary scholar and theorist N. Katherine Hayles (2008) has made significant contributions to the study of electronic literature.She proposes some phases of the development of electronic literature.Hayles traces the origins of electronic literature to the late 1950s and early 1960s when early computer programmers began experimenting with novel forms of computational expression.In the late 1960s and 1970s, new genres of computer-generated poetry and fiction emerged, and electronic writing began to flourish and expand.As electronic literature continued to evolve, it was influenced by the proliferation of the internet and the World Wide Web.Electronic literature came to be acknowledged as a unique field of study in the late 1990s and early 2000s, with the formation of scholarly journals, conferences, and organizations devoted to its study and promotion.The history of electronic literature is a complex and dynamic one that is shaped by the interplay of technological, cultural, and intellectual factors.By understanding electronic literature's historical and cultural context, academics can gain a deeper appreciation of its significance and potential as a form of artistic expression and cultural production.
Similar to Hayles, Flores suggests that the first generation of electronic literature consists of a handful of pioneering works published between 1952 and 1995.For the majority of this time period, computer access was limited, resulting in a tiny number of practitioners, the majority of whom were unaware that they were creating electronic literature.
Only computer scientists, professors, and technical employees in the commercial sector, as well as producers in cinema, television, and radio studios, had access to pricey instruments for creating electronic literature over the first several decades.Flores adds that the second generation was marked by the rise of the World Wide Web which caused a significant paradigm change and expansion in the production and circulation of electronic literature.Because an increasing number of people have access to personal computers and the internet, the number of practitioners increases proportionally, and the ease of publication has resulted in a vast quantity of original material entering circulation via the web.
Practitioners are programmers, computer users, online artists and developers, writers and artists who collaborate with programmers, and users of multimedia authoring tools.The third generation of electronics, Flores argues, is built on social media networks and widely adopted platforms and apps, both its production and audience size are enormous (Flores, 2021).
The development of electronic literature is divided into three phases.The first phase is the time of computer literature when texts were created on a computer prior to the advent of the internet in 1994.The second phase is broader and more complex, lasting until 2008.It broadened the meaning of electronic literature by incorporating new categories in which theorists departed from traditional literary theory in analyses of electronic literature, and this segment developed the areas and categories: kinesthetic, haptic, and proprioceptive experience of digital text, the body as code, and new types of performativity in reading literature.The third phase's interest is in the academic community, more broadly digital humanities.It paid attention less to the content of electronic literature and more broadly to its place in the academic community and, more broadly, in digital humanities.It is important to note that the third phase of transition is linked to the development of new technologies that lead to advances in digitality such as the increasing deployment and use of text and image on handheld devices, where inter-art creation occurs as in the text, image, moving image, and sound (Pawlicka, 2014).Pawlicka concludes that periodization or phases of the development of electronic literature help people to place electronic literature in the history of literature.By separating changes into different phases, it can be perceived that electronic literature moved from text to techno-text, from text as decoding meaning to text as a process of information and information system, from interpretation to experience, from visual perception to performativity, from close reading to hyper reading, and many other changes.
Another period of electronic literature is studied in terms of the types of invention.Rosario views the development through some works that were invented.She traced back some works considered the origin of electronic literature."Stochastic texts" is a series of computer-generated texts created by Theo Lutz in 1959.It is considered to be one of the earliest examples of digital literature and is considered a pioneer in the field of computergenerated writing.Lutz used a computer program to generate random word combinations and create short, meaningless sentences that were meant to challenge traditional notions of authorship and meaning in writing.Rosario states further that by the 1980s, as computers got better, poets used the screen more and more to show how their words move.These experiments set the stage for many later poems that became popular in animated, hypermedia forms.In 1985, at an international exhibit in Paris called "Les Immatériaux," which was organized by Jean-Francois Le Lionnais, the ALAMO6 group showed its first poems that were "generated" by a computer.This sort of gave the go-ahead for a new type of visual poetry that was "animated" by this new medium.In the 1990s, researchers at CERN in Geneva, led by Tim Berners-Lee, made the technology that made the Internet popular.From that date on, there were more and more websites with "cyberpoetry" and "cyber-literature," which led to the birth of a new generation of digital authors.Since then, the number of poems published on the Internet has grown steadily.In 1999, the magazine Doc(k)s felt the need to make a list of what had already been made.When viewers looked at a program in an installation like textgenerated poems, the first works were made automatically.As graphics software got better, more and more works used visual methods that looked like concrete and visual poems that were drawn and fixed on the page (Rosario, 2021).
To sum up, electronic literature dates back to the earliest days of the internet and digital technology.In the 1960s, early computer scientists and writers began experimenting with using computers as a medium for creative expression, resulting in the development of interactive fiction and hypertext fiction, two of the earliest types of electronic writing.In the 1980s and 1990s, the birth of the World Wide Web and the spread of personal computers increased the possibilities for electronic writing, as online literary communities flourished and new types of digital storytelling were developed.The ongoing development of digital technology in the 21st century has led to the evolution of electronic literature, including the incorporation of multimedia, social media, and artificial intelligence in its production.Today, electronic literature remains a dynamic and rapidly-evolving field, with a growing corpus of works and a committed community of writers, academics, and readers.

Types of Electronic Literature
From the definition and historical development of electronic literature, it can be observed that there should be experts who are responsible for the production of electronic literature.The first can be programmers or coders who develop software or tools necessary for the creation of electronic literature.The second is digital artists and designers, the ones that create the visual and interactive elements of the work, such as graphics, animations, and user interfaces.Sound designers and musicians will be the third experts.They create the audio elements of the work, such as sound effects and music.The fourth experts are the editors and proofreaders who are in charge of reviewing the text error.The last is publishers or distributors.They can be individuals or companies that help bring the work to a wider audience.Electronic literature is useless when there are no readers or users.Their engagement with electronic literary work can shape its impact and success.Electronic literature is a collaborative and interdisciplinary form of work that frequently requires the participation of a wide variety of individuals and skill sets.
In the definition and history, there are also some types of electronic literature.According to Hayles (2008), they are hypertext fiction, network fiction, interactive fiction, locative narratives, installation pieces, "codework," generative art, and flash poem.Meanwhile, Rettberg (2019) divides this genre into six types: combinatory poetic, hypertext fiction, interactive fiction and game forms, kinetic and interactive poetry, network writing, and divergent stream.In order to give appreciation and valuable judgement, the knowledge about these types of electronic literature should be comprehensively understood.Hayles (2008) and Rettberg (2019) outline this genre into six types.They are hypertext fiction, network fiction, interactive fiction, locative narratives, flash poems, and kinetic and interactive poetry.
Hypertext fiction and the divergent stream is a type of electronic literature that uses hypertext technology to tell stories that do not flow in order.The readers can move from one part of the story to another by following links between different parts of the text.Its stream focuses on multiple, branching storylines.While hypertext fiction usually only has one non-linear path through the text, the divergent stream has many paths that can lead to many different results.
While network fiction refers to writing that uses networked media to make a story readers can interact with to experience their own way, interactive fiction is a literary work in which the reader can take part in making the story in the form of a computer game or a hypertext story.Meanwhile, the locative narrative is a type of interactive story that uses location-based technologies to create a story or experience tied to a specific place.Writers use GPS, augmented reality, and other location-based technologies along with stories to create a unique, immersive, and real-worldbased story experience.
Flash poems can be defined as short pieces of poetry meant to be read quickly and all at once.Only taking up one page or screen of text, they use multimedia elements like sound, pictures, and animation to make them more interesting to read.Kinetic and interactive poetry looks at how the computer's multimedia capabilities can be used as a place for both writing and reading poetry.
The above types show complexities in a way that sometimes these types can intersect in use and application.Many works that could be called literary installations or locative narratives are also hypertext fictions.Rettberg (2019) experimented to write about combinatory poetry and kinetic poetry separately, but a lot of kinetic poems are also combinatory.These electronic literary types help readers focus on certain things that all the works in a group have in common, but none of these genres can be said to have fixed or unchangeable boundaries.
Therefore, appreciation and study of electronic literature can be focused generally on digital technology, immersive and interactive experiences amongst the reader, experimentation on the form, accessibility to a wide range of readers, and artistry as literary work with its basic elements, such as theme, plot, conflict, imagery, characters, and others.

An Alternative Model of Electronic Literary Criticism
Electronic literature is a new genre which has different and unique characteristics in comparison with printed literature.It is not merely a printed literary work transmitted into digital form or posted on digital platforms.As Hayles (2008) suggests, it excludes digitized printed literature because it is digitally born as the first generation digital objects created on a computer and meant to be read on a computer.Being differently defined from printed literature, electronic literature also requires a different perspective of criticism.Therefore, the need for electronic literary criticism should be proposed and developed.
In the digital era, literary criticism should not be merely a matter of what the words are said, but also how they are expressed.The medium becomes an important element in appreciating literature as the literature today is not only what it is said but how it is said.New approaches are needed, especially which discuss the technical feature rather than the literary one.That is why techno-criticism should be widely discussed (Nirmal, 2014).How advanced and helpful technology determines the high appreciation toward electronic literature.
Electronic literary criticism can be created by combining textual analysis and a cinematic approach in the way how video, image, and text are able to reflect a semantic meaningful representation of video poetry.Merging the element of media and the textual component will evoke a more comprehensive understanding of literary work (Aziz & Ariff, 2019).
As electronic literature needs special treatment of appreciation, the literary criticism toward it should be unique.Strehovec proposes that electronic literature is not a continuation of print-based literature.Instead, it is a practice shaped by digital textuality that emphasizes the uniqueness of new media and new ways of thinking about writing in programmable media.When talking about new media art, it is important to point out the following things that are important to the practice: database logic, its process-like nature, software, algorithms, interactivity, playfulness, and the use of interfaces.They are also embedded in the social realm in a way that shows some of the most important aspects of the current social paradigms (Strehovec, 2014).These are the existing approaches to appreciating electronic literature.It can be perceived that the emphasis on technology gain much attention.Besides, the connection between the readers, writers, programmers and the interfaces also play important role in understanding this genre.The followings are the other alternative approaches to electronic literary criticism.

Appreciative Bases
From the above definitions and historical development, it can be concluded that there are some points to consider concerning literary appreciation.Electronic literary criticism might begin by identifying its significant elements, which can be called appreciative bases.What is meant by appreciative bases here is the different ground or dimensions of electronic literature that researchers and readers can use to enjoy and evaluate electronic literature as a unique form of literature.These appreciating grounds give a framework for comprehending, assessing, and evaluating the effectiveness and impact of the various aspects that comprise electronic literature.They are technology (platform), immersive experience and interactivity (reader's involvement), electronic literature types (literary work), accessibility (wide range), and socio-cultural function (impact).
Technology in electronic literature refers to how the platform demonstrates the creative and innovative use of digital media, including interactivity, multimedia, hypertext, virtual and augmented reality, and other features that are unique to digital technology.The platform here means software or system that is used to create, distribute, or display a work of electronic literature.It can be specific authoring software or tool that an electronic literature author uses to create a work, such as Unity or Twine.A website, mobile app, or another digital environment where electronic literature is hosted and accessed by readers can be the platform.Platforms can have a significant impact on the form and content of electronic literature, as different platforms offer different affordances and constraints for the creation and distribution of digital works.Additionally, the choice of platform can shape the audience and reception of a work, as readers may have different expectations and experiences depending on where and how they access the electronic literature.It should take advantage of the unique possibilities of digital technology to create new and exciting literary experiences.This is the unique characteristic of electronic literature which can be distinguished from traditional print literature.To what extent the technology is used determines the capacity of the platform.
The immersive experience refers to the extent to which the reader feels fully engaged and involved in the reading of a digital text.In electronic literature, the reading experience is often characterized by a high degree of interactivity, multimedia elements, and nonlinear structures, which can significantly impact the way in which the reader engages with the text.In this context, the immersive experience can be seen as a combination of different factors, including the reader's engagement with the narrative, the level of interactivity and exploration offered by the text, and the sensory and emotional response elicited by multimedia elements such as sound, video, and animation.Readers take part in the story and find out more about it in a way that is more interactive and interesting.
Interactivity in electronic literature can be defined as the ways that readers can interact with digital works of literature and take part in them.Electronic literature often has interactive parts that let readers move through the work in non-linear ways and make choices that change the way the story goes or how the work is presented.It can take many different forms, such as hypertext links, multimedia elements, and stories that go in different directions.Hypertext links, for example, let readers move through the text by clicking on links to other parts of the work, making for a non-linear reading experience.Multimedia elements like audio, video and pictures can also be added to the story to make it more interesting and make reading more immersive.Readers get more involved with the text and read reading more dynamic and interactive.Electronic literature gives readers the chance to personalize their experience and interact with the work in a way that is unique to them.This is because readers can make choices and move through the work in different ways.Interactivity can also challenge traditional ideas of who the author is and who the reader is.It can make the reader a partner in making meaning in the work.
The different types of electronic literature, such as hypertext fiction, kinetic poetry, locative narrative, or interactive fiction, require different treatments and can influence the approaches used to understand the meaning of electronic literature.Hypertext fiction, for example, focuses on the path through which the story is read by clicking on different links.It lets the reader take the lead in figuring out what it means.They do this by making choices and going their own way through the work.Because hypertext fiction does not always have a clear beginning, middle, and end, readers may need to look for themes, images, or motifs that keep coming up to figure out what it means.Kinetic poetry emphasizes animation, sound, and visual effects are used to make the reading experience more dynamic and immersive.For kinetic poetry to make sense, readers may have to pay attention to how the different parts interact with each other and with the text itself.This might require a multimodal way of interpreting the work, where the reader looks at the written words, pictures, and sounds.
In the locative narrative, the story is read in a certain place, using mobile devices or other technology to create an augmented reality effect.To understand what locative narratives are about, readers may need to pay attention to how the work interacts with the space it takes up and how it uses technology to make the reading experience better.This could mean that figuring out what it means will require knowledge from fields like geography, architecture, and computer science, among others.
Interactive fiction often has a story structure with multiple paths, where the reader makes choices that change the way the story goes.To figure out what interactive fiction is about, readers may need to think about how the choices they make affect the story's ending and the themes and motifs that keep coming up.This might require a way of interpreting the work that puts the reader at the centre, where the reader actively builds meaning by making choices and going down different paths.
Accessibility is one of the important bases for appreciating electronic literature.To make cyber literature available to a wide range of readers, publishers and authors should focus on making content that is easy to use and navigate.This means using simple language and avoiding jargon, making sure the content works well on different devices and browsers, giving alternative text for images, videos, and audio, and breaking up long blocks of text with text formatting.Also, authors should make sure that their content is accessible to people with physical or learning disabilities.For example, videos should have closed captioning, and audio content should have transcripts.Also, authors should make their content easy to find in different ways, like through search engines, social media, and direct links from other websites.
After accessibility can be handled, electronic literature can expand to its sociocultural functions.Raising social and cultural issues becomes the potential function of this genre.Being easily accessed, this genre can be used to raise awareness about social and cultural issues that are marginalized or not extensively highlighted in mainstream media.Universal and world issues such as environmental degradation, socioeconomic inequity, violations of human rights, and cultural disputes can be addressed.Digital literary work gets people to talk about social and cultural issues and share their own experiences and points of view as it is equipped with interactive features.This digital genre is able to create immersive and interactive experiences that force readers to think critically about complex social and cultural issues.Put in certain platforms, this craft can facilitate dialogue between individuals of diverse cultures and points of view.By incorporating interactive elements such as forums, comments, and social media, electronic literature can encourage readers to discuss social and cultural issues and share their own experiences and perspectives.

Possible Alternative Approaches to Electronic Literary
As a literary work, digital literature retains the same characteristics as printed literature.This work remains relevant from an approach standpoint if it is understood from a variety of literary critical perspectives, including form, ideology, social and historical context, and reader response.However, as it is a unique genre blended with digital craft, there are a variety of possible techniques for analyzing digital literary works such as kinetic poetry, hypertext fiction, or locative drama.The possible strategies can include intermedial and ergodic approaches.The elaboration of the above approaches is as follows.

Intermedial Approach
The intermedial method focuses on analyzing how a digital literary work interacts with other forms of media, such as images, sound, and video.This may include analyzing how the work uses or transforms these media, as well as their impact on the reading experience.In Wurth's term, it is a mix of different types of media that cross over and mix with each other.Words become like colours, colours become like words, texts become like buildings and spaces, and sounds are heard in space.These kinds of crosspollinations questioned the identities and conditions of each art form.Many kinds of complex digital literary work, especially poetry, can be placed and understood in the context of intermediality.They create new ways of becoming (Wurth, 2006).
An important part of the intermediality method is analyzing how the electronic text creates meaning by utilizing the affordances of each medium.How, for instance, can the use of sound or music add to the text's overall mood or atmosphere?How does the inclusion of visuals or video improve the reader's comprehension of the text?
The other component of intermediality is considering how the electronic text relates to or draws from various media forms.A piece of electronic literature may, for instance, reference a certain film or literary work, or it may include aspects of a particular genre, such as science fiction or horror.An investigation of intermediality would investigate how these allusions contribute to the overall meaning and interpretation of the text.
Recognizing the manner in which electronic literature is a hybrid form that integrates and interacts with various media forms is necessary for an intermediality-based analysis of electronic literature.By analyzing how these many media elements interact and contribute to the overall meaning of the text, readers can acquire a greater understanding of how electronic literature generates meaning and engages the reader.
Appreciating electronic literature through an intermedial approach may take these methods.The first is paying close attention to the many forms of media employed in the piece.How these forms of media interact with one another and contribute to the work's ultimate meaning should become the focus of attention.The second is that readers need to provide a list of the various forms of media utilized in the work, including text, photos, sound, and video.Determining the specific occasions in which each element is utilized and exploring their interrelationships can be taken.In the third method, researchers can study the interaction between media by examining how the various forms of media are utilized in connection to one another and by looking for instances in which the text, images, music, and video collaborate to convey meaning.The next is scrutinizing the impact that the employment of numerous media aspects has on the reader's experience of the work.
The other method is examining the effects of each media component.Readers should assess how each media type contributes to the work's meaning.It is then followed by analysing how the employment of each element impacts the work's tone, atmosphere, and message.How, for instance, does the use of sound contribute to the work's atmosphere?What contribution does the use of visuals make to the reader's comprehension of the text?
Appreciating electronic literature also means inspecting how the various forms of media are utilized to structure the narrative of the work and how the situations in which media elements are used to generate transitions between portions of the work or create a nonlinear narrative framework.This analysis may be based on the interaction between the various types of media, and it is followed by drawing conclusions about the overall meaning of the work.This involves how the usage of various mediums contributes to the themes, ideas, and messages of the work.

Ergodic Approach
In the ergodic approach, the readers do not merely read the text, but they also have to interact with it in some way by making decisions or altering it in order to advance.This approach bases its understanding on the definition of ergodic literature as a type of literature that requires non-trivial effort on the part of the reader to traverse the text (Aarseth, 1997).The term "ergodic" is derived from the Greek terms ergon and hodos, which represent "labour" and "way," respectively.The concept of cybertext, Aarseth states, emphasizes the text's mechanical order by positing that the medium's complexities are an intrinsic aspect of literary discourse.However, it also focuses on the reader or user of the text as a more integrated figure than the readerresponse theory would suggest.The performance of their reader takes place entirely in his brain, whereas the performance of cybertext users is also extranoematic.
During the cyber textual process, the user will have executed a semiotic sequence; this selective movement is a physical construction that is not accounted for by the many conceptions of "reading."This phenomenon is referred to as ergodic.
Aarseth claims that ergodic literature is not confined to traditional forms of literature such as "Choose Your Own Adventure" books (1979) or interactive fiction but also encompasses digital media such as video games, hypertext fiction, and other types of interactive narratives.He offers a cybertext theory, which he describes as the arrangement of text in computer-based media.Organizational patterns of cybertext can affect the reader's experience, such as ergodic loops which means repeating and recursive acts required to proceed through the text.
The ergodic approach may take some steps.The first is identifying the elements of the work that require the reader to actively interact with the text to comprehend or navigate it.This can incorporate interactive features, hypertextual frameworks, and other non-linear narrative formats.Once the ergodic elements have been found, the next step is to examine the loops or interaction patterns required to advance through the text.Readers recognize the various options or paths open to the reader or analyze the rules or limitations that control the reader's interaction with the text.The next can be examining the effect on meaning.The ergodic approach highlights the significance of the reader's active involvement with the text in establishing meaning.Consequently, it is essential to analyze how ergodic features and loops contribute to the text's overall meaning and interpretation.

Conclusion
Appreciating electronic literature requires both technical and creative skills, for example, using software and programming languages, adding multimedia elements, and designing interactive elements.As readers are engaged in the field, they should be willing to learn about and try out new technologies and art techniques.Electronic literary criticism is an interdisciplinary area that combines the study of literature, technology, and digital media to evaluate and interpret works and investigate the relationships between technology, authorship, and readership.It investigates how electronic and digital media shape, inform, and reflect literature, as well as how the creation and use of new and digital technologies affect literature and literary criticism.
Intermedial and ergodic analyses are two alternative criticism which can accommodate this complex genre.The intermedial approach examines the ways in which a digital literary work engages with various media types, such as visuals, sounds, and moving pictures.Depending on the assignment, this could involve discussing the effects of the various forms of media used in the text and how they are incorporated into the narrative.The ergodic method requires the reader to do more than just consume the material; they must actively participate in the process by making choices and influencing the outcome.This method is grounded in the idea that ergodic literature is defined as books that demand significant cognitive work from the reader.