Evaluating Digital Literature: Social Networks, Selection Processes and Criteria

The first experiments in digital literary forms started as early as the 1960s. From then, up to the mid-90's, was a period that, according to Chris Funkhouser (2007), can be considered as a “laboratory” phase. The rise of the Internet has resulted in the proliferation of creative proposals. The first involves indexing creative works in the form of databases, sometimes giving access to hundreds of works without any hierarchical order. Since 2000, digital literature has been experiencing a new phase, marked by the creation of anthologies. Over the years, the evaluation and selection criteria have proved to be as problematic as they are necessary for these projects. The main issue of this paper is to provide a critical discussion of these criteria.