الفهرس 
Chapter 1: IntroductionOnly 14 pages are availabe for public view
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Abstract
This dissertation started its discussion by clarifying the terminological dispute in the Arabic and English digital literary theory. After investigating many premises, a new e-lit definition was developed. Over the last two decades, electronic literature and criticism has received much attention, therefore, it was essential to trace the historical antecedents that opened a window for the appearance of electronic literature and then digital media poetics. The precursors of Arabic and English e-lit were discussed in the second chapter on three levels: hypertextual, procedural, and spatiotemporal according to the nature of every piece. The chosen 22 samples of study cover many ages and different dispositions. Interestingly, it has become clear that the Arabic genealogies of e-lit are richer than their Anglo-American counterparts because of the long literary history of Arabic language and its visual potentials.
Introducing a cross-cultural digital approach was the goal of the third chapter through following certain procedures. First off, a close digital analysis of 21 Arabic e-lit pieces (the number of all the accessible Arabic e-lit pieces) was conducted for a better understanding of the digital components of e-lit. The inferred results were investigated in relation to the English digital theory. After that, the Arabic and English contributions to the digital media poetics such as MSA and CCS were presented. Then, the traditional criticism approaches were mapped out and addressed to test their validity for evaluating e-lit. A convergence of all the previous perspectives was developed to be a cross-cultural digital approach to e-lit. Finally, this approach was tested by addressing the American poet Deena Larsen’s “Carving in Possibilities,” and ”Tabarih Raqamiyya Li-sira Ba’duha Azraq” (Digital Agonies of a Biography Part of Which is Blue) by the Iraqi poet Mushtaq Abbas Ma’an.
The discussion developed into more global and cultural dimensions by introducing the concept of Cosmo-Literature in the fourth and final chapter. The argument started with introducing the cultural perspectives and terms that paved the way for Cosmo-Literature to be an essential paradigm for understanding literature in new new media. The discussion went on to clarify the role of new new media in achieving world democracies, and connecting the world. Cosmopolitanism and global village as two important cultural terms were also discussed. All these perspectives were inspired for introducing the new concept of Cosmo-Literature, which were put in a direct comparison with e-lit. To draw upon the general features of what the researcher means by Cosmo-Literature, Only One Millimeter Away, an Arabic Facebook novel by the Moroccan novelist Abdel-Wahid Stitu, and Hearts, Keys and Puppetry an English Twitter novel by Neil Gaiman were discussed.
In conclusion, digital media poetics is a rich and fertile field of research. It is a natural transition from paper-based to digital criticism after the speed circulation
of networked media. This dissertation is a first step on the road of developing new poetics for the literature written in digital media. Important findings can be summarized as follows:
1. Presenting a new working definition of electronic literature: For a literary text to be electronic, it should possess at least one of the following elements, which should be manifested in the work itself.
Digitally written (e.g. generative poetry)
Digitally received (e.g. interactive fiction)
Cannot be printed out without losing its features.
2. Developing a Cross-Cultural Critical approach as an integrated world digital approach for reading e-lit in different cultures. This approach acquires its significance from the premise that it pays attention to all the components of the creativity process and the medium as one of these components.
3. Introducing Cosmo-Literature as a conceptual theoretical framework for understanding literature in new new media.