Dudfield claims that reading and writing have become interactive events, not simple absorption or recital, and that different characteristics and types of literacy activities have developed on the Internet:
Reflective Writing: The electronic medium allows opportunities for reflection and refining thought before making words public.
Community Participation: Participants achieve a sense of belonging and use language to "exist," to have a voice.
Interdiscursivity: Texts can be preprogrammed, prewritten, or produced synchronously; innovative discourse types.
Identity Construction: Potential for multiple "selfs" and to exist in ways not possible in the "real world."
Reader-Writer State of Flux: Participants are in an ongoing process of reading what others have written or are writing, and writing their own contributions.
Reader Subjectivity: Users are in positions of expertise and control and are coauthors of the texts in which they participate.
Command-driven Texts: Commands are used for moving within the environment and for manipulating and programming objects.