Electronic literature, Digital literature, or can be referred to as ergodic literature is a genre of literature that developed within the digital environments and need a digital device in order to be read. Unlike e-books that you download for your kindle, iPad, iPhone; electronic literature is created on digital devices to be read and interacted exclusively within a digital framework. This means that these writings cannot be easily printed, if not at all, due to the fact that elements crucial to the text cannot be carried over into a printed version; for the simple reason that digital literature is comprised of many different subgroups that were formed on a computer. Examples include cyber-text, hyperlinks, animation, multimedia content, interactive texts etc. Just for an example the book Pry, A novella. This book is only available for either iPads or iPhones exclusively for the simple fact that it requires a touchable screen. For Pry:

“The form is the function,” Gorman says.  Gorman and Cannizzaro comprise the fledgling art collective Tender Claws. Based in Los Feliz, the two 30-year-olds released Pry – “a book to watch and a film to touch” – Oct. 3 in the iTunes App Store.- Lauren Herstik.

Electronic Literature requires some form of interaction with the text and device.