Abdullah Al-Somati 

As you read today this great flow of literary texts on social media, your mind does not precisely define the rules of literary art and its types or the inherited traditional rules of poetry. The methods of formulation and the creative and imaginative vision have differed to a large extent, and the ways of looking at things and the world have changed, due to this loud and accelerating rhythm caused by the Internet, and this is natural in technical, human and civilizational development. 

In his article: Literature of Global Communication Networks, Dieter Zimmer distinguishes between "literature of global communication networks" and "literature in global communication networks." Literature in global communication networks is an ordinary text, as is always the case with texts, as we know them in books, for example, except that it is not written today on paper, but rather electronic literature, "online" literature, and you find examples of it here and there, and its use will increase over time, for it has uses, and although limited, they cannot be ignored: this literature can be accessed from every computer connected to global communication networks, and accessing the text here is easier than accessing it in books.

As for the literature of global communication networks – as Zimmer sees it – it does not want to be characterized by these traits, for it does not aim to be a text, which does not differ from the texts known since they were created except in that it exists on global communication networks, for where this literature appears it takes for itself, in most cases, the role of herald of a new type of art, independent in its subject and form, and capable of eliminating all other forms of literature." 

Literature written on the Internet is literature known for its characteristics and features, and its source and writer who belongs to a certain literary genre are known, and the literary sites spread on these networks are sufficient for their owners to publish a poem or a short story or news about the release of a book, or a mini-bibliography about the writer. Thus, the writer keeps his method and style for which he was known, all that matters is that he moved his literary production from the circle of printed linear to the circle of readable on the computer screen. By doing so, he is thinking of winning a new group of readers or followers who may not care much about these familiar works that they had read in books or printed periodicals, and no longer have the same luster required by the new place of publication, or those who pass by it in passing, affected by this speed provided by mobile devices and computers in moving from one site to another, and by the advertising propaganda pattern that dominates the contents of communication networks. 

Internet Rhetoric:

We are certainly facing a new eloquence, which is: the eloquence of the Internet. The eloquence of Al-Jahiz, Al-Qartajini or Abdul Qahir Al-Jurjani is no longer sufficient to live with the rhythm of the times and the rhythm of the screen. Hence, new creators in particular have turned to embracing this technical and creative rhythm through it in short, flash, glowing, concise, and fast-to-receive texts and perhaps also fast-to-forget, for today's reader has no prior ability to memorize and comprehend, as he moves from site to site, from page to page, and from application to another, without focus, so as not to miss this overwhelming flow of various writings and various forms of expression. 

Has any writer thought of creating a new literary form through communication networks? 

There are a number of artistic possibilities provided by communication networks, represented in four words: multimedia, participation in the text, interaction in the text, and hypertext, which in Zimmer's view are: magic words that open the doors to bold and spacious spaces for the mind. 

The fields of literature of communication networks will be wide and varied.. especially since the chances of literature spreading globally from a quantitative perspective are doubling – according to Hussam Al-Khatib – thanks to factors such as: information technology, satellite channels, free space for information, hypermedia output and electronic dictionaries, as well as transcending borders in modern concepts of globalization.

All these things work together to create new literary qualities.. However, there are two main problems facing this type of literature: the forced brevity of the text, and the concern for the quality of the text. Perhaps the reason for this is the difference between the visual and the printed. The visual on the screen makes the reader satisfied with a hasty look and rapid movement from one site to another, while what is printed in a book allows for a degree of contemplation and thinking. Also, as Zimmer sees it, the state of screen literature as an art form is no different from the state of advertising art that is displayed quickly and does not take long. As for the quality of the text, the first thing that a rider on the many-desired waves of global communication networks experiences is a lot of noise and little result, so you see him, as Zimmer says: he puts in a lot of effort and a lot of ingenuity, but he offers nothing but trivial phrases to the computer user.. As for the real predicament of this literature, it is the abandonment of the linearity of the text and the abandonment of the writer. Linearity was and still is reading, for one cannot read words written in circles, or in angles, or words written in more than one of these ways at the same time. 

New forms of poetry:

Shortness and brevity are fundamental conditions in this color of literature, and perhaps the art of poetry, with the intensification and abbreviation it provides, and the abstraction and linguistic brevity on which it is based, is the most capable literary type that can deal technically and aesthetically with computers, mobile phones and literature of international networks. A short poetic text consists of several sentences, and may consist of one sentence. If some visual forms such as drawing, picture or alphabetical shape are added to it or if the text is written in an alphabetical way, all this will make the poetic text a text capable of being formed according to what technology allows, because it is a text that points towards its inside. Language in it is a means and an end together, unlike other literary genres that make language merely a vessel or a tool that conveys the contents the author wants to reach the reader as we find in a story or a novel that is difficult to read on communication networks, in addition to not enjoying it. Hence, the poetic text has a lden opportunity to communicate with a large segment of readers, by investing in global network technologies, because its extreme shortness will make it the art of the moment charged through its images with dense connotations, and perhaps through this investment, poetry restores its beautiful face, and perhaps new expressive horizons are generated from it that make it more capable of spreading and receiving on a wide international scale, especially if it is translated into multiple international languages. It is a lden opportunity for poetry and poets alike. The creator must step forward to possess his new communication codes. 

Note : 

• Dieter Zimmer's article was published in the Fekr wa Fan magazine under the title: Literature of Global Communication Networks: A od news or a dead end road? , No. 67 Germany 1997. 
•  Hussam Al-Khatib: Features of Literary Universality in the Age of Communication and Globalization - Alamats, Part 30, December 1998