The development of computer technology and the new versions of texts that are electronic texts to be read on screen rather than in the print form have had drastic impact in traditional literary studies. The age of the hypertext, simulation, computer aided designs and virtual reality requires a whole new theory of reading itself. Technocriticism is the result of these developments.
The work of Katherine Hayles (especially in Chaos Bound) and Michael Joyce has been located at the interface of cyber studies, cultural and literary studies. Hypertexts do not aim at reaching a destination. The art of “tracing” or “navigating” is itself the object. The text and the reader therefore exist in the in-between zone of transformation and navigation.