Electronic Forms of ExpressionThe confusion of new forms of media can be overwhelming. For those of us who grew up with the Internet, it may not be that difficult to grasp the concepts and deal with its nuances; but for those who grew up with print, the transition between the two could be exhausting. The concepts of new forms of electronic expression are in their developmental stages – still trying to find a dynamic balance between imitating print and inventing new ways of performing. Electronic media attempts to take advantage of its unique characteristics, without being too cumbersome for the public to understand. Janet Murray explores the virtual swamp of electronic media conventions in her chapter, "From Additive to Expressive Form," in Hamlet on the Holodeck: The Future of Storytelling in Cyberspace. Electronic forms of expression are still in a sort of primordial ooze phase, still clinging to the life forms that previously inhabited the area, but desperately trying to create an evolving creature that is nothing like what a tourist of the region could have seen. In this case, the whole world has access to this digital environment. Murray's claim is that "digital environments are encyclopedic" (83), or rather that we have the world at our fingertips: Since all forms of representation migrate to electronic form and all the world's computers are potentially accessible to each other, we can now design a single, comprehensive global library of paintings, films, books, newspapers, television programs and databases, a library that would be accessible from any point on the globe. It is as if the modern version of the great library of Alexandria, which contained all the knowledge about the ancient world, is about to rematerialize in the endless expanses of cyberspace. (84).The Internet has encyclopedic capabilities that surpass all previous attempts at knowledge collection. The pages that one browses seem almost endless, offering different perspectives and intersecting stories. These qualities give the surfer a feeling of omniscience. “The limitless expanse of gigabytes presents itself to the storyteller as a vast tabula rasa that demands to be filled with all the material of life” (84). Filling this “unlimited expanse” is not without complications. “The reality is much more chaotic and fragmented: networked information is often incomplete or misleading, search routines are often unbearably cumbersome and frustrating, and the information we want often seems out of reach.” (84).