What is the difference between the "virtual reader" and the "implied reader"?

Answer 1

An "implied reader" is created by the writer of the text. A "virtual reader" is constructed by the reader of "virtual text."

That's a brief answer. If you want some explanation, proceed.

"Implied reader"

An "implied reader," as made clear in a response by Drew to your previous question, is a reader implied in the text. Loosely, this phrase sometimes refers to the writer's expected reader or ideal read. However, strictly speaking, as the term was used by Wolfgant Iser, it refers to a reader "constructed" by a text. A text may directly address a reader, may state assumptions that are being made about the reader, may describe its reader--or it may simply make clear by implication what kind of reader the text apparently is intended for (what vocabulary the reader has, what experiences the reader has had, what age the reader may be or what kinds of things the reader would like, etc.--all by implication).

Real, or actual, readers may figure out what reader is implied in the text. They may even attempt to play the role required of the "implied reader." But real readers will never actually be the "implied reader."

"Virtual reader"

Strictly speaking, a "virtual reader" is a quasi- or pseudo-reader, one who pretends to read or may be assumed to be reading but is not.

However, like many terms, this one is being taken over in computer language and used to mean an "online reader" or more specifically, a reader of a "virtual text." One who "reads" or makes use of hypertext of any sort might be considered a "virtual reader." Similarly, anyone who reads any kind of text as if it were hypertext might be considered a "virtual reader."

For example, as I have been drafting this Answer, I have searched the web for phrases such as "virtual reader," "cyberreader," "virtual text," and the like. I have read some items found in my search, simply scanned others, and ignored most of them. Sometimes I have read an item referred to in a link within one of the items. I have looked up definitions of "virtual" and "cyberreader." I have even read some of your previous questions and answers, just to see who my "actual reader" is. Hence, I have not been a "conventional reader," one who begins at the beginning of an article or chapter or book and reads sequentially through the text. Instead, while reading, I have created or constructed or discovered my own text, unique to my experience. Hence, I have read a "virtual text" or "hypertext" of my own making.

Actually, good readers have done this long before the invention of computers or the formal introduction of "hypertext." Any reader of a text who stopped to look up words or topics in a dictionary or encyclopedia, who read the chapters of a book out of order, who read parallel passages from more than one book at the same time, etc.--any reader (in other words) who constructed his/her own text was while reading, in that sense, a "virtual reader."

But that term would have been meaningless prior to its adaptation by computer science. So, in those days, and to some purists even now, a "virtual reader" was a false reader, a pretend-reader or, to be kind, almost a reader, nearly a reader. Think of the phrase, "that was a virtually perfect answer." It would mean almost or nearly a perfect answer, but NOT really, not quite. In the same way, a virtual reader would have been almost a reader, nearly a reader, but NOT really a reader, not quite yet.

I hope you find this answer is helpful. If you want to become a "virtual reader" on the spot, you might begin with the websites I've listed below. If you do, I'll bet you will be led off on a good many tangents, eventually finding texts and ideas meaningful to you. You will be putting together your own "virtual text" and, hence, you will be a "virtual reader."

More power to you.

Answer 2

In terms of the Bible, the soul is the living entity. All the creatures mentioned in the 1st chapter of Genesis are called souls. The soul then is YOU, the living being. Consciousness is the mental activity that is a result of the functions of your brain and nervous system. So, if you drink 6 6-packs of your favorite adult beverage, your system will respond by turning off your consciousness. You find yourself a day or two later wondering what happened. We see this too with severe brain trauma, and someone goes into a coma. They are alive, still a soul, but have no higher mental functions that we would call consciousness. Some recover, others their system's lower mental functions fail, and the whole body is shut down, and will die without intervention with breathing support, and other steps that we are familiar with.

Answer 3

a virtual reader reds from the internet, the other one reads from a book

Answer 4

http://www.nd.edu/~cvandenb/readerterms.htm