1. Material aspects: nature of the substrate

1.1 Immateriality

When displayed on a screen, a digital document is a virtual document, presented via a technical device. The digital document is relatively independent of the hardware device used to display it, in the sense that it is distinct from the hardware and software or protocols that enable it to be displayed. Sometimes, these documents are reconstructed by the software interface when displayed on the screen (in html, for example, according to the preferences specified by the user and according to the fonts present in the operating system); sometimes, these documents are associated with formatting and fonts which impose the form of their presentation (Acrobat pdf format from Adobe, for example). On the recording medium, the characters are not directly legible (binary code:...