Like many of his peers, Rutgers University freshman Shawn Kennedy has an aversion to books. The last one he read for pleasure was a Stephen King novel, about four years ago.

But the 19-year-old from Phillipsburg feels at home at the university's new Writers House, a high-tech laboratory of sorts where most of the literature is online, blogging is required and teachers are as likely to reference a YouTube video as a Shakespeare quote.