This page was created by Anonymous. The last update was by Dene Grigar.
History of Judy Malloy's Uncle Roger
The first part of this information, entitled "History of Uncle Roger's Production, has been adapted from the timeline Malloy provided Grigar about the production of Uncle Roger. The only changes made to this document is that it has been put into a narrative format and in 3rd person. The second part, entitled "The Menu for the IBM BASIC Version," is derived from information that Malloy sent to Grigar about the PC version of Uncle Roger. It is reproduced exactly in the manner that Malloy wrote it.
Part 1: History of Uncle Roger's Production
Uncle Roger began in April 1986, when at Carl Loeffler’s invitation, Malloy went online on Art Com Electronic Network (ACEN) on The WELL (Whole Earth ‘Lectric Link). By August she began writing the text and designing the structure of File I of "Uncle Roger: A Party in Woodside." Programming for "A Party in Woodside" started in the fall 1986 and was undertaken in BASIC. At that time Malloy created the authoring software BASIC Narrabase. On December 1 1986, using the BBS topic form as a story telling vehicle, Malloy put "A Party in Woodside" on the net on ACEN as an online serial narrative. Keywords are included so that users can use any database software to create their own version of the work.
On January 29, 1987 the telling of "A Party in Woodside" on ACEN was completed. Malloy began work on programming "A Party in Woodside" with UNIX shell scripts, and ACEN published it as an interactive hyperfiction on ACEN Datanet, which also published works by John Cage and Jim Rosenberg. In July 1987 she began telling the next part of the story, "The Blue Notebook," File 2 of Uncle Roger on ACEN. Her essay, “Information as an Artists Material,” was published in Whole Earth Review no. 57:48-49, Winter, 1987. It included Uncle Roger. Also that year Malloy created the first BASIC artists’ book disk version of "A Party in Woodside," and this version was distributed by Art Com. The disk version of "A Party in Woodside" was exhibited at Ultimatum II, Exhibition, Images du Futur ’87, Montreal, Canada, September 1987.
Throughout 1987-1988 Malloy programmed "The Blue Notebook" with UNIX shell scripts with funding from The California Arts Council and Art Matters. The interactive version of "The Blue Notebook" was published online on ACEN Datanet.
In 1988 Malloy expanded the Narrabase system for file 3 of Uncle Roger to include a generative function implemented with both UNIX shell scripts and BASIC. File 3 of Uncle Roger, "Terminals," was published on ACEN Datanet as an interactive generative hypertext, programmed with UNIX shell scripts. During this time, all three files of Uncle Roger were implemented in BASIC Narrabase, self-published on disk with packaging and documentation, and distributed internationally by Art Com. Based on her Card Catalog HOME (circa 1978), Molasses (for MacIntosh Computers/HyperCard), one of the first HyperCard hyperfictions, was produced at the Whole Earth Review under sponsorship of Apple and self-published in 1988 on disk with packaging.
In November 1988 both Uncle Roger and Molasses were included in the traveling exhibition, Art Com Software: Digital Concepts and Expressions, held at the Tisch School of the Arts and New York University, in New York City, from November 4 – 22. The show also traveled to San Jose State University, University of Colorado, Ars Electronica (Linz, Austria), and Carnegie Melon University. The show was reviewed by High Performance and Art Week. Malloy began writing and programming its name was Penelope, based on the program for file 3 of Uncle Roger.
In 1989 the artist book version of its name was Penelope was implemented in BASIC Narrabase and exhibited at the Richmond Art Center in an installation with painted text on the wall and the work running on a computer. (See: Revealing Conversations, Richmond Art Center, CA, Oct. 3 – Nov. 19, 1989. Catalog). "A Party in Woodside" was exhibited in ARTWARE at A Space, in Toronto, Canada, from April 6 – May 6, 1989. That year Uncle Roger was listed as a new genre in the Wall Street Journal’s Centennial Issue. (See Michael Miller, “A Brave New World: Streams of 1s and 0s” Wall Street Journal Centennial Issue, June 23, 1989.)
Malloy's essay, “Uncle Roger, an online narrabase” was published in 1991 in Leonardo 24(2):195-202, 199, a special issue entitled “Connectivity: Art and Interactive Telecommunications” and edited by Roy Ascott and Carl Eugene Loeffler.
Part 2: The Menu for the IBM BASIC Version
The IBM BASIC version was all on one disk. There was an overarching menu -- which is reprinted below -- and then lines 540, 550 and 560 sent the reader to separate directories for each file, according to what the reader selected.
100 REM Uncle Roger PC Version
110 REM Copyright Judy Malloy 1988
350 FOR x = 1 to 10
400 SOUND 100, .01
410 SOUND 40, .01
415 SOUND 32767,1
420 NEXT x
500 FILE$ = "TITLE"
510 GOSUB 700
512 FOR x = 1 TO 10000: NEXT x
520 CLS: FILE$ = "MENU"
530 GOSUB 700
535 PRINT : INPUT " ? ", C$
540 IF C$ = "1" THEN CHDIR "party": CHAIN "PARTY.BAS"
550 IF C$ = "2" THEN CHDIR "blue": CHAIN "BLUE.BAS"
560 IF C$ = "3" THEN CHDIR "terms": CHAIN "FILE3.BAS"
565 IF C$ = "stop" THEN GOTO 900
570 IF C$ = "STOP" THEN GOTO 900
580 PRINT "You typed "; C$ :PRINT "Please try again."
585 FOR X=1 TO 10000: NEXT X: GOTO 520
690 END
700 REM FILE PRINTING SUB
710 OPEN FILE$ FOR INPUT AS #1
720 WHILE NOT EOF (1)
730 LINE INPUT #1, LINES$
740 PRINT LINES$
760 SOUND 100,.01
770 SOUND 40, .01
780 SOUND 32767,1
790 FOR A=1 to 500: NEXT A
800 WEND
810 CLOSE #1
820 PRINT
830 PRINT
840 RETURN
850 END
900 REM end
904 FOR x = 1 to 5
905 SOUND 100, .01
910 SOUND 40, .01
915 SOUND 32767,1
920 NEXT x
930 FILE$ = "title"
940 GOSUB 700
950 LOCATE 10,10: PRINT "THE END"
960 FOR x = 1 to 10000: NEXT x
970 CLS: PRINT: Locate 14,30: PRINT "c1986-1988 Judy Malloy"
975 PRINT:PRINT
980 PRINT TAB(10): PRINT "UNCLE ROGER first appeared on"
990 PRINT TAB(10): PRINT "Art Com Electronic Network (ACEN) on the WELL"
995 PRINT TAB(10): PRINT "The ACEN Datanet version of THE BLUE NOTEBOOK"
997 PRINT TAB(10): PRINT "was funded by The California Arts Council"
998 PRINT TAB(10): PRINT "and Art Matters"
1000 END