Introduction to Pathfinders
Pathfinders begins the necessary process of documenting early digital literature, specifically pre-web hypertext fiction and poetry, from 1986-1995. These literary works were produced with programming languages like Basic or authoring systems like Storyspace and HyperCard and required a degree of interactivity between the reader and the work. They were also among the first computer-based works of literature to be sold commercially in the U.S. and, because of their availability through commercial distribution, were influential in shaping literary theory and criticism that, today, are used to discuss born digital writing. They are also literary works in danger of becoming inaccessible to the public because they were produced on and for computer platforms that today are obsolete.
From among the many “hypertexts” we could have selected to document, we decided on four:
1. Shelley Jackson’s Patchwork Girl, considered the culmination of the high art of hypertext generating from the “Eastgate School” and an important work of cyberfeminism from the mid-1990s2. John McDaid’s Uncle Buddy’s Phantom Funhouse, a novel created in Hypercard 2.0 and sold as an artist box with artifacts from the estate of the titular Uncle Buddy3. Judy Malloy’s Uncle Roger, programmed in Basic as a serial novel published on the WELL in 1986 and, later, sold on 5 ¼ floppies via the Art Com catalog4. Bill Bly’s We Descend, a hypertext novel created on the Storyspace platform
Readers will also find material relating to Stuart Moulthrop’s Victory Garden, another important work of hypertext fiction from the “Eastgate School” dating back to 1992, in this book.
We chose these works because they represent a specific individual contribution unique to the field as well as a reflection of a wide range of experimentation taking place during this period. Malloy’s Uncle Roger, for example, was published in 1986 as a serial novel delivered to an online audience on the Whole Earth ‘Lectric Link (WELL) and, so, constitutes one of the social media works of literature. Together with the rest of the hypertexts featured in this book, it represents a commercially available work not produced with an authoring program.
Our method of documentation is unique in that we videotaped the artist and readers interacting with a work on its original computer platform––a methodology, which we call “traversal.” When watching the traversal for Uncle Roger, for example, scholars can hear the crackle of the Apple IIe as it boots up and see the words, “Bad Information,” appear a few seconds later on the screen. Neither of these two elements is part of the story, but they are important cultural and artistic features lost in the migration to the web version that came later.
We see our work with documentation as a form of digital preservation, one that builds on the method of “collection,” as opposed to the other two more common methods, “migration” and “emulation,” by providing scholars wanting to experience the work in its original format access to video documentation of the works in performance on the original computer.
Besides videos of traversals, Pathfinders also includes videos of interviews with the artists and readers of the four main works; photos of physical artifacts such as floppies, folio covers or boxes containing floppies and other media; sound files from traversals and interviews; and commentary about the works and media. For example, John McDaid’s Uncle Buddy’s Phantom Funhouse consisted of five floppy disks packaged in a black box. Nowhere is it documented that the box also contains two music tapes, a paper copy of a science fiction short story marked up by an editor, and a letter from the editor. All of these additional materials also make up Uncle Buddy’s and, so, are crucial to one’s understanding of the work. Pathfinders provides a video of McDaid opening the box and discussing each item found inside; certainly, an experience that scholars will see as helpful for understanding the breath of McDaid’s vision.
Our research would not have been possible without the support of many organizations and people. The National Endowment for the Humanities awarded us a Start Up grant that allowed us to undertake our scholarship and produce this open-source, multimedia book. Washington State University provided support for our research assistant, Madeleine Brookman, through an undergraduate research grant. We thank Madeleine for her work with editing 102 videos, producing the Pathfinders trailer, and tagging and describing media for the book. We acknowledge the videography of Aaron Wintersong and early organization by Amalia Vacca. Greg Philbrook provided tech support for most traversals and interviews. We also thank the Modern Language Association for allowing us to exhibit our Pathfinders research at the 2014 conference in Chicago. We appreciate the support of Will Luers who helped us design the book and Erik Loyer and others at the University of Southern California for the development of the Scalar platform on which the book is built. We thank Matthew Kirschenbaum and the Maryland Institute for Technology in the Humanities at the University of Maryland College Park for sharing The Bly Collection with us for our project. We want to recognize Grigar’s Electronic Literature Lab at Washington State University Vancouver, which provided access to her collection of computers and works for this project. We thank Mark Bernstein for access to images needed for the book. Finally, we thank the artists who provided their time and insights into their work. Literary history is better for it.